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Closing Bell

Closing Bell, December 8, 2003

The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, December 8, 2003
4:00pm ET

AFL Today Announces Renewal With Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership

Wal-Mart, The First Tee Involved In New Pebble Beach Champions Tour Event

Dale Earnhardt Jr. To Star In Wrangler Campaign For New Denim Line

Cowboys WR Joey Galloway Joins AFL Columbus Destroyers’ Ownership Group

PGA Tour Player Of The Year To Be Announced On 6:00pm ET “SportsCenter”

Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat


AFL TODAY ANNOUNCES TWO-YEAR RENEWAL WITH AARON’S

TheAFL today announced a two-year national partnership renewal with Aaron’s Sales& Lease Ownership, designating the company as the official furniture salesand lease store of the league.  Underthe renewal, Aaron’s will receive logo identification on all visiting jerseysand the league will have an in-store presence in over 800 Aaron’s stores.  In-arena promotions include public addressand jumbotron announcements, giveaway opportunities and one promotional nightin each of the league’s 19 markets (AFL).

Meanwhile,BRANDWEEK reports that the AFL has selected Margeotes|Fertitta, N.Y., forbranding work.  Media spending “isexpected to increase from last year’s level, estimated at $4M (BRANDWEEK,12/8 issue).


YANKEENETS PRINCIPALS AGREE TO RESTRUCTURE OWNERSHIP

As expected, the YankeeNets BOD met today and announced that its principal shareholders had entered into a memorandum of understanding to pursue a restructuring of the holding company's ownership interests. The process of selling the Nets will now move forward with the guidance of Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. YankeeNets spokesperson Howard Rubenstein confirmed, "The parties will continue to act as equal partners regarding their ownership interests in the highly successful YES Network" (YankeeNets).


WAL-MART, THE FIRST TEE INVOLVED IN NEW CHAMPIONS TOUR EVENT

Wal-MartStores, The First Tee and the Champions Tour today officially announced thatWal-Mart will support The First Tee nationally under a two-year deal, thecornerstone of which is a new Champions Tour event, The First Tee Open atPebble Beach.  The new event, which willbe played September 3-5, will involve participants from The First Tee (ChampionsTour).

SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL notes that Wal-Mart will not “be designated as title sponsor” of theevent.  PGA Tour Commissioner TimFinchem: “They will be presenting the tournament and, as such, they willhave a traditional sponsorship role” (SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL, 12/8 issue).


WRANGLER TO USE DALE JUNIOR TO SELL DENIM LINE NEXT SUMMER

BRANDWEEKreports that Wrangler next summer “will launchWrangler Jeans Co., a denim-driven line targeting young adults ages 18-32.  NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. willstar in a multimedia push Wrangler hopes will secure its goal of $150[M] insales within three years.”  Wrangler Dirof Advertising, PR & Special Events Craig Errington: “Dale EarnhardtJr. is our target consumer.  He wearsjeans every day and will add the energy of NASCAR racing to the brand.”  TV, print, radio, Internet and POP “willsupport the product, which will hit such retailers as Wal-Mart, Kmart andTarget in July.”  Creative is viaConcord, MA-based Toth Brand Imaging (BRANDWEEK,12/8 issue).


LESS THAN TEN AD UNITS LEFT FOR BCS TELECASTS AS OF FRIDAY

MEDIAWEEKreports that there “were less than 10 ad units left to sell” for the BCSfootball telecasts on ABC January 1, 2 and 4 “by the end of last week.”  The spots “are available in packages, onefor each of the four games.  Each gamecontains upwards of 70 ad units.”  Mediabuyers said that they “were paying [$1.2-1.5M] for their four-spotpackages.”  First-time advertisersinclude Bank of America, The Home Depot, Russell Athletic, ADT and Cingular (MEDIAWEEK,12/8 issue).


BUZZER BEATERS

SUM today announced that ithas acquired the U.S. marketing, promotional and broadcast rights for theInterLiga, a new qualifying tournament that will determine automatic berths forMexican clubs to the Copa Libertadores. The rights were acquired from Gama Sport (SUM).

The AFL Columbus Destroyerstoday announced that Cowboys WR Joey Galloway has joined the team’sownership group (Destroyers).

TheMetroStars today announced a three-year partnership with MLS Camps that willbring the two entities under the MetroStars banner in the tri-state area.  The five different programs will be calledMetroStars Player Development Programs (MetroStars).

ThePHOENIX BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that Glendale Arena crews today began “turning aconcrete slab into a frozen hockey ice rink.” The Coyotes are scheduled to play their first game in their new arenaDecember 27, officially ending their run at America West Arena (BIZJOURNALS.com,12/8).

