| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, April 15, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| • | NBA, Coca-Cola Agree To Four-Year Marketing Extension |
| • | Season Tickets Adds Investors In Second Round Of Private Equity Funding |
| • | Former Walker Racing Driver Sarah Fisher Signs With Dreyer & Reinbold |
| • | NHL Fans Set Their Channels To HSN For Official League Merchandise |
| • | Kenyan Runners Land First Four Finishes At 106th Boston Marathon |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight's Events/Daily Stat/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
NBA EXPANDS MARKETING PARTNERSHIP WITH COKE BY FOUR YEARS
The NBA and Coca-Cola Co. have expanded their partnership, which was set to expire at season's end, by four years. The new alliance will begin with the '02-03 season, and will allow Coca-Cola to work with the NBA's three leagues (NBA, WNBA, NBDL) to showcase its Sprite, Diet Coke and Dasani brands. As a result of the NBA's recent TV agreements with AOL Time Warner and Walt Disney Co., Coca-Cola will possess new opportunities for media commitments in national game telecasts (THE DAILY).
SEASON TICKETS RINGS UP NEW INVESTORS, EQUITY FUNDING
Season Tickets today announced additional investors in the company's second round of private equity funding, including AZ Ventures and The Vechery Family Trust trustee Harvey Vechery. The investors have provided Season Tickets with more than $1M in new capital, with a long-term investment commitment in place by Vechery (THE DAILY).
FISHER LANDS IN DRIVER'S SEAT AT DREYER & REINBOLD
Team Purex/Aventis Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Owners Robbie Buhl and Dennis Reinbold have signed former Walker Racing driver Sarah Fisher to pilot the team's No. 24 Infiniti G Force at the Firestone Indy 225 at Nazareth Speedway on April 21 (THE DAILY).
MANCHESTER UNITED FINALLY LAUNCH WEB SITE WITH PERKS
ManU has relaunched its Web site – slightly behind schedule – after a major project the team began in November. The new site, which was due in mid-March, includes a deal with streaming company Servecast to offer audio commentary for the remainder of ManU's Premiership games this season (netimperative.com, 4/15).
BUZZER BEATERS
The AP reports that Rodgers Rop "led a Kenyan sweep of the first four spots in the Boston Marathon" this afternoon, winning in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 2 seconds. Christopher Cheboiboch "kept pace with Rop" and finished "about 20 yards behind him." Meanwhile, Margaret Okayo "won the women's race in a course record 2:20:43, pulling away from two-time defending champion and world record-holder Catherine Ndereba in the final mile" (AP, 4/15).
Lincoln Holdings today announced that Univ. of MD professor Dr. Jeong Kim has become an investor and partner in the organization. Kim joins Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis and others as an investor and partner (THE DAILY).
Visitors to The Masters' Official Web site, masters.org, increased by 37% over last year, setting records as almost 1.5 million unique users logged on during the week of the tournament (THE DAILY).
Peter Jacobsen Productions today announced the launch of PetersProShop.com, an online marketplace focused on corporate apparel and novelty sales of name brand gold merchandise (THE DAILY).
The Wild, in conjunction with Northwest Airlines, raised over $135,000 through its donation program linked to the distribution of the team's official game program, "The State of Hockey," during the '01-02 second season (THE DAILY).
The Indians today announced that the team sold 2.351 million tickets to date for the '02 home schedule. From April 1-14, fans purchased nearly 60,000 single-game tickets for Indians home games, tripling their pre-opening day average ticket sales (THE DAILY).
Modern Times Group AB announced today it bought the rights to broadcast Americas Cup in 10 countries, including Sweden and Russia, from the competition's sponsors and organizers. No financial terms were disclosed (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
Expos community relations exec Ron Piche will throw out the first pitch for tonight's game against the Cubs to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first Expos game played at Olympic Stadium (Montreal GAZETTE, 4/15).
