| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, May 10, 2004
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Goldman Sachs Group Arranging $225M Loan Financing For Yankees |
| • | Ravens Today Announce Multiyear Sponsorship Deal With Smyth Jewelers |
| • | ESPN Today Establishes New Unit To Expand ESPN Books Imprint |
| • | FSN Tonight To Debut “I, Max” At 6:00pm Local Time With Strahan As Guest |
| • | Office Depot Center Today Begins Construction On New 500-Seat Private Club |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP ARRANGING $225M LOAN FOR YANKEES
BLOOMBERG NEWS reports that Goldman Sachs Group “is arranging a $225[M] loan financing” for the Yankees, which will include a $50M revolving credit and a $175M term loan that will be sold to investors. The loans, which will be secured by the assets of the team and the YES Network and will be used to consolidate debt, are expected to “have interest rates at 2.5[%] more than the London interbank offered rate” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 5/10).
RAVENS INK MULTIYEAR SPONSORSHIP DEAL WITH SMYTH JEWELERS
The Ravens today announced a multiyear sponsorship agreement with Smyth Jewelers, which immediately designates Smyth as a preferred partner of the team. Under the deal, Smyth becomes the title sponsor of the Ravens’ Ring of Honor at M&T Bank Stadium and the presenting sponsor of the team’s annual State of the Ravens event for suite holders and corporate partners. Smyth also receives the right to develop and merchandise Ravens “Limited Collection” items (Ravens).
ESPN TODAY ESTABLISHES ESPN BOOKS UNIT TO EXPAND IMPRINT
ESPN today announced that it has established a new books unit, ESPN Books, to publish 10-15 new titles per year, beginning with the September release of “ESPN25,” which looks at the company’s first quarter century. GQ Senior Editor Chris Raymond, a Founding Editor of ESPN The Magazine, has been named ESPN Books Editor, while former Scholastic exec Sandy DeShong has been named Publishing Dir. Hyperion Exec Dir Gretchen Young will serve as a consultant, as Hyperion will continue to distribute ESPN titles (ESPN).
FSN TONIGHT DEBUTS MAK KELLERMAN VEHICLE “I, MAX” AT 6:00pm
FSN tonight debuts “I, Max” at 6:00pm local time. Hosted by Max Kellerman, the 30-minute daily talk and interview show, also features Bill Wolff and Michael Holley. The lone guest for tonight’s premiere is Giants DE Michael Strahan (FSN).
ECHL TODAY ANNOUNCES FRANCHISE IN BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS
The ECHL today announced that a franchise in Bloomington, IL, will begin league play during the ’05-06 season in a new 7,000-seat arena to be built in downtown Bloomington for $35.2M. The franchise is a relocation of former WCHL market Ontario, CA, which was scheduled to join the ECHL in ’04-05 (ECHL).
Meanwhile, Bloomington Partners LLC today announced that the Bloomington City Council unanimously approved a ten-year contract for Bloomington Partners to manage the day-to-day operations of the new downtown facility (Bloomington Partners).
BUZZER BEATERS
AROUND THE RINGS reports that the arches for the roof of the Olympic Stadium in Athens “are finally moving into place.” An IOC Coordination Commission team watched the first giant steel arch being pushed into place. The second arch is to be moved next week (AROUND THE RINGS, 5/10).
The NHL Panthers today announced that Office Depot Center has begun construction on a new Private Club, which will include approximately 500 seats and is scheduled to open in September. A naming-rights partner will be announced in the next 30 days (Panthers).
The AP reports that Austria has selected Innsbruck as the site for its July 10-11 Fed Cup quarterfinal against the U.S. The teams will play on clay at Bergisel Stadion (AP, 5/10).
The AFL today announced that it has set a regular-season attendance record of 1,510,768, topping the mark set last year of 1,458,830. The league, which is averaging 12,086 fans per game through 125 games, added three new teams prior to this season (THE DAILY).
President Bush today honored the Patriots for winning Super Bowl XXXVIII during a ceremony at the White House (Mult., 5/10).
Women’s Sports Services today announced that it has been selected as the official career partner for the LPGA (Women’s Sports Services).
Ellesse USA has been named the official apparel and footwear sponsor of the Campbell’s HOF Tennis Championships and the HOF 50th Anniversary Celebration, to be held July 5-11 in Newport, Rhode Island (Ellesse USA).
Sports Illustrated for Kids today announced the column “Ask A-Rod” will debut in the June issue. Each month, Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez will answer readers’ questions in the magazine and at its accompanying Web site, sikids.com (Sports Illustrated for Kids).
