| | The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
9:00am ET | |
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| • | Grocery Chain H-E-B Today To Announce Presenting Sponsorship Of The Spurs |
| • | Some Cowboys Rookies Today Filling Requests For Pro-Stadium Yard Signs |
| • | Nextel Cup Trophy Begins Ten-Day Tour Around Miami-Ft. Lauderdale Today |
| • | 2005 U.S. Open Sponsors Picking Their Tent Locations Today At Pinehurst |
| • | Parliament Members Speak Out Against Possible ManU Bid By Malcolm Glazer |
| • | Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy! |
H-E-B UPGRADES SPURS SPONSORSHIP DEAL TO PRESENTING LEVEL
The SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS reports that grocery chain H-E-B and Spurs execs today will announce a presenting sponsorship deal at SBC Center. H-E-B has been a team sponsor for the past 18 years, but “now will be included in all of the Spurs’ marketing and media efforts during a year’s worth of events” as the company celebrates its 100th anniversary. Spurs F Tim Duncan will star in a set of H-E-B TV spots that are scheduled to launch around the beginning of the upcoming season. The sponsorship is worth “nearly double H-E-B’s” prior deal (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 10/12).
COWBOYS UTILIZING PLAYERS TO SUPPORT NEW STADIUM CAMPAIGN
The FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM reports that some Cowboys rookies today will “head to Arlington to fill requests from residents and businesses for pro-stadium yard signs.” A vote on financing the proposed $650M stadium will be held November 2 (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 10/12). The promotional blitz supporting the stadium includes TV commercials, which began Sunday, featuring Cowboys players Roy Williams, Darren Woodson, Pete Hunter, Dan Campbell, Al Johnson, Billy Cundiff, Terence Newman and Eddie George (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 10/9).
Meanwhile, the Arlington City Council “plans to adopt a fair-share agreement today for the proposed Cowboys stadium to ensure that minority- and female-owned businesses are considered for the project” (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 10/12).
NEXTEL CUP TROPHY ON TOUR IN MIAMI-FT. LAUDERDALE AREA
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that a ten-day Chase for the Nextel Cup trophy tour begins today in the Miami area. The tour, which is being backed by Nextel and Homestead-Miami Speedway, is “part of an extended effort to build the Chase brand and sell tickets in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area.” Homestead-Miami Speedway President Curtis Gray will take the trophy to Thursday night’s Louisville-Miami college football game and Friday night’s Magic-Heat preseason game (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 10/11 issue).
2005 U.S. OPEN SPONSORS DRAFTING THEIR TENT LOCATIONS TODAY
The Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER reports that ’05 U.S. Open sponsors today will send officials to Pinehurst, North Carolina, to “line up and pick their tent locations.” The corporate village will have room for 17 more hospitality tents than during the ’99 Open. Prices for the 67 sold-out tents range from $100,000 to $175,000. ’05 U.S. Open Dir Reg Jones: “We’re trying to sort of make it feel like it’s draft day in the NBA or the NFL” (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 10/12).
THE DAILY TESTS YOUR ABILITY TO PREDICT THE WORLD SERIES WINNER
THE DAILY is fueling the hype surrounding the World Series by testing the prognosticating abilities of the top execs in our industry. Today only, readers can submit their World Series entrants, winner, number of Series games and MVP for the chance to receive the ultimate honor - not a prize of monetary value, not a One-on-One feature, but even more impressive - industry recognition! Our winner will receive special billing in the Morning Buzz and THE DAILY the day after the World Series with details of his or her ability to predict the outcome.
Submit your picks - including name, title, company/affiliation/organization and email address. Please, ONE SELECTION per reader. As the ALCS begins tonight, the deadline to submit an entry is 6:00pm ET today. Spread the word! See who is the best predictor in your organization.
MORNING BRIEFS
Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti will undergo neck fusion surgery on Tuesday, and NFL Network’s Adam Schefter said Bisciotti “will be in a brace for about two weeks, which is just perfect because the Ravens are in the process of moving their offices right now” (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 10/11).
