| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, April 23, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
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| • | Lions Today Unveil New Uniforms; Adding Black To The Silver And Blue |
| • | Daktronics Today Announces It Has Been Awarded Glendale Arena Contract |
| • | ESPN Today Announces That It Will Launch ESPN PPV With College Baseball |
| • | OR House Committee To Vote On Bill Tonight To Finance MLB Ballpark |
| • | Bidding For TV Rights To 2010 And 2012 Olympics To Be Held June 5-6 |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight's Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
LIONS TODAY UNVEIL NEW UNIFORMS; BIGGEST CHANGE SINCE '61
The Lions today unveiled new home and road uniforms during a 2:00pm ET press conference at Ford Field, which were modeled by FB Cory Schlesinger and DE Kalimba Edwards. The addition of black trim to the helmet's logo, numbers, jersey sleeves and pants represents the most significant changes since the "Leaping Lion" logo was placed on the team's helmets in '61. Additionally, the team has switched from blue to black facemasks. New Lions merchandise is currently available at the team's official store, Roar & More (THE DAILY).
Lions President & CEO Matt Millen, a longtime Raider during his playing days, on whether Raiders Owner Al Davis approves of the new uniforms: "I didn't ask him yet. We already had the silver. It's just a little touch (of black)" (THE DAILY).
DAKTRONICS TODAY AWARDED $6-7M GLENDALE ARENA CONTRACT
SD-based Daktronics today announced that it was awarded a $6-7M contract to design, manufacture and install the scoring system for the $180M Glendale Arena, which is scheduled to open in December as home to the Coyotes. The company will provide LED displays throughout the arena, including a 27x28 feet scoreboard over center-ice. The arena will be the first facility to incorporate Daktronics ProRail attachment system, which allows fascia-mounted displays to serve as the railing for upper level seating areas. The design offers improved sightlines for fans. Team owner and arena developer The Ellman Companies negotiated the deal (THE DAILY).
ESPN TO LAUNCH PPV SERVICE TO COMPLEMENT OTHER OFFERINGS
ESPN VP/Interactive Sales Matt Murphy today announced that the net will launch ESPN PPV, a new service which features NCAA baseball championship games, martial arts programs, fantasy league specials and movies produced by ESPN Original Entertainment. The first offering, "ESPN College Grand Slam," will offer a package of 24 games from the NCAA baseball championship's Super Regional round from June 6-9 at a cost of $19.95 (THE DAILY).
OR HOUSE COMMITTEE TO VOTE ON BALLPARK FINANCING BILL
The Portland OREGONIAN reports that the OR House Rules & Public Affairs Committee tonight will vote on a bill to "secure the state's share of financing" for an MLB stadium in Portland. The bill calls for $150M to be raised through the issuance of bonds that would be "repaid by the income taxes of players and executives." If the bill passes tonight, it will be sent to the House floor. State Rep. Dan Doyle: "We have the votes right now, we have a state treasurer who is satisfied with the bill, and unless somebody comes in and really gives us a surprise, we'll vote it out" (Portland OREGONIAN, 4/23).
BUZZER BEATERS
Sporting News this week features Giants LF Barry Bonds on the cover, under the header, "Huge Start … Inside The Giants' Awesome April."
Sports Illustrated offers its NFL Draft preview with the header, "Why It's So Hard To Pick A Quarterback … Is Carson Palmer The One?"
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| Sporting News | Sports Illustrated |
The AP reports that bidding for the rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics will be held June 5-6 in N.Y. NBC, CBS, ABC/ESPN, Fox and Turner Sports "are set to compete." The IOC will "likely announce the winner over the June 7-8 weekend" (AP, 4/23).
EA today announced that Carson Palmer will grace the cover of "NCAA Football 2004." Palmer's image will appear on all packaging and merchandising (THE DAILY).
The PGA Tour today announced that Hal Sutton has decided to step down from his position as PGA Tour Policy Board Player Dir. Player Advisory Council Chair David Toms will replace Sutton (THE DAILY).
Boys & Girls Clubs of America last night announced that ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale will become a national spokesperson for the organization, joining Rangers SS Alex Rodriguez, figure skater Tara Lipinski and actor Denzel Washington (THE DAILY).
Atlanta-based Web site designer Ultimate Pros today announced the launch of the official Web site of Magic F Drew Gooden, located at www.DrewGooden.net. Other Ultimate Pros clients include Magic G Tracy McGrady and Hornets G Baron Davis (THE DAILY).
