| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Tuesday, October 5, 2004
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Cigarette Maker Victory Brand Becomes Co-Primary Sponsor Of NASCAR Team |
| • | Dale Earnhardt Jr. Penalized 25 Points, $10,000 For Cursing During Interview |
| • | OSU-Northwestern Telecast Sets College-Football Viewership Mark On ESPN2 |
| • | U.S. Soccer Foundation Announces Three New Sponsorship Deals |
| • | Chargers Owner Alex Spanos Making $10M Donation To CSU, Sacramento |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
CIGARETTE MAKER VICTORY BRAND LLC BACKING NASCAR TEAM
ppc Racing today unveiled a NASCAR Nextel Cup team that will run the five of the final six races on the ’04 schedule and a full schedule beginning next year. Cigarette manufacturer Victory Brand and convenience store chain APlus, the official pit stop of NASCAR, will serve as the team’s primary sponsors. Victory Brand CEO Steve Swick said that Victory Brand will target adult smokers and proactively avoid marketing towards minors. John Andretti will drive the car (ppc Racing).
LITTLE E PENALIZED FOR CURSING DURING POST-RACE INTERVIEW
NASCAR today docked 25 Nextel Cup points from and levied a $10,000 fine on driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. for saying, “It don’t mean shit right now. Daddy won here ten times,” when asked by an NBC reporter immediately after Sunday’s EA Sports 500 what it meant to win at Talladega Superspeedway for the fifth time. The deduction drops Earnhardt to second in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Earnhardt’s team is appealing the deduction and fine (THE DAILY).
OHIO STATE-NORTHWESTERN GAME SETS ESPN2 VIEWERSHIP MARK
ESPN today announced that ESPN2’s telecast of Ohio State-Northwestern on Saturday was the net’s most-viewed college football game ever, averaging 2,028,000 HHs and a 2.3 Nielsen cable rating. The game was also the fifth most-viewed program and second highest-rated college football telecast in the net’s history (ESPN).
U.S. SOCCER FOUNDATION INKS THREE NEW PARTNERSHIPS
The U.S. Soccer Foundation today announced sponsorship deals with Hunter Industries, John Deere and John Deere Landscapes. Hunter Industries becomes the foundation’s official supplier of irrigation equipment, while John Deere becomes the official supplier of maintenance equipment and John Deere Landscapes becomes the official supplier for wholesale nursery, irrigation and landscape supplies. Other Foundation partners include Eurosport, FieldTurf, Kwik Goal, Musco Lighting and TGI Systems (U.S. Soccer Federation).
REEBOK OPENING HOLLYWOOD RBK STORE TO REACH CELEBRITIES
The BOSTON GLOBE reported that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Reebok CEO Paul Fireman tonight will host the grand opening of Reebok’s new Rbk store on North Robertson Blvd. in Hollywood. The company “set the stage for its L.A. opening before it laid a single brick, inviting celebrities from Clint Eastwood to Mary-Kate Olsen to a shoe tent at the Beverly Hills Hotel the night before the Oscars for free Reeboks” (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/3).
BUZZER BEATERS
Beginning today in Vancouver, IIHF President Rene Fasel and IOC Exec Dir Gilbert Felli, among others, “will spend four days going over a range of behind-the-scenes details” for the 2010 Winter Olympics (AROUNDTHERINGS.com, 10/5).
Chargers Owner Alex Spanos will donate $10M to “help bankroll a new arena and recreation center” for California State Univ., Sacramento. The gift is the school’s largest donation ever and “forms the cornerstone of a fundraising campaign aimed at transforming the school to the flagship” of the CSU system (SACRAMENTO BEE, 10/5).
Helinet Aviation Services today announced that it will provide HD aerial shots for nine NBA games on TNT, beginning with the November 2 Rockets-Pistons contest at The Palace of Auburn Hills (Helinet Aviation).
The Suns today announced their broadcast schedule for the upcoming season. KUTP-UPN will air 41 games, while FSN Arizona carries 37 contests (Suns).
The NTRA, Breeders’ Cup Ltd. and Post Time Technologies today announced that nearly 80 races leading up to the October 30 Breeders’ Cup will be available at no charge on www.racereplays.com, www.ntra.com or www.breederscup.com. Additionally, a DVD featuring all of the races is available for $16.99 (NTRA).
