| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Wednesday, February 27, 2002
9:00am ET | |
| • | After 69 Years, Curtain Set To Fall On Yawkey Era In Boston |
| • | Astros Take Enron To Court Hoping To End Naming-Rights Deal |
| • | Lemieux Addresses Critics Of His Olympic Participation |
| • | A Hughes Honor: Gold Medalist Graces Cover Of SI |
| • | Spring Fever Spreads Through Ten Teams Training In AZ |
| • | A Lighter Buzz/In Other News/TV Monitor/Laugh Track/Final Jeopardy! |
HENRY’S OWNERSHIP GROUP TO ASSUME FULL CONTROL OF RED SOX
The BOSTON HERALD reports that John Henry “officially takes the throne of Red Sox Nation today, ending the grueling and controversial sale of the fabled franchise and closing the book on the Yawkey era.” Henry and his investment partners, who are “not expected to make any dramatic changes,” will sign the final sale documents, taking “full control of the Olde Towne Team from John Harrington, the outgoing Sox chief executive” (BOSTON HERALD, 2/27).
ASTROS GO TO COURT TO REMOVE ASSOCIATION WITH ENRON
The HOUSTON CHRONICLE reports the Astros “will seek a U.S. bankruptcy court ruling today to force Enron to drop its ballpark naming-rights agreement, a move the company opposes.” Enron is current on its payment, prompting legal experts “to say Judge Arthur Gonzalez is unlikely to grant the request.” Buyout attempts by the Astros of the 30-year, $100M deal “have stalled” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/27).
LEMIEUX ADDRESSES OLYMPIC CRITICISM IN PRESS CONFERENCE
In a press conference on Tuesday, Penguins C and Canadian men’s hockey team member Mario Lemieux addressed remarks by others that he made the Games a priority over the NHL team. Lemieux: “I was very disappointed by some of the comments that were made. But I think if you look at my history with this organization, I’ve always put the franchise first, and that’s not going to change in the future. I had one chance to play in the Olympics, and I took advantage of it and came out on top. That’s what I wanted to do” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 2/27).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
This week’s cover of Sports Illustrated features Gold Medal-winning figure skater Sarah Hughes with the tagline: “Leaps and Bounds … Sarah Hughes Pulls a Stunning Upset” (THE DAILY).
Former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman was inducted into the TX Sports Hall of Fame yesterday. Also gaining enshrinement from the 21-member committee were NASCAR drivers Terry and Bobby Labonte; NFLers Mike Munchak, Bruce Matthews and Dick “Night Train” Lane and former MLBer Norm Cash (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/27).
The LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL reports on last night’s debut of the ABA Las Vegas Slam, noting that “about 300 fans showed up at Cox Pavilion,” and that “very few in attendance could say they didn’t get their money’s worth considering most of them used free tickets” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/27).
Spring Training is underway in AZ and the ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports ticket sales “have been brisk for most of the 10 teams” that train in the state. Early speculation “is that this spring’s attendance will be as high or higher than ever before” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/27).
TODAY’S EVENTS
The National Sports Marketing Network will host “Bringing Home the Gold: The Economics of Washington, DC 2012” this morning from 8:00-10:00am ET at the ESPN Zone in Washington. DC 2012 President Dan Knise and DC Sports & Entertainment Commission President & Exec Dir Bobby Goldwater will speak (THE DAILY).
Churchill Downs Exec VP & CFO Robert Decker will present to analysts and investors at the CIBC World Markets Gaming, Lodging and Leisure Conference in N.Y. at 11:15am ET (THE DAILY).
IN OTHER NEWS….
The N.Y. TIMES reports that NBC officially “signed a new contract with its late-night star Conan O'Brien yesterday,” extending his stay as host of "Late Night" by four years. The terms “were not disclosed, but executives involved in the negotiations said that with various incentives … O'Brien would be paid more than $8 million a year” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/27).
Anheuser-Busch “plans to expand its long-running campaign aimed at encouraging college students to drink responsibly by featuring the mascots of various colleges and universities in television advertising.” Mascots will appear in commercials during next month’s NCAA basketball tournament (N.Y. TIMES, 2/27).
The BOSTON HERALD reports that a poll of 406 registered MA voters taken Saturday through Tuesday reveals that 69% of Republican voters “view [Mitt] Romney favorably” with regards to the upcoming MA gubernatorial race, while only 36% “give [acting Gov. Jane] Swift favorable marks” (BOSTON HERALD, 2/27).
ADAGE.com’s Scott Donaton wrote that AOL Time Warner inevitably “will own NBC,” and although marketers, media buyers and consumer advocates “will, and should, have concerns about such a pairing, it makes all the sense in the world” (ADAGE.com, 2/26).
Fox News Channel “tightened its grip as cable's top news network” in February by doubling its viewership lead over CNN. Although CNN continued to grow as well, Fox News “averaged about 395,000 more viewers than CNN did in prime time. Last month, Fox News had a 170,000 lead in average viewership, taking CNN's title for the first time” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 2/27).
FINAL JEOPARDY QUESTION
Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "19th Century Inventions."
"Peter Roget's new device for performing mechanically the involution and evolution of numbers."
LAUGH TRACK
NBC’s Jay Leno, on the network’s Olympic TV ratings: "NBC stands to make $75(M) profit from the Olympics Games. You know who made the second-highest profit at the Games? Skating judges. I’m kind of sad the Olympics are over. Now it's back to the same old bickering, the same old fighting, the same old back-stabbing. Oh, that was the Olympics." Leno, on athletes’ endorsements: "Jim Shea is in the ad for McDonald’s, skating champion Sarah Hughes is on the new box of Wheaties that came out (Monday), Bob Costas is going to be the new spokesman for Lucky Charms." Leno, on Saturday night’s riots outside the beer tent in Salt Lake City: "I guess one guy got drunk (and) tried to hit on another guy's four wives" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 2/26).
CBS’ David Letterman: "People are saying now that the Winter Olympics this year went so well that (UT) will not have to bribe officials to get them again" ("Late Show," CBS, 2/26).
Last night's "Top Ten" list was "Top Ten Leftover Top Ten Entries" ("Late Show," CBS, 2/26).
| 10) | "Lord of the Ringos." |
| 9) | "I'll take two tickets to the Harlem Globetrotters and a $250,000 bond, please." |
| 8) | "It wasn't me -- it was a guy named N. Ron!" |
| 7) | "Stone Temple Phillips." |
| 6) | "The Mafia guys are always caught 'whacking' themselves." |
| 5) | "Ashcroft covered the statue of justice, now he's naked." |
| 4) | "I'm sorry, Winona Ryder stole your Grammy." |
| 3) | "My mullah is an honor student at Kandahar High." |
| 2) | "He's in a secure, undisclosed strip club." |
| 1) | "Dude, where's my turban?" |
TUESDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
ESPN’s 11:00pm ET “SportsCenter” led with an injury update on Wizards F Michael Jordan.
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
"What is a slide rule?"
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dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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