DraftKings CMO JANET HOLIAN "has her work cut out for her," as the daily fantasy sports firm "struggles to reconcile its breakneck growth with its funding requirements amid a barrage of regulatory and legal pressures." It is now Holian's job to keep the company's "products and people on message while also leveraging her deep reservoir of experience and contacts to keep DrafKing's naysayers at bay." Holian said, "For someone like me, to come into an organization that is so frenetic is to bring a little bit of balance to it all" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 8/11).
ROPING THE LAW: Two Texas calf ropers, TUF COOPER and TIMBER MOORE, have been "accused in a lawsuit of rigging what was billed as 'the world's richest one-day rodeo' at AT&T Stadium last year." RFD-TV "filed the suit this week in Tarrant County." The suit accuses them of "conspiring with a third roper REESE REIMER, by agreeing to lose to him so he could win" the $1M prize at The American Rodeo in March '15. The suit said that the three cowboys planned to "split the cash." RFD-TV, the sponsor of the event, is seeking $100,000 in damages (DALLASNEWS.com, 8/11).
NAMES: Bills and Sabres Owner TERRY PEGULA’s daughters, JESSIE and KELLY, are planning “to open a quick-service HarborCenter restaurant specializing in healthy food and drink” that is set to be called “the Healthy Scratch” (BUFFALONEWS.com 8/11)....Showtime on Thursday announced 76ers F BEN SIMMONS documentary “ONE & DONE” will premiere Oct. 21 at 9:00pm ET (DEADLINE.com, 8/11)....The Titans raised $20,000 for charity by “auctioning off the first two plays of their preseason opener against the Chargers on Saturday at Nissan Stadium” for the Waiting For Wishes Celebrity Waiters’ Dinner (TENNESSEAN.com, 8/11).... Former Grizzlies announcer RICK TROTER is being accused of using a "hidden camera to record numerous women and minors in a restroom" at Fellowship Memphis church in '10 (COMMERCIALAPPEAL.com, 8/10)....Former MLBer DEREK JETER’s publishing imprint is set to release “MUHAMMAD ALI UNFILTERED.” The book “is the second in a planned series of illustrated works about prominent public figures.” The first, “JETER UNFILTERED,” came out in ’14 (AP, 8/11).
IN MEMORY: Detroit Free Press columnist MITCH ALBOM, who frequently appears on "THE SPORTS REPORTERS," writes on the passing of ESPN's JOHN SAUNDERS, "John, was, quite simply, the best of us. He did his job without ego, prejudice or overreacting -- a rare thing in TV journalism these days" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 8/12).
