| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Thursday, October 2, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Eagles Owner Jeffrey Lurie Today Accuses ESPN Of “Institutional Racism” |
| • | Fox Today Reports 18-Week MLB Schedule Averaged A 2.7/8 Nielsen Rating |
| • | Packers Today Announce Mills Fleet Farm As Final Lambeau Gate Sponsor |
| • | Rams, Cowboys And Bills To Utilize Turnstile Advertising At Home Venues |
| • | Pantheon Int’l Today Inks Management Deal With LPGAer Heather Bowie |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
EAGLES OWNER TODAY ACCUSESESPN OF “INSTITUTIONAL RACISM”
The AP reports that EaglesOwner Jeffrey Lurie today “accused ESPN of ‘institutional racism’ forits decision to hire Rush Limbaugh and for the portrayal of NFL playersin the fictional series ‘Playmakers.’” Lurie added that ESPN has “tarnished its image of being one of the mostrespected media outlets for NFL coverage for the sake of ratings.” Lurie called the hiring of Limbaugh and theshow examples of “racist potshots” toward the league. Lurie: “Let’s not make us believe the problem is a singleperson. It’s far from that.” A call seeking comment from ESPN today wasnot immediately returned (AP, 10/2).
Limbaugh told the NationalAssociation of Broadcasters at its convention in Philadelphia today, “Thegreat people at ESPN did not want to deal with this kind of reaction. Thepath of least resistance became for me to resign” (AP,10/2).
FOX TODAY ANNOUNCES 2.7/8AVERAGE NIELSEN RATING FOR MLB
Fox today announced that itsSaturday MLB Game of the Week concluded its 18-week schedule with a 2.7/8average Nielsen rating, marking an 8% increase over last season’s 2.5/8average, and the net’s best regular-season average since posting a 2.9 in’99. Fox also tied record highs in men18-49 (1.7) and men 25-54 (1.8), which were set in ’98. Fox points out that the rating marks thefirst time in 15 years that the Saturday MLB Game of the Week out-rated networkcoverage of the NBA in the same season. ABC’s NBA coverage averaged a 2.6/6 (Fox).
MILLS FLEET FARM BECOMES LAMBEAU’S FINAL GATE SPONSOR
ThePackers today announced that the organization has expanded its agreement withMills Fleet Farm to include sponsorship of the southwest gate at LambeauField. Additionally, Mills Fleet Farm’sLEGEND paint has been designated as the official paint of Lambeau Field. The Packers now have sponsors for all fivestadium entrances, as Mills Fleet Farm joins Miller Brewing, Oneida Nation,Verizon Wireless and Associated Bank (Packers).
ENTRY MEDIA TODAY INKS TURNSTILE DEALS WITH THREE NFL TEAMS
Orlando-basedEntry Media today announced contracts with three NFL teams to add TurnstileAdvertising to each team’s stadium via their Turnstile AdSleeve Armcovers. The following details the agreements (EntryMedia):
| Team | Stadium | Featured Sponsor |
| Rams | Edward Jones Dome | Levitra |
| Cowboys | Texas Stadium | Bank of America |
| Bills | Ralph Wilson Stadium | Coors Brewing |
BUZZER BEATERS
TheSAN ANTONIO BUSINESS JOURNAL reported that the Spurs have signed DickStockton to split TV play-by-play duties with Bill Land for the’03-04 season (BIZJOURNALS.com,10/1).
PantheonInt’l today announced that it has signed LPGAer Heather Bowie to anexclusive marketing and management agreement. Bowie joins fellow LPGAer Cristie Kerr who signed with thecompany in July (Pantheon Int’l).
TheAP reports that former Ball State student Andrew Bourne, who wasparalyzed when a goal post fell on him, today filed suit in federal court inIndianapolis against CT-based Gilman Gear, stating that the company “was negligent inhow it made the goal posts that snapped after Ball State fans climbed onto themafter an upset victory over Toledo in October 2001” (AP,10/2).
COLUMBUSBUSINESS FIRST reports that ESPN college football analyst Chris Spielmanwill join the AFL Columbus Destroyers as Dir of Football Operations (BIZJOURNALS.com,10/2).
TONIGHT’SEVENTS
ChargersPresident & CEO Dean Spanos and his wife, Susie,willbe honored with the Harold Leventhal Community Service Award at the SeventhAnnual Guthrie Awards Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in N.Y. The dinner benefits the Huntington’s DiseaseSociety of America.
