| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | NBA Says Goodbye To Michael Jordan Tonight As Wizards Face The 76ers |
| • | AFL Today Announces Hiring Of PR Firm To Boost Awareness Of League |
| • | Firestone Today Signs Deal To Continue As Title Of Nazareth IndyCar Race |
| • | Dick Pound Today Comments On Reports Of USOC Drug Testing Cover-Ups |
| • | NCWO Chair Martha Burk To Deliver Title IX Keynote Tonight In K.C. |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
JORDAN TO BE SENT OFF IN STYLE TONIGHT IN PHILADELPHIA
Wizards F Michael Jordan tonight plays what is presumed to be his final NBA game at 7:00pm ET against the 76ers at the First Union Center in an event the 76ers have dubbed the “Philly Farewell.” As part of the event, Philadelphia native Teddy Pendergrass will sing the national anthem. During a pregame presentation, 76ers G Eric Snow will present Jordan with a golf cart customized with the Jumpman logo, to be driven to midcourt by former 76ers Julius Erving and Moses Malone. During introductions, the 76ers will dim the house lights for both teams and while PA announcer Matt Cord will introduce the first four Wizards, former Bulls PA announcer Ray Clay will introduce Jordan.
During a first quarter break, a video tribute featuring Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday” will conclude with the Philadelphia group walking onto the court to finish the song live. Celebrities expected to attend include comedian Bill Cosby, former UNC men’s basketball coach Dean Smith, several other members of the UNC family and film producers/directors Spike Lee, M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Tollin (THE DAILY).
The team has partnered with Cherry Hill, NJ-based Interstate Outdoor Advertising to erect a billboard honoring Jordan along I-95. Each fan entering First Union Center will receive a 16” replica of the billboard.
The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports that the 76ers have issued roughly 200 press credentials for the game. While the game is a sellout, it will fall short of the team’s season-high attendance of 21,127, as media members will occupy regularly sold seats (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/16).
ESPN will broadcast the game tonight, and USA TODAY notes the six Wizards games this season on the net averaged a 1.27, 0.07% “higher than ESPN games without” Jordan (USA TODAY, 4/16). USA Today also runs a Sports section Cover Story highlighting Jordan’s career (THE DAILY).
Additionally, traffic around the First Union Center is expected to be much heavier than normal as the Marlins are playing the Phillies at Veterans Stadium at 7:00pm ET and Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus opens at 7:00pm ET in the First Union Spectrum (THE DAILY).
Meanwhile, the WASHINGTON POST reports that Jordan will meet with Wizards Owner Abe Pollin “late this week or early next week” to negotiate “their possible reunion as the top power brokers in the organization” (WASHINGTON POST, 4/16).
WASHINGTON POST columnists Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon today offer opposing views on whether the Wizards should have retired Jordan’s jersey. Kornheiser: “Michael Jordan came here at the end of his career, like a gift. Leave it like that.” Wilbon: “Jordan’s jersey should have been retired.”
WITH TV RATINGS DOWN, AFL HIRES PR FIRM TO BOOST AWARENESS
By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large, The Sports Business Daily
With TV ratings flagging, the AFL has hired an outside PR firm to help boost awareness. Dan Klores Communications, N.Y., (DKA) has won an assignment from now through the indoor football league’s championship Arena Bowl on June 22. The AFL is averaging a 1.3/3 Nielsen rating through ten weeks on NBC, short of the 1.5-2.0 the net projected prior to the season. Additionally, Sunday’s regional telecast saw a season-low 1.0 overnight. DKA will share the assignment with Brener Zwikel & Associates, Reseda, CA. Edelman last handled out-of-house PR for the AFL.
FIRESTONE SIGNS DEAL TO TITLE NAZARETH’S INDYCAR SERIES RACE
Nazareth Speedway today announced a three-year agreement under which Firestone will continue as the title sponsor of the IRL IndyCar Series race at the track. The Firestone Indy 225 will be held August 24, and will be televised on ESPN at 3:00pm ET. Firestone titled the inaugural race last year (THE DAILY).
