| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Buck, Collinsworth, Aikman & Oliver Issue In New NFL Era At Fox |
| • | MLS Targets Spanish Audience Via New Partnership With Radio Unica |
| • | Jeff Garcia Enters Multi-Year Endorsement Pact With Reebok |
| • | News Corp. Reports Quarterly Loss, Consolidated Revenue Increases On Ads |
| • | USA! USA! FIFA Places U.S. In Top Ten Rankings For First Time |
| • | Articles Of Interest/In Other News/Tonight's Events/Daily Stat/Channel Surfing |
FOX SPORTS FORMALLY FILLS ITS NFL BOOTHS FOR THE SEASON
Fox Sports today formally announced the network's broadcast teams for the '02-03 NFL season. The "NFL on Fox" kicks off its ninth season on Sunday, Sept. 8, and Joe Buck, Cris Collinsworth, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver will form Fox Sports' No. 1 team. The following are the "NFL on Fox" announcer pairings for the season (THE DAILY):
| Play-By-Play Announcer | Analyst |
| Kenny Albert | Tim Green |
| Joe Buck | Troy Aikman, Cris Collinsworth |
| Curt Menefee | Tim Ryan |
| Sam Rosen | Bill Maas |
| Dick Stockton | Daryl Johnston |
| Pat Summerall | Brian Baldinger |
Meanwhile, former Rams D D'Marco Farr and comedian Tommy Davidson have joined FSN's "The NFL Show." The reconfigured cast already includes Michael Irvin and Tony Siragusa. Chris Myers continues as the show's host (THE DAILY).
MLS PARTNERSHIP WITH RADIO UNICA AIMS FOR SPANISH MARKET
MLS has entered into a partnership with Radio Unica that will provide the league with Spanish-language radio coverage. As part of the agreement, Radio Unica will incorporate one hour of MLS news into its network sports program, "Unica en Deportes," and will also air a program entitled "Unicamente MLS" ("Only MLS") on Sundays. In addition, Radio Unica will broadcast MLS Cup '02 live from Foxboro, MA, on October 20 (THE DAILY).
GARCIA'S REEBOK DEAL INCLUDES TIMES SQUARE KICK-OFF
Reebok today announced that it has signed 49ers QB Jeff Garcia to a multi-year endorsement deal. As part of the agreement, Garcia will be featured in radio ads for Gart Sports promoting Reebok's NFL Equipment apparel collection. Garcia also will participate in the "NFL Kickoff Live from Times Square" event on September 5 in N.Y. on behalf of Reebok (THE DAILY).
NEWS CORP. REPORTS LOSS, SEES ADVERTISING RECOVERY
REUTERS reports that News Corp. today announced a $1.74B quarterly loss from the write-down of the value of its stake in Gemstar-TV Guide Int'l Inc., "although full year consolidated revenues rose as the advertising market began to recover." News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch said the company saw "a resurgence in advertising spending" in Q4, a trend "we can see improving in fiscal 2003" (REUTERS, 8/14).
Meanwhile, Fox Sports Networks' operating profit improved by 63% during Q4 and 30% for the entire FY, primarily from the inclusion of Speed Channel earnings (THE DAILY).
TURNING LEMONS INTO SPONSORSHIPS, HMIEL INKS WITH MIKE'S
Innovative Motorsports announced today that Mike's Hard Lemonade will be the primary sponsor of Shane Hmiel's car for the remainder of the NASCAR Busch Series schedule. The announcement extends the upcoming "Mike's Hard Racing Showdown" sweepstakes – an online promotion taking place this October (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
The Class A SAL Charleston Riverdogs are the latest team to enter an agreement with Cellbucks, unveiling a deal today that will allow fans to order and pay for food and beverages from their cell phones and have it delivered to their seats (THE DAILY).
The AP reports that the U.S. "broke into the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings for the first time, tying Italy for ninth in the August ratings" released today (AP, 8/14).
REUTERS reports that F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has "begun inspecting three Turkish cities to judge their suitability for a Grand Prix." Turkey is "one of seven countries seeking two spaces" on the F1 calendar that are expected to open (REUTERS, 8/14).
Bally Total Fitness announced today that the company has awarded the Chicago office of Foote, Cone & Belding its overall strategic marketing and advertising account (THE DAILY).
The Albany TIMES-UNION reports that at the halfway point of Saratoga's '02 season, attendance is "up by more than 5,000 fans as NYRA tries to surpass last year's first one-million attendance mark – a number it didn't expect to be able to match this year." The total handle on Saratoga races is "up more than $21 million for the first 18 days – an 8.4 percent increase at $281 million" (Albany TIMES-UNION, 8/14).
