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Franchises

FRANCHISE NOTES

          MINOR LEAGUE ROUNDUP: Portland Family Entertainment
     (PFE), a partnership headed by former Trail Blazers exec
     Marshall Glickman, has reached an agreement with Single A
     Portland Rockies Owner Jack Cain to allow a Triple A team to
     replace the Rockies at Civic Stadium.  Cain and Glickman
     have already "set a price" on the Rockies, but the deal
     "hinges on" PFE's acquisition of a Triple A team by December
     31 (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/24)....In Nashville, Maurice
     Patton wrote that Single A Sounds co-Owner Al Gordon is set
     to become the team's new General Partner, "as he has
     virtually bought out [co-Owners] Mike Murtaugh and Mike
     Woleben."  All three will retain ownership of the Single A
     Cougars, located in Geneva, IL, under their American Sports
     Enterprises (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 6/24)....In Greensboro,
     Todd Graff writes that ECHL Monarchs Owner Art Donaldson and
     two minority partners of Greensboro Sports LLC paid $1.5M
     for the expansion team.  The league has increased its
     expansion fee to $2M, but the Donaldson group was "granted a
     grandfather clause" because the city had a team before the
     Hurricanes began playing there in '97 (Greensboro NEWS &
     RECORD, 6/25)....IHL Grizzlies and WISL Freezz President Tim
     Mouser said that he is "looking at the possibility" of
     bringing an AFL team to Salt Lake City (S.L. TRIB., 6/25).
          SPECIAL REPORT: In Phoenix, Kent Somers examines
     minority hirings in the front offices of the city's four pro
     sports teams and writes that of the 26 people listed as
     officials/managers in the D'Backs' workplace profile filed
     with the city, "19 are Anglo, six are Hispanic and one is
     Asian.  There are six women in the group, including four who
     are Hispanic.  On the baseball side of the operation,
     however, there is one dominant color -- White" (AZ REPUBLIC,
     6/25).  Somers notes that 98 of the Coyotes' 102 front
     office employees "are Anglo, according to the company's
     workplace profile filed with the city" (AZ REPUBLIC, 6/25). 
     Somers writes on the Suns under the header, "Suns Keep
     Control In The Family" (AZ REPUBLIC, 6/25).  Somers, on the
     Cardinals: "There are no Hispanics in the organization.  But
     the club has a history of hiring African-Americans for
     signficant management jobs" (AZ REPUBLIC, 6/25).
          OH CANADA: Potential Expos investor Stephen Bronfman's
     "associates ... acknowledge it would be surprising if he's
     not involved in the bid" to keep the Expos in Montreal, with
     him possibly "mulling over a much larger stake" than the
     reported C$5M investment.  In Toronto, Jeff Blair writes
     that MLB and Expos execs believe a "resolution" of team
     President Claude Brochu's status, "formalizing" prospective
     owner Jeffrey Loria's involvement and the "acceptance of a
     new ballpark isn't realistic until the first week of August
     at the earliest" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/25)....The Blue Jays' 
     "Austin Powers" promotion last night drew 26,117 to the
     SkyDome, with those dressed as characters from the movie
     admitted for free.  The team showed the first film on the
     JumboTron before the game (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/25).
          NBA BUSINESS ARMS: Ascent Entertainment directors
     "acknowledged for the first time" that an auction for the
     Nuggets, Avalanche and Pepsi Center "would provide
     'substantial benefits' to shareholders."  Also, Bill and
     Nancy Laurie will receive a break-up fee of between $3-6M
     "should they fail to prevail in the new auction" (DENVER
     POST, 6/25)....The Nets raised ticket prices for the second
     consecutive year, with the most expensive now at $600, a 20%
     increase.  However, some upper-level prices were lowered
     from $30 to $25.  Overall, the team raised prices in eight
     areas, lowered prices in five and kept four the same (Newark
     STAR-LEDGER, 6/25)....The Lakers will "bypass" holding
     training camp in Hawaii, and will instead train at one of
     three Southern CA sites -- Long Beach, Palm Springs or
     Irvine (AP/L.A. TIMES, 6/24).
          MLB HEADED TO CHARLOTTE IN 2000? During an interview on
     Charlotte's WFNZ-AM, ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons
     said that "he believes [MLB] will be in Charlotte next
     spring."  Gammons: "I think it'll be there ... I really
     believe it" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/25).     

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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