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SBD/March 14, 2011/People and Pop Culture
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Nominees For The 4th Annual Sports Business Awards Announced
SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily are pleased to announce the nominations for the fourth annual Sports Business Awards, which will be presented during a live ceremony in N.Y. on Wednesday, May 18. The '11 awards recognize outstanding achievements in sports business from March 1, 2010, through Feb. 28, 2011. The 73 nominees across 15 categories were selected by committees of the editorial staff from SportsBusiness Journal/Daily, who studied hundreds of nominees over the past two months. Among this year’s highlights is a record 73 nominees, with 37 companies or individuals being nominated for the first time. The top nominees are ESPN and Turner Sports with four each. Now that the nominees have been selected, we are following through on the changes in the voting procedure we announced months ago. We are embarking on a significant overhaul that we think will add more transparency to the process and clearly establish the Sports Business Awards as true “industry” recognition. The final selection discussions will include a panel of sports industry execs who will study the nominees and serve as category judges. Industry execs and members representing SportsBusiness Journal/Daily will evaluate the nominees and determine the winners of 13 of the 15 categories by a private vote. The list of judges for each category will be announced in the May 16 issue of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily. The categories of Executive of the Year and Athletic Director of the Year will continue to be judged solely by the editorial staff of SportsBusiness Journal/Daily. We are including outside judges to add more expertise, more transparency and more points of view to the final selection process. We are not identifying the members of the selection committees until after the votes have been cast to prevent lobbying and outside influence during the deliberations. We have targeted well-respected executives who we feel will add great value to the awards. We look forward to announcing the winners during the live ceremony on May 18 in N.Y. We hope to see you in what promises to be a fun and special celebration of the best in sports business.
SPORTS EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
George Bodenheimer ESPN/ABC Sports
Chip Ganassi Ganassi Racing
David Levy Turner Broadcasting System
Kevin Plank Under Armour
Pat Riley Miami Heat
ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Bob Bowlsby Stanford University
Tim Curley Penn State University
Chris Del Conte Texas Christian University
DeLoss Dodds University of Texas
Chris Hill University of Utah
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS LEAGUE OF THE YEAR
Major League Soccer
National Basketball Association
National Football League
National Hockey League
Ultimate Fighting Championship
PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Ganassi Racing
New York Jets
Orlando Magic
Pittsburgh Penguins
San Francisco Giants
SPORTS EVENT OF THE YEAR
ING New York City Marathon – 2010
NBA All-Star Game – 2011
NCAA Final Four – 2010
Winter X Games – 2011
SPORTS SPONSOR OF THE YEAR
Papa John’s
Phillips-Van Heusen
Subway
T-Mobile USA
SPORTS FACILITY OF THE YEAR
Amway Center
Arrowhead Stadium
Consol Energy Center
New Meadowlands Stadium
Red Bull Arena
Target Field
BEST IN SPORTS MEDIA
CBS Sports
ESPN
Fox Sports
National Football League
Turner Sports
BEST IN SPORTS TELEVISION
ESPN Networks
Fox Sports
HBO Sports
NBC Sports
Turner Sports
BEST IN DIGITAL SPORTS MEDIA
CBS Interactive Media
ESPN Digital Media
MLB Advanced Media
Turner Sports
BEST IN SPORTS TECHNOLOGY
Daktronics
Fanvibe
IOMedia
MLB Advanced Media
BEST IN CORPORATE CONSULTING, MARKETING AND CLIENT SERVICES
GMR Marketing
GroupM ESP
IMG
Octagon
Team Epic
Wasserman Media Group
BEST IN PROPERTY CONSULTING, SALES AND CLIENT SERVICES
AEG Global Partnerships
CAA Sports
Home Team Marketing
IMG
BEST IN TALENT REPRESENTATION AND MANAGEMENT
Boras Corporation
CAA Sports
IMG
Octagon
Wasserman Media Group
BEST IN SPORTS EVENT AND EXPERIENTIAL MARKETING
BaAM Productions
BeCore Promotions
Intersport
The Marketing Arm
Momentum Worldwide
SportsMark -
Longtime NFL Agent Gary Wichard Remembered As Inspiration For "Jerry Maguire"
Longtime NFL player agent GARY WICHARD passed away Friday at the age of 60 "from diabetes and pancreatic cancer," according to the AP. An agent since '80, Wichard's NFL clients included Colts DE DWIGHT FREENEY, Jets DE JASON TAYLOR and CB ANTONIO CROMARTIE and Panthers QB JIMMY CLAUSEN, among many others. He was "suspended for nine months" by the NFLPA in December for his involvement with former Univ. of North Carolina football player MARVIN AUSTIN. He also was "investigated last year by the NCAA" (AP, 3/11). In Charlotte, Ken Tysiac noted the North Carolina Secretary of State's office last week "executed a search warrant on a Bank of America account belonging to Wichard in Raleigh." Secretary of State spokesperson GEORGE JETER said that the office's investigation "will remain active and ongoing" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/12). ESPN.com's Tom Friend noted Wichard "was the inspiration" for the movie "JERRY MAGUIRE." He entered the agent business "at the urging" of Basketball HOFer JULIUS ERVING, a friend from Long Island who "introduced him to his own agent, IRWIN WEINER." Wichard "made his name in the late 1980s when he represented" Univ. of Oklahoma players, including LB BRIAN BOSWORTH and TE KEITH JACKSON. His players said that Wichard's own "football background and loyalty is what appealed to them most" (ESPN.com, 3/11).Wichard dies at the age of 60 from
diabetes and pancreatic cancer -
Executive Transactions
Amaro has received a four-year contract extension from Phillies
The Phillies Saturday announced that GM RUBEN AMARO JR. has "received a four-year contract extension" through the '15 season (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/13). Amaro's extension is the "longest contract" Phillies President & CEO DAVID MONTGOMERY has extended to a GM (MLB.com, 3/12)....Rams General Counsel BOB WALLACE, who was "one of the highest-ranking African-American club executives" in the NFL, has left the team after 16 years. Wallace joined the Rams as VP/Administration when they moved to St. Louis in '95, but in '09 he was "stripped of his vice president duties ... as part of the massive organization makeover following the death of owner GEORGIA FRONTIERE." Most of Wallace's duties went to Exec VP/Football Operations & COO KEVIN DEMOFF. Wallace "remained as the team's general counsel for the final two years of his contract -- a contract that expired last week" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 3/14).
