Closing Bell, May 22, 2003

ADIDAS TO SERVE AS UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OFFICIAL SUPPLIER

adidastoday announced a three-year extension of its sponsorship agreement with theUEFA Champions League through ‘06. Asthe official supplier of the league, adidas will market Champions Leagueapparel as well as cross-branded apparel with participating clubs. The sponsorship will be supported throughpromotions including equipping ball boys and staff. In addition to the extension announcement, adidas launched thethird edition of the adidas Finale match ball, which will be used in thisseason’s championship match between Juventus and AC Milan. Other Champions League sponsors includeAmstel, Ford, MasterCard and PlayStation (THE DAILY).

NBA DRAFT LOTTERY TO BEAIRED TONIGHT IN PRIMETIME ON ABC

ABC tonight will broadcastthe NBA Draft Lottery live from NBA Studios in Secaucus, NJ, at 8:00pm ET as ahalf-hour lead-in to its coverage of Pistons-Nets Game Three. ABC/ESPN’s MikeTirico will host alongside analysts Jay Bilas and Sean Elliott. In addition, LeBron James and CarmeloAnthony will be interviewed at halftime (THE DAILY).

Cleveland Plain Dealercolumnist Bill Livingston, on the NBA Draft Lottery: “If (the Cavaliers)don’t get in the top two or probably top three, I think it will leave a verybad taste about the NBA, and there’s such an apathetic fan base now that it’sgoing to be a complete turnoff” (ESPNews, 5/21).

TNT NBA analyst CharlesBarkley: “I hope the NBA rigs it like they did with Patrick Ewing. The Eastern Conference needs a shot ofenthusiasm with LeBron James. Hopefullyhe’ll go to Cleveland” (“Inside the NBA,” TNT, 5/21).

InChicago, Sam Smith offers a conspiracy theory: “Potentially great player available in LeBronJames. New York without a greatplayer. Or a playoff team. TV is resting quietly as the NBA finishesits season in places like Dallas, Detroit, San Antonio and somewhere in NewJersey” (CHICAGOTRIBUNE, 5/22).

TheDENVER POST offered a statistical comparison of the impact “heralded” overallNo. 1 NBA draft picks Rockets C Yao Ming, Spurs F Tim Duncan and76ers G Allen Iverson had on their teams’ attendance. The following details the increases (DENVERPOST, 5/21):

REEBOK ISSUES STATEMENT REGARDING LeBRON’s DEAL WITH NIKE

Reebok today issued a statement regarding Nike’sseven-year, $90M+ agreement with LeBron James: “While we believe LeBron Jameswould have been a tremendous asset to Reebok, the cost associated with securinga long-term partnership with him was far beyond what we are willing toinvest. Reebok’s largest competitorsimply put more money on the table and in the final hour – after carefullyconsidering what is in the best interest of our business and our shareholders –Reebok elected to not match this offer” (THE DAILY).

PROMOTION OF THE WEEK: A’s TO HOST PREGAME WINE FESTIVAL

The A’s on Saturday will host a wine festival prior tothe team’s 1:05pm PT game against the Royals at Network Associates Coliseum,beginning at 11:00am. In what could becalled “Leave The Kids At Home Day,” the first 10,000 adults through the gateswill receive a free acrylic collector’s wine glass with the slogan, “WineCountry Meets Baseball Country,” and will then be directed to the stadium’sEast Side Club to sample over 100 labels from 40 wineries. Five samplings cost$10. The event slogan plays offthe tagline of this season’s marketing campaign, “You’re In Baseball CountryNow.”

A’s SpecialEvents Manager Adrienne Carew told The Daily that the popularity ofthe event, now in its seventh year, continues to grow, saying, “Lastyear, people were absolutely going crazy for these wine glasses, which is whywe made it a gate giveaway. … People were trying to scalp them inside thestadium.” In the past, the eventincluded player signings, but Carew said of the need for players to drawattention, “The players have become a moot point.”

Thefestival has been supported with print ads in the Oakland Tribune and other ANGnewspapers, as well as with in-game scoreboard promotions since May 1. Radio and TV ads have run during A’s gamebroadcasts on flagship stations KFRC-AM and KICU-TV. The game is the team’s fifth Saturday home game of the season,all of which have been supported with a promotional giveaway. The average attendance of the first fourgames was 32,515, peaking at 44,486 for a May 10 game against the Yankees. The A’s would not divulge advance ticketsales for Saturday’s game.

Whenasked how everyone would fit into the club, Carew said, “We won’t be able tofit 10,000 people into the club at one time, but people float in and they floatout. It’s jam packed in there. … It’sjust a huge party.”

Doyou have an interesting promotion The Daily should know about? Ifso, please email Joe Oliver at joeo@sportsbusinessdaily.com

BUZZER BEATERS

FootLocker today reported Q1 ’03 earnings for the period ending May 3. Income from continuing operations increasedto $39M from $38M in the same period a year earlier. Sales increased 3.5% from $1.1B last year to $1.13B (THE DAILY). As of presstime, shares of Foot Locker wereup $1.05, or 9.23%, to $12.42.

Panasonictoday announced that MLB Productions will film all high-definition segments of“This Week In Baseball” with the company’s AJ-HDC27VariCam high-definition camera (THE DAILY).

OutdoorLife Network today delayed the live broadcast of the Global Extremes SummitTeam’s attempt to ascend Mt. Everest because of poor weather conditions. A new date and time have yet to be announced(THE DAILY).

