| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Monday, July 26, 2004
9:00am ET | |
| |
| • | Fenway, FleetCenter Expecting Profits As Democrats Descend On Boston Today |
| • | City Of Arlington & Tarrant County Today To Discuss Cowboys Stadium |
| • | Coyotes Front Office Today Officially Opens First Day Of Business In Glendale |
| • | Athens’ $312M Surveillance System Deemed Operational Over The Weekend |
| • | Dolphins RB Ricky Williams Unexpectedly Retires At The Age Of 27 |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
BOSTON FACILITIES REAPING BENEFITS AS DEMOCRATS DESCEND
The Democratic National Convention begins today in Boston, and the BOSTON GLOBE noted that Democrats, corporate sponsors and fund-raising groups will be at Fenway Park “for an array of functions in the park’s skyboxes, .406 Club and batting cage.” Two events are scheduled for Fenway – a BBQ today and a batting practice session Wednesday. There are several other private functions at the ballpark, which Red Sox President & CEO Larry Lucchino “estimated will generate several hundred thousand dollars of additional revenue for the team” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/24).
The BOSTON HERALD reported that Delaware North will reap $3.5M for hosting the convention at FleetCenter, but the “real prize for the nine-year old arena will come if the DNC goes off without hitches, vaulting the FleetCenter into the elite ranks of national stages for such megaevents.” FleetCenter & Bruins Exec VP Charlie Jacobs: “It absolutely will help us to market the facility and Boston in the future” (BOSTON HERALD, 7/25).
Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry made a surprise visit to Fenway Park last night to throw out the first pitch. Kerry then stopped by the ESPN booth and said of whether Pedro Martinez should have been allowed to continue pitching in Game 7 of the ‘03 ALCS: “He should have been out. I thought Grady [Little] made a mistake. I would have loved to see him out of there. Am I in trouble now?” (Yankees-Red Sox, ESPN, 7/25).
The BOSTON HERALD noted that Kerry’s pitch “landed in the dirt, after which fans alternately booed and cheered him” (BOSTON HERALD, 7/26).
ILITCH HOLDINGS SHAKEUP LANDS CHRISTOPHER AT THE HELM
The DETROIT NEWS reports that Mike and Marian Ilitch today will announce that they are “turning over the reins of their business empire to their son, Christopher, ending a protracted power struggle atop Ilitch Holdings.” Effective immediately, Christopher Ilitch becomes President & CEO of the company, which oversees the Red Wings, Tigers, Little Caesar Enterprises, Olympia Entertainment and Uptown Entertainment, among others. Christopher’s sister, Denise Ilitch, who since ’00 served as co-President, “recently left the company to pursue other opportunities” (DETROIT NEWS, 7/26).
ARLINGTON, TARRANT COUNTY TO DISCUSS COWBOYS STADIUM
The FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM reported that after meeting with Cowboys officials on Friday, Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck today will discuss with the city council “how the city can finance a retractable-roof football stadium” for the Cowboys. For the first time, Tarrant County officials are joining the discussions. Cluck and county commissioners “insist it’s not to talk about how to finance the stadium countywide” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 7/24).
COYOTES FRONT OFFICE FOLLOWS CLUB; MOVES HQS TO GLENDALE
The Coyotes today officially open their new offices at the Bank of America building in Glendale, after moving their corporate HQs Saturday from the Alltel Ice Den in Scottsdale. The ARIZONA REPUBLIC noted that Glendale Mayor Elaine Scruggs will “welcome the team to the city [today], and Coyotes’ staffers will stroll around downtown Glendale handing vouchers for preseason tickets, T-shirts and other goodies to passers-by and business owners” (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/24).
TRIBUNE CO. COMPLETING INSPECTION OF WRIGLEY FIELD
The CHICAGO SUN-TIMES reports that the Tribune Co. is expected to conclude an inspection of Wrigley Field today. The Cubs “initially had 30 days to complete the inspection, but the city now expects to see substantial portions of their findings before July 30, the start of their next home stand” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/24).
MORNING BRIEFS
Dolphins RB Ricky Williams told the MIAMI HERALD that he plans to file his retirement papers with the NFL this week, possibly as early as today. Williams’ jersey ranked eighth among the top-sellers on NFLShop.com from April 1-June 30 (THE DAILY).
