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Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz, April 16, 2004

The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Friday, April 16, 2004
9:00am ET

Jerry Colangelo Today To Announce That Suns Expected To Be Sold Next Week

English Premier League To Profit $517.8M From Overseas Broadcasts

Time Today To Name Bill Belichick As One Of 100 Most Powerful & Influential

Proposal To Give Marlins $60M Subsidy Narrowly Passes House Committee

Expos Host Smallest Hiram Bithorn Stadium Crowd Last Night Against Marlins

Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy!


JERRY COLANGELO TODAY TO ANNOUNCE IMMINENT SALE OF SUNS

Suns CEO & Chair Jerry Colangelo today will host a noon PT press conference at America West Arena to make a major announcement, and the ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that the team is “expected to be sold next week for more than $300[M], and two out-of-state buyers are the front-runners.” While Colangelo would remain CEO, it “was not clear whether he would retain any ownership.” He now owns 18% of the franchise. TNT analyst Steve Kerr, who was drafted by the Suns from the Univ. of Arizona in ‘88, indicated that he is in one of the ownership groups (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 4/16).


ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE TO MAKE $517.8M ON OVERSEAS BROADCASTS

English Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore will announce today that the league has made $517.8M for the “three-year deals with overseas broadcasters from the start of next season, a [$200M] increase on its last batch of deals” in ‘01.  Scudamore “feared that a global downturn in media rights coupled with European competition concerns would lead to a drop in revenues for already cash-strapped clubs” (London GUARDIAN, 4/16).


BOSTON’S WEEI-AM HIT THE RHODE ISLAND AIRWAVES THIS MORNING

The PROVIDENCE JOURNAL noted that Boston sports radio station WEEI-AM hit the airwaves in Rhode Island this morning at 6:00am ET with the “Dennis and Callahan Morning Show.” The station was originally expected to debut on WWRX-FM in early May. Citadel Communications, which owns WPRO-AM, has “two years remaining on a contract to carry WEEI’s broadcasts of Red Sox games. When that deal is up in 2006, WEEI will begin running Red Sox broadcasts” on WWRX-FM (PROVIDENCE JOURNAL, 4/15).


TIME TO NAME BELICHICK ONE OF 100 MOST POWERFUL, INFLUENTIAL

USA TODAY reports that Time magazine today will name Patriots coach Bill Belichick “as one of its 100 Most Powerful and Influential People for the issue on newsstands Monday.” CBS analyst Phil Simms, who played for the Giants when Belichick was a coordinator: “He’s not as dull as people think. Heck, he goes to Bon Jovi concerts” (USA TODAY, 4/16).


MORNING BRIEFS

USA TODAY reports that the MLB Relocation Committee yesterday “discussed the six leading cities vying for the [Expos] during a two-hour conference call.” MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy said that an update “will be made to the full ownership when it meets in New York next month” (USA TODAY, 4/16).

The MIAMI HERALD reports that a proposal to give the Marlins a $60M state sales-tax rebate “narrowly passed its only required committee, the Finance and Tax Committee, setting up a vote by the full House in the coming days.” However, Senate President Jim King has “vowed to kill any Marlins tax break this legislative session” (MIAMI HERALD, 4/16).

BLOOMBERG NEWS notes PepsiCo reported that Q1 ’04 earnings “rose 15% as new Gatorade flavors and advertising for Lays snacks fueled the biggest sales increase in two years.” Net income rose to $804M from $698M a year earlier. Revenue rose 11% to $6.13B (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 4/16).

The New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE reports that Churchill Downs and New Orleans Fair Grounds representatives “were expected to meet into the night Thursday concerning a potential deal for Churchill to buy the New Orleans racetrack.” The Fair Grounds faces a Monday deadline to submit a Chapter 11 reorganization plan in bankruptcy court (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 4/16).

USA TODAY reports that an NCAA study examining athletics revenues and expenses by conference for Div. I-A schools found only SEC schools “averaged a profit each of the [past] 10 years. At the opposite end of the scale, Big East schools averaged a deficit every year but one” (USA TODAY, 4/16).

