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College Football Preview

High Tide: Alabama AD Bill Battle Reveling In New Challenge In Tuscaloosa

New Alabama AD Bill Battle was lured from retirement five months ago and now is "reveling in the challenge," according to Mark McCarter of the HUNTSVILLE TIMES. Battle said, "It was either gonna keep me young or it was gonna kill me. I really believe it'll keep me young." After leaving as Tennessee football coach in '76, Battle "went into private business and ultimately formed Collegiate Licensing Corporation, which he ran for 27 years before selling it" for more than $100M to IMG in '07. Battle said, "Six months ago, if you would have told me I'd be here tonight speaking to you as athletic director of the University of Alabama, I would have thought you might be crazy. Being an athletic director was never anything I aspired to be. I never thought it was a very fun job. I've learned it isn't a very fun job. I've also learned it's a great job." He added, "They thought I could help. I thought about it. I was pretty healthy. I was rested. I hadn't worked very hard the last several years." Battle: "The main thing I've thought about the last several years about going to football games is how bad is the traffic gonna be, was parking gonna be a problem and was my hot dog gonna be cold. Now I've gotta think about being responsible for 125,000 people coming to a 101,000-seat stadium and everybody's problems with traffic and parking and cold hot dogs, putting on the game and getting people home safely" (HUNTSVILLE TIMES, 8/29).

GETTING BORED WITH TITLES? ESPN's Israel Gutierrez said of a report that 30% of UA student tickets went unused last year, "I'm disappointed in the Alabama fan base. ... What are you doing in Tuscaloosa that's more important than going to the Alabama games?" But Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw said, "I don't buy this 30 percent of the tickets went unused. Those stands are full, those people love Alabama" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 8/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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