Morning Buzz, May 19, 2003

VA-BASED INVESTMENT BANKING FIRM TO TITLE CAPITAL OPEN

KemperSports Management has scheduled a noon ET newsconference at the TPC at Avenel regarding the PGA Tour’s Capital Open, and theWASHINGTON POST reports that Arlington-based investment banking firm Friedman,Billings, Ramsey Group will be announced as the new title sponsor, renaming theevent the FBR Capital Open.  Theagreement is for this year’s June 5-8 tournament, and FBR co-CEO EricBillings said that negotiations “are still ongoing about his companycontinuing as the title sponsor for three more years” (WASHINGTONPOST, 5/19).

WITH SCHOOLS TABBED, BIG EAST COACHES TO MEET ONSECESSION

The Big East Conference annual meeting continues today inPonte Vedra, FL, and the BOSTON HERALD reports that the football schools willbe joined “by the six basketball-only schools for the first full meeting of theADs” with Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese to discuss the ACC’sattempt to lure Miami, Boston College and Syracuse away from the conference (BOSTONHERALD, 5/19).  The WASHINGTON POSTreported that Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and UConn coach Jim Calhounare scheduled to meet separately with Tranghese, who “is expected to proposesome sort of counteroffer to keep the league together, one that surely willaddress Miami’s desire for increased revenue” (WASHINGTONPOST, 5/18).

ESPN.com reported that final decisions on whether the threeschools will secede from the Big East “might not be made until after the Memorial Day holiday weekend” (ESPN.com, 5/17).

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE IOC EXEC COMMITTEE MEETING

The IOC Exec Committee concluded its three-day meetingSaturday in Madrid, and the BOSTON GLOBE reported that with sales for the ’04Athens Games open for less than a week, “there are already four times as manyapplications for the opening ceremonies as there are places” at the 70,000-seatOlympic Stadium.  Ticket prices for theAthens games are “a third less expensive” than the Syndey tickets, and “morethan two thirds of them are less than $33” (BOSTONGLOBE, 5/18).

Regarding TV rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympics, IOC DirGeneral Francois Carrard said that the IOC Exec Committee will “selectthe network that comes up with the best overall package and not just the mostmoney.”  Carrard: “It’s not just openingenvelopes and reading numbers and saying the highest bidder” (BaltimoreSUN, 5/17).  The IOC TV andInternet Rights Commission will meet June 5-7 in Lausanne to hear from the nets(THE DAILY).

The L.A. TIMES reported that while the IOC exonerated the USOCof any wrong-doing related to drug tests in the 80’s, yesterday it asked theUSOC for “‘generic’ but apparently wide-ranging information … about the USOC’srole in and oversight of anti-doping practices over the last 25 years” (L.A. TIMES, 5/18).

AROUND THE RINGS reported that following the suspension ofthe Iraqi Olympic Committee, an “emissary from the IOC will be going to Baghdadin a few weeks to assess the needs of Iraqi athletes in advance of assistancefrom the IOC towards rebuilding the Iraqi sport” (AROUNDTHE RINGS, 5/17).

The N.Y. TIMES reported that the government of Ireland has “askedathletes from countries affected by [SARS] not to travel” to the SpecialOlympics World Summer Games June 21-29 in Ireland (N.Y. TIMES, 5/17).  IOC President Jacques Rogge: “I don’tknow why a government would restrict the entry of athletes and still allow theentry of business people and other anonymous passengers and travelers” (AP, 5/17).

PIMLICO INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADE TOP ON MAGNA’S LIST

Jockey Jose Santos rode Funny Cide to victory in the128^th Preakness Stakes Saturday, setting up a Triple Crown bid threeweeks hence at the Belmont Stakes. During the awards presentation, Magna Entertainment (MEC) Chair FrankStronach said, “I … would like to assure Marylanders that [MEC] iscommitted to upholding this great tradition of the Preakness here in Baltimore.…  I promise you we will restore Laureland Pimlico Racetracks to one of the greatest racetracks in the world” (NBC,5/17).

The N.Y. TIMES reported that Magna President & CEO JimMcAlpine said that the company “would soon release plans for updatingPimlico, but he also indicated an overhaul of the track’s facade would take abackseat to improving its infrastructure” (N.Y.TIMES, 5/17).

