| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Thursday, August 22, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | MLB Negotiators Head Back To Table This Afternoon |
| • | ABC Sports Formally Announces '02 College Football Broadcast Teams |
| • | Foot Locker Reports Q2 Net Income Achieves Company Estimates |
| • | GolfGear Grants Nike Golf Long-Term Licensing Agreement |
| • | After Dodging Their Calls, Mavericks C Wang Zhizhi To Meet China Officials |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/In Other News/Articles Of Interest/Daily Stat/Channel Surfing |
MLB LABOR NEGOTIATORS RETURN FOR AFTERNOON SESSIONS
The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that baseball's labor negotiators "went back to the table at 2:30 for their afternoon bargaining session." MLBPA General Counsel Gene Orza "wouldn't answer questions during the short walk from union headquarters to league offices but did confirm that he was going in for another round of bargaining." Negotiators for the league have been in their offices since the 90-minute morning session broke off at 11:15am ET, with at least one owner present – the Orioles' Peter Angelos. Management has been "hoping for a response to proposals on the two toughest issues standing in the way of a labor deal – a luxury tax and revenue sharing"
(SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL.com, 8/22).
MUSBURGER LEADS ABC SPORTS' COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHARGE
ABC Sports today formally announced its broadcast teams for the '02 college football season. Brent Musburger will return for his 13th season as ABC's lead play-by-play announcer, joined by sixth-year analyst Gary Danielson. The following is ABC Sports' complete list of broadcasting pairs (THE DAILY):
| Play-By-Play | Analyst | Sidelines |
| Brent Musburger | Gary Danielson | Jack Arute |
| Brad Nessler | Bob Griese | Lynn Swann |
| Keith Jackson | Dan Fouts | Todd Harris |
| Tim Brant | Ed Cunningham | Samantha Ryan |
| Sean McDonough | David Norrie | |
| Terry Gannon | Mike Mayock | |
| Mike Tirico or Derrin Horton | Irving Fryar | |
| |
FOOT LOCKER Q2 NET INCOME REPORTS MEET EXPECTATIONS
Foot Locker today said that its Q2 profit "met its forecast, as sales increased despite a difficult retail environment." The company reported net income of $31M, or $0.21 a share, compared with a loss of $14M, or $0.10, in the year-earlier quarter. When adjusted for discontinued operations, Foot Locker actually earned $33M, or $0.22 per share, compared with $28M, or $0.20 per share, a year before. Shares of Foot Locker were trading at $10.54, down 1.86%, in late afternoon trading (REUTERS, 8/22).
TOWSON UNIV. SET TO JOIN ATLANTIC 10 FOOTBALL CONFERENCE
Towson Univ. announced today that it has been accepted as the 12th football-playing member of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Towson is competing in the Patriot League in football and will do so for the next two seasons. Atlantic 10 membership is expected to start in '04 (THE DAILY).
NIKE GOLF SECURES LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH GOLFGEAR
GolfGear announced today that it has granted Nike Golf a non-exclusive, long-term, worldwide license to manufacture and sell golf clubs under GolfGear's patents covering its proprietary forged-face insert technology. The license agreement grants Nike Golf the right to institute litigation against third parties for infringement of GolfGear's patents. Nike Golf's plans regarding the manufacture and sale of woods and irons using the licensed technology were not announced (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
PAINT BOOTH: Each week, some auto racing teams display different paint schemes on their cars to reflect a different sponsor, brand, promotion or special cause. This week, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series visits Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday night's Sharpie 500. CAT will give a special thanks to all its CAT Dealers with a special paint scheme on the No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Dodge of Ward Burton. Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac of Tony Stewart will sport a Peanuts theme that features Snoopy. Meanwhile, M&M's will introduce its new purple color by painting its No. 36 MB2 Motorsports Pontiac of Ken Schrader ... you guessed it, purple. Recording artist Billy Ray Cyrus and MNR Productions are teaming to promote Cyrus' Pax-TV series, "Doc," on BAM Racing's No. 49 Dodge of Derrike Cope (THE DAILY).
After failing to contact officials from China's World Championship team, as reported in today's issue of THE DAILY, Mavericks C Wang Zhizhi today "caught a flight to Oakland" and "planned to speak to China's players and coaches during an afternoon practice" in a "last-ditch effort" to rejoin the team (AP, 8/22).
The AHL Albany River Rats unveiled a 10th anniversary logo for the '02-03 season. The image features "Rowdy" The Rat placed in front of a silver and teal roman numeral (THE DAILY).
