| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, March 11, 2002
4:00pm ET | |
| • | Bouchez Kent To Handle MSG Network's Reintroduction |
| • | Amherst, Facing State Budget Cuts, Eliminates Seven Sports |
| • | Spalding Files Lawsuit Against Wilson For Golf Ball Claims |
| • | Prosecutors File Additional Charges Against Jayson Williams |
| • | Updated Overnight Nielsen Ratings; “Season” Pushes ESPN Over Brink |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight's Events/Daily Stat/In Other News/Channel Surfing |
BOUCHEZ KENT LANDS MSG'S ACCOUNT TO RELAUNCH NETWORK
ADAGE.com reports that Cablevision Corp.'s MSG Network "has awarded its $8 million account to Bouchez Kent & Co., New York." The creative assignment is for the network's April 1 relaunch as a 24-hour channel, which "will include an expanded sports report, new talent and 50 [Mets] games." The campaign will be branded with the tagline, "This is our town" (ADAGE.com, 3/11).
BUDGET CUTS FORCE AMHERST TO ELIMINATE SEVEN SPORTS
The AP reports that officials from the Univ. of MA at Amherst said today that the school "will eliminate seven sports to help cover $17 million in state budget cuts." Women's volleyball, men's and women's water polo, men's and women's gymnastics, men's tennis and men's indoor track "will be cut at the end of this school year to save $1.1 million" (AP, 3/11).
FOUL BALL: SPALDING QUESTIONS WILSON'S ADVERTISING CLAIMS
Spalding Sports Worldwide filed papers in federal district court in MA today asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Wilson Sporting Goods. Spalding sued Wilson on February 22 over Wilson's advertising claims that its True golf ball putts better than competitive balls, including Spalding's Strata Tour Ultimate 2 Ball. Spalding's lawsuit now states that Wilson's test methodology is flawed because the company intentionally oriented the balls in a particular manner to obtain desired results (THE DAILY).
WILLIAMS TO FACE ADDITIONAL CHARGES ON EVIDENCE TAMPERING
The AP reports that prosecutors filed more charges against former Net Jayson Williams today, saying that he "tampered with evidence and conspired to obstruct justice in the shooting death of a limousine driver at his home." Two other men, Kent Culuko and John Gordnick, "were also charged with evidence tampering, hindering apprehension and conspiracy to obstruct the law." Williams and the two men were told to surrender to state police barracks later today to "face the charges or be arrested" (AP, 3/11).
OVERNIGHT NIELSEN RATINGS UPDATE
The following compares overnight Nielsen ratings for select sports events from March 9-10 and how each event compared to last year:
| EVENT | DATE | NET | '02 | '01 | % +/- |
| "NHL On ABC": (regional) | 3/9 | ABC | 1.6/4 | 1.5/4 | 7% |
| NCAA Basketball Big 10 semi's: Iowa-Indiana | 3/9 | CBS | 2.6/6 | 2.3/6 | 13% |
| NCAA Basketball Big 10 semi's: Ohio St.-Illinois | 3/9 | CBS | 2.7/6 | 2.0/4 | 35% |
| NCAA Basketball: C-USA Final | 3/10 | CBS | 2.2/6 | 1.5/4 | 47% |
| "The Road to the Final Four" | 3/11 | CBS | 1.6/4 | 1.4/4 | 14% |
| SEC Championship | 3/11 | CBS | 2.0/5 | 1.6/4 | 25% |
| Big 10 Championship | 3/11 | CBS | 3.3/7 | 3.4/7 | -3% |
| NCAA Basketball Selection Show | 3/11 | CBS | 5.8/11 | 5.5/10 | 5% |
The AP reports ESPN's "A Season on the Brink," shown on ESPN and ESPN2 last night, "earned a combined overnight [Nielsen] rating of 3.7." The rating for the "full version replete with profanity on ESPN was 3.2; for the PG-rated version with curses bleeped out on ESPN2, it was 0.5." ESPN's primetime average rating is 1.0. Each rating point on ESPN represents 860,000 HHS. Each point on ESPN2 is equal to 828,000 HHS (AP, 3/11).
BUZZER BEATERS
N.Y. POST gossip columnist Neal Travis writes that former Knicks GM Ernie Grunfeld was "spotted in Elaine's over the weekend," sparking rumors that MSG execs "may be angling to get one of the best general managers they ever had back in harness." Grunfeld "insists he's happy … running the Milwaukee Bucks" (N.Y. POST, 3/11).
Indians bench coach Grady Little was hired today as manager of the Red Sox. Little replaces interim manager Mike Cubbage, who took over when Joe Kerrigan was fired March 5 (AP, 3/11).
FSN will produce "March Madness: Coaches Tournament Preview" on the network's regional channels on March 12-13. The special will be hosted by Fox anchor Kevin Frazier and FSN analyst Dan Belluomini (THE DAILY).
The AP reports that two French-made, portable land-to-air missiles "will be deployed outside South Korean stadiums during World Cup games to prevent possible terror attacks" (AP, 3/11).