CAVALIERS TODAY UNVEIL NEW LOGO AND UNIFORMS
The Cavaliers this afternoon unveiled a new logo, uniforms and court design. The team’s new official colors, originally announced last October, are a crimson-hued wine color and a metallic gold. Dark blue will also be used as an accent color on the new logo and uniforms. The team at halftime of tonight's game against the Raptors will have a public unveiling. As noted in today’s Morning Buzz, all fans in attendance for the Cavalier’s season-ending game the Raptors at 7:30pm ET will receive a T-shirt with the team’s new logo (THE DAILY).
DICK POUND SPEAKS ON REPORTS OF USOC DRUG TESTING COVER-UPS
World Anti-Doping Agency President Dick Pound today commented on the reports of testing cover-ups by the USOC, including a positive test by Carl Lewis: “It’s what many people suspected about the [USOC], that it was being covered up. There were lots of rumors around. ... At the time this happened, Carl Lewis already had four gold medals from the Olympics. You know perfectly well you’ve got to be very careful what you take. The offense is the presence of the substance in your body.” Pound added, “The more the world knows and the U.S. public knows what the USOC was doing, the more likely they are to fix the problem” (AP, 4/16).
BUZZER BEATERS
Sporting News this week offers its NFL Draft preview, and features Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer on the cover, under the header, “Golden Boy.”
Sports Illustrated this week features The Masters champion Mike Weir under the header, “A Star Is Born.”
ESPN Magazine this week features T’Wolves F Kevin Garnett, Magic G Tracy McGrady and Lakers G Kobe Bryant under the header, “This Revolution Is Over.”
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| Sporting News | Sports Illustrated |
The CFL today announced that it has reached an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline’s Tums brand to become the official antacid of the league. In addition to category exclusivity, Tums receives the rights to all CFL logos (THE DAILY).
The PGA Tour today announced that the Emerald Coast Classic, a Champions Tour event, will be renamed the Blue Angel Classic in ’04. For charitable purposes, the event will be paired with the National Museum of Naval Aviation Foundation. This year’s event begins Friday at The Moors Golf Club in Milton, FL (THE DAILY).
MLB today launched its spring volunteer initiatives with the restoration of the baseball field at Thomas Jefferson Park in Harlem. More than 20 MLB central office employees volunteered for the first event of the three-year old program (THE DAILY).
FIFA today signed a contract with Italian sports data services provider Delta Tre Informatica to provide a comprehensive results system for all major FIFA events through ’06 (THE DAILY).
The AP reports that Hennepin County traffic control officer Amy Zaccardi today filed a lawsuit against Vikings WR Randy Moss for the incident last year in which Moss allegedly pushed Zaccardi a half-block with his car. The lawsuit “seeks more than $50,000 for emotional distress, assault and negligence” (AP, 4/16).
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society today announced a three-year sponsorship deal with Nike USA, making Nike the presenting sponsor of Team In Training, the organization’s endurance sports training program (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
Baseball HOF Hank Aaron and former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley will act as presenters of the Volvo for Life Awards to be held from 7:00-11:00pm ET at Time Square Studios in N.Y. (THE DAILY).
The K.C. STAR reports that NCWO Chair Martha Burk will be the keynote speaker at a Title IX symposium to be held from 6:00-9:00pm CT at Union Station in K.C. Following Burk’s keynote, a panel discussion will be conducted featuring National Association for Girls & Women in Sports Exec Dir Athena Yiamouyiannis and sports attorney Janet Justus. Oppenheimer Funds, Lathrop & Gage, the Women’s Intersport Network of K.C., Univ. of MO-K.C. and the Women’s Foundation of Greater K.C. are sponsoring the event (K.C. STAR, 4/16).
