NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Time Inc.'s (NYSE:TIME) Sports Illustrated today announced an alliance with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (BSE) to produce the first-ever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Summer Music & Fan Festival, in conjunction with Live Nation, at world famous Coney Island on Sunday, August 28. The festival will feature a series of free daytime activities, including model appearances on the beach and boardwalk. A special concert will be held that evening at the new Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk. Talent and ticket information for the concert and special VIP packages to the daytime activities will be announced shortly.
“Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is globally renowned, and we are just scratching the surface of creating fan experiences which we believe will take the franchise to a whole new level of popularity,” said Rich Battista, President, Time Inc. Entertainment & Sports Group and Video. “We are very excited that our new partner Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment shares that vision. BSE, along with Live Nation, are the perfect team to help produce this first-of-its-kind event, and we look forward to a great day at Coney Island.”
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is a staple of popular culture, reaching more than 70 million fans through its portfolio of digital, social, print and experiential platforms. In the past two years, SI Swimsuit has produced very successful fan festivals in New York, Miami and Nashville, drawing thousands of fans to commemorate the release of the latest multi-platform edition. The 2016 Summer Music & Fan Festival, a first for the franchise, builds on this as part of the strategy to make SI Swimsuit a year-round enterprise.
Scheduled to open July 1, The Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk is a 5,000-seat covered open-air venue, the first of its kind in the Tri-State area. Live Nation is operating, booking and promoting the venue. BSE, the enterprise behind Barclays Center, is selling the naming rights and sponsorships, while also supporting the programming of the beachfront complex. In conjunction with Live Nation, the Summer Music & Fan Festival was booked through BSE’s Brooklyn Direct, a division designed to curate exclusive content.
“The new Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk and the SI Swimsuit Summer Music & Fan Festival are emblematic of summer fun in the city and we are thrilled to bring them together,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment. “As we move ahead, we anticipate aligning BSE venues with Time Inc. properties to create unique and original live content for the greater New York City area.”
The festival is the culmination of a series of summer content releases and announcements from SI Swimsuit that complement last February’s cross-platform, global edition and start the buzz for the 2017 edition. It includes the release of a new SI Swimsuit shoot featuring SI Swimsuit cover models Hailey Clauson, Hannah Ferguson and Erin Heatherton, the announcement of the 2016 Rookie of the Year and model search winners; more virtual reality content for the SI Swimsuit app and the first-ever live look into an official SI Swimsuit shoot delivered via Facebook Live and Snapchat.
SI will also premiere Swim Unfiltered, a new video series that delivers a real world look at the day-to-day lives of the models. For the series, SI Swimsuit models are opening their doors in unprecedented fashion. Viewers will go behind the scenes to the red carpets, the workouts, the homes and follow the daily grind of what it is like to be a Swimsuit model.
"The Summer of Swim will take our franchise to a completely new level and open up this exclusive world to all of our fans in entirely new ways,” said Swimsuit Editor MJ Day.
ABOUT BROOKLYN SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is the business enterprise that manages and controls Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets, and the New York Islanders business operations. It is currently overseeing the redevelopment of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, and will also manage the Coliseum’s future operations upon its opening in winter 2016. BSE identifies and creates alliances, strategic partners and other business opportunities to ensure the success of its assets.
ABOUT LIVE NATION
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, Live Nation Media & Sponsorship and Artist Nation Management. For additional information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com.
ABOUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated is the preeminent journalistic enterprise covering the world of sports both on and off the field. Debuting in 1954, SI has garnered worldwide acclaim for its award-winning storytelling born from an independent voice and unparalleled access to the most popular athletes and newsmakers from the sports world. This is the underpinning of the franchise, which now boasts a group of best-in-class consumer products and platforms reaching more than 73 million. The Sports Illustrated Group features the most-read sports magazine, a top 10 sports digital network and marquee franchises—Sports Illustrated Films, TheMMQB.com, the FanSided Network of websites, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, Sportsperson of the Year, the SI Golf Group (Golf magazine, Golf.com, SI Golf +), Extra Mustard and Sports Illustrated Kids. For more information, visit SI.com and follow @SINow on Twitter and @SportsIllustrated on Instagram and Facebook.
ABOUT TIME INC.
Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is one of the world¹s leading media companies, with a monthly global print audience of over 120 million and worldwide digital properties that attract more than 150 million visitors each month, including over 60 websites. Our influential brands include People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple and Southern Living, as well as more than 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom.
