| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, October 2, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Larry King Asks Former N.Y. Mayor About Role As MLB Commissioner |
| • | Delaware North Signs 25-Year Food Service Deal For New Wembley Stadium |
| • | Rogge Says Decision To Cut Olympic Sports Could Be Delayed Until Next July |
| • | Yankees 1B Giambi Discusses Life As A Yankee In ESPN Magazine |
| • | AOL Time Warner Chair Case Sees Role At The Company Continuing |
| • | Articles Of Interest/In Other News/Tonight's Events/Daily Stat/Channel Surfing |
GIULIANI DISCUSSES MLB COMMISSIONER ROLE WITH LARRY KING
Former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani will appear tonight on CNN's "Larry King Live" at 9:00pm ET, and will comment on the prospect of becoming MLB commissioner. Below is an excerpt from tonight's conversation:
King: "I'm going to come up with a hypothetical, fair question. Bud Selig says, 'I've had enough, I'm out.' The owners come to you, [and say], 'Rudy Giuliani, would you like to be commissioner of baseball?'"
Giuliani: "You know, Larry, you know what a Yankee fan I am. Do you realize the conflict of interest that would exist if I were commissioner of baseball?"
King: "Really. Because of your allegiance for the Yankees?"
Giuliani: "No. I don't know – you really want to know what my fear of that job is?"
King: "What?"
Giuliani: "I've loved this game so much, I would hate to make it a business. I see some of the people that are in the business of baseball and I wonder, does it take some of the fun out of it, some of the enjoyment, some of the relaxation? And I really mean this, the two things that allowed me to relax between September 11 through November and then December was going to my son's football games and going to baseball. So I don't know that I'd want to take this – for me what's a pastime – and turn it into a business."
King: "(Former MLB Commissioner Bart) Giamatti had a great line, though. I said, 'Why would you leave the presidency of Yale to be commissioner of baseball?' He said, 'Because nobody sits in front of you," ("Larry King Live," CNN, 10/2).
NY-BASED FOOD SERVICE COMPANY INKS 25-YEAR WEMBLEY DEAL
NY-based Delaware North Companies announced today that it has signed a 25-year agreement to serve as the official caterer for the new Wembley national stadium in England. Delaware North's client roster includes Melbourne Park, Boston's FleetCenter, Busch Stadium and the Olympic Games (THE DAILY).
IOC DECISION ON ELIMINATION SPORTS COULD WAIT UNTIL JULY
The AP reported that IOC President Jacques Rogge, while speaking at a sports TV conference in Monaco today, said that "final action on new sports might only take place at the next session" in Prague in July '03. IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau: "Decisions will be made [at IOC sessions in November] in Mexico on the potential exclusion of sports but, depending on the outcome, decisions on possible inclusion might be postponed until July." Sports the IOC is considering dropping include baseball, softball and modern pentathlon, and it is considering adding golf and rugby (AP, 10/1).
TURNER SPORTS REPORTS BRAVES RATINGS EQUAL TO LAST YEAR
Turner Sports announced today that for its 89 regular-season Braves games this year, TBS averaged a 1.4 Nielsen cable rating (1,232,000 HHs), equaling last season's mark for 90 telecasts. Meanwhile, the net noted that ESPN earned a 1.1 for its 64 MLB telecasts, while ESPN2 averaged a 0.6 for its 36 games, and WGN scored a 0.8 for 104 Cubs and White Sox games in '02 (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
This week's ESPN Magazine cover features Yankees 1B Jason Giambi. In a first-person story, Giambi discusses life as a Yankee (THE DAILY).
eBay, in conjunction with the official launch of its sports store – www.eBaySports.com - announced today it is offering various athlete-inspired experiences and collectibles. The items, available at auction October 1-11, include a chance to shoot hoops with Magic Johnson and the opportunity to join Jack Nicklaus for a round of golf (THE DAILY).
Former Cowboys coach Barry Switzer today joined the advisory board of wholesale clothing distributor XDOGS (THE DAILY).
Costa Rican soccer officials announced today that former U.S. Men's national team coach Steve Sampson has signed a four-year deal, worth $1.4M per year, to lead their national team program (SPORTSTICKER, 10/2).
