| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Thursday, July 29, 2004
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Alex Rodriguez Today Becomes First Endorser For Topps’ Baseball Card Line |
| • | The Home Depot To Break Ads During NBC’s Coverage Of Opening Ceremonies |
| • | NHL Panthers’ Single-Game Ticket Prices Stay Flat Or Decrease For ’04-05 |
| • | ChampionsWorld Series Tonight To Play First Soccer Match At Heinz Field |
| • | Bill France Jr. Among Inductees Tonight At Motorsports HOF Of America |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
Today is our final Closing Bell for the week. We will return on Monday.
TOPPS GAINS EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS IN A-ROD ENDORSEMENT DEAL
The Topps Co. today signed Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez to an endorsement deal, making him the first official endorser for the company’s baseball card line. The deal grants Topps exclusive rights for autographed cards, game-used memorabilia cards and use of Rodriguez’ image on packaging and advertising (Topps).
THE HOME DEPOT TO BREAK SPOT DURING OPENING CEREMONIES
The Home Depot today announced that it will debut an Olympic-themed spot, “The Moment,” during NBC’s coverage of the Athens Olympics Opening Ceremonies on August 13. The spot will stay in rotation throughout the Games in 30- and 60-second versions. The ad, which features The Home Depot store associates and U.S. Olympians Tara Nott-Cunningham and Steven Lopez, concludes with the tagline, “The moment you tell yourself you can do it. You can.” Additionally, the company announced that a record 71 associates have qualified to compete in the Games (The Home Depot).
NHL PANTHERS LOWER 9,000 SINGLE-GAME TICKET PRICES
The NHL Panthers today announced single-game and mini-plan ticket prices for the ’04-05 season. The club will not increase any single-game ticket pricing, and 9,000 Office Depot Center seats will decrease in price. Premium Lower Bowl End Zone seats dropped from $90 to $80, while Lower Bowl End Zone Shoot Twice seats dropped from $70 to $60 and Upper Bowl Goal Zone seats dropped from $25 to $20. The club also will make available upper bowl game day tickets for $8 (Panthers).
CHAMPIONSWORLD THE FIRST TO PLAY SOCCER AT HEINZ FIELD
The ChampionsWorld Series continues tonight with Chelsea-AS Roma at Heinz Field, and the Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW noted that it is the “first soccer match at the [stadium], but it promises to be the largest soccer crowd in Pittsburgh history. Even lagging ticket sales – organizers estimate 25,000-30,000 have been sold – hasn’t quashed their enthusiasm” for the match. Heinz Field Exec Dir Jimmy Sacco: “From talking to other cities hosting games, there’s been a tremendous walk-up” (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 7/28).
BUZZER BEATERS
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig appeared in the booth during WGN’s broadcast of Cubs-Brewers this afternoon and said of the league’s attendance, “We went over the 45 million mark yesterday, and tomorrow we’ll go over the 46 million mark. We’re on a record pace. We are doing numbers that nobody ever dreamed about. It’s amazing” (“Cubs-Brewers,” WGN, 7/29).
The NFL Giants today signed first-overall draft pick Eli Manning to a six-year, $54M deal, which includes a $20M signing bonus. The following details the length, value and signing bonus of the previous five No. 1 picks in the NFL Draft (THE DAILY).
| YEAR | PLAYER | TEAM | TERMS | SIGNING BONUS |
| 2003 | Carson Palmer | Bengals | 6 years/$49M | $10.01M |
| 2002 | David Carr | Texans | 7 years/$58M | $10.9M |
| 2001 | Michael Vick | Falcons | 6 years/$62M | $11M |
| 2000 | Courtney Brown | Browns | 6 years/$45M | $10.9M |
| 1999 | Tim Couch | Browns | 7 years/$48M | $12.25M |
MLS today unveiled the official commemorative painting, “Legacy,” of the ’04 Sierra Mist All-Star Game, which will be featured on select All-Star collateral including the cover of the game program. Artist Gary Kelley created the piece (MLS).
Russell Corp. today reported Q2 ’04 earnings of $7.4M, up 10% from the $6.7M earned in the same period a year earlier. Net sales for the quarter reached $289.8M, an 8% increase over Q2 ’03 (Russell).
The Information Display & Entertainment Association gave the Blue Jackets a Golden Matrix Award for Best In-Game Video Features during its annual conference earlier this month (Blue Jackets).
