| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Buffalo Business Leaders Form Committee To Help Pump Sabres Tix Sales |
| • | BBC Eyeing Bid For F1 TV Rights, Property Would Be Net's “Crown Jewel” |
| • | First Annual EPIC Awards To Honor Val Ackerman, ESPN Tonight |
| • | CBS President of Sales Joe Abruzzese Leaves Net For Discovery Networks |
| • | Terry Bradshaw To Outline The “Rules” Tonight During ABC Sitcom Cameo |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Articles of Interest/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
BUFFALO LEADERS AIM TO SELL 3,200 SABRES SEASON TICKETS
The Buffalo Niagra Partnership today officially launched the "Business Back the Sabres" Committee, formed to sell 3,200 season tickets and 12 suites to area businesses over the next two months. As of yesterday, the Sabres had sold about 6,859 full season-ticket packages and 7,771 full-season equivalents. The 16-member committee will be co-chaired by HSBC Bank USA President Brian Keating, M&T Bank President Robert Sadler and law firm Hodgson Russ President James Wadsworth (THE DAILY).
BBC CONTEMPLATING MEGA-OFFER FOR RETURN OF F1 RIGHTS
ANANOVA.com cites a London Daily Mail report as saying that the BBC is preparing a US$272M bid to bring F1 races back to the net when the current deal with ITV runs out in '05. The racing series for the BBC would become "the jewel in their crown of sports coverage after they lost out on Champions League coverage." ITV in '97 paid US$109M for the rights in a five-year deal, "which was 10 times more than what the BBC had previously paid." The deal was extended for three years (ANANOVA.com, 10/15).
ACKERMAN, ESPN AMONG WINNERS AT TONIGHT'S EPIC AWARDS
WNBA President Val Ackerman will be awarded an EPIC (Enhancing Perceptions in Culture) Award tonight at the first annual EPIC Awards Gala at The Supper Club in N.Y. The EPIC Awards, given by The White House Project, recognize those who present positive images of women leaders in pop culture venues. ESPN, for its "Women and Sports Weekend" programming this past June, will receive an Honorable Mention (THE DIALY).
PEOPLE ARE STILL NOT USED TO THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS
The New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE reports that for the third straight road game the Hornets will wear their white home uniforms tonight in Orlando. The team's teal road uniforms, with "New Orleans" rather than "Charlotte" on the front, "still have not arrived" from Reebok. Hornets Equipment Manager David Jovanovic said, "As long as we have them for that first (regular-season) game on November 1, we'll be OK" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 10/15). Magic coach Doc Rivers: "I probably called them Charlotte 15 times today. They're New Orleans, right?" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 10/15).
BUZZER BEATERS
CBS President of Sales Joe Abruzzese is leaving his post at the end of the month to become Discovery Networks President of Sales & Marketing. Abruzzese has been with CBS for 20 years, the last ten as sales president (THE DAILY).
STATS Inc. announced today that CBS Sports will again use its online research product, STATS Pass, for its NFL coverage this season. CBS employed the product upon its debut last season (THE DAILY).
The S.F. CHRONICLE reports that Bay Area Olympic bidders have sent a 100-page document to the USOC, which "summarizes three years of bid information" and "why San Francisco and not New York should be the U.S. candidate to host the 2012 Summer Games" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/15).
The AP cites a report from German newspaper the Stuttgarter Zeitung stating that Boris Becker has "reached an out-of-court settlement in his tax evasion case." Becker will reportedly be "slapped with two years probation and will pay 2.5 million euros (US$2.3 million) in back taxes, plus penalty on the money" (AP, 10/15).
Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing announced today the signing of featherweight “Irishman” Benn Dunne. Dunne's first bout under his promotional contract with Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing is scheduled for October 18 in Buffalo. ESPN2 will carry the fight (THE DAILY).
BFGoodrich announced the renewal of its multiyear sponsorship of FLW Outdoors. BFGoodrich has sponsored the pro fishing organization since '99 (THE DAILY).
