| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
9:00am ET | |
| |
| • | Annual NFL Spring Meeting To Begin Today In Philadelphia |
| • | Annika Sorenstam To Address Media Today At Colonial Country Club |
| • | MI State Rep. To Introduce Bill To Extend “Disturbing The Peace” To Stadiums |
| • | Green Bay Advisory Committee To Discuss Lambeau Naming Rights Today |
| • | Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban To Meet With FCC Chair Michael Powell Today |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
FULL AGENDA WELCOMES OWNERS AS NFL SPRING MEETING OPENS
The annual NFL spring meeting begins today at thePhiladelphia Marriott. In addition to avariety of business reports and NFL Competition Committee matters, including aproposal by the Patriots and Chiefs to expand the number of playoff teams from12 to 14, discussions on the agenda include the status of The NFL Network,Super Bowl planning, NFL Europe, ’03 Pro Football HOF and NFL Kickoff weekends,workplace diversity initiatives and the league’s stadium financingprogram. Today’s afternoon session willbe held at the NFL Films studios in Mt. Laurel, NJ, followed by a tour of thefacilities (THE DAILY).
The L.A. TIMES reports that the owners are also expected todiscuss “competing proposals to relocate an NFL team at either the Rose Bowl inPasadena or at a new stadium that the league would build in Carson.” Proponents of the L.A. Memorial Coliseumwill “try to buttonhole owners to make their own pitch.” The stadium proposals are not on the agenda(L.A.TIMES, 5/20). The L.A. DAILYNEWS reports that about 100 people attended a Pasadena City Council meetinglast night, and “many residentscriticized the proposal for not referencing traffic mitigation or protection ofthe Arroyo Seco and surrounding neighborhoods” (L.A.DAILY NEWS, 5/20).
SORENSTAM TO HOST NEWS CONFERENCE AT COLONIAL TODAY
Annika Sorenstam will hold a 2:00pm CT newsconference today at Colonial Country Club, site of the PGA Tour’s Bank ofAmerica Colonial, and USA TODAY reports that the pairings for the first tworounds will also be announced today. PGA Tour regulations “call for her to be paired with Category 3 players– those who have yet to make 50 career cuts on the PGA Tour, did not finish inthe top 125 of the Tour money list last year or are not among the World GolfRankings’ top 50” (USA TODAY, 5/20).
CBS Sports and USA Network will hold a conference call at1:00pm ET to discuss their coverage of the Bank of America Colonial. Expected to participate are CBS SportsCoordinating Producer Lance Barrow, CBS Sports golf analyst/on-coursereporter David Feherty, USA Network Exec Producer Gordon Beck andUSA Network lead analyst/CBS Sports on-course reporter Peter Kostis (THEDAILY).
McCONICO TO SEEK SIGNATURES, CO-SPONSORS ON STADIUM BILL
The DETROIT FREE PRESS reports that MI State Rep. BillMcConico will spend today and tomorrow gathering signatures and co-sponsorsto introduce legislation that would “add sports venues to an existing law thatprohibits disturbing the peace in public places.” If the bill passes, “a fan who gets violent or runs onto a fieldduring a game can be arrested, charged with a misdemeanor and face 93 days injail and a $100 fine.” McConico saysthat he has received support from the Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, Pistons, Univ.of MI and MI State Univ. (DETROIT FREEPRESS, 5/20).
GREEN BAY COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS LAMBEAU NAMING RIGHTS
The GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE reports that the Green BayAdvisory Committee will meet today at 5:15pm CT to again discuss “the possibility of selling naming rights forLambeau Field before it brings in consultants.” The committee “last discussed the issue in January, when itagreed, among other things, to have staff bring consultants in within threeweeks to address the committee” (GREEN BAYPRESS-GAZETTE, 5/20).
MORNING BRIEFS
The AKRON BEACONJOURNAL reports that Reebok has “made the best monetary offer and could beclose to signing” LeBron James to a “long-term endorsement deal thatexceeds $75[M]” (AKRONBEACON JOURNAL, 5/20).
