| • | Security Tightened At The Palace Of Auburn Hills For Pacers-Pistons Series |
| • | Pasadena City Council Tonight To Hold Public Hearing on Rose Bowl EIR |
| • | Reebok Today Announces Title Sponsorship Of Track & Field Meet |
| • | First Of Two NASCAR Pit-Crew Championships To Be Held Tonight |
| • | Rickey Henderson Signs With Golden Baseball League’s San Diego Surf Dawgs |
| • | New Era Announces Exclusive Licensing Agreement With Hockey HOF |
PALACE OF AUBURN HILLS TIGHTENING SECURITY FOR PACERS-PISTONS
 |
| The Palace Beefs Up Security
For Pacers-Pistons Playoff Series |
The DETROIT FREE PRESS reports that in preparation for tonight’s Pacers-Pistons Game One at The Palace Of Auburn Hills, which comes almost six months after the November 19 brawl, surveillance cameras “will monitor the area around the [Pacers] dressing room nonstop” and security guards will be stationed “outside the room the entire day” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 5/9).
N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica said of the series, “This is (NBA Commissioner David) Stern’s worst nightmare. … What he’s tried to do for the whole season is put distance between November 19th and the trophy in those dopey commercials they run” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 5/8).
The DETROIT FREE PRESS’ Drew Sharp notes that this “might not be [Stern’s] worst nightmare, but he couldn’t have anticipated this scenario” when he handed down punishments to Pacers F Ron Artest and the other brawl participants (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 5/9).
USA TODAY’s Michael Hiestand writes that the NBA playoffs “could use a bit more buzz right now, especially after the two Game 7’s Saturday night were blowouts” (USA TODAY, 5/9).
Pistons C Antonio McDyess: “All eyes will be on this series because of what happened” (USA TODAY, 5/9).
An INDIANAPOLIS STAR editorial states, “The fervent hope is that it will be a memorable basketball series, that The Brawl will be little more than a juicy little subtext to this series. Can we ignore it? Absolutely not. Can we put it into some kind of perspective? Absolutely” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/9).
The DETROIT NEWS’ Rob Parker writes, “The Pacers have an image problem. Thanks to those players who took part in the now-infamous brawl in November, some fans outside Indiana look at them as thugs” (DETROIT NEWS, 5/9).
USA TODAY’s Jon Saraceno writes, “I’m not too worried about either of these teams losing their professionalism again. … I’m more concerned about the minority of wing-nuts who call themselves Pistons fans” (USA TODAY, 5/9).
The DETROIT FREE PRESS’ Mitch Albom outlines “Etiquette rules for Pistons fans” (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 5/9).
PASADENA CITY COUNCIL TONIGHT TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING ON ROSE BOWL
The L.A. TIMES reports that the Pasadena City Council will hold a public hearing on the Rose Bowl Environmental Impact Report (EIR) tonight at the Pasadena Conference Center. The hearing, which is not being held at City Hall due to the estimated number of speakers, is expected to last several hours, and “it is unlikely that the council will decide tonight whether to certify” the report (L.A. TIMES, 5/9).
The SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE reported that several City Council members have indicated that “they will oppose the EIR.” If the vote fails to pass, “[Pasadena’s] NFL bid dies” (SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE, 5/8).
REEBOK TODAY ANNOUNCES TITLE SPONSORSHIP OF TRACK & FIELD MEET
Reebok today announced that it will title sponsor a new track & field meet called the Reebok Grand Prix, to be held June 11 at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, New York. The event, which is the fifth stop of USA Track & Field’s Visa Championship Series, will be produced by Global Athletics & Marketing, the same company that managed the Reebok Boston Indoor Games last January (Reebok).
FIRST OF TWO NASCAR PIT-CREW CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HELD TONIGHT
The WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL reports that NASCAR pit crews tonight will compete in the first of two pit-crew championships in Mooresville, North Carolina. Tyson is sponsoring tonight’s event, which will run from 6:00-9:30pm ET. NASCAR did not initially sanction the competition, which had been supported by Unocal before it dropped its NASCAR sponsorship following the ’03 season. However, NASCAR executives “decided to get back in the game” and have organized a rival championship, to take place next week (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 5/9).
BUZZER BEATERS
The Golden Baseball League announced today that former MLBer Rickey Henderson has reached an agreement to play the ’05 season with the San Diego Surf Dawgs (Golden Baseball League). ESPN.com reports that Henderson has a “lucrative marketing agreement” with the league that includes a Rickey Henderson bobblehead night (ESPN.com, 5/9).