The BOSTON GLOBE reports that Magic Johnson "has asked his longtime rival and good friend Larry Bird to present him for induction" into the Basketball HOF on September 28 (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/14).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The L.A. TIMES' Johanna Neuman profiles MLB Washington lobbyist Lucy Calautti, who is "doing what she does best and what baseball needs most – working quietly and influentially behind the scenes" (L.A. TIMES).
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE's Nancy Ryan reports on Vernon Hills High School's naming rights deal for their new $1.8M football stadium and facility, "which will open in October as Rust-Oleum Field" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE).
The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER's Tiffany Montgomery writes that Nike is "plunging again into the lucrative skateboard shoe business," and insiders say this time, "the Swoosh could be doing it right" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER).
The WASHINGTON POST's William Gildea profiles Single A NY Penn League Aberdeen IronBirds Owner and "jack-of-all-trades" Cal Ripken, who "interacts with fans and corporate sponsors, makes speeches and shakes hands" (WASHINGTON POST).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
The Braves will welcome former Ps Charlie Leibrandt, Warren Spahn, Phil Niekro and IF Marty Perez for their 7:05pm ET game against the Giants as part of their "Welcome Back Wednesdays" promotion (THE DAILY).
The Cleveland Chapter of the American Marketing Association hosts "Inside the Huddle: Rebuilding & Marketing the Cleveland Browns" at Browns Stadium at 5:30pm ET. Browns President & CEO Carmen Policy will speak at the event (THE DAILY).
The Knicks City Dancers will hold the final round of auditions for the '02-03 season from 8:00-9:00pm ET. The tryouts will air live on nyknicks.com, hosted by the reigning Miss USA, Shauntay Hinton (THE DAILY).
The Class A NY Penn League Mahoning Valley Scrappers will host "Jim Traficant Night," and will offer free tickets to fans who wear a hairpiece or have fathers who are truckers (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS….
The L.A. TIMES reports that producer Don Mischer, who worked on the opening and closing ceremonies for this year's Winter Olympics, as well as the '96 Summer Games in Atlanta, has been hired as a consultant for N.Y.'s September 11 commemoration. Mischer and his team "will help coordinate the all-day memorial" (L.A. TIMES, 8/14).
THE DAILY STAT:
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten prime time shows for the week of August 5-11. Also provided are Nielsen ratings averages season-to-date for the nets' primetime coverage (USA TODAY, 8/14).
| TOP TEN PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS FOR AUGUST 5 – 11
|
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 9.5/17 | 14.1 |
| 2) | Dog Eat Dog | NBC | Mon | 7.4/12 | 12.7 |
| t3) | 60 Minutes | CBS | Sun | 8.6/18 | 12.2 |
| t3) | American Idol | Fox | Tue | 7.0/12 | 12.2 |
| 5) | Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS | Mon | 8.3/14 | 12.1 |
| 6) | Law & Order | NBC | Wed | 8.0/14 | 11.3 |
| 7) | Dateline | NBC | Tue | 7.7/14 | 11.0 |
| t8) | American Idol | Fox | Wed | 6.4/11 | 10.8 |
| t8) | Dateline | NBC | Sun | 7.5/14 | 10.8 |
| t10) | 48 Hours | CBS | Mon | 7.8/13 | 10.7 |
| t10) | Becker | CBS | Mon | 7.5/12 | 10.7 |
| |
| NIELSEN AVERAGES SEASON-TO-DATE |
| | NBC | | 8.5 | |
| | |
| | CBS | | 7.9 | |
| | |
| | ABC | | 6.1 | |
| | |
| | Fox | | 5.5 | |
| | |
| | UPN | | 2.6 | |
| | |
| | WB | | 2.4 | |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air Giants-Braves at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air the Little League World Series, Beaverton, OR-Waco, TX, at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Red Sox-Mariners at 10:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Magic Johnson at 8:00pm ET.
PGA Tour golfers David Toms and Steve Elkington will discuss the PGA Championship on FSN's "The Last Word."
Former NBAer George Gervin, Texans coach Dom Capers and NFL HOFer Kellen Winslow are scheduled to appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
A&E will profile actress Marilu Henner HeHennat 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "Revealed" features Ashley Judd at 10:00pm ET.
HBO and NFL Films will air the third episode of "Hard Knocks" at 11:00pm ET.
Comedy Central will debut the 10-part "Contest Searchlight" at 10:30pm ET.
WUSA Philadelphia Charge D Heather Mitts will be on NBC's "Last Call" with Carson Daly.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Will Smith (r) |
| "The Tonight Show" | Arsenio Hall |
| "The Late Late Show" | Freddy Soto |
| "Late Night" | Kevin Pollak |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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