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Closing Bell

Closing Bell, December 13, 2002

The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Friday, December 13, 2002
4:00pm ET

Converse Today Announces Plans For $86M Initial Public Offering

PCL Would Like City Of Portland To Consider Beavers Purchase

St. John’s Univ. Announces Football, Five Other Sports Will Be Dropped

Daktronics To Provide New Electronic Display System For Dodger Stadium

Critics Weigh In: “The Hot Chick” And “Maid In Manhattan”

Buzzer Beaters/The Daily Stat/Weekend Events/Channel Surfing


CONVERSE PLANS IPO; NUMBER OF COMMON SHARES UNDETERMINED

BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that MA-based Converse today announced plans to raise $86M in an IPO.  The preliminary filing “did not say how many common shares the company plans to sell or the price range.”  Converse plans to apply for a Nasdaq listing under the symbol “CNVS.”  Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns and Thomas Weisel Partners will underwrite the IPO (BOSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/13).


PCL WANTS CITY TO BUY PORTLAND FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

The Portland OREGONIAN reports that the PCL wants “the city of Portland to consider buying the financially troubled” Portland Family Entertainment, owners of the Triple-A PCL Portland Beavers, A-League Portland Timbers and operators of PGE Park.  The Portland City Council held a meeting today “to float the idea of public ownership” of the group, however the “council cannot take a vote in the informal work session.”  The PCL is holding its annual meeting tomorrow at baseball’s annual winter meetings in Nashville, TN, and “league officials want a sense of whether public ownership has any chance of flying with the council” (Portland OREGONIAN, 12/13).


A’S LEAD WITH FOUR NOMINATIONS, SEAHAWKS SECOND WITH THREE

Team Marketing Report today announced the finalists for the 2nd annual “Ad It Up” Awards, a sports-only advertising award program that will be featured at the National Sports Forum in Pittsburgh, January 20-22, 2003.  The awards are given in five categories: best TV spots, best radio commercials, best print (newspaper, periodicals and sales collateral), best out-of-home (billboard, transit) and best environmental advertising (any medium not listed above).  The A’s lead all finalists with nominations in four categories.  View the A’s ’02 TV campaign.  The Seahawks are second with three nominations (THE DAILY).


UNIVERSITY DROPS SPORTS TO REFLECT FEMALE POPULATION

The AP reports that St. John’s Univ. announced today that it is “dropping football and five other sports in what the school says is a move to reflect the growing proportion of female students at the university.”  In addition to football, the school will drop men’s indoor and outdoor track and cross country this year, and men’s and women’s swimming after the ’03-04 academic year.  Men's lacrosse will be added in ‘03-04.  The changes reduce the number of the school’s Div. I programs from 22 to 17, including 10 women's sports.  The student population is 58% female (AP, 12/13).


PASO PLACES PRESSURE ON SANTO DOMINGO ORGANIZERS

AROUND THE RINGS reports that the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) “has increased the pressure on organizers of next August’s Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo to be ready in time or risk losing sports on the program.”  The threat “looms largest for aquatics for which the main pools are still under construction,” and the Olympic Park in which the soccer finals will be held (AROUND THE RINGS, 12/13).


BUZZER BEATERS

The AP reports that Olympic security for the ’04 Games in Athens “will be visible but not intrusive, an assessment made before an assassination attempt” today on Athens' mayor-elect Dora Bakoyianni (AP, 12/13).

Daktronics today announced that it has been chosen to provide new video, scoring and electronic display control equipment for Dodger Stadium.  The $3.8M project is due to be completed prior to the ’03 season (THE DAILY).

The Coyotes announced today that the team’s Web site has been awarded the Outstanding Web Site Award in the Web Marketing Association’s ‘02 competition (THE DAILY).

The Magic announced today that the team’s Web site set a monthly record in November with 1,912,775 impressions registered (THE DAILY).

NASCAR announced today that NASCAR.com set a news November sales record for its online store with a 45% increase over last year (THE DAILY).

Lleyton Hewitt has joined the Special Olympics in its campaign to double the number of athletes participating in the event worldwide (TENNIS WEEK, 12/12).

BLACKOUT WATCH:

  • The BUFFALO NEWS reports that the Bills failed to sell the remaining tickets for Sunday's game against the Chargers before the blackout deadline, and thus will not be on TV in the Buffalo market (BUFFALO NEWS, 12/13).
  • The Jaguars-Bengals game “is not expected to sell out,” which would subject the game to a TV blackout in the Cincinnati market (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 12/12).

WEEKEND EVENTS

Friday

The 76ers will give “then and now” bobblehead dolls of World B. Free to the first 5,000 fans attending the team’s 7:00pm ET game against the Suns.  Fans will receive either a “then” doll, featuring Free in his 76ers jersey, or a “now” doll, which has Free wearing a white suit (THE DAILY).


Saturday

Former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman will sign autographs from 1:00-3:00pm ET at Centre Point Mall in Kentwood, MI.  The cost for one signature:  $49.95 (GRAND RAPIDS PRESS, 12/12).

The Pistons will give F Corliss Williamson bobblehead dolls to the first 10,000 fans in attendance for the team’s 7:30pm ET game against the SuperSonics (THE DAILY).

The Predators will give C Greg Johnson bobblehead dolls to the first 10,000 fans in attendance for the team’s 7:00pm ET game against the Wild (THE DAILY).


