Menu
Closing Bell

Closing Bell, October 31, 2003

The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Friday, October 31, 2003
4:00pm ET

David Stern Today Says NBA Will Open Office In China To Strengthen Position

Victory Sports One Launches Tonight In About 20,000 Minnesota Households

Looney Tunes-Themed Cars Return To NASCAR Winston Cup This Weekend

Russell Corp. To Lay Off Up To 110 Employees, 10% Of Staff, By Year’s End

Critics Weigh In: “Brother Bear” Receives Better Reviews Than “In The Cut”

Buzzer Beaters/Weekend Events/Channel Surfing/The Daily Stat


NBA TO OPEN OFFICE IN CHINA TO STRENGTHEN ASIAN POSITION

NBA Commissioner David Stern today delivered a Stateof the League address in Japan, and the AP reports that the league “will soonopen an office in Shanghai to strengthen its marketing position in China.” Stern: “We think our future in Asia is verybright. With Yao Ming coming tothe NBA from China, that is going to start an entirely new phenomenon in Chinaand throughout Asia” (AP, 10/31).


VICTORY SPORTS ONE LAUNCHES TONIGHT WITH NCAA HOCKEY GAME

The Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE reports that Victory Sports Onelaunches tonight at 8:30pm CT, “but that doesn’t mean many viewers will be ableto see it.” The net, which will debutwith a Colorado College-Minnesota State, Mankato hockey game, “only hasdistribution in about 20,000 households.” While the net has “seven deals with cable systems that will put Victoryin about 17 communities, no carriage agreements have been reached with majorcable operators or satellite providers.” Cable operators and satellite providers “have balked at Victory’s askingprice of about $2.20 per subscriber” (Minneapolis STARTRIBUNE, 10/31).


FOUR WINSTON CUP DRIVERS TO SPORT LOONEY TUNES THEMES

The Looney Tunes crew returns to NASCAR Winston Cup actionthis Sunday for the third consecutive year. Through a partnership between Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Chevroletand Action Performance, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Steve Parkand Brian Vickers will drive Looney Tunes-branded Chevrolets during theChecker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix Int’l Raceway. Gordon will also make his film debut with a cameo role in WarnerBros. Pictures’ “Looney Tunes: Back In Action,” which premieres November 14 (WarnerBros.).


CFL COMMISSIONER TOM WRIGHT “BUOYANT” ABOUT FUTURE

The TORONTO STAR reports that CFL Commissioner Tom Wrightyesterday “was positively buoyant and bullish on the future of the CFL as headdressed the well-heeled souls at the Empire Club of Canada. The speech was short on details but long onvision.” Wright, on the league’s pastill-fated expansion plans: “The CFL attempted to be something its fans neverwanted it to be in the first place. Somehow by becoming less Canadian, it became less relevant” (TORONTOSTAR, 10/31).


PREMIER LEAGUE CLUB LEEDS ANNOUNCES $83.9M ANNUAL LOSS

The London TELEGRAPH reported that English Premier Leagueclub Leeds announced pre-tax losses of [$83.9M] for the year ending June 30,which “could be blamed not on fans deserting the troubled Premiership side, butbecause Leeds had suffered a huge drop in television income as the side failedto perform on the field.” Also, theclub will officially name Trevor Birch as its new CEO tomorrow (LondonTELEGRAPH, 10/29).


BUZZER BEATERS

The AP reports that Russell Corp. will lay off up to 110employees, or 10% of its workforce, by year’s end, “citing higher costs of rawmaterials and pricing pressures.” Thecuts will result “in an annualized pretax savings of [$8-10M] with about $3[M]in severance and other expenses” (AP, 10/31).

The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that construction crews “are pouring the first concrete this weekend for themain concourse” of the Cardinals’ new football stadium in Glendale. The 63,000-seat, retractable-roof stadium isscheduled to open in August ’06 (ARIZONAREPUBLIC, 10/31).

Chargers Owner Alex Spanos today donated $1M to theSan Diego Fire Relief Fund (Chargers).

