| • | MTA BOD Today Unanimously Approves Jets’ Bid For West Side Railyards |
| • | DHL Today Announces Three-Year Sponsorship Deal With MLB, MLBAM |
| • | Red Sox Today Ink Two-Year Sponsorship Deal With Party Supply Store |
| • | Affinity Club Network, MLBPA Today Unveil Players Choice Platinum Club |
| • | South Korea Today Officially Launches 2014 Olympics Bid For Pyeongchang |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/Closing Stat |
MTA UNANIMOUSLY APPROVES JETS’ BID FOR WEST SIDE RAILYARDS
The AP reports the Metropolitan Transportation Authority BOD today unanimously selected the Jets’ $720M bid for the rights to build a stadium over the West Side railyards, rejecting competing proposals from Cablevision and TransGas Energy Systems. The plan “still requires approval by the Empire State Development Corporation, which has already stated its support, and the Public Authorities Control Board.” Cablevision reps declined to comment, though the company is “expected to mount a legal challenge to the MTA vote” (AP, 3/31).
The N.Y. TIMES reports three non-voting members of the BOD spoke out against the Jets’ proposal and said that they “would vote to oppose it if they could” (NYTIMES.com, 3/31).
DHL INKS THREE-YEAR SPONSORSHIP DEAL WITH MLB, MLBAM
MLB, MLBAM and DHL today announced a three-year sponsorship deal making DHL the official express delivery and logistics provider of both organizations. The agreement also includes two new MLB-sanctioned awards, “DHL Presents the MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award” and “DHL Presents the MLB Delivery Man of the Year Award.” The awards will recognize outstanding relief pitchers and will be supported by monthly ads in USA Today. HOFer Dennis Eckersley will serve as DHL’s spokesperson for the awards’ announcements. DHL’s first ad supporting its MLB affiliation breaks next week and features Red Sox CF Johnny Damon (MLB).
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| DHL Becomes Official Express Delivery And Logistics Provider Of MLB |
RED SOX SIGN TWO-YEAR SPONSORSHIP DEAL WITH PARTY SUPPLY STORE
The Red Sox and iParty today announced a two-year sponsorship agreement under which iParty will become the team’s official party supply store. The retailer also becomes presenting sponsor of the Red Sox’ Fenway Park Birthday Program. As part of the agreement, iParty will run Red Sox-related promotions in its stores and will construct an iParty Zone at designated home games. All promotions will be supported by announcements on Red Sox TV and radio broadcasts (iParty).
MLBPA-LICENSED PLAYERS CHOICE PLATINUM CLUB UNVEILED
Affinity Club Network and the MLBPA today unveiled the Players Choice Platinum Club, an officially-licensed, members-only affinity program. For dues of $19.95 per month, members receive invitations to player parties and events, free autographs, special prices on merchandise and ticket discounts, among other things (Players Choice Platinum Club).
DISNEY’S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS TO HOST ’05 GREAT OUTDOOR GAMES
ESPN Outdoors and Disney Sports Attractions officials today announced that the ’05 Great Outdoor Games will be staged July 7-10 at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. The net will air the event July 13-17 on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports (Disney).
BUZZER BEATERS
South Korea today “officially launched its latest bid for the Winter Olympics” with a Pyeongchang 2014 BOD meeting in Seoul. South Korea joins Salzburg, Austria, and Ostersund, Sweden, as candidates for the Games (AROUNDTHERINGS.com, 3/31).
USL Rochester Rhinos Owner Frank DuRoss this week met with New York state leaders in hopes of “securing up to an additional $9[M] in state funding” to upgrade PAETEC Park, which is still under construction, with a permanent press box, locker rooms, 3,000 new seats and a video replay system on the scoreboard (ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 3/31).
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| Roddick Pitching Training Device |
Andy Roddick today signed on to endorse Pro Performance Sports’ Hit-A-Way Tennis training device (Pro Performance Sports).
Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association today settled the disagreement over the distribution of revenues generated by some sponsored races, ending a lawsuit filed by the HBPA in November ’04 (Churchill Downs).