The ORLANDO SENTINEL reports that Conference USA athletic directors “have recommended UTEP as the league’s 12th all-sports member, hoping to finalize a realignment process that started last summer and stretched across the country.” C-USA presidents will discuss conference membership April 30 (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 4/16).

The Nashville TENNESSEAN reports that the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl presented by Bridgestone, which featured the Univ. of Wisconsin and Auburn Univ., “helped pump $14.7[M] into Nashville’s economy compared with $7[M] around the previous year’s game, which was the worst-attended in the bowl’s seven-year history.” Last year’s game featured the Univ. of Minnesota and the Univ. of Arkansas (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 4/16).

Charles Schwab runs a half-page ad in USA Today congratulating Phil Mickelson on winning The Masters. The ad also touts a promotion driving people to open a Schwab account (THE DAILY).

ATTENDANCE WATCH:

  • The PALM BEACH POST reports that a crowd of 8,494 attended last night’s Marlins-Expos game at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, the “lowest of the Expos’ 28 ‘home’ games” in Puerto Rico (PALM BEACH POST, 4/16).
  • The ECHL is averaging 2,816 fans per game through the first 36 games of the Kelly Cup Playoffs, up 32% over the first round in ’03. The first-round average is up 11% over ’02, and up 5% from ’01 (ECHL).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The N.Y. POST yesterday “flew a massive banner over downtown Boston and Fenway Park” in support of the Yankees during afternoon rush hour. The banner read, “NY POST – Empire Strikes Back – Go Yanks” (N.Y. POST, 4/16).

The ESPN.com question prompted at the beginning of “SportsCenter” last night asked, “Who would you ‘LEAST’ want as your boss?” With 106,919 total votes, the results are as follows ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 4/15):

Name

% Of Vote

Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner

37.4%

Raiders Owner Al Davis

21.5%

Redskins Owner Daniel Snyder

18.6%

Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones

13.7%

Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban

8.6%


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. Post
N.Y. Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

Sports & Events Marketing Experience will begin its inaugural conference at George Washington Univ. in DC, where Under Armour Founder & President Kevin Plank will deliver a 1:00pm ET keynote address. Other speakers include Octagon VP/Marketing & Athlete Representation Patrick McGee, SFX Sports Senior VP/Marketing, Management & Television Donald Dell, NFLPA Senior VP/Marketing Clay Walker, NASCAR Managing Dir of Broadcasting & New Media Jeffrey Pollack, AOL Sports Senior VP Carlos Silva, The TCI Companies CEO Linda Higgison, Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon and USA Today columnist Christine Brennan.

Nuggets playoff tickets go on sale today, and Domino’s Pizza will offer free pizza to all fans waiting in line at the Pepsi Center box office.

The American Association of Advertising Agencies Management Conference concludes today in Miami.

Former Red Sox Johnny Pesky and Bobby Doerr will join Boston Mayor Thomas Menino in unveiling a statue of Ted Williams outside Fenway Park at 1:00pm ET.

NFL Giants RB Tiki Barber and his wife, Ginny, will participate in the final event of the year-long domestic violence public awareness initiative, “The Times Square Project: Stop Violence Against Women,” in Times Square at 11:00am ET. Lifetime Television and the NASDAQ stock market will participate.


IN CASE YOU MISSED IT....

Every Friday, the Morning Buzz highlights a video clip, chart or piece of information that might have fallen through the cracks. This week, as one of the judges on NBC's "Miss USA 2004" broadcast, NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon hinted that he would keep the rules of racing in mind when determining his favorite contestant (THE DAILY).


IN OTHER NEWS….

Donald Trump last night chose 32-year-old Internet entrepreneur Bill Rancic to be “The Apprentice” on the season finale of the NBC unscripted drama. Rancic will return to his native Chicago to manage the construction of a hotel and residential tower as president of a Trump company (Mult., 4/16).

