HBSE, Fox Sports, Playfly teaming up to put on Coretta Scott King Classic

A major women’s college basketball showcase, the Coretta Scott King Classic, was unveiled today, with Baylor, Maryland, Texas and UCLA set to play on Jan. 20 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) at Prudential Center in Newark. Fox will air the afternoon games.

“It was important to not only create a women’s event but to create one with deeper meaning and purpose — one that would energize student athletes, coaches and our brand partners — because we’re not the only sports entity thinking about this right now,” said Michael Neuman, co-head of Playfly Sports’ consulting arm. “There’s a lot more opportunities for the top women’s teams to participate in events like this. It was really important for us to be super different, and the reaction from the top teams in women’s college basketball was instant validation that this event would resonate with them in ways that others have not.”

The event is a landmark on a handful of levels. It’s the first time Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King’s names have been licensed for a sporting event. That arrangement came via the CSKC joint venture groups partnering with The King Center to launch the event.

The showcase also represents a major effort by Playfly Sports’ consulting arm to organize the event, further diversifying the markets the company is playing in these days.

“The bigger picture is how do we, Playfly Sports, stand out in the sports marketing and media landscape?” Neuman said. “When I arrived here, one of the things I noticed as I started thinking about this event is, well, we have USC, LSU, Baylor, Virginia Tech [as clients]. At the time, they’re all in the top 10 of women’s basketball last year for most of the season. How do we capitalize on their IP through these multimedia rights partnerships that we have?

Neuman added teams had to be turned down for inclusion in this year’s CSKC due to scale constraints. Time will tell, though, just how big the tournament will get.