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SBD/February 3, 2012/People and Pop Culture
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Hoosier Hospitality: Super Bowl Parties Set To Heat Up This Weekend
Indianapolis is shedding its "Naptown" nickname this week as big-name celebrities and athletes flock to the city for parties leading up to Super Bowl XLVI. THE DAILY offers the inside scoop on Thursday night's events and previews the slate of bashes on tap this weekend.
THIRSTY THURSDAY: Colts Owner JIM IRSAY hosted a party Thursday at the Indiana State Museum “for 400 to 500 guests.” The private event included "multiple musical performances and a reading from the nearly 120-foot manuscript to JACK KEROUAC's Beat Generation manifesto ‘On the Road,’ which Irsay has owned since 2001” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3)….The 18th annual Madden Bowl was held at the Bud Light Hotel with attendees including Saints QB DREW BREES, Broncos QB TIM TEBOW, ESPN’s SCOTT VAN PELT, actor MIKE EPPS and rapper SNOOP DOGG (INDYSTAR.com, 2/2). The Roots and NAS “lit up the stage with performances later in the evening, and fans were also treated to Bud Light’s new beer, Bud Light Platinum” (INDYSTAR.com, 2/3)….The All-American Rejects headlined “VH1 Pepsi Fan Jam,” with Maroon 5's ADAM LEVINE making a “cameo appearance” during Gym Class Heroes' performance (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3). The INDY STAR’s David Lindquist on his Twitter feed wrote, “VH1 Pepsi Fan Jam is very much a TV event. B.O.B plays 1 song, break, 1 song, break, now a 4-song run” (TWITTER.com, 2/3)….ESPN’s RON JAWORSKI hosted the Jaws Cigar Party at Nicky Blaines Cocktail Lounge, where “cigars and cognac ruled” (INDYSTAR.com, 2/2).Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes was
part of the VH1 Pepsi Fan Jam last night
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: ESPN’s eighth Next party will be held Friday at the “40,000-square-foot Jobsite Supply Warehouse, with 2,000 guests expected.” Sponsors include Dunkin’ Donuts, which “will be sampling coffee and Munchkins outside the event; Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice, with a green-screen photo op; and Vicks, with ‘warming stations’ in and around the party.” Maker’s Mark is the "spirits sponsors and Bud Light is showcasing its new Bud Light Platinum" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/30 issue). Guests include musician LENNY KRAVITZ and members of Maroon 5 (N.Y. POST, 2/2)….Florida-based events “impresario and hotelier BARTON G. WEISS is masterminding the NFL Friday night party” at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Expected guests include NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL, coaches, athletes and model GISELE BUNDCHEN (N.Y. POST, 2/2)....GQ, Lacoste and Patron are “throwing a Super bowl bash tonight at The Stutz in Indianapolis, with a performance by LL COOL J and DJ set by QUESTLOVE.” Guests expected include ALEC BALDWIN, MICHAEL DOUGLAS, JON HAMM, Nas, ANDY RODDICK and ADAM SANDLER (N.Y. POST, 2/3)….The Leather & Laces party will be held at the Regions Bank Tower with guests to include CARMEN ELECTRA, JENNY MCCARTHY and JENNI “JWOWW” FARLEY (NJ.com, 1/30).
SOIREES ON SATURDAY: DirecTV’s sixth annual Celebrity Beach Bowl will be held at Victory Field Saturday and will feature a concert by The Fray. Actors CHACE CRAWFORD and DAVID ARQUETTE, model KATE UPTON and ESPN’s ERIN ANDREWS are expected to participate. The game will be broadcast on Spike TV. Later that night, the space will be transformed into a nightclub for the DirecTV Super Saturday Night hosted by Maverick Owner MARK CUBAN’s HDNet and Colts QB PEYTON MANNING. The event will include a performance by KATY PERRY (DirecTV). The beach flag football game is expected to draw 10,000 people Saturday afternoon and 2,500 for the private party (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/30 issue)….More than 3,000 guests are expected to attend the Taste of the NFL at Gleaners Food Bank (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3)….Singers JOHN LEGEND and TRAVIE MCCOY of Gym Class Heroes will headline the Legends ‘N’ Models Super Bowl Eve party hosted by model ERIN HEATHERTON. Tickets start at $200 (INDYSTAR.com, 2/1)....Rolling Stone magazine will host its first-ever Super Bowl party called the “Bacardi Bash” with LMFAO, LUPE FIASCO, Cobra Starship and Gym Class Heroes performing (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3)….Maxim will hold its party at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Playboy will hold its event at the Bud Light Hotel with a performance by NE-YO. Both are “warning folks who want to attend their soirees not to buy tickets.” Neither Maxim nor Playboy distribute tickets to their events. Still, online brokers are “advertising tickets to the Playboy party” from $1,100-1,500 (INDYSTAR.com, 2/2).
