Closing Bell, June 13, 2003

THREE ISC TRACKS SHUFFLE WINSTON CUP DATES FOR NEXT YEAR

ISC today announced that NASCAR has approved the company’sproposal for realignment of Winston Cup Series dates between its North CarolinaSpeedway, Darlington Raceway and California Speedway facilities for nextyear.  As a result, California Speedwaywill host a second Winston Cup event during Labor Day weekend.  Darlington Raceway will lose its Labor Dayevent, but will add a date in November to go along with its March race.  North Carolina Speedway will keep itsWinston Cup event in February, but will lose its November date (THE DAILY).

TRASK NEVER WAVERS IN TESTIFYING ON LACK OF TICKET SALES

The OAKLAND TRIBUNE reports that during Raiders CEO AmyTrask’s fourth day on the witness stand in the team’s $1.1B lawsuit, shesaid that she did not “know of any ticket sales problems” until a year afterstories on the subject appeared in several area newspapers.  Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum board attorneyArturo Gonzalez used past newspaper articles “and minutes from variousmeetings between the Raiders and the Coliseum board to try to disprove teamclaims that it did not find out about the lack of sellouts until June1996.”  Trask “never wavered from heroriginal stance [that] the team believed the stadium had been sold out” (OAKLANDTRIBUNE, 6/13).

VAIL RESORTS CITES WAR FOR Q3 ’03 NET INCOME FALLING24%

The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS reports that Vail Resorts’ fiscal Q3’03 net income fell 24%, “after the Iraq war prompted fewer people to take skivacations.”  The war began in March, “traditionally the busiest time of theseason.”  Vail Resorts CEO Adam Aron saidthat in January, the resort “was on track to record the best financial year inits history.”  For the quarter, netincome fell to $35.5M from $47M the year earlier.  Revenue increased 9.1% to $269.1M, including operations ofHeavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, CA, which Vail Resorts bought lastyear (ROCKYMOUNTAIN NEWS, 6/13).

UNCLE JUNIOR TO SING NATIONAL ANTHEM PRIOR TO GAME FIVE

ABC will air Game Five of the Spurs-Nets NBA Finals tonightat 8:30pm ET with the series tied, 2-2. Dominic Chianese, known for his role as Uncle Junior on HBO’s“The Sopranos,” will sing the national anthem prior to the game, while MichaelCavanaugh and the band from “Movin’ Out” will perform live duringhalftime.  Robin Roberts willinterview Lakers G Kobe Bryant during “NBA Shootaround” at 8:00pm (THEDAILY).

BUZZER BEATERS

The Flyers today announced that COO Ron Ryan has beennamed President of the club.  Ryan hadbeen COO since ’91 (THE DAILY).

The WASHINGTON POST reports that the Capitals “will meetwith Arlington County officials [tomorrow] to discuss amendments to their plansfor a new practice facility to be constructed on top of an existing garage nextto a shopping mall at Ballston” (WASHINGTONPOST, 6/13).

The K.C. STAR reports that the ’05 Mid-Continent Conferencemen’s and women’s basketball tournaments will be held at the 6,000-Expo SquarePavilion in Tulsa (K.C.STAR, 6/13).

The MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL reported that Predators OwnerCraig Leipold “will not be buying the Milwaukee Admirals,” and the AHLteam “will continue to operate under a trust set up” by late Owner JaneBradley Pettit (MILWAUKEE JOURNALSENTINEL, 6/12).

The SALT LAKE TRIBUNE reports that more than 14,900 ticketshave been sold for the Saturday’s Ireland-U.S. women’s soccer int’l friendly at45,634-seat Rice-Eccles Stadium (SALT LAKETRIBUNE, 6/13).

The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE reports that XPRS-AM has “agreedin principle to a three-year deal to broadcast” San Diego State Univ. sportsbeginning with the ’03 football season. The deal has a two-year renewal option (SANDIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 6/13).

The HONOLULU ADVERTISER reports that Japan-based Amino Vital“has pulled out as a sponsor” of the Honolulu Marathon, which is scheduled forDecember 14.  The company had been acontributing sponsor of the race for the past three years (HONOLULUADVERTISER, 6/13).

F1i.com reports that the “doomed Arrows F1 team will gounder the hammer next week after collapsing in late 2002.”  The team’s administrators will “raise fundsfor unpaid team creditors by offering for sale the ‘complete outfit’ includinggrand prix cars and racing equipment.” The sale will be Webcast from Arrows’ former factory in Leafield,England (F1i.com,6/13).

Silver Star Media Group today announced it has reached anagreement with Rider Circulation Services for the right to distribute “MuhammadAli – The Greatest” on both a national and int’l basis.  The exclusive publication includes photos ofAli, articles written by George Foreman, Jose Torres and LarryHolmes.  Bert Sugar is theeditor (THE DAILY).

The N.Y. POST reported that YES Chair & CEO LeoHindery “is racing his Yankee-pinstriped Porsche 911” in the 24 Hours of LeMans sports car endurance race, which begins tomorrow (N.Y. POST, 6/12).

An eBayauction offering a round of golf with Tiger Woods closes Monday,with the proceeds going to the Tiger Woods Foundation, and the TORONTO STARreports that “there’s bound to be a rush before bidding closes,” as a “similarrecent auction resulted in a $425,000 winning” bid (TORONTOSTAR, 6/13).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The N.Y. POST notes an “odd coincidence” that could happentonight “if the stars are aligned.” HBO’s 11:00pm ET rerun of “Arli$$,” which originally aired in ’97, isabout baseball’s first 500/500 player. With 631 career home runs and 498 career stolen bases, Giants LF BarryBonds could accomplish the feat tonight against the Royals if he swipes twobases (N.Y. POST,6/13).

