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Oct 29, 2025
📺 SportsEngine Splits from NBC as apart of the Launch of Versant
📣 Bill Seely President of Varsity Spirit talks Pro Cheer League alongside Rosie Spaulding President of LOVB Pro
🎬 ESPN’s ‘Monsters Funday Football’ Brings Eagles-Chargers to Monstropolis December 8
🎙️Coming Soon… The Interview Locker Room – from Kylie Casey and Co.
📺 SportsEngine Splits from NBC as apart of the Launch of Versant
Yesterday at the National Youth Sports Summit at LakePoint. Matt Hong, President of Sports at Versant officially announced the split of SportsEngine from NBC along with other media entities.
Comcast NBCUniversal has announced its new publicly traded company, Versant, comprised of most of NBCUniversal’s cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass, and SportsEngine.
The well-capitalized company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content. More details to come, but the spin-off is expected to be completed by end of 2025.
📣 Bill Seely President of Varsity Spirit talks Pro Cheer League
Varsity Spirit announced the Pro Cheer League, the world’s first professional cheerleading platform for elite athletes aged 18 and older. The league launches in 2026 with teams in four cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Miami, and San Diego. Each team consists of up to 30 top-tier athletes competing across five high-energy events in cities nationwide.
“Cheerleading is more than crowd leading, stunts, routines, and competitions. It’s a celebration of athleticism, teamwork, and unyielding spirit,” said Bill Seely, President of Varsity Spirit and 1990 college cheer national champion. “The Pro Cheer League represents a bold step forward, showcasing the very best of our sport at a professional level.”
League vision and impact:
- Professional pathway: Athletes can continue cheer careers beyond high school and college with professional training, compensation, and national exposure
- Youth inspiration: Create role models showing young athletes a clear path to pursue dreams at the highest level
- Global growth: Amplify cheerleading’s reach worldwide, inviting new talent and fans to join the community
- Sport evolution: Drive innovation and ensure cheerleading’s legacy for years to come
Seely connected the league to his personal journey: “As a young boy growing up in New York, it was my dream to play for the New York Yankees, and this dream drove me to push myself to be the best player I could be. While I didn’t quite reach that level, I built the character traits that have aided me in so many of my other pursuits and helped me win a national championship with my college cheer team in 1990. We want the Pro Cheer League to ignite that same passion in young athletes.”
Call to community support:
Seely emphasized the league’s success depends entirely on support from the cheer community. “I want to urge everyone, whether you’re a school coach, gym owner, choreographer, sponsor, or simply a passionate supporter, to champion this league,” he said. “While Varsity Spirit remains deeply committed to the long-term success of our current disciplines in school, all star, and college cheer and dance, the success of this new league depends entirely on the support of the cheer community.”
The Pro Cheer League aims to create a future where cheerleading is recognized globally for the dynamic and inspiring discipline it truly is, with professional athletes competing on a global stage and inspiring the next generation to push their limits and strive for excellence.
🎬 ESPN’s ‘Monsters Funday Football’ Brings Eagles-Chargers to Monstropolis December 8
ESPN, Disney, Pixar, and the NFL will present Monsters Funday Football on Monday, December 8, a real-time animated Monday Night Football game featuring the Philadelphia Eagles at Los Angeles Chargers inside the iconic Monsters, Inc. building. The broadcast marks the third consecutive season of Funday Football presentations following The Simpsons Funday Football (December 2024) and Toy Story Funday Football (October 2023).
Technology and distribution:
- Platforms: ESPN2, Disney Channel, Disney XD, ESPN App, Disney+, NFL+ mobile
- Technology: Powered by NFL Next Gen Stats, Sony’s Beyond Sports visualization, and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking
- International reach: Available live in 155+ markets including Latin America, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Canada
Every Eagles and Chargers player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated version of themselves brought to life through player tracking data. Beyond Sports’ virtual recreation engine animates gameplay in real time within Monstropolis that mirrors the live action from SoFi Stadium.
Monsters, Inc. integration:
- Main characters: Mike Wazowski joins Eagles, James P. “Sulley” Sullivan joins Chargers for key offensive and defensive moments
- Setting: The Cheer Floor (reimagined Scare Floor) with full-length football field and thousands of cheering monsters
- Competition: Teams compete for Cheer Canisters (rebrand of Scream Canisters)
- Additional characters: Roz serves as sideline reporter, CDA monitors crowd and game
- Original voices: Billy Crystal (Mike), John Goodman (Sulley), Bob Peterson (Roz) return through prerecorded lines
Drew Carter and Dan Orlovsky will call the action live as animated versions of themselves using virtual reality technology and Sony’s Beyond Sports Virtual Commentator Technology. ESPN content creator Katie Feeney will serve as social media correspondent in pre-produced animated segments.
“Each iteration of Funday Football has pushed the boundary of what’s possible in sports technology,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN VP, Graphics Innovation. “By blending real-time NFL data and tracking with cutting-edge animation, we’re transforming the way fans experience an NFL game.”
Awards recognition: Toy Story Funday Football earned three Sports Emmys (Outstanding Production Design, George Wensel Technical Achievement, Outstanding Graphic Design) and four US Festival Awards. The Simpsons Funday Football received multiple Sports Emmy nominations and a SportsPro Media Award nomination for Best Branded Sports Content.
The traditional Monday Night Football telecast with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Lisa Salters, and Laura Rutledge will be available on ESPN, ABC, and ESPN Deportes. Both presentations begin at 8 p.m. ET.
📣 🎙️Coming Soon… The Interview Locker Room – from Kylie Casey and Co.
High school athletes spend countless hours training their bodies. But what about training their communication skills?
When college coaches call, it’s not casual conversation. It’s an interview with the leaders of their dream programs. Interviews that can define the next four years of their life.
The Interview Locker Room teaches athletes how to:
- Prepare their story
- Talk about their game
- Own their future
Athletes show up: Confident. Prepared. Professional. Ready.
👥 Parents: Your athlete has worked too hard to let off-the-field preparation hold them back. They’ve trained for the game. Now help them prepare for the conversation that will shape their future.
🏆 The Interview Locker Room
Winning the Interview. Training for Life.
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