| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, October 16, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | FedExForum Is The Name Of The New Memphis NBA Arena |
| • | Showdown Vote For Newark Arena Tonight By City Council |
| • | Labatt Blue Signs On As Partner With National Lacrosse League |
| • | Sports Illustrated And ESPN Magazine Have College Football Fever |
| • | MLB's '02 Players Choice Awards Tonight At 7:00pm ET |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Daily Stat/Articles of Interest/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
IT'S OFFICAL: NEW MEMPHIS ARENA NAMED FEDEXFORUM
FedEx and the Grizzlies today announced that as part of the company's reported 20-year, $90M naming rights deal with the team, the new NBA arena in Memphis will be called the FedExForum. Scheduled to open in fall '04, the arena will seat 18,400 for basketball (THE DAILY).
VOTE TONIGHT IN NEWARK CRITICAL TO DOWNTOWN ARENA
The Newark STAR-LEDGER reports that the campaign to build a $355M, 18,500-seat arena in downtown Newark for the Nets and Devils "comes down to a series of votes tonight by the city council." Newark Mayor Sharpe James, who has a tentative deal for YankeeNets to contribute $130M to the project, is "confident that his arduous, four-year odyssey" to build the arena will be completed tonight (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 10/16).
NLL INKS LABATT BLUE AS OFFICIAL LEAGUE PARTNER
The National Lacrosse League (NLL) and Labatt Blue have reached an exclusive three-year marketing agreement for the brand to become the official beer of all NLL activities. The deal includes presence at all U.S. games and events, as well as ties to the existing Labatt Blue "Blue Card" loyalty program and the league's "meet the player" post-game parties. Labatt Blue intends to develop an NLL program for the month of March, which will POS and online components (THE DAILY).
The NLL also announced today that an exhibition match between the Toronto Rock and Ottawa Rebel will take place at 7:00pm CT Saturday, December 7th at Winnipeg Arena (THE DAILY).
ESPN/ESPN2 UNVEILS SCHEDULE OF 92 WOMEN'S NCAA HOOPS GAMES
ESPN and ESPN2 today announced that the nets will combine to feature 92 NCAA women's basketball games this season, including 29 regular season matchups and all 63 NCAA Tournament contests. The regular-season will showcase 12 of last year's Sweet 16 teams, including all four Final Four teams: the Univ. of CT (three appearances), Univ. of OK (two appearances), the Univ. of TN (four appearances) and Duke Univ. (three appearances) (THE DAILY).
DC-AREA SNIPER SHOOTINGS CAUSING CANCELLATIONS, BOYCOTTS
Due to the recent sniper shootings in the Washington, DC-area, Major League Lacrosse has postponed the MLL Titan Tour event scheduled for this weekend at St. Stephens and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, VA (THE DAILY). In other news related to the shootings, the WASHNGTON POST reports that since last Thursday, at least one athlete at each of the 11 public high schools in Howard Co. (MD) has "chosen not to play games or practice outdoors" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/16).
ECHL SIGNS MEIGRAY GROUP FOR GAME-WORN JERSEY DEAL
The ECHL today named NJ-based The MeiGray Group as the official game-worn jersey source of the league in a multi-year deal. Fans will be able to purchase the jerseys at the company's Web site. Additionally, The MeiGray Group becomes the official game-worn jersey source of the '03 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game. The company signed a similar deal with the NHL last week (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
This week's cover of Sports Illustrated features Univ. of OK's victory over the Univ. of TX with the headline "Football Fever! Only 10 Teams Can Win The National Championship. The Shakeout Begins." This week's cover of ESPN Magazine features OH State Univ. RB Maurice Clarett with the text, "OSU's Maurice Clarett Is Good Enough And Bad Enough To Crash The NFL – And He's Only 18" (THE DAILY).
On it's first day of trading today, Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS) opened at $12.15 -- slightly above it's IPO price of $12. As of presstime, shares were trading at $13.23 (THE DAILY).
The Portland OREGONIAN reports that the Trail Blazers today introduced their first mascot, Blaze the Trail Cat (Portland OREGONIAN, 10/16).
Lakers coach Phil Jackson announced today that he will serve as the national spokesperson for Positive Coaching Alliance, a not-for-profit organization created at Stanford Univ. in '98 for the benefit of youth sports (THE DAILY).
