| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
9:00am ET | |
| |
| • | Miami Today Throwing The Mother Of All Welcome Parties For Shaq |
| • | Selig Likely To Be In Pittsburgh Today To Award City The ’06 All-Star Game |
| • | Nelly Rides Air Force Ones All The Way To Bobcats’ Owner Suite |
| • | Paul Tagliabue Signs On The Dotted Line To Remain In Place Through ‘07 |
| • | With Less Than A Month To Go, Athens Still Struggling To Sell Tickets |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
SHAQ MEETS THE MIAMI MEDIA FOR THE FIRST TIME TODAY
The Heat are hosting a free public event at noon ET outside AmericanAirlines Arena to welcome Shaquille O’Neal to the city. Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Panelas and Miami Mayor Manny Diaz will make special presentations. The team will be distributing free “welcome to the love, Shaq” placards, and the team store will be open from 11:00am-3:00pm selling O’Neal jerseys (limit four per person) and other merchandise (Heat).
NBA TV will carry the event live, as well as O’Neal’s 1:00pm ET press conference with the media. Sunshine Network is providing live statewide coverage of the press conference in Florida (THE DAILY).
The MIAMI HERALD notes that Heat employees “will be on hand, allowing fans to buy season tickets” (MIAMI HERALD, 7/20). The Heat have sold over 1,000 O’Neal jerseys online since they were made available last Wednesday (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 7/20).
PITTSBURGH TO SHOW OFF NEW FACILITIES AT ’06 ALL-STAR GAME
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will attend an afternoon press conference in Pittsburgh today, where he is expected to officially announce that the city will host the ’06 All-Star Game. The PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE notes that the city’s proposal to MLB “highlighted the proximity of PNC Park to the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The center has panoramic views of the North Shore and is large enough to host fan events in the days leading up to the game” (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 7/20).
“ESPN NFL 2K5” DROPS TODAY WITH A REDUCTION IN PRICE
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER noted that ESPN Videogames’ newest title, “ESPN NFL 2K5,” hits retail today for $19.99, $30 “less than its predecessors in the series – and $30 less than” EA Sports’ “Madden NFL 2005,” which ships August 9. ESPN Videogames Senior VP/Marketing Steve Rabb said, “This is not about stealing units from a competitor. We’re trying to bring new customers into the market by offering a $50 game for a $20 price.” ESPN personalities Chris Berman, Suzy Kolber, Trey Wingo, and Mel Kiper Jr. appear in the game (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/17).
OPPONENTS TO K.C. ARENA TAXES TODAY TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN
The K.C. STAR reports that opponents of a downtown arena proposal will “launch a broadcast campaign today.” Coalition Against Arena Taxes, made up of car-rental companies, business executives, property owners and residents, is raising money to defeat the August 3 referendum seeking hotel and car-rental fee increases to help pay the public portion of a $225-250M million downtown arena (K.C. STAR, 7/20).
MORNING BRIEFS
Entertainer Nelly has joined the ownership group of Bobcats Basketball Holdings, LLC, which owns the Bobcats, WNBA Sting and RSN C-SET. Financial terms were not disclosed (Bobcats).
NFL Network’s Rich Eisen reported NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has “officially agreed to the contract extension announced by the owners at their meetings back in March.” The deal will keep the commissioner in office through the ‘07 season, which will be his 18th year as commissioner (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 7/19).
Russell Corp. has purchased the assets of Huffy Sports Co. for $30M in cash (Huffy).
USA TODAY notes that a new study shows the “campaign by Athens organizers to encourage Greeks to buy Olympic tickets has been met with indifference.” Only seven out of every 100 Greeks has purchased tickets for the Games (USA TODAY, 7/20).
The U.S. men’s Olympic basketball team will play five of its exhibition games on ESPN and one on ABC, before moving to NBC for the Olympics. ESPN’s first game will be live July 31 at 1:00pm ET (USA Basketball).
NEWSDAY reports that the search for a CEO of YES to replace Leo Hindery “appears to have narrowed to three or four candidates,” including former MSG President Bob Gutkowski, former YankeeNets Chair Harvey Schiller and Joe Cohen, another former MSG exec (NEWSDAY, 7/20).
The WASHINGTON POST reports that Sean Taylor, the safety selected in the first round by the Redskins, “has yet to sign with an agent” which is “raising the prospect he will not be on the field for the start of training camp later this month” (WASHINGTON POST, 7/20). Also, the arbitration hearing for LB LaVar Arrington’s contract dispute has been moved back to November 2 (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/20).
Falcons radio play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Hullinger resigned yesterday after six seasons to accept a position in broadcasting elsewhere (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 7/20).
ATTENDANCE WATCH
- A crowd of 41,755 saw the D’Rays defeat the Yankees 9-7 at Tropicana Field last night. The ST. PETE TIMES reports that it was the second announced sellout of the season for the D’Rays and third in franchise history (ST. PETE TIMES, 7/20).
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 | Newsday |
TODAY’S EVENTS
The Central Baseball League meeting will be held in Ft. Worth, Texas, ahead of tonight’s All-Star Game at LaGrave Field. Commissioner Miles Wolff expects the meeting to “focus some on expansion.” Some cities “could be in line for a team next year, although nothing will be finalized until the offseason meetings” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 7/20).
The Northern League will hold its owners meeting in Joliet, Illinois and discuss the ’05 schedule, expansion, getting a TV deal and increasing postseason attendance.
