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Sunrise!

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ST. LOUIS – The Florida Panthers will host the 2021 NHL All-Star Game, commissioner Gary Bettman announced Friday. The Florida venue hosted once previously, in 2003. That was the first time a shootout decided an NHL outcome, won by the Western Conference 6-5. The league adopted the shootout as the regular-season tiebreaking procedure at the start of 2005-06.

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“We are in discussions with the Players Association about giving a distinct international flavor to next year’s All-Star Game, but more detail will come at a later date,” Bettman said.

NHL All-Star Weekend at BB&T Center in Sunrise will include the NHL All-Star Skills on Jan. 29, 2021, and the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 30, 2021.

This year’s All-Star Game is being played in St. Louis. Since 2016, the NHL All-Star Game has consisted of each division having its own team, with the four sides squaring off in a three-on-three tournament.

–Field Level Media

NLL Betting on BetMGM

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PHILADELPHIA – The National Lacrosse League is betting on BetMGM and its digital gambling partners.

The NLL today announced a partnership with Roar Digital – a joint venture between global gaming industry leaders MGM Resorts International and GVC Holdings – making Roar’s sports betting brand, BetMGM, the official and exclusive gaming partner of the NLL. It is the first-ever gaming partnership for the sport of lacrosse in the United States.

NLL

“We are so proud to welcome BetMGM as yet another world-class brand to our family of national partners,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “The growth of our league as a sports and entertainment property and the amount of engagement we will be able to generate through this innovative partnership with MGM Resorts and Roar Digital will be very exciting and add tremendous value to avid, casual and new fans.”

“Lacrosse is a fast-paced, high-scoring, growing sport that presents exciting sports betting opportunities. We are greatly impressed by the management and operations of the NLL as evidenced by its strong roster of team owners,” said Scott Butera, President of Interactive Gaming for MGM Resorts. “The NLL is an ideal partner for BetMGM in accessing a fast-growing Lacrosse fan base.”

BetMGM will have commercial visibility and other promotional opportunities throughout the NLL regular season and playoffs. In addition, will create weekly betting lines distributed across all NLL platforms and channels.

Accessible via desktop and mobile, BetMGM features GVC’s state-of-the-art betting engine and technology platform. Not only can users play the traditional casino and poker games they’ve come to love, but sports fans can place an expanded range of pre-match and in-play bets with more than 100 leagues, as well as individual sports, tours and events.

-Staff Report from Official News Release

ESPN Courting Romo

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BRISTOL – ESPN is prepared to make former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo the highest-paid sportscaster in television history, according to a report Sunday by Front Office Sports’ Michael McCarthy.

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The reported multi-year deal could pay Romo, who is currently with CBS, between $10-$14 million annually while installing him as analyst on “Monday Night Football,” succeeding Booger McFarland, according to McCarthy.

Additionally, Romo could potentially lead ESPN’s NFL coverage if parent company Disney acquires an NFL game package from Fox Sports, CBS Sports or NBC Sports in the next round of negotiations in 2020-2021.

The 39-year-old former Cowboys quarterback becomes a broadcasting free agent this offseason. He’s currently in the final year of his initial three-year contract with CBS, which reportedly pays about $4 million annually. 

The report notes that CBS has the right to match ESPN’s offer.

For comparison, Front Office Sports reports that Troy Aikman, Fox’s top NFL analyst, makes about $7.5 million per year, while Jon Gruden earned about $6.5 million a year at ESPN for MNF duties prior to returning to the Oakland Raiders.

Romo, a four-time Pro Bowler, played 156 regular-season games (127 starts) over 13 seasons with the Cowboys. He ended with a 78-49 regular-season record and posted a 2-4 record in the playoffs.

–Field Level Media

Digital Sports Desk’s While We’re Young (Ideas) – Episode 38

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CHESTNUT HILL – Filip Hans Lindberg was born on January 31, 1999 in Espoo, Finland. He is now the starting goalkeeper for the University of Massachusetts Minutemen and he had what the school touted as “a career night” on Friday when he stopped 41 of 42 Boston College shots while lowering his goals against average to an impressive 1.81. The saves were a career high, as you might have deduced from the fact we’re leading with his story in this column.

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Lindberg’s No. 10 UMass team upset No. 4 BC on the road (at nearby Conte Forum), stoning the Eagles’ previously earned 10-game win streak as BC outshot the Minutemen 42-24 in an exciting first half of the back-to-backs this weekend. (Note: The game score was 2-1 with the third goal being an empty-netter).

