Another Example of Why…

You never know what will happen when you go to the ballpark – or tune into a game on television.

The D-backs and Yankees wrapped up their series last night (April 18) and the D-backs exciting 12-inning 6-2 win wasn’t the only storyline. There was also Didi Gregorius homering in his first at-bat in a D-backs uniform — on the first pitch he saw, Patrick Corbin dealing in front of family and friends against the team he grew up cheering for, two catcher interference calls and then THIS…

One guy in the stands catching TWO home runs. Yes, that’s right. The same guy caught not one, but two home runs in the same game – and he was wearing D-backs gear at Yankee Stadium! Here’s the story that FOX Sports Arizona shared with its television audience (one that peaked at a 5.8 rating – 104,550 Phoenix households at 8:00 pm) as well as on social media and FOXSportsArizona.com.

Gregorious led off the third inning with the homer to right field that was caught by a man wearing a D-backs hat and shirt. At first, everyone just thought it was a lone D-backs fan who wouldn’t give into Yankees fans demands to throw it back. Then later, it was discovered this “fan” who caught the ball was New Yorker Zack Hample, the notorious baseball collector and author who has now caught over 6500 baseballs at MLB games.

The story then takes a even crazier turn in the bottom of the 9th inning when Hample catches his SECOND home run of the night — New York’s Francisco Cervelli homer to left field that tied the game and forced extra innings.

FOX Sports Arizona stayed on the story during the game and Jody Jackson found Hample after the first home run catch for an interview.  In it, Hample claimed he would have caught a third from D-back Martin Parado  if not for preparing for the interview with Jackson!

@FOXSPORTSAZ was also on top of it to continue conversation on social media — showcasing the first home run catch (when it was believed he was a D-backs fan), the second home run and Hample’s tweet about the first catch and the second one as well. The first catch was highlighted on FOX Sports Arizona’s Facebook page and became its most-liked and shared photo ever.
Then finally, FOXSportsArizona.com wrapped it up with a story and photo of Hample meeting Gregorius after the game.

A Premiere Event Hosted by FOX Sports Arizona

To roll out the latest episode in its Emmy Award winning “In My Own Words” series, FOX Sports Arizona took a different approach to market and publicize it – and it proved to be a huge success.

For “In My Own Words – Shane Doan” that profiles the lifelong Phoenix Coyotes star and captain, the network hosted a first-of-its-kind public premiere – billing it as a “see it in person before it airs on television” type of event. And if that was not enough to create some buzz, interest in the premiere was elevated even further when Doan agreed to appear and watch the show along with fans!

That party took place last Saturday at 18 Degrees Neighborhood Grill which is inside the Scottsdale IceDen – a rink the Coyotes use for their practice facility. The show was played on each of the establishment’s HD televisions as FOX Sports Arizona took over the restaurant for the event! Although  it started at 5:00 pm, the restaurant started to fill up at 3:30 and by the time the premiere began, nearly 400 Coyotes fans packed the place to watch.

FOX Sports Arizona’s Todd Walsh conducted the interview for the show and emceed the premiere as well. The FOX Sports Arizona Girls were on hand to meet fans and assist in the raffle giveaway of Doan-autographed DVD copies of the show. In addition, phoenixcoyotes.com was there to cover it, the Coyotes mascot Howler was on hand, as were members of the Coyotes Paw Patrol and Doan’s teammate Paul Bissonnette (aka @BizNasty2point0 – and a guy with 407,000+ Twitter followers) made a surprise appearance as well.

The event generated a good amount of talk on Twitter from fans who attended it. Since the show debuted two days after the public premiere, it provided  opportunities for pre publicity it wouldn’t have gained without the event (Coyotes PR director Tweet).

6 Arizona High School Basketball Championship Games on Saturday

The AIA Division I, II & III Boys & Girls State Basketball Championship games are this Saturday (Feb. 23) at Jobing.com Arena and all six games will be televised on either FOX Sports Arizona Plus or FOX Sports Arizona.

