In N.Y., Savage & Turkewitz in a front-page piece profile U.S. Supreme Court nominee NEIL GORSUCH, who as a lawyer in the early '00s represented AEG Chair PHIL ANSCHUTZ. Anschutz then in '06 "successfully lobbied" the White House to nominate Gorsuch to be an federal appeals court judge. Since taking that role, Gorsuch has been a "semiregular speaker" at Anschutz' annual dove-hunting retreats. But Gorsuch's relationship with Anschutz has "received scant attention." Two conservative groups -- the Federalist Society and Heritage Foundation -- "developed the list" of potential Supreme Court nominees for PRESIDENT TRUMP and both got "funding" from Anschutz (N.Y. TIMES, 3/15).
COMMITTED TO THE CAUSE: NCAA President MARK EMMERT in response to a letter to 80 LGBT organizations "reaffirmed the association's commitment to ensuring an inclusive, safe environment while selecting its locations for upcoming championship events." The NCAA is "expected to announce the site selections" for the '18-19 through '21-22 championship seasons in April. Emmert's response was "spearheaded by Athlete Ally and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation." His words "reemphasize the NCAA's position, which led it to remove all of its championship events from North Carolina" for '16-17 as a result of HB2 (USA TODAY, 3/15).
YELLOW TAPE: Chicago's Board of Ethics is "drawing the foul line again on baseball freebies -- five months after forcing the Cubs to yank a lucrative offer to let aldermen purchase World Series tickets at face value." Ethics Board Chair WILLIAM CONLON is "warning aldermen, department heads, the city clerk and treasurer that they are prohibited from accepting" the White Sox' offer to attend the team’s April 3 home opener against the Tigers and a "pre-game 'cocktail reception.'” White Sox Senior Exec VP HOWARD PIZER "accepted Conlon’s ruling as the final word on an opening day freebie that has been a Sox tradition for decades" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/15).
TAKE A LAP: Facebook Founder & CEO MARK ZUCKERBERG yesterday "strapped into a race car with DALE EARNHARDT JR. at Charlotte Motor Speedway." Zuckerberg was in for an "800-horsepower adrenaline rush, as cameras zoomed in for viewers on Facebook Live." He was heard saying, "Holy ----!!! All right. We’re a little close to the wall. ... I can’t hear anything I’m saying! Whoa! What a crazy experience.” Zuckerberg’s trip to CMS was "part of his year-long challenge to visit every state and learn more from communities." He earlier "toured the nearby Hendrick Motorsports" and met with SMI President & CEO MARCUS SMITH (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/15).
NAMES: San Diego Superior Court Judge JOHN MEYER issued his final ruling on attorneys fees owed to former San Diego State women’s basketball coach BETH BURNS’ legal team by the California State Univ. system. Meyer had awarded $1.77M in a tentative ruling last week and bumped that to $1.91M yesterday when he “agreed to increase the allowable hourly rate for Burns’ two lead attorneys” (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/15)....Former NBC Sports Chair DICK EBERSOL and his wife recently gifted $100,000 to BILL RICHARD and his family to “build Martin’s Park,” in honor of their son MARTIN RICHARD, who was lost in the Boston Marathon bombing. The $13M project, which will “feature a luscious park and playground,” is still about $3M short of its goal (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/15)....Grizzlies C MARC GASOL and Spurs F PAU GASOL are using the three games their teams will play against one another in March and April to promote Gasol Foundation Health & Wellness programming for at-risk families living in L.A. The campaign kicked off yesterday (Gasol Foundation)....WILLIE O’REE, the first black NHLer, no Monday met with students at Star Elementary in Midway City, Calif. (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 3/14)....Former MLBer DAVID ROSS will dance to “Go Cubs Go” on Monday’s season premiere of ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” (CHICAGOTRIBUNE.com, 3/14).
