Morning Buzz, March 24, 2004

DAYTONA TODAY TO ANNOUNCE “MASSIVE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT”

The Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL reports that Daytona Int’l Speedway today is expected to announce a “massive construction project, which will dramatically change the look of the entire infield.” The redevelopment includes a “new Nextel Cup Series garage area, a tunnel under Turn 1 and a different location for Victory Lane.” Sources said the speedway “may use this opportunity to create a premium grandstand/suite area along pit road.” The Speedway has canceled its fall schedule of events “with the hope of completing all this work in time for Speed Week 2005” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 3/24).

MLB UMPIRES UNION EXPLORING AFFILIATION WITH TEAMSTERS

The AP reported that members of the World Umpires Association, which represents 68 MLB umpires, today will meet in Tampa with Cleveland-based Teamsters Local 416 President Dominic Tocco to explore an affiliation. Tocco has previously met with WUA President John Hirschbeck. Tocco, who said that the WUA requested the meeting, said that the “umpires would be a high-profile affiliation for the 1.4 million-member Teamsters.” But umpire Tim Tschida said, “We’re just having lunch. … There is nothing to report yet” (AP, 3/23).

RED SOX PROPOSAL TO OFFER IN-SEAT ALCOHOL SERVICE TO BE HEARD

The BOSTON GLOBE reports that the Boston Licensing Board today will hear a Red Sox proposal that includes “in-seat beer and wine service for seating installed last year.” If the board “approves the application, as expected, fans in those seats also would have privileges at a new climate-controlled lounge, with leather seats, a private bar, food concessions, and flat-panel televisions. The lounge, on the left field concourse, is now under construction.” Nearly every MLB park has beer vendors, “but the practice was halted at Fenway in the mid-1970s after complaints about drunken fans throwing beer, fighting, and hurling profanities” (BOSTON GLOBE, 3/24).

Meanwhile, an as-yet-untitled documentary chronicling the Red Sox’ ’03 season will premiere May 7 in Boston and roll out nationally throughout the spring and summer. Bombo Sports & Entertainment produced the film in cooperation with the Red Sox. The Red Sox will allow fans to select the film’s title on their official Web site beginning today at 9:00am ET (TH!NKFilm).

ACCUSER IN KOBE BRYANT CASE EXPECTED TO TAKE STAND TODAY

The DENVER POST reports that tensions in the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case “likely will rise to an all-time high today, as the 19-year-old accuser is expected to take the stand in a closed-door hearing about her other sexual encounters. The hearing in Eagle District Court will mark the first time she will be in the same room as [Bryant] since their June 30 encounter at an upscale lodge near Edwards, and the first time defense attorneys have a chance to size her up” (DENVER POST, 3/24).

MORNING BRIEFS

The N.Y. TIMES reports that N.Y. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NY Gov. George Pataki tomorrow will unveil plans to “build the Jets a 75,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof on the far West Side of Manhattan and to nearly double the size of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center next door.” The unveiling of the N.Y. Sports & Convention Center project will include construction plans and a proposed financing package (N.Y. TIMES, 3/24).

The AP reports that after “two weeks of mock drills,” Athens Olympics security exercise “Hercules Shield” concluded yesterday, as Jose Rodriguez, the CIA’s “top counterterrorism official, met with top Olympic officials” (AP, 3/24).

The N.Y. TIMES reports that an arbitration panel unanimously ruled yesterday that the YES Network “must be carried on Cablevision’s expanded basic tier for six years.” But the panel “reduced the monthly subscriber fee Cablevision will pay for it. They retroactively cut last year’s monthly subscriber fee from $2.12 a month to $1.85. This season, the fee to Cablevision will be $1.93, not about $2.28 as YES wanted” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/24).

The INDIANAPOLIS STAR reports that Indiana Univ. students may have to pay $30 a year in a tuition increase “to help bail out the campus’ financially ailing athletic department.” The fee “would be the first of its kind in the Big Ten Conference.” The school’s athletic department “faces a $2[M] deficit in its $34[M] annual budget” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 3/24).

NEWSDAY reports that NFL owners will vote next week on a proposal that would “make instant replay a permanent part of the game.” If approved, the measure would be the “first time replay has been approved on a permanent basis” (NEWSDAY, 3/24). ESPN’s John Clayton reported, “Instant replay is expected to pass next week with as few as four votes against it” ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/23).

The WASHINGTON POST reports that more than 100 gambling opponents testified before the Maryland House Ways & Means Committee yesterday in Annapolis “against proposals to bring slot machines to Maryland.” Slots opponents are pinning “their hopes on the House of Delegates to kill such legislation for the second year in a row” (WASHINGTON POST, 3/24).

