BET to sponsor upcoming King's Men gospel tour

BET’s highest rated gospel music competition show, SUNDAY BEST and #1 music competition show on cable, has been named presenting sponsor of the highly anticipated gospel tour The King’s Men, which features four of the biggest names in the genre: Kirk Franklin, Marvin Sapp, Donnie McClurkin and Israel Houghton. BET’s SUNDAY BEST Presents The King’s Men Tour is set to kick off on September 16th in Phoenix, AZ, and run through 16 U.S. cities, culminating with an October 14th appearance at the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. The tour will visit Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre on September 20th



Tickets are on sale now for all dates at Ticketmaster.com and Livenation.com.



“On a national level, no other media platform supports the gospel and urban music genres like BET does,” said Kevin Morrow, Senior Vice President of Touring at Live Nation. “They will be a powerful partner as we make history with this incredible tour.”



Loretha Jones, President of Original Programming at BET Networks commented: “Our viewers know that BET is the place to see the best in gospel music. A partnership between Sunday’s Best and Live Nation to present The King’s Men made perfect sense. It's yet another way for us to support the incredible Kirk Franklin and Donnie McClurkin and at the same time enhance our audience’s experience of our channels.”



BET’s activities surrounding the tour will not be limited to SUNDAY BEST. Another popular BET show, LIFT EVERY VOICE, a half-hour program featuring insightful testimonies from some of mainstream and gospel’s biggest and brightest stars, will feature each of The King’s Men on their own episode in the weeks preceding the tour. Additionally, LIFT EVERY VOICE has announced “The King’s Man Contest”. One lucky winner will receive a 3 day/2 night trip for two to “SUNDAY BEST presents the King’s Men Tour” scheduled September 28, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia as personal guests of BET’s “Lift Every Voice” host, CoCo Brother. LIFT EVERY VOICE airs every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. (ET/PT).



BET and Live Nation are also working on a number of unique promotional activities to support The King’s Men tour which are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Fans of The King’s Men tour can watch SUNDAY BEST every Sunday at 8:00 p.m.* through its Sunday, September 2 finale on BET.



BET’s SUNDAY BEST Presents The King’s Men also announced today that World Vision will be the official charitable partner of the tour and will have a presence at every date. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.





BET’S SUNDAY BEST Presents THE KING’S MEN



DATE CITY VENUE

Sun, Sep 16 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre

Thu, Sep 20 Los Angeles, CA Gibson Amphitheatre

Sat, Sep 22 Concord, CA Sleep Train Amphitheatre

Tue, Sep 25 Dallas, TX Verizon Theatre At Grand Prairie

Thu, Sep 27 Houston, TX Reliant Arena

Fri, Sep 28 Atlanta, GA Chastain Amphitheatre

Sun, Sep 30 Miami, FL AmericanAirlines Arena

Tue, Oct 02 Tampa, FL USF Sun Dome

Thu, Oct 04 Norfolk, VA Constant Convocation Center

Fri, Oct 05 Hartford, CT XL Center

Sat, Oct 06 Washington DC Verizon Center

Sun, Oct 07 Philadelphia, PA Liacouras Center

Tue, Oct 09 Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center

Wed, Oct 10 Chicago, IL United Center

Fri, Oct 12 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre

Sun, Oct 14 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center