| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | TOROC Dir Of Sports Cathy Priestner-Allinger Resigns Today |
| • | Stars Today Announce Reduction In Lower Bowl Season-Ticket Prices |
| • | ESPN To Debut “Living Legends” Broadcaster Program Next Wednesday |
| • | Sabres Today Extend AHL Affiliation Agreement With Rochester Americans |
| • | NCAA Div. I Women’s Basketball Committee Narrows Final Four Candidates |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
TOROC DIR OF SPORT CITES FAMILY CONCERNS IN RESIGNING
AROUND THE RINGS reports that TOROC Dir of Sport Cathy Priestner-Allinger today “resigned her post after less than a year on the job” due to a combination of factors, primarily family-related. TOROC President Valentino Castellani said that there “was no problem with her job performance,” but the “difficulty of bridging the language gap was one of the challenges.” Castellani added that the position will not be filled for now. Priestner-Allinger formerly was the Dir of Sport for the Salt Lake City Olympics (AROUND THE RINGS, 5/14).
The AP reports that ATHOC today announced that operational plans “for all sports venues and facilities have been completed.” The 58 operational and functional plans “take into account everything needed at a venue, from the number of chairs to work spaces,” allowing organizers to “plot out the needs of each venue, including the number of personnel to be hired” (AP, 5/14).
STARS REDUCE SEASON-TICKET PRICES FOR LOWER BOWL BY $30
The Stars today announced that the club will reduce season-ticket prices by $30 per seat for approximately one-third of the lower bowl at American Airlines Center for the ’03-04 season. A total of 2,433 seats are included in the price reduction, improving the percentage of seats that are available to season-ticket holders at $90 or less to 75%. That figure, which does not include platinum seats and suites, is up from 68% in ’02-03. Upper bowl season-ticket holders will see no price increase for the second consecutive year (THE DAILY).
CURT GOWDY TO BE FIRST IN ESPN’S “LIVING LEGENDS” PROGRAM
ESPN today announced that it will premiere its “Living Legends” program during “Wednesday Night Baseball” on May 21 when veteran broadcaster Curt Gowdy joins Chris Berman and Joe Morgan in the booth for Yankees-Red Sox at 7:00pm ET. Other broadcasters who have already signed on include Marty Brennaman, Ernie Harwell, Keith Jackson and Harry Kalas. During the telecasts, video clips highlighting memorable moments and calls from the “Living Legends” will be featured. The complete schedule will be announced soon (THE DAILY).
ESPN today also announced that Tiger Woods will star in a new “This is SportsCenter” spot that will debut May 28 via ESPNMotion on ESPN.com. The spot, which was shot in mid-April, will air on ESPNMotion through June 4. It will begin running on all ESPN nets at that time (THE DAILY).
SABRES TO FORM MARKETING PARTNERSHIP WITH AHL AFFILIATE
The Sabres today announced that the club has modified its existing AHL affiliation agreement with the Rochester Americans, in the process extending the contract one additional year. As part of the agreement, the Sabres will increase their hockey budget in Rochester by $500,000 in each year of the deal, as well as establish a marketing partnership with the AHL club. Additionally, the Sabres announced that the NHL will send a fact-finding group to Rochester to determine whether or not Blue Cross Arena can stage a regular season NHL game next year (THE DAILY).
BUZZER BEATERS
Sporting News this week features Cubs P Mark Prior on the cover, under the header, “Fear The Cubs (Seriously).”
Sports Illustrated this week wonders, “Does The East Have A Chance? … Jason Kidd And The Nets Say ‘Yes.’”
ESPN Magazine this week offers, “On The Trail Of Next,” with a photo of a Senegalese basketball player on the cover.
| | |
| Sporting News | Sports Illustrated |
The NCAA Div. I Women’s Basketball Committee today narrowed the pool to four cities for consideration to host the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Women’s Final Fours. Still under consideration are Denver, San Antonio, St. Louis and Tampa. San Jose, Minneapolis and Philadelphia were eliminated (THE DAILY).
FIFA President Sepp Blatter, on the countries looking to host the ’03 Women’s World Cup: “I think the front-runner is the U.S., as always. They have shown us how good they can organize a Women’s World Cup because of the importance of women’s [soccer] and the perception by the public of women’s [soccer] in the country” (AP, 5/14).
At the Deutsche Bank Open in Germany, Tiger Woods indicated that Annika Sorenstam “needs several chances to prove she can compete with the men,” saying, “It will be more fair to her if she could play four or five tournaments – then you could judge on those results. I’m sure if she did play four or five, she’d get on a roll. … In one tournament a lot could go wrong for her” (AP, 5/14).
The San Diego Int’l Sports Council today released an economic impact study on Super Bowl XXXVII, which was played January 26 at Qualcomm Stadium. The study, produced by Marketing Information Masters, showed the game generated a total economic impact of $367M (THE DAILY).
Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. today announced its sponsorship of Arie Luyendyk, Jr. for Saturday’s IRL Infiniti Pro Series Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Arie Luyendyk, Sr. for next weekend’s Indianapolis 500. The Smith & Wesson logo will appear on the hood of Jr.’s car and on Sr.’s helmet. Terms of the deals were not disclosed (THE DAILY).
