Grand Canyon Univ. yesterday announced the "formation of the Colangelo School of Sports Business," and former Suns Chair JERRY COLANGELO "plans to be involved." Colangelo will "do some lecturing, help line up guest speakers from around the sports world, and each year, an outstanding second-year student will be mentored by him" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 10/26). GCU CEO BRIAN MUELLER said that attaching Colangelo’s name to the program is "part of an aggressive growth strategy aiming to double the number of its sports business students in six years" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/24 issue).
SPORTS & POLITICS: PRESIDENT OBAMA appeared on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” last night and addressed the NBA lockout. NBC’s Jay Leno noted Obama was a “huge basketball fan” and asked, “Who’s wrong?” Obama said the lockout “was heartbreaking” and added, “If you look at the NFL, they were able to settle theirs and I think they understood players, we’re making millions of dollars, owners some of us are worth billions of dollars. We should be able to figure out how to split a $9 billion pot so that our fans, who are allowing us to make all this money, can actually have a good season. I think the owners and the basketball players need to think the same way.” Obama said he’s “concerned” the whole season could be lost and “they need to remind themselves that the reason they are so successful is because a whole bunch of folks out there love basketball. Basketball has actually done well, but these kinds of lockout a lot of times takes a long time to recover from.” Obama went politically correct when Leno asked him for his World Series pick, with Obama saying, “My White Sox are not in there so I just want to see a good game. I do not take sides unless it’s my side” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 10/25).
ROOM SERVICE: BUFFALO BUSINESS FIRST's David Bertola profiles Sabres Dir of Creative Services FRANK CRAVOTTA, who is described as the "man behind the Buffalo Sabres new, 30,000 square foot locker room design at First Niagara Center." Cravotta used "input from ownership, coaches and players" like G RYAN MILLER and RW JASON POMINVILLE to create a floor plan. New York-based Cannon Design was the architect for the project, and Cravotta credits Sabres VP/Arena Operations STAN MAKOWSKI JR. "for overseeing the budget and being the project manager for all things outside the design element" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 10/25).
COURT REPORT: Georgia Primary Bank filed a lawsuit Oct. 18 against Basketball HOFer JULIUS ERVING and his corporation, The Erving Group Inc. of Atlanta claiming that he "owes more than $200,000 on a loan" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/26). Meanwhile, SCP Auctions has listed 100 items from Erving’s personal collection, “including his 1983 76ers world championship ring.” Other items on the auction block “include his ABA championship rings from 1974 and 1976 with the New York Nets” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 10/26).
 |
Evernham (c) presents $1M check to Ronald
McDonald House in Charlotte |
NAMES: JACK NICKLAUS said of the global economy's impact on golf, “China, for example, is shut down right now golf-wise. We were over there about a month ago with a course two weeks from being finished that was shut down." But he added of the U.S., "I haven't been to a country in the last year where the outlook is as bad economically as it is here for us” (PALM BEACH POST, 10/26)....Federal prosecutors in Rockford, Ill., yesterday announced that six sports memorabilia dealers “have been charged with selling hundreds of bogus game-used jerseys to trading card companies and other buyers.” The charges “stem from a four-year investigation into fraud in the sports memorabilia industry that has been conducted by the Chicago FBI and other federal agencies” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/26)….Former NASCAR team Owner RAY EVERNHAM yesterday presented a $1M check for the new Ronald McDonald House in Charlotte (THE DAILY)....Golfer ANNIKA SORENSTAM has been selected as the '12 recipient of the USGA's Bob Jones Award. The award recognizes distinguished sportsmanship in golf (THE SPORTS NETWORK, 10/25)….Cowboys QB TONY ROMO announced his wife, CANDICE CRAWFORD, is pregnant (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/26).
IN MEMORY: Former Capital Cities/ABC exec DANIEL BURKE passed away yesterday at the age of 82. Burke, the father of NBCUniversal President & CEO STEVE BURKE, served as President & CEO of Capital Cities/ABC from '90-94. Upon his retirement from the company, he founded the Double-A Eastern League Portland Sea Dogs (THE DAILY).
