| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Monday, July 21, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
| |
| • | Russell Athletic Inks Marketing Partnership Today With ESPN/ABC Sports |
| • | ESPN Today Announces Theme Of Affiliate Ad Sales & Marketing Campaign |
| • | Host Communications To Focus On Motorsports; Kevin Bryant To Lead Group |
| • | Carquest Auto Parts Signs Deal To Title NHRA Event Outside Chicago |
| • | After Selling Himself For Spot With Minardi, Justin Wilson Moves To Jaguar |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
RUSSELL ATHLETIC TO PRESENT “ROAD TO THE BCS” ONESPN/ABC
RussellAthletic today signed an exclusive marketing deal with ESPN/ABC Sports,granting Russell presenting sponsorship of the “Road to the BCS,” including the“Russell Material Player of the Game” segment during several ESPN collegefootball games. The deal also includesprint, an online component, marketing and licensing rights to BCS logos, andhospitality. Russell will receive 30-secondin-game units on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, as well as 60-second vignettes on ESPNand ABC leading up to the Sugar Bowl, this year’s BCS championship game. Terms were not disclosed (RussellAthletic).
ESPN SWEEPS TO OFFER FULLY-LOADED ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM
ESPNtoday announced that its ’03 football affiliate advertising sales and marketingconsumer sweepstakes will be called “ESPN The House – Bring FootballHome.” The sweepstakes offers a grandprize that includes a large-screen plasma HDTV, leather recliners from ESPNZone, a DVD player and TVs for every room in the house. The promotion will run throughout October,with winners selected during the first two weeks in November. Last year, 501 affils participated in thepromotion, generating $33M in affiliate advertising sales (ESPN).
HOST COMMUNICATIONS TO FOCUS MORE ON MOTORSPORTS
HostCommunications today announced that it is expanding its sports and eventmarketing initiatives to include a major emphasis on motorsports, includingselling sponsorships for NASCAR teams and tracks and managing events. Host VP/Collegiate Sales Kevin Bryantwill lead the initiative under the new title, Exec VP/Collegiate &Motorsports Sales. The Host ManagedEvents Division has administered the 26-stop interactive, electronic game andproduct showcase, the Sony Tech Pit Tour, for the past three years on theNASCAR circuit (Host).
CARQUEST AUTO PARTS INCREASES NHRA INVOLVEMENT WITH DEAL
TheNHRA today announced that Carquest Auto Parts has signed a multi-year agreementto title one of two NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series events at Route 66 Racewayoutside Chicago. The Carquest AutoParts Nationals will be held September 25-28 and televised by ESPN2. Carquest signed a deal earlier this year totitle the Carquest NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle. Furthermore, Carquest is the title sponsorfor John Mitchell’s Top Fuel dragster, driven by Paul Romine, aswell as a sponsor of the Pro Mod entry driven by Scott Ray (NHRA).
BUZZER BEATERS
TheCleveland PLAIN DEALER reports that WKNR-AM has signed a new deal with OH StateUniv. (OSU) to “carry the school’s football and men’s basketball games through2005-06.” The station “hit ratings goldlast year when it carried every game of OSU’s run to the national footballchampionship” (ClevelandPLAIN DEALER, 7/21).
TheDESERET NEWS reports that the UT Sports Commission is “putting together afutures group that will study whether Salt Lake City should bid again” for theOlympics. The group “should have ananswer as soon as six months from now.” UT Sports Commission President Jeff Robbins said that Salt LakeCity “could end up bidding for the 2018, 2022 or even the 2026 Winter Games ifthere’s enough support from Utahns” (DESERET NEWS,7/21).
F1’s Jaguar Racing hassigned Justin Wilson to drive one of its cars for the remainder of theseason. Wilson started the seasondriving for Minardi after he brought funding to the team by turninghimself into a public company. Over900 investors purchased shares in Justin Wilson PLC, and his move to the morecompetitive Jaguar team could be more beneficial to those investors (THEDAILY).
REUTERS reports that theItalian soccer season “risks being delayed for the second year in a row becausea new satellite channel, formed by the Italian football league, fears itscameras may not be ready to roll in time.” A delay could hurt “Sky Italia, Rupert Murdoch’s new satellite TVventure, which is banking on the season’s August 31 start date to launch with afanfare” (REUTERS,7/21).
VH1tonight begins a ten-part series, “200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons,” at 9:00pmET. Each episode will highlight a groupof 20 in descending order. Sportspersonalities on the list include (VH1):
| Rank | Pop Culture Icon |
| 8 | Michael Jordan |
| 16 | Muhammad Ali |
| 51 | Tiger Woods |
| 58 | Magic Johnson |
| 65 | Jackie Robinson |
| 96 | Wayne Gretzky |
| 106 | Joe DiMaggio |
| 136 | Babe Ruth |
| 156 | Venus & Serena Williams |
| 188 | Joe Namath |
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
DaytonDaily News baseball writer Hal McCoy will be honored prior to the 7:10pmCT Brewers-Reds game at Great American Ball Park. McCoy, who will be inducted into the writers’ wing of theBaseball HOF this weekend, is being honored for winning the J.G. Taylor SpinkAward (DAYTON DAILY NEWS, 7/21).
