The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Thursday, August 9, 2001
4:00pm ET
| • | CBA Ties DiMaggio – League Back For 56th Year |
| • | Check Out The Perks Offered For Selling Office Space |
| • | EA Sports Gets In The Racing Game With Talladega Sponsorship |
| • | Former Time Man Of The Year Selling Amazon Stock |
| • | Buzzer Beaters |
| • | Channel Surfing |
CBA RETURNS FOR 56TH CONSECUTIVE SEASON
The Continental Basketball Association today announced that it will tip off its 56th consecutive season on November 16th. Seven teams have committed to play in the league while four markets are in negotiations and may launch play this year or in ’02-03. The league will also feature teams from the International Basketball Association. CBA Executive Committee Chair Jay Frye, on the new CBA: "To have teams from two leagues come together, agree on a business model and select the ideal leader is a testament to how committed this business group is to assuring that the CBA will prosper "(THE DAILY).
LANDLORDS OFFER SPORTS INCENTIVES TO FILL VACANCIES
BLOOMBERG NEWS reports that "U.S. office vacancies jumped to 10.8 percent in the second quarter, the highest level in four years," prompting landlords to offer incentives to fill space. N.Y. real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield is offering tickets to each of the baseball, basketball, football and hockey championships "to the broker who fills the top floor of New York’s Equitable Building." The top floor became available when Southwest Sports Group Chair Tom Hicks’ investment firm, Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, "decided to sublease the space one year after signing a lease" (BLOOMBERG NEWS/SEATTLE TIMES, 8/9).
EA SPORTS SIGNS TITLE SPONSOR DEAL WITH TALLADEGA
CA video-game producer EA Sports signed a three-year deal to title sponsor the fall Winston Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. EA Sports takes over from RJ Reynolds, which sponsored the Winston 500 for 31 years. The new race will be called the EA Sports 500, which makes its debut on NBC October 21st (THE DAILY).
BEZOS SELLS AMAZON.COM STOCK
REUTERS reports that Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos "has sold $3.7 million worth of the online retailer’s stock." A company spokesman said "the sale represents less than one percent of Bezos’ holdings…and was part of his routine liquidity and diversification program." Back in March, Bezos was investigated by the SEC for "stock sold in early February just before a Wall Street research firm released a negative report" on Amazon (REUTERS/YAHOO, 8/9).
BUZZER BEATERS
With six months to go before the opening ceremonies of the '02 Winter Games, SLOC President Mitt Romney said that "a decision has been made on who will light" the Olympic flame in ’02. But Romney "offered no clues as to who it might be" (DESERET NEWS, 8/9)….Suzy Kolber returns as a host for ESPN and ESPN2’s coverage of the X Games and will anchor ABC’s coverage. Selma “Sal” Masekela will also serve as host on ESPN and ESPN2 (THE DAILY)….Mike Tyson will reportedly fight Danish boxer Brian Nielsen in Denmark’s Parken Stadium on September 8th (AP/ESPN.com, 8/9)….Serena Williams "says she has kicked a serious Internet shopping habit that involved spending six hours daily online" (AP/ESPN.com, 8/9)….The Texans named former Steelers business coordinator Dan Ferens as their Dir of Negotiations (AP/BOSTON GLOBE, 8/9).
