| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, January 24, 2005
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | NTRA Welcomes Grey Goose As Newest Sponsor While Nextel Exits The Fold |
| • | Michelob AmberBock Becomes Official Beer Sponsor Of World Poker Tour |
| • | Michelin Returning As Title Sponsor Of PGA Tour Event In Las Vegas |
| • | Callaway Golf Signs Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn To Clubs And Balls Agreement |
| • | Turned Down For 2010 Games, Salzburg Will Bid For 2014 Winter Olympics |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
NTRA WELCOMES GREY GOOSE, WHILE SAYING GOODBYE TO NEXTEL
Vodka brand Grey Goose today signed a sponsorship deal with the NTRA and the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships. Under the deal, Grey Goose receives signage, hospitality and brand exclusivity at NTRA and Breeders’ Cup events, including tonight’s Eclipse Awards. The Bacardi-owned brand also receives sponsorship rights at several NTRA-member tracks (NTRA).
Meanwhile, SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that at the beginning of the year, Nextel “exercised a clause in [its] contract allowing it out of” its 2 ½-year NTRA sponsorship, which the company signed in ’03 (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/24 issue).
HORSE RACING’S ECLIPSE AWARDS AIRING FOR FIRST TIME ON TVG
The Daily Racing Form will distribute its 34th annual Eclipse Awards tonight at 6:00pm PT at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. For the first time ever, the awards show will be televised, as TVG will air coverage from 7:30-10:30pm. NBC’s “Crossing Jordan” co-star Jerry O’Connell will host. The telecast will include a 90-minute red-carpet segment and a 30-minute wrap-up (THE DAILY).
MICHELIN RETURNING AS TITLE SPONSOR OF SIN CITY PGA TOUR EVENT
The PGA Tour today announced that Michelin North America has extended its title sponsorship of the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas through ’06. This year’s event will be held October 12-16 at the TPC at Summerlin and the TPC at The Canyons, and will offer a $4M purse. Michelin began its title deal with last year’s event (PGA Tour).
THOMAS BJORN THE LATEST TO JOIN CALLAWAY GOLF’S ROSTER
Callaway Golf today signed Danish golfer Thomas Bjorn to a multiyear endorsement contract for golf clubs and balls. Bjorn, who previously played Burrows Golf clubs and Srixon balls, will wear the Callaway Golf logo on his hat and bag. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bjorn also has a footwear deal with Ecco (THE DAILY).
MICHELOB AMBERBOCK BECOMES OFFICIAL BEER SPONSOR OF WPT
Anheuser-Busch’s Michelob AmberBock today announced that it has become the official beer sponsor of the third season of the World Poker Tour, which begins March 2, with AmberBock spots airing on all of the season’s broadcasts. The AmberBock logo will appear on the poker table and on in-show graphics for the “hole card camera.” The winners of each WPT event will celebrate with an AmberBock toast (World Poker Tour).
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that the sponsorship is worth “several million dollars.” AmberBock Brand Manager Paul Simmons: “It fits with an in-bar activity. You’re in a pub, sitting at a bar, having some beers. [Poker] is very intellectual, but you’re having fun, too” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/24 issue).
SUN SPORTS EXTENDS TV RIGHTS AGREEMENT WITH THE SEC
Fox-owned Sun Sports, FSN South and FSN Southwest today inked multiyear extensions of their TV rights agreements with the SEC. The new deals begin with the ’05-06 academic year. Sun Sports’ deal includes live coverage of football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, soccer, softball and volleyball, as well as tape-delayed coverage of select events. The new agreement also includes the continuation of the SEC-TV series, which began airing in ’95 (Sun Sports).
BUZZER BEATERS
Labor talks between the NHL and NHLPA will resume this week, “but the when and where is still unknown” (AP, 1/24).
USA Football today extended the contract of Exec Dir Dave Ogrean through ’08 and named Scott Hallenbeck to the newly-created Assistant Exec Dir post. Hallenbeck joins USA Football from Links Marketing, and was previously Global Sports Marketing Manager for Reebok (USA Football).
New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is negotiating with Nets Owner Bruce Ratner “about including a city school” in Ratner’s development plans for a lower Manhattan project. If Ratner were to build a public school, “he’d gain political capital that could come in handy as he seeks approval for his plan to build a $2.5[B] Nets arena and real estate project in downtown Brooklyn” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/24).