Despite inclement weather, the event drew 100,268 spectatorsto Pimlico Race Course (WASHINGTONPOST, 5/18).  The N.Y. POSTreports that total handle for the day was $59M, an 8% drop over last year,which is “not surprising because this Preakness was not a good betting event –two short-priced favorites and not much in the way of longshots” (N.Y. POST, 5/19).

BUCS DEMANDING HIGHER LEVEL OF RAYMOND JAMES INSURANCE

The TAMPA TRIBUNE reported that the Tampa Sports Authority(TSA) today will decide “whether to take the Bucs to court.”  Atissue is terrorism and hurricane insurance at Raymond James Stadium, as theBucs “are demanding a higher level of coverage than the TSA wants” toprovide.  The TSA estimates that gettingthe extra coverage “would cost it more than $850,000 a year in premiums –nearly three times what it traditionally has paid” (TAMPA TRIBUNE, 5/16).

MORNING BRIEFS

IMG Founder Mark McCormack will be buried today inChicago (THE DAILY).

Grizzlies Owner Michael Heisley, on the possibilityof Michael Jordan joining the team’s front office: “I don’t see wherehe’d fit in.  There’s only so much roomat the top.  With Jerry (West),we’ve got the Michael Jordan of basketball executives” (MEMPHISCOMMERCIAL APPEAL, 5/18).

Padres Chair John Moores, on an MLB team beinglocated in post-Fidel Castro Cuba: “You have enough smart people thereto figure out a way to get enough of a middle class to have baseball in Havana”(ST.PETERSBURG TIMES, 5/18).

Colonial Country Club GM Bob Guth, on ticket salesfor the Bank of America Colonial, in which Annika Sorenstam willcompete: “Colonial always has good attendance, and … we’re approaching asellout.  People want to see somethingnew” (ATLANTACONSTITUTION, 5/18).

The PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS reported that Drexel Univ. iseliminating its baseball and women’s volleyball programs, and the resourceswill be redistributed among the school’s other 16 athletic programs (PHILADELPHIADAILY NEWS, 5/17).

The AP reported that the IL Senate Friday voted 57-0 tocharge offenders a minimum of $1,000 for battery and up to a year in jail fortrespassing on a playing field (AP, 5/17).

The Portland OREGONIAN reported that Columbia Sportswear ispursuing civil and criminal sanctions against a transporter and German buyer to“recoup unspecified legal costs” after a batch of 2,900 women’s nylon jacketson their way from Hong Kong to Germany in November were seized.  The jackets had “the familiar diamond-shapedlogo, … but the ‘C’ in Columbia had replaced with an ‘S,’ making it Solumbia” (PortlandOREGONIAN, 5/17).

ATTENDANCE WATCH:

• The SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS reports that crowds of 17,500 on Sunday, 27,160 on Saturday, 12,200 on Friday and approximately 4,500 on Thursday attended the X Games Global Championship at the Alamodome.  While not as large as the 40,000-average at the X Games in Philadelphia in ’02, X Games GM Chris Stiepock said that the attendance was “good for a first-time event” (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS, 5/19).

• The CHARLOTTE OBSERVER reported that a crowd of “more than 42,000” attended Friday night’s Hardee’s 200, the inaugural NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in NC (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/17).

• The BIRMINGHAM NEWS reported that a crowd of 12,102 attended Saturday’s England-U.S. women’s int’l friendly at 83,091-seat Legion Field (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 5/19).  The paper previously reported that approximately 15,000 tickets had been sold for the match (THE DAILY).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The L.A. TIMES reports that Lamborghini officials supplied TigerWoods with a car during the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open in Alveslohe, Germany,but it “never left the golf course parking lot.”  Each day, “four or five employees from the car company, hopingWoods would take their bright orange sports car for a spin, hopped to theirfeet as the world’s top-ranked golfer passed. But Woods, a Buick endorser, stepped into a Volkswagen sedan.”  Woods: “It’s just too flashy for me” (L.A.TIMES, 5/19).

WEEKEND RAP…

The following are excerpts from the panelists’ “partingshots” on Sunday’s edition of ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters”:

• ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio: “This week the Mets fired their team psychologist because he was violating the rules on hanging out in the dugout.  Hello!  If there’s any team in baseball that needs a shrink on the bench, it’s the Mets!”

