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Closing Bell

Closing Bell, May 11, 2004

The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
4:00pm ET

24 Hour Fitness Today Announces Partnerships With 16 U.S. Olympic Hopefuls

NHLPA Asked To Investigate Agent For Making Payments To Top Prospect

Mariners, Verizon Wireless Today Announce Two-Year Sponsorship Agreement

Maple Leafs Ink Seven-Year Deal With Corus Entertainment For Radio Flagship

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty To Serve As KSTP-ABC Sports Anchor Tonight

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


24 HOUR FITNESS INKS JENNIE FINCH, RULON GARDNER, OTHER HOPEFULS

24Hour Fitness today announced partnerships with 16 U.S. athletes hoping to be inmedal contention at the Athens Olympics. The athletes – “Team 24 Hour Fitness” – will participate in 24 HourFitness advertising, publications, marketing and promotional materials, as wellas make personal appearances.  Theathletes are Brian Olson (judo); Jennie Finch (softball); JasonLezak, Erik Vendt and Lindsay Benko (swimming); AllenJohnson, Deon Minor, Torri Edwards and Suzy Powell(track & field); Shane Hamman and Tara Nott Cunningham(weightlifting); Kimberly Bruckner (cycling); Barb Lindquist (triathlon);Melvin Douglas, Rulon Gardner and Kerry McKoy (wrestling)(24 Hour Fitness).


NHLPA ASKED TO INVESTIGATE PLAYER AGENT JAY GROSSMAN

THEHOCKEY NEWS reports that the NHLPA is “being asked toinvestigate player agent Jay Grossman for allegedly making cash paymentsto a top draft prospect [Evgeni Malkin] and his family.”  The family no longer wants the reported$50,000 payment and has asked NHLPA Exec Dir Bob Goodenow “how they canreturn it.”  Malkin was an IMG clientuntil January, at “which time he switched to Grossman’s PuckAgency LLC, adivision of SFX Sports Group.”  Malkinis back with IMG (THEHOCKEY NEWS, 5/11).


MARINERS, VERIZON WIRELESS SIGN TWO-YEAR SPONSORSHIP DEAL

TheMariners and Verizon Wireless today announced a two-year sponsorship agreement,which includes signage on the centerfield scoreboard at Safeco Field.  Also included in the deal, which carries athird-year option, is entitlement of an interactive trivia game and a program toraise awareness for domestic violence prevention (Mariners).


MOJO-AM TO REMAIN LEAFS’ RADIO FLAGSHIP FOR SEVEN YEARS

TheMaple Leafs today announced that they have signed a seven-year deal with CorusEntertainment, under which MOJO-AM will continue as the exclusive radiobroadcaster of the team’s games.  MOJOhas been the radio home of the Maple Leafs for the past eight seasons.  Terms of the renewal were not disclosed (MapleLeafs).


BUZZER BEATERS

As firstreported in The Daily, MLS today officially named former NFL exec DougQuinn as MLS Exec VP & SUM Enterprises President (MLS).

Niketoday announced that it will open a new 1,450-square-feet store in PortlandInt’l Airport in July (Nike).

Kroenke Sports Enterprises, owner of the soon-to-be-launched Altitude Sports & Entertainment RSN featuring the Avalanche, Nuggets, and NLL Mammoth, today selected ABC Regional Sports Sales, a division of ABC National TV Sales, as the network’s exclusive national sales representative (KSE).

TheFLORIDA TIMES-UNION reports that the ATP Headquarters in Ponte Vedra, FL,“has been selected to host Taste of the NFL during Super Bowl week in February”(FLORIDATIMES-UNION, 5/11).

TheEmerald Bowl today announced that it will be played December 30 at 1:30pm PT atSBC Park.  ESPN2 will televise the game,which was previously known as the Diamond Walnut S.F. Bowl and was played onDecember 31 (Emerald Bowl).

TheAlbany TIMES-UNION reports that the Nets and Celtics will play an October 16exhibition game at Pepsi Arena in Albany. It will be the 16th NBA exhibition game at the arena since itopened in ’90 as Knickerbocker Arena (AlbanyTIMES-UNION, 5/11).

TheUSTA today announced the ’03 USTA Media Excellence Award winners (USTA):

Category Winner Outlet
Print James Beck Charleston Post & Courier
Broadcast Ron Cioffi, Matt Cronin Tennisreporters.net
Multicultural Media Tracy Allen The Call

TONIGHT’S EVENTS

MinnesotaGov. Tim Pawlenty will serve as acelebrity sports anchor on KSTP-ABC, as sports anchor Joe Schmit is inSacramento for the T’Wolves series. Schmit: “We’ll probably give him some Twins highlights and a hockeyplayoff, [but not a] pulpit to talk about the stadium” (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 5/11).

