Morning Buzz, September 3, 2004

The Morning Buzz will not publish Monday or Tuesday in
observance of Labor Day.  We will return Wednesday, September 8.

HURRICANE FRANCES PUSHES FSU-MIAMI SHOWDOWN BACK TO FRIDAY

The approach of Hurricane Frances has postponed and canceled several sporting events throughout Florida, including the Florida State-Miami football game scheduled for Monday night at 8:00pm ET. That game has been moved to Friday, September 10, and ABC will air the game nationally as planned. ABC Senior VP/Programming Loren Matthews: “The game does have national appeal. But when (ACC officials) made the decision to play on the 10^th, we didn’t know if we could carry it. ESPN would have stepped in” (USA TODAY, 9/3).

Dolphins President Eddie Jones late yesterday released a statement regarding the team’s preseason game against the Saints Saturday in New Orleans. The statement read, “At this point we are still planning to depart for New Orleans at 9:00am [this] morning, but it is a fluid situation. … We will certainly make the appropriate advisements if our travel plans change” (Dolphins).

However, the Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL reports that it is “believed that a sizeable group of players may not arrive this morning for the team's charter flight to New Orleans, which may force the NFL to cancel the game” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 9/3).

The New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE reports that Junior Seau, Olindo Mare, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor are “among the prominent Dolphins players who urged management to cancel the game” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 9/3).

Among numerous other cancellations and postponements is tonight’s Cubs-Marlins game at Pro Player Stadium. A makeup date has yet to be scheduled (Marlins).

ABC, FCS AND INSTANT REPLAY READY FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEKEND

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Fox College Sports’ three nets – Pacific, Central and Atlantic – “kick off this weekend with a round of six football games.” The trio of nets “has scheduled at least 100 college football games and may air as many as 150 during the season” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 9/3).

ABC Sports will debut its new state-of-the-art set for its college football studio show this weekend. The set was designed by Production Design Group (ABC Sports).

USA TODAY notes that Saturday’s Central Florida-Wisconsin game will be the first televised game “using the Big Ten Conference’s experimental instant-replay system. Unlike the NFL system, in which a coach usually has to signal to challenge an official's call, a technical adviser in the press box will determine whether play should be stopped to review calls” (USA TODAY, 9/3).

ARCHITECTURAL HEAVYWEIGHTS TO DUKE IT OUT FOR K.C. ARENA

The K.C. STAR reports that the deadline for architects to “express interest in planning” the $250M downtown K.C. arena is 5:00pm CT. Barring an “unforeseen entry, the same two teams that displayed interest” earlier this year are expected to bid. Downtown Arena Design Team, composed of HOK, Ellerbe Beckett and 360 Architecture, a company formed by the merger of Heinlein Schrock and CDFM², is up against the alliance of Frank Gehry and Crawford Architects (K.C. STAR, 9/3).

JEFF GORDON, JIMMIE JOHNSON RACING AGAINST F1 STARS IN PARIS

USA TODAY reports that NASCAR drivers Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson today will announce plans to participate in the December 4 Race of Champions Nations Cup against several F1 drivers including Michael Schumacher. The race will take place at a “figure eight-shaped dirt-paved combo track that will be built inside a 70,000-seat soccer stadium in Paris” (USA TODAY, 9/3).

MORNING BRIEFS

The Redskins have topped Forbes’ NFL valuation rankings for the fifth consecutive year, with an estimated worth of $1.1B. The Redskins are followed by the Cowboys, Texans, Patriots and Eagles. The Cardinals are ranked last at $552M (FORBES.com, 9/3).

The Cubs next season hope “install a rotating 10-by-3 foot advertising sign just to the right of home plate” at Wrigley Field (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/3).

Electronic Arts this year “plans to release mobile-phone versions of three sports videogames” – “Tiger Woods PGA Tour,” “FIFA Soccer” and “Need For Speed” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/3).

Browns VP/Communications Julia Payne yesterday resigned “just six weeks after being named to the newly created position.” The club has hired media-consulting firm ZONE President Lisa Levine on an interim basis (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 9/3).

The IRL late yesterday officially announced that a road-course event will be held in St. Petersburg, FL, on April 3, 2005 (Mult.).

