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Names In The News

SI.com's Austin Murphy profiled Falcons GM THOMAS DIMITROFF, who "isn’t the only NFL executive who balances the intense pressure and brutal hours of his profession with an equally robust quest for fitness and adrenaline," but is probably "the most overt, the least apologetic, about it." Dimitroff is a 48-year-old "ex-vegan who is now merely a vegetarian." He is also "an ex-mountain bike racer, rock-climber, snowboarder and seriously strong road cyclist" (SI.com, 9/18).

KNIGHT'S TALE: Nike co-Founder & Chair PHIL KNIGHT said of the company's roots, "We never thought of ourselves as an apparel company in our early days. We were strictly a footwear company. There were some apparel companies here that served as inspiration, especially White Stag and Jantzen." Asked about the challenges of starting a footwear company in Portland, Knight said, "This was in the early ’60s. Everybody thought if you’re going to be in the footwear business, you needed to be in New England or the South. I never saw it that way. The U.S. footwear industry was going out of business. I thought we needed a phone and access to an airplane. Our biggest problem early on was lack of money if you will. There was no such thing as venture capital. That was one of the biggest handicaps" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 9/19).

SCHOOL COLORS
: Basketball HOFer and Michigan State alum MAGIC JOHNSON gave $3M to his alma mater, which went "to the recently completed Spartan Stadium North End Zone project," after a $1M athletic department gift in '11. He said that his decision "to increase his commitment financially to MSU is a direct influence" of MSU AD MARK HOLLIS. Johnson during a visit to campus this week said, "I think that Mark and I have an outstanding relationship, and TOM (IZZO). We all three sat down and Mark says, 'I'm going to bring you into the program a lot more.' I said, 'OK, I've been waiting. I gave them a million, then I gave another (donation)" (LANSING STATE JOURNAL, 9/19)....Houghton College is "planning a grand opening and dedication for the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex" on Oct. 4. Sabres co-Owner KIM PEGULA is an alum, and she and her husband, Sabres co-Owner TERRY PEGULA, gave $12M in '11 to help launch the $23M project, which "includes construction of 115,000-square-foot fieldhouse, a new baseball and softball stadium and resurfacing of Burke Field, a multi-sport competition field" (BUFFALO NEWS, 9/19).

ROUGH DECISION: Golfer ANTHONY KIM "has not teed it up at a PGA Tour event in more than 28 months," and his handlers at IMG "rarely speak to him." The reason for his absence from the sport "very well may lie in an insurance policy Kim has against a career-ending injury." An IMG source "pegged its value" at $10M, "tax-free." But a friend of Kim's said, "It's significantly north of that. Not quite 20, but close. That is weighing on him, very much so. He's trying to weigh the risk of coming back. The way he's phrased it to me is, 'If I take one swing on Tour, the policy is voided'" (GOLF.com, 9/17).

NAMES: The Single-A Midwest League on Thursday named West Michigan Whitecaps VP/Sales STEVE MCCARTHY its '14 Exec of the Year (Midwest League)....MLB’s JACQUELINE PARKES ranked No. 1 on a list of 50 most influential CMOs on social media (FORBES.com, 9/18)....Blues D JORDAN LEOPOLD and his wife, JAMIE, are “moving ahead with plans to build a wedding event center on a onetime nuisance property along the Mississippi River” in Brooklyn Park, Minn. (STARTRIBUNE.com, 9/18)....Several MLBers’ wives were “among the many models” at Thursday night’s Fields of Fashion event in N.Y. (MLB.com, 9/18)....Former NFLer ANTHONY HENRY bought a home in Hollywood, Calif., for $2.599M (LATIMES.com, 9/17).

IN MEMORY: Former 49ers Dir of Team Services DAVE RAHN died Thursday after a two-year battle with melanoma. He was 50 (LATIMES.com, 9/18).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

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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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