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Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz, February 8, 2005

The Daily Insider
Morning News & Headlines
Tuesday, February 8, 2005
9:00am ET

NBA Commish David Stern Today To Announce WNBA Is Coming To Chicago

Bob DuPuy And Peter Angelos Resuming Nationals Compensation Talks Today

Boston Spending Much Less Than Last Year On Today’s Patriots Rolling Rally

Bobcats Hope Higher Ticket Prices In New Arena Will Boost Performance

Marv Albert Taking Over As Nets Play-By-Play Announcer On YES Network

Morning Briefs/In Other News/Laugh Track/TV Monitor/Final Jeopardy!


WNBA COMING TO THE WINDY CITY WITH NO HELP FROM THE BULLS

NBA Commissioner David Stern today will host a 4:30pm CT press conference at the Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Pavilion to announce that a WNBA team will begin playing in the Windy City in '06. The CHICAGO SUN-TIMES reports that the Bulls “are not expected to have anything to do with” the new team, as a private investor group thought to be led by Chicago realtor Michael Alter will operate the franchise (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/8).


DuPUY, ANGELOS RESUMING NATIONALS COMPENSATION DISCUSSIONS

The WASHINGTON TIMES reports that MLB President & COO Bob DuPuy and Orioles Owner Peter Angelos today in N.Y. will resume negotiations on a financial protection package for the Orioles as a result of the league relocating the Nationals to DC. MLB is “believed to have offered Angelos a substantial package of benefits for the Orioles, including guarantees to the team's annual local revenue and future resale value, and a dominant stake” in a new RSN (WASHINGTON TIMES, 2/8).


BOSTON SPENDING CONSIDERABLY LESS ON PATRIOTS’ THIRD PARADE

The city of Boston will hold an 11:00am ET rolling rally to celebrate the Patriots’ Super Bowl XXXIX victory, and the BOSTON GLOBE reports that Mayor Thomas Menino said that the event “would cost $100,000, far less than the $465,000 spent on last year’s parade.” Patriots partner Bank of America late yesterday pledged $50,000. City officials declined to speculate on the turnout. An estimated 1.2 million attended the team’s ’02 celebration, and 1.5 million showed up for last year’s party (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/8).


BOBCATS RAISING TICKET PRICES AS TEAM MOVES INTO NEW ARENA

The CHARLOTTE OBSERVER reports that the Bobcats this week will mail brochures to season-ticket holders, “detailing amenities and ticket prices for next season,” when the team begins playing in a new downtown arena. Ticket prices for some seats will rise more than 100% from the comparable seats in the Charlotte Coliseum. Nearly one third of the 19,026 seats will cost less than $25, and the average ticket price will rise from $36.61 to $39.12, still below the NBA average (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/8). View construction images.


ANAHEIM STILL CLINGING TO HOPE TO CHANGE ANGELS’ NAME

The L.A. TIMES reports that attorneys today will brief the Anaheim City Council “on the city’s legal options, including the cost of preparing for trial and the chances of winning” a lawsuit, to block the Angels from using the “Los Angeles” name.  Experts claim that a jury could award millions of dollars in damages to the city, “but it would not be empowered to restore the Anaheim Angels name” (L.A. TIMES, 2/8).


MORNING BRIEFS

After GoDaddy.com’s ad aired during the first quarter of Super Bowl XXXIX, Fox decided, “after a discussion with [NFL execs], to rerun in its [fourth-quarter slot] a commercial for Diet Pepsi that had also appeared in the first quarter.” Ad Store CEO Paul Cappelli, whose agency created the spot, said, “We poked fun at censorship and guess what? We were censored. It’s kind of scary” (N.Y. TIMES, 2/8).

The Nets will "soon announce that Marv Albert will be the new voice of the team on YES.” Albert will call about 50 games next season, while current play-by-play announcer Ian Eagle – "if he agrees to stay on – would do the remainder." The length of Albert’s contract is not yet known (N.Y. POST, 2/8).

Merrill Lynch analyst Jessica Reif Cohen said of Cablevision’s $600M bid for the West Side Rail Yard, “This high-profile bid appears to be a far stretch for the company, as mixed-use real estate development is outside of the company’s expertise, and the financing for this venture remains unclear” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/8).

Due to “rain-related construction setbacks,” FC Dallas execs yesterday pushed back the debut of the club’s new 21,000-seat Frisco Sports & Entertainment Complex to August 6, four months into the MLS season. The facility was previously scheduled to open June 11 (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 2/8).