CAMPAIGN COCKTAILS: The campaigns of President BARACK OBAMA and Republican Presidential candidate MITT ROMNEY “will hold fundraising events in Indianapolis this weekend.” Obama's campaign “will hold an event Saturday evening at the Conrad Indianapolis home" of former Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. WOODY MYERS. Bears coach LOVIE SMITH is expected to attend. Romney's campaign is “holding a midday event Saturday at the Indianapolis Colts Grille.” Special guests include Jets Owner WOODY JOHNSON, Jaguars Owner SHAHID KHAN and Redskins Owner DANIEL SNYDER (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3).
NOT ON THE LIST: Sports Illustrated, which “sponsored a party last year, isn’t a party host this year.” An SI spokesperson said, “The numbers didn’t work. Our Super Bowl is the Swimsuit Issue, which hits Feb. 13” (N.Y. POST, 2/3). -
What's Up For The Weekend With Daytona Int'l Speedway President Joie Chitwood
Chitwood and his son plan to attend Saturday's Vanderbilt-UF game.
With the Daytona 500 just a couple of weeks away, JOIE CHITWOOD is in high gear ramping up preparations for the Great American Race. But before the green flag drops on the NASCAR season, the Daytona Int'l Speedway President will take a pit stop this weekend to enjoy some family time with his 10-year-old son. The Univ. of Florida alum lives between Orlando and Daytona in the cozy town of Lake Mary, and with ventures to Tampa and Gainesville, he plans to revel in the Florida sunshine this weekend.
ON THE GO: Friday I’m going to be in Tampa doing some promotions for RICKY STENHOUSE JR. in anticipation of the Daytona 500. This weekend my son and I are going to drive up to Gainesville, Florida, and we’re going to catch the Vanderbilt-Florida basketball game. I’m a Gator, I went there. So that’s a 1 o’clock game on Saturday. He and I will get on the road and head up there on Saturday and try to enjoy the game a little bit.
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: There are two kinds of Friday nights. One is if it is football season my son is in football practice and I usually go straight to football practice and relieve my wife. When I get him and he’s done we head home. We typically can stop at a sports bar (Friendly Confines) that the team all goes to after practice on Friday night. All the kids, boys run around crazy and all the parents just grab some sports bar food. If that’s not the case, if we don’t have football season, we’re trying to figure out a place where we can just go for a casual dinner. Something easy.
HITTING THE LINKS: If I have a good weekend, if I have enough time where I’m spending some good time with my family, then Sunday morning I’ll try and sneak out and play golf. Play 18 holes, but I try and do like a 7:30 tee time. Get out as early as possible. It just depends on the work schedule.
HONEY-DO LIST: If we get a golf game in, when I get home typically there might be a list of errands to do. Just stuff around the house, go to the hardware store or Costco or pick up some things. My wife, son and I typically like to do a late lunch, early dinner like a 4 o’clock something. … It’s just kind of the upkeep of the house. It’s the typical things like running errands and getting salt for the water softener, making sure the basketball court is clean in the back. We’ll mess around with our own landscaping a little bit.
GATOR NATION: My son played Pop Warner football this year and so he’s in the Pee Wee division and their games were on Saturday afternoon. Could have been anywhere from noon, 1, 2 o’clock. There were a couple games where right after his football game, I toweled him down, we jumped in the car and he and I drove right up to Gainesville from the football field. But if it was an afternoon game, his football team took precedent on Saturday and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
FUN IN THE SUN: I can’t live a weekend without my shorts and flip flops. Living in Florida, I am the king of casual on the weekends and just think that’s the only way to be if you’re going to live in Florida. … The way our house is built we have these two huge sliding glass doors to the back patio which is screened in. In the weather in Florida, the summertime is a little bit too hot, but every other time there’s not a Saturday or Sunday that doesn’t go by that those doors aren’t wide open and that we have music playing in the house. I’m sitting in the back patio in the screened-in area either playing with the dog or we’ve got a TV out there. Being in Florida, we take advantage of the great weather and the way our house is set up. We spend more time out in the patio area in the back than I think we do inside, and that’s exactly how I want it. -
Executive Transactions
JEFF ELLIOTT is leaving his position at Breaking Limits, a Charlotte-based motorsports agency, and taking a job managing corporate sponsorships and new business development for the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. He will relocate from Charlotte to Orlando. Prior to joining Breaking Limits last June, Elliott worked at Bank of America as Senior VP/Global Sponsorship Marketing (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal)....The CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers extended the contract of VP/Football Operations & GM JOE MACK through the '14 season (Blue Bombers)....The Univ. of California-Irvine extended AD MIKE IZZI's contract through '16 (UC-Irvine)....The Red Sox added former Cubs Special Assistant to the GM GARY HUGHES to their scouting department (MLB.com, 2/2)....Strategic Marketing Affiliates named BETH MONNIN University Services Rep. She will be based in the company's Ohio office (SMA).