British Parliament Members Chris Grayling and Alistair Burt have asked Malcolm Glazer to “refrain from launching a bid [for ManU] unless he could ‘clearly demonstrate that he would strengthen rather than weaken the club’” (LONDON TIMES, 10/12).
WWE “recently held preliminary discussions” with Turner Broadcasting, NBC Universal and FX about relocating “WWE Raw” and other shows from Spike TV when their contract expires in September (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/12).
MLB Commissioner Bud Selig yesterday released a statement regarding Congress’ adoption of the Anabolic Steroid Control Act of 2004, which bans most steroid precursors. Selig: “This important legislation will help us reach our goal of zero tolerance in the battle against steroids. … This will allow us to test for steroid precursors, just as we are currently testing for steroids, as part of our regular testing” (MLB).
The Holiday Bowl BOD is expected to decide by January “whether the organization will ask the NCAA to certify another bowl game in San Diego” starting in ‘06 (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/10).
ESPN2’s “Cold Pizza” yesterday switched its telecast time to 8:00am ET from 7:00am. Re-airs will be telecast immediately following at 10:00am instead of 9:00am (ESPN).
Predators RW Adam Hall and Sabres C Tim Connolly have signed with European teams, pushing the number of NHL players playing in Europe to 200 (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 10/12).
Outdoor Life Network yesterday announced that Colorado’s Copper Mountain will host the March 3-6 Winter Gravity Games (Outdoor Life Network).
Abbott Laboratories has acquired nutritional supplement manufacturer EAS Inc. for $320M from investment firm North Castle Partners (N.Y. POST, 10/12).
ATTENDANCE WATCH
The largest crowd in Dodger Stadium history – 56,268 – attended Sunday’s Cardinals-Dodgers NLDS Game Four (L.A. TIMES, 10/11).
The Astros eliminated the Braves last night in front of a sellout crowd of 54,068 at Turner Field (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 10/12).
With the upper-deck curtains removed, a record crowd of 17,072 attended Sunday night’s Connecticut Sun-Seattle Storm WNBA Finals Game Two at KeyArena, the Storm’s first official sellout (SEATTLE TIMES, 10/11).
A crowd of 66,940 attended Sunday’s Rams-Seahawks game, surpassing the Qwest Stadium record of 66,709 (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 10/11).
The largest crowd ever to see a non-Olympic swimming event in the U.S. – 11,488 – attended Saturday night’s FINA World Swimming Championships session at Conseco Fieldhouse (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 10/10). A crowd of 7,422 attended last night’s session, pushing the ten-session total to a record 71,659 (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 10/12).
A LIGHTER BUZZ
Titans fan and Virgin Islands resident Clay Travis, who is eating only pudding until the islands can access DirecTV’s “NFL Sunday Ticket” package, has created nflpuddingstrike.com to document his protest ( Nashville TENNESSEAN, 10/10).
THE BACK PAGES
The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sports covers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:
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| N.Y. Post | N.Y. Daily News |
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| Philadelphia Daily News | Newsday |
TODAY’S EVENTS
Dolphins GM Rick Spielman’s weekly radio show, “The Rick Spielman Show,” debuts at 5:30pm ET on WAXY-AM (PALM BEACH POST, 10/12).
Online gambling firm Bowmans.com will announce a promotional deal with the CFL. The company is also a CFL Argonauts sponsor (TORONTO SUN, 10/12).
Brandi Chastain’s new book, “It’s Not About The Bra,” hits retail today. The book “tells part of the story of women’s soccer through” Chastain’s eyes (N.Y. TIMES, 10/12).
Memorial services for late Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Tom Briere will be held at 1:30pm CT at St. Olaf’s Catholic Church in Minneapolis (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 10/10).
IN OTHER NEWS….
This week’s cover of TIME examines “The Battle For Every Last Vote,” while NEWSWEEK offers “Will Your Vote Be Counted?”
BLOOMBERG NEWS reports that DirecTV will “pay $579[M] to boost its stakes in satellite television businesses” in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Chile. The effort would create a single national provider in those countries (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 10/12).
