| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday, August 3, 2004
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Papa John’s Today Becomes Official Pizza Of The Cowboys Under Joint Venture |
| • | SportsLine Again Sees Narrower Losses As Company Reports Q2 Figures Today |
| • | Deal With Nokia Today Secures Another Wireless Outlet For MLB’s Content |
| • | Industry Source Rebuffs Market Talk Of adidas Eyeing Reebok Acquisition |
| • | N.Y.-Area Time Warner Cable Subscribers Unlikely To See Mets’ Game Tonight |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
PAPA JOHN’S BECOMES OFFICIALPIZZA OF THE COWBOYS
Papa John’s today became the official pizza of the Cowboys and a TexasStadium sponsor under a joint venture with Blue & Silver Ventures, anentity of Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. Aspart of the deal, which covers 71 Papa John’s restaurants across Texas, the pizza companyreceives signage at the stadium, use of the Cowboys logo on staff uniforms anddelivery vehicles and Cowboys game-day activities (Papa John’s).
SPORTSLINE CONTINUESNARROWING LOSSES AS Q2 FIGURES CLIMB
SportsLine.comtoday reported a net loss of $10M for Q2 ‘04, an improvement of 25% comparedwith a loss of $13.3M in the same year ago period. Revenue for the quarter was $10.6M, up 19.7%from $8.8M. For the first six months ofthe year, SportsLine experienced a net loss of $18.4M, a 20.4% improvementcompared with a loss of $23.1M in the first six months of ’03. Revenue for the first six months of the yearwas $22.9M, up 10% from $20.1M (SportsLine.com).
NOKIA DEAL PUTS MLB CONTENTON ANOTHER WIRELESS PROVIDER
Nokiatoday announced a partnership with MLBAM providing Nokia Sports subscribersaccess to audio broadcasts of MLB games, daily video highlight packages, gameimages, league news and statistics. Theservice, available now on the Nokia 6600 for $7.99 per month, will soon beavailable on the 6620 model (Nokia).
THE FOOTBALLNETWORK GAINS $30M INVESTMENT FROM CORNELL
The BATON ROUGE BUSINESSREPORT notes that New Jersey-based Cornell Capital has agreed to purchase $30M instock of The Football Network so that the net “can raise capital.” The deal is “predicated on TFN’s existingbusiness plan and does not require any changes or performance benchmarks.” TFN will not receive any of the funding untilit registers with the SEC, and TFN CEO JerrySolomon said that this process “may take until the end of 2004.” Solomon added that the net will not be ableto “rehire its staff or get back on the air until after that” (BATONROUGE BUSINESS REPORT, 8/3).
EVERLAST INKS LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH “THE CONTENDER”
EverlastWorldwide today officially announced a licensing agreement with ContenderPartners, making Everlast the exclusive supplier of equipment, active wear,T-shirts and shoes for NBC’s “The Contender.” Additionally, Everlast will unveil a “Contender” campaign for a line ofproducts to be sold exclusively at Foot Locker (Everlast Worldwide).
NFL HOLDING EDUCATIONAL EVENT TONIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD
TheL.A. Sports & Entertainment Commission will host the NFL’s annualeducational event, NFL 101 and 201, tonight at Hollywood& Highlandfrom 5:00-9:00pm PT. ESPN’s Andrea Kremer will emcee, and RaidersCEO Amy Trask will present “Women inthe NFL.” Other speakers include 49ersconsultant Bill Walsh, ESPN’s Sean Salisbury, NFL Network analyst Lincoln Kennedy, Steinberg, Tollner& Moon VP/Player Development WarrenMoon, author Jennifer Allen and Tom Arnold (NFL).
BUZZER BEATERS
A sporting goods industrysource today said that adidas “is not planning to buy” Reebok despite “markettalk that a bid was pending” (REUTERS,8/3).
With no talks planned,N.Y.-area Time Warner Cable customers “probably won’t see” tonight’s Mets-Brewersgame, which was scheduled for MSG (N.Y.DAILY NEWS, 8/3).
Tuscaloosa Circuit CourtJudge Scott Donaldson yesterdaydismissed former Alabama football player KennySmith’s $40M civil suit against the NCAA, Univ. of Tennessee football coachPhillip Fulmer and others (MONTGOMERYADVERTISER, 8/3).
