In London, Kevin Eason reported Liberty Media Chair JOHN MALONE is "in the running to buy a significant stake" in F1. Malone has launched a $4B bid "for almost half the F1 business through his Liberty Global company, along with Discovery Communications." Negotiations "are said to be at the earliest stages," with the bid falling $1B short of the share valuation put on F1 by CVC Capital Partners. Malone sees F1 as a "potential addition to his stable of cable television outlets" (LONDON TIMES, 6/14).
HERE COMES THE JUDGE: In San Jose, Howard Mintz profiles Chief U.S. District Judge CLAUDIA WILKEN, who is presiding over the ED O'BANNON vs. NCAA trial. The 64-year-old federal judge "is known to be more inclined toward a hobby such as quilting than spending Saturdays tailgating or watching a college football game." To most in the Bay Area legal community, Wilken "is nevertheless the right judge to handle a hot-button issue such as the legal challenge to the NCAA's ban on compensating student athletes." She "has earned a reputation as a thorough and tireless judge." Wilken "has been all business" during the trial, where she has "made it clear she had little patience for lawyerly gamesmanship" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 6/16).
CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS: The newly signed contract for Univ. of Missouri men's basketball coach KIM ANDERSON "will pay him a guaranteed salary" of $1.1M and can reach $2.45M if he "hits all his incentives in his first year on the job." The five-year contract "pays Anderson a base salary of $300,000, plus four guaranteed clauses of $173,000 each, designated deals for apparel, TV and radio appearances and public relations responsibilities." For each of those guaranteed benefits, "provided the team wins 20 or more games against Division I opponents and appears in the NCAA Tournament, the payment increases by $21,600 on May 1 of each year." If the team "wins 20 or more games and reaches the NCAA Tournament in the preceding season, that payment increases to $13,600 per year." Anderson will "make another $108,000 annually for his youth basketball camps." As for Anderson’s incentive package, he will "earn $50,000 for winning the SEC regular-season title and $50,000 for winning the SEC tournament championship." He will "make $50,000 if Mizzou makes the NCAA Tournament" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 6/14).
GRADUATION DAY: Prospective Clippers Owner STEVE BALLMER on Saturday was the commencement speaker at the Univ. of Washington's graduation (SEATTLE TIMES, 6/15)....Nike Founder & Chair PHIL KNIGHT on the same day delivered the commencement address to Stanford's Graduate School of Business class. He earned his Stanford MBA in '62 (Portland OREGONIAN, 6/15). In this week’s SBJ, Exec Editor Abe Madkour seeks commencement advice from some top sports business execs.
NAMES: WNBA Liberty C TINA CHARLES "will donate half of her WNBA salary to Hopey's Heart Foundation, a charity she founded in honor of her aunt, MAUREEN 'HOPEY' VAZ, who passed away of multiple organ failure" in March '13. She will donate approximately $50,000 of her $100,000 salary (NEWSDAY.com, 6/13)....Former Union manager PETER NOWAK on Friday filed a wrongful-termination suit against MLS and the MLSPU in the U.S. District Court’s Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Nowak “seeks damages ‘in excess’ of" $1M from the two parties "on two counts of ‘tortuous interference,’ claiming that his dismissal from PPL Park ‘was directly caused’ by the league and union” (PHILLY.com, 6/13)....SMI Chair & CEO BRUTON SMITH earned $4.4M in ’13 for his work as Sonic Automotive Chair, CEO & Dir, and $2.2M for his work at SMI (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/15)….QB VINCE YOUNG “will retire” from the NFL and take a role “as an ambassador” for his alma mater, the Univ. of Texas (DALLASNEWS.com, 6/14)….Red Sox DH DAVID ORTIZ last night hosted his “second annual Domincan-themed gala to benefit the David Ortiz Children’s fund” at the Mandarin Oriental in Boston. Attendees included comedian LENNY CLARKE, actress ELIZA DUSHKU, U.S. gymnast ALY RAISMAN and Red Sox President & CEO LARRY LUCCHINO (BOSTON HERALD, 6/16)….Supermodel GISELE BUNDCHEN, wife of Patriots QB TOM BRADY, “was asked by FIFA” to hand the trophy to the winners of this year’s World Cup. Barring “any riots that would make it unsafe, she will” do so. Brady will “be joining Bundchen in Brazil” (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/15).
