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Friday 9:00am ET....Today's News....Fit As A Fiddle

  • Benson Remains In Control Of Teams, As Judge Rules Him Competent
  • Developer Promises Raiders Stadium Plans Coming Later Today
  • Hornets' Flavil Hampsten Joining Sharks In New Exec VP Position
  • U.S. Open Transportation Solutions Working Well Through Day 1

Benson Remains In Control Of Teams, As Judge Rules Him Competent

Saints and Pelicans Owner Tom Benson "will remain in control of the teams and his billion-dollar fortune" after New Orleans Civil District Judge Kern Reese yesterday found him "capable of managing his own affairs, blocking his estranged heirs' attempt to take over." Benson did not testify in the eight-day trial that ended last week, but the ruling "revealed that Reese did hear from Benson in the case." Reese's ruling revealed Benson "was considering" making Rita LeBlanc his sole successor "as recently as Dec. 19" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 6/19).

Developer Promises Raiders Stadium Plans Coming Later Today

A draft plan for a potential $900M Raiders stadium "will be delivered" to Oakland and Alameda County officials today, according to developer Floyd Kephart, the "point man for the project." The strategy, assembled by Kephart's New City Development, "meets a critical June 21 deadline for providing information." Lingering issues include "who will pay for, own and operate the stadium as well as how revenue will be split among stakeholders" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 6/18).

Hornets' Flavil Hampsten Joining Sharks In New Exec VP Position

By John Lombardo

Hornets Senior VP/Sales & Database Marketing Flavil Hampsten is leaving the franchise to join the Sharks as Exec VP and Chief Sales & Marketing Officer. Hampsten begins his new job in mid-July and will report to Sharks COO John Tortora. Tortora: “The objective is for him to lead our already existing talented staff to continue to find new and greater revenue streams. We feel there is more opportunity from a revenue standpoint.” Hampsten’s job is a newly created position for the franchise. The Sharks used Turnkey Sports & Entertainment as the search firm to fill the job. Hampsten, an SBJ/SBD “Forty Under 40” winner this year, has worked for the Hornets since '10 and played a key role in the team’s rebranding. The Hornets have not yet named Hampsten’s replacement.

U.S. Open Transportation Solutions Working Well Through Day 1

U.S. Open attendees using the golf tournament's bus system "for the most part" had a "smooth trip to the links Thursday, with only a few tweaks to get Friday motorists off the highway and into a park-and-ride lot faster." Most of the 30,000 fans at Chambers Bay yesterday "took either a plush, cloth-cushioned private coach from the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, or a school bus from Fort Steilacoom Park, all funded by the tournament." It took about 85 minutes, "at worst," to walk through "security queues at the fairgrounds, wait for a bus, then ride" to the course (SEATTLETIMES.com, 6/18).

Twitter Making Play For Live Events With Project Lightning

Twitter will start “curating and organizing tweets, photos and videos from live events” in a new initiative called Project Lightning. The new feature will “ferret out the most relevant tweets” from an event, like the NBA Championship, and “put them in one spot.” Users will be able to “click on a ‘live’ tab in Twitter’s mobile app that will take them to a guide of events” (USATODAY.com, 6/18). The project was first reported in Buzzfeed.

Huge Crowds Expected In Oakland For Warriors Parade, Rally

Warriors fans today are expected to descend on Oakland in "record numbers for a two-mile parade" starting at 10:00am PT on Broadway at 11th Street. The route will end at Oak Street, "near the site of a massive public rally outside the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center." Fans could "start lining up for the rally" as early as 5:00am (INSIDEBAYAREA.com, 6/18). CSN Bay Area and CSNBayArea.com will offer live coverage of the NBA championship parade and rally beginning at 9:00am (CSN).

Estimated Crowd Of 2 Million Turns Out For Blackhawks Celebration

The Blackhawks drew a crowd of 60,000-plus at Soldier Field yesterday for their Stanley Cup championship rally, "most wearing red." The city estimated the crowd "in and around the stadium, and along the parade route" at 2 million. The rally was "covered live on local TV and was broadcast on video boards outside Soldier Field" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/19). As the rally began, "some people who did not have tickets were being allowed in through a single line at the south entrance" to the stadium (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/19). Blackhawks Chair Rocky Wirtz said fans were "boarding trains at four and five in the morning and camping out all night" (ESPNCHICAGO.com, 6/18).