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air Wizards-76ers at 7:00pm – Michael Jordan’s final NBA game, and Jazz-Kings at 10:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air the Stanley Cup playoffs, Avalanche-Wild Game 4 at 7:30pm ET and Red Wings-Mighty Ducks Game 4 at 10:30pm ET.
ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Dick Butkus at 8:00pm ET and Ray Lewis at 9:00pm ET.
FSN’s “54321” will feature surfer Adam Repogle and BMX rider Josh Heino.
ESPN/ABC NBA analyst Tom Tolbert and NFL prospect Andre Woolfolk are scheduled to appear on FSN's "BDSSP.”
HBO will air the seventh installment of its boxing series, “Legendary Nights” at 10:00pm ET, featuring the Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor bout.
GP/AMA Supercross riders James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael will be on ABC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
CSTV will premiere its NCAA baseball coverage with Rice-Houston at 8:00pm ET.
A&E’s “Biography” will profile Conrad Hilton at 8:00pm ET.
E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile Tanya Tucker at 8:00pm ET.
E!’s “Revealed” will profile Faith Hill at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Michael Douglas |
| “The Tonight Show” | Edward Burns |
| “The Late Late Show” | Arsenio Hall (r) |
| “Late Night” | Harry Connick Jr. (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Jillian Barberie |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The HOUSTON CHRONICLE’s John Lopez writes, “Baseball continues to focus so much on the faces that do come to ballgames – the old reliables – that it mostly ignores those that do not. Namely, minorities. Specifically, Hispanics. … Baseball needs more. It needs a Hispanic market that has grown incredibly over the past two decades and is striding past the stale, misguided perception that the vast majority of Hispanics are lower-class, blue-collar types who would rather fiddle with the rabbit ears on the TV than downtown traffic” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE).
The INDIANAPOLIS STAR’s Jeff Rabjohns writes, “From pre-game introductions accompanied by pyrotechnics to touchdown dances that would draw penalties in the NFL, there is a different feel to an Arena football game. There is a show surrounding the game and a showmanship quality to celebratory moments on the field” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Mindbenders: I am a rock group that has 4 members, all of whom are dead, one of which was assassinated. What am I?
IN OTHER NEWS……
A Nielsen//NetRatings poll ranks MSNBC.com as the No. 1 Internet site in the Current Events and Global News category for March ’03, registering 24.3 million unique users (Nielsen//NetRatings).
The ATLANTA BUSINESS CHRONICLE reports that AFC Enterprises, parent of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits and Cinnabon, “will sell its Seattle’s Best Coffee and Torrefazione Italia Coffee divisions to coffee behemoth Starbucks” for $72M, “money [AFC Enterprises] will use to pay down debt and buy back shares of its stock” (BIZJOURNALS.com, 4/16).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of April 6-13. Also provided are the weekly viewership averages for each net (USA TODAY, 4/16).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 16.6/25 | 26.4 |
| 2) | American Idol | Fox | Tue | 11.9/19 | 20.1 |
| 3) | American Idol | Fox | Wed | 11.1/17 | 19.2 |
| 4) | Survivor: Amazon | CBS | Thu | 11.4/19 | 19.1 |
| 5) | NCAA Basketball Championship | CBS | Mon | 12.6/19 | 18.6 |
| 6) | Without a Trace | CBS | Thu | 11.6/19 | 17.5 |
| 7) | Cher: The Farewell Tour | NBC | Tue | 11.0/17 | 16.6 |
| 8) | Friends | NBC | Thu | 10.2/17 | 14.9 |
| 9) | Prelude to a Championship | CBS | Mon | 9.4/14 | 14.1 |
| 10) | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | Fri | 9.4/17 | 13.8 |
| |
| NET | VIEWERS |
| CBS | 11.5 |
| NBC | 10.7 |
| Fox | 8.9 |
| ABC | 7.2 |
| UPN | 3.2 |
| WB | 3.0 |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
Mt. Rushmore
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