It’s the sixth year of record turn out for the Disneyland Half-Marathon. The Labor Day weekend races include a course through the parks, special medals, and this year will feature a couple of Hollywood celebrities. Hollywood actors Drew Carey and Megyn Price are expected to… Read More »Disneyland Half-Marathon Draws Big Names, Full Participation
If you were born in the last 50 years, the only Indianapolis 500 broadcast you’ve ever known has been on ABC. A new deal between IZOD IndyCar series and Disney will ensure that this Memorial Day weekend television tradition will continue. A new six-year rights agreement will keep the Indianapolis 500 on ABC through 2018, extending one of the longest-running relationships between a sporting event and a television network past the half-century mark.
ESPN on ABC will broadcast the 500 Mile Race for the 48th consecutive year on May 27, 2012, and, with the new agreement taking effect in 2013, also will televise the 100th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 2016.
“The Indianapolis 500 and ABC have been together since 1965 and we are very proud to extend the relationship with this new agreement,” said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports. “The 500 is a uniquely American event and a Memorial Day tradition, and we especially look forward to televising the 100th edition of the race in 2016.”
As part of the new agreement, ABC will be the exclusive broadcast network partner for the IZOD IndyCar Series from 2013-2018 and will continue to televise four races each year in addition to the Indianapolis 500. The worldwide presence of the Indianapolis 500 and the series on television will continue as ESPN also has international syndication rights for all IZOD IndyCar Series races.
“IndyCar is very excited about our continued relationship with ABC,” said Randy Bernard, CEO, IndyCar. “This allows the series long-term growth on the network. This new contract also helps us expand our presence around the world with ESPN representing our international rights. I want to thank ABC for their strong confidence and commitment in our brand and series. This deal will help our series, team owners, sponsors and fans for the long term with a much more solid foundation.”
Ken Potrock, Senior VP of Disney Sports Enterprises, and Jon Butler, Executive Director of Pop Warner Little Scholars, pose with Mickey Mouse and two Pop Warner athletes at ESPN WWOS. (Gene Duncan, photographer)
For players and families of Pop Warner football, a new 10 year deal with Disney to host the Super Bowl and other games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex is a great deal. It means potential national exposure, plus access to all the fun that ESPN WWOS and Disney World provides. For Disney vacationers, it means another 10 years of loud groups and noisy nights at the value resorts. Having to share your resort with Pop Warner football players and Cheerleaders is one of the big complaints I read on discussion boards. On the balance though, I think this is a good deal.
Under the contract extension, which runs through 2019, more than 40 hours of live game coverage and game action cut-ins will be shown on ESPN3.com. In addition, the Division I Midget national championship game will be aired on ESPN2 and other networks.
Read More »Pop Warner Super Bowl signs 10 year deal to play at ESPN WWOS Complex
I’m at a bit of a loss to wrap my mind around this announcement made on the Disney Parks blog today — ESPN The Weekend has been canceled. The message from Darrell Fry, Sports Media Director at Walt Disney World, claims that Disney wants to… Read More »ESPN The Weekend Canceled
“Aren’t you a little young for an NHL spokesperson?”
“Why yes. Yes we are.”
That’s not a line of dialog from the popular Phineas & Ferb animated show on Disney Channel, but it might as well be. The brothers and their friends have been opted into a co-branded plan between Disney Consumer Products and the National Hockey League (NHL) to make exclusive 20111 NHL licensed products.
The Disney and the NHL collection will include apparel, headwear, house and home products and collectibles featuring characters from Phineas and Ferb wearing NHL and team-branded merchandise. NHL and Disney licensees will deliver the new products to retail stores throughout North America in fall 2011, just in time for the new school year and the 2011-12 NHL season.
“The Phineas and Ferb brand evokes creativity, youthfulness and high energy, not unlike the NHL brand,” said Jim Haskins, Group Vice President, Consumer Product Licensing. “The NHL is thrilled to be working with such a premier Disney property as nearly one third of NHL fans are between the ages of six and 17, and 65 percent of those fans watch the Disney Channel.”
Read More »Phineas & Ferb meet the NHL in Merchandise Agreement
An article in the Orlando Sentinel’s sports section focuses on one of the unique benefits that comes with sports training at ESPN Wide World of Sports at Walt Disney World. It’s called cyrotherapy. It’s the same technology that cryogenic facilities use to quickly freeze a… Read More »Cryotherapy at ESPN WWoS Advances Sports Therapy
I am so totally jealous of that shirt! Click to embiggen. Just a hop skip and a jump from the Lasseter family winery and a little bit further from the Emeryville Studios of Pixar, you’ll find a place where the cars from Pixar’s Cars movie… Read More »Cars 2 at NASCAR’s Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Valley
I’ve been a fan of Indy Car style racing since watching my first Indianapolis 500 on TV back in 1978. That race holds a special place in my heard and the hearts of millions. For race car drivers nothing matches the feeling of winning an… Read More »Dan Wheldon 2011 Indianapolis 500 champion feted at Magic Kingdom