The Big 12 Conference of American college sports has announced Learfield IMG College as its new comprehensive sponsorship rights holder.

The Big 12 encompasses five states with over 40 million people within its footprint and includes many big-time sports powerhouses. Members are Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

Learfield IMG College will have the worldwide sponsorship rights to all 16 Big 12 championship events and the right to sell title, presenting, and other secondary sponsorships to a broad array of Big 12 events as well as certain other advertising inventory.

“Given the scope of Learfield IMG College in the collegiate space, and its existing relationships with all of our member institutions, the Big 12’s sponsorship rights will be well positioned,” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “To add the Learfield IMG College name to our portfolio furthers the best-in-class relationships of the Big 12 Conference.”

“We have worked with individual Big 12 schools for many years, and we are honored to now have the opportunity to work with the Big 12 Conference,” said Greg Brown, President and CEO, Learfield IMG College. “We appreciate Bob and his team trusting us to drive sponsorships on a league level.”

Learfield IMG College will establish Big 12 Sports Properties, which will operate from the conference office in Irving, Texas.

SportAccord has confirmed Edmonton Events, EventScotland and Beijing Olympic City Development Association (BODA) as Silver Partners for the global convention getting underway in less than two weeks in Gold Coast, Australia.

The big annual gathering will take place in the home to last year’s Commonwealth Games from May 5-10, 2019

Nis Hatt, Managing Director, SportAccord said: “We are delighted to welcome the return of Edmonton Events and EventScotland as Silver Partners for the 17^th edition of the SportAccord World Sport & Business Summit and heartily appreciate their continued involvement, support and loyalty to the event.”

“We are also honoured to welcome BODA onboard this year as a Silver Partner and look forward to working with them on the 18^th edition of SportAccord, scheduled to take place in Beijing from 19 – 24 April 2020.

“Our Silver Partners are exceptional and we wish them the very best for SportAccord in Gold Coast.”

SportAccord brings together international sports federations, cities and regions, and top decision-makers from the global sports community.

The event enables attendees to enjoy multiple networking events and access to 50+ conference sessions.

Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord using #SA2019, or keep up-to-date via LinkedIn and Facebook.

Global executive search firm Odgers Berndtson has hired Jamie Crittenberger as a Partner in its U.S. Sports Practice. He will be based in Washington, D.C.

Crittenberger from Spencer Stuart, where he was a member of its global consumer practice and the co-leader of its North American Sports Business Practice.

“We’re very excited to welcome Jamie to the Odgers team,” said Steve Potter, CEO of Odgers Berndtson U.S. “He’s a gold standard recruiter and has more than twenty years of experience working with many of the world’s most influential sports organizations. He’s going to play a big role at Odgers.”

Crittenberger was the CEO and co-founder of Starbridge Media Group, a VC-backed global sports advisory and production firm that worked with teams, leagues, agencies, universities, athletes, and corporate brands around the world.

Previously, he held roles for leading sports organizations and broadcasters, including the Washington Redskins, SFX Sports, Clear Channel Entertainment, and Viacom.

Coming just months after the firm first opened its U.S. Sports Practice, Crittenberger’s addition amounts to a significant expansion of Odgers Berndtson’s commercial sports capabilities.

Greg Santore, who was brought in last July to head the Sports Practice, said: “Jamie’s addition to the firm is a win for Odgers and the industry,” said Santore said. “His extensive work with professional sports leagues, teams, and related entities nicely augments our current expertise in collegiate sports, gaming, and esports, and helps to further expand both our domestic and international client offerings.”

Non-endemic brands account for a large chunk of the broadcast exposure companies are getting from their esports sponsorship, according to a new report issued today.

Reuters reports:

From snack companies to carmakers, 39% of brand exposure in esports’ competitive video game broadcasts is coming from non-gaming related companies in 2018, Nielsen said in the report.

“Over all forms of entertainment, their biggest passion is video games,” Nicole Pike, Managing Director of Nielsen Esports, said of enthusiasts of professional video gaming.

Such companies are called “non-endemic” since they are not as naturally aligned with esports as those that manufacture gaming computers, consoles, chairs and other gear, for instance.

The list of non-endemic brands in the sector and already includes State Farm, Disney, Spotify, Toyota, Mastercard, Cheez-It, Hershey, Chipotle, Sephora , Wendy’s and Head & Shoulders, and is getting longer.

The bulk of fans are typically between 18 and 35 years old, referred to in the Nielsen report by esports sponsor Doritos as “emerging adults.”

They have more disposable income than other sports fans and many have cut the cord to traditional media.

According to Nielsen, 61% of esports viewers on Twitch, a main platform for watching esports streams, do not watch television on a weekly basis.

Reaching out through esports does seem to work, since 90% of Twitch’s esports viewers can name at least one non-endemic sponsor, Nielsen found.

Brands seen as authentically interested in the space fare better than those that just slap their logo on a jersey, advertising and esports experts say.

PepsiCo’s Doritos, for instance, sponsored a “Doritos Bowl” hosted by Twitch for a Call of Duty battle royale tournament between top streamers.

Fans watched nearly 550,000 combined hours of that tournament, Nielsen said.

When 20th Century Fox wanted to promote the digital release of its movie “Deadpool 2 Super Duper Cut,” it turned to the gaming advertising and talent agency Ader.

Ader partnered with top Fortnite influencer DrLupo and also created new custom designed Deadpool “emotes” – essentially emoji characters – that viewers use in Twitch chat windows.

