| • | NHLPA Members Vote Don Fehr In As Union's New Exec Dir |
| • | NFL's Goodell To Talk Vikings Stadium With Minn. Gov.-Elect |
| • | American Express Set To Return As NBA League-Level Sponsor |
| • | Aggreko Signs On As London Games' Exclusive Power Supplier |
NHLPA VOTES DON FEHR IN AS EXEC DIR, APPROVES AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUTION
The NHLPA membership voted overwhelmingly to approve Don Fehr as the organization's new Exec Dir, following the Exec Board's endorsement. Union members also voted to accept amendments put forward by the NHLPA Constitution Committee (NHLPA). Fehr reportedly will receive $3M a year "to run the union" and $1.5M in "back pay for work already done" (TORONTO STAR, 12/19).
GOODELL TO MEET WITH MINNESOTA GOV.-ELECT DAYTON ON VIKINGS STADIUM
 |
Goodell Meeting With Minnesota Officials
About Drive For New Stadium For Vikings |
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will be in Minnesota today to meet with state Gov.-elect Mark Dayton and legislative leaders "over the Vikings' stalled drive for a new, publicly subsidized stadium" to replace the Metrodome. The meeting was "scheduled before the Metrodome's inflatable roof collapsed a week ago." Dayton has indicated that he "would support a new Vikings stadium, provided the benefits to taxpayers outweigh the costs"
(Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/18).
Goodell also is visiting to help "celebrate the Vikings' 50th anniversary," and he will attend tonight's Bears-Vikings contest at TCF Bank Stadium (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 12/19). Meanwhile, the National Weather Service is "calling for snow mainly after noon" today in and around Minneapolis, including "a half-inch per hour during the game" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 12/20).
Vikings P Chris Kluwe issued a series of tweets that made clear he thought the field fell far short of expectations. Kluwe in separate tweets said, "The field is as hard as concrete an hour and a half after they took the tarp off, and anyone that hits their head is getting a concussion. … I can only hope, however unlikely, that no one gets catastrophically injured at the trainwreck that's about to take place tomorrow night."
AMEX SET TO ANNOUNCE RETURN AS LEAGUE-LEVEL SPONSOR OF NBA
American Express today will formally announce that it is set to return to sponsoring the NBA as the league's official charge card. The three-year deal will include USA Basketball, the WNBA and the NBA D-League. AmEx "will advertise on NBA TV" and is "considering a separate NBA-themed marketing campaign." This marks the "fourth major sponsorship for the NBA this year." The league also has made deals with Bacardi, State Farm and BBVA (N.Y. TIMES, 12/20).
AGGREKO SIGNS ON AS EXCLUSIVE POWER SUPPLIER FOR '12 LONDON GAMES
Scotland-based Aggreko has signed a deal with LOCOG to be the exclusive power supplier for the '12 London Games in a deal valued at US$57.5M. The power company also announced that it will sponsor the Games. The power supplier deal will see Aggreko provide about 220 megawatts of power, "more than the 160 megawatts supplied for the Beijing Games." Aggreko has supplied power at the Beijing Games, Vancouver Games and '10 FIFA World Cup (UKPA, 12/20).
DIRECTV TO BRING SPORTS NETWORKS UNDER NEW ROOT SPORTS BRAND
DirecTV Sports Networks announced plans for its three RSNs – FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Northwest and FSN Rocky Mountain (with sub-region FSN Utah) – to come under the new brand identity Root Sports in spring '11. The Root Sports logo will be gradually introduced to those markets, beginning immediately, via off-channel and promotional efforts. The on-air transition will take effect with the start of the '11 MLB season (DirecTV).
R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL DRAWS THIRD-LARGEST CROWD EVER
 |
New Orleans Bowl Draws
Near Record Crowd |
A crowd of 29,159 attended the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl on Saturday at the Superdome. The attendance was the "third best in New Orleans Bowl history." Troy Univ. defeated Ohio Univ. 48-21
(DOTHAN EAGLE, 12/19).
The New Mexico Bowl on Saturday drew a crowd of 32,424, short of the record crowd of 34,111 for the inaugural game in '06. BYU defeated UTEP 52-24 in the game at University Stadium in Albuquerque
(SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 12/19).
A crowd of 25,449 was on hand for Saturday's uDrove Humanitarian Bowl at Bronco Stadium in Boise. Northern Illinois Univ. beat Fresno State Univ. 40-17 (MERCED SUN-STAR, 12/19).
SPEED READS….
 |
UConn's Streak Receives Front-
Page Treatment In Hartford |
The Hartford Courant today runs a front-page piece with the headline "Tie For History" after the UConn women's basketball team yesterday defeated Ohio State 81-50 to tie the UCLA men's program's record 88-game winning streak. UConn will go for 89 tomorrow in a home game against Florida State Univ.
(THE DAILY).
Bidders including London & Stamford, JP Morgan, the Wellcome Trust and Qatari Diar have been "shortlisted to acquire the 2012 Olympic Village" in Stratford, England. The deal could be worth US$775M (London TELEGRAPH, 12/19).
Gil de Ferran's Izod IndyCar Series team today is expected to announce that it has signed driver Tony Kanaan (INDYSTAR.com, 12/17).
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday gave the state's "beleaguered harness racing industry" a 90-day reprieve, agreeing to "continue to have the state run operations" at The Meadowlands Racetrack for that time period (Bergen RECORD, 12/18).
QUICK HITS….
“It’s kind of like going to an action movie every Sunday” – Fox Sports President Eric Shanks, on the ratings success of NFL broadcasts (N.Y. TIMES, 12/19).