The Indiana Gaming Commission as early as today could select a casino licensee in Orange County. Donald Trump is one candidate, as is Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. Proceeds from Bird’s 10% stake in a proposed $60M project, should his group get the license, would go to the Larry Bird Foundation (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 7/20).
A panel of architects who have designed stadiums will present their work at the Center for Architecture in N.Y. Featured works will include AmericanAirlines Arena, Petco Park and others.
ECHL Commissioner Brian McKenna and the league’s BOD will conduct a conference call to discuss the ownership of the Greensboro franchise.
IN OTHER NEWS….
Molson and Coors confirmed that they are in merger talks. USA TODAY notes that if completed, the new company would have a combined value of $6B. Coors stock closed yesterday at $75.56, up $2.54. Molson rose $0.85 to $33.45 (USA TODAY, 7/20).
The AP reports that Newsday Publisher Raymond Jansen and Hoy Publisher Louis Sito have resigned from the N.Y.-area Tribune newspapers as the company “grappled with a continuing circulation scandal.” The Tribune Co. last month revealed that circulation numbers reported in the past had been inflated (AP, 7/20).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was “Opera.”
“The libretto for ‘William Tell’ was in this language, the native language of neither the composer, Rossini, nor the subject.”
LAUGH TRACK
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS’ David Letterman: “I had a great weekend. It was fantastic. I had my first conjugal visit with Martha Stewart. … Poor Martha gets five months in prison. She had to surrender her passport and also her recipe for Crème Brulee. But she does five months in the can and then she has five months of home confinement and the good news is she gets time off for tasteful behavior. … In the 9-11 Commission report they say that it was Iran, not Iraq, that was helping Al Qaeda. So apparently, we invaded the wrong country because of a typo. The 9-11 Commission has issued its report and next they’re going to investigate how this program was nominated for five Emmys. … Now, Hillary Clinton will actually be speaking at the (Democratic) Convention. First, she was not going to speak and now she is going to speak and everyone is going crazy. As a matter of fact, Bill Clinton is bringing a date that night” (“Late Show,” CBS, 7/19).
NBC’s Jay Leno: “Governor Schwarzenegger is in trouble for using the phrase ‘girlie men’ to refer to some Democratic legislators in Sacramento. Of course, Democrats are now calling the remark homophobic. Even the ‘Queer Eye For the Straight Guy’ guys are going, ‘Shut up, it’s a joke!’ … Martha Stewart is going to jail or as she calls it, J Mart. K Mart is standing by Martha and today Whoopi Goldberg said, ‘Boy, did I sign with the wrong company.’ … Before being sentenced for lying, Martha Stewart told the judge, ‘I am more concerned about the well-being of others than I am for myself,’ and the judge charged her with lying again. … Obesity is an illness now. It’s bad enough workers are calling in sick, now you’re calling in fat. … Kobe Bryant made a decision last week. He says he will be a Laker for life. Either that or he will be a Laker doing life” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 7/19).
LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:
Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Things Yelled By Dumb Guys While Watching ‘I, Robot’” (“Late Show,” CBS, 7/19).
| 10) “Try tickling them – maybe robots is ticklish.” |
| 9) “Don’t kill the Fresh Prince! Take me instead!” |
| 8) “Who needs popcorn? The butter’s good by itself.” |
| 7) “Come on, get to the hot robot lovin’!” |
| 6) “Isn’t this ‘I, Spider-Man’?” |
| 5) “Rumor has it, later the robot has sex with the pie.” |
| 4) “I believe grammatically it should be ‘Me, Robot.’” |
| 3) “I hear this is based on the novel by Isaac Asimov’s robot.” |
| 2) “I think some of them robots is on robo-steroids.” |
| 1) “Let Cheney run the country, I’m watching the movie!” |
LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
| Net | Show | Lead | Next Items |
| ESPN | “Around The Horn” | British Open | NL Central Race, Vince Carter Rumors |
| ESPN | “PTI” | British Open | Els Takes 2nd, Mickelson’s Final Round |
| ESPN | 11:00pm “SportsCenter” | Cardinals-Cubs | Phillies-Braves, Eddie George Asking For His Release |
| FSN | “I, Max” | British Open | Dodgers In The Hunt, Sheffield’s Comments On Clemens |
| FSN | “BDSSP” | Earnhardt Jr.’s Fire | British Open, Tiger Woods Slump |
| FSN New England | “New England Sports Tonight” | Yankees-D’Rays | Possible Ortiz Suspension, Tim Wakefield Injury Update |
| Empire Network | “Empire Sports Report” | Bills Sign Jason Gildon | WHA Fills Its Rosters, NHL Labor Negotiations |
HOT TOPIC: The 11:00pm “SportsCenter” first reported on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fiery crash at 10:59 into the broadcast, with 1:58 of total coverage. ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” focused on Earnhardt’s crash and how Nextel Cup Series drivers race in the lower circuits. Guests included ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch, Charlotte Observer racing beat writer David Poole and ABC’s Jack Arute.
Last night’s edition of CBS’ “Evening News” first reported on Earnhardt Jr. at 22:27 into the broadcast, with 0:21 of total coverage. NBC’s “Nightly News” first reported on Earnhardt’s crash at 20:14, with 0:29 of total coverage. ABC’s “World News Tonight” first reported on Earnhardt’s crash at 25:51, with 2:17 of total coverage (THE DAILY).
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What is French?”
Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings has stretched his streak to 34 wins, for a total of $1,135,460.
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.
