In Pittsburgh, Jenn Menendez notes the structure of West Virginia Univ.'s $20M settlement with the Big East Conference is "detailed in documents obtained" from the school yesterday. The settlement "includes $2.5 million that West Virginia paid the conference in October when the university announced its intention to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 Conference." That money was "partial payment of an exit fee." The rest of the compensation "includes a 'settlement payment' of $8.5 million, due Friday, and all the university's 2011-12 share of Big East revenue -- mostly from the sale of broadcast rights to football and basketball games -- forecast at $9 million." WVU also "must use 'reasonable best efforts' to help Pitt and Syracuse schedule games with Big 12 opponents for the 2012-13 season if the schools had made such a request by Feb. 15" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2/16).
FOR LOVE OF SPORTS: In Portland, Kerry Eggers writes if "you enjoyed Sunday night's Oregon Sports Award at the Tiger Woods Center on the Nike campus, there are at least 1,600 reasons why." That is how many hours SportsOne President & Founder JIM ETZEL and his crew "put in to stage the annual ESPYs-like show, which honors the state's top sports personalities." Together with Nike execs, they have "turned the OSA night into a must-attend." Etzel "isn't making much money, if any, on the event." His involvement and that of Nike Brand President CHARLIE DENSON is "born of Oregon roots and love of sports" (PORTLAND TRIBUNE, 2/16).
BIG-SCREEN CAMEO: In Ft. Lauderdale, Juan Rodriguez notes when "MONEYBALL" was released, new Marlins Minor League Hitting Coordinator BARRY MOSS was "pleasantly surprised to see his role as 'Scout Barry' was, for the most part, preserved in its entirety." Moss was "one of four scouts asked to stick around and do the scene with four actors playing scouts." He "didn't have lines to memorize," as Dir BENNETT MILLER "let them ad-lib and create their own script." Moss said, "BRAD PITT walked in and introduced himself to everyone. I shook his hand and said, 'Hi, I'm Barry Moss.' Next thing I know he looks at me during the scene and says, 'Barry, what do you have?' And I [thought], 'Whoa, my name's on there.' I thought for sure they would have cut that, but they didn't" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 2/16).
NAMES: NASCAR team Owner RICHARD CHILDRESS will be inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association HOF during a ceremony in May (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/16)....Officials at the Chiquita Classic announced yesterday that NASCAR HOFer RICHARD PETTY will serve as the Honorary Chair for the third edition of the Nationwide Tour event that is scheduled for Sept. 24-30 at The Club at Longview near Charlotte (Chiquita)....LANCE ARMSTRONG yesterday announced that his Livestrong Foundation is “making a $1.5 million contribution to support a June ballot measure that would increase" California's tobacco tax to "raise money for cancer research and anti-smoking programs" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 2/16)…EPL club Aston Villa Manager ALEX MCLEISH is visiting his Browns “counterpart to pick up coaching tips amid mounting fan protests as the club battles against relegation.” Browns and Aston Villa Owner RANDY LERNER asked McLeish to “go to the NFL team to spend two days shadowing coach PAT SHURMUR” (AP, 2/15)….ISC CEO LESA FRANCE KENNEDY is hosting a fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate MITT ROMNEY at her home in Daytona Beach on Feb. 24 (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/16)….Singer MARY J. BLIGE, rapper PITBULL and Black Eyed Peas member WILL.I.AM will be “the musical headliners at the NBA All-Star Weekend Feb. 25 and 26.” Blige will sing the national anthem before the game (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 2/16).
