| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, August 19, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | WNBA Agrees To Long-Term Marketing Extension With GM |
| • | Berman, Patrick & Scott Get The Call-Up For ESPN's Anniversary Show |
| • | National Opinion Study Finds That Majority Would Accept Gay Pro Athletes |
| • | NHL To Go "Rooming" With Jeremy Roenick For New Ad Campaign |
| • | Former Cubs Broadcaster Steve Stone To Return To Team's TV Booth In '03 |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Articles of Interest/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
WNBA EXTENDS ITS MARKETING PARTNERSHIP WITH GM
GM and the WNBA today announced they have agreed to extend their long-term marketing partnership, which has been in effect since the league's inception in '97. The agreement guarantees GM in-game advertising and courtside signage during nationally televised WNBA games on ABC Sports, ESPN and Oxygen. GM also will continue to sponsor the "Player of the Game" feature for televised WNBA games (THE DAILY).
ANNIVERSARY PARTY: ESPN LISTS DETAILS OF MILESTONE SHOW
ESPN announced that the network's 25,000th live edition of "SportsCenter" will air Sunday, August 25 at 11:00pm ET, and will include news, highlights and clips of celebrities listing their favorite sports moments. Chris Berman, Dan Patrick and Stuart Scott will serve as primary anchors for the 90-minute program, while Bob Ley, Linda Cohen and Rich Eisen will play significant roles in the broadcast. In addition, all eight ESPN Zones – Anaheim, Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, N.Y. and DC – and The ESPN Club in Orlando will host viewing parties (THE DAILY).
In anticipation of ESPN's 25,000th edition of "SportsCenter," NEWSDAY's John Jeansonne profiles ESPN Senior VP & Exec Editor John Walsh, "the man who created and shaped 'SportsCenter,' as well as virtually every aspect of ESPN's news operation" (NEWSDAY, 8/19).
OPINION STUDY FINDS MORE AMERICANS OPEN TO GAY ATHLETES
According to a national opinion study conducted online between July 23-29 by Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive of 2,191 adults, nearly 65% of all Americans state that they would not change their opinions of "favorite" male or female pro athletes if the athletes revealed they are gay or lesbian. When asked how they think "other sports fans would feel" toward an openly gay or lesbian sports figure, about 78% believe that "others" would have less favorable opinions. Witeck-Combs Communications CEO Bob Witeck: "When it comes to openly gay sports figures, this gap suggests a couple of possibilities. First, it may be that individuals decide to conceal their true attitudes towards gay sports figures, and thereby, appear more socially tolerant by projecting discriminatory views on the 'general public.' Or perhaps sports fans are more accepting than we realized, and the perception of public stigma or bigotry is possibly much greater than the reality" (THE DAILY).
NHL AD CAMPAIGN PUTS JEREMY ROENICK AT "CENTER ICE"
The NHL and iN Demand today announced a new advertising campaign to promote "NHL Center Ice" on digital cable. The most prominent element of the campaign will be a ten-minute infomercial titled "Rooming with Roenick," which features Flyers C Jeremy Roenick and Oilers RW Anson Carter, along with former NHLers Glenn Healy and Pat Flatley. The infomercial will run on cable systems' digital information channels, iN Demand's barker channel and during the "NHL Center Ice" free preview from October 9-15. It also will be available as free video-on-demand content on digital cable (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATER
WGN-TV announced today that after a two-year absence, Steve Stone will return to the Cubs TV booth for the '03 season. Stone will work a full schedule of games alongside Chip Caray for all WGN-TV, WCIU and FSN Chicago broadcasts (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT'S EVENT
The ECHL Greensboro Generals will conduct a fan forum to discuss their marketing efforts for the upcoming season in the Generals' VIP room of their business offices at 8:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The Baltimore SUN's Jamie Stiehm profiles architect Janet Marie Smith, "one of the country's noted baseball park designers" who currently is involved in the "revamping of Fenway Park and its stark green left-field wall that looms as a monster in a city obsessed with baseball" (Baltimore SUN).
USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke profiles Mavericks Owner & HDNet Founder Mark Cuban. Commenting on HDNet, Martzke writes, "After two decades of bold predictions for success, high-definition sets are beginning to make an appreciable dent in TV sales" and the sports industry is "playing a major role" (USA TODAY).
The DETROIT NEWS offers a special section on Ford Field, the "65,000-seat centerpiece of a $500 million development project," which Lions VP William Clay Ford Jr. hopes "will be anything but a silent partner in the gradual rebirth of a downtown entertainment district" (DETROIT NEWS).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS…
The L.A. TIMES reports that a special three-person committee of Viacom's board "has been established to negotiate a new deal" that would keep President & COO Mel Karmazin "from leaving the company when his contract expires at the end of next year" (L.A. TIMES, 8/19).
Kmart announced today that the company "will eliminate nearly 700 more jobs in another round of cost-cutting as the troubled retailer tries to claw its way out of bankruptcy" (AP, 8/19).
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Jeff Bridges is in "final negotiations to star alongside Tobey Maguire" in Universal Pictures' "Seabiscuit" for writer-director Gary Ross. Production begins October 15 in L.A. (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 8/19).
MEDIA BUYER'S DAILY reports that EarthLink today "unveiled a new feature enabling its subscribers to block pop-up Web ads." EarthLink claims to be "the first major Internet service provider to offer advertising blocking software" (MEDIA BUYER'S DAILY, 8/19).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the N.Y. Times the week ending August 10 (N.Y. TIMES):
THIS
WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | SLANDER, Ann Coulter (Crown) |
| 2) | AMONG THE HEROES, Jere Longman (Harper-Collins) |
| 3) | THE LOBSTER CHRONICLES, Linda Greenlaw (Hyperion) |
| 4) | STUPID WHITE MEN, Michael Moore (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 5) | RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin's) |
| 6) | TUXEDO PARK, Jennet Conant (Hyperion) |
| 7) | WHY I AM A CATHOLIC, Garry Wills (Houghton Mifflin) |
| 8) | GOOD TO GREAT, Jim Collins (HarperBusiness) |
| 9) | SNOBBERY, Joseph Epstein (Houghton Mifflin) |
| 10) | A MIND AT A TIME, Mel Levine (Simon & Schuster) |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air "Monday Night Countdown" at 7:00pm ET.
ABC will air NFL preseason, 49ers-Broncos, at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN will air the Little League World Series at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Roy Campanella at 8:00pm ET.
Colts WR Qadry Ismail, Univ. of WA football coach Rick Neuheisel and actor Ving Rhames will appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
MLB player reps Denny Hocking and Kevin Young will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
MLB Exec VP Sandy Alderson will be a guest on CNBC's "Kudlow & Cramer" at 8:00pm ET to discuss the most recent developments on the baseball strike deadline.
Former SEC Chair Arthur Levitt, YES Network CEO Leo Hindery and Fidelity Management & Research Company Vice Chair Peter Lynch will appear on CNBC's "After Hours with Maria Bartiromo" at 9:00pm ET.
A&E's "TVography" will profile actor Lee Majors at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile England's Prince William at 8:00pm ET and Princess Diana at 9:00pm.
Fox will air the '02 Teen Choice Awards at 8:00pm ET.
HBO will air the documentary "The Game of Their Lives" at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Matthew Perry |
| "The Tonight Show" | Robin Williams (r) |
| "The Late Late Show" | Juliette Lewis |
| "Late Night" | Frankie Muniz (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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