Closing Bell, Febuary 10, 2004

NFL TODAY FILES TO PREVENT CLARETT FROM ENTERING DRAFT

By Daniel Kaplan, StaffWriter, SportsBusiness Journal

TheNFL at noon today filed a stay in the U.S. District Court for the SouthernDistrict of New York, seeking to put on hold the court’s decision last weekoverturning the NFL’s age eligibility rule. A decision by Judge Shira Scheindlin could come as early astomorrow, when she has scheduled a hearing on the request. With or without thestay, the NFL plans to appeal the ruling to the 2^nd Circuit Court ofAppeals.  The case was brought bysuspended Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett, who does not meet the NFL rulethat a player must be three years out of high school to be eligible to enterthe draft.

Inits argument for a stay, the league said NFL teams could suffer economic harmfrom having to review new prospects suddenly eligible because of Scheindlin’sorder.  If her decision is overturnedbefore the April 24 draft, then decisions these teams made around the potentialnew players would become moot.  Butdecisions like cutting existing players and restructuring contracts in anticipationof drafting a once newly eligible player would be irreversible at that point.

SPORTING NEWS RADIO, PGA TOUR TODAY ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP

SportingNews Radio today announced a programming and promotional partnership with thePGA Tour, under which it becomes the Tour’s official radio partner.  Sporting News Radio will develop, promoteand distribute radio programming covering the PGA Tour, Champions Tour andNationwide Tour.  Programming includeslive leaderboard updates, interview vignettes promoting the current event and aweekly segment within the “Tim Brando Show.” Sporting News Radio and the PGA Tour will also develop variousmerchandising and hospitality packages for advertisers (Sporting News Radio).

NEXTEL TO OFFER NASCAR-BRANDED WIRELESS PHONES

Nexteltoday announced the availability of a NASCAR Nextel Cup series phone and tendriver phones.  The eleven new handsets– which will share the Motorola i736 model name – are the first NASCAR-brandedwireless phones.  Featured driversinclude Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., MichaelWaltrip, Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, JimmieJohnson, Dale Jarrett and Kurt Busch (Nextel).

MotorMusic, a partnership between NASCAR and Cherry Lane Music Publishing, todayannounced the unveiling of NASCAR’s theme song, “Thunder.”  It is the firstbranded theme music in the 56-year history of NASCAR (Motor Music).  Click here to listen to the song.

VASSARETTE TO SPONSOR NO. 13 CHEVY TRUCK OF TINA GORDON

VFIntimates brand Vassarette today announced that it has signed a sponsorshipagreement with ThorSport Racing and the No. 13 Chevrolet Silverado driven by TinaGordon, one of two full-time female competitors in the NASCAR CraftsmanTruck Series.  Gordon will make in-storeand media appearances on behalf of the intimate apparel brand, and the newVassarette brand logo will appear on Gordon’s truck.  Vassarette is the first lingerie brand to sponsor a NASCAR teamat any level (THE DAILY).

SI TO GENERATE $36.5M IN REVENUE FROM ‘04 SWIMSUIT ISSUE

Sports Illustrated PublisherDavid Morris appeared on CNBC’s “Power Lunch” this afternoon to discussthe magazine’s 40^th anniversary swimsuit issue.  Morris noted the magazine sold 18 pages at arate of $11,000 per page in ’64, adding, “This year we will sell 113 pages atabout $280,000 per page.  So thefinances of it, the size of it, the magnitude of it is much bigger this yearthan it ever was before.”  Morris calledthe annual swimsuit issue “the most profitable single issue of any magazine inpublishing right now.”  CNBC reported SIwill earn $36.5M in ad revenue from this year’s issue, which is expected toreach 59 million U.S. adults, about three times the magazine’s normalreadership of 21 million (“Power Lunch,” CNBC, 2/10).

LEEDS UNITED TAKEOVER BID HITS BOARD COMPOSITION SNAG

ANANOVA.comreports that the $76.4M takeover bid for English Premier League Club LeedsUnited by Ugandan property mogul Michael Ezra is “reportedly being heldup over a technicality regarding boardroom composition.”  Ezra wants “his own men in place in theboardroom and [Leeds CEO] Trevor Birch is unhappy with such aproposal.  Talks are continuing” (ANANOVA.com, 2/10).

