Morning Buzz, Febuary 17, 2004

YANKEES TO INTRODUCE ALEX RODRIGUEZ TODAY AT NOON ET

The Yankees have scheduled a noon ET press conference todayto officially introduce Alex Rodriguez, and BLOOMBERG NEWS reported thatJohn Camilleri, manager of the Yankee Clubhouse Stores, said that about10,000 to 15,000 Majestic Athletic batting practice jerseys will be in thestores “as soon as physically possible.” Camilleri added that full stocks “would be available by Friday” (BLOOMBERGNEWS, 2/16).

MLB.comreported that Rodriguez is “expected to don his No. 13 pinstriped jersey forthe first time at a Yankee Stadium press conference” today.  Manager Joe Torre and team captain DerekJeter “likely will attend the event to welcome A-Rod to the Big Apple” (MLB.com,2/16).

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig released a statement uponapproving the transaction that read in part: “I am very concerned about the large amount of cashconsideration involved in the transaction, and the length of time over whichthe cash is being paid.  I want to makeit abundantly clear to all clubs that I will not allow cash transfers of thismagnitude to become the norm” (MLB).

FORMER BRONCOS OWNER’S CLAIMS TO GO TO A JURY TODAY

The DENVER POST reported that former Broncos Owner Edgar Kaiser’s claims againstcurrent Owner Pat Bowlen will go to a jury today.  Bowlen’s defense team “wrapped up its casein U.S. District Court in Denver on Friday, clearing the way for closingarguments by both sides [this morning] and then jury deliberations.”  If any of Kaiser’s fraud andbreach-of-warranty claims “prevail with the jury, another jury in a subsequenttrial will determine what Bowlen owes him” (DENVERPOST, 2/16).

MEMPHIS MAYOR SUPPORTS UNIV. HOOPS TEAM’S MOVE TO FEDEXFORUM

The Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL reports that Memphis Mayor WillieHerenton, his staff and Univ. of Memphis representatives today arescheduled to appear before a City Council committee to “lobby for a$125,000-a-year subsidy from the city” that would allow the school to move itsmen’s basketball games to FedExForum. Several City Council members “question why the city should spend anymoney to let the basketball team walk out on its lease at The Pyramid.”  Herenton will discuss “operatinglosses The Pyramid is expected to have if the Tigers continue to play there” (MemphisCOMMERCIAL APPEAL, 2/17).

The school says that the $125,000 subsidy “would cover notonly the projected lower revenue amounts at FedExForum, but eventual rentincreases at the new arena and the loss of potential naming-rights money at ThePyramid” (MemphisCOMMERCIAL APPEAL, 2/17).

ROBERT GREIFELD TO BE NAMED FIRST CHAIR OF USATF FOUNDATION

SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that USA Track & Fieldwill take steps today to “elevate the profile of its newly formed USATFFoundation by naming” Nasdaq President & CEO Robert Greifeld as thefoundation’s first chair.  Greifeld, amarathoner, “will be charged with driving the foundation’s fundraising and program development, as well as taking the lead in assembling itsboard of directors” (SPORTSBUSINESSJOURNAL, 2/16 issue).

MORNING BRIEFS

The ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS noted that “word within the NFLis that Vikings Owner Red McCombs finally has realized he won’t begetting a new stadium throughthe Minnesota Legislature and that the NFL won’t allow him to move, forcing himto sell the franchise.”  T’Wolves Owner GlenTaylor and Wild CEO Jac Sperling “are poised for a joint purchase” (ST.PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 2/15).

The HOUSTON CHRONICLE reported that SMG, which operatesReliant Stadium, has acquired “controlling interest in the EV1.net Houston Bowlfrom Founder Jerry Ippoliti and will create a nonprofit foundation tooperate the game with an eye on landing a spot” in an expanded BCS (HOUSTONCHRONICLE, 2/15).

NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France, on Europeanexpansion: “We aren’t goingto take our Nextel Cup cars over to Europe. Closer to home, though, we will probably be taking a Busch or TruckSeries race to Mexico City.  They have abeautiful road course right in the heart of the city” (ORANGE COUNTYREGISTER, 2/14).

Hornets Majority Owner George Shinn, on the ’08 NBAAll-Star Game: “We’re going after that one very aggressively.  That’s the one we want.  We want to possibly do it in the Superdomeand break the all-time attendance record. We want it to be the biggest. And the best” (NewOrleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 2/15).

The AP notes that, according to KRIV-Fox, Nolan Ryanhas formally agreed to a five-year personal services contract with the Astros (AP, 2/17).

WUSAyesterday announced the “Keep the WUSA Dream Alive” ticket fund initiative, acampaign to gauge support for the league, which plans to return to fulloperation in ’05 (WUSA).

The Royal& Ancient Golf Club yesterday announced that Royal Birkdale will host theBritish Open for the ninth time in ’08 (AP,2/16).

SportsTickertoday announced that it will provide sports data to fantasy sports Web siteRotoWorld.com (SportsTicker).

The ST.PETERSBURG TIMES reported that tickets for the Devil Rays’ four games inJapan – two exhibition versus Japanese clubs and two regular season versus theYankees – “went on sale Saturday and sold out” (ST.PETERSBURG TIMES, 2/16).

The Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL reports that some Daytona 500attendees “seated near President Bush’s suite Sunday complained theycouldn’t return to the grandstands after using the bathroom, grabbing a soda orbuying a T-shirt.”  A group of 75 BrightHouse Networks employees were “asked to move to another suite Sunday to makeroom for the president.”  Daytona Int’lSpeedway responded yesterday by posting a formal apology on its Web site for“any inconveniences faced” while Bush attended the event (DaytonaBeach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/17).

