We may not have an official premiere date yet for Game of Thrones season seven, but the HBO promotion machine is already revving up.
Deadline reports today that the network is teaming up with Major League Baseball to promote Game of Thrones, with “at least 19 Major League Baseball teams” participating this summer in the partnership.
The promotions are still in the works, and according to Deadline, “will vary by team.” As for what the promotions entail, it’s a little vague but promising: the report says there may be “development of collectible and co-branded merchandise, ticket packages, giveaways, theme nights, and social media events.”
Why Major League Baseball? “We’ve had a longstanding partnership with HBO,” says MLB’s EVP of Business Noah Garden. Apparently, HBO Now is powered by MLB’s BAMTech platform. The deal is beneficial to both parties since Game of Thrones‘ new season will premiere somewhere in the middle of baseball season, and GoT is popular with millennials, a demographic sought after by MLB.
Reportedly, the baseball teams currently set to take part include: the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Rays and Washington Nationals.
And no, MLB’s reps have “no idea” when season seven will arrive- at least, that’s what they’re telling Deadline. Visit the original article for more details!
Hodor
In the game of baseball, you win or you… try again tomorrow.
All Star week is the week of July 10th with the game itself on July 11th. So a premier date of July 9th would make sense, especially since MLB wants to court theGoT’s demographics.
Also, I would look to the World Baseball Classic, which starts next week, for a trailer to announce the the new partnership.
? That’s great! The Chicago Cubs need to get on board with this campaign! Awesome idea! Go CUBBIES!!
My two obsessions/loves together for the first time? Yes, please!! ?⚾? If my Giants have a GOT theme night, I am so there!
Haha, love it! ?
Too bad the Mets are not participating. Noah Syndergaard is a big fan of the books and show…and I mean just look at him. He could easily be an extra.
I expected my Twins to be participating. They’ve been so awful the last handful of seasons they’re probably willing to do anything to put butts in seats. I don’t see anything on their promotions/give-aways schedule as of yet that has anything to do with GoT or HBO. I’ll keep an eye on it though.
Come to think of it, Wun Wun was swinging a kind of bat at Hardhome.
Go Red Sox!
I predict that the official premiere date for Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1 will be Sunday June 18th 2017!!!!!!!!
Season 6 Episode 1 debuted Sunday April 24th 2016 –
Does anyone know when the official premiere date for Season 6 Episode 1 was announced???????????? thanks for the info
Giancarlo Stanton:
The One True King!
Kingslayer Feliz Hernandez!
The only problem with this is that Baseball is only popular in one country and the rest of us don’t get to benefit:-)
wilshade,
The first thing I thought of was the season premier would be around the same time of the All-Star game. This sort of cross promotion means GOT has entered into Star Wars territory of popularity. Not sure it will do anything for MLB to attract a younger audience, as the sport is struggling to do. But if you’re a fan of GOT and baseball already, it’s pretty neat.
Jon Snowed,
Just to nitpick, I’d hardly say that. While the sport is not popular in Europe, it is popular in parts of Asia and extremely popular in the Caribbean. Not to mention Canada and Mexico. So while it is not soccer/futbol or basketball, it does have a following outside the US.
What?!!! No Mets or Yankees?!!
They need to get on board with this ?
The Leftovers Season 3 finale is June 18th, so the earliest Season 7 will premiere is June 25th.
Actually, the sport is popular throughout North & South America, as well as Japan, Italy and Spain.
And contrary to popular opinion here in the States, it wasn’t created here but in Great Britain. 🙂
The Toronto Blue Jays need to get on this!!!!!!!!
Awesome, I love it.. and this is HUGE for Game of Thrones…. didn’t think they could get huger… lol
MLB is extremely popular in the US, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean… let alone other parts of the world.
Awesome!
Second!!!!
As a GOT & baseball fan, I love this! Go Cards!!
wilshade,
The July 9 premiere as a tie-in with the All-Star game makes sense. Thanks for posting the dates!
I wonder if this is the special promotion that Liam mentioned?
