| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, June 10, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| • | U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan Initiates MLB Steroid Investigation |
| • | MLB First-Year Players Draft Attracts Millions To League's Official Web Site |
| • | Early Morning World Cup "Viewing Parties" Continue To Pack OH Stadium |
| • | FIFA World Cup Ticket-Selling Web Site Buckles Under Heavy Traffic |
| • | Mesa City Council Expected To Approve Re-Vote On NFL Cardinals Stadium |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Articles of Interest/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
SEN. DORGAN LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO STEROID USE IN MLB
U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has "launched a preliminary investigation of the illegal use of steroids in professional baseball," and is planning on calling MLB execs, players and union representatives to Capitol Hill to testify before the Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee on consumer affairs, foreign commerce and tourism. Dorgan chairs the subcommittee and "also has clout in the leadership" as Chair of the Democratic Policy Committee. Dorgan said he has not yet finalized a date, adding, "We are in the process now of gathering names of witnesses to explore what is really happening." DC-based MLB lobbyist Lucy Calautti, who once served as Dorgan's chief of staff, said the league "intends to have one or two people at the hearing to testify." She was unable to provide names until a hearing date is set (ROLL CALL DAILY, 6/10).
PLAYERS DRAFT DRAWS RECORD NUMBER OF VISITORS TO MLB.COM
MLB.com registered over 24 million page views during the 48-hour period of the MLB Draft on June 4-5. More than 6 million visitors came to the site during the time period, with about 4.7 million, or 80%, being unique visitors. In addition, approximately 81,000 fans, or close to double the number of last year, listened to the draft on MLB Radio (THE DAILY).
WORLD CUP WATCHERS CONTINUE TO PACK OH "VIEWING PARTIES"
A crowd of over 3,000 soccer fans attended the "Best Buy Viewing Parties" at Crew Stadium in Columbus, OH, at 2:30am ET this morning to watch the U.S. World Cup team tie South Korea 1-1. The "Parties," held in a conference center at the stadium, have now attracted more than 6,300 people over the first 11 days of the tournament. The crowd began to form at 9:22pm ET Sunday night, as four people arrived early to secure spots on the stadium's eight Value City Furniture leather couches (THE DAILY).
ESPN2's morning telecasts of 15 World Cup matches through Thursday, June 6, have averaged a 0.60 Nielsen rating, up 445% over the 0.11 average rating for the 1:30-9:30am ET time period in '01. ESPN2's World Cup matches have averaged 500,000 HHs, up 504% from the time period last year. ESPN's three telecasts are averaging a 0.52/ (447,000 HHs), a ratings increase of 58% and viewership increase of 66% over the time period last year (THE DAILY).
Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that FIFATICKETS.com, the official ticket-selling Web site for the tournament, "has been down for at least four days." A note on the site continues to alert visitors, "Sorry for the inconvenience. Our servers are now overloaded" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/10).
AZ COUNCIL EXPECTED TO SKED NEW CARDINALS STADIUM VOTE
The AZ REPUBLIC reports that the Mesa City Council is expectd to ok a referendum on an NFL Cardinals football stadium, and all seven council members say that they "support, or are leaning toward, calling the Sept. 10 election after more than 4,000 signatures on anti-stadium petitions were certified last week" (AZ REPUBLIC, 6/10).
NASCAR DELAYS INSTALLATION OF SOFT WALLS AT NH TRACK
The AP reports that NASCAR officials "have asked the New Hampshire International Speedway to hold off on installing new 'soft walls' until further testing determines they are as safe as possible for stock cars." Track Owner Bob Bahre said that the walls "will not be in place for next month's Winston Cup race, and they may not be installed in time for September's race, either" (AP, 6/10).
BUZZER BEATERS
NBC Sports' coverage of Saturday's 134th Belmont Stakes generated a 9.2/21 overnight Nielsen rating. It was the highest Belmont Stakes overnight since '87, tying ABC's 9.2/25 for Alysheba's unsuccessful Triple Crown bid (THE DAILY).
The London MIRROR reports that a remixed version of Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation," which serves as the soundtrack to Nike's "Cage" advertisements for the World Cup, is set to be "released today and should finally give The King one more chart-topper than the Beatles." Both Elvis and The Beatles currently have 17 No. 1 records in the U.K. (London MIRROR, 6/10).
