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In exchange, advertisers on Reddit, such as Samsung, Ford, Volkswagen, and FanDuel, can show ads alongside video content posted by the leagues. Reddit will then share the revenue it gets from advertisers with the participating sports leagues, according to The Information.
Before extending his executive career in the National Basketball Association, former Miami Heat forward Shane Battier is positioning his business affairs away from sports. Battier, 42, joined New York-based software firm Yext as a board member on Wednesday. Yext is an artificial intelligence search company that offers brand data management and helps companies increase their digital presence. It has agreements with companies including Verizon, Marriott, and Samsung. Yext went public in 2017 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange. It has a market capitalization of about $1.8 billion.
LeBron’s mentoring program, with about 1,100 students and their families from all over Akron, was started in 2011 with a mission of raising reading rates for children identified as “at risk” of failing to make it through school and graduate. Starting in the third grade, those students gain access to reading and math tutoring, after-school and summer programming, goodies from LeBron’s corporate sponsors (like Nike), letters and even phone calls from LeBron. And their families can get money for rent, or groceries, or even a TV from Samsung, not to mention help passing high school equivalency classes and finding jobs. It’s out of that group that the first batch of students will graduate from high school, and waiting for them, if they want, are scholarships to the University of Akron or Kent State, in northeast Ohio.
You mentioned LeBron and how he loves to interact with teammates — Brendan Haywood: LeBron is a great teammate. He gave the best gifts. Of all the superstars I played with, he gave the best gifts. Anything that he was sponsored by, he would give to his teammates. So if he was sponsored by Samsung, everybody got free Samsung phones. Beats by Dre. I had so many extra Beats by Dre headphones I was giving them away to people as gifts. That’s how many he made sure we had. Just taking everyone out. Making it a family atmosphere. That was his best thing — how he communicated and interacted with teammates.
“He put me in a commercial once as a wedding gift,” Fizdale said. “How about that? Because I said, ‘Don’t get me anything.’ Instead of him listening, he says, ‘Hey coach, why don’t you be in the Samsung commercial with me?’ You know, that’s a nice little check for an assistant coach. And (the card) says, ‘Hey man, congratulations on your wedding.'”
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The Dallas Mavericks announced today that they have signed free agent guard Jonathan Gibson. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. In a related move, the Mavericks also requested waivers on forward Quincy Acy. Gibson (6-2, 185) was a standout for the Mavericks at the Samsung NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and received an invite to Mavericks training camp in Dallas. He averaged 7.1 points, 3.0 assists, 1.6 rebounds and 14.8 minutes in seven preseason contests with the Mavericks.
With just a few hours left before Monday’s 11pm Oklahoma time deadline to agree to a contract extension with the Thunder, or not, Steven Adams had a problem. A big problem. “I dropped my phone in the cold tub and it didn’t work for like the past three days,” he told stunned reporters after Tuesday's practice. During much of that time his agent and Thunder GM Sam Presti were closing in on a 4-year, $100 million extension to Adams’ rookie contract. “Stuff was going on you know,” he chuckled. “My agent was trying to contact me and stuff but I didn’t have a phone.” So with the clock ticking and a big pile of money waiting, Adams decided to splurge. “I got a nice phone,” he smiled. “It’s the one with the screen going across the side...the Edge. The Samsung Edge. So yeah, got street cred now.” And yes the Samsung Edge is supposed to be waterproof.
The NBA, the first major sports league to really embrace virtual reality, is getting even more serious about the technology for the upcoming 2016–2017 season. Today NBA Digital and its partner NextVR announced that they'll broadcast at least one game every week during the season in VR, complete with dedicated announcers, multiple camera angles, and VR-optimized graphics. Fans will need to have a full-season NBA League Pass subscription — either purchased directly or through a cable provider — to watch games in virtual reality. VR games can be viewed using Samsung's Gear VR and the NextVR app. The NBA says that other VR headsets will be supported later in the season. During game breaks, fans will be able to see in-venue entertainment and behind-the-scenes arena footage.
The New Orleans Pelicans honored the memory of Bryce Dejean-Jones in summer league by having their players wear a 'BDJ' patch on the left side of their uniforms. On Friday, Dejean-Jones' mother, Franchesca, came to the Las Vegas to watch the Pelicans play their final Samsung NBA Summer League game against the NBA Development League team at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. Dejean-Jones died from a gunshot wound on May 28 while visiting his girlfriend in Dallas.
The Players’ Tribune drives revenue through branded content and sponsorships, with about 10 brands currently on board. This week, it announced an advertising deal with Samsung, where contributors Von Miller of the Denver Broncos and Hassan Whiteside of the Miami Heat will create 360 video content at events. It’s also partnered with Budweiser to create an exclusive content studio for social platforms. American Family Insurance, the partner for the publication’s philanthropic arm, TPP Assist, produces content around athletes helping students in communities in need.
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“I think the first step is to adapt existing steaming apps to work in [Samsung] Gear VR goggles,” Cuban says. “Watching your stream on what looks like a huge movie theater screen is the best first step. That will get people an incentive to experiment with basic VR. Watching Netflix on Gear VR is a great experience that all streamers should copy.” Cuban’s vested interests in VR dates back to the iPad photo app Condition One of which he invested $500,000 in. In 2014, he invested $3 million in seed funding for Virtuix Omni. By CES in Las Vegas this year, the gaming treadmill was hosting a VR eSports tournament and attracting every eyeball on the convention floor.
The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday their schedule for Samsung NBA Summer League 2015 in Las Vegas. Twenty-four teams will participate in a tournament-style format to crown this year’s champion. Teams will compete in three preliminary round games from July 10-14, before being seeded in a tournament running through the championship game on July 20. Each team is guaranteed to play at least five games.
Samsung NBA Summer League founder Warren LeGarie is adding another aspect to the growing annual Las Vegas basketball event: a front-office training program. LeGarie and partner Albert Hall are tailoring the program, called the Front Office Combine,
According to sources involved in the discussions, if there’s a national brand with a jersey deal that would have bought time on ESPN or TNT’s NBA game telecasts — think Coca-Cola or Samsung — the two networks would get specific commitments from that company to also buy TV advertising during any nationally televised games featuring that sponsored team.
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