This is exactly what I was going to say about my Padres. They will most assuredly be bottom dwellers in the league again this season so they need to have something, anything to bring in fans. Since padre means father they could do a “who the hell is Jon Snow’s dad?” night and offer Ommegang beer. This promotion is a no brainer.
The San Francisco Giants just tweeted that they will be having their Game of Thrones night on Thursday July 20th. I wonder if the date is meant to coincide with the S7 premiere. Obviously, GOT wouldn’t premiere on 7/20 but maybe it’ll be the weekend immediately before or after. I think we’ll have a clearer idea when the other baseball teams announce their GOT theme nights.
I predict that Littlefinger, shortstop for The Vale Vermins, will set a new record for stolen bases next season.
The Houston Astros – Your 2017 World Series Champions!
I already have my tickets for opening day, I hope I get something cool.
firstone,
Last year HBO announced the Season 6 premiere date of April 24 on January 7.
Glad to see the Cardinals are on the list! Not a huge fan, but I would buy some merchandise if they have cool cross-over items.
If Season 7 does indeed premiere around the All Star Game (probably on July 9, with the game being on the 11), what a strange way to find out!
OK, I’m picturing food-concession posters showing a grinning Ramsay brandishing a hot dog…
If a hometeam really wanted to be mean, they’d have the stadium organist play ‘The Rains of Castamere’ every time the visiting team came up to bat.
ugh to put it politely
Third! Come on…I want my Mets to have a GOT day.
Ryan Neuner,
Great! I think HBO will announce the Game of Thrones Season 7 premiere date by the end of this month… March 2017
On Sunday March 12th 2017 I hope someone ask David Benioff and D,B. Weiss at the SXSW conference if they know when Game of Thrones season 7 will premiere or if they know when HBO will post the Game of Thrones season 7 premiere date.
Being European I am also not too excited about this cross promotion but I guess GOT’s popularity might really help to boost MLBs popularity while GOT does not need any advertisement at this point. Both happening over the summer it makes sense to cross-promote them possibly.
Despite being easily excitable by any kind of sport I never quite understood the fascination with baseball but that’s just my view.
Being a Chicago White Sox fan, I think this could be really awesome. The White Sox marketing department can be really creative at times so I hope they have the idea to have a Game of Thrones home game night where fans can come out and dress up as GoT characters.
I know that many major league baseball teams have a Star Wars day/night so why not a GoT event!
This is blasphemy! The complete and utter whoring of Game of Thrones :'(
Firannion,
“A grinning Ramsay brandishing a hotdog.”
That’s hysterical !! ???
No Angels?? This promo sucks.
So when an umpire keeps missing balls and strikes, should a fan unfurl a banner with a large photo of a bloodied post-enucleation Meryn F. Trant, and scream “You’re no one. You’re nothing!” ?
BunBunStark,
“You know nothing, J.T. Snow.”
– Pudge Rodriguez
(~ 13 years have passed. Too soon?)
BunBunStark,
I really think the premiere will be the 16th of July. It doesn’t make sense to have it before that. The 20th will be the start to the first home stand after the All Star break, and therefore will coincide perfectly with the hype of the show having just premiered.
As a girl in Phoenix, I look forward to the opportunity to obtain a Tyrion bobble head. ??
MeeraReed,
LOL Exactly! That is the most likely “Give-a-way” Night that baseball can do for GoT. I would be very disappointed if they didn’t do that.
childoftheforest,
I’ve already arranged with my nephew in Miami to dress up as Joffrey if there’s a GoT-themed evening at Marlins Park. We’ll try to get him a seat directly behind home plate, so if a relief pitcher for the visiting team comes in with bases loaded in a tie game, my nephew can stand up and clasp his throat to give the “choke” signal. (The pitcher would see him, and the shots from the center field camera should insure that it gets on TV.)
Now I’ve got to see if I can convince my niece to go with him dressed up as Margaery, and cry out “He’s choking!”
orange,
You must be prescient. You got your wish. Noah S. IS going to appear on the show as an extra.