The WALL STREET JOURNAL reports that the FCC is “finishing up plans to hit Fox” with a $1M fine for its ’03 reality series “Married by America.” The six-episode series included an episode “depicting a bachelor party that included strippers, whipped cream and topless prostitutes” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/12).
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Broadway Musicals.”
“Legend says this musical was inspired by Lunt and Fontanne’s backstage bickering during a Shakespeare play.”
LAUGH TRACK
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS’ David Letterman: “On Friday, Martha Stewart entered prison. She’s going to be gone for like five months, and the first thing they did is they stripped-searched her, and in doing so, they confiscated a garlic press. … A lot of prominent Italian-New Yorkers were at the Columbus Day Parade. Mario Andretti was the Grand Marshall of the parade, Rudy Giuliani was at the parade, Hillary Clintoni was at the parade. … On Friday, free elections were held in Afghanistan. That’s pretty good. Already though, there are charges of fraud in Broward and Dade Counties. … At the first debate, they were all at the podiums and then the second debate, at the request of President Bush, was the town hall format, and also at the request of President Bush, the next one will be a Happy Hour format. The third debate is Wednesday night, and this is going to be exciting one because the jackpot is up to $375,000. … The rumor going around is that President Bush in the first debate had some kind of listening device and somebody was feeding him answers to the questions for the debate and they actually had a photograph of him and there was a bulge in his jacket. I was thinking that was an improvement over the last guy who had a bulge in his pants” (“Late Show,” CBS, 10/11).
NBC’s Jay Leno: “Now, Boston will play the New York Yankees, and if the Red Sox win that series, they’ll go on and play in the World Series and then, if the Red Sox win the World Series, then the Earth will crack open and we’ll all die! … Besides being Columbus Day this is also Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrating Native Americans. Today, John Kerry told Native Americans he has a plan for withdrawing all the troops from America. … President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have now come forward and have officially conceded that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. In fact, feeling the tremendous relief that came from admitting this, they also said there’s no Santa Claus, O.J. did it and Al Gore’s really been President for the last four years. … I guess you heard about the big presidential Election Day chaos over there in Afghanistan. Giving you an idea how badly they screwed up over there, today Bush declared, ‘Mission accomplished.’ The main polling place was in Kabul, which is an ancient Afghan word meaning ‘Broward County.’ … Martha Stewart got her first visitor in prison today. The bad news is she was in the shower at the time” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 10/11).
LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR
| Net | Show | Lead | Next Items |
| ESPN | “Around The Horn” | Patriots and Red Sox | Surprise teams in the NFL; Astros-Braves |
| ESPN | “PTI” | Rams head coach Mike Martz | Redskins; Ravens RB Jamal Lewis suspended for two games |
| ESPN | 12:00am ET “SportsCenter” | Astros-Braves | Astros-Cardinals preview; Cavaliers G LeBron James |
| FSN | “I, Max” | Patriots dynasty | Best team in NFC; Oklahoma-Texas NCAA football |
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER noted that Universal Studios’ “Friday Night Lights” had “an impressive debut of an estimated $20.6[M], an opening largely unaffected by Friday night’s presidential debates or the baseball playoff games throughout the three-day frame.” The estimated total for the top 12 films is $98.3M, up less than 1% from the comparable weekend last year (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/11).
| Title | Weekend | Cumulative |
| “Shark Tale” | $31.7M | $87.7M |
| “Friday Night Lights” | $20.6M | $20.6M |
| “Ladder 49” | $13.3M | $41.2M |
| “Taxi” | $12.1M | $12.7M |
| “The Forgotten” | $7.5M | $48.6M |
| “Raise Your Voice” | $4.6M | $4.6M |
| “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” | $2.3M | $33.9M |
| “Shaun of the Dead” | $1.6M | $9.3M |
| “The Motorcycle Diaries” | $1.4M | $3.2M |
| “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” | $1.3M | $49.0M |
FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER
“What is ‘Kiss Me Kate?’”
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