Ilitch Holdings "is on another land-buying spree," and has purchased land in "the desolate area around the MotorCity Casino Hotel on West Grand River, just a few blocks west of downtown." The ILITCH family, which owns the Red Wings and Tigers, has spent more than $10M "in at least 15 different sales" since '11. The total footprint of the properties "rivals the 650,000-square-foot new home" of the Red Wings, which is "being built six blocks away from MotorCity" (DETROIT NEWS, 8/26).
GOPHERS STAY GOLDEN: Minnesota yesterday announced a contract extensions and raise for men's basketball coach RICHARD PITINO. The coach, who received an extension through the '20-21 season, will get a "$400,000 annual increase in supplemental compensation," from $700,000 to $1.1M, "bringing his salary" to $1.6M a year. The third-year UM coach "also will receive a $450,000 'retention bonus' if he is still the Gophers' coach on April 30, 2016, and April 30, 2019." His buyout is now $1.5M "if he leaves before April 30, 2016," however, that decreases to $1M in '17, $750,000 in '18 and $500,000 in '19 (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 8/26).
BREAKING DOWN FILM: Former NFLer SIMEON RICE "is now a filmmaker," and his first feature "will hit theaters on Friday." It is called "UNSULLIED" and is the "'DELIVERANCE'-meets-'TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' story of a kidnapped woman chased through the Florida swamps by a couple of cannibal psychos." Rice "put himself through film school, wrote a script, hired a crew and directed the movie himself." He originally "tried the more traditional route -- pitching ideas to Hollywood, trying to get a traditional deal -- but that didn't work out." Rice said, "All I got was doors shut in my face" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 8/26).
NAMES: DONALD TRUMP "is selling his share of the Miss Universe pageant," and WME-IMG co-CEO ARI EMANUEL is "among the top bidders." A source said that WME-IMG, along with private equity firm Silver Lake, are "one of the favored bidders." The purchase "would make sense for Emanuel," as WME-IMG "already had a licensing relationship with Miss Universe" (N.Y. POST, 8/26)....Baseball HOFer LOU BROCK yesterday visited the Yates Family YMCA in downtown Jacksonville, and he "opened for Novo Nordisk at the Diabetes Education Program." Brock "visits 45 cities a year speaking about his experience with diabetes and encouraging people to use routine to manage the disease" (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION, 8/26)....A group of Super Bowl XLV ticket holders have “laid out their reasons for appealing March’s jury award of less than $76,000.” The 48-page brief filed Friday “contested various decisions made by the trial judge, from rulings several years ago to a disagreement on jury instructions in the spring” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/26)....A 13-foot-tall statue of former NFLer and Heisman Trophy winner GEORGE ROGERS will be unveiled Sept. 12 outside South Carolina’s Williams Brice Stadium (THESTATE.com, 8/26)....Actor RUSSELL CROWE “will not continue his interest” in taking over English soccer club Leeds United (ESPNFC.com, 8/25)....NFL Cardinals S TYRANN MATHIEU yesterday tweeted that he would be “buying fans ice cream” at an area Cold Stone Creamery, but what fans did not know is that he would “suit up and serve the ice cream himself” (AZCENTRAL.com, 8/25).