Lance Armstrong won his sixth consecutive Tour de France this weekend, and congratulatory ads in newspapers today include Bristol-Myers Squibb in the N.Y. Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and USA Today; Nike in the N.Y. Times and USA Today; and the U.S. Postal Service in USA Today (THE DAILY).
The London OBSERVER reports that Athens hotels that “massively hiked up their prices for the Olympics are now bringing them back down again in a last-minute bid to fill empty rooms. The inflated room rates have been partly blamed for an estimated five million tickets as yet unsold for the Games” (London OBSERVER, 7/25).
Athens’ $312M surveillance system consisting of street cameras, surveillance vans, underwater sensors and a blimp with sensitive monitors was deemed operational Friday. The network was supposed to be ready May 28 (AP, 7/24).
GTSI recently won a $1.7M contract from the City of Jacksonville to build a video surveillance system for Super Bowl XXXIX. The system will consist of approximately 100 cameras and is expected to be operational by December (WASHINGTON POST, 7/26).
During the USOC’s Saturday pre-Olympic sessions, clips were shown to Olympians of the U.S. men’s 4x100-meter relay celebration at the Sydney Olympics as an “example of how not to handle themselves in Athens” (USA TODAY, 7/26).
Heat C Shaquille O’Neal placed a full-page ad in Sunday’s L.A. Times thanking Lakers fans for their support (AP, 7/25).
Kobe Bryant’s defense attorneys will be “allowed to introduce evidence at trial of his accuser’s sexual activity with other men during a 72-hour period surrounding her encounter” with Bryant (DENVER POST, 7/24).
Buick endorser Tiger Woods officially committed Friday to play in the July 29-August 1 Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Michigan (AP, 7/24).
ATTENDANCE WATCH
A crowd of 37,821 Sunday attended the first IRL race at the Milwaukee Mile yesterday. IRL Founder & President Tony George: “We had perfect weather, and we had a lot of support, a lot of interest and activity in the infield. We’re impressed with our first run up here” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 7/26).
A crowd of 58,121 attended yesterday’s Manchester United-Bayern Munich ChampionsWorld match, the largest soccer crowd at Soldier Field since the Nigeria-U.S. Women’s World Cup match in ’99 (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/26).
A crowd of nearly 8,000 attended Manchester United’s practice session Saturday at Soldier Field. Tickets to watch the practice sessions for yesterday’s match were $35 (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/25).
A crowd of 30,504 attended Saturday’s Chelsea-Glasgow Celtic ChampionsWorld match at Qwest Field in Seattle (SEATTLE TIMES, 7/25). Last year’s ChampionsWorld match at Qwest Field, featuring Manchester United-Glasgow Celtic, drew 66,722 (THE DAILY).
Approximately 101,000 attended yesterday’s NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Siemens 300 at New Hampshire Int’l Speedway (HARTFORD COURANT, 7/26).
More than 158,400 attended three days of racing around yesterday’s Champ Car World Series Molson Indy in Vancouver (TORONTO STAR, 7/26).
A crowd of more than 10,000 attended Saturday’s Viva Los Dodgers Festival in a Dodger Stadium parking lot. Dodgers P Jose Lima and his band, Banda Mambo, made their L.A. debut performance at the festival (Dodgers).
A crowd of 5,945 attended Saturday night’s WNBA Shock-Liberty game at Radio City Music Hall. The Liberty averaged 11,227 through ten games at MSG prior to Saturday’s contest (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25).
LIGHTER BUZZ
Kurt Busch, who is sponsored by Powerade, after winning the NASCAR Nextel Cup Race Siemens 300 yesterday: "The restarts will always test your car's ability on a short run, especially with
Jeff Gordon behind you. Irwin Industrial Tools' first win, and now we get to donate money to the Rebuilding Together charity, and that's just tremendous. I'm a board member in Vegas. We're going to go build some houses….But this is an awesome win for Coca-Cola, Gatorade, well not Gatorade. A few of our other guys we've got laying around" (
"NASCAR On TNT," TNT, 7/25).
TODAY’S EVENTS
Celtics GM Chris Wallace will be available for deposition and to “produce documents relating to the trade that brought” Vin Baker to the club. The deposition is a “prelude to a trial, scheduled for September in Seattle, in a lawsuit filed against Baker by Steven Gordon, a former part-time trainer with Baker’s old team,” the Sonics. Gordon claims Baker reneged on a promise to pay him $1M for helping arrange the trade and on a pledge to hire him as a personal coach following the trade (BOSTON HERALD, 7/25).
