| | The Daily Insider
Afternoon News & Headlines
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
4:00pm ET | |
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| • | Wild Today Promote Exec VP & GM Doug Risebrough To Replace Leiweke |
| • | Sackatoga Stable Announces Completion Of Several Funny Cide Business Deals |
| • | Sportsbook.com To Be Presenting Sponsor Of Miami CART Event In September |
| • | Phillies Select Daktronics, Venue1 To Supply Citizens Bank Park Scoreboards |
| • | UMass To Unveil New Minuteman Logo At Fenway Park Tonight |
| • | Buzzer Beaters/Tonight’s Events/Channel Surfing/In Other News/The Daily Stat |
WILD PROMOTE TWO TODAY IN WAKE OF LEIWEKE DEPARTURE
Minnesota Sports &Entertainment (MSE), the parent company of the Wild, today announced that ExecVP & GM Doug Risebrough has been named President & GM. In a related move, VP/Marketing &Corporate Sponsorships Matt Majka has been promoted to the newlyappointed position of Senior VP/Business Operations. The moves coincide with the departure of Tod Leiweke, whois now the Seahawks CEO (MSE).
FUNNY CIDE TO BE FEATURED INBOOK, PAINTING, ON WINE BOTTLES
AsSaratoga Race Course opens its 135th meeting today, BLOODHORSEreports that Sackatoga Stable Managing Partner Jackson Knowlton saidthat the partnership “has concluded a number of business deals,” and has chosenInt’l Creative Management as its representative. Washington Post columnist Sally Jenkins “has been selectedto write a book about Sackatoga and Funny Cide.” Putnam will publish the book, scheduled for an Aprilrelease. Artist Leroy Neiman hascompleted a painting of Funny Cide, and two private label wines – a Chardonnayand Cabernet Franc – are going on sale this week in the Saratoga region (BLOODHORSE.com, 7/23).
CART TODAY ANNOUNCESSPORTSBOOK.COM AS EVENT SPONSOR
CARTannounced it has signed a deal with online casino Sportsbook.com, under whichSportsbook.com will be a presenting sponsor for the Champ Car World SeriesGrand Prix Americas at Bayfront Park in Miami, September 26-28 (CART).
However,the racing series yesterday issued a “rather gloomy update to its financialguidance for 2003,” as it “lowered its revenue expectations from sanction fees”from $25-26M to $24-25M. CART also“anticipates lower than expected revenues from sponsorship and TV advertisementsales for this year, and predicted greater losses from its six self-promotedevents due to increased administrative costs” (SpeedTV.com, 7/23).
WTA TOUR RELEASES ’04 SCHEDULE WITH SEVERAL DATE CHANGES
TheWTA Tour announced its ’04 season schedule, which is comprised of 60tournaments in 31 countries. The seasonkicks off the week of January 5 with the Uncle Tobys Hardcourts in Gold Coast,Australia, and the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Three tournaments – Pacific Life Open inIndian Wells, CA; NASDAQ-100 Open in Miami; and Acura Classic in San Diego –will be played a week later than in ’03. The Acura Classic will also be upgraded from a Tier II to Tier I event (WTATour). View the entire’04 schedule.
BUZZER BEATERS
SportingNews this week features Giants LF Barry Bonds and Rangers SS Alex Rodriguezon the cover, with the header, “Baseball’s 50 Best.”
SportsIllustrated this week features “Kobe Byrant Accused” on the cover.
ESPNMagazine this week features Marlins P Dontrelle Willis on the cover,with the header, “The Joy Of Summer.”
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| Sporting News | Sports Illustrated |
TheFalcons today announced the appointment of Wayne Luke as Exec VP/People& Organizational Development. Lukeformerly was Chief Partnership Officer at executive search firm Heidrick &Struggles (Falcons).
ThePhillies today announced the selection of Daktronics and Venue1 to supplyelectronic scoring and display systems at Citizens Bank Park. Venue1 will install the largest LED videodisplay board in MLB, a 39’ 5” high by 69’ 7” wide Philips video screen. Daktronics will install six full-color LEDside message boards, two additional full-color LED displays and an out-of-townscoreboard (Phillies).
TheMariners today announced that the wireless phone-enabled food ordering andpayment service, OrderUp, will be expanded to include all box and field seatsin the lower deck. Beginning withtonight’s 7:05pm PT game against the A’s, a total of 18,322 seats will beoffered the service, which is a joint venture between the team, AT&TWireless and Verrus (Mariners).
BritneySpears’production company released the following statement regarding rumors that itsNASCAR-themed film is off: “Contrary to recent rumors, [the productioncompany’s] NASCAR themed feature film project is alive and well. The movie, titled ‘Trading Paint,’ has beendeveloped specifically for Spears. Sheis attached to co-star and also to produce” (Britney Spears Productions).
TheWINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL reports that Motorsports Management Int’l Principal &Managing Dir Cary Agajanian and Tony Stewart are “trying to signa deal” to purchase the short-track World of Outlaws racing league fromPresident Ted Johnson. Agajanian: “I’ve put some investors together, and I think Tony will bepart of it as well. We actually thoughtthe deal was done a few weeks ago” (WINSTON-SALEMJOURNAL, 7/23).
Aspreviously reported, Serena Williams will appear in an episode ofShowtime’s original series “Street Time.” Showtime today announced that the episode featuring Williams will airOctober 1 at 10:00pm local time (Showtime).
TONIGHT’S EVENTS
UMasswill unveil its redesigned Minuteman logo during a 4:15pm ET news conference atFenway Park. The logo will beintroduced to the public prior to the 7:05pm D’Rays-Red Sox game.
