EPL Signs Content Agreements with USA Today, Big Lead Sports

The Epic Poker League announced two content partnership deals this week, hoping to raise the profile of the league and give it a wider media presence.

The first agreement was one made with the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. This deal will see USA Today publish the Global Poker Index rankings in both the print and online editions of the newspaper, under the title of the USA TODAY Global Poker Index.

"More Americans are playing and watching poker than ever before, and this partnership will enable us to provide that avid, growing audience with the content they want," said Tom Beusse, president of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. "The USA TODAY Global Poker Index will give our readers access to new and relevant content that's easy to track and understand. It will also help open up the game of poker to the casual fan as well."

The second partnership will see the EPL become the exclusive poker content provider for Big Lead Sports, a leading online sports property in the United States. As part of the agreement, the EPL will provide Big Lead Sports with tournament highlights, articles written and reported on by EPL writers, and video content related to the EPL.

"Partnering with Epic Poker will enable us to offer our fans top-notch coverage and insights into everything happening in the world of poker," said Chris Russo, chief executive officer of Big Lead Sports. "Epic Poker's pool of talented poker feature writers will be providing coverage of all the world-class players and tournaments and will complement the already growing archive of poker news content found on EpicPoker.com."

The Epic Poker League is currently in the middle of it’s first season, with the third tournament of the season set to begin in early December. The tournament features a pro card system that requires players to qualify for the tour through excellent performance at high level tournaments around the world. Players can also gain single-event exemptions by playing in Pro-Am events held before each tour Main Event.

"Our work with the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Big Lead Sports will help drive poker deeper into the mainstream news cycle and further position the game right alongside other professional sports content," said Jeffrey Pollack, executive chairman of the Epic Poker and its parent company, Federated Sports + Gaming.