ESPN President George Bodenheimer says that ESPN will
enhance its X Games franchise by expanding the event's
marketability and establishing more of a year-round, multi-
media presence. In an effort to compress the competition
for spectators and TV viewers, the 2000 X Games will be a
six-day event, down from nine days, and will take place this
August in S.F. (ESPN).
MODERN DAY HR DERBY: Mark Anderson reports that first-
day ticket sales for the Big League Challenge, a home run-
hitting contest among "many of baseball's top sluggers,"
were "brisk." The event will take place at Cashman Field in
Las Vegas and will feature Cardinals 1B Mark McGwire, Cubs
RF Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey, Jr. The first session, at
9:15am (PST) on February 12, sold "an estimated" 2,500
tickets while the second session, at 1:45pm the same day,
sold about 4,500 tickets. The final session, on February
13, sold about 4,000 tickets. A sellout crowd would be
"roughly" 10,000, and standing-room-only tickets "could
boost sales to about" 14,000 (LV REVIEW-JOURNAL, 1/25).
