| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, September 16, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | ConAgra Skins Game Participants Announced For Thanksgiving Weekend Event |
| • | Campbell Soup Ads To Get Real Tonight on "MNF" |
| • | National Golf Properties Today Announces $1.1B Sale To Investor Group |
| • | MLB Unveils Search And Rescue Dog Sculpture Today |
| • | Despite Reports, Olbermann Says Storm Will Not Move To "The Early Show" |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Articles of Interest/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
GOLF NEWS: SKINS GAME PARTICIPANTS, KINKO'S INKS DEAL
ESPN Regional Television, IMG's TWI and ConAgra Foods today announced that Tiger Woods, Phil Mickleson, Mark O'Meara and Fred Couples will compete in the $1M ConAgra Foods Skins Game at Landmark Golf Club in Indio, CA, from November 29-December 1. The final two days of the event will be televised on ABC. This marks the first year of ConAgra's title sponsorship of the event. ConAgra replaces Toyota as title sponsor (THE DAILY).
As expected, the PGA Tour and Kinko's today announced a multi-year agreement making the company the official Document Services Provider of the PGA and Senior PGA Tours. Kinko's also becomes the title sponsor of a new senior tournament, the Kinko's Classic of Austin. The first Kinko's Classic of Austin is scheduled for the week of May 5-11, 2003 at The Hills Country Club (THE DAILY).
RESPONDING TO CRITICISM, CAMPBELL SOUP TO USE REAL MOMS
The ORLANDO SENTINEL reports that beginning tonight on ABC's "MNF," Campbell Soup will use the real mothers of Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, Giants DE Michael Strahan, Steelers RB Jerome Bettis and Bears LB Brian Urlacher in the company's NFL-themed ads. The move is in response to "criticism of the use of actresses as the moms, who often behaved in boorish ways." Additionally, this year's commercials will show "mother-and-son taking soup to community areas such as a kindergarten, subway or bowling alley" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 9/16).
INVESTOR GROUP TO OWN, LEASE OR MANAGE 250+ GOLF COURSES
National Golf Properties today announced the sale of the company to an investor group comprised of Goldman Sachs' GS Capital Partners 2000, Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Street Real Estate Fund 2001 and Starwood Capital Group's SOF VI U.S. Holdings, LLC. In conjunction with the transaction, the investor group will also purchase the outstanding equity interests of American Golf Corporation, a privately-held company that leases and operates nearly all properties of National Golf Properties. The combined transaction is valued at $1.1B and includes full repayment of all indebtedness. The companies will continue to own, lease or manage over 250 golf courses around the world (THE DAILY).
MLB UNVEILS SEARCH AND RESCUE DOG SCULPTURE TODAY
MLB today unveiled "Major," a life-size sculpture of a Search and Rescue Dog. The dog was created by MLB Design Services, as part of DOGNY, the program which commemorates the efforts of Search and Rescue Dogs and their handlers on September 11. The project will place up to 200 life-size dog statues in public places through November before being sold at auction in December (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
The N.Y. POST's "Page Six" wrote that "GQ picked the wrong month to mock Pete Sampras," as Andrew Corsello's piece in October's issue "contends that most every top male tennis star since 1974 has fallen apart after marrying." When questioned about Sampras' recent victory at the U.S. Open Men's Championship, Corsello responded, "I personally believe Sampras swore off sex during the tournament. Why do you think he leapt up into the stands looking for his wife when the match was over? The axiom holds" (N.Y. POST, 9/15).
ESPN's Thursday night telecast of Marshall-Virginia Tech averaged a 2.58/ (2.24 million HHs) Nielsen rating, making it the network's most-viewed Thursday night college football telecast since November 4, 1999 when Kentucky-Mississippi State averaged a 3.28/ (2.54 million HHs) (THE DAILY).
Fox' MLB regional coverage on Saturday from 1:15-4:15pm ET earned a 2.3/6 overnight Nielsen rating. Meanwhile, "Fox NFL Sunday" earned a 4.4/10. Fox regional NFL coverage earned a 12.4/24 (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT'S EVENT
The Mavericks will host over 200 Mavs VIP Fan Club members to take a tour of their practice facility at American Airlines Arena from 6:30-9:00pm CT (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The WASHINGTON TIMES' Eric Fisher reports on corporate sponsorships and writes that while they have been "long an integral part of professional sports," they have "never been more important, pervasive or influential than" right now. As ticket prices and TV-rights contracts "no longer show the meteoric increases of years past," sponsorship revenue "continues to march upward" to more than $6.4B per year among North American-based companies (WASHINGTON TIMES).