KnicksG Allan Houston today announced that his music production company, H20Productions, has partnered with Camp 8. Under the deal, H20 Productions will provide marketing, promotion andcreative support for future Camp 8 projects (H20 Productions).

VolumeServices America Holdings, a provider of catering, concessions, merchandise andfacilities management services, today announced that a receipt for a finalprospectus was signed for its IPO of 16,785,450 shares.  Priced at $15 apiece, the IPO could raisenearly $252M (Volume Services America Holdings).


A LIGHTER BUZZ

The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER noted that TV spots for the AHLPhiladelphia Phantoms featuring Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell breaktoday.  In the spot, Rendell “sits athis desk, barking orders that ‘this problem has to stop.’  The camera then shows he’s talking to thePhantoms’ mascot, Phlex, as well as mascots for the state’s other minor-leaguehockey teams, the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. When thethree start duking it out, Rendell gets in the middle to try to break it up” (PHILADELPHIAINQUIRER, 12/7).


TONIGHT’S EVENTS

The’03 PGA Tour Player of the Yearwill be announced on ESPN’s “SportsCenter”at 6:00pm ET.  The nominees are JimFuryk, Davis Love III, Vijay Singh, Mike Weir and TigerWoods.  Subsequently, the PGA Tourwill host a 6:30pm ET conference call to discuss the announcement.

CollegeSports TV will host its “Blast from the Past” event from 6:00-11:00pm ET at itsChelsea Piers studio in N.Y.  FootballHOFer Joe Namath is the guest of honor.

ABC’s“Monday Night Football” returns to Cleveland for the first time since the ’95season with Rams-Browns at 9:00pm ET.


CHANNEL SURFING

NBATV will air Suns-Magic at 7:00pm ET.

ESPNwill air the ISU Grand Prix of FigureSkating: Cup of Russia at 9:00pm ET.

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

ChargersQB Doug Flutie, Hornets G BaronDavis and former NFLer BrianBosworth are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

ABCwill air Rams-Browns at 9:00pm ET.

Mike Ditka will be on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

ESPN’s“OTL Nightly” will examine how the USA/Todaycoaches’ poll is skewed by the BCS and the potential for a split nationalchampionship at 1:00am ET.

A&E’s“Biography” will profile the top tenhitched and ditched at 8:00pm ET.


HEADLINERS

 Here are tonight’s headline guests on the followingtalk shows:

“Late Show” Matt Damon
“The Tonight Show” Jude Law
“The Late Late Show” Tom Green
“Late Night” Michael Caine (r)
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” Mike Ditka

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

TheMILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL’s Michael Hunt writes, “Sorry, but the Milwaukee Brewers’ latestattempt at damage control – the appointment of three prominent businessleaders to review the organization’s financial records – is as weak as a GlendonRusch fastball. … Even if Culver, Keyes and O’Toolepresent a fair and accurate accounting of the Brewers’ spending of taxpayermoney, outside auditors must be involved to convince a righteously skepticalpublic that the report is legitimate” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL).

TheSALT LAKE TRIBUNE’s Mike Gorrell writes, “Oneoft-repeated criticism of the Olympic bribery case is that bid leaders TomWelch and Dave Johnson were accused of a crime that had novictims.  But as the battlefield smokeclears following U.S. District Judge David Sam’s acquittal ruling onFriday, severalcasualties clearly are visible among the ruins of the Justice Departmentcase” (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE). 

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


TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports:Oklahomathis year becomes the second team not to win its conference, but play for thenational title since the inception of the BCS in ‘98.  Name the other teamand year.


THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION

Thefollowing presents best selling nonfiction books for the week ending December 7(NYTIMES.com, 12/8):

THIS WEEK
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
1)
DUDE, WHERE'S MY COUNTRY?, Michael Moore (Warner)
2)
LIES (AND THE LYING LIARS WHO TELL THEM), Al Franken (Dutton)
3)
WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?, Bill O'Reilly (Broadway)
4)
FLYBOYS, James Bradley (Little, Brown)
5)
I AM A SOLDIER, TOO: The Jessica Lynch Story, Rick Bragg (Knopf)
6)
AMERICA 24/7, created by Rick Smolan & David Elliot Cohen (DK Publishing)
7)
A NATIONAL PARTY NO MORE, Zell Miller (Stroud & Hall)
8)
A ROYAL DUTY, Paul Burrell (Putnam)
9)
THE STONE COLD TRUTH, Steve Austin with Jim Ross as told to Dennis Brent (World Wrestling Entertainement/Pocket Books)
10)
THE FUNNY THING IS…, Ellen DeGeneres (Simon & Schuster)

…TODAY’S ANSWER

Nebraska lost the national championship in ‘02 (‘01season) to Miami in the Rose Bowl, though the Cornhuskers did not play forthe Big 12 championship, due to an earlier loss to Colorado.


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

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