The Albany TIMES UNION reports that the FBI yesterday honored Pepsi Arena for its "exceptional service in the public interest" for the NCAA Men's Basketball East Regional last month (Albany TIMES UNION, 4/23).
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
The Sabres will host a 5:00pm ET news conference at HSBC Arena regarding the closing of the sale of the team to B. Thomas Golisano (THE DAILY).
CHANNEL SURFING
NBA Commissioner David Stern will be on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia's "Daily News Live" at 5:00pm ET.
ESPN will air Cardinals-Braves at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Dodgers-Reds at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Bear Bryant at 8:30pm ET.
TNT will air the NBA playoffs: Hornets-76ers Game 2 at 7:00pm ET and Trail Blazers-Mavericks Game 2 at 9:30pm ET.
Winston Cup drivers Michael Waltrip and Jimmie Johnson, NFL prospect Byron Leftwich and actor Ed Burns are scheduled to appear on FSN's "BDSSP."
U.S. Davis Cup team coach Jim Courier will be on NBC's "Last Call" with Carson Daly at 1:35am ET.
HBO will air the eighth installment of its boxing series, "Legendary Nights" at 10:00pm ET, featuring the Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe trilogy.
A&E's "Biography" will profile Carole Lombard at 8:00pm ET.
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile "The Sopranos" at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "Late Show" | Vince Vaughn (r) |
| "The Tonight Show" | Bill Maher |
| "The Late Late Show" | Roma Downey |
| "Late Night" | Ed Burns |
| "Jimmy Kimmel Live" | William Shatner |
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The SEATTLE TIMES' Steve Kelley writes, "Ballparks and arenas never have been so dangerous. Umpires are getting assaulted. Outfielders are getting peppered with cellphones and coins. Speaking of pepper, basketball players are gagging from the insidious smell of pepper spray. And football officials are dodging missiles from the stands at the end of games" (SEATTLE TIMES).
MONEY's Jon Birger writes that Red Sox Owner John Henry "is embarking on a fascinating, perhaps quixotic plan to apply to baseball the same scientific, by-the-numbers approach that's worked so well for him as an investor. He and his hand-picked general manager, 29-year-old Theo Epstein, are challenging decades of baseball wisdom by basing important decisions – everything from trades to the structure of the bullpen – in large part on objective research, or what hard-core fans call 'sabermetrics'" (MONEY, April '03 issue).
See The Daily Insider's Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY'S TEASER…
Mindbenders: Take 1,000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1,000. Now add 30. Now add another 1,000. Now add 20. Now add another 1,000. Now add 10. What is the total?
IN OTHER NEWS……
REUTERS reports that A-B today said Q1 profits rose 6.3%, "led by U.S. price increases on beer." New products "such as Michelob Ultra and Bacardi Silver, which customers pay a premium for compared to typical beers, have keyed Anheuser-Busch's profits during the past several quarters." Profit reached $485M, or $0.57 a share, up from $456M, or $0.51 a share, last year. Net sales rose to $3.28B from $3.14B (REUTERS, 4/23).
Coca-Cola Enterprises today reported Q1 '03 net income of $27M as compared to $9M for the same period last year (THE DAILY).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of April 14-20. Also provided are the weekly viewership averages for each net (USA TODAY, 4/23).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | American Idol | Fox | Tue | 11.9/19 | 20.0 |
| 2) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 12.4/20 | 19.1 |
| 3) | Friends | NBC | Thu | 12.0/21 | 18.2 |
| 4) | American Idol | Fox | Wed | 11.0/18 | 18.1 |
| 5) | Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS | Mon | 11.6/18 | 17.7 |
| 6) | Law & Order | NBC | Thu | 10.5/18 | 15.5 |
| 7) | CSI: Miami | CBS | Mon | 10.3/17 | 14.9 |
| 8) | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | Fri | 9.8/18 | 14.8 |
| t9) | Scrubs | NBC | Thu | 9.9/16 | 14.7 |
| t9) | Will & Grace | NBC | Thu | 10.0/16 | 14.7 |
| |
| NET | VIEWERS |
| NBC | 11.2 |
| CBS | 9.9 |
| Fox | 8.5 |
| ABC | 7.6 |
| WB | 3.3 |
| UPN | 3.2 |
…TODAY'S ANSWER
The correct answer is 4,100, though most people answer 5,000.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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