Closing Bell, May 13 2003

T-MOBILE ENTERS ACTION SPORTS WORLD WITH ATHLETE SIGNINGS

By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large, The Sports Business Daily

While ESPN is preparing to launch the latest iteration of its X Games franchise, the X Games Global Championship, later this week, T-Mobile has decided they are better off doing it on their own.  The wireless communication service provider has signed a quintet of top action sports athletes to one-year deals to wear its logos while competing in events, including the X Games.  T-Mobile will also stage and share title sponsorship with Nokia of a free 11-city action sports tour, “Ramps And Amps,” that starts in mid-June and culminates with a July 19 stop on N.Y.’s Randall’s Island.  The tour will display the talents of the athletes that T-Mobile has inked: BMXers Dave Mirra and Ryan Nyquist; skateboarders Bucky Lasek and Eric Koston; and Carey Hart, whose expertise is in freestyle motocross.  Just as importantly, it gives both T-Mobile and Nokia opportunities to demonstrate their products and services before a critical target market with a strong affinity for action sports.

MLBP CARD COLLECTING CAMPAIGN TO FEATURE NATIONAL TV SPOT

MLBP today announced that a new advertising campaign to promote baseball card collecting, with in-stadium and national TV spots on Fox, ESPN and TBS, broke last night.  The spots feature cards from MLB official licensees Donruss, Fleer, Topps and Upper Deck.  While the national spot will direct fans to the shop section on MLB.com or to an MLBP collectors retail locator number, the in-stadium spots will direct fans to team shops and in-stadium concessionaries.  McCann Erickson, N.Y., developed the campaign in conjunction with MLBP (THE DAILY).  MLBP VP/Hard Goods Colin Hagen estimated the value of the effort “in the low seven figures” (BRANDWEEK, 5/12 issue).

GOLF DIGEST TO BE PRESENTING SPONSOR OF 100^th WESTERN OPEN

Golf Digest today announced that it has signed a deal to be the presenting sponsor of the PGA Tour’s 100^th Western Open, to be played July 3-6 at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Lemont, IL.  The Western Open will be the first regular PGA Tour event to celebrate its 100^th championship.  As part of its sponsorship, the magazine will help support Evans Scholars Foundation.  Golf Digest, an official partner of the PGA Tour, is an independent unit of Advance Magazine Publishers, an Advance Publications company, the parent company of American City Business Journals, publisher of The Daily (THE DAILY).

MIA HAMM TO SWITCH PLACES WITH ANN CURRY ON “TODAY”

WUSA Freedom F Mia Hamm will be on NBC’s “Today” tomorrow morning as part of the net’s “switching places” programming.  The plan as of right now is that Hamm will first appear in the 8:00am ET hour with Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and Al Roker to introduce the next segments.  During the 8:30-10:00am time slots, she will interview Henry Winkler regarding his new children’s book, interview a woman about a new cookbook and introduce Gene Shalit for a movie review.  Hamm is switching places with Ann Curry, who will practice with the Freedom (THE DAILY).

CABLEVISION CITES NEW DIGITAL SUBS FOR NARROWED LOSSES

REUTERS reports that Cablevision “narrowed its losses in the first quarter, helped by a surge of new digital video and high-speed data subscribers.”  The company reported Q1 ’03 losses of $140.4M, down from $249.6M in the same period a year-earlier.  Net revenue grew from $911.2M to $982.1M.  Cablevision cut its ’03 EBITDA forecast for the telecommunications services division from a projected 18-20% growth to a projected 16-18% growth, “citing higher programming costs related to the YES Network” (REUTERS, 5/13).

NEWS CORP. Q3 EARNINGS BENEFITED BY REALITY TV SHOWS

BLOOMBERG NEWS reports that News Corp. today reported Q3 ’03 net income of $275M, as advertising sales increased at the Fox network.  The results compare with a loss of $3.99B a year earlier “when the company wrote down the value of an investment.”  Revenue rose 14% to $4.39B, up from $3.85B.  The company, which “also raised its profit forecast for the year, … benefited from the popularity of unscripted ‘reality’ shows such as ‘American Idol’ and higher video and DVD sales for movies such as ‘Ice Age.’”  Revenue also rose at Fox News Channel, FX and FSN.  As of presstime, shares of News Corp. were trading at $30.00, up 1.8%.

The Fox network reported operating income of $33M, compared with a loss of $50M a year earlier.  Revenue rose less than 1% to $558M after the “unit last year lost money on its broadcast of the Super Bowl.”  Meanwhile, sales at Fox Entertainment rose 8.8% to $2.71B, up from $2.49B.  Net income “more than doubled” to $276M, up from $108M a year earlier.  As of presstime, shares of Fox Entertainment were trading at $27.08, down 0.8% (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/13).

BUZZER BEATERS

FSN today announced that “BDSSP” Exec Producer George Greenberg has been promoted to FSN Exec VP/Programming & Production (THE DAILY).

