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Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz, August 19, 2002

The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Monday, August 19, 2002
9:00am ET

MLB And MLBPA Negotiators Race The Clock To Avoid Player Strike
Hornets' New Uniforms, Logo To Signify New Surroundings In New Orleans
Falcons Hope Soundtrack To Season Gives Ticket Sales A “Boom”
X Games Set Attendance Records In Philly On Sunday; Will Conclude Today
Tiger All Compliments On The PGA Championship Crowds At Hazeltine
A Lighter Buzz/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Box Office

TWELVE DAYS AND COUNTING: NEGOTIATORS BACK AT THE TABLE

USA TODAY reports that MLB and MLBPA negotiators, "faced with a two-week deadline before players go on strike, head back to the bargaining table today." After players set an August 30 strike deadline on Friday, negotiators held two sessions in N.Y. on Saturday "for a total of about three hours, but didn't discuss the key issues" of revenue sharing and a luxury tax. No talks were held Sunday (USA TODAY, 8/19).

NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was asked his opinion about MLB's labor woes and a possible strike and said, "Godspeed and good luck" (AP, 8/17).

See today's issue of The Daily for a special report on the MLBPA setting a strike date of August 30, including the latest negotiating proposals, comments from players, reaction from league and team officials and media analysis.


NEW ORLEANS BUZZING OVER HORNETS' NEW UNIFORM, LOGO

The Hornets will hold a press conference today at 2:00pm ET at the Christian Brothers School in New Orleans to unveil the team's new logo and uniform for their inaugural season in LA. Hornets co-Owner George Shinn, coach Paul Silas and broadcaster Gil McGregor are scheduled to attend (THE DAILY).


FALCONS KICK THE SEASON OFF WITH A BOOM!

The ATLANTA CONSTITUTION reported the Falcons will kick a new TV ad campaign today that is focused on "getting the word out" about the team's new season, new owner Arthur Blank and "new attitude." The campaign, created by WestWayne, will include television spots using the song "Boom," which the team has licensed from rock band P.O.D. The spots advertise single-game tickets (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 8/17).


X GAMES CONCLUDE TODAY AFTER SETTING ATTENDANCE RECORDS

The Summer X Games conclude today in Philadelphia with a schedule of events that includes aggressive in-line skate and Moto X. The PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER reports that Sunday's attendance figure of 49,683 "set an X Games record for Philadelphia, breaking the mark of 48,900 set last year" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/19).


A LIGHTER BUZZ

Wizards F Michael Jordan, when asked by ESPN whether he will play again next season: "It will be a last-minute decision. The one thing I don't want to do is go into the season dealing with the pain I dealt with last year. I'm really being very cautious and making sure I can play a full season" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 8/18).

The Redskins wore their 70th Anniversary Season "retro" uniforms last night's preseason home game against the Steelers. The team will wear them for "every home game this season, along with the old spear-and-feather helmet logo" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 8/19).


ATTENDANCE WATCH:

  • An estimated 40,000 spectators a day attended the PGA Championship in Chaska, MN. Tiger Woods, on the crowds: "To me, these are some of the nicest people we have ever played in front of. They have been so nice and so supportive of all of us, and just said absolutely great things the entire week" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/19).
  • A total of 116,365 fans attended this past weekend's Red Sox-Twins series, which puts the Twins "ahead of the pace that resulted in an attendance of 1.8 million last year." Last night's coverage of the game by ESPN marked the team's first "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast from the Metrodome since '96 (STAR TRIBUNE, 8/19). The attendance was the largest for a three-game series at the Metrodome since '92 (BOSTON HERALD, 8/19).
  • With an announced crowd of 24,872 fans for Sunday's Padres-Expos game, the Expos "surpassed last year's total attendance with 18 home dates remaining in their schedule." The Expos have drawn 653,203 so far this season, compared with 642,748 in '01 (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 8/19).
  • A season-high crowd of 58,493 turned out for the Phillies' tribute yesterday to Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas, which featured the giveaway of a bobblehead doll featuring Kalas and his longtime partner, the late Richie Ashburn (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/19).
  • An estimated 160,000 attended yesterday's NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 at MI Int'l Speedway (DETROIT NEWS, 8/19).
  • A race-day crowd of 50,000 put the weekend total attendance at CART's Motorola 220 in Elkhart Lane, WI, at about 100,000. A Road America official said that "no accurate ticket sales counts were available but that attendance was down by about 20%" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 8/18).
  • The San Jose SaberCats defeated the Arizona Rattlers 52-14 to capture the ArenaBowl XVI title on Sunday before a crowd of 16,942 at the Compaq Center (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 8/19).
  • A "record crowd for a one-week women's tennis tournament" of 163,941 turned out for the Rogers AT&T Cup in Montreal. The previous record "was 157,000, set the last time the women played there" in '00 (CP, 8/19).

TODAY'S EVENTS

ABC Sports will host a 2:00pm ET conference call to discuss this season's college football coverage. Brent Musburger and analyst Bob Griese are among those expected to participate (THE DAILY).