ESPN today announced that play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne and analyst Bill Clement will return as the number one team for all NHL telecasts on ESPN and ABC, and that former NHLer Ray Ferraro will join ESPN2 as an analyst on "NHL 2Night." Ferraro has served as a guest analyst for the past five postseasons (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The Baltimore SUN's Jon Morgan reports that as the number of tickets sold at Oriole Park at Camden Yards "dropped more than 14% this season" and paid attendance "dipped below three million for the first time," the Orioles face "a new reality," one in which tickets that "were once as scarce as rainfall in the mid-Atlantic have become as plentiful as ozone" (Baltimore SUN).
In a special for USA TODAY, Suzanne McFadden wonders if it is "ego that has driven a list of the world's richest men" to participate in the Louis Vuitton Cup, precursor to the America's Cup, as the ten syndicates in competiton represent affluent individuals who "forked out between $10 million and $90 million for a shot at the silverware" (USA TODAY).
The THOROUGHBRED TIMES'Rich Eng reports that MGM Mirage Chair and thoroughbred Owner Terry Lanni "pulled no punches" during his keynote speech at the NTRA Marketing Summit luncheon on Monday. Lanni believes the racing industry's business model "has to be changed … if it wants to ever grow" and offered Las Vegas' "past transformation" as a model for the industry (THOROUGHBREDTIMES.com).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
The D.C. Sports & Entertainment Commission and the city planning office will hear presentations for five potential baseball facility locations during a public meeting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library at 6:00pm ET. Among the sites under consideration are the RFK Stadium property, two spots between Mount Vernon Square and Union Station, land west of the SE Federal Center and the area directly north of Union Station (WASHINGTON TIMES, 9/29).
The Women's Research and Education Institute (WREI) will present its annual American Woman Award to WNBA Mystics F Chamique Holdsclaw at a reception tonight at the Mayflower Hotel in DC (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS……
The N.Y. DAILY NEWS reports that "in an effort to win back fleeing advertisers," AOL has cut its rates by as much as 30%. As of last week, prices for AOL's "most-coveted inventory" was reduced to $50 CPMs, from $75 (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/2).
The ATLANTA CONSTITUTION reports Fox News' average audience grew by 23% in Q3 '02, compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, CNN's audience dropped 26%, and Headline News, MSNBC and CNBC also saw declines (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/2).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of September 23-29. Also provided are Nielsen ratings averages season-to-date for the nets' primetime coverage (USA TODAY, 10/2).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | Friends | NBC | Thu | 20.3/31 | 34.0 |
| 2) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 18.2/27 | 30.5 |
| 3) | ER | NBC | Thu | 16.9/27 | 26.7 |
| 4) | Everybody Loves Raymond - 9:30 | CBS | Mon | 15.3/22 | 24.0 |
| 5) | Everybody Loves Raymond - 9:00 | CBS | Mon | 14.7/22 | 23.3 |
| 6) | CSI: Miami | CBS | Mon | 14.9/24 | 23.1 |
| 7) | Scrubs | NBC | Thu | 13.8/21 | 22.3 |
| 8) | Survivor: Thailand | CBS | Thu | 12.3/19 | 21.7 |
| 9) | Will & Grace | NBC | Thu | 13.9/20 | 21.5 |
| 10) | Frasier | NBC | Tue | 14.1/21 | 21.1 |
| NIELSEN AVERAGES SEASON-TO-DATE |
| | | | |
| | | NBC | 13.9 | | |
| | | | |
| | | CBS | 13.4 | | |
| | | | |
| | | ABC | 9.9 | | |
| | | | |
| | | Fox | 7.1 | | |
| | | | |
| | | UPN | 4.5 | | |
| | | | |
| | | WB | 4.2 | | |
CHANNEL SURFING
ABC Family will air ALDS Game Two, Twins-A's, at 4:00pm ET.
Fox will air ALDS Game Two, Angels-Yankees, at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air '02 Nike U.S. Women's Cup, Australia-USA, at 7:30pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Paul Hornung at 8:00pm ET.
Dolphins RB Ricky Williams and Ravens coach Brian Billick will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
Ravens CB Chris McAllister, former Dolphins RB Mercury Morris, former MLBer Kirk Gibson, PBA bowler Pete Weber and actress Dyan Cannon are scheduled to appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
A&E's "Biography" will profile Benny Hill at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "Revealed" features Jennifer Love Hewitt at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Anthony LaPaglia |
| "The Tonight Show" | Oscar de la Hoya |
| "The Late Late Show" | Melina Kanakaredes |
| "Late Night" | Alyson Hannigan |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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