BLOOMBERG NEWS' Farrell & Martin profiled Goldman Sachs Managing Dir GREG CAREY, who is "known in professional sports circles as the guru of stadium financing." Goldman Sachs said that under Carey, it "has worked on more than two dozen stadium deals" amounting to more than $11B in financing. Carey’s specialty "is crafting deals that are lucrative for team owners, often at the expense of taxpayers." What "sets him apart, say his clients and critics, is his ability to steer projects through conflicting interests of teams and local government officials." He often does so "by using obscure tools available in public finance to help owners get low-interest loans, avoid taxes or tap subsidies" (BLOOMBERG.com, 1/29).
 |
Walsh is viewed by many as one of ESPN's
most influential execs |
END OF AN ERA: ESPN's
KEITH OLBERMANN said of ESPN Exec VP & Exec Editor
JOHN WALSH's pending retirement, "It's difficult to say, 'Of all the people who worked there this guy had the most influence.' But you'll never convince me otherwise." Author
JAMES ANDREW MILLER said, "He fundamentally changed '
SPORTSCENTER' as it was on ESPN. He vertically integrated the company. As you well know, he took it into radio. He launched the magazine. He indoctrinated the entire organization with a set of journalist principles that had unfortunately not been present up until the time he came and he also made a change in terms of the way sports journalism was covered" (
"Olbermann," ESPNews, 1/28).
SALT LAKE SALARY: Utah football coach KYLE WHITTINGHAM's recent contract extension with the university "has him on track" to earn $11M in base salary between now and December '18. That figure "would bring him to roughly" $24.5M "since assuming Utah's head coaching duties" in '05. For the school to fire Whittingham, it "must pay an additional $750,000" for '18, and for Whittingham "to accept another job," he must pay the school an additional $200,000. Overall, Whittingham's pay increases from $2.4M in '15 to $2.6M. His base salary "will increase by $100,000 per year -- as it has done since he signed" the initial '11 deal and a subsequent December '11 amendment (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 1/30)
NAMES: New Hampshire Motor Speedway Exec VP & GM JERRY GAPPENS "was arrested last week on charges he was caught engaging in a sexual act" with a 19-year-old woman "in the parking lot of a nursing home." Police "working a 'prostitution detail'" saw Gappens in his white Toyota Sequoia (New Hampshire UNION LEADER, 1/30)....A federal judge in Indiana “recused herself Thursday from a lawsuit about NCAA scholarship limits after the plaintiffs asked her to leave” because she is a Butler Univ. trustee. In a “written order stepping aside from the JOHN ROCK antitrust case, U.S. District Judge JANE MAGNUS-STINSON defended her actions on the case but said the suit is better off without ‘questioning my motivation for any future rulings’” (CBSSPORTS.com, 1/29)....Michigan State on Thursday received a $3M gift that “will help support the men's basketball program.” MARK and CINDY PENTECOST’s donation “will be used to update” the men's basketball offices and practice facilities. The gift is one of the “largest ever to Michigan State athletics, and is the third gift” of $3M or more “received by the athletic department since the October 2014 public launch of the Empower Extraordinary” (DETROIT NEWS, 1/30)....Royals LF ALEX GORDON on Thursday “received the 50th Hutch Award for outstanding community service at the annual luncheon at Safeco Field.” The award is in honor of late MLBer FRED HUTCHINSON (MLB.com, 1/29).
IN MEMORY: Longtime boxing promoter CEDRIC KUSHNER “died Thursday morning after suffering a massive heart attack.” Kushner, 66, “served as the promoter to some of the top fighters in boxing including SHANE MOSLEY, PETER QUILLIN and former heavyweight champion HASIM RAHMAN” (N.Y. POST, 1/30).