USA Today runs an eight-page special section today devoted to the NASCAR Chase for the Nextel Cup. Full-page advertisers include Nextel, Speed Channel, Sony and Target.

The PGA Tour Deutsche Bank Championship today runs a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal under the header, “Boston Tee Party Starts Today!” (THE DAILY).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS reports that Broncos QB Jake Plummer rejected the use of models for an ESPN promo spot for the September 12 Chiefs-Broncos game. In the early version of the script, “Plummer was to walk toward the camera with a model on each arm,” while he said, “Groovy, baby.” Broncos Dir of Media Relations Paul Kirk: “It was something that Jake Plummer didn’t want to do. The player has a right to say, ‘I like that or I don’t like that’” (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 9/3).

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

NFL Network will be available to Comcast Digital Plus subscribers on channel 265 throughout Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/3).

As the N.Y. Blades, “billed as ice hockey’s version of the Harlem Globetrotters,” have canceled their entire tour, refunds may be obtained beginning at noon ET at POP locations (ALBANY TIMES-UNION, 9/3).

Organizers for the ’04 Tour of Hope, a “weeklong journey across America to raise cancer awareness,” will hold a 10:00am ET news conference in Pittsburgh to announce Lance Armstrong’s participation in the ride (Pittsburgh TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/3).

Authors Mike Agassi and Dominic Cobello will release “The Agassi Story,” Mike’s first-person account of the behind-the-scenes life of Andre Agassi and his family, during a 9:00am ET news conference at the Hyatt Grand Hotel in N.Y.

Running for what “apparently will be the final time under Magna Entertainment Corp., Bay Meadows begins its summer-fall thoroughbred season today, and, for the first time since 1979, there will be no twilight or night racing” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 9/3).

XM Satellite Radio and NASCAR will launch a channel “devoted to in-car communication between the drivers and teams of NASCAR’s three national series” during NASCAR Radio 2’s coverage of Saturday’s Busch Series Target House 300 at California Speedway (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/30 issue).

KSTS-Telemundo will air the first of five 30-minute shows on the Raiders, “Telemundo Deportivo: Edición Raiders,” at 6:00pm PT on Saturday.

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, while appearing on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Lance Armstrong sits aboard a motorcycle given to him by the Teutels from “American Chopper.”

IN OTHER NEWS….

DAILY VARIETY reports that “Extra” has hired Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath as co-host alongside Dayna Devon (DAILY VARIETY, 9/3).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night's "Final Jeopardy!" category was "Americana."

“Beginning an American tradition, in 1801 Aaron Burr’s daughter Theodosia and her new husband honeymooned here.”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “The Kobe Bryant trial has ended, and I guess so has Mrs. Bryant’s shopping spree. … It is a big night here in New York City. Tonight is the final night of the Republican National Convention, and tonight’s theme for the convention was a more hopeful … oh, who cares. At the convention last night, you had Dick Cheney, he spoke, you had Zell Miller; so for one night, I wasn’t the dullest guy on CBS. … I thought this was very impressive, Cheney showed his gentle side, he flashed his warm sneer. One embarrassing moment last night is when Cheney’s daughter made a move on the Bush twins. … Earlier tonight, President Bush accepted the nomination and he said that if he were elected he promised to start reading memos. … Now that Bush has accepted the nomination, the next step, of course, is rigging the voting machines” (“Late Show,” CBS, 9/2).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “It was 106 degrees today, hottest day of the week, and in fact, the only person not sweating today was Kobe Bryant. I guess you heard that all charges against Kobe Bryant have been dropped. Finally, a Laker finds a court he can win on. … Prosecutors knew their case was in trouble when the jury foreman was William Kennedy Smith. There was a rumor that they were going to drop the case, in fact Kobe’s wife told Kobe, ‘Listen, you give me a ring if you hear any news.’ … Now you folks obviously missed this one. Tonight at the Republican Convention, in what was being called the biggest speech of his career, President George W. Bush took on his biggest enemy, the English language. In his speech tonight, President Bush said that America should create an ownership society. For example, if you are homeless, buy a home. Don’t have a job, buy a company and give yourself a job. You see how simple. These are simple solutions” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 9/2).

LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is Niagara Falls?”

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

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