The L.A. DAILY NEWS reports that as part of a deal to support the new eBay sports portal – www.eBaysports.com -- FoxSports.com is "trying to come up with unique experiences to auction off for those willing to pay." The site is now offering the opportunity to write a column for FoxSports.com during the World Series (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 10/16). At presstime, the bid is $1,535 (THE DAILY).
MN-based Great Clips announced today that it has renewed its sponsorship of BGNRacing.com for the '03 racing season (THE DAILY).
MLS announced today that MetroStars D Steve Jolley has been named the '02 USSF Humanitarian of the Year. Jolley was selected in recognition of his community contributions via his Just Jolley Foundation (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
Senators President & CEO Roy Mlakar will speak at the monthly meeting of HITE, an association for new Canadian high-tech companies, tonight at 6:30pm ET at the National Research Council's Montreal Rd. campus in Ottawa (THE DAILY).
The Empire Sports Network will broadcast the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony tonight at 8:00pm ET (THE DAILY).
Bills QB Drew Bledsoe and Sabres C Stu Barnes will appear at a gathering of business leaders hosted by the West Valley (NY) Nuclear Services Co. The event is to take place at Ralph Wilson Stadium from 5:30-7:30pm ET (BUFFALO NEWS, 10/16).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The L.A. TIMES' Geoff Boucher writes that skateboarder Tony Hawk's Boom Boom HuckJam is "the most novel arena tour of the season, … a glitzy rock 'n' roll circus on wheels." With both action sports and music stars such as the Offspring and Devo, the tour is "like Ice Capades with a halfpipe and a house band instead of the ice" (L.A. TIMES).
CBS SPORTSLINE's Rick Horrow reports that as MLB "attempts to win the 'hearts and minds' of the sporting public (as it seemingly tries to do about every five years)," three long-term issues come into focus: "(1) the post-settlement economics of the baseball industry generally; (2) 'rebound support' from television and corporate America; and (3) long term attendance, marketing and fan support" (CBS SPORTSLINE).
The N.Y. TIMES' Robin Pogrebin writes that season ticket plans in the arts industry, which traditionally have "balanced the books of symphonies, nonprofit theaters and opera and ballet companies," has lost favor with audiences, as single-ticket sales have shown an "increase in popularity." This trend, "exacerbated by the economic slowdown, may have enormous effects on what is presented, who attends, and how performing arts groups manage their budgets" (N.Y. TIMES).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS…
The AP reports that Arthur Andersen was sentenced today "to five years' probation and fined $500,000 for obstruction of justice for its handling of Enron-related documents" (AP, 10/16).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of October 7-October 13. Also provided are Nielsen ratings averages season-to-date for the nets' primetime coverage (USA TODAY, 10/16).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 19.4/29 | 30.7 |
| 2) | Friends | NBC | Thu | 16.6/26 | 26.6 |
| 3) | ER | NBC | Thu | 16.1/26 | 24.7 |
| 4) | Survivor: Thailand | CBS | Thu | 12.3/19 | 21.2 |
| t5) | Law & Order | NBC | Wed | 13.8/23 | 20.2 |
| t5) | Will & Grace | NBC | Thu | 13.3/20 | 20.2 |
| 7) | Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS | Mon | 13.3/19 | 19.9 |
| 8) | Scrubs | NBC | Thu | 11.6/18 | 18.6 |
| 9) | CSI: Miami | CBS | Mon | 12.1/19 | 17.2 |
| 10) | Good Morning Miami | NBC | Thu | 10.7/16 | 16.3 |
| |
| NET | VIEWERS |
| CBS | 13.5 |
| NBC | 12.8 |
| ABC | 9.8 |
| Fox | 8.5 |
| WB | 4.9 |
| UPN | 4.2 |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air the "2002 MLBPA Players' Choice Awards" at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Bo Jackson at 8:00pm ET.
Angels 1B Scott Spiezio, Univ. of Miami QB Ken Dorsey, Cowboys special teams coach Joe Avezzano, WWE wrestler Triple H, actor Tony Danza and bodybuilders Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan are scheduled to appear on FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period."
Buccaneers WR Keyshawn Johnson will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
A&E's "Biography" will profile Patsy Cline at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile the show Growing Pains at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "Revealed" features Katie Holmes at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "Late Show" | Rudy Giuliani |
| "The Tonight Show" | Ashley Williams |
| "The Late Late Show" | Jason Mraz |
| "Late Night" | Greg Kinnear |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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