| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, November 21, 2001
4:00pm ET | |
| • | Settlement Reached In PepsiCo's Lawsuit Against FCB |
| • | Cyber Group Hopes Clippers Deal Start Of Something Bigger |
| • | Sabres Still Trying To Solve Their Season-Ticket Dilemma |
| • | ESPN Classic Revs Up Moving Tribute To Dale Earnhardt |
| • | Jane Fonda Joins Shareef Abdur-Rahim To Distribute Turkeys In Atlanta |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Holiday Channel Surfing |
PUBLISHING NOTICE: The Closing Bell will not publish on Thursday, November 22, or Friday, November 23, in observance of the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Our next issue will be Monday, November 26. Have a safe and happy holiday.
SETTLEMENT ALLOWS FCB EMPLOYEES TO WORK FOR COCA-COLA
ADWEEK.com reports a settlement "has been reached in PepsiCo's lawsuits against Foote, Cone & Belding that will allow all but about a dozen FCB employees to start working on Coca-Cola's Powerade and Dasani water brands after Dec. 20." Pepsi "had sued in an effort to block FCB – specifically veterans of Pepsi's Aquafina and Quaker's Gatorade brands – from starting work for Coke" (ADWEEK.com, 11/21).
CYBER GROUP'S RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIPPERS A STEPPING STONE
California-based Cyber Group Network today announced it has entered into a marketing and advertising agreement with the Clippers. The Cyber Group, a cyber security provider, will run ads, banners and promotions for their products during games and other Clipper events. The company also plans to enter into agreements with other teams in the NBA, NFL and MLB (THE DAILY).
SABRES STRUGGLE TO PREVENT SEASON-TICKET SLIDE
The BUFFALO NEWS reports that the Sabres' most recent troubling trend "lies in season-ticket sales, which have dropped by 25 percent over the past two years." The team "sold the equivalent of 12,341 season tickets (taking into account partial-season packages) in 1999-2000, 10,422 last season and 9,200 this season." Sabres Senior VP/Marketing Christye Peterson said, "Even though our population is shrinking here in Western New York, I think our fan base is pretty stable" (BUFFALO NEWS, 11/21).
SPORTSCENTER CONVERTS NFL LEAD-IN INTO RECORD RATINGS
ESPN's "SportsCenter" had its highest rated telecast of the year last Sunday, November 18, with its show following the Rams-Patriots "Sunday Night Football" game. The telecast posted a 3.64 average rating, reaching 3,101,925 HHs, beating the previous high on Sunday, November 11, with a 3.11 average rating, reaching 2,655,910 HHs (Mark McGwire's retirement announcement) (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports that Golf Channel anchor Rick Lerner will host "New York Stories … Of Enduring Spirit" tonight on the channel at 9:00pm ET. The commercial-free will "look at the life stories and passion for the game of five people, four of whom died in the tragic events of Sept. 11" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 11/18).
The L.A. TIMES reports that ESPN Classic "has pieced together a compilation of vignettes that tell the story of" NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt, for a special that will air tonight at 5:00pm ET (
L.A. TIMES, 11/21).
The Predators have opened a new Pro Shop for holiday shopping at Bellevue Center Mall in Nashville, TN. The holiday store, which opens November 23, will remain open through December 31 (THE DAILY).
ESPN will present "2001 Salute to Women in Sports" on Thursday at 1:00pm ET, which features the top performances of athletes and teams throughout the year. Academy Award-winning actress Holly Hunter will host (THE DAILY).
The Int'l Automobile Federation reiterated its plans today to "ban tobacco sponsorship and advertising from motorsports by the end of 2006," and "urged competitors from Formula One and Rally to move away from tobacco sponsorship" as well (AP, 11/21).
HOLIDAY EVENTS
The Predators will debut the team's
third jersey as part of the "Gold Rush Returns To Nashville" program during tonight's game against the Blackhawks. The team will wear the jersey for ten home games (
THE DAILY).
Winston Cup driver Ricky Craven will greet fans at the FleetCenter at 6:00pm ET tonight, prior to the Celtics' game against the Hawks (THE DAILY).
Hawks F Shareef Abdur-Rahim will spend Thanksgiving helping out needy families in the Atlanta area with his Thanksgiving Day Dinner Delivery. Abdur-Rahim, who will be joined by Jane Fonda for the final delivery of the day at the Lost Boys Foundation, will pick up turkey dinners from Winn Dixie in Smyrna, GA, at 9:00am ET (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS…..
Shares of Enron Corp. "plunged another 28 percent Wednesday morning as analysts and investors continued to doubt the once-mighty energy trader's ability to recover lost business and investor confidence" (AP, 11/21).
THE DAILY STAT
NFL Thanksgiving Day Ratings
| The following are the final Nielsen ratings for the past three year's NFL Thanksgiving Day games |
| | | | | |
| YR | NET | MATCH-UP | TIME | RAT/SHR |
| '00 | CBS | Patriots-Lions | 12:30-3:45pm | 12.1/32 |
| | Fox | Vikings-Cowboys | 4:15-7:15pm | 12.8/34 |
| | | | | |
| '99 | Fox | Bears-Lions | 1:00-4:00pm | 13.2/34 |
| | CBS | Dolphins-Cowboys | 4:15-7:00pm | 16.1/42 |
| | | | | |
| '98 | CBS | Steelers-Lions | 12:30-4:00pm | 15.6/42 |
| | Fox | Vikings-Cowboys | 4:00-7:15pm | 16.5/43 |
HOLIDAY CHANNEL SURFING
WEDNESDAY
TNT will air the final round of the PGA Tour's Grand Slam Of Golf at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN will air the Maui Invitational Final, Ball St.-Duke, at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air the Great Alaska Shootout, Indiana-AK Anchorage, at 11:30pm ET.
THURSDAY
Fox will air Packers-Lions at 12:30pm ET.
CBS will air Broncos-Cowboys at 4:00pm ET.
ESPN will air college football, Mississippi-Mississippi State, at 7:30pm ET.
TNT will air Wizards-Pacers at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Kings-Oilers at 9:00pm ET.
ABC will air "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" at 8:00pm ET.
Brad Pitt will guest star on "Friends" at 8:00pm ET.
Blythe Danner, Debbie Reynolds and Beau Bridges will guest star on "Will & Grace" at 9:00pm ET.
FRIDAY
ESPN will air college football, Southern Miss.-East Carolina, at 11:00am ET.
ABC will air college football, Texas-Texas A&M, at noon ET.
NBC will air the NASCAR Winston Cup New Hampshire 300 at noon ET.
ABC will air college football, Nebraska-Colorado, at 3:30pm ET.
ESPN will air college football, Louisville-TCU, at 6:00pm ET.
CBS will air "NSYNC Live: The Atlantis Concert" at 10:00pm ET.
SATURDAY
ABC will air college football, Ohio State-Michigan, at 1:00pm ET.
CBS will air college football, Vanderbilt-Tennessee, at 3:30pm ET.
ESPN will air college football, Georgia-Georgia Tech, at 7:45pm ET.
CBS will air "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at 8:00pm ET.
NBC will air "It's A Wonderful Life" at 8:00pm ET.
SUNDAY
ABC will air the PGA Skins Game, Back Nine at 3:30pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Blackhawks-Red Wings at 6:00pm ET.
ESPN's "Sunday Night Football" will air Bears-Vikings at 8:30pm ET.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
The Closing Bell provides an afternoon recap of the latest news and headlines each Monday through Friday at approximately 4:00pm ET. If you would like to sign up for an e-mail alert to the Closing Bell, go to My Account and personalize your e-mail alert options.