CHANNELSURFING
ESPNwill air the Great Outdoor Games at8:00pm ET.
ESPN2will air Cubs-Braves at 7:30pm ET.
ESPN2will air the Swimming & Diving World Championships at 10:30pm ET.
ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile JoeLouis at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN’s“Outside The Lines Nightly” willexamine the proliferation of information – both true and false – onthe Internet and how it affects sports issues, at midnight ET.
NFLHOFer Eric Dickerson, comedian Jay Mohr and former wrestler MickFoley are scheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”
PGATour player Scott Hoch will be on The Golf Channel’s “19thHole” at 7:00pm ET.
SuzyWhaley willbe on The Golf Channel’s “Golf Talk” at 8:00pm ET.
Foleyand NBA HOFer Magic Johnson will be on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
A&E’s“Biography” will profile Doris Robertsat 8:00pm ET.
VH1will air “200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons,” 200-181 at 9:00pm ETand 180-161 at 10:00pm ET.
TheTravel Channel will air “More Billionaire Toys” at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Here are tonight’s headline guests on thefollowing talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Tobey Maguire |
| “The Tonight Show” | Angelina Jolie |
| “The Late Late Show” | Brooke Burns |
| “Late Night” | Tom Cavanagh (r) |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Mick Foley |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
TheMinneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE’s Jay Weiner wrote, “Vikings Owner Red McCombs isstuck in L.A. traffic, bumper-to-bumper with a handful of other NFL moguls andtheir teams. They are all seeking toreach off ramps to the Rose Bowl, the Los Angeles Coliseum or the town ofCarson. They are all in pursuit of anew stadium and revenues not available to them now. They are all in line to do an NFLdeal in L.A.” Also, theSTAR-TRIBUNE examines possible relocationcandidates and potential stadium sites, as well as an NFL in L.A. timeline(Minneapolis STAR-TRIBUNE).
TheINDIANAPOLIS STAR’s Phillip Wilson asked two NFL stadium architects “to delve intotheir experience and imagination on a possible replacement design for theRCA Dome.” Retired architect & part-timeconsultant for HOK Sport Ron Labinski and Ellerbe Becket architect KellyKerns examine the shortcomings of the RCA Dome and the futurecharacteristics of a new stadium (INDIANAPOLIS STAR).
TheDALLAS MORNING NEWS’ Richard Alm wrote, “Sportsoperated for decades in ways that defied business logic. Teams lavished money on players, giving us$1.2[M] punters and $5[M] backup guards. Networks shoveled out cash to win the rights to televise thecompetitions. Owners, ego-driven towin, simply ignored red ink and kept spending. … At long last, we just might beseeing signsof business sense creeping into sports” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS).
SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles ofInterest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Sports:Name thelast male golfer to win a major who had previously won one in his career.
IN OTHER NEWS…
ANielsen//NetRatings report released today shows that Atlanta was the fastestgrowing city in terms of home Internet users for June ’03 with a 19% increaseover June ’02. L.A. and DC tied forsecond with a 14% increase. Forcomparison, the number of home Internet users in the U.S. grew 7% over the sameperiod. The following lists the topfour based on percentage growth (Nielsen//NetRatings):
| City | June ’02 Users | June ’03 Users | % Growth |
| Atlanta | 1,777,000 | 2,118,000 | 19% |
| L.A. | 5,888,000 | 6,740,000 | 14% |
| DC | 2,325,000 | 2,640,000 | 14% |
| Chicago | 3,258,000 | 3,525,000 | 8% |
BROADCASTING& CABLE reports that Universal Television Distribution Exec VP/WorldwideMarketing Dan Weiss has restructured the company’s marketingdivision. Instead of dividing thegroups into domestic and int’l, they “will be split into three teams: worldwidemarketing and creative services; worldwide pay-per-view and video-on-demandmarketing; and worldwide communications” (BROADCASTING& CABLE, 7/21).
THE DAILY STAT: N.Y. TIMES BESTSELLING NONFICTION
The following presents best selling nonfiction books forthe week ending July 12 (NYTIMES.com, 7/21):
| THIS WEEK | HARDCOVER NONFICTION |
| 1) | LIVING HISTORY, Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster) |
| 2) | BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster) |
| 3) | KATE REMEMBERED, A. Scott Berg (Putnam) |
| 4) | TREASON, Ann Coulter (Crown Forum) |
| 5) | THE KENNEDY CURSE, Edward Klein (St. Martin's) |
| 6) | WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKENHEARTED, E. Lynn Harris (Doubleday) |
| 7) | A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, Bill Bryson (Broadway) |
| 8) | MONEYBALL, Michael Lewis (Norton) |
| 9) | BEYOND BELIEF, Elaine Pagels (Random House) |
| 10) | WHO'S YOUR CADDY?, Rick Reilly (Doubleday) |
…TODAY’S ANSWER
Ernie Els won last year’s British Open, the third major titleof his career. The past four winners –Ben Curtis (British Open), Jim Furyk (U.S. Open), Mike Weir (The Masters) andRich Beem (PGA Championship) – all were first-time winners.
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