New York’s Vernon Downs racetrack “will decide this week whether to voluntarily surrender its track and simulcast licenses to the state.” Vernon Downs’ exec committee will vote today whether to “willfully give up its license and the full board will decide Wednesday” (AP, 7/25).
In conjunction with Atomic Playpen, the Vikings will relaunch their Web Site.
Mike Williams will meet with NCAA officials at USC to “discuss his application for reinstatement.” The meeting is expected to be “part of the process focusing on the financial aspect of his case, and a final ruling might not be made before USC opens training camp August 4” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 7/23).
The U.S. Men’s Olympic basketball team will begin practice in Jacksonville.
WEEKEND RAP
The following are excerpts from the panelists’ “parting shots” on Sunday’s edition of ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters”:
- N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica: “There’s no better manager in baseball this season than Buck Showalter, despite critics who think he’s the biggest control freak since Captain Queeg wanted to track down the missing quart of strawberries. … His payroll is about a $130[M] smaller than Joe Torre’s, he lost Alex Rodriguez, and all he’s been so far is Manager of the Year.”
- K.C. Star columnist Jason Whitlock, on late October and early November having 19 straight days of nationally televised football: “To me, 19 days of football can only be surpassed by 19 minutes with Halle Berry. … Non-stop college football is yet one more sign that the games have nothing to do with an educational experience, and that NCAA Division I football and basketball are businesses created to make head coaches and Athletic Directors rich and support non-revenue sports dominated by white athletes.”
- N.Y. Times columnist William Rhoden, on RB Eddie George: “The most impressive stat is that George started every game for the Titans. Then the Titans decided they wanted George to take a pay cut. He said no and they waived him, just like that. … The world’s toughest sport needs a stronger union. There may not be any guarantees in life but there should be guaranteed contracts in pro football. The slogan for the NFL is, ‘On any given Sunday.’ The slogan for NFL players should be, ‘Get the money.’”
- ESPN’s John Saunders, on former Grambling head coach Eddie Robinson: “This week, we heard the news that Eddie Robinson has Alzheimer’s. … Robinson coached over 1,000 players, 200 making the NFL, four of them Hall of Famers. His players had an 80% graduation rate but he’s most proud of the number one: one school and one wife. It’s a number that applies to Coach Rob as well” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 7/25).
Heard elsewhere over the weekend:
- Miami Herald’s Dan LeBatard, on Dolphins RB Ricky Williams announcing his retirement: “This is not about money. It’s not about leverage. It’s not about that possible drug suspension. It’s just because he doesn’t like fame” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 7/25).
- CBS’ Jim Acosta, on Lance Armstrong winning his sixth consecutive Tour de France: “Perhaps not since the liberation of France has an American heard so many cheers on the streets of Paris” (“Evening News,” CBS, 7/25).
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 |
THIS WEEK IN SISTER PUBLICATION SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL…..
This week’s SBJ In-Depth examines the “dot.gone” generation, as just a few years ago, many of the brightest in sports business chased dot.com wealth. Who were the few who cashed in? Whose dreams died? What lessons did they all learn?
| Also in this week’s issue: |
| • | Nike makes changes to its global marketing unit; Close to new deal with NBA. |
| • | Investment book on IMG sent out to select group. |
| • | Univ. of South Florida and Bucs partner up for marketing efforts. |
| • | NFLShop sales could hit $60M. |
| • | New details on NHL/NHLPA labor negotiations. |
| • | One-On-One with NHRA President Tom Compton. |
EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENTS
Below are this week’s confirmed earnings announcements for sports-business related companies:
| DATE | TICKER | COMPANY | QUARTER |
| 7/27 | PUM.F | Puma AG | Q2 2004 |
| 7/28 | ATN | Action Performance | Q2 2004 |
| 7/28 | TWX | Time Warner | Q2 2004 |
| 7/29 | DVD | Dover Motorsports | Q2 2004 |
IN OTHER NEWS….
With the Democratic National Convention this week in Boston, both TIME and NEWSWEEK examine Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry.
Clear Channel Communications posted a 1% rise in Q2 net income to $253.8M, compared to the year earlier period, with radio “continuing to drag down strong results at other parts of the company.” Revenue rose 7.2% to $2.49B, up from $2.32B last year (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/26).
According to a Peter D. Hart Research Associates study of 1,000 subjects, nearly 80% of men ages 18-34 would rather give up their video game console for a month than their TV (USA TODAY, 7/26).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Friday’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Shakespeare.”
