| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Thursday, March 25, 2004
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Serena Williams Today Leaves IMG, Signs With William Morris Agency |
| • | NCAA Men’s Tourney Resumes Tonight With Four Games At Two Locations |
| • | ESPN’s “Thursday Night Hockey” Average Rating Up 16% Over Last Year |
| • | IOC President Today Expresses Optimism That Athens Will Overcome Delays |
| • | Portugal Seeks NATO Air Surveillance For European Soccer Championship |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
SERENA WILLIAMS LEAVES IMG, SIGNS WITH WILLIAM MORRIS
Asfirst reported by sister publication SportsBusiness Journal, SerenaWilliams today announced that she has severed ties with IMG, and has signedwith Beverly Hills-based William Morris Agency. Williams, who had been represented by IMG for the last fouryears, began a relationship with William Morris several years ago through JillSmoller for entertainment-related opportunities. A team of agents, led by Smoller and Dave Wirtschafter,will represent Williams.
Ina statement, Smoller said, “I have had enormous respect for Serena’saccomplishments during her still young tennis career and have witnessedfirsthand her ability to transfer her on-court magnetism to success in otherareas, including entertainment, fashion and philanthropy. Speaking for my colleagues in every divisionof William Morris, we are incredibly excited to be working with such a multi-mediaicon.”
AnIMG spokesperson said, “We continue to wish her well” (THE DAILY).
NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT CONTINUES TONIGHT
TheNCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament resumes tonight with four games at twolocations. CBS will air regionalcoverage of the games:
| Time | Game | Site |
| 7:10pm ET | Vanderbilt-Uconn | Phoenix |
| 7:27pm ET | Pitt-Oklahoma St. | East Rutherford |
| 9:40pm ET | Alabama-Syracuse | Phoenix |
| 9:57pm ET | Wake Forest-St. Joe’s | East Rutherford |
CBSSports analyst Billy Packer, who said St. Joe’s did not deserve a No. 1seed, will call St. Joe’s-Wake Forest with Jim Nantz. Yesterday, St. Joe’s coach Phil Martellijoked about Packer calling the game, saying, “Is that right? I didn’t even know that. I’m a really big pizza fan, so I figured hemight bring us a couple Papa John’s and we could sit around the hotel anddiscuss things.” Packer appears incommercials for Papa John’s (AP,3/25).
ESPN TO AIR FINAL “THURSDAY NIGHT HOCKEY” GAME OF SEASON
ESPNtonight will air its thirteenth and final “Thursday Night Hockey” telecast ofthe season with Red Wings-Avalanche at 8:00pm ET. Through 12 telecasts, the games are averaging a 0.52/ (462,462HHs) Nielsen cable rating, a 16% and 19% respective increase over last year’s12-telecast average of 0.45/ (389,200 HHs). In the men 18-49 demo, the telecasts are averaging a 0.49/ (261,063HHs), up from a 0.42/ (220,893 HHs) last season (NHL).
FOOTSTAR TO BEGIN SOLICITING BIDS FOR ATHLETIC FOOTWEAR BUSINESS
Footstartoday announced that it intends to begin soliciting bids for all or part of itsremaining athletic footwear business, which will be divested through acourt-supervised auction. The companysaid that its decision to pursue a sale was in part due to the absence of a commitmentfrom Nike to supply its athletic footwear chains for more than 75 days (Footstar).
BUZZER BEATERS
Asexpected, N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NY Gov. George Patakitoday announced plans for a new Jets stadium on the west side ofManhattan. The Jets will invest $800Mand will pay the Mass Transit Authority annual ground rent for theproperty. The city and state will eachcontribute $300M (Jets).
ESPNPresident George Bodenheimer today testified before the Senate CommerceCommittee and said in his prepared remarks, “Eight-five percent of Americanssay they are sports fans, and expanded basic cable in particular offers them afantastic array of sports viewing options. Sports are clearly one of themost important reasons why people subscribe to cable. Therefore, I wouldlike to be very clear on one very important issue: it would be a consumerdisaster for Congress to force ESPN and other channels out of the expandedbasic cable lineup” (ESPN).