TheBuccaneers and team sponsor Eckerd will host the fourth annual “NFL 101” forwomen from 6:00-8:45pm ET at Raymond James Stadium.
CHANNELSURFING
ESPN2will air Red Sox-A’s ALDS Game Twoat 4:00pm ET.
ESPNwill air NCAA football: WestVirginia-Miami at 7:30pm ET.
Foxwill air Twins-Yankees ALDS Game Twoat 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2will air the Women’s World Cup: Germany-Russiaat 7:25pm ET and China-Canada at10:25pm ET.
ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile FrankGifford at 8:00pm ET.
AVPTour players Misty May and Kerri Walsh; Falcons RB WarrickDunn; Kellen Winslow, college football analyst & Exec Dir of theFritz Pollard Alliance, which monitors minority issues in the NFL; and actor JasonGedrick are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
SpeedChannel will air Kyle Petty’s CharityRide Across America at 7:00pm ET.
A&E’s“Biography” will profile George Carlinat 8:00pm ET.
E!’s“True Hollywood Story” will profile JennaJameson at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Lisa Kudrow |
| “The Tonight Show” | Lucy Liu |
| “The Late Late Show” | Val Kilmer |
| “Late Night” | Jack Black |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Ted McGinley |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
TheAP’s Doug Ferguson writes of Callaway Golf’s recent acquisitions, “It picked upTop-Flite and Hogan clubs to go along with its successful line of drivers andfairway metals, irons, wedges and Odyssey putters. Exactly whereCallaway is headed with its newly acquired brands is not clear. The company suddenly has three golf ballplants and two club assembly plants and must figure out what to do with them” (AP).
The AP’s Tim Reynolds writes, “Say this much for CART: If it’s going down, it’sgoing down fighting. There’s noquestion that the racing series is in serious trouble, with $43.5[M] in lossesthe first half of this year. That wasaccumulated primarily by paying for TV time and helping fund teams. But some in the struggling series believe betterdays are approaching, especially if the proposed sale of CART to a groupled by three team owners is completed in the coming weeks” (AP).
SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles OfInterest for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
SportsBusiness:Two MLB teams in the same market drew 3 million fans this season, marking thefirst time that has occurred in MLB history. Name the market.
IN OTHERNEWS…
TheLondon GUARDIAN reports that Al Gore “could be close to fulfilling hislatest ambition as a media mogul in a $70[M] … deal to buy the cable networkNewsworld International from Vivendi Universal. Mr. Gore’s interest in launching a cable TV service emergedearlier this year but the former politician has kept the plans close to hischest” (LondonGUARDIAN, 10/2).
TheCHICAGO TRIBUNE reports that Leo Burnett Worldwide President Robert Brennanis out “aftermonths of strife in the top executive suite at Chicago’s biggest advertisingagency.” It ends a “tumultuousinaugural year as a division under the French holding company Publicis Groupe”(CHICAGOTRIBUNE, 10/2).
TheWALL STREET JOURNAL reports that Liberty Media has “exercised its right to buy$500[M] of News Corp. preferred limited-voting ordinary American DepositaryReceipts.” At an exercise price of$21.50 each, the move gives the company “another 23.3 million of News Corp.ADRS, each of which represents four preferred limited-voting ordinary shares,or 93 million shares” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/2).
THE DAILY STAT: CAPACITY FOR BROADWAY SHOWS IN AUGUST
Thefollowing lists the Broadway shows with the highest theater capacity percentagein August, a month in which more than 89% of seats were filled, the most sinceAugust ’97. Only shows with 50 or moreperformances were included (League of American Theatres & Producers):
| RK | SHOW | % CAPACITY |
| 1) | Hairspray | 100 |
| 2) | Nine | 99.1 |
| 3) | The Lion King | 96.8 |
| 4) | Long Day's Journey Into Night' | 95.5 |
| 5) | Chicago | 95.3 |
| 6) | Mamma Mia! | 93.6 |
| 7) | Tartuffe | 93.1 |
| 8) | A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg | 92.1 |
| 9) | Gypsy | 90.9 |
| 10) | Salome | 89.2 |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
The L.A. market, as the Dodgers drew3,138,626 and the Angels drew 3,061,095.
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