| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday March 11, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | DC Officials To Present Ballpark Financing Plan At Public Session Tonight |
| • | Greek Premier Costas Simitis Tells ATHOC To Stop Arguing With Government |
| • | Univ. Of Louisville, adidas Today Extend Sports Marketing Partnership |
| • | Despite Losses, American Skiing Claims Ski Season Off To A Strong Start |
| • | Univ. Of Cincinnati Receives Largest Individual Gift In School History |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
DC BALLPARK FINANCING PLAN RELIES ON THREE REVENUE STREAMS
The WASHINGTON TIMES reports that DC officials tonight will host a public session from 7:00-9:00pm ET to present a ballpark financing plan, the public portion of which, “will amount to as much as $275[M] and will rely foremost on a three-pronged revenue stream of ballpark-related sales tax, a gross-receipts tax assessed on large DC businesses and taxes on players salaries.” The overall plan is designed to have “no more than 80[%] of the total ballpark project publicly financed.” The plan will be presented during a second public session Thursday night, and then to the MLB Relocation Committee on March 20 in Phoenix (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/11).
SAME SONG, DIFFERENT SINGER: GREEK SQUABBLES CONTINUE
Less than a week after ATHOC President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki urged Greeks to stop bickering and work harder in preparing for the ’04 Olympics, the AP reports that Greek Premier Costas Simitis told ATHOC “to stop arguing with his government and to focus on preparations.” Simitis’ comments came after he received a letter from IOC Coordination Commission Chair Denis Oswald asking for “action, decisions and time limits.” Unrelated to the venue and infrastructure delays, ATHOC said that it has “received 62,977 applications for Olympic volunteers.” The group’s target is 100,000 (AP, 3/11).
UNIV. OF LOUISVILLE, ADIDAS RE-UP WITH MULTIYEAR DEAL
adidas America and the Univ. of Louisville today announced a multiyear extension of their sports marketing partnership, which began in ‘98. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Other adidas partner schools include UCLA, AZ State Univ., Univ. of Notre Dame, Univ. of TN, Univ. of NE and Univ. of WI (THE DAILY).
AMERICAN SKIING COMPANY LOSES $206M FOR LAST FISCAL YEAR
The Portland (ME) PRESS HERALD reports that American Skiing Co. lost $206M for the year ending last July, compared to a $141M loss for the previous year. The company’s year-end results were “repeatedly delayed because of a change in auditors and accounting rule amendments that necessitated a re-audit of previous results.” Despite the losses, American Skiing said that this year’s season “got off to a strong start, with skier visits at Eastern resorts” up 14% through the end of January (Portland PRESS HERALD, 3/11).
PACIOLAN TODAY PURCHASES ASSETS OF TICKET INNOVATIONS
Digital ticketing enabler Paciolan today announced that it has purchased the assets of ticket management technology company Ticket Innovations, whose “Season Tickets” software allows various team’s season-ticket holders to resell their tickets online. Clients now added to the Paciolan roster include the MLB Cardinals, Pirates, Avalanche and the GA World Congress Center. Paciolan plans to offer its clients the ability to offer digital tickets to their customers (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
St. Bonaventure Univ. Board of Trustees Chair William Swan today said that he “will make his case” for the school to remain in the Atlantic 10 Conference to the conference’s school presidents before their April 11 meeting (AP, 3/11).
Sales and marketing organization Next Inc. today announced the signing of a licensing agreement with The Collegiate Licensing Company for the design, production and distribution of licensed products for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. CollegeWear USA is the signature line of Next’s collegiate licensed products (THE DAILY).
The CINCINNATI POST reported that Richard Lindner, the brother of Reds Owner Carl Lindner, committed $10.2M toward the new 180,000 square foot Varsity Village athletic complex at the Univ. of Cincinnati. School officials note that it “is the largest gift ever presented to the university by an individual” (CINCINNATI POST, 3/10).