The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER's Shannon Ryan uses the following words to describe ABC "MNF" Sideline Reporter Melissa Stark: "Assertiveness. Knowledge. Passion." They are qualities that Stark said "she keeps as close as her notebook in her role" with the production (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).
The Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL's John Harrell writes that "some praise" Magna Entertainment Corp. "for aggressively investing nearly" $400M in the horse racing industry, but others "have criticized [Magna] for failing to deliver promised improvements." And as '02 winds down, Magna "finds itself torn between continuing acquisitions and improving daily operations" (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL).
The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER's Byczkowski & Wilkinson report on the history of Cinergy Field and write, "Say what you will about Cinergy Field today: It's ugly. It's sterile. It's isolated. You can't see in. You can't see out. It's downtown, but not part of downtown. Much of that criticism, however, ignores the history of the 32-year-old stadium, and burdens it with failures for things it wasn't built to do" (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER).
The N.Y. TIMES discussed Cablevision's prospects with Chair Charles Dolan and CEO James Dolan, who have been "trying to persuade Wall Street of the viability of the company's plans for averting a projected $600 million cash shortfall" (N.Y. TIMES).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS…
ABC Radio's Keith Olbermann reported today that despite a report in the N.Y. Times that NBC Sports' Hannah Storm is being considered as a replacement for Jane Clayson as the co-host on CBS' "The Early Show," the hours and Storm's "ever-growing family make it almost undoable" (ABC Radio, 9/16).
The FINANCIAL TIMES reported that News Corp. Chair & CEO Rupert Murdoch "received total remuneration" of $9.21M for the year ending June 30. Murdoch received $4.36M in salary, $3M in bonuses and $1.85M in pension contributions (FINANCIAL TIMES, 9/14).
The AP reported that a survey released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 86% of "college students across the country" use the Internet, compared with 59% of the overall U.S. population (AP, 9/15).
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that in August, 20.4 million women "went online from their workplace," below the 25.3 million men "who surfed from work" in August. While each man at work "spent an average of 31 hours" online, women spent 27 hours (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/16).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the NY Times the week ending September 7, 2002 (N.Y. Times).
| THIS
WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | LET'S ROLL!, Lisa Beamer with Ken Abraham (Tyndale) |
| 2) | LET FREEDOM RING, Sean Hannity (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 3) | WHAT WE SAW, CBS News (Simon & Schuster) |
| 4) | ABOVE HALLOWED GROUND, by photographers of NYPD (Viking Studio) |
| 5) | BREAKDOWN, Bill Gertz (Regnery) |
| 6) | A MIND AT A TIME, Mel Levine (Simon & Schuster) |
| 7) | SLANDER, Ann Coulter (Crown) |
| 8) | LONGITUDES AND ATTITUDES, Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) |
| 9) | THE CELL, John Miller and Michael Stone with Chris Mitchell (Hyperion) |
| 10) | GOOD TO GREAT, Jim Collins (HarperBusiness) |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air "Monday Night Countdown" at 7:30pm ET.
ABC will air NFL "MNF", Eagles-Redskins, at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air "The New American Sportsman" at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air "Fish On!" at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air "True Outdoor Adventures" at 9:30pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Barry Bonds at 8:00pm ET.
Former NFLer Herschel Walker, yo-yo champions Jason Lee & Jennifer Baybrook and actor Ashton Kutcher will appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
Saints OT Kyle Turley and Buccaneers S John Lynch will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
The History Channel will air "Big Deals: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly" from 9:00-10:30pm ET, which will profile the Red Sox' January 1920 sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees .
A&E's "TVography" will profile "The Wonder Years" at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "Rank" will highlight the Best TV Comedies of All Time at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Roger Clemens (r) |
| "The Tonight Show" | Bernie Mac |
| "The Late Late Show" | Donny Osmond |
| "Late Night" | Samuel L. Jackson (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
The Closing Bell provides an afternoon recap of the latest news and headlines each Monday through Friday at approximately 4:00pm ET. If you would like to sign up for an e-mail alert to the Closing Bell, go to My Account and personalize your e-mail alert options.