ESPN has signed Sal Paolantonio to a four-year contract extension, through the ‘09 NFL season (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/31).
The Falcons and Colts will play in the August 6 American Bowl in Tokyo. ESPN will televise the game (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 3/31).
The Canadian Media Guild has filed a grievance on behalf of former CBC sports announcer Chris Cuthbert, “who was suddenly terminated in February for reasons that aren’t clear.” The union says that Cuthbert “is entitled to at least a year’s severance,” which would be about C$350,000 (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/31).
NOW HEAR THIS
The following are notable quotes from today’s news:
With the NFL suggesting that it will attempt to strengthen its drug-testing policy amid reports that the U.S. House Government Reform Committee is considering a hearing on steroid use in the NFL, Raiders FB Rob Konrad, a former player rep for the Dolphins, said of the current policy, “It’s already the most comprehensive testing in professional sports. If you’re doing steroids now, you’ve got some kind of death wish” (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/31). Read the full story.
While Game Plan and Bain Capital in March were rebuffed in an attempt to purchase the NHL for $3.5B, Game Plan Chair Robert Caporale said of the companies receiving overtures from some team owners who are interested in the proposal, “We haven’t reached out to them, but some have reached out to us. They said that they were interested in our presentation and hoped there would be further discussion” (BOSTON HERALD, 3/31). Read the full story.
With MLBAM planning to broadcast live video coverage of entire games to mobile phone users and also alert them about team and individual highlights, MLBAM Senior VP/Communications Jim Gallagher said, “Over the next few years, it’s possible more people will be getting our content by cellphone than PCs” (USA TODAY, 3/31). Read the full story.
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
ESPN Exec VP/Programming & Production Mark Shapiro will be honored by UJA-Federation of N.Y.’s Entertainment, Media & Communications Division at The Play by Play Restaurant at MSG. ESPN’s Stuart Scott will host the event (N.Y. POST, 3/21).
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN2 will air girl’s high school basketball: ’05 McDonald’s All-American Game at 5:00pm ET.
ESPN will air NIT basketball final: St. Joseph’s-South Carolina at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air the NASDAQ-100 Open: Andre Agassi-Taylor Dent at 7:00pm ET.
TNT will air Cavaliers-Bulls at 8:00pm ET and T’Wolves-Lakers at 10:30pm.
ESPN will air the “College Basketball Slam Dunk and 3-Point Championships” at 9:00pm ET.
E! Network will air “E! Hollywood Hold ‘Em” at 10:00pm ET.
ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” will examine the story of former Univ. of California basketball coach Todd Bozeman at 11:58pm ET.
Iditarod racer Rachel Scdoris will appear on CBS’ “Late Late Show.”
Ravens CB Deion Sanders and Twins CF Torii Hunter will appear on “BDSSP.”
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Denzel Washington |
| “The Tonight Show” | Jimmy Fallon |
| “The Late Late Show” | Bernie Mac |
| “Late Night” | Penelope Cruz |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | William Shatner (r) |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The Baltimore SUN’s Peter Schmuck writes of the U.S. Army showing interest in the naming rights to RFK Stadium’s baseball field, “The idea of the Department of Defense shelling out more than a million bucks a year to advertise something that already has fairly universal recognition seems a bit ridiculous. … Does anyone really think an Army tie-in would have the desired effect? The military is attempting to raise its profile with the 18-to-25 set, but I can’t see a bunch of Georgetown students showing up to see the Nats play the Phillies and saying, ‘What the heck, the Middle East is nice this time of year’” (Baltimore SUN).
See the Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
THE CLOSING STAT: MOST VISITED SEARCH ENGINES
The following lists January’s most visited search engines (Nielsen//NetRatings).
| TOP USED SEARCH ENGINES (IN JANUARY) |
| RK | SEARCH ENGINE | VISITORS |
| 1) | Google | 1,900,000 |
| 2) | Yahoo | 868,000 |
| 3) | MSN | 523,000 |
| 4) | AOL | 194,000 |
| 5) | Netscape | 75,000 |
| 6) | Ask Jeeves | 73,000 |
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