The Thrashers will host a mock playoff draft fundraiser to raise money for The Foundation Fighting Blindness in Buckhead from 6:00-10:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
The NHL and HSN have agreed to broadcast the "NHL Show on HSN," a live one-hour shopping program that will feature officially-licensed NHL merchandise including apparel and collectibles. Former NHLer Phil Esposito will co-host the program, scheduled for tonight at 9:00pm ET on HSN (THE DAILY).
The Double A Altoona Curve will host "Ode to Enron: A Taxing Promotion" during the team's 6:35pm ET game against the Erie SeaWolves that will raise funds for a local charity (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The N.Y. DAILY NEWS' Richard Pienciak on the funds, egos and strained friendships fueling the Cablevision-YES standoff.
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Cynthia Littleton conducts a Q&A with News Corp. President & COO Peter Chernin on the 15th anniversary of the network's primetime debut.
The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION's Gene Frenette on women's tennis stars sporting revealing outfits on and off the court.
The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS' David Kesmodel on the industry battle waged between Vail Resorts and Intrawest Corp.
The BOSTON HERALD's Karen Guregian conducts a Q&A with Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino.
The SACRAMENTO BEE's Gilbert Chan, in the first installment of a three-part series, on the Maloofs' willingness to invest time and money into the Kings to eventually turn a profit.
The SACRAMENTO BEE's Chan, in the second installment of a three-part series, on the Maloofs' attention to customer service in promoting the Kings' brand name.
See The Daily Insider's Articles Of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS…
John Hancock Financial Services Inc. has "filed a lawsuit against directors of Enron Corp. and its auditor Arthur Andersen" as the life insurer "looks to claw back investment losses it suffered as the energy trader collapsed" (REUTERS, 4/15).
Coca-Cola Co. today unveiled a "new vanilla-flavored version of its flagship Coke brand." The company said that it would "begin distributing the drink in the United States on May 15," with a "separate roll-out … planned for Canada several weeks later" (REUTERS, 4/15).
DAILY VARIETY reports that Henry Goodman, the British actor who took over from Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in the Broadway musical "The Producers" just a month ago, was "axed from the production after the Sunday matinee." He had given just 30 performances in the role (DAILY VARIETY, 4/15).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BEST SELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the N.Y. Times the week ending April 6 (N.Y. TIMES).
| THIS WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | LUCKY MAN, Michael J. Fox (Hyperion) |
| 2) | A MIND AT A TIME, Mel Levine (Simon & Schuster) |
| 3) | KNIGHT: MY STORY, Bob Knight with Bob Hammel (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's) |
| 4) | STUPID WHITE MEN, Michael Moore (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 5) | REPORT FROM GROUND ZERO, Dennis Smith (Viking) |
| 6) | BLINDED BY THE RIGHT, David Brock (Crown) |
| 7) | BIAS, Bernard Goldberg (Regnery) |
| 8) | A SONG FLUNG UP TO HEAVEN, Maya Angelou (Random House) |
| 9) | SHAKEDOWN, Kenneth R. Timmerman (Regnery) |
| 10) | STILL WOMAN ENOUGH, Loretta Lynn with Patsi Bale Cox (Hyperion) |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN and TBS will air Braves-Mets at 7:00pm ET.
TechTV will continue its 2002 Technology Festival with The Wired World of Sports Week on TechTV and www.techtv.com.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Jerry West at 8:00pm ET.
Texans GM Charley Casserly and NFL prospect Bryant McKinnie will be on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
NBA Kings coach Rick Adelman and G Mike Bibby will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
A&E's "Biography" will profile actress Marlo Thomas at 8:00pm ET.
Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban will appear on CBS' "Late, Late Show" with Craig Kilborn, as well as ESPN's "Mohr Sports" at 12:30am ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Regis Philbin (r) |
| "The Tonight Show" | Ethan Hawke |
| "The Late Late Show" | Melissa Joan Hart |
| "Late Night" | Ray Liotta (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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