Do you have an executive announcement? If so, please send to editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com. -
Names In The News
COURTHOUSE NEWS reported golfer PHIL MICKELSON has “sued an Internet service provider, seeking the identity of a person who posted what the golfer calls ‘vicious’ statements about him and his wife.” Mickelson sued Videotron S.E.N.C. in Quebec Superior Court, seeking the "identity of the author of ‘several highly defamatory statements posted by one or more individual on the Internet, in particular on a Yahoo! website, under the pseudonyms of 'Fogroller' and 'Longitude.'” Mickelson said his “reputation is extremely important considering his status” (COURTHOUSENEWS.com, 2/1).
AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION: In N.Y., Waldstein & Buettner report a Manhattan woman “was arraigned Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of stalking” Yankees GM BRIAN CASHMAN. She was “also charged with grand larceny and aggravated harassment after she was accused of extorting $6,000 from Cashman for a medical procedure.” Court documents reveal that she “threatened to reveal embarrassing information to the news media and to Cashman’s family if he did not comply” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/3).
EVERYTHING'S ON THE UP AND UP: Tennis player RAFAEL NADAL said that his tax obligations “are up to date" after a Spanish website reported he had "set up several companies to trim his tax bill.” Spanish website Primeran reported that Nadal “created companies in the Basque region to take advantage of a local tax rule to drop the amount of income tax he would have to pay from image rights.” Spanish media Thursday reported that “Basque tax authorities were investigating.” Nadal issued a statement “acknowledging the existence of the companies, which had been transferred to his home residence of the Balearic Islands.” Nadal said he gained "no benefit," while the companies mentioned "are up to date with the payment of all tax obligations" (ESPN.com, 2/2).Nadal said taxes are up to date after
report he set up companies to trim taxes
BURNIN' IN ME: St. Elmo Steak House in downtown Indianapolis this week has “hosted rock stars, professional athletes, famous journalists and more.” The list of those who have dined there this past week includes Giants QB ELI MANNING, Giants President & CEO JOHN MARA, singer STEVEN TYLER, sportscaster DAN PATRICK and comedian JIMMY FALLON (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 2/3). Syndicated radio host JIM ROME, Pro Football HOFer MIKE DITKA, Cardinals WR LARRY FITZGERALD and former NFLer KURT WARNER ate at the restaurant Wednesday night ("The Jim Rome Show," 2/2).
NAMES: Patriots Owner ROBERT KRAFT and Giants Treasurer JONATHAN TISCH each donated $5,000 to President BARACK OBAMA’s re-election campaign (USA TODAY, 2/3)....Magna Int'l honorary Chair & Dir FRANK STRONACH is “selling stock in six new racehorse investment companies.” Documents filed for the IPO indicated that for $10 per share, investors can own “a piece of thoroughbreds that would be trained and raced around the country before they are sold off" (Baltimore SUN, 1/28)....To help raise funds for The Garden of Dreams Foundation and Allan Houston Legacy Foundation, CharityBuzz.com “has some auction packages that allow fans to meet” Knicks Fs CARMELO ANTHONY and AMAR’E STOUDEMIRE, as well as former NBAer ALLAN HOUSTON (NEWSDAY.com, 2/2)….N.Y. Mayor MICHAEL BLOOMBERG and the TISCH family members are “expected to board flights to Indianapolis” for Sunday’s game (N.Y. POST, 2/3)….Property records show that Chargers CB QUENTIN JAMMER and his wife have “listed two homes for sale for a combined asking price of roughly $2.4 million” (UTSANDIEGO.com, 2/2).
IN MEMORY: Sports exec ROBERT DALE MORGAN died Saturday at age 50 from complications of glioblastoma. Morgan in '90 was Exec Dir of the Atlanta Sports Council, and was involved with the “planning of Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994 and the 1996 Summer Olympics.” In ’98, he was “hired away by the Atlanta 2000 Super Bowl Host Committee as its executive director.” After leaving Atlanta in ’01 to serve as PGA Tour VP/Championship Management, Morgan was “offered a job in Houston as president of the 2004 Houston Super Bowl Host Committee” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 2/3).
