Morning Buzz, January 10, 2005

EA SPORTS DEVELOPING AFL VIDEO GAME UNDER LEAGUE SPONSORSHIP

By John Lombardo, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

The AFL has signed a four-year equity sponsorship deal with Electronic Arts that calls for the production of an AFL video game. Financial terms of the deal, expected to be announced today, were not disclosed, but it includes a provision calling for EA to receive an undisclosed share of fees from league expansion teams. Sales of existing teams are not included in the agreement. The AFL video game will hit the market for the start of the '06 AFL season. The deal is an extension of an equity agreement the AFL has with NBC Sports, in which NBC receives a percentage of AFL team sales (THE DAILY).

RUPERT MURDOCH BUYING OUT FOX SHAREHOLDERS FOR ABOUT $6B

The N.Y. TIMES reports that News Corp. Chair & CEO Rupert Murdoch will announce today that he will “buy out the shareholders of his Fox properties for about $6[B].” The deal, which was approved by News Corp.’s BOD last night, “would solidify Murdoch’s control over some of the nation’s most valuable media assets like the Fox broadcast network and the DirecTV satellite service and help simplify the complicated structure” of News Corp. It also would put Murdoch “in a better position to leverage his full ownership of the Fox Entertainment Group for future deals" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/10).

ACADEMIC STANDARDS MAY BE APPROVED AS NCAA CONVENTION CLOSES

The NCAA Convention ends today in Dallas and NCAA President Myles Brand and Division I BOD Chair & Univ. of Kansas Chancellor Robert Hemenway will conduct a 5:30pm CT press conference to discuss academic reform as well as other issues.  The INDIANAPOLIS STAR reports that the board today is expected to decide on whether to accept the Committee on Academic Performance's recommendation of the Academic Performance Rate, a proposed formula to measure classroom performance of individual teams (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 1/10).

MLB GIANTS EXTEND BOFA SPONSORSHIP; CLOSE TO VISA EXTENSION

SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL reports that the MLB Giants today are expected to announce a six-year extension of their sponsorship deal with Bank of America. The deal will “expand the bank’s ballpark presence and pay the club significantly more” than the previous deal, which paid the Giants about $1M annually. Under the deal, Bank of America becomes the title sponsor of SBC Park’s business center and will be the presenting sponsor of the Junior Giants program. Additionally, the club is “close to completing a five-year extension with Visa” (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/10 issue).

MORNING BRIEFS

ABC's broadcast of Rams-Seahawks on Saturday drew 16% of TV HHs, up 4% from last year's comparable game. The net's primetime broadcast of Jets-Chargers drew 17% of HHs, up 3% (USA TODAY, 1/10). For the night, ABC earned a 14.1/24 overnight rating, topping the 11.9 combined rating of CBS, Fox and NBC during the same time (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/10).

The Mets reached an agreement in principle with free agent Carlos Beltran on a seven-year, $119M contract yesterday morning (NEWSDAY, 1/10).

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, on drug-testing negotiations: “We have been in very intense negotiations. I’m very confident in saying to you today we will have a very, very constructive, tough steroid policy very soon” (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 1/8).

Chris Rose is departing his role as host of "BDSSP" to handle play-by-play on AFL and NFL Europe telecasts - "with an eye towards eventually doing NFL broadcasts on Fox" (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 1/10).

NFL Panthers radio announcer Bill Rosinski, who has handled play-by-play duties since the team's inception, will not return for the '05 season (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 1/10).

Anachel Communications, headed by Carrie Gerlach Cecil, today will announce that it has restructured its partnership with NASCAR to focus solely on creating and implementing strategic business and media relations plans for the series.  Previously, Anachel oversaw the PR on all of NASCAR’s broadcast initiatives as well as NASCAR Digital Entertainment’s broadcasting and new media partnerships (THE DAILY).

ATTENDANCE WATCH

A crowd of more than 9,000 attended Orioles FanFest 2005 yesterday at the Baltimore Convention Center, which in previous years has drawn upwards of 15,000 (Baltimore SUN, 1/10).

WEEKEND RAP

The following are excerpts from the panelists’ “parting shots” on Sunday’s edition of ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters”:

• Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, on Red Sox 1B Doug Mientkiewicz keeping the ball from the last out of the World Series: “It’s a baseball of great significance and it belongs to the team – the other 24 players and the fans – not Doug Mientkiewicz, an accident of history. We see 86 years of frustration. He sees dollar signs. Doug Mientkiewicz is embarrassing himself" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 1/9).

• Mientkiewicz' wife Jodi recently posted a comment on the team’s message board at RedSox.com about Doug keeping the ball from the final World Series out. Jodi's post read in part, "Doug and I have no intention of selling the ball for profit. Doug did say he could be bought, joking and laughing the whole time. He also said how much he knows the value of this ball and what it means to Red Sox nation. So before everyone goes crazy, know this, we have always had the ball, we have told other media sources we have it and they have never pitted us against the ownership" (RedSox.com Message Board). View the entire post.

