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Fremantle serves up table tennis classic

FremantleMedia is making its first foray into sports and leisure, backing an event that’s being described as the largest table tennis tournament ever in the US, and is set to broadcast on ESPN.

The Hardbat Classic will bring together thousands of professional and amateur ping pong players for a three-day tournament, taking place at The Venetian in Las Vegas at the end of June.

The project was originally conceived by multi-platform entertainment company @radical.media and the Mark Gordon Company – whose founder counts Saving Private Ryan, Speed, Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds among his credits.

@radical.media will produce the televised tournament finale in September on ESPN and has overseen TV development together with Mark Gordon and FremantleMedia.

C21 revealed at Mipcom last year that FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) had taken equity stakes in two North American big arena sports events as part of a plan to continue expanding during the economic downturn. The Hardbat Classic is the first of these and FME will oversee sponsorship and merchandising moving forwards, as well as international TV distribution.

Promising a “360-degree branded table tennis entertainment experience,” the three parties have already signed Anheuser-Busch’s Bud Light as headline sponsor for the broadcast show on ESPN in September.

“Table tennis is once again part of the cultural Zeitgeist, and we think this is the time to take the sport out of the basement and launch the largest challenge in the history of the sport,” said @radical.media president of media and entertainment Robert Friedman.

“Almost everyone is familiar with the game of table tennis in one form or another and more than 250 million people play for fun or sport globally,” added FME CEO David Ellender.

“We saw a unique opportunity to take that passion and create an unparalleled live sports and entertainment event that would inspire everyday players to rise from underground table tennis pros to mainstream sports stars as they compete while millions of fans watch.”

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