EXECS: Momentum Worldwide has hired ADRIENNE SCORDATO as VP & Dir of Global Communications. Scordato previously handled all PR and corporate communications initiatives for T3 (Momentum). Scordato replaces Momentum VP/Global Communications STEPHANIE RUDNICK, who has joined Wasserman Media Group as VP/Marketing & Communications (THE DAILY)....Learfield Sports' Aztec Sports Properties has promoted Marketing Coordinator GREG SCHWARTZ to Account Exec and hired NATE SILVERMAN as Associate GM. Learfield's Purdue Sports Properties has promoted Marketing Coordinator RICK MOUSER to Account Exec and hired BOB GUPTILL as Manager of Business Development. Learfield's Sooner Sports Properties has hired JOE DRUTEN as Account Exec, and Learfield's LA Tech Sports Properties has hired CHRIS BRISTER as Account Exec (Learfield)....The A's have hired former MLBer SCOTT HATTEBERG as Special Assistant to Baseball Operations (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/13).
Do you have an executive announcement? If so, please send to editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com. -
Names In The News
Zbikowski scored a TKO in his first boxing match since joining NFL
Ravens S TOM ZBIKOWSKI earned $50,000 Saturday for his TKO of RICHARD BRYANT at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and Top Rank Chair BOB ARUM said that he has "received calls from several NFL players inquiring about the possibility of getting into the ring." Giants RB BRANDON JACOBS and DE OSI UMENYIORA are "among those who have called Arum," and if the "lockout turns out to be as long as many in football speculate it will, Arum expects his phone to keep ringing" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 3/13).
ALL CLEAR: The IOC on Saturday said that former VANOC CEO JOHN FURLONG "has been cleared of wrongdoing during bidding" for the '10 Vancouver Olympics. Furlong in his new book claims that a "deal with Moscow's mayor may have been crucial in Vancouver's victory." The book said that a "deal had been reached that involved the Vancouver team arranging a special Olympic bidding workshop for the Russians in exchange for votes from Russia's IOC members" (AP, 3/12).
FINDING FUNDING: StarStreet, a Boston-based sports stock market in which users can buy and sell virtual shares of pro athletes using real money, has closed on an undisclosed round of venture capital funding from SV Angel, a Silicon Valley fund led by noted tech investor RON CONWAY, and Jarr Capital. StarStreet is attempting to succeed where several other athlete-oriented stock markets, such as ProTrade and OneSeason, have either failed or abandoned (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
NAMES: TIGER WOODS is "making a rare late-night television appearance" Wednesday night on NBC's "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON." Fallon said that he "lured Woods to the show by pitching him the idea of playing miniature golf" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 3/12)....NBC NFL announcer CRIS COLLINSWORTH was among 83 people rescued Friday night when Waterfront restaurant in Covington, Ky., "broke from its moorings" and began floating down the Ohio River (AP, 3/12)....MLB Giants P TIM LINCECUM is on the cover of the N.Y. TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE's men's spring '11 issue (THE DAILY)....Magic President ALEX MARTINS will "lead the new oversight board charged with getting construction" of a new performing arts center in downtown Orlando "back on track" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 3/12)....Members of the '90-91 Bulls championship team, including MICHAEL JORDAN, SCOTTIE PIPPEN, WILL PERDUE, BILL CARTWRIGHT, CRAIG HODGES, STACEY KING and JOHN PAXSON, among others, were "saluted during a halftime ceremony" during Saturday's Jazz-Bulls game. Jordan "shimmered like no one else." In the "narrow, entwined worlds of sports and marketing and entertainment and charisma, he has no equal" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/13)....The NHRA Saturday honored driver KENNY BERNSTEIN and announced that Gainesville Raceway "will now be known as '301 Bernstein Way' in honor of the six-time NHRA world champion's milestone 301.70 mph speed he set at the track back in 1992" (NHRA.com, 3/2)....President BARACK OBAMA Friday welcomed the '09-10 Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to the White House. Obama was "given a Hawks sweater with No. 44 on the back," and Blackhawks C JONATHAN TOEWS "presented the president with a small replica of the Stanley Cup" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/12)....MLB Network Saturday aired "DOWN THE LINE," a documentary on Red Sox employees that will run on the network through April (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/13).IN MEMORY: Former NFL Giants VP/Player Personnel TOM BOISTURE passed away Friday at the age of 79. Boisture worked for the Giants for 20 years before retiring after the '00 NFL Draft (N.Y. POST, 3/12). Boisture was a "key architect in the 1980s" for the Giants (NEWSDAY, 3/12).