CBS SPORTSLINE reports the Coach K Celebrity Roast is tonight at the Carolina Theatre in Durham, NC. Charles Barkley, Jeff Foxworthy and Bobby Cremins headline a "long list of pretty funny guys waiting to get their cracks in." ESPN analyst and former Duke player Jay Bilas will serve as the master of ceremonies for the event that raises money for some local charities (CBS SPORTSLINE, 8/22).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
In anticipation of next week's USOC vote to reduce the number of 2012 Olympic bid cities from four to two, the Baltimore SUN's Robert Little examines Houston's bid. The city has "more air conditioning than any city in the world, its residents speak 90 languages," and "in a perfect world, where sports matter most and cowboy hats are de rigueur, Houston might well be the unrivaled favorite" (Baltimore SUN).
The Newark STAR-LEDGER's Matthew Futterman reports on the abundance of registered NFL agents by noting, "No one ever said being a sports agent was pretty. If intense, back-stabbing battles to win and hold the affections of fickle NFL stars sound like fun, then representing athletes may be the perfect career choice." If it doesn't, "don't quit the day job" (Newark STAR-LEDGER).
See The Daily Insider's Articles Of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
Storm G Sue Bird, Shock F Swin Cash and Lynx F Tamika Williams will appear at the NBA Store in N.Y. at 5:00pm ET to discuss being named the most productive rookie class from the same school (Univ. of CT) in WNBA and NBA history (THE DAILY).
CO-based sporting goods retailer Gart Sports at 5:00pm ET will hold its Q2 '02 earnings report conference call (THE DAILY).
Padres CEO Bob Vizas, President & COO Charles Black and VP & Senior Advisor Dave Winfield will update community leaders on the progress of ballpark construction and district development at a 6:30pm PT meeting at the future concourse of the downtown ballpark (THE DAILY).
The USTA will host the International Taste of Tennis, a celebrity food tasting event to benefit Windows of Hope, from 7:00-10:00pm ET at the W Hotel in N.Y. Andre Agassi, Patrick McEnroe and James Blake are among those expected to attend (THE DAILY).
The MLS Crew will conduct a karaoke contest from 5:00-9:00pm ET at the Crew Stadium Club tent. Crew players will handle the judging duties and will select eight finalists to compete in the August 31st final (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS….
The AP reports that defendant John Gordnick "pleaded guilty [today] to helping cover up Jayson Williams' role in a Valentine's Day shooting death" and will testify against the former NBA star. Gordnick "will avoid jail time" (AP, 8/22).
US Airways said today that it plans to eliminate 13% of its daily schedule, or about 200 flights, and "cut an unspecified number of jobs as it restructures under Chapter 11 bankruptcy" (REUTERS, 8/22). Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines said today that it is "capping one-way, last-minute fares at $299, $100 less than the previous level, as it tries to grow its long-haul business" (REUTERS, 8/22).
UPN's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was rated the worst show in primetime by the Parents Television Council (PTC), with the PTC "condemning it for graphic violence and sex, and an element of the occult." Both NBC's "Friends" and CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" made the group's list of the 10 worst shows in primetime. Pax TV's "Doc," starring Billy Ray Cyrus, was "named the best show" (AP, 8/22).
THE DAILY STAT: BILLBOARD CHARTS
The following lists Billboard Magazine's top-selling CDs for the week ending August 15 (BILLBOARD, 8/31):
| RK | | ALBUM | ARTIST | LABEL |
| 1) | | Nellyville | Nelly | Fo' Reel |
| 2) | | The Eminem Show | Eminem | Web/Aftermath |
| 3) | | The Rising | Bruce Springsteen | Columbia |
| 4) | | October Road | James Taylor | Columbia |
| 5) | | Let Go | Avril Lavigne | Arista |
| 6) | | Now 10 | Various Artists | Sony/Universal/EMI/Zomba |
| 7) | | Unleashed | Toby Keith | DreamWorks (Nashville) |
| 8) | | [Reanimation] | Linkin Park | Warner Bros. |
| 9) | | xXx | Soundtrack | Universal |
| 10) | | The Fix | Scarface | Def Jam South |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air the Little League World Series, Worcester-Harlem, at 7:00pm ET.
CBS will air NFL preseason, Chargers-Rams, at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air '02 WNBA Playoffs: Liberty-Mystics at 8:00pm ET, and Sparks-Starzz at 10:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Jesse Owens at 8:00pm ET.
Packers QB Brett Favre, "Fox NFL Sunday" host James Brown and actress Kate Bosworth are scheduled to appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
A's P and player rep Barry Zito will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
A&E's "Biography" will profile Susan Sarandon at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Pre-empted |
| "The Tonight Show" | Tom Cruise (r) |
| "The Late Late Show" | Pre-empted |
| "Late Night" | “P. Diddy” Combs (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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