ATTENDANCEWATCH:

• The AP reported that though the Rookie Challenge “was sold out on the opening night of All-Star festivities, about half the lower bowl was empty as fans fought rush-hour traffic” (AP, 2/14).

• Officials announced a sellout of DIS’s 168,000 seats for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 2/16).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The TORONTO SUN noted that Nelly Furtado, who sangthe Canadian National Anthem prior to Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game, “tried to sing the middle portion of it inFrench.  However, Furtado badly botchedthe French words.”  Despite themistakes, the “sellout crowd at the Staples Center was oblivious” (TORONTOSUN, 2/16).

Daytona 500 Grand Marshall Ben Affleck: “I got into (NASCAR) because the Red Soxstation started to carry NASCAR.  Then Igot into a fantasy league where you pick who’s going to win.  At first it was arbitrary because I didn’treally know who was who or what was what. I was getting rocked all the time. I started to learn more about it, and I got into it.  I found myself watching (races).  It grows on you” (LASVEGAS REVIEW JOURNAL, 2/16).

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. Post
N.Y. Daily News	Philadelphia Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

NASCAR will host a noon ETconference call with Daytona 500 champion Dale Earnhardt Jr., and USA TODAY notes that Earnhardtwill also appear today on NBC’s “Today,” the syndicated “Live with Regis &Kelly” and CBS’ “Late Show” (USA TODAY, 2/17).

The FIFA Goal Bureau will meet,the second of six FIFA committees to meet this week in Zurich.

The WNBAMystics will host a 2:00pm ET news conference to introduce their new headcoach.

THIS WEEK IN SISTER PUBLICATION SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL…

This week’s In-Depthfocuses on sports talk radio, including a listing of stations in major leaguemarkets.

For these stories and more, see this week's SportsBusiness Journal.

EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS

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

IN OTHER NEWS….

This week’s cover of TIME examines “The Secret Killer … TheSurprising Link Between Inflammation and Heart Attacks, Cancer, Alzheimer’s andOther Diseases.”  Meanwhile, NEWSWEEK offers “TheirWars … What the Vietnam Years Tell Us About Bush and Kerry” (THE DAILY).

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that the Disney BOD yesterdayvoted to “reject the unsolicited stock-swap takeover offer” from Comcast,saying that the bid “undervalues Disney’s market price by $3.24-3.60 ashare.”  Comcast is expected to “movequickly to put forth a second offer at a higher price with a differentstructure” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 2/17).

The WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that Cingular Wireless has“won the bidding war for AT&T Wireless Services with a cash offer of $15per share, or about $40.5[B].”  With theaddition of AT&T Wireless, Cingular’s network “will serve 97 of the top 100markets in the U.S.”  Cingular will keepits brand name and drop the AT&T Wireless name.  Cingular, which beat out Vodafone in the bidding war, will host a10:00am ET conference call to discuss the deal (WALLSTREET JOURNAL, 2/17).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

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

“In this job, after the Senate confirms you, you sign yourname at least five times, then pick one to be engraved.”

LAUGH TRACK

THEMONOLOGUES:

CBS’ DavidLetterman: “Did you have a nice Valentine’s Day?  I had a pretty good Valentine’s Day.  I didn’t get anyone pregnant. … The entire balcony is full ofguys who swear they were in the National Guard with George Bush. … Areyou like me?  Do you love historicalfacts?  Lincoln used to wear thestovepipe hat.  The guy sitting behindhim at Ford’s Theatre only saw the second half of the play. … Here in New YorkCity, everybody is excited about the big baseball trade.  The New York Yankees have traded for thehighest-paid player in baseball, Alex Rodriguez.  As a result of this, the price of a beer atYankee Stadium will go from $8 to $22” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/16).

NBC’sJay Leno: “Happy Presidents’ Day. We honor Bill Clinton by having a mattress sale.  And because most people don’t have to worktoday but they still got paid, we honor President Bush. … The White House isstarting to backtrack a little bit on this whole National Guard thing.  Today they said President Bush may not haveactually attended the National Guard, but he did attend National Guard-related programs.… President Bush attended the Daytona 500 over the weekend.  He’s courting the NASCAR dads.  Meanwhile, John Edwards was atStaples Center for the NBA All-Star game. I guess he was courting the kids-out-of-wedlock dads” (“The TonightShow,” NBC, 2/16).

LATENIGHT LAUGHS:

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart: “Janet Jacksonhas released a recorded message of apology, and I think finally we can all getsome sleep tonight because it’s been really difficult for everybody and it’sinteresting, she released it as a pre-recorded message of apology, veryreminiscent of Michael Jackson who had released his pre-recorded aboutten years ago when he first got into that trouble with having sex with the boys;and it leads me to wonder if in fact the Jacksons have their own studiodedicated just to pre-recorded apologies and if it’s a good place to work andmaybe Tito’s in there all the time just hoping for the day when he getsto release one” (“The Daily Show,” Comedy Central, 2/16).

CBS’ Craig Kilborn: “How many people saw PresidentBush at the Daytona 500?  Did you seethat?  Bush had a flashback when he sawthe racecars.  He said ‘Gentlemen, startyour breathalyzers.’ … Art Garfunkel pled guilty to marijuana possessionand paid a $100 fine.  Learn more aboutArt Garfunkel on VH1’s ‘Before They Were Down To Twenty Bucks’” (“The LateLate Show,” CBS, 2/16).

MONDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that while the “top films did well at the box office, overall itwas only the fourth-best Presidents Day weekend on record.”  The projected total box office for all filmsis in the high $130M-to-low $140M range, “far below the record $164.3[M] rackedup during the four-day frame in 2003 and the $163.5[M] recorded in 2002” (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 2/17).

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is Secretary of the Treasury or U.S. Treasurer?”

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

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