• N.Y. Daily News columnist Mike Lupica, on Vikings WR Randy Moss: “There’s still time for him to stop being the kind of rich, young athlete who makes people really hate rich, young athletes. ... You know how Moss can look as if he’s really worth all that money today? Play every down as if it matters to you, not just the ones where the ball is coming your way. Treat being a great player like something other than a part-time job.”

• Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith, on the 49ers firing head coach Dennis Erickson: “As messes go, we’ve now officially learned that Erickson had no business coaching in the NFL a second time around, that it doesn’t pay to make a mockery of the league’s minority hiring guidelines, and, oh by the way, that some minority candidates may actually be better than the pieces of mediocrity continuously plucked from that good ole’ boy network.”

• ESPN’s John Saunders, on Chargers QB Doug Flutie: “Flutie is the most confident athlete I’ve ever seen – ever – and I hope I get to see him play again” (“The Sports Reporters,” ESPN, 1/9).

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

Red Sox Exec VP/Public Affairs Charles Steinberg, Senior VP & GM Theo Epstein and Northeastern Univ. President Richard Freeland will announce MLB’s first violence-prevention training partnership at the school’s Center for the Study of Sport in Society. The center will start working with players at spring training.

Representatives from Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and possibly Russia will arrive in Seattle today for “several days of meetings with the Seattle Organizing Committee” for the June 7-12 Pacific Rim Sports Summit.  Event organizers later this month plan to launch an ad campaign and announce the schedule, major sponsors and other details, including a TV deal with NBC (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/10).

Lance Armstrong will introduce the new Discovery Communications pro cycling team, the successor to the U.S. Postal Service squad that won six consecutive Tour de France titles. During the Texas Children’s Hospital benefit on Friday night, Armstrong said whether he races in the ’05 Tour de France will be up to Discovery. Armstrong: “If they want the Tour in 2005, they will get the Tour in 2005” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 1/8).

THIS WEEK IN SISTER PUBLICATION SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL…..

This week’s cover story examines the changing road to MLB teams’ front office positions, as clubs eye business expertise over traditional farm club ties.

Also in this week’s issue:

IN OTHER NEWS….

This week’s cover of TIME offers “The Science of Happiness,” while NEWSWEEK examines “Diet & Genes.”

The SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE reported that Verizon Wireless “plans to launch a video-on-demand service in which cell phones for the first time can take advantage of the company’s high-speed network.” The service, called VCAST, gives customers “access to 300 daily made-for-wireless videos from television networks such as Comedy Central, MTV and ESPN.” VCAST will roll out February 1 in 30 U.S. cities for $15 a month (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 1/8).

The ATLANTA CONSTITUTION reported that Coca-Cola will begin selling Coca-Cola with Lime in the U.S. by March, marking the “first line extension of the company’s biggest brand since Vanilla Coke appeared” in ’02 (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 1/7).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Friday’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Magazines.”

“Founded in 1821, it was named for its delivery time, the last mail delivery of the day.”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “Be honest: how many of you folks are just here because you thought Regis would be filling in? ... New York City is a fascinating city. I’m coming to work this morning on the subway and a guy asked me if I would call his cell phone so it would vibrate in his pants. ... It’s January ’05 and you know what that means? Among other things, the election is supposed to be held in Iraq, so that’s exciting. They think the election will be very close. They think it’s going to come down to the New York City cab driver absentee ballots. ... Donald Trump is introducing a line of hair care products. That’s like George Bush publishing a dictionary. ... Preparations are in high gear for the Bush inauguration and it’s really beginning to look bad now for John Kerry. Everybody at the White House is very excited about the inauguration festivities. Earlier today, the Bush twins picked a designated driver” (“Late Show,” CBS, 1/7).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “It snowed in Las Vegas today. So it’s official: hell has frozen over. It was so cold, Roy was attacked by a polar bear today. It was so cold, three strippers got stuck to their brass poles. ... President Bush has been working on his inauguration speech. Not the actual speech, just working on the word inaugural. ... I saw Amber Frey on ‘Oprah,’ and I saw her on the ‘Today' show and ‘Dateline.’ She describes her first night with Scott Peterson as a whirlwind romance. Oh shut up! That’s just girl talk for 'he nailed her on the first date.' ... USA Today is reporting that Amber’s new book is aimed at women who have been lied to by seductive men. In fact today, Hillary Clinton bought fifty copies. ... Some sad news as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has announced that he and his wife are getting a divorce. That town never should have allowed straights to get married. It’s getting ugly. I understand his wife is asking for the 49ers and the Golden Gate Bridge. ... They say in the battle of perfumes, Britney Spears is outselling Paris Hilton. Well sure, who would you rather smell like: a pop star or a porn star? (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 1/7).

SUNDAY NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

ESPN’s 1:30am ET edition of “SportsCenter” led with Vikings-Packers, followed by Broncos-Colts and the Mets agreeing to seven-year deal with Carlos Beltran.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that the inclement weather in much of the country “failed to hamper overall business at the box office this weekend.” The estimated total for the top 12 films was $98.3M, up 8% from the comparable frame last year. The total for all films is forecast to be in the low- to mid-$110M range, up from last year’s $106M (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/10).

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is the Saturday Evening Post?”

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