BUZZER BEATERS

TheDAYTON BUSINESS JOURNAL reports that Michigan-based auto parts supplier Delphiwill be the primary sponsor of the NASCAR Nextel Cup series No. 5 Chevroletdriven by Terry Labonte for four races this season (BIZJOURNALS.com, 2/10).

VerizonWireless today announced that it has signed as the official telecommunicationssponsor of the Boston Marathon.  Thethree-year deal includes a monetary sponsorship and the donation of Push toTalk phones, extra batteries and accessories (Verizon Wireless).

AsicsAmerica today announced the extension of its multiyear partnership with Carmel,CA-based Big Sur Int’l Marathon as the official supplier of apparel andfootwear to the Big Sur Int’l Marathon and the Big Sur Half-Marathon and 5K (Asics).

TheNFL Giants today announced that they have signed a new three-year agreement tocontinue to hold their training camp at the Univ. of Albany.  The team has held training camp there since’96 (Giants).

TheCHARLOTTE OBSERVER reports that Charlotte Univ. AD Judy Rose “has submitted abid to host either the first or second weekend” of the ‘07 or ‘08 NCAA Men’sBasketball Tournament.  The games wouldbe at the yet-to-be built uptown arena, which the Bobcats will manage (CHARLOTTEOBSERVER, 2/10).

EverlastWorldwide today announced the signing of the name and likeness rights for JoeLouis, Floyd Patterson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marcianoand Jack Dempsey, all of whom are represented by CMG Worldwide for thelaunch of the Heritage Collection (Everlast Worldwide).

TheMagic today launched an official online shop at orlandomagicshop.com (Magic).

NEWMEXICO BUSINESS WEEKLY reports that the Univ. of New Mexico baseball team hasreached an agreement with KDEF-AM to broadcast all home games and select awaygames during the upcoming season.  First State Bankis sponsoring the radio time, along with State Farm Insurance, Raylee Homes andCross Country Auto Sales (BIZJOURNALS.com,2/10).

The Pacific Life Open, a Tennis Masters Series and WTA Tour event,today announced that ESPN and ESPN2 will televise 35.5 hours of coverage,including 34 live hours, from the ’04 event, which will be held March 8-21 (PacificLife Open).

HorizonProductions today announced that it is forming the Lingerie Football League,which will consist of four teams – L.A. Dream, N.Y. Euphoria, Dallas Desire andChicago Passion – that will compete in a single elimination playoff in January’05.  The company also announced that ithas extended the replay ordering window for the Lingerie Bowl into March (HorizonProductions).

TheAFL Georgia Force today announced the members of its advisory board.  The members are Herschel Walker, Billy Payne,Kim King, Taz Anderson, Kevin Butler, David Hunter, BettyJaynes, Bruce Lucia, Ronda Rich, Frank Ros, HermanRussell and Chris Welton (BIZJOURNALS.com,2/10).

FoxSports En Espanol today announced that its 14 InterLiga qualifying gamesdelivered an average Nielsen household coverage rating of 5.5.  Additional games to select the secondMexican club averaged a 8.38 on January 21 and 8.64 on January 28, deliveringthe highest primetime ratings ever for the net (Fox Sports En Espanol).

TONIGHT’S EVENTS

MLBCommissioner Bud Selig will speak at the Phoenix Suns Platinum ClubSpeakers Series prior to the 8:00pm MT Raptors-Suns game at America West Arena.

TheGreater Cleveland Sports Commission will host its annual Sports Awards banquetat the downtown Cleveland Renaissance Hotel. Roy Firestone will emcee the event.

Mexicowill host the U.S. in the Olympic men’s soccer qualifying tournament semifinalsin Guadalajara at 9:00pm ET, and USA TODAY notes that the teams will playbefore an expected sellout crowd of 60,000 (USATODAY, 2/10).

CHANNEL SURFING

ESPNwill air NCAA men’s basketball: Kentucky-Alabamaat 7:00pm ET and Michigan State-Illinoisat 9:00pm.

ESPN2will air NCAA men’s basketball: Colorado-Missouriat 7:00pm ET.

TNTwill air Pistons-Nets at 7:30pm ETand Raptors-Suns at 10:00pm.