O’Neill has signed athree-year title sponsorship for the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown ofSurfing. Now called the O’Neill WorldCup of Surfing, the event will be held at SunsetBeach in Oahu, Hawaii(Vans).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
ThePatriots will host their first in-stadium practice of the season forseason-ticket holders at 6:00pm ET at Gillette Stadium.
CHANNELSURFING
ESPN2 will air early-roundcoverage of the ATP Western & Southern Financial Group Masters at 7:30pmET.
As part of its ongoing ESPN25programming, ESPN will air “Who’s No. 1: Greatest Records” at 7:00pm ET and“The Headlines: No. 6” at 8:00pm.
ESPN Classic’s“SportsCentury” will profile Greg Louganisat 8:00pm ET.
Football HOFer John Elway, golfer Hal Sutton, Fox’ James Brownand actor Angie Everhart will appearon FSN’s “BDSSP.”
PBSwill air “The Real Olympics,” an exploration of the contrast between realityand myths of the ancient Olympic Games, at 9:00pm ET.
Skateboarder Andy MacDonald will appear on CNBC’s“Dennis Miller” at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN will air the WorldSeries of Poker: Pot Limit Hold ‘Em at 9:00pm ET and Razz at 10:00pm.
John Elway will appear onCBS’ “The Late Late Show” at 12:35am ET.
A&E’s “Biography” willprofile Carmen Electra at 8:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Bill Clinton |
| “The Tonight Show” | Dennis Miller |
| “The Late Late Show” | John Elway |
| “Late Night” | Natalie Portman |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Jamie Foxx (r) |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The HARTFORD COURANT’s MikeAnthony writes of the August 23-29 Buick Championship, “By the time thechampion hoists the trophy, the fans will have spent nearly a week wanderingthrough endless evidence of how inexorablylinked Connecticut’sPGA Tour event is to its new title sponsor” (HARTFORD COURANT).
- Profile of U.S. Olympic taekwondo competitor Steven Lopez.
- New technology aids athletes in preparation for Athens Games.
- Gifts to Univ. of Georgia athletics plunge as overall donations surge.
- Author contends that a tough union helps owners confront their problems.
SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles ofInterest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports& Entertainment: Who played Flip, the homeless man who bragged of his basketballexploits, in the ’94 film “Above the Rim?”
IN OTHERNEWS……
TheN.Y. TIMES reports that Forbes.com has “begun placing links to ads in its newsstories” as part of S.F.-based Vibrant Media’s IntelliTxt system. Of the approximately 200 online publishersusing the system, Forbes.com is “perhaps the most prominent and the mostidentified with news coverage” (N.Y. TIMES,8/3).
REUTERSreports that Fitness Publications, which is owned by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, has settled alawsuit against Ohio Discount Merchandise, under which the company will “stopselling its bobbing-head figures depicting an armed Schwarzenegger” (REUTERS,8/3).
THE DAILY STAT: TOP VIDEO GAME SALES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF ‘04
According to NPD Group, EASports’ “MVP Baseball 2004” for Sony’s PlayStation 2 led all video game titleswith 664,000 units moved in the first six months of ’04. The following represents the top ten titlesfor the first six months of ’04 (N.Y.TIMES, 8/2):
| TITLE | PLATFORM | PUBLISHER | SALES |
| MVP Baseball 2004 | PlayStation 2 | EA Sports | 664,000 |
| NFL Street | PlayStation 2 | EA Sports | 624,000 |
| Pokemon Colosseum | GameCube | Nintendo | 601,000 |
| Fight Night 2004 | PlayStation 2 | EA Sports | 582,000 |
| Halo | Xbox | Microsoft | 525,000 |
| Need For Speed: Underground | PlayStation 2 | EA Sports | 500,000 |
| Ninja Garden | Xbox | Tecmo | 467,000 |
| NBA Ballers | PlayStation 2 | Midway | 439,000 |
| Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow | Xbox | Ubisoft | 433,000 |
| Sonic Heroes | PlayStation 2 | Sega | 400,000 |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
Bernie Mac
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dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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