Electronic Arts today announced that Heat G Dwyane Wade will serve as cover athlete and spokesperson for “NBA Live ‘06” (Electronic Arts).
New Era today announced an exclusive licensing agreement with the Hockey HOF to be its official headwear supplier (New Era).
Global Spectrum today announced that the first ticketed event at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, will be Tony Hawk’s Boom Boom HuckJam on July 14 (Wells Fargo Arena).
Alan Taylor Communications today announced that the firm has been retained by Alltel to provide marketing communications support for the company’s promotional campaigns (Alan Taylor Communications).
LIGHTER BUZZ
The L.A. DAILY NEWS reports that an entrepreneur “is peddling bright orange shirts that say ‘Thank you, Kobe. … Love, Miami’” on www.thankyoukobe.com for $16 plus $6 shipping (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 5/9).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
Hill, Holiday today will begin its eBay auction of the official Red Sox Harley-Davidson “Fat Boy” signed by the ’04 Red Sox at 6:00pm ET. The auction closes May 19 at 6:00pm with all proceeds benefiting the Bridge Over Troubled Waters organization (Hill, Holiday).
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN2 will air “SportsCenter at the Indianapolis 500,” the first of 15 live on-site weekday editions of the program, at 6:30pm ET.
ESPN will air regional coverage of MLB: Mariners-Yankees or Astros-Marlins at 7:00pm ET.
TNT will air Pacers-Pistons at 8:00pm ET and Mavericks-Suns at 10:30pm.
ESPN2 will air “Top 5 Reasons You Can’t Blame … Jerry Krause” at 8:30pm ET.
ESPN2 will air “Who’s Number 1?: Most Overrated” at 9:00pm ET.
Figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and Chiefs TE Tony Gonzalez will appear on ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Wedding Edition” at 10:00pm ET.
Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Mike Smith will present the Top Ten List on CBS’ “Late Show” at 11:35pm ET.
ESPN’s “OTL” will examine hockey phenom Sidney Crosby’s options for his hockey future at midnight ET.
Agent Scott Boras, Raptors G Jalen Rose and Falcons DE Patrick Kerney will appear on “BDSSP.”
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Will Ferrell |
| “The Tonight Show” | Brad Garrett |
| “The Late Late Show” | Mark Harmon |
| “Late Night” | Sylvester Stallone (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Pamela Anderson |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
The N.Y. TIMES’ Robin Pogrebin writes, “Officials for the Jets and the city argue that [a West Side stadium] will be an agent of renewal, anchoring and rejuvenating an area that now amounts to little more than abandoned rail yards and urban blight. Opponents say the stadium is a brassy and architecturally undistinguished behemoth that will compromise the neighborhood’s character, breed congestion and fail to foster daytime activity in a dormant area” (N.Y. TIMES).
The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION’s Ron Littlepage writes, “A survey [in Jacksonville]… found that 77[%] of the small businesses that responded say the hundreds of millions of dollars of alleged economic impact the Super Bowl was supposed to have didn’t come their way. They said the Super Bowl had no effect on their bottom lines” (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION).
The L.A. DAILY NEWS’ Steve Dilbeck writes, “I no longer want to take my children to a Dodgers game. … Where fights can break out. Stadium equipment can be vandalized. Offensive chants are routine. Where cups and bottles and food and other objects are thrown on the field. Where there is just a tone that feels slightly threatening” (L.A. DAILY NEWS).
Also:
See the Articles of Interest section for more sports business-related links.
CLOSING STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books for the week ending April 30 (NYTIMES.com, 5/9):
| N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION |
| RK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | THE WORLD IS FLAT, Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) |
| 2) | BLINK, Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown) |
| 3) | MY LIFE SO FAR, Jane Fonda (Random House) |
| 4) | FREAKONOMICS, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (Morrow) |
| 5) | ONE SOLDIER'S STORY, Bob Dole (HarperCollins) |
| 6) | ON BULL----, Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University) |
| 7) | BABY LAUGHS, Jenny McCarthy (Dutton) |
| 8) | UNDER AND ALONE, William Queen (Random House) |
| 9) | A DEFICIT OF DECENCY, Zell Miller (Stroud & Hall) |
| 10) | LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISORDER, Michael Savage (Nelson Current/Thomas Nelson) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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