An influx of non-endemic brands also adds credibility to the evolving esports ecoystem, said Chad De Luca, Head of Gaming and Esports at Publicis Sport & Entertainment.

“It is a mark of approval from a blue-chip company,” he said.

The WNBA will double its television coverage in the U.S. thanks to a new multi-year deal with CBS Sports, which will televise 40 of the league’s games per season.

The league’s 23^rd season tips off next month as the Seattle Storm try to defend their championship.

On May 25, the Minnesota Lynx and the Chicago Sky will face off to begin CBS Sports’ WNBA coverage.

The 12-team league also has a deal with ESPN to show 16 regular-season telecasts, including three on ABC.

Last year, the WNBA’s combined average viewership across ESPN2 and NBA TV was up 31% over 2018.

“Through our partnership with CBS Sports Network, the WNBA is joining an elite lineup of premium sports programming,” stated NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “We thank CBS Sports for making such a meaningful commitment to women’s basketball and for providing another platform to showcase the world-class athletes of the WNBA.”

CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus stated: “We are truly excited to partner with the WNBA, bringing the country’s premier women’s sports league to CBS Sports Network. This partnership is one of the biggest and most impactful women’s sports programming arrangements ever at CBS Sports, offering national exposure of 40 games per year,”

“This agreement provides great live content throughout the summer in prime time and on weekends, and aligns two great brands in the WNBA and CBS Sports. We look forward to working with the WNBA for many years to come.”

Discovery and France Télévisions will present complementary coverage of the Olympic Games in France, including for Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024.

Through creating an Olympic Games offering from France Télévisions and Eurosport, Discovery’s leading sports brand, viewers in France will enjoy the broadest possible access to the Games and availability of more coverage than ever before.

Under the partnership announced today, France Télévisions will sub-license (from Discovery) exclusive free-to-air audio-visual rights to the 2022 and 2024 Olympic Games.

As Home of the Olympics in Europe, Eurosport – Discovery’s leading sports brand – will offer fans every moment of the Olympics, featuring dedicated streams covering every sport, every event and every gold medal, available on all screens through to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The announcement confirms that France Télévisions will continue to be the free-to-air destination for extensive coverage of the best action from the Olympic Games until 2024, sharing every special national moment on TV.

JB Perrette, President and CEO, Discovery International, said: “Discovery is all about powering people’s passions and Olympic Games are the pinnacle of passion. Our ground-breaking agreement with the International Olympic Committee has already seen us deliver records at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. This new partnership provides the perfect opportunity to build on this achievement in France for Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024, as Home of the Olympics in Europe.

“Our Olympic Games partnership with France Télévisions is a big win for viewers as we can guarantee the access to free-to-air coverage that can inspire the nation, alongside Eurosport super-serving fans with every minute of the Games and unrivalled sports expertise across all screens. The Games also continue to exceed our expectations from a strategic and commercial perspective,” he added.

Delphine Ernotte-Cunci, President, France Télévisions, said: “This is an important moment for the public service broadcaster. France Télévisions will be able to offer the Olympics Games to all audiences and all the French people. I am happy that they will watch and be thrilled by the Olympics.”

Timo Lumme, Managing Director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, said: “This collaboration between our partners Discovery and France Télévisions brings together the strengths of an international media company and a leading national broadcaster and means Olympic fans in France will have innovative, comprehensive coverage across their media platform of choice. This is particularly exciting as we look towards the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.”

Tony Estanguet, President of the Paris 2024 Organizing Committee, said: “When we think about the Games, it’s often magical television memories that come to our mind. Achievements, emotions, victories, sometimes failures. All these moments, we lived them with France Télévisions since the Moscow 1980 Olympic Games and we are glad that the history keeps being written with a public service broadcaster in 2024, as our country hosts the Games after having waited for 100 years.

“France Télévisions and Eurosport are committed stakeholders who share the passion of sports as we do. Together, we’ll make the Paris 2024 Olympic Games a unique opportunity to highlight the role of sport in our society, promote all disciplines and value the athletes,” he concluded.

Discovery, Eurosport and France Télévisions have committed to working closely with the Paris 2024 Organising Committee and its leadership to support the delivery and promotion of the Games, helping to engage the country and offer platforms to bring to life its #MadeForSharing vision.

The sub-licensing arrangements follows Discovery’s long-term partnership with the IOC announced in June 2015, which included exclusive multimedia rights for 50 countries and territories in Europe (excluding Russia) and began for Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 and runs through to Olympic Games Paris 2024. The rights awarded to Discovery in France included 2022 and 2024, given 2018 and 2020 had already been secured by France Télévisions.

All of the 1,000 Paris Saint-Germain shirts with a large image of the Notre-Dame in place of the sponsor’s logo on the front sold out within half an hour and the profit has been given to emergency services, the club said yesterday.

AFP reports:

The jerseys were replicas of those which the French champions wore in their Ligue 1 victory over Monaco on Sunday.

“Notre-Dame” replaced the player names on the back of the shirts.

PSG tweeted that it sold: 500 on the internet, 250 in the megastore, 250 in the Champs-Elysees.

Each shirt cost €100 (US$122). The club would not say how much money had been given to the charities associated with the fire service in the French capital.

François-Henri Pinault, the owner of Ligue 1 club Stade Rennais FC, has pledged to donate €100 million to help rebuild the cathedral in Paris.