The Big East continues its annual spring meeting today inPonta Vedra, FL, and the FLORIDA TIMES-UNION reports that Big East CommissionerMike Tranghese yesterday addressed the media, “making his harshestremarks” about possible secession following a meeting with representatives fromall 14 conference members. Anothermeeting on secession “is scheduled for today, with the possibility that thosetalks could carry over into tomorrow” (FLORIDATIMES-UNION, 5/20).
The FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAMreports that Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban will meet with FCC Chair MichaelPowell today in DC to discuss high-definition TV (FT. WORTHSTAR-TELEGRAM, 5/20).
The VA Baseball Stadium Authority last night held a publicmeeting in Arlington, and the WASHINGTON POST reports that officials said thata stadium would be “integrated into the densely packed Arlington community”with design features to shield the stadium’s lights and noise. Backers also presented plans for “improvingroads and promised that enough parking would be created for the 7,300cars.” Opponents carrying “No Stadiumin Arlington” signs “remained unconvinced” (WASHINGTONPOST, 5/20).
The PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS reportsthat the MISL will reinstate the single-goal scoring system at the beginning ofnext season. Under the multi-pointsystem, which had been in place since the ’88-89 American Indoor SoccerAssociation season, teams were able to score two- or three-point goals (PHILADELPHIADAILY NEWS, 5/20).
Last night ABC aired “ABC’s 50th AnniversaryCelebration,” which featured Joe Namath introducing Al Michaels andJohn Madden for a segment celebrating “MNF.” Namath: “After 509 games, ‘Monday Night Football’ is still thebig event.” Olympic Gold Medalists DorothyHamill and Carl Lewis introduced a segment celebrating “Wide Worldof Sports” and presented Vinko Bogataj, the skier who represented the“agony of defeat” in the show’s intro. JimMcKay, Walt Disney Chair & CEO Michael Eisner, Sugar RayLeonard and Muhammad Ali also appeared on stage (ABC, 5/19).
ATTENDANCE WATCH:
- The BOSTON GLOBE reports that a crowd of 35,099 attended last night’s Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park, “the largest since 35,444 turned out Sept. 29, 1990,” for Blue Jays-Red Sox (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/20).
THE BACK PAGES
The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sportscovers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:
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| N.Y. Post | N.Y. Daily News |
TODAY’S EVENTS
Street& Smith’s SportsBusiness Journal, in conjunction with The Daily, today begins its Open-Wheel Racing Summitat Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Topicsof discussion include “What Does It Take to Activate a Sponsorship and WhatShould You Look for Before Getting In?”; “What Can Teams Do to Make TheirOwnership More Valuable?”; “ExtendingYour Brand at the World’s Premier Motorsport Events." View the entire agenda.
Gallagher’s Steak House in N.Y. will host a media luncheontitled “Salute to Funny Cide” at noon ET. Funny Cide jockey Jose Santos, trainer Barclay Tagg and JacksonKnowlton of Sackatoga Stable, owner of Funny Cide, are expected toattend. NBC race announcer TomDurkin will emcee (THE DAILY).
Redskins coach Steve Spurrier will host his secondannual Steve Spurrier Redskins Classic golf tournament at Lansdowne Resort inLeesburg, VA. FedEx is the presentingsponsor of the tournament, with proceeds benefiting the Washington RedskinsLeadership Council (THE DAILY).
INOTHER NEWS….
The WASHINGTON POST reports that WorldCom today agreed to“pay investors $500[M] to settle charges that the … company defrauded thousandsby claiming it was profitable during a three-year period when it was actuallylosing money.” If approved by U.S.District Judge Jed Rakoff, it “would be the largest payment every by anon-Wall Street firm”(WASHINGTONPOST, 5/20).
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Fox TV Entertainment Group Chair Sandy Grushow, Hubbard Broadcasting CEO Stanley Hubbard and ABC Cable Networks Group President Anne Sweeney will be the first recipients of the TV Century Awards, to be presented by Promax&BDA at its annual conference in L.A. next month. The awards were created to “honor television’s elite for their contributions to building brands” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 5/20).
The N.Y. TIMES reports that the Meow MixCompany and N.Y.-based Lime Public Relations & Promotion are introducing“Meow TV,” branded content that is a “tongue-in-cheek tribute to cats and thepeople they own” that will air on Oxygen. “Meow TV” will be the “first advertiser-produced program to appear” onOxygen (N.Y. TIMES,5/20).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Awards.”
