MLB yesterday "took the unusual step of quashing” speculation that N.Y. real estate developer Charles Kushner is the person with whom Marlins Owner Jeffrey Loria has a “handshake agreement” to sell the team for $1.6B (MIAMI HERALD, 2/10). Sources said that Kushner would not be "approved as an owner anyway" after he was "convicted of illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering and tax evasion" in '05 and served time in federal prison. But that "doesn’t mean Kushner’s sons couldn’t be involved." Jared Kushner "attempted to purchase" the Dodgers in '12, but "ultimately withdrew his name from consideration" (FANRAGSPORTS.com, 2/9).
Amid the ongoing blizzard in the northeast, the Bruins yesterday announced that ticket holders unable to make it to TD Garden for last night’s game against the Sharks “will be allowed to exchange their tickets for a future game this season or next, through Dec. 31.” The exchange process will be posted on the team's website today. The Bruins in a release said that they requested the NHL “reschedule Thursday’s game for later this season, but the league denied the request, noting that scheduling and arena availability did not make it possible” (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/10).
The NBA, "citing concerns about provoking exchanges between players that could damage the league's reputation, issued a memo to all 30 franchises this week emphasizing rules prohibiting 'mocking and/or ridiculing' opponents or officials by official team social media accounts." The memo, written by NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, "included three bullet points specifying what would be considered inappropriate material" for team social media accounts:
Disparage, belittle or embarrass an individual opponent or game official
Mimic or impersonate an opponent or game official in a negative manner
Criticize officiating or the NBA officiating program (ESPN.com, 2/9).
The Dynamo yesterday “unveiled their new home kit,” as Space City Blue “returns to the home kit for the first time” since ’10. The jersey has blue horizontal pinstripes “accenting the club's traditional orange shirt.” The rest of the kit “features white shorts with Space City Blue accent stripes, leaving behind the traditional orange stripes, and orange socks with Space City Blue pinstripes to match the jersey.” The club motto, "Forever Orange," is “on the back of the jersey beneath the collar” (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/10).
UCLA honored Dick Enberg at halftime of last night’s men's basketball game against Oregon “for a legendary broadcasting career that began in Westwood, where he covered the UCLA basketball team for nine seasons.” Enberg, who “addressed the crowd,” covered the team for KTLA-TV from ’66-75. He was “honored with shirts emblazoned with his catch phrase ‘Oh my!’ worn by the student section” (Inland Valley DAILY BULLETIN, 2/10).
Ski and performance brand Spyder yesterday announced a two-year collaboration with Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media for a line of ski performance products inspired by Marvel Super Heroes. The U.S. Ski Team members will be outfitted in race suits donning Marvel’s Captain America and Captain Marvel at the FIS Alpine World Cup Championship in St. Moritz this weekend. U.S. skiiers who will be wearing the race suits include Jared Goldberg, and Julia Mancuso and Mikaela Shiffrin. The full apparel performance collection is set to make its retail debut in the Fall (Spyder).
“I’m just going there to survive. I’ll get some shots up” – Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, on the NBA Celebrity All-Star Game (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 2/10).
“You can only give away so many slices of free pizza. You have to win” – New Univ. of San Diego AD Bill McGillis, on improving men’s basketball attendance (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 2/10).
The BOSTON GLOBE's Adrian Walker writes, "The refusal of five Patriots to celebrate their Super Bowl victory at the White House exemplifies the true spirit of patriotism." These players have "decided that they aren’t concerned about the prospect of offending the powers that be in the organization," as Owner Robert Kraft, coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady have all been linked to President Trump.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly yesterday was the keynote speaker for a sports business conference at Penn's Wharton business school. Among other topics, he discussed negotiations over
NHL players' participation in the '18 PyeongChang Games, saying, "Our business is in a lot different than it was when we first went to Nagano (in 1998), and some of the reasons underlining Olympic participation then don't necessarily transcend to today."
Patriots RB James White appeared on TBS’ “Conan, and said of watching his Super Bowl-winning touchdown run in overtime, “I get nervous watching it.” O’Brien said Patriots QB Tom Brady thought White “deserved” to be Super Bowl MVP and he would have given White the MVP truck. Host Conan O’Brien: “This is kind of nice because Ford agreed with Brady so here it is -- it’s all yours, the Ford F-150.” White was presented with a white Ford F-150 and said, “That’s awesome.” Then O’Brien said jokingly, “That’s right, you can have this truck for 24 hours. No, it’s yours. Now you’ve got to drive back to Boston” (“Conan,” TBS, 2/9).
Comedy Central’s Roy Wood Jr. discussed President Trump's scheduled meeting with Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which will be followed with a round of golf at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Wood addressing Abe, said, "Do us all a favor and let Trump win. Let him win because we don't need to deploy more troops to the Pacific because you hit a hole-in-one. Miss a couple of shots. Maybe Shinzo will lose, but with our luck he'll turn out to be a regular Masashi Ozaki or at the least, Hiroyuki Fujita. Oh, I know what you're thinking: Another black man talking about Japanese pro golf. Alright, alright, I’ll move on. I don't want to beat you over the head with it. I know my Japanese golf” (“The Daily Show,” Comedy Central, 2/9).
The reason why we chose to be downtown is we really wanted that compelling backdrop. And when you see those sweeping scenes in Campus Martius, down Woodward, into Hart Plaza, that's the most beautiful show.
-- NFL Senior Dir of Events Nicki Ewell, on the league's reasons for choosing downtown Detroit as the location for this year's NFL Draft. DETROIT NEWS, 4/25.
On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp has two...
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On this week’s pod, SBJ’s Austin Karp has two Big Get interviews. The first is with TNT’s Stan Van Gundy as he breaks down the NBA Playoffs from the booth. Later in the show, we hear from ESPN’s VP of Programming and Acquisitions Tim Reed as the NFL Draft gets set to kick off on Thursday night in Motown. SBJ’s Tom Friend also joins the show to share his insights into NBA viewership trends.
SBJ I Factor features an interview with Molly Mazzolini....
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SBJ I Factor features an interview with Molly Mazzolini. Elevate's Senior Operating Advisor – Design + Strategic Alliances chats with SBJ’s Ross Nethery about the power of taking chances. Mazzolini is a member of the SBJ Game Changers Class of 2016. She shares stories of her career including co-founding sports design consultancy Infinite Scale career journey and how a chance encounter while working at a stationery store launched her career in the sports industry.
SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.