CSTVwill air NCAA men’s basketball: Pennsylvania-Princetonat 8:00pm ET.

ESPNClassic’s “SportsCentury” will profile GaryPlayer at 8:00pm ET.

USAwill air closing-night coverage of the “WestminsterKennel Club Dog Show” at 8:00pm ET.

ChargersDE Marcellus Wiley, Patriots WR Troy Brown, Basketball HOFers George Gervin and Bob Lanier, former NBAer ArtisGilmore and actor Dean Cain arescheduled to appear on FSN’s “BDSSP.”

BoxerShane Mosley will appear on UPN’s “All of Us” at 8:30pm ET.

BillWalton willappear on ABC’s “Less Than Perfect” at 9:30pm ET.

ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” will examine Univ. of Colorado’s recruiting violations atmidnight ET.

NBACommissioner David Stern will appearon CBS’ “The Late Late Show” at 12:35am ET.

A&E’s“Biography” will profile Jayne Mansfieldat 8:00pm ET.

E!’s “True Hollywood Story”will profile MTV’s “Real World” at8:00pm ET.

HEADLINERS

Hereare tonight’s headline guests on the following talk shows:

TODAY’S ARTICLES OF INTEREST

TheN.Y. DAILY NEWS’ T.J. Quinn writes of control of the Yankees following Owner GeorgeSteinbrenner’s departure, “The conventional wisdom around the club andthose who know Steinbrenner is that the Yankees will eventually be passed tohis sons Hal and Hank and his son-in-law, Steve Swindal,who are general partners in the club. … Estate planning experts unfamiliar withthe family’s plans say it appears that Steinbrenner has takenthe necessary steps to pass the club on to family members, making the threemen general partners and slowly shifting power to them in order to ease theburden of inheritance taxes when he cedes control for good” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS).

TheN.Y. TIMES’ Murray Chass writes, “Two-ton elephants usually don’t look goodthrowing their weight around, but it’s time for baseball’stwo-ton elephant to do just that. If a World Cup of baseball is ever going to leave the planning board,[MLB] will most likely have to take action that will not be popular witheveryone involved.  It wouldn’t be thefirst time.  But this time, MLB would bejustified in unilaterally swatting aside impediments to a World Cup” (N.Y.TIMES).

ThePHILADELPHIA INQUIRER’s Stephen A. Smith writes, “It’s never fun topaint a group with a broad brush, to attach deplorable behavior to the backs ofmany with whom one may share a cultural identity.  Buthow many African American coaches must have their abilities lambasted, theircareers placed in peril, before someone starts noticing the primary cause fortheir travails?  It’s the blackathlete. … If America were to be blindfolded without the luxury of a voicedetector, a laundry list of professional black coaches would jump to attentionjust to confirm such an assertion” (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).

• Sports, hip-hop coming under one banner during NBA All-Star Weekend.
• NBA All-Star Game has grown into international event.
• ACC’s Sunday-laden TV contract with FSN making basketball coaches weary.
• Portland columnist wonders if Norfolk is a more viable MLB location.

SeeThe Daily Insider’s Articles ofInterest section for more sports business-related links.

TODAY’S TEASER…

Sports& Entertainment: Which of the following ‘04 NBA All-Stars did not appear in the ‘02flick “Like Mike?”

1. Steve Francis
2. Kevin Garnett
3. Allen Iverson
4. Jason Kidd
5. Dirk Nowitzki

IN OTHER NEWS……

DAILYVARIETY reports that one-time Fox Dir of National Promotions Spencer Moseskawill return to Fox as VP/Integrated Marketing. Moseska will “oversee Fox’s national promotions department, creating andimplementing multiplatform marketing programs with advertisers as well as withother News Corp. divisions” (DAILYVARIETY, 2/10).

THE DAILY STAT: TOP SPORTS SITES FORWEEK ENDING JANUARY 25

Thefollowing are the top five sports Web sites ranked according to home uniqueaudience for the week ending January 25, according toNielsen//NetRatings.  Unique Audience = the number of persons in thousandsaccessing the site or network, with each counted only once.  Average timespent = the average amount of time a visitor has spent at that property for theweek.  This data is based on 37,000 home users with Internet access (Nielsen//NetRatings).

…TODAY’S ANSWER

If you have any questions,comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com

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