Construction began this week in Houston on Halliburton Plaza, a 27,000-square-foot park located just outside Minute Maid Park, which will highlight the histories of the Astros and the energy company. The park is scheduled to be completed by spring '03 (THE DAILY).
Andrei Trifonov, owner of Russian hockey team Khimik Voskresensk, "was shot to death" October 10 (AP, 10/15).
YOU HEARD IT HERE:
- In an interview with SKI Magazine, Univ. of CO WR and Olympic moguls skier Jeremy Bloom said of his eligibility fight with the NCAA over his skiing endorsements, "The hardest thing about challenging the NCAA in court was the fact that I had to put my future in other people's hands. I have always felt like I had total control of accomplishing my goals." Bloom, who is also a model, when asked if he had a girlfriend, added, "I'm a freshman in college at one of the biggest party schools in the nation. What was the question? Oh yeah, I don't have a girlfriend" (SKI, 11/02 issue).
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
ESPN Magazine Exec Editor Steven Wulff will be the guest at master's tea at Yale Univ.'s Calhoun College at 4:30pm ET. The event is open to the public (HARTFORD COURANT, 10/14).
ESPN anchor Linda Cohn will speak at 7:30pm ET at the Goldstein Auditorium in the Schine Student Center at Syracuse Univ. The event, sponsored by the Jewish Student Union and the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, is open to the public (Syracuse POST-STANDARD, 10/15).
Retired NHLer Dominik Hasek will be at Perani's Hockey World in Detroit from 4:30-7:00pm ET to launch a fund-raising drive benefiting Detroit's inner-city youth (THE DAILY).
Eagles S Brian Dawkins will be honored tonight by the Burn Foundation of Philadelphia for his activities on behalf of fire safety. The event will take place from 5:30-8:00pm ET at the NovaCare Complex (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS presents a special "Look at the SBC Center," which officially opens on Friday.
The N.Y. DAILY NEWS' special series entitled, "Stadium Game: The House That You Built," looks at the relationship between communities and pro sports teams in their efforts to build new facilities:
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS…
AOL Time Warner Vice Chair Ted Turner on October 1 sold $5M worth of AOL Timer Warner shares. Turner sold 434,700 shares at $11.50 each (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/15).
Comcast Corp. today plans to begin offering HDTV programming throughout NJ. As many as 1.4 million cable subscribers will be able to access the new service (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 10/15).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the N.Y. Times the week ending October 5 (N.Y. TIMES):
| THIS
WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | LEADERSHIP, Rudolph W. Giuliani with Ken Kurson (Miramax/Hyperion) |
| 2) | LET'S ROLL!, Lisa Beamer with Ken Abraham (Tyndale) |
| 3) | LONGITUDES AND ATTITUDES, Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) |
| 4) | LET FREEDOM RING, Sean Hannity (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 5) | ABRAHAM, Bruce Feiler (Morrow) |
| 6) | SANDY KOUFAX, Jane Leavy (HarperCollins) |
| 7) | SLANDER, Ann Coulter (Crown) |
| 8) | NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE, Christopher Reeve (Random House) |
| 9) | BLUE LATITUDES, Tony Horwitz (Holt) |
| 10) | THE BLANK SLATE, Steven Pinker (Viking) |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air "The Focus Group" at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN will air "Beg, Borrow & Deal" at 8:00pm ET.
Grizzlies President Jerry West and Univ. of Memphis men's basketball coach John Calipari will be on ESPN's "Off Course with Jack Wagner" at 9:00pm ET.
Michael Kay, Dan LeBatard and Charley Steiner join Jack Ford on ESPN's "The Sports Reporters II" at 9:30pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Arthur Ashe at 8:00pm ET.
Actor Samuel L. Jackson will be on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
"Fox NFL Sunday" analyst Terry Bradshaw will appear on ABC's "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter" at 8:00pm ET.
A&E's "Biography" will profile Marilyn Monroe at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile Steven Seagal at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "Late Show" | Thandie Newton |
| "The Tonight Show" | David Arquette |
| "The Late Late Show" | Patrick Swayze |
| "Late Night" | David Chappelle |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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