Closing Bell, February 3, 2003

PACIFICARE HEALTH SYSTEMS TO SPONSOR NEWMAN/HAAS RACING

PacifiCare Health Systems today announced it has reached an agreement with Newman/Haas Racing (NHR) to sponsor their primary car, driven by Bruno Junqueira, in the CART series for ’03, marking PacifiCare’s entry into motorsports. In addition to the NHR sponsorship, PacifiCare will serve as the official sponsor of three Champ Car events in the ’03 season: the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13, the Milwaukee race on May 31 and the Denver race on August 31. Finally, the company will serve as the Official Health Care Provider of the Champ Car World Series schedule (THE DAILY).

NHL TO OPEN SABRES BIDDING TO ALL PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS

NHL Exec VP & CLO Bill Daly today announced that Mark Hamister’s period for exclusive purchase rights of the Sabres has expired, and as a result, the club now is free to entertain other expressions of interest and offers to purchase the franchise. Hamister’s group can continue working on the bid and submit another offer (THE DAILY). The AP reports that Hamister “may withdraw completely,” as his partner Todd Berman did today. Hormoz Mansouri, a member of B. Thomas Golisano’s ownership group, said Golisano “is still willing to buy the team” (AP, 2/3).

BURRELL AND THOME AMONG SUITE OWNERS AT NEW BALLPARK

The Phillies today officially unveiled a preview center for the team’s new ballpark, scheduled to open in ’04, and Dir of Sales John Weber said that the team has “already leased 58 of the 71 suites planned for the venue,” ranging from $115,000-200,000. The PHILADELPHIA BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that eight of the nine premium suites have already been leased. The suites are being leased “in four-, seven- and 10-year contracts.” Phillies LF Pat Burrell and 1B Jim Thome “are among those who have purchased suites.” No decision has been made on seating licenses at the new ballpark (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/3).

WHITE SOX DEAL STIPULATES MONEY TO BE USED ON BALLPARK

White Sox Chair Jerry Reinsdorf speaking today at the official announcement of the 23-year, $68M Comiskey Park naming rights deal with Chicago-based U.S. Cellular, said, “Without the naming rights, there would be no renovation.” The team plans to remodel the upper deck, a project estimated to cost as much as $50M. Additional renovation details “will be announced shortly.” White Sox Exec VP Howard Pizer said a restriction in the deal “means we can’t spend it on players, we can’t put it in our pockets, we can’t do anything else with it. It has a singular focus, and that is renovations.” Reinsdorf said that the Comiskey name “still will be commemorated somewhere in the field,” adding, “It will not disappear” (AP, 2/3).

NHL ALL-STAR BLOCK PARTY BLOWS AWAY EXPECTATIONS

The NHL continues to report figures from this past weekend’s NHL All-Star Weekend in Sunrise, FL, stating that more than 130,000 attended activities centered around the game. The NHL estimates attendance for the All-Star Block Party at 60,000, with more than 1,000 jerseys, 1,800 pucks and 2,500 hats sold. NHL All-Star Block Party Retail Ops Dir Jeff Newman: “We blew away our projections” (THE DAILY).

BUZZER BEATERS

The top five local markets for yesterday’s Pro Bowl, which earned a 6.9/11 Nielsen overnight rating, are as follows (THE DAILY):

The AP reports that R. Stephen Bowden, the oldest son of FL State. Univ. football coach Bobby Bowden, and former Univ. of AL QB Brian Burgdorf “are among seven people indicted in an alleged securities fraud conspiracy that cost investors $10[M]” in AL, FL and TN (AP, 2/3).

TONIGHT’S EVENTS

The ’03 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic, which will be played at the Cumberland County Civic Center at 7:00pm ET, will be cybercast live on the league’s Web site (THE DAILY).

“The Phil Jackson Show” tonight returns to Sporting News Radio for a second season from 6:00-7:00pm ET (THE DAILY).

CHANNEL SURFING

ESPN will air NCAA men’s basketball Georgetown-Syracuse at 7:00pm ET, Missouri-Kansas at 9:00pm and Wyoming-San Diego St. at midnight.

ESPN2 will air NCAA men’s basketball Villanova-St. Joseph’s at 7:00pm ET.

ESPN2 will air Winter X Games VII at 9:00pm ET.

ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Venus & Serena Williams at 8:00pm ET, and Zina Garrison at 8:30pm.

Former MLBer Mitch Williams, tennis coach Brad Gilbert and NBA columnist Stephen Smith are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

E!’s “Rank” premieres “Young Hollywood: Players or Played Out?” at 10:00pm ET.

HEADLINERS

Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, who authored Title IX legislation in the U.S. Senate, writes an Op-Ed in the Baltimore SUN on the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics’ recommendations: “President Bush and Education Secretary Rod Paige must prevent these undemocratic and unlawful proposals from being implemented” as they would “seriously weaken the law” (Baltimore SUN).

The HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN’s Dave Segal writes on the economic impact of the Pro Bowl, “Visitors continue to flock to the annual all-star game at Aloha Stadium and pump money into the state’s economy. … The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism estimates this year’s Pro Bowl will generate $39.92[M] million for the Hawaii economy” (HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN).

The WASHINGTON TIMES’ Patrick Hruby writes, “Is it too much to ask that President Bush take a few hours out of his crowded schedule to root for the Washington Redskins? Or at least catch a Mystics game? After all, it’s not as if Bush is a stranger to sports” (WASHINGTON TIMES).

See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.

TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports: Name the NBA’s all-time leader for career and season three-point percentage.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Intermedia Advertising Group reports that awareness of “Anger Management,” the upcoming release starring Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler, “was raised 145% based on viewer responses to questions before and after” the Super Bowl. The movie bested nine other films that were promoted during the game (DAILY VARIETY, 2/3).

The Nashville TENNESSEAN reports that Nashville’s Fox affil “is taking a little slap at its big brother Fox network with a series” about a high school junior who “was disappointed with her ‘American Idol’ tryout trip” to L.A. The show airs tonight at 9:00pm CT (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 2/3).

Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposed weekly, which will be called the L.A. Examiner, will first publish June 5. The “politically charged” weekly will feature 80 pages, including a sports section. A 52-page prototype is currently circulating to advertisers and media (MEDIA LIFE, 2/3).

THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION

The following presents best selling nonfiction books for the week ending January 25 (NYTIMES.com, 2/3):

…TODAY’S ANSWER

Spurs G Steve Kerr has a career three-point percentage of .456. In the ’94-95 season with the Bulls, Kerr hit treys at a .524 clip.

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

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