| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Friday, June 7, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| • | As Post-Season Rolls On, Sales Of Nets Gear Heats Up |
| • | Big Bad Voodoo Daddy On The Roster For Bills' Uniform Party |
| • | As Show Of Good Faith, Smokeless Tobacco Suspends Magazine Ads |
| • | Overnight Nielsen Ratings For Stanley Cup Game Two Up From Last Year |
| • | Critics Weigh In: Chris Rock + Anthony Hopkins = “Bad” Idea |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/In Other News/Daily Stat/Channel Surfing |
RETAILERS CAN'T KEEP ENOUGH NETS GEAR ON THE SHELVES
The N.Y. DAILY NEWS reports that sales of Nets merchandise at the NBA Store in N.Y. has increased 933% from May '01 to May '02. Nets G Jason Kidd's No. 5 jersey has become one of the top four sellers in the league, behind Lakers G Kobe Bryant, Magic G Tracy McGrady and Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal. Nationwide, sales of Nets merchandise has "increased 53%, accounting for a considerable portion of the NBA's 35% increase in merchandise business," to $1.8B. Modell's Sports Goods President Mitch Modell: "We've probably sold more Net merchandise in (the last month) than we have in the last 10 years combined" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 6/7).
BILLS ROLL OUT RED CARPET FOR SATURDAY'S UNIFORM UNVEILING
The BUFFALO NEWS reports that Big Bad Voodoo Daddy will perform at the Bills' uniform unveiling Saturday in Ralph Wilson Stadium. The uniforms will be unveiled at 1:30pm ET, while gates will open at 12:30pm ET. All tickets "available at Tops Friendly Markets have been distributed," and "to meet demand, the team will make an additional 1,500 tickets available to the general public at the stadium box office" today. Tickets are free but are required for admission (BUFFALO NEWS, 6/7). In their 40-plus seasons, "the Bills have changed their look periodically, but the last significant change took place in 1986 when they stopped wearing blue pants after 13 seasons and switched to white for all games" (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 6/7). Fans who can't attend tomorrow's uniform unveiling event will be able to follow all the festivities live on-line via the team's re-designed Web site.
SMOKELESS TOBACCO SUSPENDS ADVERTISEMENTS IN SI, MORE
U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company today said that in order to show that its marketing program was oriented to adults only, it would suspend advertising in a number of magazines while it reviewed recent concerns regarding possible youth readership. The company has decided to suspend advertising in Sports Illustrated, Hot Rod, Motor Trend and The Sporting News pending a review (THE DAILY).
OVERNIGHT NHL STANLEY CUP RATINGS UP FROM ONE YEAR AGO
While final ratings of Game Two of the Red Wings-Hurricaes Stanley Cup Finals will be available later this afternoon, overnight Nielsen ratings show that the game averaged a 2.72 rating. In comparison, last year's Game Two on ESPN on a Tuesday night earned a 2.39 rating. Last night's top overnight market ratings were Detroit with a 21.1 and Raleigh with a 14.6 (THE DAILY).
FORD CENTER ARENA SET TO OPEN ITS DOORS TO OKLAHOMA CITY
The OKLAHOMAN reports that the new Ford Center arena in downtown Oklahoma City "opens Saturday with a public preview," but "there won't be much time to show off" the $88M facility and "work out any last-minute bugs" as the circus "is coming to town in just a few days" (OKLAHOMAN, 6/7). The Center, home to the CHL OK City Blazers, "will hold 18,400 for hockey and about 19,000 for basketball," and the arena's Dir of Sales & Marketing Jim Jacobsen said, "The Ford Center is the same caliber facility as the Staples Center, American Airlines Center, United Center and Pepsi Center. Oklahoma City is now on par with Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. It has all the amenities" (OKLAHOMAN, 6/7).
WUSA PULLS THE COVER OFF NEW FOUNDERS CUP II LOGO
The WUSA unveiled the Founders Cup II logo today for the league's Championship match which will take place on Saturday, August 24 at 4:00pm ET at Herndon Stadium in Atlanta. The primary logo features the Founders Cup trophy and the official WUSA match ball from Select. In addition, three peaches sit atop the Founders Cup signifying the state of GA. The logo, which will be used on all marketing, promotional and merchandising campaigns associated with the event, was created by BAT Creative in conjunction with WUSA Marketing (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
Spalding Sports today announced the renewal of its endorsement agreement with Lakers G Kobe Bryant as the official endorser of Spalding NBA Basketballs through the '04-05 season (THE DAILY).
The WNBA '02 All-Star Balloting Program, presented by Yahoo Sports, begins today. Balloting will be conducted online and will be accessible through Yahoo Sports. Fans in all 16 WNBA cities can also make their All-Star selections at special team balloting nights in-arena (THE DAILY).
The White Sox will host their first-ever Sleepover Night at Comiskey Park on Saturday. Guests can arrive at 6:05pm CT for the Expos-White Sox game and attend a post-game social event in the Picnic Patio. In addition, a movie will be shown at midnight, and a continental breakfast will be served Sunday morning. Proceeds for the sleepover will benefit White Sox Charities (THE DAILY).