Infront today announced that Premiere has exercised itsoption to extend its existing agreement for the German pay-TV broadcast rightsfor the Bundesliga soccer league through the ’06 season (Infront).

The 128-day Calder Race Course meet ended last Friday withdeclines in overall attendance and wagering. On-track attendance totaled 597,648, a 4.2% decline from last year. Daily average on-track handle on live racingwas $397,359, down 6.8% from last year (Calder Race Course).

The L.A. TIMES reports FIFA officials yesterday said thatthe U.S. “is considered the favorite for the 16-team” World Club Championship,which is scheduled for July 17-31, 2005. USSF President Bob Contiguglia said that if the U.S. is namedhost, he expects an MLS team to participate (L.A.TIMES, 10/31).

The WASHINGTON POST reports that Native American activistsyesterday “appealed a court ruling that allows the … Redskins to keep thefederal trademark protecting its name and logo.” The activists are “asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DCCircuit to overturn” U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’sOctober 1 ruling (WASHINGTONPOST, 10/31).


WEEKEND EVENTS

Saturday

The Bobcats will begin season-ticket sales with theirBobcats FrenzyFest from 10:00am-2:00pm ET at the Charlotte Coliseum. Fans who place deposits on season ticketswill receive priority seat selection for the team’s new arena, free PSLs and discountedtickets and team merchandise.

The Best Buy/NHL All-Star Fan Balloting Program presented byPlayStation 2 begins on NHL.com, at Best Buy locations, via Nextel phones inthe U.S. and in the league’s 30 arenas.

The Vikings will host the seventh annual Vikings Workshopfor Women, beginning at 1:30pm ET at Winter Park. Coach Mike Tice is among the coaches and players that willspeak at the $35 event.

Coyotes President & COO Doug Moss will accompanyseveral players, as well as students and teachers from Desert Mirage ElementarySchool to bury a Coyotes time capsule at Glendale Arena at 2:30pm MT. The capsule, which will be buried until2054, will contain the jersey of captain Shane Doan, a letter from Moss,student essays and historical hockey timelines.

Michigan State Univ. will dedicate a 12-foot-tall MagicJohnson statue outside the Breslin Center, beginning at 9:00am CT. The $250,000 “Always A Champion” project wasfunded by private donations (DETROIT FREEPRESS, 10/31).

Sunday

The Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE notes that with Sunday’ssellout against the Packers, the Vikings “will break their single gameattendance record of 64,471,” set November 22, 1998 against the Packers,“because of the addition of some field seats that gives the Metrodomeadditional capacity” (Minneapolis STARTRIBUNE, 10/31).


CHANNEL SURFING

Friday

ESPNwill air T’Wolves-Nets at 8:00pm ETand 76ers-Kings at 10:30pm ET.

ESPN2will air NCAA football: Cincinnati-SouthFlorida at 7:30pm ET.

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

CSTV will air the second episode of its original series “Coach” at 7:00pm ET, featuring SaintJohn’s (Minn.) Univ. football coach JohnGagliardi, who is approaching EddieRobinson’s NCAA victory record.

Chiefs WR JohnnieMorton, “Fox NFL Sunday” analyst JimmyJohnson and “Joe Millionaire” DavidSmith are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

Saturday

ESPNwill air “College GameDay” from the Univ. of Oklahoma at 10:30am ET.

TNT will air the NASCAR Busch Series Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at 3:00pm ET.

USA will air third round coverage of the PGA Tour Chrysler Championship at 3:00pm ET.

NBA TV will air Cavaliers-TrailBlazers at 10:00pm ET.