Golf outerwear manufacturer Sutherland of Scotland today announced that it has joined the PGA Exchange, the official online wholesale buying Web site for PGA professionals.  Through the Web site, Sutherland of Scotland will sell its complete line of playable rainwear and outerwear (THE DAILY).

Minor League Baseball today reported that total attendance for the 1,700 playing dates in April was 5,708,057, an average of 3,358 fans per date.  The per-date average is a 5.3% increase over last season (THE DAILY).

The L.A. Sports Council today announced the launch of a new Web site devoted solely to information and promotion of Southern CA sports (THE DAILY).

Sonics G Ray Allen today will be awarded the ’02-03 NBA Sportsmanship Award during a 1:00pm PT ceremony at T.T. Minor Elementary in Seattle (THE DAILY).

Sports wire service The Sports Network has announced an agreement under which it will license its sports content on a non-exclusive basis to AT&T for redistribution via AT&T Worldnet Service (THE DAILY).

Soccer Development of America today announced that it will partner with Sport Attivo, Inc. and its ecommerce Web site, www.TurfMonster.com.  The new online store will offer brands such as Joma, Atletica, Lotto, Locust, Spall, Sondico and Mikasa (THE DAILY).

TONIGHT’S EVENTS

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem will present a check to the First Tee of Dallas at 4:30pm CT at the TPC Four Seasons at Las Colinas (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 5/13).

The L.A. TIMES reports that members of the Pasadena City Council and the Rose Bowl Operating Committee “are meeting in private tonight to discuss whether to pursue plans to lure an NFL team to the Rose Bowl.”  The meeting is scheduled for 7:00pm PT at City Hall (L.A. TIMES, 5/13).

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale will be the featured speaker at the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford’s first annual Visions dinner at the Univ. of Hartford’s Chase Family Arena, beginning at 5:30pm ET (THE DAILY).

The Pirates, in conjunction with Family Communications and students from Carnegie Mellon Univ. and the Univ. of Pittsburgh, will debut a series of 30-second video clips illustrating the science behind baseball prior to the team’s 7:05pm ET game against the Astros.  The “Explanatoids” are part of the Girls, Math & Science Partnership, which not only demonstrates the importance of math, science and technology, but also stresses the role women play in careers of the future.  The clips will run prior to every subsequent Pirates home game this season (THE DAILY).

CHANNEL SURFING

FSN’s “54321” will profile BMX riders Matt Wilhelm and Dennis McCoy at 5:30pm ET.

Yankees P David Wells, NBA Kings co-Owners Joe and Gavin Maloof, Jim Gray, Ralph Wiley and Chuck D will be on ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” at 7:00pm ET.

ESPN will air the Stanley Cup playoffs: Devils-Senators Game 2 at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN’s “Outside The Lines Nightly” will report on PGA Tour players’ views on Annika Sorenstam playing in the May 22-25 Bank of America Colonial, followed by a panel discussion about the issue of political correctness versus speaking the truth at midnight ET.

ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Jackie Joyner-Kersee at 8:30pm ET.

TNT will air the NBA playoffs: Kings-Mavericks Game 5 at 7:00pm ET and Lakers-Spurs Game 5 at 9:30pm ET.

Former MLBer Paul O’Neill, Braves P John Smoltz and comedian Kathleen Madigan are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

PBS will air “New Ballgame” at 10:00pm ET.

A&E’s “Biography” will profile Ann-Margaret at 8:00pm ET.

E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile the series Magnum P.I. at 8:00pm ET.

HEADLINERS

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

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

The WASHINGTON POST’s Andrew Beyer writes, “Churchill Downs’ stewards yesterday exonerated jockey Jose Santos after allegations that he carried an illegal electrical device in the Kentucky Derby.  But no one can exonerate the stewards.  They bear much of the responsibility for the frenzied media reports that a scandal had tarnished America’s most famous horse race” (WASHINGTON POST).

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

TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports & Entertainment: Which of the following athletes did not appear in ‘96 sports-agent flick “Jerry Maguire,” starring Tom Cruise?

1. Drew Bledsoe
2. Herman Moore
3. Marshall Faulk
4. Ki-Jana Carter

IN OTHER NEWS……

REUTERS reports that U.S. antitrust regulators today said that they “will not challenge a bid by publisher Hearst Corp. to buy Seventeen magazine from Primedia Inc.”  Hearst has agreed to pay $182.4M “in cash for the Seventeen title and other assets, including Web sites and a marketing unit” (REUTERS, 5/13).

THE DAILY STAT: TOP SPORTS SITES FOR WEEK ENDING APRIL 27

The following are the top five sports Web sites ranked according to unique home audience for the week ending April 27, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.  Unique Audience = the number of persons accessing the site or network, with each counted only once.  Average time spent = the average amount of time a visitor has spent at that property for the week.  This data is based on 50,000 home users with Internet access (Nielsen//NetRatings).

…TODAY’S ANSWER

Marshall Faulk did not appear.

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

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