| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| • | Expos Host Marlins In What May Be Their Final Season Opener |
| • | NBA Will Not Vote On Hornets During April 9th BOG Meeting |
| • | NCAA Women's Championship Game Draws Record Viewership For ESPN |
| • | According To Poll, New Yorkers Bleed Yankee Blue |
| • | Critics Weigh In: Bill Murray Fails To Find Golf's "Sweet Spot" |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/In Other News/Daily Stat/Channel Surfing |
TERMINALLY ILL EXPOS OPEN POSSIBLE FINAL SEASON TONIGHT
The CP reports "about 35,000 are expected at Olympic Stadium" for the Expos' season opener against the Marlins tonight — "some 10,000 fewer than a year ago" — as the teams begins its "new life as wards of [MLB], which bought the team from Jeffrey Loria on Feb. 12" (CP, 4/2). Expos President Tony Tavares, on the team's long-range future: "As far as I understand, this is it. … I like to use the analogy of someone who has been told he has a terminal illness and has six months to live. You can become depressed over the news, or you can celebrate life. I'd like to think we can celebrate the game of baseball this season" (Montreal GAZETTE, 4/2).
Meanwhile, the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL reports that Bill Cosby, Sharon Robinson, the daughter of Jackie Robinson, and Vera Clemente, the widow of Roberto Clemente, are expected to attend tonight's game, along with former MLB COO Paul Beeston, former NL President Leonard Coleman, MLB President & COO Robert DuPuy and Senior VP & General Counsel Thomas Ostertag. However, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will not be in attendance (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 4/2). Loria, the current Marlins owner, also will not return to Montreal tonight. Marlins President David Samson: "He has previous business commitments. Besides, someone's got to fund the losses" (MIAMI HERALD, 4/2).
NBA DELAYS HORNETS RELOCATION VOTE
The AP reports the NBA "will not vote on the Hornets' request to move from Charlotte to New Orleans on April 9." It "had been thought the vote would be held" at the league's BOG meeting scheduled for that day. Under league rules, the relocation committee "must deliver a recommendation at least seven days before the owners vote on it, although the vote could come as late as a month after the recommendation" (AP, 4/2).
NCAA WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP EARNS RECORD VIEWERS FOR ESPN
Sunday night's NCAA women's basketball championship game, an 82-70 victory for the Univ. of CT over the Univ. of OK, was seen by an average of 3.487 million homes, which is more viewers than for any basketball game in ESPN history. The total surpassed the record of 3.44 million for the Princeton-Arkansas NCAA Men's Tournament first round game on March 15, 1990. Sunday's telecast earned a 4.1 Nielsen rating, 24% higher than last year's 3.3 rating for the Duke-Purdue women's final (THE DAILY).
POLL REVEALS NEW YORKER LOYALTIES RUN THROUGH BRONX
The N.Y. POST reports that a poll conducted by Quinnipiac Univ. from March 19-25 surveyed 1,038 registered city voters and "found that 56 percent of New Yorkers say they're Yankee fans, while 42 percent say they back the Mets." According to the poll, Yankees SS Derek Jeter was the most popular player, "with 32 percent of the vote," while Mets C Mike Piazza was the top Met, with 22%. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3% (N.Y. POST, 4/2).
SALE OF ALTOONA BASEBALL PROPERTIES FINALIZED
A group of investors led by Pittsburgh attorney Chuck Greenberg today finalized the acquisition of the Double A Eastern League Altoona Curve. The new ownership group, Curve Baseball LP, purchased the Eastern League franchise from Robert Lozinak and Tate DeWeese. Greenberg will serve as team President and Managing General Partner, and will oversee all of the club's business operations. In his new role, Greenberg will represent the franchise's group of investors, which includes Penguins C Mario Lemieux and Steelers RB Jerome Bettis (THE DAILY).
MURRAY'S "SWEET SPOT" NO DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Comedy Central will premiere the golf show "The Sweet Spot," hosted by Bill Murray and three of his brothers, at 10:00pm ET. The N.Y. DAILY NEWS' David Bianculli writes the show "is sub-par, but not in the good, golf way. It's below par in the bad, TV way" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/2). The DETROIT FREE PRESS' Mike Duffy writes that the golf itself is "frequently merely a hook for the shaggy dog sideshow, a mix of spontaneous punch lines, orchestrated put-downs and staged comic interludes." But like Murray's "Caddyshack," the comedy "is hit and miss" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 4/2). Meanwhile, the Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL's Tom Jicha writes "The Sweet Spot" comes "as close to Caddyshack as your local miniature golf course does to Augusta National" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/2).
BUZZER BEATERS
Golf analyst Johnny Miller has signed a multi-year contract to remain with NBC in an analyst role, a position he's held since '90 (THE DAILY).
The Super Bowl Champion Patriots visited President Bush at the White House today. View a video clip of the visit (AP, 4/2).
The Twins' season-opening game on FSN North on Monday against the Royals registered the highest rating for a Twins season opener since '96. The telecast recorded a 3.8 Nielsen HH rating on FSN, which is 192% higher than the 1.3 rating FSN's telecast of the '01 Twins season opener received. Additionally, the 3.8 rating marks the highest rating for a Twins season-opening telecast on the RSN in six seasons (FSN).
