Morning Buzz, March 8, 2005

Morning News & Headlines

OCTAGON/STREET & SMITH’S WORLD CONGRESS OF SPORTS BEGINS TODAY

The Octagon/Street & Smith's World Congress of Sports begins today at the Waldorf-Astoria in N.Y. with a keynote address from NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France. The event returns to N.Y. for the third time in its four-year history, after being held in Newport Beach, California, last year. This year’s theme is “The Changing Face of Consumers and Sports Consumption.” Street & Smith’s Sports Group is the parent company of THE DAILY. View today’s full agenda.

ANAHEIM CITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS POTENTIAL NFL STADIUM DEAL

The L.A. TIMES reports the Anaheim City Council today will “consider how to structure a deal” with the NFL for a potential stadium site. The council agenda mentions “price and terms of payment,” but Anaheim City Manager Dave Morgan said that the city “is not considering selling land to the NFL.” The council “is requiring that Anaheim do no worse than break even on a deal, so the city could provide the land to the NFL and recoup the value in lease payments or by sharing revenue generated by the stadium” (L.A. TIMES, 3/8).

Meanwhile, the L.A. TIMES also notes Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Polos is expected to set a trial date today for the city’s lawsuit against the Angels. The city “wants the trial to begin in August. The Angels prefer a January start” (L.A. TIMES, 3/8).

REEBOK TO ANNOUNCE ENDORSEMENT DEAL WITH SIDNEY CROSBY

Reebok during an 11:30am ET news conference at Air Canada Centre will announce that it has signed Quebec Major Junior Hockey League player Sidney Crosby to an endorsement deal (Reebok). The TORONTO SUN reports the five-year, multimillion-dollar deal that is “reported to exceed any similar contracts signed during the past by Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux” (TORONTO SUN, 3/8).

COCA-COLA TODAY KICKS OFF PROMOTION AIMED AT U.K. SOCCER FANS

ESPNSOCCERNET.com reported Coca-Cola today will begin selling 200 million specially-designed cans in the U.K. offering fans a chance to win US$479,000 in transfer funds for their favorite Football League or Scottish Premier League club. The winning fan’s club will be given the money to spend on the player or players of its choice. The winning fan will also receive US$19,000. Coca-Cola will also give away a pair of tickets to a match every hour of every day for the duration of the 80-day promotion (ESPNSOCCERNET.com, 3/7).

BROWARD, MIAMI-DADE COUNTIES VOTING TODAY ON SLOT MACHINES

Residents of Miami-Dade and Broward counties today will vote on whether to approve slot machines at seven pari-mutuel sites between the two counties. The Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL noted that if slot machines are approved, state legislators still “have to determine the number and kinds of machines allowed, the hours and days of operation and the details of regulation -- including how much they’ll be taxed and whether there should be guaranteed payouts. The Legislature must also decide how much money would go to public schools, and how the funds would be doled out” (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 3/6).

MORNING BRIEFS

MEDIAWEEK reported Fox Sports TV Group Chair & CEO David Hill will “take on additional duties” as DirecTV Inc. COO, where he will oversee the day-to-day operations of DirecTV, along with DirecTV Group President & CEO Chase Carey. Hill will retain his Fox Sports responsibilities, though Fox Sports President Ed Goren “will take on a larger role within that organization” (MEDIAWEEK.com, 3/7).

The N.Y. DAILY NEWS reports the latest meeting between the NHL and NHLPA, which was agreed to yesterday, “may be conducted as early as today” at an undisclosed location (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/8).

The SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER reports representatives of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe will meet again this week with ISC execs “to discuss financing options” for a potential racetrack in southwest Washington. Details of the exact location and cost of the track have yet to be disclosed (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 3/8).

Homestead-Miami Speedway President Curtis Gray, on the potential for installing lights at the track: “It’s something we’re seriously looking at. Our fans have asked for it.” Gray also said that there is “no truth to the rumor that NASCAR is considering moving the July race at Daytona International Speedway to the end of the season instead of finishing at Homestead” (USA TODAY, 3/8).

U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) yesterday voiced his support for the proposed West Side stadium for the 2012 Olympics and the Jets. Rangel: “I’m for the Olympics. I’m for the stadium” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/8).

ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian said he was “surprised at the lack of concern by the players about the new (drug) testing agreement. It didn’t seem to bother them at all that this was coming around, and they didn’t seem to think like, ‘Alright, we’ve got to change our ways because of the new agreement’” (ESPNews, 3/7).

A LIGHTER BUZZ

The CALGARY SUN reported that the Ottawa-based National Hockey League Fans’ Association has posted a PSA on its Web site, in which “a suit-wearing man ... walks to the centre faceoff dot in an empty arena, chips away at the ice to grab the loonie.” The spot concludes with the phrase: “When did hockey come to this?” (CALGARY SUN, 3/7). View the NHLFA’s PSA.

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

The Patriots will unveil a new Super Bowl Champions license plate during an 11:00am ET press conference at Copley Place Mall in Boston.  Patriots Owner Robert Kraft and VP/Community Affairs & Corporate Philanthropy Rena Clark will participate.

The Nike Free 5.0 events, a tour co-sponsored by The Finish Line and Sports Illustrated on Campus that includes live music, product demonstrations and foot massages, will visit Arizona State Univ. at noon MT.

IN OTHER NEWS….

Cablevision Chair Charles Dolan yesterday was sued by a shareholder over his appointment of four new members to the Cablevision BOD. The new directors -- Liberty Media Chair John Malone, former Viacom & Universal Studios Chair Frank Biondi Jr., former Citizens Communications CEO Dr. Leonard Tow and former ITT CEO Rand Araskog -- were also named in the suit (Mult., 3/8).

The AP reports that U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pressed Cablevision’s “case for pricing changes with regulators at the same time a tax-exempt group [The Reform Institute] that he has worked with since its founding solicited $200,000 in contributions from the company.”  Help from McCain included giving Charles Dolan “the opportunity to testify before his Senate committee, writing a letter of support to the FCC and asking other cable companies to support so-called a la carte pricing” (AP, 3/8).

FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night's “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Sports Phrase Origins.”

“In 1939 an Illinois sports official wrote, ‘A little’ of this alliterative phrase may ‘contribute to sanity.’”

LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

NBC’s Jay Leno: “What a crowd tonight!  You sound like Heidi Fleiss when she found out Charlie Sheen was single again.  Yesterday was the L.A. Marathon.  I was going to run this year but then I remembered, ‘Oh yeah, I’m too fat.’ ... I guess the winner of the marathon got a new Honda Accord and $25,000 in cash.  You know what the $25,000 is for: gas money! ... Oil is $53.05 a barrel, but the good news is you get the five-cent deposit back when you bring back the empty barrel. ... In the five months since Martha Stewart went to jail, her company’s stock has tripled.  Not only that, Martha herself is now valued at more than 600 million cigarettes. ... While former President Bill Clinton and former President Bush were flying around the world to view the tsunami damage areas, President Clinton let former President Bush sleep on the plane’s only bed while Clinton himself slept on the floor, which is no big deal for Clinton.  It’s like being back in the White House with Hillary.”  Leno has been subpoenaed to testify in the Michael Jackson trial and has a gag order on him to refrain from talking about the trial in his monologue.  CNBC’s Dennis Miller came on-stage to perform jokes about the Jackson trial (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 3/7).

LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is ‘March Madness?’”

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