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: NFL -- A big win for so many people with the new NFL CBA. Key players such as DEMAURICE SMITH, ROGER GOODELL, ROBERT KRAFT and JERRY RICHARDSON have all been rightfully lauded for the role each played in reaching a deal so no football is missed this fall. Many figured with so much at stake, a stalemate would have been criminal. But labor talks are complex, and credit goes to the architects behind this historic 10-year deal guaranteeing labor peace.
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Injury ends Pastrana's run at X Games, delays
start of his debut into NASCAR |
LOSE: PASTRANATHON -- At the start of what was supposed to be a big weekend for TRAVIS PASTRANA, the action sports star breaks his ankle and foot during the beginning of X Games 17 competition Thursday. The injuries will keep him off the dirt tracks for the remainder of the event. Perhaps more importantly, the injuries put a hold on his highly anticipated and much-publicized debut in NASCAR, where it is hoped Pastrana will bring in the youth demo the sport desperately desires.
DRAW: INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY -- After losing Allstate in '09 as the title sponsor for its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the Brickyard scores with a new and more lucrative deal for Crown Royal to sponsor the event for five years starting next season. The pact marks NASCAR's biggest title sponsorship agreement among all its tracks. But while getting a new name for the 18-year-old race is a big step, IMS officials still have to find a way to combat lagging attendance for one of the sports' flagship events. Attendance has been cut in half in recent years, and reports indicate there could be many empty seats again this weekend.