REUTERS reports that North and South Korean athletes “could unite to form a single team for the 2010 Winter Olympics if the bid by the southern city of Pyeongchang is successful.” Pyeongchang Organizing Committee President Kim Jin-sun: “A joint national team is a possibility we want to see realized. Personally, I’m convinced that this will work” (REUTERS, 5/14).
Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars will be awarded the NBA Executive of the Year award tonight during a ceremony at The Palace (THE DAILY).
Fresno Pacific Univ. SID Ken Isaak today was named the recipient of the NAIA-Sports Information Directors Association’s Clarence “Ike” Pearson Award as the most outstanding NAIA SID (THE DAILY).
NBA HOFer Dave DeBusschere died today of a massive heart attack at the age of 62 (THE DAILY).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
The Tigers will host the first of this season’s “Women on Wednesdays,” a monthly pre-game program focusing on the achievements of women throughout MLB and sports, from 5:30-7:00pm ET in the Upper Deck Lounge of Comerica Park preceding their 7:05pm game against the A’s. WXYT-AM/WWJ-AM Operations Manager Georgeann Herbert will be the featured guest (THE DAILY).
Fox Sports World studio commentator John Harkes tonight will play for DC United, the team he captained to two MLS titles, in an exhibition match against English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur at 7:30pm ET at RFK Stadium (WASHINGTON POST, 5/14).
The Rainbow/PUSH Coalition will rally at the state Capitol in Montgomery, AL, tonight to protest the Univ. of AL’s hiring of Mike Shula as head football coach. The group was lobbying for the university to hire Packers RB coach Sylvester Croom (THE DAILY).
CHANNEL SURFING
FSN’s “54321” will profile wakeboarder Charlie Patterson and motocross rider Trevor Vines at 5:30pm ET.
ESPN will air the Stanley Cup playoffs: Wild-Mighty Ducks Game 3 at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Angels-Yankees at 7:00pm ET and Braves-Dodgers at 10:00pm ET.
ESPN’s “Outside The Lines Nightly” will examine the death of Dave DeBusschere at 12:30am ET.
ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile the year 1981 at 7:00pm ET and Dale Earnhardt at 8:30pm ET.
TNT will air the NBA playoffs: 76ers-Pistons Game 5 at 8:00pm ET.
Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander, Braves LF Chipper Jones and the San Diego Chicken are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
ESPN NFL analyst Joe Theismann will be on Fox’ “That 70’s Show” at 8:00pm ET.
HBO will air the 11th installment of its boxing series “Legendary Nights” at 10:00pm ET, featuring the ’99 Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad bout.
Tony Hawk will on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
A&E’s “Biography” will profile Buffy the Vampire Slayer at 8:00pm ET.
E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile the series Beverly Hills, 90210 at 8:00pm ET.
The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” will feature the history of the U.S. Mint at 7:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Sean Hayes |
| “The Tonight Show” | Jerry Seinfeld |
| “The Late Late Show” | Butch Bradley |
| “Late Night” | Anthony Edwards |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Tony Hawk |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The Baltimore SUN’s June Arney writes, “There aren’t many sure things in horse racing, but state officials say that Saturday’s Preakness Stakes – and the surrounding hoopla – are a safe bet to pump $60[M] into Baltimore’s economy. The city’s major hotels say they have to turn away thousands of potential guests, and spending on food, drinks and transportation is solid. In some cases, the annual windfall represents a company’s biggest day of the year” (Baltimore SUN).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Mindbenders: Forward it is heavy, but backward it is not. What is it?
IN OTHER NEWS……
DAILY VARIETY reports that Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix Reloaded,” set to open tonight with 10:00pm screenings at 2,750 theaters, will run at 3,603 theaters “with a record 8,517 prints.” The print count “is the highest ever for an R-rated” film and the theater rollout “trails only the record 3,741-theater launch of 20th Century Fox’s “X2: X-Men United” (DAILY VARIETY, 5/14).
CBS MARKETWATCH reports that shares of Sony jumped over 3% today after it “announced it was entering the handheld game machine business, challenging rival Nintendo’s dominance” in the market. The handheld device, dubbed PSP, will hit store shelves in the Q4 ‘04 (CBS MARKETWATCH, 5/14).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of May 5-11. Also provided are the weekly viewership averages for each net (USA TODAY, 5/14).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS
(IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 15.9/24 | 25.1 |
| 2) | American Idol | Fox | Wed | 13.1/21 | 22.7 |
| 3) | Survivor: Amazon Finale | CBS | Sun | 11.8/19 | 22.3 |
| 4) | American Idol | Fox | Tue | 13.2/21 | 22.2 |
| 5) | ER | NBC | Thu | 14.5/23 | 21.9 |
| t6) | Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS | Mon | 13.0/19 | 19.6 |
| t6) | Friends (8:00 pm) | NBC | Thu | 12.8/21 | 19.6 |
| t8) | Friends (8:30 pm) | NBC | Thu | 12.5/20 | 19.0 |
| t8) | Survivor: Amazon | CBS | Thu | 11.4/19 | 19.0 |
| 10) | Survivor: Amazon Reunion | CBS | Sun | 10.1/17 | 17.6 |
| | |
| NET | VIEWERS |
| CBS | 12.5 |
| NBC | 11.6 |
| ABC | 10.0 |
| Fox | 9.8 |
| WB | 4.1 |
| UPN | 3.5 |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
The word “ton.”
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