Team President John McDonough "heard roar after he hit the right notes" in his rally speech, and if he "hadn't acknowledged Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who was booed like a Red Wing, only cheers would have been heard." GM Stan Bowman did not speek (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/19).

Boston '24 Plans To Use TD Garden For Basketball, Gymnastics

The Boston '24 Games bid committee has confirmed that TD Garden "would host gymnastics and the basketball finals, should Boston be named host." Unlike other recent venue announcements, this one is in line with the committee's "original plan from January." It is "possible that early-round basketball games could be played in other cities." The committee has "promised to unveil its new venue plan in full by June 30" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/19).

MLB Event Focuses On Youth Initiative, With A-Rod Among Attendees

By Eric Fisher

MLB yesterday held a launch event for its new Play Ball youth participation program at Macombs Dam Park in N.Y., adjacent to Yankee Stadium. The event included several local Little League and youth baseball programs, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez, P Dellin Betances, OF Chris Young, Marlins RF Giancarlo Stanton and 2B Dee Gordon. Manfred said the efficacy of the program will be somewhat hard to judge given the difficulty of statistically measuring the level of casual play. But MLB conducted several polls and focus groups prior to the creation of Play Ball, and that internal research will continue. Manfred said, “What we hope to get through events like this is organic activity where kids play more these smaller games. It’s going to be a difficult thing to measure, but we’re going to work really hard at it.”

The presence of Rodriguez marked a continued transition for the embattled vet. After personally battling with Manfred less than two years ago and serving a year-long suspension for PEDs, Rodriguez yesterday was a prominent presence. Manfred: “I think Alex has tried really hard to make a smooth and successful re-entry into the game, and we appreciate the fact he showed up here today.” Rodriguez said, “I’m glad to be a part of it. I’m flattered that I was asked to come here today.”

Tickets For '15 CONCACAF Gold Cup Selling In Record Numbers

Approximately 300,000 tickets have been sold for the '15 CONCACAF Gold Cup, with just under three weeks left until the start of the 14-venue event. Ticket sales are the highest ever in the the event's 24-year history for the comparable time frames, and they are up nearly 100% compared to the same time frame in '13. Games in Dallas and K.C. are nearing sellouts. Tickets sold to date are on par with the total attendance for the '05 Gold Cup (CONCACAF).

Speed Reads....

The Avalanche unveiled the logo for their "20th anniversary season in Denver." The mark will be used throughout the '15-16 season (DENVERPOST.com, 6/18).

Hawks execs this morning are holding a conference call to "approve the terms" of GM Danny Ferry's buyout. Sources say that it will include "an amount greater than the balance of Ferry's current contract, which has three additional years remaining" (ESPN.com, 6/18).

The FCC is “working to complete its review of the AT&T-DirecTV merger,” but Chair Tom Wheeler would not say “whether the agency will have a decision in July” (CABLEFAX DAILY, 6/19).

The FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada is averaging crowds of 25,589 to date, “below the average in Germany” for the '11 tournament (USA TODAY, 6/19).

Read All About It! Ballers, Quaker State 400, Premier Boxing Champions

HBO is running a full-page ad featuring actor Dwayne Johnson in the N.Y. Times touting Sunday’s season premiere of “Ballers” (THE DAILY).

Kentucky Speedway is running a full-page ad in USA Today promoting ticket sales for the July 9-11 NASCAR weekend. The ad features a Jeff Gordon bucket list that includes “Win at Kentucky … the only NSCS Track I haven’t conquered” (THE DAILY).

Premier Boxing Champions runs a full-page ad in USA Today highlighting Saturday’s card headlined by the Adrien Broner-Shawn Porter bout (THE DAILY).

Quick Hits....

“I think you can overdo it when A-Rod gets his 3,000th. I think you just have to state the obvious” – Yankees radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling, on how he plans to call Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez' career hitting milestone (NEWSDAY, 6/19).