IOCPresident Jacques Rogge expressed optimism today that Athens will “overcomeconstruction delays and be ready to host” the Olympics. Rogge: “All our experts are saying now thereis still enough time to finish everything for the opening ceremony” (AP, 3/25).
AOLtoday formally announced a partnership with MLBAM, under which AOL forBroadband subscribers will have access at no additional cost to live audio andcondensed video for regular-season MLB games, the playoffs and World Series (AOL).
TheBOSTON GLOBE notes that Red Sox President Larry Lucchino yesterday did aphoto shoot for a Newsweek story (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/25).
The AP reports that Portugal “wants NATO to provide air surveillance during theEuropean soccer championship that opens in June.” About 1.2 million fans are expected at the soccer competition’s31 games, which begin June 12 and continue for three weeks. The 16-nationtournament is to be played at 10 stadiums nationwide (AP,3/25).
TheCINCINNATI ENQUIRER notes that the Xavier Univ. men’s basketball program“earned more than $2.9[M] in profits during the 2002-03 school year,” onrevenue of $5.42M and expenses of $2.52M (CINCINNATIENQUIRER, 3/25).
The Univ. of Miami today announced that it has entered into aneducational partnership with IMG Academies in Bradenton, FL. While the school has been teaching IntensiveEnglish since January, it plans to offer additional on-site courses (Univ.of Miami).
Boxingbroadcasters Nick Charles and Sean O’Grady have been named thebroadcast team for Cedric Kushner Promotions’ iN Demand PPV boxing series“Heavyweight Heroes: The Search for the Next Great Heavyweight” (CedricKushner Promotions).
DiBellaEntertainment today announced the broadcast team for its “Broadway Boxing”series. Gus Johnson will serveas blow-by-blow announcer, alongside analyst Steve Farhood, ringsidereporter Brian Adams and ring announcer Sid Rosenberg for theN.Y.-based broadcasts. Boston Globecolumnist Ron Borges will rotate with Farhood on the New England-basedcards. HDNet will televise the serieslive in high definition, while MSG will provide tape-delayed coverage (DiBellaEntertainment).
The TAMPA BAY BUSINESS JOURNAL reported that Japan Airlines “willoperate three charter flights from St. Petersburg-Clearwater InternationalAirport” on behalf of MLB. The leaguewill use the carrier to “transport team personnel and select fans” to Tokyo forthe Yankees-Devil Rays series (BIZJOURNALS.com,3/24).
TheCBA today announced that the Gary Steelheads and the Genesis Convention Centerin Gary, IN, will host the ’05 CBA All-Star Classic (CBA).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
USATODAY notes that the Curacao Tourism Bureau arranged for Mandy Block,the sausage-suit-donning Brewers employee knocked to the ground last season byPirates 1B Randall Simon, to “spend a week in Curacao, including a swimlast week with the dolphins at the Curacao Dolphin Academy.” Because Simon is from Curacao, the tourismbureau “thought the incident was bad publicity” (USA TODAY, 3/25).
TONIGHT’SEVENTS
MidoriIto, TollerCranston and Jutta Mueller will be inducted into the World FigureSkating HOF during an on-ice induction ceremony at the World Figure SkatingChampionships in Dortmund, Germany.
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN2will air first-round coverage of the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship at 5:00pm ET.
CBSwill air regional coverage of the NCAAMen’s Basketball Tournament beginning at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2will air coverage of the World FigureSkating Championships at 7:00pm ET.
ESPNwill air Red Wings-Avalanche at8:00pm ET.
ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile AlbertBelle at 8:00pm ET.
EaglesWR Terrell Owens and his agent David Joseph, former NFLer Jamal Anderson, Fox’ Steve Lyons and N.Y. Post columnist Peter Vecsey are scheduled to appear onFSN’s “BDSSP.”
