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Names In The News

Longtime sports marketer JEFF RUTSTEIN, who has had stints with the Nets, U.S. Soccer and Octagon, has tapped into a new passion -- fashioning awards. Among the projects for his Stamford-based business have been a “football” crafted from a single amethyst crystal for the ESPYs (designed for the title sponsors).” Now, “Rutstein’s Opulent Luxuries” is hoping to compete with the likes of Tiffany and Waterford in the award and recognition business. In sports, the company is working with promotional agency BDA, which has rights to nearly every major U.S. sports property. Rutstein’s career includes positions with the NJ Nets, US Soccer, and Octagon (Terry Lefton, Editor-At-Large).

MORT REPORT: Pro Football HOFer MORTEN ANDERSEN's hometown of Struer, Denmark, celebrated his career on Monday, as an audience of more than 1,800 gathered for an "official celebration" of Andersen's election into the HOF. At an honorary dinner "attended by 200 dignitaries and friends on Monday night, Struer officials presented Andersen with plaques that will be placed at Struer City Hall and honor his improbable journey" to the NFL (NOLA.com, 1/30).

OWNERS IN THE NEWS: Vikings Owner ZYGI WILF, who "gifted one Super Bowl ticket to each full-time employee of the team, is allowing them to buy an adjacent second ticket" (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 1/31)....Wheeling Newspapers, which is owned by Pirates Owner BOB NUTTING's family, is "expected to buy the Charleston Gazette-Mail" (POST-GAZETTE.com, 1/30)....Oilers Owner DARYL KATZ' company, The Katz Group, is the "new owner of LifeZette, the site co-founded by Fox News host LAURA INGRAHAM" (MONEY.CNN.com, 1/30).

NAMES: Rays team physician MICHAEL REILLY was "fired" yesterday after a video was posted on YouTube "including accusations of inappropriate behavior and sexual abuse eight to 10 years ago." A woman in the video "alleged Reilly touched her inappropriately and tried to kiss her while she was a teenager working in his St. Petersburg office." Reilly, 67, "has been affiliated with the Rays for their 20 seasons, and also served as a team doctor" for the Lightning from '92-'02 (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/31)....former Arkansas football coach BRET BIELEMA will receive an $11.935M buyout "paid out monthly" through the end of '20. Bielema will "receive approximately $321,000 per month before taxes" (AL.com, 1/30)....LUKE BRYAN will make a stop in L.A. on July 28 to “become the first country artist ever to headline Dodger Stadium” (DAILYNEWS.com, 1/30)....Falcons WR JULIO JONES yesterday opened Julio Jones Kia and Julio Jones Mazda in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (BIZJOURNALS.com, 1/29)....DAVID BECKHAM on Monday celebrated the announcement of Miami’s new MLS team with a “special dinner” at Komodo. Later, Beckham “hit nightclub Rockwell” (NYPOST.com, 1/30)....Former PGA Tour Dir of Global Corporate Marketing Partnerships BARBARA EMENER KARASEK and her husband, TONY, have purchased St. Petersburg-based travel and tourism ad agency Paradise Advertising & Marketing. The agency was founded in ’02 by CEDAR HAMES, who personally selected the duo to take ownership upon his retirement at the end of last year (Paradise).

IN MEMORY: Longtime Miami Herald sports columnist BOB RUBIN died yesterday at 76. He had “briefly been in hospice care following complications from a stroke suffered Jan. 2.” Rubin joined the Herald in ’76 and retired in ’02, and for “two decades formed a powerhouse columnist tandem alongside EDWIN POPE” (MIAMI HERALD, 1/31).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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