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Viacom Chair & CEO Sumner Redstone and President & COO Mel Karmazin “each received a salary of $3.99[M] and a bonus of $15[M] in 2003. This compares with $3.63[M] and $16.5[M], respectively, in 2002” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 4/16).


FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “20th Century Bestsellers.”

“First published in 1967, it tells the story of seven generations of a Colombian family.”


LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “I am really upset about last night. I am boiling about last night. Here’s what happened. The CIA failed to warn me about last night’s audience. ... Today is April 15th. So you have about 20 minutes to get your tax returns in the mail. Go ahead, you’re not going to miss anything here. ... Mom and I have been to see Mel Gibson’s movie, ‘The Passion of The Christ,’ four times and it’s interesting: the more you see the movie, the more you begin to notice little production mistakes. ... We spotted one again last night. Here’s what it was. At the Last Supper, a waiter comes up with one of those giant pepper mills. ... There’s new audiotape from Osama bin Laden and experts can tell that it’s a recent audiotape because in it he makes reference to Omarosa getting fired from ‘The Apprentice’” ("Late Show," CBS, 4/15).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “Dick Cheney released his tax records yesterday. It was kind of embarrassing. He listed President Bush as a dependent. There was one surprise on John Kerry’s return. Under ‘Primary Income’ he listed, ‘I married it.’ ... President Bush earned $400,000 for his job as President last year. That’s really not that much when you think about it. President Bush doesn’t do it for the money. He does it for the eight months of vacation. ... It seems there’s a cat in Germany that weighs 41 pounds. It’s the heaviest housecat in the world. To give you an idea how fat the cat is, when it uses the litter box, it brings a magazine in with it. ... On this day the color barrier was broken in baseball when Jackie Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, and it was on this date in 2002 the color barrier on ‘Friends’ was broken when Aisha Tyler guest-starred” ("The Tonight Show," NBC, 4/15).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Things You Don’t Want To Hear From Your Accountant,” read on-stage by ten N.Y.-area accountants ("Late Show," CBS, 4/15).

10) “Listen, I’m not so good with math.”

9) “The good news is you’re getting a huge refund – the bad news is you’ll have to hide in Costa Rica for a while.”

8) “I’ll gladly waive my fee for a night with your wife.”

7) “Hey, get me a drink!”

6) “Do you have any dedemptions or exumptions or whatever?”

5) “Relax, everything will be fine – I used to work for Enron.”

4) “Screw the computer – I do all my work on an Etch A Sketch.”

3) “What’s your rush? The deadline is June 15th, right?”

2) “You can’t claim yourself as your own spouse.”

1) “I was late filing your return so I could appear on Letterman.”

CBS’ Craig Kilborn: “The big story, Osama bin Laden released a new video which offers a truce. He’ll end all terrorist attacks in exchange for Rebecca Romijn’s phone number. … What’s the big day? April 15th. Tax time. And take it from me, do not lie, ladies and gentlemen, on your taxes. The IRS fined me $5,000 for listing my occupation as TV star. Celebrities are filing their taxes. I think Puff Daddy had a very good year. Under income, it just says, “S’all good!” … The oldest working man in America has lost his job at 104 years of age. It was outsourced to a 104-year-old Indian man” (“The Late Late Show,” CBS, 4/15).


THURSDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

Net

Show

Lead

Next Items

ESPN

“Around The Horn”

Lakers G Kobe Bryant

Marlins; NFL schedule

ESPN

“PTI”

Lakers G Kobe Bryant

Cavaliers G LeBron James; Marlins

ESPN

11:00pm ET “SportsCenter”

Canadiens-Bruins

Predators-Red Wings; Marlins-Expos

FSN

“BDSSP”

Lakers G Kobe Bryant

Clutch athletes; Marion Jones

FSN

“New England Sports Tonight”

Orioles-Red Sox

Canadiens-Bruins; Celtics-Pacers preview

Empire Net

“Empire Sports Report”

Canadiens-Bruins

Predators-Red Wings; Maple Leafs C Joe Nieuwendyk


FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is ‘100 Years of Solitude?’”


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

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

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