Wireless entertainment publisher JAMDAT Mobile today announced that it will launch “JAMDAT Sports’ NFL 2005” at the beginning of the NFL season. As an NFL licensee, the game will feature all 32 teams and player likenesses (JAMDAT Mobile).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
The Maryland Horse Breeders Association will host its annual awards dinner at The Center Club in Baltimore (Baltimore SUN, 5/10).
The fifth annual Laureus World Sports Awards will be unveiled at the Centro Cultural de Belem in Estoril, Portugal.
CHANNEL SURFING
FSN will debut “I, Max” at 6:00pm local time.
ESPN2 will air Indians-Red Sox at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN will air the NHL Eastern Conference Finals: Flyers-Lightning Game Two at 7:30pm ET.
TNT will air the NBA playoffs: Pacers-Heat Game Three at 8:00pm ET and T’Wolves-Kings Game Three at 10:30pm.
ESPN Classic’s “SportsCentury” will profile Casey Stengel at 8:00pm ET.
Pro Football HOFers Jim Kelly and Ronnie Lott and Panthers QB Rodney Peete are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
NFL Giants QB and “The Bachelor” Jesse Palmer will appear on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at 12:05am ET.
E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile Uma Thurman at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | “Survivor” Amber Brkich |
| “The Tonight Show” | Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell |
| “The Late Late Show” | Alex Trebek |
| “Late Night” | Michael J. Fox (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Mekhi Phifer |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The ATLANTA CONSTITUTION’s David Markiewicz writes of NBA prospect Dwight Howard, “Some industry executives wonder whether there can be too much of a God thing, whether Howard’s public expression of his beliefs might give pause to companies who otherwise would quickly sign him to multi-million dollar product endorsement deals like the ones granted last year’s phenom, LeBron James” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION).
The N.Y. POST’s Larry Brooks writes of the NHL, “Over the last three seasons, 12 different teams have filled the 12 conference finalists slots. Never before in league history has there quite been competitive equality like this. Never before has a Collective Bargaining Agreement served its particular sport so well” (N.Y. POST).
The ORLANDO SENTINEL’s Ed Hinton writes of Jeff Gordon, “Imagine Gordon as an F1 superstar. It actually could have happened, seven years ago, Gordon admitted recently. Had it happened, what might F1 be like now? More profoundly for the U.S. and its entire sports scenario, what might NASCAR be like?” (ORLANDO SENTINEL).
The MIAMI HERALD’s Michelle Kaufman writes of Art Alvarez, who is paid by Nike to cover the costs of a South Florida AAU team, “He is part of a trend – some say a disturbing trend – that is shifting influence from high school coaches and parents to unregulated club coaches who act as de facto agents and are partly funded by feuding sneaker giants eager to brand players” (MIAMI HERALD).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports: Name the last year in which one horse did not win two legs of the Triple Crown.
IN OTHER NEWS…
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Viacom Chair & CEO Sumner Redstone has “received the green light from the Federal Trade Commission to buy a majority stake in video game firm Midway Games,” according to a filing with the SEC (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 5/10).
DAILY VARIETY reports that a rumor that Mel Gibson “may be involved with a group looking to engineer a takeover of the Walt Disney Co. continued to gather steam over the weekend.” While Gibson’s representatives had no comment, Gibson “would be asked to kick in a few hundred million” in this scenario (DAILY VARIETY, 5/10).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books for the week ending May 9 (NYTIMES.com, 5/10):
| THIS WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | PLAN OF ATTACK, Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster) |
| 2) | EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES, Lynne Truss (Gotham) |
| 3) | THREE WEEKS WITH MY BROTHER, Nicholas & Micah Sparks (Warner) |
| 4) | AGAINST ALL ENEMIES, Richard Clarke (Free Press) |
| 5) | ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Ron Chernow (Penguin Press) |
| 6) | WORSE THAN WATERGATE, John Dean (Little, Brown) |
| 7) | FOUNDING MOTHERS, Cokie Roberts (Morrow) |
| 8) | ON THE DOWN LOW, J.L. King with Karen Hunter (Broadway) |
| 9) | BELLY LAUGHS, Jenny McCarthy (Da Capo/Lifelong) |
| 10) | CADDY FOR LIFE, John Feinstein (Little, Brown) |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
2000 – Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby, but finished second in the Preakness to Red Bullet. Neither horse entered the Belmont Stakes, won by Commendable.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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