In an interview with FL TODAY, Yankees GM Brian Cashman was asked whether he calls his boss Mr. Steinbrenner or "just George," to which Cashman replied, "I call him Mr. Steinbrenner or Boss. I do not call him George. That has more to do with my age difference with him, and the respect factor at the same time" (FL TODAY, 6/10).
Nets G Jason Kidd will ring the opening bell tomorrow at the NYSE at 9:30am ET (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The L.A. TIMES' Jeffrey Gettleman on the transplanted Hurricanes' largely transplanted fan base.
The Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER's Kristin Collins on the decibel levels reached at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Raleigh.
The CHARLOTTE OBSERVER's Peter St. Onge on the Stanley Cup's recent trip down "Tobacco Road."
The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION's Gene Frenette on the pressure to play injured for NFL players.
The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION's Frenette on the majority of NFL malpractice suits being settled out of court.
The BUFFALO NEWS' Allen Wilson on the Bills' new uniforms.
The N.Y. TIMES' Richard Lezin Jones on the Nets' unlikely season and the team's long-suffering fans.
The Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM's Bob Keisser on the Internet presence of the Lakers and the NBA in general.
The BOSTON GLOBE's Bill Griffith profiles NBC Sports director Andy Rosenberg, who lost his job when the network lost broadcasting rights to the NBA.
The Lubbock AVALANCHE-JOURNAL's Brent Schrotenboer on declining graduation rates at Texas Tech.
See The Daily Insider's Articles Of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
NFL Giants RB Tiki Barber and Bucs CB Ronde Barber will appear at Macy's Herald Square in N.Y. at 5:00pm ET to sign autographs in the Ralph Lauren Fragrance Shop (THE DAILY).
Actor Matt Damon will throw out the first pitch before the 7:05pm ET Rockies-Red Sox game at Fenway Park (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS…
Nielsen Media Research today announced that Greenville-Spartanburg, SC-Asheville, NC-Anderson, SC will be the 55th market to be measured using set-tuning meters. This new metered market will extend local, electronic ratings service to 69.2% of the country (THE DAILY).
Adelphia Communications Corp. revised its '00 and '01 results downward today, citing "errors in its previous reports," and fired Deloitte & Touche as its accountant (REUTERS, 6/10).
The AP reports that imprisoned Mob boss John Gotti "died at a prison hospital [today] while serving a life sentence." Gotti "had suffered from throat cancer and had been moved to the prison hospital from the maximum-security federal prison" (AP, 6/10).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BEST SELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the N.Y. Times the week ending June 1 (N.Y. TIMES).
THIS
WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | THE RIGHT WORDS AT THE RIGHT TIME, edited by Marlo Thomas (Atria) |
| 2) | STUPID WHITE MEN, Michael Moore (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 3) | A MIND AT A TIME, Mel Levine (Simon & Schuster) |
| 4) | LUCKY MAN, Michael J. Fox (Hyperion) |
| 5) | FIND ME, Rosie O'Donnell (Warner) |
| 6) | ODD GIRL OUT, Rachel Simmons (Harcourt) |
| 7) | MASTER OF THE SENATE, Robert A. Caro (Knopf) |
| 8) | AMERICAN SON, Richard Blow (Holt) |
| 9) | MEDAL OF HONOR, Allen Mikaelian (Hyperion) |
| 10) | LAST MAN DOWN, Richard Picciotto with Daniel Paisner (Berkley) |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air D'Backs-Yankees at 7:00pm ET.
ABC will air the NHL Stanley Cup Finals Game Four, Red Wings-Hurricanes, at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Bill Russell at 8:00pm ET.
A&E begins "Cultural Icons" week with a profile of Jerry Seinfeld at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile Farrah Fawcett at 8:00pm ET.
Clippers C Michael Olowokandi will be a guest on ABC's "Politically Incorrect" with Bill Maher at midnight ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Christian Slater |
| "The Tonight Show" | Martin Short |
| "The Late Late Show" | Luna |
| "Late Night" | Roger Ebert (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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