“I don’t think football is remotely comparable; it’s much bigger than a movie” – NBC Sports & Olympics Chair Dick Ebersol, in response to Shanks (N.Y. TIMES, 12/19).
“Mark Cuban is from an NBA world, where it’s all business. In our world, somebody has to look after the athletes” – BCS Exec Dir Bill Hancock, on his reaction to the Mavericks Owner’s plan to fund a college football playoff (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 12/18).
“We’re up for a contract renegotiation also this year and it’s vital to make sure that we get that in play. If we can get that signed, I would see baseball going to the forefront once again and being the national pastime once again if those two sports decide to lockout” – Free agent 2B David Eckstein, on the NBA and NFL facing possible lockouts in '11 (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 12/17).
“Now I’m cheap because I won’t spend $200 million on Mark Teixeira and $150 million on Carl Crawford?” – Angels Owner Arte Moreno, whose team had the seventh-highest payroll in MLB last season at $121M, on fans being upset that the team has not signed any marquee free agents the past couple of seasons (L.A. TIMES, 12/18).
“We honor and support the four-year agreement. But it doesn’t mean we have to be thrilled about it. … I have a much deeper appreciation, 18 months into this, for the value of the Rose Bowl to college football generally and to this conference” – Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott, on the last BCS agreement opening the Rose Bowl to all conferences (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 12/19).
TWITTER ME THIS….
Packers RB Ryan Grant: “Don't you think they should have flexed our game vs Giants next since so much is on the line?”
NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy: “NFL Network hired @AlbertBreer for his reporting. turns outs his best skill is still photography. he's in Minny w/ great field shots.”
Newark Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi: “Watching Michael Irvin on the NFL Network has cost me at least 20 IQ points.”
Tennis player Devin Britton: “The State Farm commercials make no sense.”
If you see a tweet we won’t want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
THIS WEEK IN SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL….
This week’s in-depth offers a review of the past year in sports business.
- MLS asking Fox Soccer Channel to renew TV deal at $20M per year.
- PGA Tour grew sponsorship revenue by 5% during ’10 season.
- DirecTV may drop Golf Channel at end of the year due to carriage dispute.
- T-Mobile giving Christmas NBA broadcasts the Super Bowl treatment.
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 | Newsday |
| | |
| Philadelphia Daily News | Boston Herald |
FINAL JEOPARDY!
Friday nights “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Americana.”
“Riding the subway in New York in 1908, Jack Norworth saw a sign for the Polo Grounds and was inspired to write this song.”
LAUGH TRACK….
THE MONOLOGUES:
CBS David Letterman: “Let me tell you about last night's audience – nasty, ugly, awful. Here's how bad they were: They hired a Jets coach to try and trip me on my way out. Guy from the Miami Dolphins running down the sidelines covering a punt return and one of the Jets coaches does this, knocks him down, injures the guy. The Jets coach today apologized to the kid, and also took a picture of his thing with his cell phone and sent it off – just trying to make friends. Anybody commute to work in the city? $1,000 now to park your car for a month. You want to park your car in the city? $1,000 a month. It would be cheaper to send your car to college. You remember OTB, off-track betting? Where you could go and pretend you were at the race track and you could bet all day on tracks all over – out of business. Yes, out of business in New York City. New York City was losing millions of dollars each year. Really? The first bookie in the history of the world to lose money? You would think horse gambling and off-track betting would flourish in New York City, a city that has a mayor who was a jockey. I don't know if you heard the news, but to stimulate the economy, earlier today Congress announced that they were legalizing a second Christmas” (“Late Show,” CBS, 12/17).
NBCs Jay Leno: “Happy T.G.I.F., which stands for the ground is freezing. It was so cold, Dick Cheney was able to take his spare heart out of the ice chest and keep it in the backyard. It was so cold that Donovan McNabb got frozen to the Redskins bench. A lot of firms all around the country had their annual Christmas party. Unfortunately, a lot of people couldn't make it this year, because, as you know, their company is in India. A group of TSA workers at LAX formed a choir to sing at the passengers as they go through the pat-down. That's what you want, isn't it? A guy with his hand down your pants singing, ‘Do you feel what I feel?’ Just one week from tonight, kids all over Los Angeles will be visited by the old man that comes once a year bearing gifts, their real father. The New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys are scheduled to appear on Dick Clark's New Year's Eve special. Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block – I believe the year they're counting down is 1988. And Congress, as you know, has voted to extend the Bush tax cuts. Is it me or is George W. Bush getting more done now that he's out of office then when he was in office? Congratulations to Tony Romo. He just got engaged to his girlfriend, sports reporter Candice Crawford, so at least somebody on the Dallas Cowboys is getting a ring this year (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 12/17).
LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:
Friday night’s Top Ten List was “Top Ten Signs Your Mall Santa Claus Is Overworked” (“Late Show,” CBS, 12/17).
| 10) "Instead of, 'What do you want for Christmas?' asks, 'Where the hell am I?'" |
| 9) "Calls every kid he meets Ricky." |
| 8) "Constantly breaks down sobbing like John Boehner." |
| 7) "Excuses himself to bathe in the fountain." |
| 6) "Will only hear what you want if you go through a pat down or a full body scan." |
| 5) "Barricades himself under the escalator brandishing a sharpened candy cane." |
| 4) "Angrily tells everyone, 'You’re getting a Waterpik.'" |
| 3) "Many times a day, mall security has to taser him." |
| 2) "Asks every kid, 'You’re not Jewish, are you?'" |
| 1) "Instead of milk and cookies, asks for Xanax." |
FINAL JEOPARDY….
"What is 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame'?"
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
pbounds@sportsbusinessdaily.com.
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