WEEKEND EVENTS

Rockies RF Larry Walker will be presented with theTip O’Neill Award during a 4:30pm ET press conference at Comerica Park, theninth consecutive year the Canadian Baseball HOF & Museum award hasrecognized him as the best Canadian player (THE DAILY).

Magician Aaron Radatz will attempt to predict thethoughts of the first 25,000 fans in attendance for the 7:05pm ETRockies-Tigers game at Comerica Park, who will be given a player predictionboard with photos of past or present Tigers. At the conclusion of the game, Radatz’ instructions on how to choose aplayer at random will apparently result in each fan choosing the same photo (THEDAILY).

The Devils ’03 Stanley Cup Celebration will take place inthe Continental Airlines Arena parking lot at 1:00pm ET.  The parking lot opens at 10:00am (THEDAILY).

Red Sox Owner John Henry and Red Sox Chair TomWerner are scheduled to receive honorary degrees at Northeastern Univ.’scommencement ceremony at the FleetCenter (BOSTONGLOBE, 6/13).

The Univ. of CT will host an open house at Rentschler Field,the football team’s new stadium, from 1:00-4:00pm ET.  The event, sponsored by the university and Infinity Radio, isfree (HARTFORDCOURANT, 6/13).

The Bucs will host their annual FanFest at 10:00am ET atRaymond James Stadium (THE DAILY).

The National Fatherhood Initiative will honor NASCAR WinstonCup driver Dale Jarrett with a 2003 Fatherhood Award at the SiriusSatellite Radio 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway (THE DAILY).

The Citizenship Through Sports Alliance will honor fourteenpeople within the industry, including NBA Community Ambassador Bob Lanier,OH State Univ. AD Andy Geiger and speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno,for their commitment to citizenship, sportsmanship and community service.  Magic Senior VP Pat Williams willdeliver the keynote address (THE DAILY).

UNC-Charlotte AD Judy Rose officially will becomeNational Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics President.  Rose will serve a one-year term, “which willcoincide with her final year as a member of the Division I men’s basketballcommittee” (CHARLOTTEOBSERVER, 6/13).

CHANNEL SURFING

Friday

ESPN2 will air the CollegeWorld Series: Cal StateFullerton-LSU at 7:00pm ET.

The History Channel will air “Stories From The Hall of Fame: Golf” at 7:00pm ET.

ESPN will air second-round highlights from the U.S. Open at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Carlton Fisk at 8:00pm ET.

ABC will air Spurs-NetsGame 5 at 8:30pm ET.

NBC’s Jay Leno,musician John Mellencamp, formerWhite House counsel John Dean andjournalist Carl Bernstein will be onHBO’s “On The Record” with Bob Costas at 11:30pm ET.

Devils D ScottStevens will be on CBS’ “Late Show”with David Letterman at 11:35pm ET.

Saturday

All-American Soap Box Derby GM Jeff Iula is scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Weekend Today” at 8:30am ET.

Rangers 1B RafaelPalmeiro will host “This Week InBaseball” on Fox as the lead-in to “MLB on Fox.”

Fox will air NFL Europe WorldBowl XI at noon ET.

NBC will air third-round coverage of the U.S. Open at 1:30 ET.

ESPN will air the College World Series: Rice-Southwest Missouri State at 1:30pm ET at Texas-Miami at 7:00pm ET.

Fox will air MLB interleague coverage: Cardinals-Yankees, Braves-Marinersor Dodgers-Indians at 3:00pm ET.

ABC will air WNBASparks-Liberty at 4:00pm ET.

FX will air the Busch Series Meijer 300 at 7:30pm ET.

NBC will air Maxim’sHot 100 at 9:00pm ET.

ESPN2 will air U.S.-Irelandwomen’s soccer at 9:00pm ET.

Fox will air the Winston Cup Sirius 400 at 12:30pm ET.

NBC will air final-round coverage of the U.S. Open at 1:30pm ET.

ESPN will air the College World Series at 3:00pm ET.

ESPN2 will air the College World Series at 7:00pm ET.

The Tennis Channel will air “Corina Morariu: No Strings” at 7:30pm ET, a profile of Morariu’sreturn to the WTA Tour following her bout with leukemia.

ESPN will air Braves-Marinersat 8:00pm ET.

ABC will air Nets-SpursGame 6 at 8:30pm ET.

FSN’s “Beyond The Glory” will profile Paul Pierce.

TODAY’S TEASER…

General: Name the youngest team, in terms of averageage, in MLB as of Opening Day.

1. Devil Rays
2. Tigers
3. Brewers
4. Padres

THE DAILY STAT: U.S. OPEN GOLF NIELSEN RATINGSTREND

The following presents a Nielsen ratings trend for the U.S.Open Championship since ‘99 (THE DAILY).

CRITICS WEIGH IN: MIXED REVIEWS FOR “HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE”

Following the success of the JimCarrey-Jeff Daniels laugher, “Dumb And Dumber,” New Line Cinemaoffers “Dumb And Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd:,” a look at their high school roots.  Also opening nationwide, “HollywoodHomicide” stars Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett as LAPD homicideofficers who moonlight in other fields.

…TODAY’S ANSWER

According to the St. Petersburg Times, the Devil Raysare the youngest team in the league with an average age of 27.29 as ofOpening Day.

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

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