“Lambeau Field is one of those iconic venues. If I know there is a window and I want to play Lambeau, I will work around that schedule. You walk in, it’s spiritual” – Concert promoter Louis Messina, on scheduling shows at the venue (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE, 6/19).

“That’s why I don’t like that movie” – Panthers OT Michael Oher, who feels his football abilities have been downgraded due to assumptions people have after watching “The Blind Side” film based loosely on his life (Mult., 6/18).

Night Moves....Selfie Improvement

Last night’s 1:00am ET editions of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” led with first round U.S. Open highlights. ESPN followed with Rays-Nationals and Marlins-Yankees. FS1 followed with Marlins-Yankees and Rays-Nationals.

ESPN’s Keith Olbermann called out his “world’s worst” persons in sports: Two fans sitting behind the “sad fan at Nationals Park” who tried in vain to put on his plastic rain poncho while the two fans took a selfie. Olbermann also put on notice Warriors G Andre Iguodala for falling asleep on a plane while clutching his NBA Finals MVP trophy, and FedEx for breaking the glass trophy LPGAer Anna Nordqvist sent via the company after winning the Shoprite LPGA Classic.

Morning Hot Reads: Surface Tension

SPORTSNET.ca goes with the header, "Women's World Cup Turf Not An Equal Rights Issue." Due to the "North American climate and the high volume of sports played in shared venues, artificial turf has become a viable and necessary alternative. Furthermore, men compete on it all the time." Meanwhile, on ESPNW.com: With Hope Solo issue, U.S. Soccer ignores recent lessons from NFL, WNBA.

ESPN.com notes hockey fandom, particularly in Chicago, "isn't what it used to be." The game "has been welcoming more minority fans, youth participants and professionals than ever before."

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 second annual Women in Entertainment Luncheon Presented by City National Bank, StubHub, Coca-Cola and L.A. Magazine takes place at the American Express Stadium Club at StubHub Center. Among those making remarks are AEG President & CEO Dan Beckerman, StubHub Center GM Katie Pandolfo, Galaxy President Chris Klein and StubHub Center and Galaxy Dir of Community Affairs Tamala Lewis.

Spanning The Global....

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

1) FIFA: Blatter, General Secretary Valcke Hire 'High-Powered' U.S. Lawyers Amid Probe
2) Australian Football League Clubs Rack Up Debt Totaling More Than A$91M
3) Hangin' With ... Asian Football Confederation Vice President Moya Dodd
4) Chelsea, Man City, Real Madrid, Asked To Disclose Neymar Bids
5) F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone Says Series Will Not Return France's Mangy-Cours Circuit

Back Pages....

The Morning Buzz offers today's back page sports covers from some of North America's major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post N.Y. Daily News Newsday Philadelphia Daily News Boston HeraldChicago Sun-TimesToronto Sun

Final Jeopardy!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “American Authors.”

“Published for the first time in 2014, her ‘Pioneer Girl’ was initially rejected, revised and transformed into a fictional series.”

Last night’s edition of “Jeopardy!” featured the category “NBA All-Stars.”

For $200: “A record 19 times: This Buck, Laker and Celebrity Jeopardy contestant.”

For $400: “Eight times and counting: CP3, him.”

For $600: “15 time: This Magic, Lakers, Heat, Suns, Cavs, Celtics and ‘Kazaam’ star.”

For $800: “12 times from 1980 to 1992: This ‘hick’ of a Celtic.”

For $1000: “11 times, plus five in the ABA: What’s up, Doc? He was -- when he dunked.”

Laugh Track....Walk The Walk

NBC’s Jimmy Fallon said, “I read that the Olympic sport of race walking is facing a lot of scrutiny in Russia. Many of their athletes are being accused of using illegal drugs, though it got awkward when the athletes were like, ‘Well, you’re going to have to catch us first’” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 6/18).

Final Jeopardy....

“Who was Laura Ingalls Wilder?”

The TV series “Little House on the Prairie” was based on Wilder’s book.

Correct responses to the “NBA All-Stars” category:

For $200: “Who is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?”

For $400: “Who is Chris Paul?”

For $600: “Who is Shaquille O’Neal?”

For $800: “Who is Larry Bird?”

For $1000: “Who is Julius Erving?”