During yesterday's Phillies-Braves season opener on TBS, Braves play-by-play announcer Skip Caray commented on OF Gary Sheffield's reduced-sized elbow guards: "So, they [MLB] are worried about elbow guards and speeding up the game, but they don't care about a labor agreement. What's the difference how big your elbow guards are if you're not playing?" (TBS, 4/1).
The AP reports that boxing referee Mills Lane "had a stroke in his home and was in the intensive care unit Tuesday" (AP, 4/2).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The BOSTON HERALD's Anna McCart profiles SportsMatters exec Soosie Lazenby.
The PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE's Milan Simonich on ways the Pittsburgh community would benefit from a new Penguins arena.
The SACRAMENTO BEE features an excerpt of a consultants' report on the feasibility of a downtown facility for the NBA Kings.
The Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL's Marlon Morgan on the Triple A PCL Memphis Redbirds and the team's 3-year-old AutoZone Park.
The L.A. TIMES' Josh Getlin on "Baseball as America," the traveling exhibit of memorabilia.
The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE's Steve Brand on Northern CA's "Cal-High Sports" and the magazine's celebrated top ten lists.
See The Daily Insider's Articles Of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
The Diamondbacks will receive their World Series championship rings in a ceremony preceding their game tonight against the Padres (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/2).
NASCAR President Mike Helton is scheduled to participate in an online chat today at 5:30pm ET on NASCAR.com (THE DAILY).
WUSA President & CEO Lynn Morgan will participate in a live online chat at 8:00pm ET. The chat will last for 30 minutes (THE DAILY).
SI will launch a promotional game entitled "Guess The Cover" on CNNSI.com, which gives users a chance to guess the upcoming week's SI cover for prizes (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS…….
The AP reports that guitarist and actor Steven Van Zandt "is hosting a national radio program that will focus on garage bands and the musicians they influenced, like the punk movement and current garage bands." The show begins airing this weekend (AP, 4/2).
THE DAILY STAT: NIELSEN//NETRATINGS TRACKS TOP SPORTS SITES
The following are the top sports Web properties accessed from home and work according to Nielsen//NetRatings, ranked by unique audience for the week ending March 24. This data is based on a home and work panel of 62,000 and 8,000 respondents, respectively, with Internet access. This list does not include traffic to the unique sites of the yahoo.com domain. Traffic to the sites listed are the predominant URLs, and are grouped to include commonly-owned sites (Nielsen//NetRatings).
| AT HOME | | | |
| RK | SITE | UNIQUE
AUD. (000) | ACTIVE
REACH % | AVERAGE
TIME SPENT
(HH:MM:SS) |
| 1) | ESPN | 3,628 | 4.5 | 0:17:55 |
| 2) | CNNsi | 2,840 | 3.5 | 0:10:24 |
| 3) | Sportsline.com | 1,846 | 2.3 | 0:16:27 |
| 4) | Nascar Online | 1,516 | 1.9 | 0:12:00 |
| 5) | MLB Internet Group | 811 | 1.0 | 0:11:48 |
| 6) | NFL Internet Network | 646 | 0.8 | 0:09:35 |
| 7) | NBA Internet Network | 617 | 0.8 | 0:10:34 |
| 8) | fansonly.com | 441 | 0.6 | 0:06:56 |
| 9) | NHL Internet Network | 401 | 0.5 | 0:08:53 |
| 10) | sportingnews.com | 384 | 0.5 | 0:13:45 |
| | | | | |
| AT WORK | | |
| RK | SITE | UNIQUE
AUD. (000) | ACTIVE
REACH % | AVERAGE
TIME SPENT
(HH:MM:SS) |
| 1) | ESPN | 3,694 | 9.9 | 0:23:36 |
| 2) | CNNsi | 2,143 | 5.8 | 0:09:01 |
| 3) | Sportsline.com | 1,435 | 3.9 | 0:11:30 |
| 4) | Nascar Online | 677 | 1.8 | 0:14:41 |
| 5) | MLB Internet Group | 593 | 1.6 | 0:12:17 |
| 6) | fansonly.com | 591 | 1.6 | 0:08:15 |
| 7) | sports.iwon.com | 484 | 1.3 | 0:05:47 |
| 8) | foxsports.lycos.com | 478 | 1.3 | 0:04:06 |
| 9) | PGA Tour | 461 | 1.2 | 0:14:33 |
| 10) | NFL Internet Network | 460 | 1.2 | 0:05:52 |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air high school basketball's '02 Sprite Slam Jam at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Bruins-Flyers at 8:00pm ET.
TBS will air Lakers-Wizards at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Bill Veeck at 8:00pm ET.
Univ. of MD men's basketball coach Gary Williams will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
Williams and Pirates C Jason Kendall will be on ESPN's "Unscripted."
Eagles DE Hugh Douglas will be on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
Jim Courier will be NBC's "Last Call" with Carson Daly.
A&E's "Biography" will profile actor Dennis Franz at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile Princess Diana at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN will premiere comedian Jay Mohr's new "Mohr Sports" at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Tim Robbins |
| "The Tonight Show" | Tim Allen |
| "The Late Late Show" | Bill Paxton |
| "Late Night" | Ryan Reynolds |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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