THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of people and entities in sports business. Here are this week's newsmakers:
WIN: PEYTON HILLIS -- The Browns RB receives national attention after winning a fan vote to grace the cover of EA Sports’ “Madden NFL 12” video game. Hillis, buoyed by an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign by the Browns, easily defeats MICHAEL VICK to become the first Browns player on the cover of the popular game. The increased exposure should lead to more off-the-field opportunities for Hillis, who has already parlayed his newfound fame into an appearance on Thursday’s “Late Show.”
LOSE: YANKEES -- The Bronx Bombers' front office gets a PR black eye this week after inadvertently sending an e-mail with fans' personal information to hundreds of ticket holders. A file attached to the e-mail contains names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers and e-mail addresses on about 17,000 season-ticket accounts. While no financial information is leaked, the team is forced to apologize in a letter to all ticket holders.
DRAW: MLB -- Much has been written about the league's attendance slump to start the season -- and for good reason. MLB saw a sharp decline at the gate over the first month of play compared to the same period a year ago. But while empty seats have plagued several markets, fans are still tuning in on the tube. Fox's Saturday MLB game viewership is up 5% year-over-year, while ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" viewership is up 20%.