THE DAILY STATS
The following presents MLB road attendance through August 6 compared to '00 and '99 final road attendance:
| | DATES | TOTAL | '01
AVG. | '00
AVG. | % +/-
'00-'01 | '99
AVG. | % +/-
'99-'01 |
| NYY | 52 | 1,887,153 | 36,291 | 35,512 | 2.2% | 33,712 | 7.7% |
| STL | 50 | 1,798,482 | 35,970 | 33,628 | 7.0% | 35,703 | 0.7% |
| CUB | 60 | 2,140,981 | 35,683 | 34,560 | 3.2% | 34,575 | 3.2% |
| CIN | 57 | 2,014,964 | 35,350 | 37,701 | -6.2% | 28,393 | 24.5% |
| SF | 53 | 1,867,019 | 35,227 | 32,040 | 9.9% | 30,379 | 16.0% |
| LA | 53 | 1,802,364 | 34,007 | 33,908 | 0.3% | 32,361 | 5.1% |
| SD | 52 | 1,687,431 | 32,451 | 29,812 | 8.9% | 30,594 | 6.1% |
| BOS | 52 | 1,684,042 | 32,385 | 31,170 | 3.9% | 30,022 | 7.9% |
| ARZ | 51 | 1,646,099 | 32,276 | 29,885 | 8.0% | 30,203 | 6.9% |
| ANA | 60 | 1,917,023 | 31,950 | 28,050 | 13.9% | 27,636 | 15.6% |
| NYM | 59 | 1,882,851 | 31,913 | 31,793 | 0.4% | 31,709 | 0.6% |
| SEA | 60 | 1,895,835 | 31,597 | 27,612 | 14.4% | 30,585 | 3.3% |
| COL | 52 | 1,572,561 | 30,242 | 27,902 | 8.4% | 28,070 | 7.7% |
| MIN | 55 | 1,658,286 | 30,151 | 28,800 | 4.7% | 28,178 | 7.0% |
| CWS | 52 | 1,554,107 | 29,887 | 29,051 | 2.9% | 29,006 | 3.0% |
| MIL | 50 | 1,490,305 | 29,806 | 26,839 | 11.1% | 25,705 | 16.0% |
| DET | 51 | 1,506,179 | 29,533 | 26,056 | 13.3% | 26,952 | 9.6% |
| TEX | 58 | 1,712,318 | 29,523 | 29,716 | -0.7% | 25,942 | 13.8% |
| CLE | 52 | 1,533,396 | 29,488 | 29,358 | 0.4% | 30,312 | -2.7% |
| ATL | 57 | 1,669,832 | 29,295 | 31,674 | -7.5% | 30,988 | -5.5% |
| OAK | 58 | 1,661,957 | 28,654 | 30,832 | -7.1% | 28,115 | 1.9% |
| MON | 59 | 1,687,723 | 28,605 | 28,096 | 1.8% | 28,776 | -0.6% |
| HOU | 52 | 1,485,615 | 28,570 | 30,582 | -6.6% | 26,032 | 9.7% |
| KC | 60 | 1,700,227 | 28,337 | 28,684 | -1.2% | 27,692 | 2.3% |
| PHI | 58 | 1,621,667 | 27,960 | 30,461 | -8.2% | 28,353 | -1.4% |
| BAL | 56 | 1,564,284 | 27,934 | 25,185 | 10.9% | 27,541 | 1.4% |
| PIT | 58 | 1,601,554 | 27,613 | 30,664 | -9.9% | 27,472 | 0.5% |
| TBY | 61 | 1,665,456 | 27,303 | 27,448 | -0.5% | 27,586 | -1.0% |
| TOR | 52 | 1,398,323 | 26,891 | 27,258 | -1.3% | 26,999 | -0.4% |
| FLA | 59 | 1,491,336 | 25,277 | 28,830 | -12.3% | 26,604 | -5.0% |
|
| MLB | 1,659 | 50,799,370 | 30,620 | 30,099 | 1.7% | 29,210 | 4.8% |
The following lists the ten largest television markets in the U.S. (PALM BEACH POST, 8/9).
| 1 | New York City |
| 2 | Los Angeles |
| 3 | Chicago |
| 4 | Philadelphia |
| 5 | San Francisco-Oakland |
| 6 | Boston |
| 7 | Dallas-Ft. Worth |
| 8 | Washington, DC |
| 9 | Atlanta |
| 10 | Detroit |
CHANNEL SURFING
THURSDAY
ESPN’s "Outside The Lines" will air "Sports In Court: Lawsuits & Litigation" at 7:00pm ET.
Dave Winfield will be on "The Late Late Show" with Craig Kilborn, as well as "The Last Word."
Joe Frazier will be on "Up Close."
The "Fox Family Game of The Week" will feature Giants-Reds.
FSN will air live first round coverage of the PGA Tour’s Buick Open at 4:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic’s "SportsCentury" will profile Jackie Robinson.
A&E’s "Biography" will profile Don Knotts and Andy Griffith.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Tonight Show" | Molly Shannon |
| "The Late Show" | Kate Hudson |
| "The Late Late Show" | Dave Winfield |
| "Late Night" | Helen Hunt |
| "Charlie Rose" | James Wolcott |
FRIDAY MORNING
WUSA Spirit D Joy Fawcett will be on NBC’s "Today" show.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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