Four games will air live on FOX Sports Arizona Plus and two will be delayed on FOX Sports Arizona. Wondering who will play when and on what channel? Here you go:

D-II Girls: Saguaro/Liberty winner vs. Flowing Wells/Seton Catholic Prep winner (10:00 am/FSAZ+)

D-I Boys: Desert Mountain/Corona del Sol winner vs. Pinnacle/Cesar Chavez winner (4:00 pm/FSAZ+)

D-III Boys: Valley Christian/Snowflake winner vs. Scottsdale Christian/Gilbert Christian winner (6:00 pm/FSAZ+)

D-III Girls: Holbrook/Winslow winner vs. Window Rock/Valley (Sanders) winner (8:00 pm FSAZ+)

D-II Boys: Paradise Valley/Sunnyslope winner vs. Agua Fria/Salpointe Catholic winner (10:00 pm/FSAZ/taped)

D-I Girls: Hamilton/St. Mary’s winner vs. Pinnacle/Highland winner (12:00 am/FSAZ/taped)

All six games will also replay later on FOX Sports Arizona and the schedule is as follows:

2/25/2013 – 7:00 pm – Division II Girls

2/25/2013 – 9:00 PM – Division II Boys

2/25/2013 – 11:00 PM – Division I Girls

2/26/2013 – 4:00 PM – Division I Boys

2/28/2013 – 4:00 PM – Division III Boys

2/28/2013 – 11:00 PM – Division III Girls

3/23/2013 – 4:00 PM – Division II Girls

3/23/2013 – 6:00 PM – Division II Boys

3/23/2013 – 8:00 PM – Division I Girls

3/26/2013 – 5:00 PM – Division I Boys

3/26/2013 – 7:00 PM – Division III Boys

3/26/2013 – 9:00 PM -  Division III Girls

Use this link to find FOX Sports Arizona Plus channel listings:

Other notes on the games:

Due to bandwidth capacity, DISH will not carry the 6 and 8 pm high school basketball championships in HD

Due to bandwidth constraints, DirecTV will not offer the basketball championships in SD. These games will only air in HD.

 

Coyotes TV Ratings Off to a Great Start – Best in 12 Years

The Phoenix Coyotes ratings on FOX Sports Arizona are off to a fast start this season, with the team averaging a 1.0 rating in Phoenix through their first 10 games on FOX Sports Arizona. Their average rating for 2012-13 is up 150% over last year’s average (1.0 vs 0.4).

This marks the team’s best start since the 2000-01 season. The game versus Minnesota on February 4 delivered a 1.5 rating on FOX Sports Arizona, which is the Coyotes’ highest rated game on FOX Sports Arizona in nine years.

Footnote: ratings are not available for five other Coyotes telecasts that have aired on FOX Sports Arizona Plus this season.

The Coyotes return to action on Saturday afternoon when they are in Edmonton to take on the Oilers. FOX Sports Arizona’s coverage starts at 1:15 pm.

Honoring Arizona High School Football’s Very Best

On Friday, Jan. 11, FOX Sports Arizona continues with its commitment to showcasing Arizona’s high school sports by webcasting the marquee football awards event in the state!

It’s the 20th Annual Valley of the Sun National Football Foundation’s Arizona High School Champions Luncheon and it kicks off at 1:00 pm on FOXSportsArizona.com.  The website will stream the event live and here is the link so you can watch it. In addition to presenting awards to the best players and coaches from the 2012 season, UA and ASU head football coaches Rich Rodriguez and Todd Graham will be hand to speak as well.

The NFF’s blue-ribbon committee named the recipients of four special Arizona high school football awards and they will be honored during the luncheon.

* Patrick Joseph of Hamilton will receive the Frank Kush Award as the state’s top interior offensive lineman

* Eddie Giannina of Mountain Ridge will receive the Curley Culp Award as most outstanding defensive lineman

* Darell Garretson of Chandler, is the winner of the Danny White Award as the best senior quarterback

* Robert Relf of Brophy Prep will be honored with the Ron Pritchard Award as the top senior linebacker.

Also attending will be the All-State Top 25 Team as selected by the Arizona Football Coaches Association.

 

 

Happy Holidays from FOX Sports Arizona!

Happy Holidays to you and your family from everyone here at FOX Sports Arizona & FOXSportsArizona.com! Here’s our special holiday greeting to introduce a new staff member who will help us “Bring The Game Ho-Ho-Home!”

All the best in 2013 – click on the photo below to watch the video!

 

FOX Sports Arizona Becomes Home to High School Championship Events

FOX Sports Arizona recently reached an agreement with the Arizona Interscholastic Association to become the exclusive television home of 17 championship events in 2012-13.

