DETROIT is sending its “top sports celebrities” to SUPER BOWL XXXIX in Jacksonville, and the group will attend a media reception aboard ROGER PENSKE’s yacht, Detroit Eagle, on February 2 to “give Detroit a boost for next year’s Super Bowl at Ford Field.” The group is slated to include KIRK GIBSON, IVAN RODRIGUEZ, SWIN CASH, DAVE BING, ROBERT PORCHER, BARRY SANDERS, STEVE YZERMAN, GORDIE HOWE, HELIO CASTRONEVES, GIL DE FERRAN, STEVE MARIUCCI, MATT MILLEN and DRE BLY (DETROIT NEWS, 1/20).
SCREEN PLAY: In K.C., Howard Richman writes the “impetus for a proposed [TV] miniseries on” the NEGRO LEAGUES has come from Kansas State Univ. President JON WEFALD, who wrote an essay on the leagues. Warner Bros. President of Domestic TV Distribution DICK ROBERTSON, who received a copy of the essay, said that his company “was determined to honor the Negro Leagues with” a miniseries based on Wefald’s idea. Warner Bros. is pitching to “major TV networks,” and Robertson expects that it would be broadcast as a two-part miniseries (K.C. STAR, 1/20).
BREAKING THE CHAINS: In Toronto, Shirley Won reports a “growing number of investors and analysts are giving the nod to a proposal by” GREENLIGHT CAPITAL to “break up” MI DEVELOPMENTS (MID) in an effort to “unlock shareholder value.” Greenlight, which owns 9.9% of MID, wants the company to “sell or spin off its” 59% stake in horse-racing subsidiary MAGNA ENTERTAINMENT CORP. and “convert the balance of its property holdings to a real estate investment trust.” S.F.–based Botti Brown Asset Management
 |
Walsh (l), Youngs (c) and Fonoimoana Help
During NBC’s SI Model Search |
LLC Managing Dir
JOHN BOTTI said, “It is fairly obvious that [Magna Founder
FRANK STRONACH] still controls these companies and his love of racing is clearly in the way of the realization of shareholder value” (
GLOBE & MAIL, 1/20).
LOOKS GOOD: Last night’s edition of NBC’s “SI: SWIMSUIT MODEL SEARCH” featured the models playing beach volleyball with ’00 Olympic Gold Medalist ERIC FONOIMOANA, ’04 Olympic Gold Medalist KERRI WALSH and ’04 Olympic Bronze Medalist ELAINE YOUNGS. The elimination process, where two models were asked to leave the show, took place on the field at The Home Depot Center (NBC, 1/19).