Filmingfor the movie “Mr. 3000” will take place during and after the Astros-Brewers7:05pm CT game at Miller Park. Filmingcontinues during tomorrow night’s game.
NASCARWinston Cup driver Robby Gordon will throw out the ceremonial firstpitch prior to the 7:05pm ET Marlins-Braves game at Turner Field. Additionally, Gordon’s No. 31 CingularWireless Chevy will be on display throughout the game in the fan plaza.
TheCanadian Baseball League will host its All-Star Game tonight, and the CP notesthat the game “will mark the end of the league’s inaugural season as baseballoperations are suspended until next year” (CP, 7/23).
TheNational Museum of Racing & HOF in Saratoga Springs, NY, will host anadvanced screening of “Seabiscuit” at 8:00pm ET. The movie hits theaters nationally on Friday.
Spartan Stadium, in San Jose, CA, will host an exhibitionsoccer match between Italian club S.S. Lazio and Mexican side Club America at8:00pm PT.
CSTVwill broadcast the presentation of the Honda-Broderick Cup at 8:00pm ET, whichis awarded to the outstanding collegiate woman athlete. This year’s finalists are Princeton lacrosseplayer Rachael Becker, Cal-Berkeley swimmer Natalie Coughlin,UConn basketball player Diana Taurasi, Stanford volleyball player LoganTom and UCLA softball player Natasha Watley.
CHANNELSURFING
Fox NFL analyst BrianBaldinger will be on Comcast SportsNet’s “SpotLIGHT” at 4:30pm ET.
ESPNwill air Phillies-Cubs at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2will air Royals-Twins at 7:00pm ET.
ESPN2will air the Swimming & Diving WorldChampionships at 10:00pm ET.
ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile the year 1991 at 7:00pm ET and LanceArmstrong at 8:00pm ET.
ESPN’s“Outside The Lines Nightly” willtell the stories of ’03 Baseball HOF inductees Bob Uecker and HalMcCoy at midnight ET.
NBAHOFer Magic Johnson, actor George Lopez and Jillian Barberie of “Fox NFL Sunday” are scheduled to appear onFSN’s “BDSSP.”
MLBHOFer Harmon Killebrew will be amongten HOFers appearing on CBS’ “Late Show”with David Letterman to read a TopTen list around Sunday’s HOF inductions.
A&E’s“Biography” will profile Will Smithat 8:00pm ET.
VH1continues its “200 Greatest Pop CultureIcons” with Nos. 120-101 at9:00pm ET and 100-81 at 10:00pm ET.
HEADLINERS
Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:
| “Late Show” | Joaquin Phoenix |
| “The Tonight Show” | Dennis Miller |
| “The Late Late Show” | Lesley Stahl |
| “Late Night” | John Leguizamo |
| “Jimmy Kimmel Live” | Pamela Anderson |
TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST
TheBOSTON GLOBE’s Mark Jurkowitz writes of the media coverage of the KobeBryant case, “Not only is a Bryant trial a good bet to rival O. J.Simpson’s day in court for press attention, the torrent of speculation,allegation, and, in some cases, character assassination that has surfaced inrecent days suggests that any courtroom drama will be preceded by atrial by media.” ESPN VP & NewsDir Vince Doria: “What we’ve got here is a story that the viewers has agreat appetite for. But getting hard,new, relevant information is going to be very difficult” (BOSTON GLOBE).
SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles ofInterest section for more sports business-related links.
TODAY’S TEASER…
Mindbenders: Two men were playingtennis. They played five sets and eachman won three sets. How can this bepossible?
IN OTHERNEWS……
BRANDWEEK.comreports that clothing manufacturer Candie’s will “tie in with TV’s realityphase” when inaugural “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson appears inthe company’s new print ad campaign. The campaign, via Candie’s in-house agency, will break this fall infashion, entertainment and lifestyle magazines (BRANDWEEK.com,7/23).
THE DAILY STAT: PRIMETIME NIELSEN RATINGS
Thefollowing lists the final Nielsen ratings for the top ten primetime shows forthe week of July 14-20. Also providedare the weekly viewership averages for each net (USA TODAY, 7/23).
| RK | PROGRAM | NET | DAY | RAT/SHR | VIEWERS (IN MILLIONS) |
| 1) | MLB All-Star Game | Fox | Tue | 9.5/17 | 13.8 |
| 2) | Law & Order (10:00pm) | NBC | Wed | 8.8/16 | 12.5 |
| 3) | CSI | CBS | Thu | 8.3/15 | 12.0 |
| 4) | Everybody Loves Raymond | CBS | Mon | 7.3/13 | 11.1 |
| 5) | CSI: Miami | CBS | Mon | 7.4/13 | 10.8 |
| t6) | Dateline | NBC | Thu | 7.4/13 | 10.6 |
| t6) | Law & Order: CI | NBC | Sun | 7.2/12 | 10.6 |
| t8) | King of Queens | CBS | Mon | 6.7/11 | 10.5 |
| t8) | Without a Trace | CBS | Thu | 7.4/14 | 10.5 |
| 10) | Law & Order: SVU | NBC | Fri | 7.3/14 | 10.4 |
| |
| NET | VIEWERS |
| NBC | 7.9 |
| CBS | 7.8 |
| Fox | 6.7 |
| ABC | 5.2 |
| UPN | 3.0 |
| WB | 2.6 |
…TODAY’SANSWER
The two men were doublespartners.
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