FOX Sports Arizona will televise AIA championships for football, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball that are spread across different divisions. This new agreement makes it possible for FOX Sports Arizona to televise AIA baseball, softball and soccer games for the first time in the network’s history. In addition to being offered throughout Arizona and New Mexico on FOX Sports Arizona, the games can also be seen nationwide via home satellite packages, and some games will also be picked up for national telecast on FOX College Sports.

Here is the upcoming AIA championship telecast schedule which kicked off a few weeks ago with the Division I, II and III football title games. Times, announcers and telecast information for the games after football will be announced as they draw closer.

Boys Soccer – Division I, II: Feb. 9

Girls Soccer – Division I, II: Feb. 9

Boys Basketball – Division I, II, III: Feb. 23

Girls Basketball – Division I, II, III: Feb. 23

Softball – Division I, II: May 13

Baseball – Division I, II: May 14

“Adding 17 high school championship events to our programming lineup further extends our commitment to Arizona’s home teams and Arizona’s sports fans,” said Brian Hogan, FOX Sports Arizona Senior Vice President and General Manager. “We are thrilled to increase our high school coverage and showcase Arizona’s outstanding high school programs and student-athletes to a statewide audience.”

“It is great to be able to partner with FOX Sports Arizona to expand the television coverage to other sports including baseball, softball and soccer,” said Chuck Schmidt, AIA Associate Executive Director and COO.  “We are excited for the next two years to showcase Arizona high school athletics on FOX Sports Arizona.”

We Got Spirit Yes We Do!

Some of FOX Sports Arizona’s employees took part in the nationwide “College Colors Day” today to show their school pride and ensure their college (or favorite school) was represented at work.

Many schools colors were on display, including Arizona, Arizona State, Northern Arizona, Oregon, Wyoming, San Diego State, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, Michigan and Eastern New Mexico!

We are happy to report that the UA and ASU fans got along perfectly – and there were no fights (yet…). Happy college football season!

Know An Everyday Hero? Reward Them For It!

Valley Chevy Dealers and FOX Sports Arizona are teaming up to honor and reward people in Arizona communities who have gone above and beyond to make a difference. It’s the “Everyday Hero” program and all you have to do is log on to www.ValleyChevy.com to make your nomination.

Let us know who it is and what they have done to deserve this special recognition! The heroes appear on our D-backs pre-game show (like this!) and win a $500 gift card! Check out this promo for all the details and we look forward to hearing from you!

 

FOX Sports Arizona Honors the Military on July 4

For the sixth consecutive year, FOX Sports Arizona used its July 4 telecast of an Arizona Diamondbacks game to honor the brave men and women in the United States Military. The network’s “This One’s For You, Presented by Sanderson Ford & Pepsi” was a television and web effort that brought Arizona National Guard families to Chase Field for the game, showcased soldiers getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan and used social media so viewers could express their thanks for the sacrifices the troops make each and every day.

July 4 was also the D-backs “Military Appreciation Day” at Chase Field, so the two organizations partnered to showcase everything that was happening in-stadium as well. FOX Sports Arizona produced a special one-hour pre-game show to televise the pre-game ceremonies and also invited 70 Arizona National Guard troops and family members to the game. They sat in a special section together and were interviewed throughout the telecast. In addition, Major General Hugo Salazar joined announcers Greg Schulte and Mark Grace in the booth, the Arizona National Guard’s Chief of Staff, Col Jeffrey Tipton appeared on the post-game show, while families of deployed soldiers were also interviewed on the pre-game show.

For both the telecast and a special “This One’s For You” page on FOXSportsArizona.com, the network and the Arizona National Guard teamed up to produce soldier “shout outs” directed to their loved ones back home in Arizona. These aired in game and were posted on the website as well.

FOX Sports Arizona worked with the McKendry family of Phoenix to video a Skype conversation so they could be reunited with their husband and father – Thomas William McKendry – who is currently serving in Afghanistan.  Their conversation was then shown during the telecast and displayed on FOXSportsArizona.com as well.

Social media was also relied on for further promotion and interaction of this effort. Fans were asked to submit messages of support for the military via Twitter, Facebook and FOXSportsArizona.com and all the responses were shown throughout the coverage via a ticker.

The FOX Sports Arizona Girls were also in attendance to mix and mingle with the Arizona National Guard families and were part of “The Weigh In” social media segment during the pre-game show to ask some families what their favorite July 4 memory was.