The SACRAMENTO BEE notes that Univ. of CA-Davis today will announce it is moving to Div. I and the Big West Conference (SACRAMENTO BEE, 3/11).
MLS and interactive game developer Infogrames today announced that “Backyard Soccer 2004” has shipped to retail stores nationwide this week (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban will bartend at the Irving location of Don Pablo’s Mexican Kitchen from 7:00-9:00pm CT (THE DAILY).
Women In Sports & Events (WISE) will host an event entitled, “Equality in the Sports Business Arena,” from 6:00-8:00pm ET at the NBA Store in N.Y. Panelists include MLB VP/Strategic Planning, Recruitment and Diversity Wendy Lewis, NHL Int’l Marketing Dir Kamini Sharma and sports media company Jessamy, Inc. Owner Jessamy Tang (THE DAILY).
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air NCAA men’s basketball, UW Milwaukee-Butler in the Horizon League Championship at 7:00pm ET and Western Kentucky-Middle Tennessee in the Sun Belt Conference Championship at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air NCAA women’s basketball, Villanova-UConn in the Big East Conference Championship at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air NCAA men’s basketball, IUPUI-Valparaiso in the Mid-Continent Conference Championship at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Rocky Graziano at 8:00pm ET.
FSN Northwest will air a 30-minute special about the Special Olympics Washington Winter Games at 7:00pm PT. WA Gov. Gary Locke will open the segment.
ABC NBA personality Ahmad Rashad will be on NBC’s “Last Call” with Carson Daly at 1:35am ET.
NBA officials Dick Bavetta, Monty McCutchen and Derrick Collins will be on MSG's “Court Vision” at 11:00pm ET.
No. 3-ranked ATP Tour doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan will make a cameo appearance tonight on ABC's "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter" at 8:00pm ET.
A&E’s “Biography” will profile Maureen O’Hara at 8:00pm ET.
E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile The Sultan & The Centerfold at 8:00pm ET.
The Travel Channel will air “Secrets: Tattoo Conventions Around the World” at 9:00pm ET.
Actor Vince Vaughn will guest host CBS’ “Late Show” at 11:35pm ET as David Letterman continues to recover from a case of the shingles.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Geri Halliwell |
| “The Tonight Show” | Michael Caine |
| “The Late Late Show” | Tom Arnold |
| “Late Night” | Joshua Jackson |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Eugene Levy |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM’s Doug Krikorian writes, “While the other NBA owner in town, the Clippers’ Donald T. Sterling, has made a mess of his team with his ceaseless stream of miscalculations, Jerry Buss has kept the Lakers at an exalted level, overseeing a reign of success unmatched in the annals of L.A. pro sports” (Long Beach PRESS-TELEGRAM).
The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER’s Tiffany Montgomery examines Nike’s February ’02 purchase of Hurley Int’l, a move that “stunned the action sports industry.” While “skeptics feared the worst … none of the worst-case scenarios has developed.” Montgomery writes that Nike “seems to have learned its lesson and is maintaining a hands-off approach” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for these and more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports & Entertainment: Name the ’94 movie in which Nick Nolte plays coach Pete Bell of the fictional Western University Dolphins.
IN OTHER NEWS……
REUTERS reports that shares of Montreal-based Bombardier fell after Standard & Poor’s “cut the transportation group’s debt rating to just one notch above junk status” (REUTERS, 3/11). As of presstime, Bombardier’s class B shares were trading at C$3.44, down C$0.16, or 4.44%.
Broadway producers and musicians today reached a tentative agreement to end a strike that caused the cancellation of several musicals last week (Mult., 3/11).
THE DAILY STAT: THE ICEMAN NEEDS TO COMETH
In a recent survey of 30 NHL players conducted by The Hockey News, 11 judged the ice at The World’s Most Famous Arena as the worst in the league (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 2/28 issue).
…TODAY’S ANSWER
Blue Chips.
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dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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