Ice Hockey in Harlem will host the "Benefit On The Green 2002," a charity golf event featuring former and current NHL players, at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, NY (THE DAILY).


EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Below are this week's confirmed earnings announcements for sports-business related companies (THE DAILY).

DATE
TICKER COMPANY
QUARTER
8/21
DAKT Daktronics
Q1 2003
8/21
ELBO Electronics Boutique Holdings
Q2 2003
8/21
TSA The Sports Authority
Q2 2003
8/22
Z Foot Locker
Q2 2003
8/22
GLYN Galyan's Trading Co.
Q2 2003
8/22
GRTS Gart Sports
Q2 2003
8/22
HIBB Hibbett Sporting Goods
Q2 2003
 

IN OTHER NEWS….

This week's cover of TIME offers a special report on environmental preservation under the headline, "How To Save The Earth." Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK examines "The War Crimes of Afghanistan" (THE DAILY).

The BOSTON GLOBE reports that former Red Sox GM Dick O'Connell, who "transformed a team that finished in ninth place in 1966 into American League champion the following year and rekindled a passion for Red Sox baseball that continues today," died on Sunday after a long illness at the age of 87 (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/19).

The AP reports that Sunday Silence, the "winner of the first two legs of the 1989 Triple Crown, died [today] in Japan from complications of a disease in his left foreleg" (AP, 8/19).

The WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that Interpublic Group has "disclosed that the Internal Revenue Service is auditing its federal income-tax returns for the period from 1994-1996" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/19).

Commenting on the networks' competition to book guests for the first anniversary of 9/11, CBS's "60 Minutes" Exec Producer Don Hewitt said, "I have a feeling that this whole thing could very well be overplayed. It's no time to be in competition. It's almost as if someone was trying to figure out who was going to get the best coverage of Roosevelt declaring war after Pearl Harbor. The competition is in poor taste, I think" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/19).

BLOOMBERG NEWS reports Cablevision Systems Corp. "has announced the 26 unprofitable Wiz electronics stores that will be closed to help it cover a cash shortfall of as much as $900 million" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 8/19).


FINAL JEOPARDY!

Friday's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "U.S. Government."

"Its seal includes the motto, 'Fidelity, bravery, integrity.'"


LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

NBC's Jay Leno: "You know the only airline that's making money?  America West.  Do you know why?  They're charging the pilots for drinks. ... (Hooters) wants to start an airline, Hooters Air.  This is for real.  In fact, their slogan is, 'We love to fly in cold weather and it shows.' ... You know the pilots are going, 'There's turbulence up ahead.  We're going to try and fly into it.' ... President Bush was at Mount Rushmore.  Don't confuse this with former President Clinton, who was just in a rush to mount more. ... It looks like Saddam Hussein is going to get elected to another seven-year term in Iraq.  You know who came in second?  Al Gore. ... A prisoner in Romania cut off his little toes and ate them when he found out his girlfriend had married another man.  Gee, I wonder why she broke up with him?  He sounds like a great catch – insane and in prison. ... 'N SYNC's Justin Timberlake complained to friends that Janet Jackson just used him for sex.  Hey kid, you're lucky it was Janet, and not Michael! ... I read in the paper that an estimated nine million Americans suffer from depression. You know what the medical term for these people is? Baseball fans. ... (Last Friday), a spokesman for the baseball owners said the differences between the owners and the players are basically philosophical.  Philosophically, they both want what they want … all the money. … Only in America, you can't play Little League if you're not really from (N.Y.), but you're still eligible to run for senator" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 8/16).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

On Friday, Leno aired a skit highlighting some of the MLBPA demands. Leno said the players want the "dugout bench replaced with sectional sofa"; "Players want to have as much vacation time as President Bush"; "All travel shall be charter flights on Hooters Airline"; "The shower room must have mirrors that make objects look bigger than they really are"; The "hot dog water must be changed annually"; "(Mets C) Mike Piazza must publish a list of what Broadway shows visiting teams should see when they come to (N.Y.)"; "Ted Williams should be thawed out and Commissioner Bud Selig frozen"; and personal assistants who will scratch their groins for them" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 8/16).


SUNDAY NIGHT'S TV MONITOR

ESPN's 12:00am ET "SportsCenter" led with the PGA Championship.


WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Sony's "XXX" remained atop the box office this weekend, earning as estimated $23M to push its 10-day cumulative to $84.9M. DAILY VARIETY reports that the weekend grosses suffered "a 3% falloff from the same frame a year ago." It was the "fifth consecutive year-over-year decline after a string of weekend upticks earlier this summer" (DAILY VARIETY, 8/19).

Title
This Weekend
Cumulative
XXX
$23M
$84.9M
Signs
$19.5M
$150.7M
Blue Crush
$15.2M
$15.2M
Spy Kids 2
$11.6M
$45.6M
Austin Powers in Goldmember
$8.7M
$183.8M
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
$5.8M
$52.8M
Blood Work
$4.8M
$15.3M
Road to Perdition
$3.8M
$90.3M
The Master of Disguise
$3.3M
$30.4M
The Adventures of Pluto Nash
$2.15M
$2.15M
 

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

"What is the FBI?"


If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com

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