In case you hadn’t heard of the upstart goalie, Lindberg was one of three goaltenders on Team Finland’s roster for the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship and took home a gold medal. In addition, he anchored the UMass team in 16 games, including four NCAA tournament games when they were runner-up to the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs in last year’s Frozen Four. 

In other words, the dude can play. His back-story was nicely packaged in this Daily Hampshire Gazette feature published last April during the Frozen Four.

Here Now, The Notes: This week’s CES2020 in Las Vegas brought out all the heavyweights in the Sports Business, Sports Tech and analytics world. One of the cool news releases was Thuuz announcing their “best and most exciting” sports games/moments/events of the decade of 2010-2019.  … In case you didn’t guess, the “28-3” New England Patriots Super Bowl comeback over the Atlanta Falcons won as the most exciting game of the 2010-2019 decade, according to the sports analytics firm. … Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the NBA Player’s Association is entering the crowded space of Sports Accelerators and is establishing a mechanism for all NBA and WNBA players to invest in start-ups.  Bloomberg’s Scott Soshnick wrote, “NBA superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant have become serial investors, lending their names, ideas and money to a number of business ventures and startups. Their union wants to help all of its members with similar off-court aspirations follow suit. To that end, the National Basketball Players Association is creating an accelerator program that’s open to current and former members.”

FanHub, a free to play sports-focused digital game builder/provider, announced a new multi-sport collaboration with Buffalo Wild Wings that will expand upon their initial relationship. Picks & Props, the existing game co-branded for BWW with partner BetMGM, will now make offerings for college football fans for this Monday’s CFB National title game between LSU and Clemson. Looks for more offerings to come in 2020. … The NBA, Twitter and Turner Sports announced a multiyear partnership extension that will bring more live NBA game and on-demand content to Twitter than ever before. The NBA, counter to many of the other sports, has been incredibly active via social media platforms around the world. … The next step for the league, aside from business deals such as this will be to better monetize the social media sharing of highlights which is currently not being done, nor protected/enforced. … Companies such as SnapScreen (Vienna, Austria) who are presenting later this month at Stadia Ventures accelerator program in St. Louis, might be the answer. (Digital Sports Desk biz partner Pivottv.Media will be attending and is assisting SnapScreen in their North American expansion).

News out of New York’s sports world this week includes: “A star-studded lineup will be honored at the 40th Annual Thurman Munson Awards Dinner at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City on Tuesday night, February 4, 2020 to benefit AHRC New York City Foundation, which assists children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”  … These are the honorees: New York Yankees standout second baseman Gleyber Torres; Thurman’s teammate and World Series Champion player and manager Lou Piniella; New York Mets hard-hitting infielder J.D. Davis; former Mets captain and ace relief pitcher John Franco; and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Nancy Lieberman. … For tickets and information on the Munson Awards Dinner visit online at https://www.ahrcnycfoundation.org/munson/. … Torres, Davis and Lieberman will be recipients of the Thurman Munson Award; Piniella will receive the Thurman “Champion” Award, and Franco will be presented with the Munson “Captain” Award. … The PGA Tour is in its second week of the 2020 season and the 2020 LPGA Tour will soon tee-it-up with the Second annual Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions Presented by Insurance Office of America, Jan. 16-19, at Four Seasons Golf and Sports Club Orlando. Winners from the last two LPGA seasons will gather in Central Florida to compete for a $1.2 million purse. They’ll be joined by a roster of sports and entertainment stars competing for their own $500,000 purse. Celebrities include defending champion John Smoltz, Marcus Allen, Brian Urlacher, Justin Verlander, Larry Fitzgerald, Patrick Peterson and former Boston Celtics champion Ray Allen.

A Sign of the Apocalypse (As retired SI columnist Jack McCallum would write): 

Odds to win XFL championship @CaesarsEnt sportsbook:
Tampa Bay +350
Dallas +350
DC +450
NY +600
Houston +600
L.A. +600
St. Louis +800
Seattle +1200

Digital Sports Desk posts a once-a-week Sunday Notes column, entitled: “While We’re Young Ideas.” It’s a throwback of sorts to the days when sportswriting and the baseball beat were the best jobs in the entire sports industry, maybe the entire world. One of those sportswriters was named Dick Young and he wrote “Young Ideas” with a “Diamond Dust” section for notes and quotes. … We welcome feedback and suggestions (psst, they call ’em pitches) for mentions within “While We’re Young Ideas” or Digital Sports Desk. Please follow and encourage (at least) another person or two to plug into (@DigSportsDesk) (@WhileYoungIdeas) and (@terrylyons).

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