• N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, on the death of IMG Founder Mark McCormack: “When McCormack took over the selling and packaging of (Arnold) Palmer, he invented the modern sports agent.  It makes him as much a giant as anybody on the business side of sports in his lifetime.  He was as much a visionary as Pete Rozelle or the great Roone Arledge. ... He was a lawyer, agent, promoter, mercenary and visionary. ... Nobody changed the game more than Mark McCormack.”

• Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom, on lessons that can be learned from Pistons F Danny Manning and Kings G Mateen Cleaves, who sit on the end of their respective team’s benches: “LeBron James is already envisioning his number one selection, his starter’s minutes and his NBA rings.  But Manning and Cleeves envisioned those things too, and they were college stars, not high school ones.  Some dreams come true, some don’t.  In the end, all you have is your character.  If LeBron James wants to glimpse adulthood, he should check out the end of the bench, not just the front of the line.”

• ESPN’s John Saunders, on the ACC voting to invite Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to join the conference: “It’s enticing to Miami because despite winning a national championship two years ago, the program actually lost money while ACC schools took in $10(M).  Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese is justifiably livid. ... This is a hostile takeover.  Yes, the Big East is a basketball-first conference, but the loss of these three schools could destroy it” ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 5/18).

Heard elsewhere over the weekend:

• MGM Mirage Race & Sports Book Dir Robert Walker, on the posting of several prop bets on Annika Sorenstam’s possible scores for the Bank of America Colonial: “Otherwise, we wouldn’t even be talking about the Colonial right now” (ESPNews, 5/16).

• ABC’s Ron Claiborne, on Sorenstam: “Fair or not, the credibility and stature of women’s golf and its greatest player are at stake” ("World News Tonight," ABC, 5/16).

• Lupica, on Sorenstam: “This is about pushing product and the product is herself” ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 5/18).

• Golf Magazine Senior Editor Tara Gravel, on Sorenstam: “Of course she’s getting a ton of publicity for this.  That’s a great thing.  It’s a great thing for the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour” ("Evening News," CBS, 5/18).

• CBS’ Randall Pinkston, on Sorenstam: “No matter how she plays, Sorenstam has already changed the conversation about golf and a woman’s place in the game” ("Evening News," CBS, 5/18).

• Albom, on NBC’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes: “I watched that whole NBC thing and maybe it’s just me, but children are not props.  Don’t keep showing children crying and screaming on (TV).  NBC spent a lot of time decrying the terrible treatment that (Jose Santos) got by the media and then spent 20 minutes milking it” ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 5/18).

THE BACK PAGES

The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sportscovers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post	N.Y. Daily News

Philadelphia Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

The ECHL will make an announcement regarding its name at1:00pm ET and ECHL President & CEO Brian McKenna will be availablevia conference call at 2:00pm ET (THE DAILY).  The AUGUSTA CHRONICLE reports that the ECHL has “submittedapplications for four possible names – the Super Hockey League, Premier HockeyLeague, Continental Hockey Association, and Federal Hockey League” (AUGUSTACHRONICLE, 5/19).

THIS WEEK IN SISTER PUBLICATION SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL…

This week’s issueoffers a Special Report on Motorsports, including a look at increased NASCARratings in the top TV markets and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s need for thefirst time to advertise tickets for this weekend’s Indy 500.

Also in this week’sissue:

• Annika Sorenstam’s Colonial Entry Assisting Bank Of America Sponsorship
• AFL Closing In On $15M In Financing
• Falcons QB Michael Vick Green-Lighting Further Sponsor Deals

EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

Below are thisweek’s confirmed earnings announcements for sports-business related companies (THEDAILY).

INOTHER NEWS….

This week’s cover of TIME offers “Hey, Where’s My Raise?”  Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK examines “TheSecret Life Of Jayson Blair” (THEDAILY).

AOL Time Warner held its annual shareholders meeting Friday,and COX NEWS reported that “investor ire at the … meeting seemed more directedat pay disparities between top executives and the average worker.  Shareholders expressed anger that [Chair& CEO Richard] Parsons earns $1[M] a year at a company thathas laid off about 7,000 people since it was created in a 2001 merger.”  Others expressed “outrage over thecumbersome process to nominate board members” (COX NEWS, 5/17).

MULTICHANNEL NEWS reported that Charter Communications stockwas up 23% Friday, $2.55 per share, after Comcast Exec VP & co-CFO LawrenceSmith said that Comcast was “negotiating with [Charter Chair Paul] Allenconcerning its $725[M] ‘put’ rights for Charter stock” (MULTICHANNELNEWS, 5/16).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Friday’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Declaration ofIndependence Signers.”

