Closing Bell, April 8, 2004

The Closing Bell will not publish Friday but will return Monday,April 12.

BEIJING BREAKS GROUND ON 100,000-SEAT OLYMPIC STADIUM

TheAP reports that organizers of the ’08 Beijing Olympics today held a pressconference and said they have broken ground on the 100,000-seat main Olympicstadium and “plan to have all their major building projects finished more than18 months before the Games begin.” Beijing Deputy Mayor Liu Jingmin added that the city has alsobegun construction on a $120M swimming facility and “will be building 13 othersports venues.”  Most of the $3.2B costof the Beijing Games is “coming from private investors” (AP,4/8).

NOLAN RYAN’S DOUBLE-A FRANCHISE TODAY ANNOUNCES NAME

CorpusChristi Baseball officials today announced that the Double-A Texas Leaguefranchise will be named the Corpus Christi Hooks.  The franchise, which begins play in ’05, used a fan contest tofind a name for the team and received more than 5,000 entries representing1,900 different names.  The primarylogo, home cap logo and away cap logo were designed by Louisville, KY-basedStudio Simon.  Nolan Ryan is aco-Owner of the club (Corpus Christi Hooks).

XTOOLS SIGNS DEAL TO SPONSOR FLW OUTDOORS, WAL-MART FLW TOUR

FLWOutdoors has inked a two-year sponsorship agreement with fishing toolsmanufacturer XTOOLS, which becomes the official fishing tool sponsor of theWal-Mart FLW Tour.  XTOOLS will have apresence at all six of FLW Outdoors’ tournament trails, as well as on the FLWOutdoors Web site.  XTOOLS also receivesadvertising in the FLW Outdoors Magazine and consideration in promotional andPR materials (FLW Outdoors).

ESPN TONIGHT STAGING MOCK TRIAL ON YANKEES SPENDING

An ESPN mocktrial before a live audience in a New Jersey courtroom will examine whether asystem that allows the Yankees to outspend every other team is good for MLB inthe three-hour special, “Break up the Bombers: The Yankees on Trial,” tonightat 7:00pm ET. Bob Ley will host the show featuring Alan Dershowitzas prosecuting attorney and Bruce Cutler defending the club. Court TV’s“Catherine Crier Live” host Catherine Crier will preside over thecase. 

In N.Y., Richard Sandomirwrites, “It was a barroom argument without beer or legal briefs.”  Sandomir also notes that among the witnessesare former Yankees P Jim Bouton and Single-A South Atlantic LeagueCharleston River Dogs President Mike Veeck (N.Y.TIMES, 4/8).

The N.Y. DAILY NEWS reportedthat some Yankees officials “appeared peeved that the network, which gets highratings by showing the Bombers games, would create a situation in which theorganization will be publicly disparaged.” Yankees GM Brian Cashman: “Anyone who testifies against us isjust uninformed” (N.Y.DAILY NEWS, 4/5).

ESPN Exec VP & ExecEditor John Walsh: “We are trying to make an interesting presentation ofthe issues.  Do the Yankees tilt theplaying field?  Should the Yankees haveunlimited resources?  I believe therewill be arguments that show the Yankees are very good for baseball” (WestchesterJOURNAL-NEWS, 4/5).

Media Blitz’ John Moloriwrites, “I guess the Arizona Diamondbacks, Anaheim Angels and Florida Marlinswill be testifying on behalf of the defense” (MEDIA BLITZ, 4/6).

BUZZER BEATERS

TheDaytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL reports that ISC “hopes to choose a new site in the[N.Y.] area by the end of this year for construction of a motorsportstrack.”  ISC VP H. Lee Combs,speaking during Wednesday’s shareholder’s meeting, said, “Things are heating upfor New York.  We’re getting a lot moretraction than in the past. … We still have a pretty good uphill climb” (DaytonaBeach NEWS-JOURNAL, 4/8).

FIAPresident Max Mosley talked to REUTERS today and “expressed concernabout rising speeds.”  Mosley: “We arelooking very carefully at possibly using powers that we have under the ConcordeAgreement to reduce the performance of our cars.”  Mosley said that slowing the cars “could be done before the endof the season” (REUTERS,4/8).

