The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan writes that
SportsLine USA "hopes to spin off its new European division
within a few years into a publicly traded company."
SportsLine's $50-100M European effort will be financed by
the company's $280M "war chest" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL,
5/24 issue)....In L.A., Helene Elliott: "Fox officials
objected to claims by NHL executives that Fox didn't
actively cross-promote telecasts on cable rights holder
ESPN." Fox Sports President David Hill: "Anyone at the NHL
that seriously believes that must be a closet member of the
Flat Earth Society" (L.A. TIMES, 5/25)....FOOTBALL DIGEST's
David Stone profiles The Football Network (TFN) and writes
that TFN Founder Jantonio Turner "hasn't yet found a way to
get TFN into about 95% of American homes." Turner says that
the 24-football net is "accumulating a lot of programming"
and is set to debut July 1, with or without cable (FOOTBALL
DIGEST, 8/99)....In Nashville, Larry Woody writes that
Sports Illustrated's decision to run the "graphic" photo
from the tragic accident at Lowe's Motor Speedway was in
"poor taste," but adds that there was "nothing wrong with
the accompanying story by Ed Hinton -- certainly not enough
to warrant the wrath" of IMS President and IRL Founder Tony
George (TENNESSEAN, 5/25)....In Cleveland, an NFL Films crew
attended the Browns' recent minicamp to shoot material for a
documentary to air in September. NFL Films Senior Producer
Louis Schmidt said that NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has
"made the Browns film one of the league's top creative
priorities" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 5/23).
