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: “MONEYBALL” -- We don’t even know the box-office forecasts, but we’ll play the role of Hollywood major-domos and predict a strong opening weekend for the film that scored a 94% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is being lauded for its appeal to both sports fans and female audiences, and the strong reviews combined with a stellar cast make both the A’s and baseball feel hip at exactly the right time.
LOSE: BIG EAST -- Yes, we know the pieces are still falling all over the place on realignment, but what a tough week it’s been for the venerable conference. Losing Pitt and Syracuse is a blow to the historically basketball-strong conference, but it was the way in which it went down that stings the most. Commissioner JOHN MARINATTO reportedly finds out through news reports instead of hearing it from the mouth of Pitt Chancellor MARK NORDENBERG, one of the leaders Marinatto entrusted to secure the conference's future in the first place.
DRAW: FOX SPORTS -- The net's two-week NFL game audience set an all-time record and it brought the EPL to broadcast TV last Sunday for the first time ever with a Chelsea-Manchester United match that drew solid numbers up against the NFL. But the net is also forced answer reports that newspaper headlines shown as part of a piece on JAY CUTLER were fabrications and admittedly “misleading.”