DirecTV Latin America has sold the rights to a minimum of 40 '02 World Cup games to CNI Canal 40 and Multimedios/Milenio in Mexico. The deal also covers the rebroadcast rights as well as footage of all 64 matches for summary and highlight shows (DAILY VARIETY, 3/11).
ESPN.com reported that Cosworth "will build a normally-aspirated, 3.5-liter motor to CART specs for next year – with or without financial support from Ford." Cosworth VP/North American Ops Ian Bisco: "Ideally, it would be great if Ford wants to support this because we are part of Ford's mothership. But they have given us permission to look for outside assistance" (ESPN.com, 3/10).
The CHICAGO TRIBUNE reports that members of the Wrigleyville Rooftop Owners Association persuaded the owner of a building across from Wrigley Field to "revise plans to heighten the rooftop to the full height allowed by city ordinance." The owner agreed to take down a series of red steel beams "at his own cost, estimated to be $50,000 to $75,000, and will work on a redesign" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 3/11).
Hamilton's new professional franchise, the Hamilton Thunder, "will call Brian Timmis Stadium home for its inaugural season" in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (HAMILTON SPECTATOR, 3/11).
TONIGHT'S EVENTS
The NHL Panthers' wives and girlfriends will host the annual "Waiter, There's A Puck In My Soup" dinner at the Boca Raton Resort & Club (THE DAILY).
Tickets for the WNBA Liberty's '02 season go on sale tomorrow, and Liberty G Teresa Weatherspoon will appear on BET's "106th and Park" this evening. Tomorrow, between noon-2:00pm ET, Weatherspoon will be at the MSG box office signing autographs for anybody that purchases a ticket (THE DAILY).
TODAY'S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
CNNMONEY.com's Chris Isidore on the NCAA trying to eliminate betting on college sports.
The WASHINGTON POST's Andrew Beyer on the introduction of slot machines to horse racing tracks.
In part two of a two-part series, CBS SPORTSLINE's Rick Horrow analyzes MLB's spring training, focusing on marketing challenges.
CBS SPORTSLINE's Jeff Owens on challenges to NASCAR's credibility.
The SEATTLE TIMES' Bill Kossen on former NFLer Roger Staubach's adventures in commercial real estate.
IN OTHER NEWS…
CABLEWORLD reports that CNN "plans to start charging Internet users for viewing streaming video on CNN.com, CNNSI.com and CNNMoney.com" (CABLEWORLD, 3/11).
Studios USA Domestic Television is "pulling the plug" on "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show" after nearly 20 years in syndication. Low ratings, a tough ad market and clearance issues all added up to the show being canceled (BROADCASTING & CABLE, 3/11).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BEST SELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books from the N.Y. Times the week ending March 2 (N.Y. TIMES).
| THIS
WEEK | | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | | BIAS, Bernard Goldberg (Regnery) |
| 2) | | STUPID WHITE MEN, Michael Moore (ReganBooks/HarperCollins) |
| 3) | | SHADOW WARRIORS, Tom Clancy with Carl Stiner and Tony Koltz (Putnam) |
| 4) | | DRIVER #8, Dale Earnhardt Jr. with Jade Gurss (Warner) |
| 5) | | THE BUREAU AND THE MOLE, David A. Vise (Atlantic Monthly) |
| 6) | | SACRED CONTRACTS, Caroline Myss (Harmony) |
| 7) | | ONE NATION, Life Magazine (Little, Brown) |
| 8) | | NIGGER, Randall Kennedy (Pantheon) |
| 9) | | WHAT WENT WRONG?, Bernard Lewis (Oxford University) |
| 10) | | JOHN ADAMS, David McCullough (Simon & Schuster) |
| |
CHANNEL SURFING
ESPN will air women's college basketball's '02 NCAA Preview at 7:30pm ET.
ESPN will air "College Hoops Tonight's Men's '02 NCAA Preview" at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air Avalanche-Blues at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN will air the original documentary, "The Best of Liefer," at 9:00pm ET.
ESPN2 will air the ATP's Pacific Life Open at 11:00pm ET.
ESPN Classic's "SportsCentury" will profile Cal Ripken Jr. at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale and Kansas men's basketball coach Roy Williams will be on ESPN's "Unscripted."
Oklahoma men's basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, Gonzaga men's basketball coach Mark Few and Gonzaga G Dan Dickau will be on FSN's "The Last Word."
E!'s "True Hollywood Story" will profile the last days of JFK Jr. at 8:00pm ET.
A&E's "Biography" will profile L.A.'s Sunset Blvd. at 8:00pm ET.
Nets G Jason Kidd will be on CBS' "Late Show" with David Letterman at 11:30pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight's headline guests on the following talk shows:
| "The Late Show" | Ray Romano |
| "The Tonight Show" | Robert De Niro |
| "The Late Late Show" | Ice Cube |
| "Late Night" | Steve Zahn (r) |
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com
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