Morning Buzz, September 17, 2003

NFL OWNERS EXPECTED TO VOTE TODAY TO RETAIN NFL EUROPE

NFL owners will convene today for a one-day meeting at thePark Hyatt Washington in DC, and ESPN.com reported that they are expected “toretain NFL Europe, the six-team springtime league subsidized by the NFL.”  That decision has the support of NFLCommissioner Paul Tagliabue and NFLPA Exec Dir Gene Upshaw.  However, “with owners skeptical of the long-term viability of NFLEurope, the debate could at least be interesting.”  Also on the agenda is “the awarding of Super Bowl XLI in 2007and, barring an upset, Miami will win the right to host its ninth title game” (ESPN.com, 9/16).

SHOCK DETHRONE SPARKS BEFORE WNBA’S LARGEST CROWD EVER

The Shock defeated the Sparks 83-78 last night at The Palacein Auburn Hills to win the WNBA title, and ESPN.com reported that the selloutcrowd of 22,076 made for “the highest-attended game in WNBA history.”  The attendance broke the record of 20,674,set on four separate occasions by the Mystics at MCI Center in DC.  League-wide, total attendance “increasedover last year with 2,101,653 fans attending games this season, the fourthstraight year league attendance has topped 2 million” (ESPN.com, 9/16).

MLB TO BREAK NEW AD CAMPAIGN TONIGHT ON ESPN TELECASTS

MLB tonight breakswhat it is calling its ad campaign for the next three to five years on ESPN’sMLB telecasts.  Preview this clip fromthe new “I Live For This” campaign via McCann-Erickson, and please see today’sissue of The Daily for more on the campaign.

Click Here To View Clip

USOC TODAY BEGINS THREE-DAY SPONSOR AND LICENSEE WORKSHOP

The USOC today begins a three-day sponsor and licenseeworkshop, “Road To Athens,” at the USOC complex in Colorado Springs to showcasethe overall plans for marketing and hospitality programs during the ’04Olympics in Athens.  Official U.S.Olympic outfitters Roots and adidas will host a fashion show to preview the2004 Look of the Team retail apparel. Select topics of discussion include domestic alternative sponsoractivation program and ambush protection services (USOC).

MORNING BRIEFS

Heat President & coach Pat Riley revealed that“every member of the organization” has agreed to a 10% pay cut, includinghimself.  For Riley, “that could amountto upward of $500,000 for 2003-04” (Ft.Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 9/17).

The Wilmington NEWS-JOURNAL reports that due to the threatof Hurricane Isabel, NASCAR has canceled all on-track activities at Dover Int’lSpeedway for Thursday and Friday, including qualifying for the Busch SeriesStacker 200 and Winston Cup Series MBNA America 400.  Neither of the qualifying sessions will be rescheduled (WilmingtonNEWS-JOURNAL, 9/17).

The N.Y. TIMES reports that the Orioles will not “make anearly postponement” of tomorrow’s Yankees-Orioles game at Camden Yards, despitethe approach of the hurricane.  TheOrioles “conferred with the commissioner’s office and received clearance towait” (N.Y.TIMES, 9/17).

The CHICAGO TRIBUNE reports that MLS Fire execs will "spend the next 30 to 60 days reviewing stadiumand financing proposals after receiving official responses” from the city ofChicago and suburban Bridgeview, Hanover Park and Hoffman Estates (CHICAGOTRIBUNE, 9/17).

DAILY VARIETY reports that Electronic Arts “continues toback the online system of console PlayStation 2 over competitor MicrosoftXbox.”  Since its launch in August,“more than 250,000 users have already registered for EA’s online sports networkto play ‘Madden NFL 2004’ and ‘NCAA Football 2004’” (DAILYVARIETY, 9/17).

The PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL reported that adidas Americathis week “announced the elimination of 20 jobs” at its U.S. HQs in Portland,citing “the poor economy in a prepared statement.”  The company employs about 1,000 people in OR(BIZJOURNALS.com,9/16).

K.C.-area Krispy Kreme stores continue to get hammeredby Royals fans, as USA TODAY reports that the doughnut maker is now “on thehook for giving away 6,728,844 doughnuts, or 560,737 dozen, this season” aspart of a promotion where fans attending a game at Kauffman Stadium receive afree dozen doughnuts when the Royals amass 12 hits.  Krispy Kreme has “redeemed tickets for 105,000 dozen” (USATODAY, 9/17).

ATTENDANCE WATCH:

• The ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS reports that a crowd of 32,921 attended last night’s White Sox-Twins game at the Metrodome, the “largest midweek (Monday through Thursday) attendance figure for a game in September” since September 25, 1991, when they drew 43,450, also against the White Sox (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 9/17).

• The Toronto GLOBE & MAIL reports that a sellout crowd of 13,600 attended yesterday’s Maple Leafs exhibition game against Finnish Hockey League club Jokerit at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 9/17).

• The N.Y. DAILY NEWS reports that a crowd of “more than 1,000” turned out for yesterday’s “Dream Job” tryouts to be an ESPN “SportsCenter” anchor at the ESPN Zone in Times Square (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/17).

A LIGHTER BUZZ...

The PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS notes that arrests at Eagleshome games this season at Lincoln Financial Field are down compared to the pastat Veterans Stadium, as a combined 11 people have been arrested following theteam’s two losses this season.  Bycomparison, “37 people were arrested after last January’s NFC championshipplayoff loss to the Bucs at the Vet. Twenty-seven were arrested the week before in a Saturday night playoffwin” over the Falcons (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS,9/17).

THE BACK PAGES

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

Philadelphia Daily News	Philadelphia Daily News
N.Y. Post Magazine	N.Y. Post

N.Y. Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

ABC will host a 2:30pm ET conference call to discusscoverage of the ’03 Women’s World Cup on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.  Coordinating Producer Bill Graff and analystsWendy Gebauer Palladino and Tony DiCicco will participate.

IN OTHER NEWS….

USA TODAY reports that the Republican-led Senate yesterdayvoted 55-40 to “revoke new rules allowing media giants to get bigger, saying itwanted to preserve diversity and local voices.”  The resolution “does not appear to have the Senate votes neededto override a threatened White House veto” (USA TODAY, 9/17).

The WASHINGTON POST reports that the AOL Time Warner BOD is“scheduled to approve [a] name change” to simply Time Warner at its monthlymeeting in N.Y. tomorrow (WASHINGTONPOST, 9/17).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “People InHistory.”

“About the islands he discovered, he wrote, ‘To the first ofthese I gave the name of the blessed savior.’”

LAUGH TRACK

THEMONOLOGUES:

NBC’sJay Leno: “I had a disappointing last couple of days. ... Sunday I wassupposed to go to the Ben Affleck-Jennifer Lopez wedding.  Then later in the day, I was supposed to goto the Peter Ueberroth for Governor rally. Then last night, I wassupposed to go to the big victory party for Oscar De La Hoya.  So the whole weekend was just a wash. ...The rumor is J.Lo is devastated. She said of all her weddings, this was going to be the best one. ... Therecall election is now put off until March, but recall supporters say they’regoing to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved, and if the U.S. SupremeCourt gets involved, you know what that means. The next governor of California: George W. Bush. ... Last nightin New York it was so windy, a Giants kickoff actually landed in-bounds. ...Researchers are now testing Viagra on athletes as a performance-enhancingdrug.  Yeah, that’s what the CincinnatiBengals need.  Something else to tripover” ("Tonight Show," NBC, 9/16).

TUESDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“Who was Columbus?”

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

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