College Football Schedule

Network

Time

Michigan-Michigan State

ABC

noon ET

Nebraska-Texas

ABC

noon ET

Northwestern-Purdue

ESPN

noon ET

Utah-Air Force

ESPN2

noon ET

Liberty-Charleston Southern

TFN

noon ET

Florida State-Notre Dame

NBC

2:30pm ET

Ohio State-Penn State

ABC

3:30pm ET

Oklahoma State-Oklahoma

ABC

3:30pm ET

Virginia-North Carolina State

ABC

3:30pm ET

Georgia-Florida

CBS

3:30pm ET

Northeastern-Massachusetts

CSTV

3:30pm ET

Yale-Columbia

TFN

3:30pm ET

Washington State-USC

ABC

4:00pm PT only

Arkansas-Kentucky

ESPN2

7:00pm ET

Colorado-Texas Tech

FSN

7:00pm ET

Eastern Illinois-Tennessee State

TFN

7:00pm ET

Miami-Virginia Tech

ESPN

7:45pm ET

Oregon-Washington

TBS

10:00pm ET

Montana-Northern Arizona

TFN

10:30pm ET

Sunday

ABC will air final round coverage of the PGA Tour Chrysler Championship at 2:00pm ET.

ESPN will air the PBA PepsiOpen at 1:00pm ET.

NBC will air coverage of the ING NYC Marathon at 2:00pm ET.

NBC will air the NASCAR Winston Cup Checker Auto Parts 500 at 3:00pm ET.

ESPN2 will air women’s soccer: Mexico-U.S. at 3:55pm ET.

CBS will air the 14thAnnual Arete Honors For Courage In Sports Awards at 5:00pm ET.

ESPN2 will air Predators-Starsat 7:00pm ET.

CBS will air “CBS at75” at 8:00pm ET.

NBA TV will air Warriors-Lakersat 9:30pm ET.

ESPN’s 11:00pm ET “SportsCenter”will feature Snoop Dogg, who is theoffensive coordinator of his son’s youth football team and stays up pastmidnight watching film and diagramming plays.

NFL Week 9

Network

Time

Announcers (subject to change)

Colts-Dolphins

CBS

1:00pm ET

Greg Gumbel-Phil Simms

Chargers-Bears

CBS

1:00pm ET

Gus Johnson-Brent Jones

Jaguars-Ravens

CBS

1:00pm ET

Ian Eagle-Solomon Wilcots

Raiders-Lions

CBS

1:00pm ET

Kevin Harlan-Randy Cross

Saints-Buccaneers

Fox

1:00pm ET

Curt Menefee-Tim Green

Giants-Jets

Fox

1:00pm ET

Kenny Albert-Brian Baldinger

Panthers-Texans

Fox

1:00pm ET

Ron Pitts-Tim Ryan

Steelers-Seahawks

CBS

4:00pm ET

Dick Enberg-Dan Dierdorf

Bengals-Cardinals

CBS

4:00pm ET

Don Criqui-Steve Tasker

Redskins-Cowboys

Fox

4:15pm ET

Joe Buck-Troy Aikman-Cris Collinsworth

Eagles-Falcons

Fox

4:15pm ET

Sam Rosen-Bill Maas

Rams-49ers

Fox

4:15pm ET

Dick Stockton-Daryl Johnson

Packers-Vikings

ESPN

8:30pm ET

Mike Patrick-Paul Maguire-Joe Theismann


TODAY’S TEASER…

General: Howmany NFL teams do not have a player on their roster that attended either of theschools in the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party – Georgia and Florida?

  1. One
  2. Three
  3. Five
  4. Seven

CRITICS WEIGH IN: “IN THE CUT” & “BROTHER BEAR”

Meg Ryan stars in the erotic thriller “In The Cut” asa N.Y. writing professor who becomes involved with a police detectiveinvestigating a murder in her neighborhood.: In Disney’s latest animated feature, “BrotherBear,” a Native American tribal chief’s son (voiced by Joaquin Phoenix)is transformed into a bear to see the world in a new way.

————————Movie————————

“In The Cut”

“Brother Bear”

Chicago Sun-Times

Hollywood Reporter

N.Y. Times

USA Today


…TODAY’S ANSWER

Three – Chiefs, Packers and Saints.


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

The ClosingBell provides an afternoon recap of the latest news and headlines each Mondaythrough Friday at approximately 4:00pm ET. If you would like to sign up for ane-mail alert to the Closing Bell, go to MyAccount and personalize your e-mail alert options.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2003/10/31/Closing-Bell-October-31-2003.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2003/10/31/Closing-Bell-October-31-2003.aspx

CLOSE