“Two of the four Shakespeare plays in which ghosts appear on stage.”
LAUGH TRACK
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS’ David Letterman: “A lot of people in New York City this time of year. A lot of New Yorkers leave town. For example, Martha Stewart is going away for a couple of months. … I am so excited about ‘Catwoman’ because there hasn’t been a movie based on a comic book in about a week. In the film, Catwoman faces a villain in a dark alley and … who cares? … New York City is getting ready for the Republican Convention. Earlier today, Republican officials were in Times Square passing out security badges to the hookers. Security is going to be tight at the Republican Convention. You’ll be frisked, you’ll be patted down, you’ll be groped and that’s just by Arnold. President Bush laid out his goals for a second term. That’s like me laying out my goals for hosting the Academy Awards again. … Happy birthday today to Monica Lewinsky, and that’s a nice change: blowing candles” (“Late Show,” CBS, 7/23).
NBC’s Lay Leno: “Lance Armstrong is on the verge of cinching the Tour de France. If he does it, it’ll be his sixth straight victory, seventh if you count Sheryl Crow. … The 9/11 Commission report came out yesterday. President Bush said he is not going to read the report. He’s going to wait for the books on tape version. … The Commission stressed in the report – this was the main theme of the report – that we do not have the luxury of time, so what does Congress do today: leave for a six-week vacation. … Six weeks!? Leave it to Congress to make George Bush look like a workaholic. … In New Jersey, an Amtrak train was delayed for 90 minutes yesterday after police found a note in the restroom that said, ‘You’re all sitting ducks.’ That’s what it said. It turns out it wasn’t a threat it was just Amtrak’s new slogan. … In ESPN The Magazine, John Kerry said he learned a lot about life from playing sports. He had to fight like so many other kids from impoverished areas who had to turn to polo as a way out” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 7/23).
LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:
Friday’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Ways Bill Clinton Can Sell More Books.”
| 10) “Two-millionth copy sold will contain a free commemorative subpoena.” |
| 9) “Smaller words and pictures so current President can read it.” |
| 8) “Try to work in some crap about Da Vinci and his codes.” |
| 7) “Just admit that a good 85% of it is lies.” |
| 6) “Cut the chapter analyzing the White Castle menu.” |
| 5) “Focus more on Clinton’s alter-ego, the meek young student who’s bitten by a radioactive spider.” |
| 4) “Ask Al Gore to talk it up at the Barnes & Noble where he works.” |
| 3) “Maybe release another version that’s 700 pages shorter.” |
| 2) “Hilarious Mad Magazine-like fold-in that turns Hillary into Paula Jones.” |
| 1) “Add visual aids to the Monica section.” |
SUNDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
ESPN’s 11:00pm ET edition of “SportsCenter” (late due to Yankees-Red Sox), led with Lance Armstrong winning his sixth consecutive Tour de France, followed by Dolphins RB Ricky Williams’ retirement, and Yankees-Red Sox.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: BOURNE REIGNS SUPREME AT THEATERS
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Universal’s “The Bourne Supremacy” grossed an estimated $53.5M, almost twice the $27.1M “The Bourne Identity” notched in its ’02 debut weekend. The estimated total for the top 12 films was $141.5M, up 4% from the ninth summer session of ’03. The box office total for all films is forecast to be “in the high-$140[M]-low-$150[M] range, up from last year’s $144.1[M]” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 7/26).
| Title | Weekend | Cumulative |
| “The Bourne Supremacy” | $53.5M | $53.5M |
| “I, Robot” | $22.1M | $95.4M |
| “Catwoman” | $17.2M | $17.2M |
| “Spider-Man 2” | $15.0M | $328.5M |
| “A Cinderella Story” | $8.0M | $29.8M |
| “Anchorman” | $7.1M | $71.2M |
| “Fahrenheit 9/11” | $5.0M | $103.4M |
| “The Notebook” | $4.5M | $62.5M |
| “King Arthur” | $3.1M | $45.2M |
| “Shrek 2” | $2.4M | $429.5M |
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What are ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Richard III’ or ‘Julius Caesar?’”
“Jeopardy” champion Ken Jennings stretched his winning streak to 38 wins Friday night, for a total of $1,321,660. Friday’s “Jeopardy” broadcast was the season finale as the show will air six weeks of re-runs.
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