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Morning Buzz

IBM Enters Esports Space Via Multiyear Overwatch League Deal

IBM says it is making its first foray into esports via a new deal with Overwatch League, where it will showcase its Watson AI system and cloud computing products. The deal, announced this morning, starts with the ongoing '20 OWL Grand Finals, plus the '21 and '22 seasons. Financial terms were not disclosed. As part of the deal, IBM becomes the official AI, cloud and analytics partner of OWL. OWL will use IBM’s suite of analytics tools to process in-match data, find new ways to showcase stats, improve the league’s ranking systems and create predictive analysis.

Activision Blizzard Esports CRO Brandon Snow: “We’re constantly striving to give fans the ability to more meaningfully engage with the Overwatch League, and teaming up with IBM enables us to do just that.” IBM VP/Sports & Entertainment Partnerships Noah Syken: “The solutions we’re partnering to create can help the organizations, players, and fans enjoy an even more immersive, engaging experience.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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