HornetsOwner George Shinn will donate diapers, bottles and other essentials toall babies born today at the Medical Center of Louisiana’s University Hospitalto celebrate his own birthday (Hornets).


CHANNEL SURFING

TNTwill air the NBA playoffs: Pistons-Nets Game Four at 8:00pm ET and Spurs-LakersGame Four at 10:30pm.

ESPNwill air the NHL Western Conference Finals: Flames-Sharks Game Two at9:00pm ET.

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

ProFootball HOFer Jim Kelly, Raptors G Jalen Rose, Giants QB &“The Bachelor” Jesse Palmer, U.S. soccer player Heather Mitts,Dolphins QB A.J. Feeley and Heat G Dwyane Wade are scheduled toappear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

Cubsradio broadcaster Ron Santo and his son, filmmaker Jeff Santo,will appear on CNBC’s “Dennis Miller” at 9:00pm ET.

NBAHOFer Bill Russell will appear on CBS’ “The Late Late Show” at 12:35am ET.

A&E’s“Biography” will profile Wayne Newton at 8:00pm ET.

E!’s “True Hollywood Story”will profile Laci Peterson at 8:00pm ET.


HEADLINERS

Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

“Late Show” David Hyde Pierce
“The Tonight Show” Pamela Anderson
“The Late Late Show” Guy Pearce
“Late Night” Eric Bana
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” Shannon Elizabeth

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

TheToronto GLOBE & MAIL’s Stephen Brunt writes of the Athens Olympics, “The[IOC] today finds itself in one of the worstpredicaments of its long, cynical history, because itdecided to follow its best, most romantic instincts.  How else to explain the choice to put the 2004 Summer Games inAthens, a decision that long ago seemed wrong-headed and today looks almostcertainly disastrous?” (Toronto GLOBE& MAIL).

Univ. of Central Florida Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport DirRichardLapchickwrites on ESPN.com, “Last year, a story in The Village Voice said what manyother publications have only implied when it published a provocative pieceabout the NBA’s pursuit of international stars.  The story indicated that the globalization push is about findingwhite players to appeal to white fans and corporatesponsors to make more money.  While Iunderstand the perception, I strongly disagree” (ESPN.com).

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


TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports& Entertainment: What was the name of the filly that ultimately caused Tony Soprano tokill Ralph Cifaretto during HBO’s “The Sopranos” last season?


IN OTHER NEWS……

TheLondon GUARDIAN cites an NOP World study that shows “declining respect forAmerican cultural values exacerbated by the crisis in Iraq is having apotentially disastrous effect on the image of US brands such as McDonald’s,Coca-Cola, Nike and Microsoft.”  Thestudy found that the number of non-American consumers who “trust” Coca-Cola hadfallen from 55% to 52%, while McDonald’s had slipped from 36% to 33%, Nike from56% to 53% and Microsoft from 45% to 39%. The NOP annual study covers 30,000 people in markets around the world (LondonGUARDIAN, 5/11).

ADAGE.comreports that Montreal ad agency Groupaction President Jean Brault and ChuckGuité, the retired government official who managed the Canadian federalgovernment’s sponsorship program from ’97-99, were “arrested by the RoyalCanadian Mounted Police and arraigned on five counts each of fraud and onecount each of conspiracy to commit fraud.” The men, who are charged with defrauding the government of nearly C$2M,pleaded not guilty and were released on bail (ADAGE.com, 5/11).


THE DAILY STAT: TOP SPORTS SITES FORWEEK ENDING APRIL 25

Thefollowing are the top five sports Web sites ranked according to home uniqueaudience for the week ending April 25, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Unique Audience = the number of persons in thousands accessing the site ornetwork, with each counted only once.  Average time spent = the averageamount of time a visitor has spent at that property for the week.  Thisdata is based on 37,000 U.S. home users with Internet access (Nielsen//NetRatings).

RK
BRAND OR CHANNEL
UNIQUE AUD.
AVG. TIME SPENT (HH:MM:SS)
1)
ESPN
4,824
0:22:43
2)
Yahoo! Sports
2,949
0:23:53
3)
eBay Sports
2,423
0:09:22
4)
NFL Internet Network
2,342
0:15:51
5)
MLB.com
2,017
0:17:42

…TODAY’S ANSWER

Pie-O-My

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

The Closing Bell providesan afternoon recap of the latest news and headlines each Monday through Fridayat approximately 4:00pm ET. If you would like to sign up for an e-mail alert tothe Closing Bell, go to MyAccount and personalize your e-mail alert options.

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