Closing Bell, June 3, 2003

DESPITE CRITICS, SELIG CONFIDENT OF INTERLEAGUE PLAYSUCCESS

MLBbegins the seventh season of interleague play tonight in 14 National Leagueballparks, and USA TODAY notes that interleague play “boosted attendance by15.1% last season over intraleague games, and early indications are that teamswill at least match” this season’s average attendances (USATODAY, 6/3). A total of 252interleague games will be played in three segments: June 3-15, June 20-22 andJune 27-29. MLB Commissioner BudSelig: “I’ve read criticism, but attendance will be up significantlyagain. Rotating divisions has helpedus. I think it’s a great thing in themiddle of the season” (SEATTLETIMES, 6/3).

YankeesOwner George Steinbrenner, complaining about the schedule discrepanciescaused by interleague play: “[MLB VP/Scheduling & Club Relations] KatyFeeney makes the schedule, and she has never been a favorite of mine or afavorite of the Yankees.” Feeney saidthat the interleague schedules were “made a year and a half ago” (N.Y.TIMES, 6/3).

TARTASKY TO JOIN THE FOOTBALL NETWORK AS SENIORVP/EVENTS

By Terry Lefton, Editor-at-Large, TheSports Business Daily

Longtime Int'l Sport Summit impresario Craig Tartasky is joining The FootballNetwork as Senior VP/Events. He willoversee activities including the TFN-owned Div. I-AA All-Star Game, to beplayed December 30 in Ft. Lauderdale. Tartasky will continue as Chair of Int'l SportSummit, which is owned by E.J. Krause & Associates.

TNT TODAY REPORTS 27% RATINGS INCREASE FOR NBA PLAYOFFS

TNTtoday released its final ratings for NBA Playoffs coverage, which included 44games in 41 nights ending May 29. Thenetwork averaged a 3.2/ (2,735,000 HHs) Nielsen cable rating, a 27% increasefrom the ’02 27-game average of 2.5/ (2,153,543 HHs). TNT’s exclusive coverage of the six-game Western ConferenceFinals averaged a 4.6/ (3,931,563 HHs), while “Inside The NBA” averaged a 1.9for its 25 telecasts, up 40% from the 1.4 average during the 24 telecasts in’02 (THE DAILY).

COYOTES, ASHLEY FURNITURE HOMESTORES SIGN THREE-YEARDEAL

TheCoyotes today announced a three-year sponsorship agreement with AshleyFurniture Homestores, naming the company the official home furniture partner ofthe Coyotes. As part of the agreement,which will include media and promotional elements, fans will have theopportunity to win the “Best Seats In The House,” in reference to the “AshleyFurniture Living Room” that will be set up in the team’s new arena (THEDAILY).

FIFA TODAY ANNOUNCES SIX OFFICIAL BIDDERS FOR 2010 WORLD CUP

FIFAtoday announced that all six national associations that had expressedpreliminary interest in hosting the 2010 World Cup – Egypt, Libya, Morocco,Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia – have formally confirmed their intentions tohost the event, which will be held for the first time in Africa. The six associations have until September 30to present official bids to FIFA. Afinal decision is expected in May 2004 (THE DAILY).

BUZZER BEATERS

TheOilers today announced that the team will play an outdoor game against theCanadiens “at Commonwealth Stadium in November that could draw more than 55,000fans” (AP,6/3). Wayne Gretzky saidearlier this week that he will participate in an afternoon old-timers’ game (THEDAILY).

TheAP reports that senior IOC officials today praised ATHOC “for overcomingdelays, although they said they will closely monitor preparations to make suredeadlines are met” for next year’s Olympics. IOC Coordination Commission Chair Denis Oswald: “Each time wecome, we realize how much progress has been made since the last visit. … Thetime schedule is tight but everything is organized in such a way that all thefacilities will be ready on time” (AP,6/3).

BLOODHORSEreports that ’02 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem has beentransferred from the Yoshida family’s Shadai Stallion Station for about $13.3Mto a trio of insurance companies. Shadai bought War Emblem for nearly $18M in September ’02, but the horsehas experienced difficulties in his first season at stud (BLOODHORSE.com,6/3).

The IIHF today re-electedUSA Hockey President Walter Bush to his fifth term as a member of theIIHF Council and third term as a VP (THE DAILY).

