League Notes
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NASCAR Lining Up To Return
For Race In Mexico City In '09 |
NASCAR SCENE's Bob Pockrass reported NASCAR and Mexico City officials believe yesterday's Nationwide Series Corona Mexico 200, the fourth race in Mexico, "has been successful and they're looking forward to a fifth." While negotiations on a sanction agreement for '09 with track operator OCESA will continue, there are "no red flags that would keep the Nationwide Series from coming to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez next season." NASCAR VP/Operations Steve O'Donnell: "We anticipate coming back and we'll discuss it with them like we always do" (SCENEDAILY.com, 4/20).
TENNIS RACKET: In Toronto, Tom Tebbutt reports 17 of the top 20 ranked ATP Tour players recently signed a petition "asking that other candidates be considered" before ATP President & Chair Etienne de Villiers has his contract renewed in December. The European clay-court season was shortened by a week this year to allow the Sony Ericsson Open "to finish a week later," all of which was to accommodate network partner CBS and its coverage of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. ATP Tour player Rafael Nadal: "The calendar is completely crazy. I think it's not fair to the European players and the clay-court players, too. ... The board, everything has to change ... because right now the players no longer have confidence in the ATP." Tebbutt: "Giving priority to U.S. television over another week on clay is a blatant slap in the face for a significant number of players" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 4/21).
NOT BUDGING: NBA Commissioner David Stern has expressed his desire to increase the league's age minimum to 20, but in Boston, Peter May wrote Stern is "willing to offer the [NBPA] a substantial inducement, he's wasting his time." NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter: "My position is the same as it's always been: I am opposed to it. In the last agreement, we agreed to raise the age in return for some tradeoffs. But I am clearly opposed to doing it again. ... This is just more of the NBA wanting college to be a proving ground for the kids when the reality is they'd be better served coming into the NBA because they don't teach skills in college" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/20).
PSL SELL: In N.Y., Phil Mushnick noted more NFL teams are moving toward PSLs as they are "eager for new forms of income." Mushnick: "The NFL continues to abuse its ticket-holders while simultaneously maintaining its anything-for-money march toward becoming a made-for-TV, nighttime league. ... Who, short of jobless and kid-less fools, wants to attend a Sunday night or Monday night or Thursday night game played outdoors in the winter? Now teams are going to demand that people pay a whole lot more thousands of dollars more per customer to get stuck with those tickets" (N.Y. POST, 4/20).
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