Tonight in Unpacks: Lionel Messi will soon make his MLS debut for Inter Miami, and the team is already making deals based on the landmark signing. SBJ’s Alex Silverman has the details on the club’s new sleeve sponsor.
Other headlines:
- Ohtani, Acuña lead most-popular MLB jersey list
- MLB introduces new AR app for Home Run Derby, All-Star Game
- Carli Lloyd’s rise from USWNT legend to budding star at Fox Sports
- U.S. brands, agencies see opportunities at Women's World Cup
- Op-ed: The next stage in sports betting’s evolution
- NBC inks six-year extension with American Century for golf event
In this morning's Buzzcast, SBJ’s Abe Madkour returns from a short break with:
- PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan facing plenty of storylines in return to work
- NBA laying out its plans for in-season tournament
- NBA Con’s debut appearing to be a success
- Seattle embracing MLB All-Star festivities
- Major League Rugby setting attendance record for championship game
- Longtime Ironman CEO Andrew Messick retiring
Inter Miami inks new sleeve partner ahead of Messi unveiling
Inter Miami is capitalizing on the impending arrival of Lionel Messi with the signing of Swiss logistics company Fracht Group to what is believed to be the most valuable jersey sleeve partnership in MLS on an annual basis, reports SBJ's Alex Silverman. The deal appears to be Fracht’s foray into sports sponsorship, and under the multiyear agreement, Fracht will pay Inter Miami roughly three times what previous sleeve partner, Web3 software company Xmanna, was paying.
The club will begin wearing the company’s wordmark on the right sleeve of its uniforms for this Saturday’s game in St. Louis, but Fracht’s first big moment in the spotlight will come the following evening when the club introduces Messi to fans during an event at DRV PNK Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale. Messi will first appear on the pitch for Inter Miami during the club’s first Leagues Cup match against Liga MX side Cruz Azul on July 21. The Fracht logo will also appear on authentic Inter Miami jerseys at retail, which are expected to be an extremely hot seller.
Fracht Group becomes Inter Miami's new sleeve sponsor ahead of Lionel Messi's debut with the MLS club
Ohtani, Acuña lead most popular MLB jersey list
Braves RF Ronald Acuña Jr. and Angels P/DH Shohei Ohtani led MLB with the most popular player jerseys through the season’s first half, reports SBJ’s Erik Bacharach.
Fourteen of the top 20 players with the most popular jerseys were selected for the All-Star Game -- Acuña and Ohtani were the two top vote-getters. The Braves had the most players appear in the top 20.
MLB introduces new AR app for Home Run Derby, All-Star Game
MLB released a new app for tonight’s Home Run Derby, billing it as the future of live baseball in the ballpark, reports SBJ’s Erik Bacharach. The MLB Next app uses AR to give fans to give fans in attendance at the Derby and Tuesday’s All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle access to real-time stats -- such as ball distance and launch angle -- and other features which will be displayed on the field.
Additionally, Bacharach reports that ESPN’s alternate broadcast of tonight’s Home Run Derby is shedding its traditional way of tracking home runs with what VP/Production Phil Orlins said is a "virtual, three-dimensional overhead tracking of the ball flight and distances.”
Carli Lloyd’s rise from USWNT legend to budding star at Fox Sports
The biggest broadcast upgrade for Fox Sports’ coverage of the 2023 Women’s World Cup isn’t an ultra-high-definition camera, a drone or an augmented reality integration. Instead, it is the addition of former U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Carli Lloyd to the network’s on-air lineup, where she will bring the same level of skill and versatility to her second career as she did to her first.
While Lloyd’s work at the men’s World Cup served as a formative learning experience, she will play a bigger role in coverage of the Women’s World Cup this summer. She’ll be stationed at Fox’s primary studio in Sydney Harbour for the duration of the monthlong tournament alongside experienced broadcasters like host Rob Stone and lead analyst Alexi Lalas. Meanwhile, NBC’s Telemundo is also airing WWC matches, and with the rise of women’s sports, both Fox and Telemundo plan to show more games on their free-the-air networks than ever before.
In this week’s magazine, SBJ’s Alex Silverman reports on how Lloyd is quickly transforming from a star on the field to a star on the screen for Fox Sports and the strategy it and Telemundo are deploying for coverage.
U.S. brands, agencies see opportunities at Women's World Cup
The biggest test yet of the growth of women’s soccer comes next week in Australia and New Zealand, with the latest edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Women’s sports have experienced an unprecedented explosion in power and influence, highlighted domestically by the equal pay deal the U.S. women’s national soccer team struck with U.S. Soccer in 2022.
While this will indeed be the biggest global women’s sporting event ever, having expanded to 32 teams and 64 matches, there are signs that the tournament might not live up to FIFA’s lofty expectations. But as SBJ’s Alex Silverman reports, U.S. Soccer said it has seen significant enthusiasm from partners about the WWC.
Op-ed: The next stage in sports betting’s evolution
Tonight’s op-ed is from Alt Sports Data founder and CEO Joe Dunnigan on the opportunity the alternative sports market presents to the sports betting industry.
“The alternative sports market presents a precise solution to the challenges seen within this space. There are millions of highly engaged, yet overlooked, fans seeking additional opportunities to immerse themselves within the alternative sports landscape. Regulated sports betting has not previously been available for this group of fans, leaving a clear gap in the overall fan experience. Sportsbook operators simply need to develop the infrastructure and necessary partnerships for proper betting markets to reach an additional base of rabid fans and potential bettors.”
Read the full submission here.
Speed reads
- NBC Sports and American Century Investments signed a six-year extension to keep the American Century Championship celebrity golf event running in Lake Tahoe through 2029, reports SBJ’s John Ourand.
- AmEx and N.Y. Liberty G Sabrina Ionescu are teaming for a brand activation around this weekend’s WNBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, writes SBJ’s Austin Karp.
- Fox Sports Films struck a multiyear deal with Religion of Sports to co-produce original sports documentaries, writes SBJ’s Erik Bacharach.
- NBA Experiences released details of fan-centric packages for the league’s first in-season tournament, writes SBJ’s Tom Friend.
- F1 let Brad Pitt and Damson Idris line up next to its real drivers during the national anthem for yesterday’s British Grand Prix as part of shooting scenes for Apple Original Films' upcoming racing movie, notes SBJ’s Adam Stern.