ESPNtoday announced that film director Peter Bogdanovich will direct“Hustle,” an EOE movie based on the findings of the Dowd Report chronicling thegambling investigation into Pete Rose. Bogdanovich’s credits include “The Last Picture Show,” “Paper Moon” and“Mask” (ESPN).

NASCARtoday announced that it will host the annual Nextel Cup Series Awards CeremonyDecember 3 at the Waldorf Astoria in N.Y. (NASCAR).

WEEKENDEVENTS

Thursday

The Braves will celebrate the 30^thanniversary of Hank Aaron’s 715^thhome run at the team’s 7:05pm ET game against the Mets at Turner Field.

Friday

The AFL is expected to surpass the one-millionth mark inattendance for the ninth consecutive season when the Orlando Predators host theNew Orleans VooDoo at TD Waterhouse Centre at 7:30 pm ET.  The league has drawn a total of 989,993 fansin 80 games, an average of 12,375 fans per game.

MLBcoverage returns to TBS with “Braves TBS Baseball Friday Night Xtra,” debutingfor the Cubs-Braves 7:30pm ET game at Turner Field.

TheRangers will honor the U.S. Army Fourth Infantry Division at the team’s homeopener against the Angels at 1:05pm CT.

The50-city “Principal Financial Group Family Fun Fest,” the most extensivetraveling festival celebrating minor league baseball in history, will begin inSavannah, GA.

The Rangers will celebrate their tenth anniversary at TheBallpark in Arlington with the Ballpark Birthday Bash from 1:00-5:00pm ET.

Univision’sRepublica Deportiva will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a birthday bashfeaturing guest appearances by Yankees SS AlexRodriguez and HOF P Juan Marichal,live from Yankee Stadium (Ft.Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/5).

CHANNELSURFING

ESPN2will air NCAA men’s hockey semifinal: Maine-BostonCollege at 6:00pm ET.

TNT willair Magic-Nets at 7:30pm ET and T’Wolves-Kings at 10:00pm.

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

USA willair taped coverage of the “The Masters”at 8:00pm ET.

Cal Ripken Jr. will appear on CNBC’s “Dennis Miller” at 9:00pm ET.

ESPNwill air Blues-Sharks at 10:00pm ET.

CBS willair “The Masters’ Highlights” at11:30pm ET.

Donald Trump, RockiesP Denny Neagle, actors Steve Schirripa and Adam Carolla and FSN’s Tred Barta are scheduled to appear onFSN’s “BDSSP.”

 “On the Record” with Bob Costas will air at 11:00pm ET onHBO, featuring guests MLBPA Exec Dir DonFehr, Bruce Willis and musician Wynton Marsalis.

ESPN’s John Saunderswill appear on NBC’s “Last Call” at 1:35am ET.

HEADLINERS

Here aretonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

MinnesotaGov. Tim Pawlenty writes of stadium proposals in the ST. PAUL PIONEERPRESS, “Minnesota's stadium challenge is not the most important issuefacing our state. However, sports and recreation are undeniablyone piece of our quality of life fabric. We should make reasonable effortsto keep the Twins and Vikings here and healthy. We can do so without having animpact on our ability to fund other state priorities” (ST. PAUL PIONEERPRESS).

BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Robison & Cheng write of Reebok, “Two decadesafter building its brand on soft white leather women's aerobics shoes, Reebokis appealingto city teens with sneakers and clothes meant as much for fashion as sport.The new focus led the second-biggest U.S. athletic-shoe-maker to an 11 percentsales gain last year, its largest since 1991” (BLOOMBERG NEWS).

• Basketball breeding other success at Univ. of Connecticut.
• Patrons spending like crazy during Masters Week.
• Wholesale uncertainty should make for interesting summer in NHL.

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

TODAY’S TEASER…

SportsBusiness:According to the AP’s study, which MLB team experienced the largest percentageincrease in payroll from ’03 to ’04? Which team experienced the largest percentage decrease?

THE DAILY STAT: BILLBOARD CHARTS

Thefollowing lists Billboard Magazine’s top-selling CDs for the week ending April4 (BILLBOARD.com, 4/4):

…TODAY’S ANSWER

The Devil Rays increased their payroll 50%,to $29.5M, while the Rangers cut their payroll 47%, to $54.8M

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

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