Best Buy today launched a fantasy football game on its Web site, giving users a chance to win more than $20,000 worth of its products each week. Fanball.com designed the game (Best Buy).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
The Motorsports HOF of America will induct Bill France Jr., Bobby Rahal and Joe Amato, among others, at an 8:00pm ET ceremony at the State Theatre in Detroit.
The Indians will host an exhibit of Giancarlo Calicchia’s sculptures at the Market Pavilion behind the center-field fence at Jacobs Field from 5:00-9:00pm ET. Tickets are $100 each, Calicchia’s work will be for sale, and proceeds benefit the Littlest Heroes Foundation (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/26).
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN2 will air “The Sports Reporters Primetime” at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air early-round coverage of the Tennis Masters Canada at 7:30pm ET.
Yankees RF Gary Sheffield, former NFLer Roger Craig and E!’s Melissa Rivers will appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
Actors Michael Badalucco, Steve Harris, Kathy Najimy and Mimi Rogers and chef Bobby Flay will appear on Bravo’s “Celebrity Poker Showdown” at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air WNBA Sparks-Monarchs at 10:00pm ET.
Former MLBer and Mets TV analyst Keith Hernandez will appear on CBNC’s “McEnroe” at 10:00pm ET.
IRL driver Sam Hornish Jr. will appear on Speed Channel’s “Wind Tunnel” at 10:00pm ET.
A’s 3B Eric Chavez will appear on ESPN’s “Jim Rome is Burning” at midnight ET.
ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” will examine Mike Tyson’s return to the ring at midnight ET.
E!’s “True Hollywood Story” will profile Bill Clinton at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Natalie Portman |
| “The Tonight Show” | Michael Moore |
| “The Late Late Show” | Ashanti |
| “Late Night” | Brad Pitt |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Beau Bridges |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER’s Paul Daugherty writes of the NFL/Bengals/Hamilton County lawsuits, “It isn't the Bengals' fault the county's bargainers gave away the riverfront to the worst team in football. But as it turns out, ignorance is a defense. As the county's hired-gun lawyer Stan Chesley put it, ‘If somebody uses their monopoly power for antitrust purposes, that's illegal no matter how soft the county was.’ What the NFL does might not be illegal. But it is a sweet deal the league and its owner-barons have going. Teams seeking new stadia plead poverty” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER).
The Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL’s Ken Hornack writes of ESPN’s sports and music feature airing this week on “SportsCenter,” “It’s the latest attempt by the network … to become more and more like MTV in getting further and further away from what made it popular in the first place. The game shows. The egregious promotions. (Do we really need to have a countdown clock to how many hours and minutes it is until the World Series of Poker?) The smarmy anchors who think they're funny but aren't” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports Business: Where did Ricky Williams rank in jersey sales on NFLShop.com for the most recently reviewed period, April 1-June 30?
IN OTHER NEWS……
DAILY VARIETY notes that Westwood One “bucked worries about an advertising slowdown” in Q2 ’04, reporting an 8% increase in national ad revenue and a 3% jump for local and regional ads (DAILY VARIETY, 7/29).
THE DAILY STAT: TOP DVD SELLERS AND RENTALS
The following represents the top ten DVDs for the week ending July 18 according to rentals and sales figures from Rentrak Home Video Essentials (VIDEOBUSINESS.com, 7/29):
| RK | TOP DVD SELLERS | RK | TOP DVD RENTALS |
| 1) | The Butterfly Effect | 1) | The Butterfly Effect |
| 2) | The Bourne Identity | 2) | Cold Mountain |
| 3) | Never Die Alone | 3) | Secret Window |
| 4) | Agent Cody Banks 2 | 4) | 50 First Dates |
| 5) | Barbershop 2 | 5) | Never Die Alone |
| 6) | Bad Santa | 6) | Mystic River |
| 7) | Cold Mountain | 7) | Bad Santa |
| 8) | The Dreamers | 8) | Agent Cody Banks 2 |
| 9) | The Manchurian Candidate | 9) | Along Came Polly |
| 10) | Against The Ropes | 10) | Against The Ropes |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
Ricky Williams placed eighth on the jersey sales list for the April 1-June 30 period. The Dolphins, meanwhile, were tenth in terms of total licensed merchandise sales for the year April 1, 2003-March 31, 2004. Eagles WR Terrell Owens had the top-selling jersey.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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