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Closing Bell

Closing Bell, October 14, 2004

The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
4:00pm ET

Cable Operator RCN Inks Carriage Agreement With NFL Network For N.Y.

Fox Airing MLB Playoff Games Head-To-Head Against Presidential Debate

MLS New England Revolution Roll Back Ticket Prices To 1996 Levels

FedEx Deepens Ties To Joe Gibbs With Primary Sponsorship Of Nextel Cup Car

PGA Tour Today Unveils 2005 Schedule With 48 Official Money Events

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


RCN BECOMES FIRST OPERATOR TO OFFER NFL NETWORK IN N.Y. AREA

Cable operator RCN today announced a carriage agreement with NFL Network and NFL Network On-Demand, which will air on RCN’s digital lineup in Manhattan and Queens. RCN, which has carriage agreements for NFL Network in Boston, Philadelphia and DC, is the first cable operator to offer the net in the N.Y. area (RCN).


NEDERLANDER EXEC DANA WARG NAMED AEG SENIOR VP/FACILITIES

By Don Muret, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Dana Warg confirmed that he has been named AEG Senior VP/Facilities. Warg was most recently Nederlander Entertainment VP/Development & Programming. In that role, Warg helped negotiate an agreement for the T’Wolves to take over management at Target Center in Minneapolis with Nederlander booking non-NBA events in the building.


FOX AIRING BOTH RED SOX-YANKS AND ASTROS-CARDINALS TONIGHT

Fox tonight will broadcast Red Sox-Yankees ALCS Game Two and Astros-Cardinals NLCS Game One at 8:00pm ET, with nearly 80% of the country receiving Red Sox-Yankees. Markets receiving Red Sox-Yankees on Fox will get Astros-Cardinals on FSN, while Red Sox-Yankees will air on FSN in markets where Fox is broadcasting Astros-Cardinals.

The ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH wrote that the “reason the AL rules is simple: ratings. While some Cards fans are grumbling about an East Coast bias or about lack of respect for Midwest teams, the reality is that Fox respects its bottom line” (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/12).

As the games will air head-to-head against the third and final Presidential debate, Fox Sports President Ed Goren offered a suggestion for viewers: “Either go to picture-in-picture or TiVo the debates” (USA TODAY, 10/13).


FEDEX ANNOUNCES SPONSORSHIP OF THIRD JOE GIBBS RACING CAR

FedEx today officially announced that it will serve as the primary sponsor for a third Joe Gibbs Racing entry in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series next year. The sponsorship brings together Redskins coach Joe Gibbs and FedEx, which holds the naming rights to the Redskins’ home stadium, FedEx Field. Jason Leffler will drive the car (FedEx).


MLS REVOLUTION ROLLING BACK TICKET PRICES TO 1996 LEVELS

The MLS New England Revolution today announced that the club will roll back some of their most-expensive ticket memberships for next season to their original prices from ’96, in celebration of the team’s 10th anniversary. Center Circle memberships, which include several amenities and exclusive access credentials, will cost $9, $13.50 or $18.00 per game (Revolution).


WOMEN’S RETAILER LUCY OPENS FIRST PORTLAND-AREA STORE

Women’s activewear retailer lucy today announced the opening of a 1,900-square-foot store in the Pearl District, the company’s first Portland-area store. The company also recently opened a store at The Shops at Mission Viejo in Mission Viejo, California, the second lucy store in Orange County. Additionally, lucy has relaunched its online store to mark its fifth anniversary. The online store was shut down in ’01 (lucy).


FORMER GOLF MAGAZINE EDITOR LAUNCHES GOLF CONNOISSEUR

Former Golf Magazine Editor James Frank and Riggs-Heinrich Media today unveiled a new golf magazine, Golf Connoisseur, which will publish quarterly beginning in December. The magazine will profile PGA Tour players, business executives and celebrities who influence the game. Golf Connoisseur also will examine and showcase golf resorts and will feature lifestyle elements. At launch, the magazine’s circulation will be 235,000 (Golf Connoisseur).



NATIONAL SPORTS MAGAZINES

Sporting News this week features its NBA preview with Lakers G Kobe Bryant and Heat C Shaquille O’Neal with the header, “Ready To Rumble.”

Sports Illustrated this week features an action shot of Patriots QB Tom Brady with the header, “19 Straight: The Patriots Break The Record.”

ESPN The Magazine this week features Eagles QB Donovan McNabb and WR Terrell Owens with the header, “…And On Sundays, They Play Catch.”