“The organization that sponsored the stage door canteensduring World War II is now known for these annual awards.”
LAUGH TRACK
THEMONOLOGUES:
CBS’ DavidLetterman: “You folks are in luck. You’re here for our big season finale. ... Earlier tonight on NBC, theyhad a TV movie all about Martha Stewart, also known as the eight ofclubs. ... It’s a big blockbuster TV season. Earlier tonight on ABC, they’re celebrating 50 years of broadcasting andthey had their big 50-year anniversary special, and I want to tell you it wasso great to see Fonzie and Potsie and Chachi. Wait a minute. No it wasn’t. ...Over the weekend, Pope John Paul II turned 83-years old, ladies andgentlemen. He celebrated the same wayhe does every year. A bunch ofCardinals took him to lunch at the Vatican Hooters. ... By the way, we havecaptured Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein earlier today. I guess it’s true. I read it in the New York Times. ... Funny Cide, over theweekend, won the Preakness. A NewYork-bred horse won the second jewel of the Triple Crown and ... is a gelding …and the gelding procedure was done to calm him down, and Hillary Clintonsaid, ‘You can do that?’” (“Late Show,” CBS, 5/19).
NBC’sJay Leno: “The producers of the ‘Matrix’ were very smart in getting thefilm distributed around the world quickly. What they did was, they released it in China first. The government there denied it existed andthen it just spread everywhere. ... Congratulations to Funny Cide who won thePreakness. That’s the horse that camefrom out of nowhere to win the Kentucky Derby. You know it’s amazing, in the last three months, three major icons havecome under suspicion. The country’sleading moralist, William Bennett for gambling, a respected newspaper,the New York Times for lying and the Kentucky Derby, a horse race, for cheatingand here’s the ironic part. The onlyone to come out clean is the horse race. ... An Indiana man is suing a localstrip club claiming he was seriously injured at his bachelor party. That must have been a hell of a lap dance. ...A new study says suicide rates are up 40% and that’s just among Laker fans. ...Bob Dylan has taken up a new form of exercise, boxing. He likes to spar in a gym regularly. Is that a good idea? Isn’t Bob Dylan hard enough to understandnow?" ("Tonight Show," NBC, 5/19).
LATENIGHT LAUGHS:
Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Good Things AboutHaving The Same Name As A Celebrity.” The list was read by ten people who share the same name as celebrities ("LateShow," CBS, 5/19).
| 10) Donald Trump: “I forward my credit card bills to him and the idiot actually pays them.” |
| 9) Bruce Willis: “My wife can say she saw Bruce Willis naked.” |
| 8) Tom Hanks: “Between the two of us, guys named ‘Tom Hanks’ have won a pair of Academy Awards.” |
| 7) Jennifer Lopez: “Who else gets to have 3 a.m. phone conversations with a drunken Ben Affleck?” |
| 6) Brad Pitt: “Not only do I have the same name, we have the same abs.” |
| 5) Michael Jackson: “One check sent to the wrong address and I’m set for life.” |
| 4) Tom Cruise: “Wait, there’s another Tom Cruise?” |
| 3) Julia Roberts: “I can talk the Blockbuster guy into giving me a dollar off when I rent ‘Erin Brockovich.’” |
| 2) Sean Connery: “I just nailed Julia Roberts in the Green Room.” |
| 1) David Letterman: “When people meet me, they say, ‘Wow, you look much better in person.’” |
CBS CraigKilborn: “I was watching the Hitler movie, ruthless dictator thatwants to take over the world. Then Irealized I was actually watching the Martha Stewart movie. … In a speech today,President Bush pledged $30[B] to rebuild the Laker offense. … Earliertonight, ABC aired their 50th Anniversary special. The sad part: After three hours, it wascanceled. … In San Antonio, they discovered a man’s ashes in the drive-thru ofa KFC. KFC returned the ashes to theman’s family with the complimentary coleslaw” (“The Late Late Show,” CBS,5/19).
MONDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
ESPN’s 11:00pm ET “SportsCenter” led with Tigers-Indians,followed by Yankees-Red Sox and Devils-Senators Game 5.
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What are the Tony Awards?”
If you haveany questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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