LPGA Commissioner Ty Votaw, on Annika Sorenstam’s dominance: “I find it interesting that five years ago, people asked me, ‘Doesn’t the LPGA need a dominant player to capture the imagination of the public?’ Now that we’ve got one, ‘Is it a good thing to have a dominant player?’ Of course it’s good. It’s all good” (L.A. TIMES, 3/24).

The AP reported that fired Univ. of Alabama football coach Mike Price filed suit Monday in Alabama State Circuit Court in Tuscaloosa, accusing Univ. of Alabama President Robert Witt of “fraud and misrepresentation.” The suit asks for a jury to “decide on a monetary award” (AP, 3/23).

THE BACK PAGES

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

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

TODAY’S EVENTS

A full dress rehearsal for the lighting of the ’04 Olympic torch will take place in Athens. The torch will officially be lit during a ceremony Thursday (AP, 3/23).

NHL Exec VP & CLO Bill Daly will hold a 2:00pm ET press conference to discuss CBA issues at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

Churchill Downs will host a 10:30am ET media briefing to discuss hospitality and security procedures for the Kentucky Derby.

NBA Commissioner David Stern will participate in a tour of the Pacers Learning Center in Indianapolis from 2:30-3:15pm ET.

The PGA of America will host an 11:30am ET media luncheon with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton entitled, “Play Golf America,” at TPC at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

City of Denver inspectors will conduct their evaluation and re-certification of the seven escalators throughout Coors Field from 9:30-10:00am MT.

Seven-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Mark Spitz is scheduled to appear on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” Spitz appeared this morning on Fox News Channel, CNBC and ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza” (THE DAILY).

WNBA President Val Ackerman will deliver a presentation, “WNBA & Women Team Sports: A New Sports Marketing Proposition for the New Millennium,” at 4:30pm ET at the Univ. of Pennsylvania as part of the Law & Entrepreneurship Lecture of the Institute for Law & Economics.

The Stars will hold a 10:00am CT groundbreaking ceremony for a Dr Pepper StarCenter & Conference Center in Farmers Branch, TX.

WWE Chair Vince McMahon and CEO Linda McMahon will host a noon-2:00pm ET luncheon at Morrells in N.Y. to unveil a new initiative.

IN OTHER NEWS….

Comcast co-CFO John Alchin yesterday said that the company cannot “leave its unsolicited bid for Walt Disney on the table forever.”  Alchin: “It’s fair to assume this can’t be indefinite” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 3/24).  The N.Y. TIMES reported that Comcast is likely to leave the bid open “for three to six months” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/23).

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that at ShoWest 2004 in Las Vegas, outgoing Motion Picture Association of America President & CEO Jack Valenti yesterday offered an “accounting overview for last year, which saw domestic box office revenue level off at $9.49[B], down just 0.3% from 2002’s record haul of $9.52[B].” Actual admissions slipped to 1.57 billion, down 4% from 1.64 billion in ’02 (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 3/24).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

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

“‘Oh, the places he’ll go!’ was USA Today’s headline announcing the 2004 stamp honoring this artist and author.”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “Do we have out-of-towners in the crowd today? Well, that’s really bad timing because the hookers in Times Square are in Daytona on spring break. … There’s turmoil in the Middle East and it’s having an effect in New York City. I’m coming to work this morning in my cab, and my cab driver receives news that he is the new leader of Hamas. … Burger King has announced that they are going to fine-tune the Whopper. They’re going to take it apart and rebuild the Whopper. Now, each Whopper will come with a packet of mad cow antidote. The old Whopper had fake mayonnaise. Now, they’re going to have real mayonnaise, but they’re still going to have the fake meat. … Donald Trump has written a new book, and the title is ‘How To Get Rich.’ The publishers are hoping this does better than Donald Trump’s previous publication, ‘How To Style Your Own Hair’” (“Late Show,” CBS, 3/23).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

CBS’ Craig Kilborn: “Today John Kerry announced a fool-proof plan to wipe out the $500[B] deficit. John Kerry has a plan. He’s going to put it on his wife’s gold card. … Did you hear this? A true story. A little five-year old boy in kindergarten sprinkled pot on his classmate’s lasagna. I’m guessing he won show and tell. … You know I’ve read about Donald Trump. He’s written a book on how to get rich quick. Step one: marry me. That’s what he says. … And doctors have invented a pill that stops you from smoking and overeating. The side effects include serious injury when you jump in front of a bus” (“The Late Late Show,” CBS, 3/23).

Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart: “I was looking in the papers. Apparently in the Middle East, there are a lot of things going on. The Hamas leader apparently was killed and apparently there are some issues in Iraq and I’ve noticed our gas prices are very high right now. I’m beginning to think there’s a bit of a connection, which doesn’t make sense because if this war is blood for oil, right now I think honestly we’re being ripped off. I think this war may be, and again I don’t want to tell anyone this, blood for blood” (“The Daily Show,” Comedy Central, 3/23).

TUESDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“Who is Dr. Seuss?”

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