On Long Island, Neil Best notes Yankees SS Derek Jeter will be the "first player to reach 3,000 hits since the resale ticket market achieved its current state of efficiency -- and legality -- and the big event has fueled a frenzy of educated guesstimating." FanSnap.com said that Jeter's two hits during Sunday's game against the Indians "caused asking prices for Thursday, the final game of the Yankees' home stand, to rise an average of $11 per ticket overnight, to $110." Prices for Thursday's Rangers-Yankees game "have doubled in recent weeks as fans have targeted it as their best hope for seeing Jeter reach his milestone at home." FanSnap Dir of Corporate Communications Christian Anderson said that the site "did not see a similar price spike last year" for Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez' chase for his 600th career home run (NEWSDAY, 6/14).
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: Apollo Global Management Senior Managing Dir Joshua Harris is in talks to buy a controlling stake in the 76ers, and in Philadelphia, Bob Ford writes the team "could probably use some attention and renewed enthusiasm at the ownership level." Getting to the "next level in the NBA will require an unwavering focus that might not have always been present from above while the team was operating as just another charm on the jangly Comcast bracelet." On a "more local level, there was never the sense as they struggled" recently under Comcast-Spectacor Chair Ed Snider and President & COO Peter Luukko that the 76ers "were as much of a priority as were the Flyers." But that "should change under Harris," whose ownership group "won't have to worry, from a sports standpoint, about much more than the 76ers" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 6/14).
LEAVE US OUT OF THIS: NFL Giants coach Tom Coughlin said that the amicus brief filed last month by the NFLCA in support of the players' antitrust lawsuit against the league "did not represent the Giants' coaching staff." Coughlin said, "That did not speak for anybody I know. It did not speak for the Giants. No one was even apprised of something like this being stated, and there wouldn’t have been agreement" (NJ.com, 6/13).
WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION: In Charlotte, Laura Owens reports the NFL Panthers are sponsoring a "high school weight room makeover grant program in which four high schools will be given equipment the Panthers have been using for several years." Panthers Dir of Community Relations Riley Fields said, "The team is in the process of redoing the Panthers team weight room, which is going to include new equipment, so it provided an opportunity for us to do something special with the equipment that's going to be replaced. We thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to assist some deserving high schools in our region" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/14).