ATHOC President GiannaAngelopoulos-Daskalaki today, in a statement asking Greeks to buy ticketsfor the ’04 Games: “We are asking the Greeks to run to be on time. Hurry up, Greeks” (AP,5/22).

In an SEC filing yesterday,Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban revealed that he has increased his ownershipstake in Charter Communication’s Class A common stock from 5.3% to 6.5%. Cuban now owns 19 million Class A shares, upfrom 15.6 million that he owned as of October 17, 2002 (THE DAILY).

TONIGHT’SEVENTS

WNBA Liberty G Becky Hammon and F/C LindaFrohlich will ring the NYSE Closing Bell at 4:00pm ET (THE DAILY).

RedSox SS Nomar Garciaparra will host the fourth annual Nomar Bowl at TownLine Ten Pin in Malden, MA. Expected tobowl are several Red Sox, movie directors the Farrelly Brothers and WUSAFreedom MF and Garciaparra’s fiancé Mia Hamm (BOSTON HERALD, 5/22).

DodgersVP & CFO Cristine Hurley will speak at a dinner hosted by the L.A.chapter of Financial Executives Int’l at the Jonathan Club, beginning at 6:00pmPT (THE DAILY).

TheBrewers will host the 15^th Annual Safe at Home Picnic at MillerPark, which will benefit the Child Abuse Prevention Fund, the team’s officialcharity. Players and their wives willserve as the wait staff for the evening’s event (THE DAILY).

TheHeat, in conjunction with General Mills, tonight will host the “Get Lucky Withthe Heat” NBA Draft Lottery party at AmericanAirlines Arena, beginning at7:00pm ET. All partygoers who bring anunopened box of Lucky Charms will receive a team visor, as well as a chance towin an all-expense paid trip for two to N.Y. for the NBA Draft on June 26 to meetthe team’s No. 1 pick. The Heat willdonate all boxes of cereal to the Camillus House food distribution center forthe homeless (THE DAILY).

CHANNELSURFING

FSN’s“54321” will feature BMX rider JamieBestwick at 5:30pm ET.

ABCwill air “NBA Shootaround” at 8:00pmET, which will feature the NBA DraftLottery.

ABCwill air the NBA playoffs: Pistons-NetsGame 3 at 8:30pm ET.

ESPNwill air the NCAA Women’s College WorldSeries, LA-Lafayette-Texas, at 7:30pm ET.

ESPN2will air “The Sports Reporters Primetime”at 7:00pm ET.

ESPN2will air the NCAA Women’s College WorldSeries, California-UCLA at 9:30pm ET.

ESPN’s“Outside The Lines Nightly” willexamine the immediate impact on the city and team that wins the NBA DraftLottery, as well as Annika Sorenstam’s first day at the Bank ofAmerica Colonial at midnight ET.

ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile BruceJenner at 8:00pm ET and Eric Lindrosat 8:30pm ET.

Bucks G Gary Payton, Reds manager Bob Boone and 3B Aaron Boone and country music singer Brad Paisley are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

U.S.women’s soccer team member Julie Foudywill appear on ABC’s “Nightline” at11:35pm ET to discuss Annika Sorenstam playingin the Bank of America Colonial.

RocketsG Steve Francis will be on NBC’s “Last Call” with Carson Daly at 1:35am ET.

A&E’s“Biography” will profile Clark Gableat 8:00pm ET.

E!’s“True Hollywood Story” will profile the HiltonSisters at 8:00pm ET.

HEADLINERS

Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

ThePHILADELPHIA INQUIRER’s Mike Jensen asks, “So if the Big East Conference splitsapart, who getsthe name? … According to some Big East administrators, the name is theintellectual property of the league divided by a vote of the membership. But what kind of value does the Big East namehave? … Obviously, the fight is all about maintaining the financial worth ofthe league. But the name itself couldend up in play” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).

SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles OfInterest for more sports business-related links.

TODAY’S TEASER…

SportsBusiness:The ‘03 WNBA season tips off tonight – which team led the league in averageattendance last year?

1. Mystics
2. Liberty
3. Comets
4. Sparks

IN OTHERNEWS…

Withthe May sweeps period coming to a close last night, USA TODAY reports that CBS“came up the overall winner and, despite declining ratings, NBC took its thirdconsecutive crown among the young-adult viewers prized by advertisers.” Fox had a “strong year and was up more than any of its big fourcompetitors”(USA TODAY, 5/22).

Lastnight’s finale of “American Idol” on Fox earned a 21.2/30 Nielsen preliminaryovernight rating, peaking at 9:30pm ET with a 24.3/33 (THE PROGRAMMINGINSIDER, 5/22).

RealNetworks today announcedthat it will provide hosting and billing services for companies that want tooffer niche online audio and video services on its OpenPass system. A total of 23 channels are alreadyavailable, ranging from “PBA,” a bowling channel, to “JFK: The Proof,” achannel devoted to the Kennedy assassination, to “Playboy TV Club (THE DAILY).

THE DAILY STAT: BILLBOARD CHARTS

Thefollowing lists Billboard Magazine’s top-selling CDs for the week ending May 18(BILLBOARD.com, 5/22):

…TODAY’S ANSWER

The Mystics led the league with an averageattendance of 16,202. The Liberty wassecond at 14,670.

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

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