The NFL announces its schedule release plans, Steph Curry is launching a junior golf tour and 23XI Racing lands a new official sponsor.
Today is Earth Day, so Major League Baseball, it's clubs, partners, and other volunteers will help promote Green initiatives through events, programming, and awards. The festivities include unveiling the Twins as the winner of the Green Glove Award for the 2021 season. Some of the Earth Day activities will be extensions of ongoing green efforts across MLB clubs, including tree plantings, electronics recycling drives, and urban gardening.
Good morning. It's Friday, April 22nd. This is your SBJ Morning Buzzcast. I'm David Albright filling in for Abe Madkour. In a joint letter, filed by the lawyers for Brian Flores and the NFL, the league revealed its intention to dismiss the former Dolphin coach's racial discrimination lawsuit, or move it to arbitration. The league denied the claims of racial discrimination, saying that the accusations must face arbitration as part of the employment agreement with the NFL and its teams. The NFL also said the claims lack legal merit, because it must be proven that Flores would not have experienced the discrimination had he not been black, which the league believes cannot be done in a trial. Flores' lawyers pushed back on a motion to move the litigation to arbitration, claiming it will remove all transparency and stifle efforts to improve diversity in the NFL.
For the third straight year, the NFL will publish its full schedule in mid-May. For the most part, teams and broadcasters like the wait because they can sell better storylines after next week's draft is done. Yesterday, the NFL announced a four pronged release plan. The schedule's first matchup week two's Thursday Night Football on September 15th will be unveiled during round one of the draft next Thursday, giving crucial promotional [inaudible 00:01:48] to Amazon Prime, which will stream that package of games exclusively for the first time in the Fall. Then all international games will come out on May 4th, allowing sales teams and some adventurous fans to start planning trips a week earlier. Next to Prime, the Pump select games will drip out starting May 9th. And finally, the full schedule will be released at 8:00 PM. Eastern on May 12th.
Warriors guard, Steph Curry is launching a junior golf tour to help serve the game's underprivileged and overlooked markets. Curry's UNDERRATED brand is venturing into the golf space in conjunction with the American Junior Golf Association to host five tournaments. The endeavor hopes to provide avenues for student-athletes to the game, with the goal of increasing participation numbers from diverse communities. In its first year, the UNDERRATED Golf Tour will select each of the 24 best boys and girls who will compete for the Curry Cup at the season-ending UNDERRATED Tour Championship held at TPC Harding Park. The tour will begin in Chicago at Cog Hill in late June, with other stops in Houston, Phoenix and Tampa. Curry said he will cover all travel and lodging expenses, as well as entrance fees.
MLS revealed that its 2022 All-Star game at Minnesota United's Allianz Field, again will feature the MLS All-Stars, taking on a team of the best Liga MX players, part of the two North American leagues' ongoing partnership that also includes the Leagues Cup and the Campeones Cup. August 10th match will air live on ESPN and Univision in the US, TSN and TVA Sports in Canada, on ESPN throughout Mexico and Latin America, and in more than 190 countries.
Logitech G has decided to elevate its relationship with NASCAR star, Bubba Wallace and his 23XI Racing team, both on the physical track and within iRacing competition. Logitech will move from a pure endorsement deal with Wallace to now becoming an official sponsor of the Michael Jordan owned 23XI Racing. Assets include the gaming peripherals company, getting branding on the fire suits of Wallace, and Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, who co-owns 23XI, as well as a primary paint scheme position in iRacing. 23XI is among the NASCAR teams that are competing in the 2022 eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series. And Logitech will be the primary partner for 10 events this season.
Jordan Belfort, the real life Wolf of Wall Street is getting into Esports, partnering with collegiate competition platform, the Brag House for the Wolf Bowl, a Valorant tournament running through the end of this month. Belfort is looking at Esports as an investment vehicle, and says the industry isn't monetizing as well as it could. It's part of the reason he became one of the Brag House's shareholders and associated himself with this event, a signal that he's bullish on Esports and is looking to stay.
Tom Jernstedt known as the Father of the Final Four will be honored in a tribute on Saturday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Jernstedt passed in 2020 at his home near Jupiter, Florida, and whether you recognized him or not, he spent an entire month in your home for decades overseeing what is now known as March Madness, dating back to 1973. He helped elevate the growth of the NCAA tournament from 25 to 68 teams, transforming the event into an over 10 billion dollar global phenomenon. During his tenure at the NCAA, in his role as Senior Executive VP, Jernstedt oversaw all sports and championships. A salute to Tom Jernstedt and his family as he is honored tomorrow in Indiana.
Finally, a programming note. Football is a major topic on this week's Sports Media podcast as host Andrew Marchand and John Ourand go deep on NBC's surprise decision to hire Melissa Stark as its Sunday Night Football sideline reporter. They also give an update on where Fox stands in terms of naming its top NFL talent, and discuss the Big Ten's next media rights deal. You can listen to the Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's your SBJ Morning Buzzcast for Friday. I hope everyone has a great day and even better weekend. And we'll see you back here Monday morning.