Morning Buzz, April 22, 2004

NFL TO FILE RESPONSE TO CLARETT WITH SUPREME COURT TODAY

The WASHINGTON POST reports that the NFL’s reply to arequest from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg regarding MauriceClarett’s application for the Court to “lift a stay granted by a federalappeals court on Monday that would keep” Clarett out of this weekend’s NFLDraft is due today at 9:00am ET.  Therewere “some indications yesterday that Ginsburg might schedule a hearing fortoday or Friday.  Ginsburg is handlingClarett’s request for emergency relief and can deny it and leave the stayintact, lift the stay, schedule a hearing or refer the matter to the fullcourt” (WASHINGTONPOST, 4/22).

NFL Exec VP & CAO Jeff Pash: “We look forward toexplaining to the court that there is no justification for vacating the stay” (USATODAY, 4/22).

Meanwhile, autographed card manufacturer SA-GE Collectibleshas announced that Clarett will continue to be featured in the company’sproducts regardless of his draft status (SA-GE Collectibles).

BOWLS MUST EXPRESS INTEREST IN FIFTH BCS GAME BY TODAY

With college football bowl games facing a deadline today toexpress interest in becoming the fifth BCS game, the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNEreports that the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl has notified the BCS that it isinterested.  The fifth game, which wouldjoin the BCS for the ’06 season, “will be part of the rotation to host thenational championship.”  The BCS isexpected to announce its selection in the late summer or fall (SANDIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 4/22).

Other bowls being mentioned are the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl,Capital One Bowl, Toyota Gator Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Houston Bowl and AlamoBowl.  The Capital One Bowl is“generally regarded as the frontrunner” (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 4/18).

SIEMENS MOBILE RE-UPS WITH CHINESE SOCCER FOR THREE YEARS

Siemens Mobile today in Beijing announced that it has signeda three-year extension of its title sponsorship deal with the Chinese FootballAssociation, under which the national soccer league is known as the SiemensMobile Super League.  For the firsttime, the company will also title sponsor the league championship, which willbe called the Siemens Mobile Super Cup. Additionally, Siemens remains a sponsor of the Chinese National Team andis a sponsor of this year’s Asian Cup (Siemens Mobile).

AFL ORLANDO PREDATORS TO UNVEIL RACY BILLBOARDS TODAY

The ORLANDO SENTINEL reports that the AFL Orlando Predatorstoday will “unveil two new racybillboards” to launch their ‘05 season-ticket campaign.  The ads “feature two female models in cutoffjerseys holding beer mugs with the slogan ‘Get Both Free.’  The clarification ‘jersey and mug’ iswritten in parentheses.”  AFLVP/Communications Chris McCloskey said that the Predators and the league“consistently communicated about the billboard, and the league had no plans toissue any sanctions against the Predators after viewing the design” (ORLANDOSENTINEL, 4/22).

The AFL finedthe Predators $10,000 lastweek over a planned promotion in which fans were encouraged to bringinflatable dolls to the April 9 game against the VooDoo (THEDAILY).

HEARING TODAY TO ATTEMPT TO BLOCK SNAPPLE DEAL WITH N.Y.

The N.Y. POST reports that a hearing is scheduled for todayon N.Y. Comptroller William Thompson’s request “for a temporary restraining order to prevent” Snapple machines frombeing installed in government buildings. Thompson yesterday filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to blockSnapple from becoming the official beverage of N.Y.  Mayor Bloomberg’s administration “had planned to begininstalling Snapple machines in city buildings tomorrow” (N.Y. POST, 4/22).

BENGALS TO UNVEIL NEW UNIFORMS DURING 5:00pm ET FASHION SHOW

The Bengals today will unveil their new uniforms during a5:00-6:00pm ET fashion show at Paul Brown Stadium, which will feature QBs CarsonPalmer and Jon Kitna and WRs Chad Johnson and PeterWarrick, among others.  Though notopen to the public, invited guests include suite and club seat patrons and teamsponsors.  The team will also unveil themarkings of the new FieldTurf surface being installed this offseason (Bengals).

MORNING BRIEFS

Footstar today announced that a U.S. Bankruptcy Court hasapproved Foot Locker’s $225M bid to purchase nearly 350 Footaction athleticfootwear and apparel stores from Footstar (Footstar).

The MIAMI HERALD reports that Marlins President DavidSamson is “willing to extend the team’s deadline for a stadium deal by five days so Miamicommissioners can vote May 6 on the latest proposal, which city officials saidcalls for a stand-alone, retractable-roof stadium next to the Orange Bowl” (MIAMIHERALD, 4/22).

ThePITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE reports that the Pirates and Giants have made bids tohost the ’06 MLB All-Star Game (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE,4/22).

ESPNtoday will announce that beginning Monday, ESPNews will present live simulcastsof ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning” from 6:00-10:00am ET.  The telecasts will increase ESPNews’ livedaily programming from 13 hours to 17 (ESPN).

The NHL announced that Tuesday night’s Senators-Maple LeafsGame Seven drew a 0.81 final Nielsen cable rating, the fifth highest-rated ESPNconference quarterfinal game in the past five years and the second highest inthe last three years (NHL).

