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Friday 9:00am ET....Today's News....It's Audi Here

  • Audi Buys Naming Rights To Premium Club At Wrigley Field
  • Rays Continue Back-And-Forth With City In Quest For Ballpark
  • IOC Wraps Up Inspection Of Beijing's Bid For '22 Winter Games
  • Confirmed: Rousey Has Signed New Multi-Fight Contract With UFC

Audi Buys Naming Rights To Premium Club At Wrigley Field

The Cubs announced a multiyear deal for Audi to become naming-rights partner for a premium area at Wrigley Field, expanding on the brand's status as the team's official luxury vehicle. The Audi Club, formerly the United Club, is a pre- and postgame VIP gathering place on the south side of the ballpark. It is open to season-ticket holders who have purchased a membership during each home game (Cubs).

Audi also "will continue as the presenting sponsor of the Season Ticket Holder Lounge at the annual Cubs Convention." Financial terms were not disclosed. Sponsorship of the Wrigley club came open when the Cubs after last season "ended a long-standing partnership" with United Airlines in favor of a deal with American Airlines (CHICAGOBUSINESS.com, 3/26).

Rays Continue Back-And-Forth With City In Quest For Ballpark

St. Petersburg City attorneys today will send to the City Council a revised memorandum of understanding with the Rays regarding the effort for a new ballpark. Mayor Rick Kriseman's chief of staff, Kevin King, said that Kriseman is "still unsure when he'll ask the council to reconsider the request to allow the team to look throughout Pinellas and Hillsborough counties." The revised proposal, "which the Rays support, addresses what will happen if the team finds a new site outside St. Petersburg" but in the aforementioned counties (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3/26).

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred yesterday made the "first visit by a commissioner to Rays spring training camp in 18 years." The "one answer he didn't have" was what the league will do if the Rays "don't make progress soon in addressing their biggest problem, the lack of a new ballpark" (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 3/27).

IOC Wraps Up Inspection Of Beijing's Bid For '22 Winter Games

Chinese officials today said that they "can provide a secure environment" for a potential '22 Winter Games in Beijing, as IOC evaluators "wrapped up their five-day inspection tour" of the city's bid. Bid official Zhang Jiandong said that Beijing had a "proven track record in providing security for the millions of visitors and thousands of events the city hosts annually." The inspection by 19 IOC members is a "key test of Beijing's status as the front-runner in the bid race" against Almaty, Kazakhstan (AP, 3/27).

Confirmed: Rousey Has Signed New Multi-Fight Contract With UFC

UFC officials confirmed that Ronda Rousey has "signed a new contract with a multi-fight deal in place." Rousey on Wednesday revealed on ESPN's "First Take" that she "recently renegotiated her contract with the UFC and signed on for several more fights." Meanwhile, she is "incorporating her fast finishes into a new marketing campaign at Reebok." Rousey: "We're making Reebok shirts that say 'don't blink'" (FOXSPORTS.com, 3/26).

Vikings Throwing In $19.5M More Toward Construction Of New Stadium

The Vikings and the Wilf family today will reveal at a Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority meeting that they “will contribute an additional $19.5 million to the team’s new stadium.” The funds will be directed “toward plaza enhancements, food service equipment, seat upgrades and a deck that looks out toward Minneapolis.” The Vikings have contributed a total of $551M of the stadium’s $1.06B cost (STARTRIBUNE.com, 3/27).

Joint Venture Will Send David Beckham-Branded Products To China

David Beckham-branded products are "set to head to China" in a few months when Global Brands Group Holding, his new Hong Kong-based joint venture partner, "rolls out its goods." Global Brands CEO Bruce Rockowitz said that the venture "will focus on developing Beckham-branded consumer products including sportswear, footwear, casual-wear, hi-tech and skincare," and the company "aims to build this into a multi-billion dollar business in five years." This adds to Beckham's deals to promote Las Vegas Sands and Diageo's new Scotch brand (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 3/27).

Shooting For Pilot Episode Of "Fantasy Life" Sitcom Begins Today

By Eric Fisher

Shooting begins today for the pilot of "Fantasy Life," a sitcom based on the life of ESPN senior fantasy analyst Matthew Berry and his '13 best-selling memoir of the same name. Fox' production of the pilot includes Kevin Connolly, who will play the Berry-inspired lead character of Mitch. Connolly will be joined by actors Chris McDonald and Vanessa Williams. The pilot will be shot in a multi-camera hybrid format, and Berry will serve as a non-writing executive producer for "Fantasy Life."

It is not yet known whether Fox will pick up the show for the '15-16 television season. That decision will be made closer to network upfronts in May. Berry was a former TV writer with a wide variety of credits including episodes of "Married... with Children," "Roseanne," and "Sports Night," before venturing into his current career in fantasy sports.

Speed Reads....

The Galaxy and StubHub Center have “lifted sanctions” on the Angel City Brigade (ACB) supporters group. MLS and the Galaxy earlier this year announced that ACB “would be losing its supporters privileges for the first eight games” of the ’15 season (OREGONLIVE.com, 3/26).