BASS today inked a one-year sponsorship deal with Lilly Icos’ ED drug Cialis, which becomes presenting sponsor of Bassmaster University. Cialis receives signage and an exhibition tent at Bassmaster events. The deal also calls for Cialis to advertise across BASS’ TV, print and Internet platforms (Cialis).
The Austrian Olympic Committee today selected Salzburg to bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Salzburg also bid for the 2010 Games. The only other city officially bidding for the 2014 Games so far is Ostersund/Aare, Sweden (AROUNDTHERINGS.com, 1/24).
NOW HEAR THIS
The following are notable quotes from today’s news:
“Will we be more active? Yes.”
-- Magic President & CEO Bob Vander Weide, who is Magic Owner
Rich DeVos’ son-in-law and will succeed DeVos as owner, on the second
generation’s plans for the team (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/24).
“A woman as glorious-looking as Nicollette Sheridan
throwing herself at John Madden is just funny.”
-- ABC’s “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry, while
acknowledging that the original script for the controversial “MNF”
skit was to feature Sheridan and Madden (USA TODAY, 1/24).
“We were uncomfortable with it.”
-- NFL Dir of Corporate Communications Brian McCarthy, on the league
pulling Los Lonely Boys from the Pepsi Smash Concert Series
leading up to the Super Bowl after the band’s drummer was arrested
for marijuana possession (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 1/22).
“I shook a lot of hands. I got a lot of endorsement deals done.”
-- Shaquille O’Neal, on Donald Trump’s wedding (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/24).
CHANNEL SURFING
Home Shopping Network will feature Super Bowl merchandise at 5:00pm ET.
ESPN will air NCAA basketball: Syracuse-Rutgers at 7:00pm ET, Oklahoma State-Oklahoma at 9:00pm and Colorado State-San Diego State at midnight.
ESPN2 will air women’s NCAA basketball: Duke-UNC at 7:30pm ET.
NBA TV will air Pistons-T’Wolves at 8:00pm ET.
TVG will air the 34th annual Eclipse Awards at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air coverage of the Australian Open at 9:30pm ET.
Mets P Kris Benson's wife Anna will appear on CNBC’s “The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch” at 10:00pm ET.
Giants DE Michael Strahan and Dodgers CF Milton Bradley will appear on “BDSSP.”
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Cate Blanchett (r) |
| “The Tonight Show” | Paris Hilton |
| “The Late Late Show” | Jim Belushi |
| “Late Night” | Drew Barrymore (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Fred Willard (r) |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The N.Y. TIMES’ Christopher Clarey writes of the Australian Open, “The tournament that no Australian man has won since 1976 is thriving as it celebrates its 100th birthday this year, and the latest sign was the crowd of 60,669 that came to the Australian Open on Saturday for the day and night sessions. It was a record for any Grand Slam event. A beer promotion and the concert played a minor role, but the credit really goes to the tennis tournament. The youngest of the four Grand Slams is, in many ways, the most vibrant” (N.Y. TIMES).
See The Daily Insider’s Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
IN OTHER NEWS……
According to a recent Kagan Research study, the number of U.S. satellite and cable subscribers who own at least one HDTV set, have an HD set-top box and are watching HD programming will rise from 1.4 million in ’03 to nearly 94 million by 2015 (Kagan Research).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books for the week ending January 23 (NYTIMES.com, 1/24):
| RK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | WITNESS, Amber Frey (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 2) | BLINK, Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown) |
| 3) | AMERICA, Jon Stewart, David Javerbaum & Ben Karlin (Warner) |
| 4) | COLLAPSE, Jared Diamond (Viking) |
| 5) | HIS EXCELLENCY, Joseph Ellis (Knopf) |
| 6) | WINNING THE FUTURE, Newt Gingrich (Regnery) |
| 7) | EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES, Lynne Truss (Gotham) |
| 8) | WHEN WILL JESUS BRING THE PORK CHOPS?, George Carlin (Hyperion) |
| 9) | CHRONICLES: VOLUME ONE, Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster) |
| 10) | ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION, Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson (Scribner) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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