Sporting News
Sports Illustrated
ESPN The Magazine

BUZZER BEATERS

The PGA Tour today released its ’05 schedule, with 48 official money events. The schedule begins with the January 3-9 Mercedes Championships and concludes with the October 31-November 6 Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola. View the entire schedule (PGA Tour).

Sportservice today announced a ten-year extension through 2016 of its food service contract with the Lightning for St. Pete Times Forum (Sportservice).

Former Daily Racing Form CEO Charles Hayward is “believed to be the sole candidate” for the vacant NYRA President position (BLOODHORSE.com, 10/12).

Advanced season-pass sales at Vail Resorts are up 26% from this time a year ago, advanced hotel reservations are up more than 7% and airline ‘seats’ into Eagle County Airport near Vail are up 3.5% (DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, 10/13).

ESPN Star Sports has renewed multiyear syndication deals in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar with terrestrial broadcasters Channel 3, BBTV7, VTV-3, TV5, CTN and Myawaddy TV (ESPN Star Sports).


TONIGHT’S EVENTS

Bobcats Owner Bob Johnson will become the first African-American to be inducted into Cable Television Hall of Fame at the Cable Center in Denver. Liberty Media Chair John Malone, who provided $500,000 in backing for BET’s launch in return for a 20% interest, will introduce Johnson at the event (DENVER POST, 10/13).


CHANNEL SURFING

Altitude Sports & Entertainment will air its first AHL Utah Grizzlies telecast at 7:30pm MT, when the team opens the ’04-05 season against the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks.

Fox and FSN will air regional coverage of Red Sox-Yankees ALCS Game Two or Astros-Cardinals NLCS Game One at 8:00pm ET.

ESPN will air West Virginia-UConn college football at 7:30pm ET.

ESPN2 will air the Panama-U.S. men’s World Cup qualifying match at 7:30pm ET. ESPN2 will use Dartfish StroMotion during the broadcast. The technology allows viewers to see an athletes’ movement by compounding video images into a frame-by-frame sequence.

Actor Billy Bob Thornton and comedian Drew Carey will appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”


HEADLINERS

Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

“Late Show”

Jennifer Lopez

“The Tonight Show”

Queen Latifah

“The Late Late Show”

Dennis Franz

“Late Night”

Matt Stone & Trey Parker

“Jimmy Kimmel Live”

Rupert Everett


TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS’ Bernie Lincicome writes of the Pat Tillman decal controversy, “Tillman represents many things to many people, but we are required to understand that he represents more to [Broncos QB Jake] Plummer. The NFL has tried to balance tribute with exploitation, a delicate and losing scheme. The NFL cannot manipulate the memory of Tillman, then put limits on the consequences. It is the NFL that showed Plummer the proper way to commemorate Tillman. The NFL gave Plummer the decal. The NFL then regulated the extent of the honor, one week for outsiders, a whole season for the Arizona Cardinals. And now it wants its uniform back” (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS).

The INDIANAPOLIS STAR writes of the FINA World Swimming Championships, “[Michael] Phelps withdrew because of injury after the first night, after many of the record number of 71,659 tickets had already been sold. But Saturday night's crowd of 11,488 -- the most ever to see a U.S. swimming event outside an Olympics -- came despite Phelps' absence. … The meet benefited from 11 1/2 hours of televised coverage on ESPN2 and a worldwide audience of more than 100 countries. Yet the importance of Phelps cannot be overstated. After he left, only one U.S. newspaper continued to send reporters to the meet on a daily basis” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR).

See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.


TODAY’S TEASER…

Movie Lines: In “Caddyshack,” whose character said the following phrase: “A flute with no holes is not a flute. And, a doughnut with no hole is a Danish.”


THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS

The following lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows for the week of October 4-10 (TV.YAHOO.com, 10/13).

RK

SHOW

NET

DAY

RAT/SHR

HHs (IN MILLIONS)

1)

CSI

CBS

Thu

17.4/26

19.1

2)

Without A Trace

CBS

Thu

13.9/22

15.3

3)

CSI: Miami

CBS

Mon

13.5/22

14.8

4)

Desperate Housewives

ABC

Sun

12.1/18

13.3

5)

Everybody Loves Raymond

CBS

Mon

11.4/17

12.5

6)

Survivor: Vanuatu

CBS

Thu

11.4/18

12.5

7)

ER

NBC

Thu

11.4/18

12.5

8)

MNF: Chiefs-Ravens

ABC

Mon

11.2/19

12.3

9)

CSI: New York

CBS

Wed

11.0/18

12.1

10)

Two And A Half Men

CBS

Mon

10.8/16

11.8


…TODAY’S ANSWER

Chevy Chase’s Ty Webb


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

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