The Brewers have extended their partnership with Associated Bank. The extension includes sponsorship of a newly-renovated seating area, The Associated Bank Check Deck, formerly known as the Harley-Davidson Deck (Brewers).

A sellout crowd of 19,070 attended last night’s Coyotes-Sabres game at First Niagara Center, where fans of the 29th-placed Sabres cheered for “Arizona's game-winning goal in overtime” as they clamor “for the best odds at the top pick” in the NHL Draft (ESPN.com, 3/27).

Quick Hits....

“He was a big meal guy. He liked sharing ideas over a good dinner at a good restaurant, and fortunately I was blessed to have many of those opportunities with him” – NBA Kings coach George Karl, on late UNC basketball coach Dean Smith willing all of his former players $200 for a nice "dinner out” (USATODAY.com, 3/26).

“If Formula One is that bad for Renault’s reputation, if we see that we will continue to struggle with the current formula, if Formula One is not delivering on the value that it costs Renault ... this is what we’re looking at” – Renault Sport F1 Managing Dir Cyril Abiteboul, on the engine supplier possibly pulling out of the sport (AP, 3/27).

“My job is to help create a culture of acceptance. … It’s still uncomfortable for players to want to talk about this” – MLB Ambassador for Inclusion Billy Beane, who is gay, on talking to teams during Spring Training (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 3/27).

“We’re putting plans in place. … As we do with any particular need, we’ll look at trying to find other revenue streams, but these are challenging financial times for us” – Univ. of New Mexico AD Paul Krebs, on exploring ways to offer some student-athletes full cost-of-attendance scholarships (ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL, 3/27).

Night Moves....Opening Act

Last night’s 1:00am ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” led with actors Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart introducing the broadcast and promoting their new film, “Get Hard.” Two ads for the film aired during the 60-minute broadcast. Both the 1:00am ET editions “SportsCenter” and FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” led with men’s NCAA Tournament Kentucky-West Virginia, with ESPN following with Arizona-Xavier and Coyotes-Sabres. FS1 followed with Notre Dame-Wichita State and analysis of the men’s NCAA Tournament. The first NHL report on FS1 was Ducks-Bruins 22 minutes into the broadcast.

Yesterday’s edition of ESPN2’s “Olbermann” did not air due to coverage of France-Brazil men’s soccer.

Morning Hot Reads: Best Of Teams, Worst Of Teams

Under the header "St. Louis Is A Tale Of Two Cities," the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH's Joe Strauss writes, "If the Cardinals are the civic religion, the Rams have become a sporting stigma."

In a HOLLYWOOD REPORTER Q&A, Turner Broadcasting President David Levy says of the "ceiling" for premium sports rights, "It's a supply-and-demand business. No one knows where the tipping point will be."

Also: 

Twitter Me This....

If you see a tweet we will not want to miss, send it to us at editorial@sportsbusinessdaily.com.

Today's Events....

The Atlanta Business Chronicle and Atlanta Sports Council host the annual Business of Sports Summit at the College Football HOF. See more details.

MSG Network runs an all-day programming marathon entitled, "Clyde: 70 Years Of Cool," in honor of Basketball HOFer and network announcer Walt Frazier's 70th birthday.

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 HeraldToronto Sun Chicago Sun-Times

Spanning The Global....

The most-read Global stories today on SportsBusinessDaily.com:

1) Hangin' With ... New Balance Football General Manager Richard Wright
2) F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone Reveals $3M Docked From Manor Prize Money
3) Iconic European Venues 'Fall Silent' As Formula One Moves East
4) Bundesliga Decides To Limit Multi Investments To Secure 'Integrity' Of Competition
5) America's Cup Organizers Plan To Cut Operational Costs With Use Of Smaller Boats

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “Navy Ships.”

“First designated as armored cruiser No. 1, this ship was commissioned in 1895 and operated on our east coast and in the Caribbean.”

Laugh Track....Wide World Of Sports

Comedians Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart opened the 1:00am ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” from L.A. and Hart said, “We’ve got a heck of a show for you today.” Ferrell: “We’re kicking off ‘SportsCenter’ today, what a lineup. A lot to talk about. We got March Madness.” Hart then asked, “Did we mention that it’s March Madness?” Ferrell: “There’s some basketball to talk about.” Hart added, “And we got some basketball.” Ferrell: “NBA, NHL, there’s a roller blading tournament.” Hart: “We've got a nice little handball tournament that we're going to do” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 3/27).

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “We’re still in the middle of March Madness and all the teams that we have left have been doing interviews with the press this week. And I think Wisconsin player Nigel Hayes might have had a crush on the stenographer. I’m not sure if he knew his mic was on though. This is pretty cute.” The broadcast aired footage from the Wisconsin players’ press conference where Hayes whispers to his teammate, “God, she’s beautiful.” After realizing his mic may have heard him say that, he turns back to the media and says, “Did you hear that?” He then puts both hands over his face in embarrassment. Fallon added, “Then the stenographer was like, ‘Let the record show that I’m free on Friday night’” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 3/26).