WEEKEND EVENTS
Friday
WNBA Starzz F Natalie Williams and F-C Andrea Gardner will read to local children at Sam Whellers Book Store in Salt Lake City from 6:00-7:00pm MT as part of the league's Read to Achieve initiative (THE DAILY).
Texas Motor Speedway hosts the first event of a three-event ticket package with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 400 at 8:00pm CT. The ticket package also includes Saturday's 7:00pm CT IRL Boomtown 500 and four vouchers for select MLB Rangers home games (THE DAILY).
The first 10,000 fans ages 14 and younger to attend the Marlins-Twins game will receive a bobblehead doll of Twins P Joe Mays (THE DAILY).
Saturday
FSN's Jim Rome will appear at Municipal Stadium in K.C. at 12:30pm CT as part of his "World Tour" (THE DAILY).
Colts QB Peyton Manning will host the second annual "Peyton's Rally at Gasoline Alley" to raise money for his PeyBack Foundation. Registration begins at 8:00am CT for the event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (THE DAILY).
The Stanley Cup will visit the beach in Wilmington, NC, at 1:00pm ET. Also in Wilmington, a public viewing will be held at Riverfront Park from 2:00-6:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
The North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC, will host "FLIP FLOP at The Rock," an all-day concert featuring Delbert McClinton. The event will be held on the speedway's infield and run from noon-11:00pm ET, rain or shine (THE DAILY).
Grammy-nominated artist Crystal Lewis will perform after the WNBA Miracle game at 7:30pm ET at the TD Waterhouse Centre (THE DAILY).
The WNBA Starzz and the Deseret News will host a teacher workshop at the Delta Center from 1:00pm-9:00pm MT to kick off a program called "Role Models, Celebrities and Heroes." As part of the event, the teachers will attend the Starzz-Sting game (THE DAILY).
Sunday
The Stanley Cup will visit the Wake Forest Boys & Girls Club in Wake Forest, NC, from 10:00-11:00am ET. Later in Durham, NC, the Stanley Cup will be on display for the duration of the Triple A Durham Bulls game starting at 4:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S DAILY STAT: LYCOS' MOST SEARCHED ATHLETES
The following are the most-searched athletes by Lycos search engine users for the week ending June 1 (Lycos).
| RK | | ATHLETE |
| 1) | | Anna Kournikova |
| 2) | | Allen Iverson |
| 3) | | Mike Tyson |
| 4) | | David Beckham |
| 5) | | Michael Jordan |
| 6) | | Mike Piazza |
| 7) | | Kobe Bryant |
| 8) | | Jason Kidd |
| 9) | | Lance Armstrong |
| 10) | | Michael Owen |
| |
CRITICS WEIGH IN: “BAD COMPANY” & “YA-YA SISTERHOOD”
According to critics, teaming Chris Rock with Anthony Hopkins makes for "Bad Company," while the multiple members of the "Sisterhood" are less-than-divine:
| Movie
|
| Bad Company | Divine Secrets of the
Ya-Ya Sisterhood |
| Chicago Sun-Times | | |
|
| Hollywood Reporter | | |
|
| L.A. Times | | |
|
| N.Y. Times | | |
|
| USA Today | | |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
FRIDAY
ESPN will air WNBA Fever-Mystics at 7:00pm ET.
NBC will air NBA Finals, Nets-Lakers, at 9:00pm ET.
Fox will air "An O'Reilly Factor Special: O'Reilly vs. Hollywood" at 9:00pm ET.
Kings F Chris Webber and G Mike Bibby will be on NBC's "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno at 11:30pm ET.
SATURDAY
NBC will air '02 French Open, Women's Single Final, at 11:00am ET.
ABC will air World Cup soccer, Argentina-England, at 1:00pm ET.
Fox will air regional MLB coverage at 1:00pm ET: Giants-Yankees or D'Backs-Red Sox.
Fox will air regional MLB coverage of Cubs-Mariners at 4:00pm ET.
NBC will air The Belmont Stakes at 5:00pm ET.
ABC will air NHL Finals Game Three, Red Wings-Hurricanes, at 8:00pm ET.
FX will air the NBS Inside Traxx 300 at 8:00pm ET.
SUNDAY
John Saunders, Mike Lupica, Mitch Albom and Len Elmore will appear on ESPN's "Sports Reporters."
ESPN's "Outside The Lines" will focus on two topics Sunday: "OTL" will present a behind-the-scenes look at the week leading up to Saturday's Tyson-Lewis fight. It will also detail what the week was like for the bout's referee, Eddie Cotton.
FX will air the NWC Pocono 500 at 12:30pm ET.
NBC will air NBA Finals Game Three, Lakers-Nets, at 8:30pm ET.
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" will feature Braves-Rangers at 8:00pm ET.
D'Backs Curt Schilling will be the "Sunday Conversation" on ESPN's "SportsCenter" at 11:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air World Cup soccer, South Korea-U.S., at 2:25am ET.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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