THE DAILY STAT:  TOP SPORTS SITES FOR WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 1

The following are the top five Web sites ranked according to unique home audience for the week ending December 1 from Nielsen//NetRatings.  Unique audience = the number of persons accessing this site, with each counted only once.  Average Time Spent = the average amount of time a visitor has spent at that property for the week.  NOTES: Traffic to Sportsline.com does not include traffic to its network of sites, such as the NFL Internet network (Nielsen//NetRatings).

RK
BRAND OR CHANNEL
UNIQUE
AUD.
(000)
TIME PER
PERSON
(HH:MM:SS)
1)
ESPN
4,002
0:17:34
2)
NFL Internet Network
2,867
0:16:09
3)
Yahoo Sports
2,168
0:23:08
4)
AOL Sports
2,078
0:18:06
5)
Sportsline.com
2,065
0:23:59

CRITICS WEIGH IN: “THE HOT CHICK” AND “MAID IN MANHATTAN”

The PG-13 crowd has its choice this weekend, as Rob Schneider’s gender-bending “The Hot Chick” faces off with the Cinderella retread “Maid in Manhattan.”  If the incessant media coverage of “Jenny From The Block” is any indication, this movie was made to clean up at the box office.

——————Movie——————

“The Hot Chick”

“Maid in Manhattan”

Chicago Sun-Times

Hollywood Reporter

L.A. Times

N.Y. Times

USA Today

Not reviewed


CHANNEL SURFING

FRIDAY

ESPN will air Wizards-Nets at 8:00pm ET, and Hornets-Lakers at 10:30pm.

ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Bear Bryant at 8:00pm ET.

Bucs QB Brad Johnson, USC QB Carson Palmer, “The NFL Show” co-host Tony Siragusa and comedian Jay London are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period.”

Burton Snowboards Founder Jake Burton will be on CNBC’s “Leaders with David Faber” at 9:00pm ET.

Dan Marino and Howard Stern will be on MSG’s “The Boomer Esiason Show” at 11:00pm ET.

SATURDAY

BET’s “Maad Sports” will feature Sonics G Kenny Anderson at noon ET.

BET’s “Maad Sports Countdown” will feature Bengals WR Peter Warrick’s favorite videos at 12:30pm ET.

NFL Under the Helmet” on Fox will feature Falcons QB Michael Vick, Steelers RB Jerome Bettis, Raiders QB Rich Gannon, Bills QB Drew Bledsoe and Chargers DE Marcellus Wiley.

NBA Inside Stuff” on ABC will feature Rockets C Yao Ming’s translator, Colin Pine, Grizzlies F Pau Gasol, Mavericks G Avery Johnson, Bucks F Tim Thomas and Rockets G Steve Francis.

ESPN will air NCAA football, Valdosta State-Grand Valley State in the Division II Championship game at 4:00pm ET.

FSN will air NCAA women’s basketball, Tennessee-USC at 4:30pm ET.

NBC will air the Hallmark Skaters’ Championship at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN will air the 68th Heisman Trophy Presentation from the Yale Club in N.Y. at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN will air “The Junction Boys” at 9:00pm ET.

ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” will examine The Real Junction Boys at midnight.

NCAA Men’s Basketball Schedule

Network

Time

Temple-Illinois

ESPN

noon ET

Mississippi State-Xavier

FSN

noon ET

Florida-Maryland

CBS

2:00pm ET

Louisville-Seton Hall

ESPN

2:00pm ET

Michigan State-Kentucky

CBS

4:00pm ET

Memphis-Missouri

ESPN2

5:30pm ET


SUNDAY

ESPN will air “Sunday NFL Countdown” at 11:00am ET.  With Chris Berman on the DL, Kenny Mayne’s “Mayne Event” will present auditions of the people (athletes and others) who want to host the show.

ESPN2 will air the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship game at 4:30pm ET.

ESPN2 will air Stars-Blackhawks at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN Classic will celebrate the life and career of Roone Arledge with the airing of “Classic Wide World of Sports” from noon-6:00pm ET.

NBC will air the Hallmark Skaters’ Championship at 4:00pm ET.

FSN will air NCAA men’s basketball, Texas-Arizona at 4:30pm ET and Southern Methodist-Wake Forest at 6:30pm ET.

FSN’s “Beyond The Glory” will profile former Bills QB Jim Kelly.

O.J. Simpson will be the subject of ESPN’s Sunday Conversation.

NFL Week 15

Network

Time

Coverage

Chargers-Bills

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Jets-Bears

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Jaguars-Bengals

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Colts-Browns

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Raiders-Dolphins

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Ravens-Texans

CBS

1:00pm ET

N/A

Panthers-Steelers

Fox

1:00pm ET

12%

Redskins-Eagles

Fox

1:00pm ET

43%

Buccaneers-Lions

Fox

1:00pm ET

12%

Seahawks-Falcons

Fox

1:00pm ET

14%

Vikings-Saints

Fox

1:00pm ET

9%

Chiefs-Broncos

CBS

4:05pm ET

N/A

Packers-49ers

Fox

4:15pm ET

78%

Cowboys-Giants

Fox

4:15pm ET

19%

Cardinals-Rams

ESPN

8:30pm ET

National


If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com

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