Acting USOC CEO JimScherr is scheduled to appear on CNBC’s “Dennis Miller” at 9:00pmET.
ABCwill air coverage of the World FigureSkating Championships at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” will examine the dynamic ofsuccessful coaches getting second chances following scandals at 12:30am ET.
E!’s“True Hollywood Story” will profile BritneySpears at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Ashton Kutcher (r) |
| “The Tonight Show” | Jennifer Aniston (r) |
| “The Late Late Show” | Charlie Sheen (r) |
| “Late Night” | Ashton Kutcher (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Heath Ledger |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The L.A. TIMES’ Shaikin & DiGiovanna write in a front-pagepiece, “TheWhite House and Congress have nudged Commissioner Bud Selig and theplayers union into a nationaldebate over the sport’s policy on steroid testing.” Selig: “The game never has been morepopular. Having said that, steroidspresent a very significant and a very serious issue for this sport, for itsintegrity and for health reasons. Weneed to deal with the problem” (L.A. TIMES).
ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark writes of the relocation of the Expos, “No matter howsincere [MLB President & COO Bob] DuPuy might sound when hesays relocation by next year is ‘on the top of our priority list,’ the buzz inthe Expos’ clubhouse is that it would shocknobody if they end up back in Montreal in 2005. Which would lead to fears of contraction after 2006. Which would lead Bud Selig’s favoriteskeptics to wonder whether baseball ever intended to move this team” (ESPN.com).
- Columnist believes Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez is the best bargain in sports.
- Mayor John Peyton cautiously spending Jacksonville’s money on Super Bowl.
- adidas shooting for 20% of the Israeli sporting goods market.
- Columnist debunks NBA conspiracy theories about small-market teams.
SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles OfInterest for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
SportsBusiness: Whichof the NCAA men’s basketball conference championship games experienced thehighest Nielsen rating increase over last year?
IN OTHERNEWS…
TheL.A. TIMES reports that former Disney BOD members Roy Disney and StanleyGold “stepped up pressure on WaltDisney to release what they believe will be embarrassing datashowing how rank-and-file employees voted earlier this month in a largershareholder referendum” on CEO Michael Eisner. In a letter to Disney representatives, David Robbins, whorepresents Disney and Gold, said that the “percentage of employee-held shareswithheld during a protest vote on Eisner’s reelection as a director was‘rumored to be in excess of 70%’” (L.A.TIMES, 3/25).
MULTICHANNEL NEWS reportsthe “long-rumored sale of TechTV” was completed today with Comcast purchasingthe net for a reported $300M “to merge with its own video-game-centric” G4channel. The move will increase G4’shomes “from its current 15 million to 44 million.” In addition to Comcast, EchoStar and Insight “have equitypositions in the network” (MULTICHANNEL.com, 3/25).
THE DAILY STAT: BILLBOARD CHARTS
Thefollowing lists Billboard Magazine’s top-selling CDs for the week ending March21 (BILLBOARD.com, 3/25):
| RK | ALBUM | ARTIST | LABEL |
| 1) | Feels Like Home | Norah Jones | Blue Note |
| 2) | Split Personality | Cassidy | Full Surface/J |
| 3) | Fallen | Evanescence | Wind-up |
| 4) | In This Skin | Jessica Simpson | Columbia |
| 5) | The Other Side | Godsmack | Republic/Universal |
| 6) | The College Dropout | Kanye West | Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam |
| 7) | When The Sun Goes Down | Kenny Chesney | BNA |
| 8) | Bad Boy's 10th Anniversary … The Hits | Various Artists | Bad Boy |
| 9) | Songs About Jane | Maroon5 | Octone/J |
| 10) | Closer | Josh Groban | 143/Reprise |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
The ACC Championship, featuringMaryland-Duke, increased 76.9% over last year’s NC State-Duke match-up.
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