Morning Buzz, October 13, 2004

GARY BETTMAN’S SCHEDULE DIFFERENT FROM NORMAL OPENING DAY

As today was supposed to be opening day of the ’04-05 NHL season, the TORONTO STAR reports that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will be participating in an online chat with fans at 11:30am ET. NHL VP/Media Relations Frank Brown: “The only thing that will be different about (today) in the commissioner’s schedule from a normal regular season opening day, is he won’t be traveling to Tampa Bay to celebrate the banner raising with the Stanley Cup champions.” Meanwhile, NHLPA Exec Dir Bob Goodenow has “scheduled a few meetings both in and out of the office throughout the day. He is also expected to spend a lot of time talking to players on the phone and by e-mail” (TORONTO STAR, 10/13).

The NHL fined Thrashers co-Owner Steve Belkin $250,000 for saying that the league “would use replacement players next year if a [CBA] isn’t reached” (AP, 10/13).

CHARLES WANG TODAY WILL DETAIL HIS VISION FOR NASSAU COLISEUM

NEWSDAY reports that Islanders co-Owner Charles Wang today will “outline in detail his vision for a $245[M] commercial transformation” of Nassau Coliseum. A tentative deal with Nassau County “would provide Wang with a 99-year lease. Wang would also pay [$1.2-1.5M] annually to lease the 77 acres” around the Coliseum. While the State of New York would put up $77M, Wang will provide $91M, as well as be responsible for the repayment of another $77M from industrial development bonds (NEWSDAY, 10/13).

$14.25M PAYMENT COMING TO HAMILTON COUNTY OVER BENGALS DIGS

The CINCINNATI ENQUIRER reports that Hamilton County (OH) Commissioners Todd Portune and Phil Heimlich “expect to OK a deal this morning” with Design Professionals Insurance, which insured the Paul Brown Stadium design team against cost overruns. Design Professionals will pay the county $14.25M in exchange for the commissioners not suing stadium architect NBBJ Architecture and others involved with the design of the $451M stadium. The stadium was supposed to be built for $400M (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 10/13).

NFL STILL CONTEMPLATING POTENTIAL FINE FOR JAKE PLUMMER

The ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS reports that a decision by the NFL whether to fine Broncos QB Jake Plummer for wearing a No. 40 decal on his helmet Sunday in tribute to Pat Tillman “could come as soon as today.”  NFL execs “quietly worked Tuesday toward a solution,” but “no formal decision has been made.”  The situation has “become an increasingly difficult public-relations problem” for the league as it “has become a topic of discussion on the Internet as well as talk radio throughout the nation.”  The league had no comment yesterday (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 10/13).

Plummer thinks the fine “could be as high as $60,000. He says he'll ask the NFL to give the money to the Pat Tillman Foundation” (AP, 10/13).

MORNING BRIEFS

Vulcan Inc. has hired Allen & Co. to shop the Sporting News to potential buyers (N.Y. POST, 10/13).

Host Communications and Gray Television edged Learfield in the bidding for the Univ. of Kentucky’s sports marketing contract with a ten-year, $80.4M offer.  The deal includes radio and TV rights; the right to negotiate sponsorships and lease sign space; and the right to maintain the UK athletics Web site (LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER, 10/13).

Churchill Downs’ stock was down more than 4% yesterday and reached a 52-week low “after news Monday night that it would lose about $3.9[M]” in Q3. The company’s stock closed yesterday at $36.15 (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 10/13).

DC Mayor Anthony Williams at Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church was “met by a largely skeptical crowd that demanded to know whether he would work as hard to fix schools and build a new hospital” as he made his “first foray last night into a DC neighborhood to sell” his ballpark proposal (WASHINGTON POST, 10/13).

The Arlington City Council yesterday unanimously approved an agreement “ensuring that minorities and women benefit financially from construction of a new stadium” for the Cowboys (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/13).

Manchester United fan group Shareholders United yesterday launched a registration drive to stop Buccaneers Owner Malcolm Glazer from buying the club. The group’s goal is to sign up 100,000 ManU fans worldwide (ESPN.com, 10/12).

Comcast Cable yesterday announced a two-year extension of its title sponsorship of the Comcast Battle in Seattle, which features a Univ. of Gonzaga men’s basketball game at KeyArena. This year’s game will be played December 4 against UMass (Comcast).

ATTENDANCE WATCH

The Seattle Storm won their first WNBA Championship last night in front of a sellout crowd of 17,072 at KeyArena, where they defeated the Connecticut Sun 74-60. For the first time in league history, all three Finals games were sold out (WNBA).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

During an interview with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck and Tim McCarver from Yankee Stadium, ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser referenced Buck's appearance in Budweiser ads, and told Buck, “The Leon ads are very, very funny but admit it, you totally sold-out to do this. It’s a total sell-out on your part.” Buck: “Yeah right, absolutely, and I’m in a long line of all you people that all sell-out any chance you get. So you can put your little press hat on and type on your keyboard, or you can go to ESPN and do your show. Peace out” (“PTI,” ESPN, 10/12).

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	Newsday	N.Y. Daily News

N.Y. Post	N.Y. Daily News

TODAY’S EVENTS

FIA, F1’s governing body, will publish a draft calendar for the ’05 season. It is expected to contain provisional dates for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone (London GUARDIAN, 10/12).

IN OTHER NEWS….

Havas’ Media Planning Group revealed that nine out of ten respondents in their June 29-August 8 study of 310 people over the age of 12 in DVR households always or usually skip commercials when watching DVR-recorded material. Almost 60% of males said they skip the ads, compared to nearly 70% of females (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 10/13).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Western Hemisphere Geography.”

“The second-smallest independent country in area in the Western Hemisphere; in the ‘80s it was invaded by the second largest.”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “You can feel that it’s autumn in New York City. One way that you can tell that it’s autumn in New York City is the Mets are now home watching the playoffs. … Earlier tonight was the Yankees and the Red Sox, and here’s another sure sign of autumn: the annual transition for the Red Sox from false hope to heartbreaking defeat. … This is now day six that Martha Stewart has been in prison, and things are not easy in prison. Don’t kid yourself. This is no country club prison. They are monitoring every telephone conversation that Martha Stewart has. Do you know why? They’re trying to learn her secret for lobster bisque. … I think George Bush is under more pressure, and I think he’s actually starting to feel the pressure because today, he said that he would be willing to stay on until 2009, and then turn things over to Conan O’Brien. … The first debate the candidates were behind podiums, the second debate was the town hall format and the third and final debate tomorrow night will be the karaoke format” (“Late Show,” CBS, 10/12).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “The election is just three weeks from today. Isn’t that amazing? Think about it, over a 100 million Americans will go to the polls, and almost half that number will have their votes counted. … President Bush apparently had a hard time getting past reporters and leaving the auditorium in St. Louis last week after the debate. Isn’t that amazing, Bush not having an exit strategy. … ‘Friday Night Lights’ is about a high school football team and it’s a terrific movie. Let me tell you something, if you really want to see some good high school football this weekend, check out the Miami Dolphins. … In Phil Jackson’s new book, ‘The Last Season,’ Phil goes after Kobe. He claims Kobe Bryant is so self-centered, he made the Lakers pay for his private plane to fly him back and forth to the trial in Denver, and then complained that the private jet wasn’t fancy enough. The Lakers kept turning him down, they didn’t want to do it but you know Kobe. He doesn’t understand the meaning of the word no” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 10/12).

LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is Grenada?”

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