ESPN’s Bob McKenzie reported Senators Owner EugeneMelnyk “trashed the locker room” and “overturned tables” after the Senatorslost 4-1 to the Maple Leafs in Game Seven of their series.  ESPN’s Brian Kenny: “I can see himgetting upset about it (but) it seems less than professional to come down andhave a tantrum” (ESPNews, 4/21).

TheWASHINGTON POST reports that NFL prospect Eli Manning’s representativesare “urging the [Chargers] not to pick him with the top overall choice in theNFL Draft” Saturday, and instead trade the selection to the Giants, who pickfourth.  The Chargers had a “difficultset of negotiations with agent Tom Condon, who represents Manning,involving [QB] Drew Brees three years ago” (WASHINGTONPOST, 4/22).

America’sDairy Farmers and Milk Processors run a full-page ad in USA Today congratulatingNuggets F Carmelo Anthony and Cavaliers G LeBron James forwinning the got milk? Rookie of the Month award for their respectiveconferences in every month of the NBA season (THE DAILY).

ATTENDANCE WATCH:

• The Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL reports that a crowd of 9,105 attended last night’s under-20 Haiti-U.S. soccer match at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, featuring DC United F Freddy Adu (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 4/22).

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. Daily News

Philadelphia Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

Bids for theEuropean broadcast rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympics must be submitted byclose of business to a Lausanne notary public, who will then deliver the bidsto the IOC (AROUND THE RINGS, 4/16 issue).

The Philadelphiachapter of the National Sports Marketing Network will host an 8:00am paneldiscussion, “1^st And 10: Building The Athlete’s Image ThroughEndorsements,” including a conversation with NFL prospect Kevin Jones.  Reebok VP/Team Properties Eddie Whiteand Kennedy & Liverant Managing Partner Jim Kennedy willparticipate.

The Redskins willbegin their annual Spring Tent Sale at FedEx Field at 9:00am ET to unload oldmerchandise and make room for new merchandise. The sale runs through Saturday at 6:00pm ET.

The Expos will showcase the new turf at Olympic Stadium inMontreal to media members at 10:00am ET.

The WALL STREETJOURNAL notes that starting today, “up to 10,000 players – many of themamateurs with only a rudimentary understanding of the game – will begin playingin preliminary tournaments, or satellites, to qualify for the final round ofThe World Series of Poker, which begins May 22 at the Binion’s Horseshoe Casino& Hotel in Las Vegas” (WALL STREETJOURNAL, 4/22).

The Bills willre-launch their Web site, which will include a “view from your seat map,” avirtual tour of Ralph Wilson Stadium and enhanced audio and video features.

The 13^th annual Collegiate Sports JournalismSeminar begins at Churchill Downs, where 40 student journalists andphotojournalists representing 32 colleges and universities will observe andinteract with many of the nation’s professional sports journalists as theyprepare to cover the Kentucky Derby.

IN OTHER NEWS….

The HOLLYWOODREPORTER notes that the Vivendi-NBC merger is “only a formality now” as Vivendihas “reached an agreement in a legal dispute with Barry Diller and hisInterActiveCorp.”  The deal involvesVivendi buying out Diller’s stake in Vivendi Universal (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 4/22).

The ATLANTACONSTITUTION reports that Coca-Cola’s profits increased 35% in Q1 ’04, “helpingthe company beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations.”  The company earned $1.13B in the quarter, ascompared to $835M in the same period a year earlier.  Q1 revenue totaled $5.08B, up from $4.50B in ’03 (ATLANTACONSTITUTION, 4/22).

The HOLLYWOODREPORTER notes that according to recently released figures from the InteractiveAdvertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, online advertising revenuetotaled $2.182B in Q4 ’03, “surpassing the previous high that was generated” inQ4 ’00.  For the year, $7.267B in onlineads were sold, second behind the $8.087B sold in ’00 (HOLLYWOODREPORTER, 4/22).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “19^thCentury Art & History.”

“The red sky in Munch’s ‘The Scream’ may be from thedebris in the Oslo air from this volcano half a world away.”

LAUGH TRACK

THEMONOLOGUES:

NBC’sJay Leno: “Today, President Bush commented for the first time onthe Bob Woodward book.  Bush saidhe can’t wait for the book to come out on tape, so he can find out what all thefuss is about. ... In his book, Woodward says the Saudis knew we were going towar with Iraq before Colin Powell did. Hey, big deal.  The Saudis knewabout 9-11 before we did. ... Thailand said today if their troops in Iraq areattacked or even fired upon, they will pull out.  Are those troops?  Aren’tthey just tourists really? ... Today, John Kerry announced his plan forprotecting the environment.  His wife isgoing to buy it and put it in a blind trust. ... It’s Wednesday, or as the pornindustry calls it, No Hump Day. ... They estimate this porn shutdown has putover 6,000 actors and actresses out of work, 400 cameramen and one writer. ...A player for the St. Louis Blues, Mike Danton, has been arrested for conspiracyto hire a hitman to kill his roommate. He’s been charged with using a telephone across state lines to arrange amurder.  Does it really matter that thephone call for the murder is across state lines?  Does that mean if it’s a local call, well it’s okay?  He could get 20 years in prison which iswhat, 14 Canadian” ("The Tonight Show," NBC, 4/21).

WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What was Krakatoa?”

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

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