“On the list of the signees, two of the three last namesthat appear twice.”

LAUGH TRACK

THEMONOLOGUES: 

CBS’ DavidLetterman: “Let’s get this over with. Mom is holding a place in line for me for that ‘Matrix’ movie.  I want to get right over there. ...Everybody in New York has ‘Matrix’ fever. Earlier today, I saw a tourist hovering over a hooker. ... Did you seewhat’s number one on the New York Times Best-Seller list for fiction?  Do you know what it is?  The Times. ... Television is back on inBaghdad, and I guess it’s no surprise the big hit show there is ‘StolenAntiques Roadshow.’ ... They caught a guy working at McDonald’s selling cocaineout through the drive-thru window.  It’samazing.  I don’t know how McDonald’sdoes it?  $0.99 for a kilo. ... Airlinepassengers are 21 pounds heavier than they were in 1995. ... You know thingsare bad when the flight attendant asks if they can show the in-flight movie onyour ass” ("Late Show," CBS, 5/16).

NBC’sJay Leno: “I guess last night was ‘Must See TV.’  Last night they had all the big finaleson.  ‘ER’ finale.  Finale of ‘Friends.’  Finale of the Lakers.  It was all on last night. ... Lakers lostbad.  But the good news is no MarkMadsen victory dance.  ShaquilleO'Neal actually apologized to the fans. He hasn’t done that since his last rap album.  I tell you it’s already going to the San Antonio players’ heads.  Like today, they said they were embarrassedto be from the same state as the Dixie Chicks. ... Some of the scenes in thisnew ‘Matrix’ movie are unbelievable. Like there’s one scene where Keanu Reeves uses a word with foursyllables in it.  I was stunned. ... Aprofessor at the University of London claims to have come up with the formula formaking hit movies. ... He said he breaks it down into percentages.  The formula is 30% action, 70% comedy and 0%Madonna. ... The French ambassador to the U.S. has written an angryletter claiming the U.S. is engaging in a disinformation campaign of falsestories.  So I guess they get the NewYork  Times over there too. ... Carcompanies, like Jeep, Hummer and Honda, are now marketing their own line offootwear.  Car companies sellingshoes?  Doesn’t say much about thereliability of the cars, does it?  ‘Here’ssome shoes.  You’re gonna need them!’... Fox is coming back with a new version of ‘Joe Millionaire’ in the fall, butcritics are asking how women could possibly be fooled again.  Is that really hard?  Did you see those women?  You could fool those women with a faketennis ball throw” ("Tonight Show," NBC, 5/16).

LATENIGHT LAUGHS:

Last Friday's Top Ten list was "Top Ten Surprises InThe New Hitler Movie" ("Late Show," CBS, 5/16).  

CBS’ CraigKilborn: “Last night in L.A., people booed, they cried, they tore uptickets.  But dammit, that won’t stop mefrom doing tonight’s show. … Staples Center having a sale on champagne.  It’s free. … Barbara Walters willinterview Hillary Clinton, and I’ve invented a drinking game forthis.  You do a shot every time Barbarasays, ‘all wall sex.’ … Happy birthday to Tori Spelling. She turns 30today.  She was unhappy about turning30.  She called daddy, now she’s 25again. … There’s a new limousine service that transports pregnant women to thehospital.  It’s right on time for promseason” (“The Late Late Show,” CBS, 5/16).

SUNDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

ESPN’s 11:00pm ET 90-minute edition of “SportsCenter” ledwith Nets-Pistons Game One, followed by Vijay Singh winning theEDS Byron Nelson Classic and announcing his withdrawal from the Bank of AmericaColonial and Rangers-Yankees.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Warner Bros. Pictures’“The Matrix: Reloaded” estimated $93.3M “during the three-day session and astaggering $135.8[M] since its release late Wednesday night. … The estimatedtotal for this weekend’s top 12 films was $156.5[M], down nearly 4% from thecomparable frame last year” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 5/19).

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What are Adams, Morris and Lee?”

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

The Morning Buzz provides anearly update of the news and headlines each Monday through Friday atapproximately 9:00am ET. If you would like to sign up for an e-mail alert tothe Morning Buzz, go to MyAccount and personalize your e-mail alert options.