TONIGHT’S EVENTS

TheExecutives’ Club will host a panel discussion entitled, “The Business ofNASCAR,” from 5:30-7:30pm CT at the Hilton Chicago. Panelists include Winston Cup driver Dale Jarrett, NASCARExec VP Brian France, UPS Senior VP/Worldwide Sales & Marketing JohnBystehner and Raceway Associates VP & GM Matthew Alexander (THEDAILY).

ThePirates will host “Turn Back the Clock” night during the team’s 7:05pm ET gameagainst the Red Sox at PNC Park to honor the 100^th anniversary ofthe first World Series, played by the two teams. FSN will broadcast the game in black and white, and FSN“SportsBeat” broadcasters Stan Savran and Pat Parris will dressin period clothes, as will broadcaster Danny Potash. PA announcer Tim DeBacco willintroduce the starting lineups of both teams by megaphone from the rooftop ofthe Pirates’ dugout, and Honus Wagner’s granddaughter LeslieWagner-Blair and Claude Ritchey’s son Jack will throw out thefirst pitch (Pittsburgh POST-GAZETTE, 6/2).

SovereignBank Arena in Trenton, NJ, will recognize its two millionth fan duringtonight’s Cher concert, which begins at 7:30pm ET. The fan will receive prizes from arenasponsors and from past shows at the arena (THE DAILY).

CHANNELSURFING

NBA Commissioner David Stern,49ers WR Terrell Owens,writer Ralph Wiley and boxing insiderTeddy Atlaswill be on ESPN’s “Rome is Burning” at 7:00pm ET.

ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile IsiahThomas at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN’s“Outside The Lines Nightly” willexamine the issue of pitch counts and how it pertains to pitchers’health and performance at midnight ET.

“HockeyNight In Canada” analyst Don Cherry,Ultimate Fighting Championship’s ChuckLiddell and soap opera actress MichelleStafford are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

Oxygenwill air WNBA Mercury-Comets at8:00pm ET.

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

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

CBSwill air “AFI’s 100 Years … 100 Heroes& Villains” at 8:00pm ET.

NBC will air the Miss Universe Pageant at 9:00pm ET.

HEADLINERS

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

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

TheWASHINGTON POST’s Andrew Beyer writes, “The 10 partners who own Funny Cide areordinary citizens, but this fact makes them extraordinary in the horse racinggame. … This is goodnews for the thoroughbred industry, which is perpetually trying to bringnew owners into the game. The bad newsis the truth that any prospective owner will quickly learn. Buying a racehorse is about as sound aninvestment as buying a stack of lottery tickets” (WASHINGTON POST).

ESPN.com’sJayson Stark wrote, “For the 39^th consecutive year, the GreatAmerican Baseball Draft will notbe coming up on any ESPN network on your cable dial. Or anyone else’s for that matter. We’re sure there’s some good reason why thisdraft is still the most clandestine non-extravaganza in any major sport. But what?” (ESPN.com).

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

TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports& Entertainment: Name the actor that starred as lovable gambling loser Jay Trotter inthe ’89 horse racing classic “Let It Ride.”

IN OTHER NEWS……

TheS.F. BUSINESS TIMES reports that Visa USA “tallied a record $1 trillion intransactions” during the 12-month period ended March 31. An average of $32,000 “went through Visasystems every second of every day” during the period, representingapproximately 10% of the U.S. GDP. Visa’s $1 trillion figure is “greater than the combined volume of allother U.S. payment organizations, including MasterCard, American Express andDiscover” (BIZJOURNALS.com,6/3).

TheDALLAS BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that Blockbuster Video “plans to eliminate 200corporate positions by the end of this year as it pours resources into growingbeyond its core movie rentals and sales business.” The company, “which employs about 1,800 corporate staff, cut 60jobs in February” (BIZJOURNALS.com,6/3).

THE DAILY STAT: TOP SPORTS SITES FOR THE WEEK ENDING MAY 18

Thefollowing are the top five sports Web sites ranked according to home uniqueaudience for the week ending May 18, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Unique Audience = the number of persons inthousands accessing the site or network, with each counted only once. Average time spent = the average amount oftime a visitor has spent at that property for the week. This data isbased on 50,000 home users with Internet access (Nielsen//NetRatings).

…TODAY’S ANSWER

Richard Dreyfuss

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

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