Jockey Shane Sellers retired yesterday, “citing the lack of availability of disability insurance for jockeys” (DAILY RACING FORM, 10/5).
Canada Inc. today announced a representation agreement with sports-news Website TheScore.ca, for which Canada Inc. becomes the exclusive ad sales force (Canada Inc.).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
iSold It today began an eBay auction for a 1977 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow with Yankees pinstripes. The car has been signed by more than 150 Yankees including Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Whitey Ford, Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Roger Clemens and Don Mattingly. Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner and former N.Y. Mayor Rudy Guiliani have also signed the car. The opening bid started at $50,000. Vincent Caraccio, the owner of the car, has pledged to donate 40% of the proceeds to The American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund (iSold It).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
Ameriquest’s second airship, the Ameriquest Airship Liberty, will make its first guest appearance above the Twins-Yankees game at Yankee Stadium.
CHANNEL SURFING
Tony Hawk will appear on MTV’s “TRL” at 5:00pm ET.
George Brett will appear on CNBC’s “Bullseye” at 6:00pm ET.
Fox will air ALDS: Twins-Yankees Game One at 8:00pm ET.
Mike Ditka and director Peter Berg will appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
ESPN2 will air WNBA playoffs: Monarchs-Storm Game Three at 10:00pm.
MTV will air “Real World Philadelphia” at 10:00pm ET, with the cast beginning their internships in the AFL Philadelphia Soul’s community relations department.
Mike Ditka will appear on CBS’ “Late Late Show” at 12:35am ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Annette Bening |
| “The Tonight Show” | Dennis Miller |
| “The Late Late Show” | Tom Arnold |
| “Late Night” | Hilary Duff |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Bernie Brillstein |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
In a USA TODAY Sports Cover Story, Mike Dodd writes MLB’s decision in ’93 to “realign its leagues into three divisions and include the team with the next-best record in the playoffs was considered heresy by the purists, particularly because it copied a concept from football, of all things. … Nine postseasons and three wild-card World Series champions later, the concept promoted by Commissioner Bud Selig is almost universally accepted and unquestionably good for business. Witness the capacity or near-capacity crowds in Chicago, Houston and San Diego last week in what would have been otherwise meaningless series” (USA TODAY).
The Newark STAR-LEDGER’s Matthew Futterman writes new YES Network President & CEO Tracy Dolgin’s mission is to “take a business that turns a tidy $100[M] annual profit and see if it can grow while keeping costs down so the network remains lean if its owners change their minds and decide to sell all or part of the business during the next two years.” Dolgin: “Leo Hindery built this car and brought it up to cruising speed at 75 miles per hour. Now we want to take this thing out on the track and see how fast it can really go” (Newark STAR-LEDGER).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports & Entertainment: In which of the following films did Jim Brown not appear?
A) “Three The Hard Way”
B) “Slaughter”
C) “Take A Hard Ride”
D) “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”
E) “Shaft”
IN OTHER NEWS…
The BOSTON HERALD reports that Clear Channel Communications is “trying to minimize the constant commercial interruption that drives many listeners away by asking advertisers to run shorter ads.” The company yesterday unveiled a “Creative Resource Group” to “train ad agencies and local stations to produce ‘engaging and memorable radio ads’ in 30 seconds” (BOSTON HERALD, 10/5).
THE DAILY STAT: TOP DVD SELLERS FOR WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 26
The following lists the highest-selling DVDs for September 20-26 (VideoBusiness):
| RK | MOVIE | DISTRIBUTOR |
| 1) | Star Wars Trilogy | Fox |
| 2) | Mean Girls | Paramount |
| 3) | Man on Fire | Fox |
| 4) | Home on the Range | Buena Vista |
| 5) | The Punisher | Lions Gate |
| 6) | Passion of The Christ | Fox |
| 7) | Scooby-Doo 2 | Warner |
| 8) | The Ladykillers | Buena Vista |
| 9) | The Girl Next Door | Fox |
| 10) | Soul Plane | MGM |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
“Shaft”
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dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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