Flyers C Jeremy Roenick, on the NHL lockout, “The lower-market teams right now are controlling the whole thing … and the big-market teams are like, ‘Hey, let’s play.  They offered us a good deal.’  So they’re fighting amongst themselves” (“BDSSP,” FSN, 2/7).

Merrill Lynch this morning downgraded Nike from buy to neutral, “telling clients the February earnings-per-share outlook of [$0.97] ‘looks high to us.’”  The broker expects Nike to “be negatively impacted by the S&P’s transition to a free float index,” which will cost the company $1.2B in market cap (DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, 2/8).


A LIGHTER BUZZ

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce runs a full-page ad in USA Today reading, “Yeah, New England, you won. But our office space is cheaper than your office space – not to mention our cost of living. Touché” (THE DAILY).


THE BACK PAGES

The Morning Buzz offers today’s back page sports covers from some of the nation’s major metropolitan tabloids:

N.Y. Post
N.Y. Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
Newsday

TODAY’S EVENTS

ISC President Lesa France Kennedy and Checkers Drive-In President & CEO Keith Sirios will ring the NASDAQ opening bell at 9:30am ET.

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee will draw up its first mock March Madness bracket during an organizational meeting (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 2/8).

News Corp.’s Fox Soccer Channel, which debuted yesterday, will air its first int’l match, England's Under-21 team against Holland's national team, at 3:00pm ET.


IN OTHER NEWS….

CRAIN’S N.Y. BUSINESS reported that CNBC has promoted President & CEO Pamela Thomas-Graham to the newly-created position of Chair and named Hartford’s WVIT-NBC President & GM Mark Hoffman President (CRAINSNY.com, 2/7).

The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER notes that Cablevision yesterday named Jay Marciano Radio City Entertainment President. Marciano, who was most recently AEG Live Chief Strategy Officer, “will oversee bookings and productions at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and the Theater at Madison Square Garden, including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes” (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 2/8).

The ARIZONA REPUBLIC reports that the Glendale Arena was named the best new major concert venue of ’04 at the 16th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards this past weekend.  The arena beat out FedExForum and the Everett Events Center in Everett, Washington, for the honor (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/8).


FINAL JEOPARDY!

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “The Elements.”

“By weight, this element makes up more of the human body than all the others combined.”


LAUGH TRACK

THE MONOLOGUES:

CBS’ David Letterman: “Here in New York City this week it’s Fashion Week, and you can certainly tell by looking at this crowd. Because of Fashion Week, the city is full of beautiful supermodels. It’s amazing. I saw one today with a sign around her neck that read, ‘Will starve for food.’ ... Everybody in New York City is going crazy about fashion. Here’s what happened to me: I’m walking down Broadway today and a guy starts chalking my pants. ... Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for sympathy, but I’m doing tonight’s show with two screws and a metal plate in my ankle. ... If anybody is in the market for champagne, I’m told you can pick up several cases cheap from the Philadelphia Eagles. ... Man, I thought the Super Bowl was a tight, well-paced 16 hours. ... Did you enjoy the halftime show? It was clean. It was wholesome. It was family-friendly. That’s right, it sucked. I like all of the new commercials, and the one I really enjoyed was the one with Burt Reynolds. Burt Reynolds is dancing with a bear and the bear is the one with his own hair” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/7).

NBC’s Jay Leno: “Congratulations to the New England Patriots. They beat the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles played a great game, but this is the Patriots' third Super Bowl in four years. Do you realize Tom Brady now has more rings than Kobe’s wife? ... For the first time ever the game was broadcast in high definition TV, which is pretty amazing, and the picture is so detailed, you could actually see two or three of the hairs left on Terry Bradshaw’s head. ... The broadcast was pretty tame. The closest thing we saw to a breast popping out was Charlie Daniels. ... In an interview, Dick Cheney said he will not run for President in 2008. I guess he figured eight years of being president is enough. ... Things are not looking good for Michael Jackson and his No Child Left Behind Policy” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 2/7).

LATE NIGHT LAUGHS:

Last night’s Top Ten list was “Top Ten Philadelphia Eagles Excuses” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/7).

10) “Spent two weeks practicing the coin toss.”

9) “Discouraged by halftime show’s lack of nudity.”

8) “We were missing ‘Desperate Housewives’ – who could think straight?”

7) “Were overwhelmed by the awe-inspiring metropolis that is Jacksonville.”

6) “Oh, suddenly referees are too good to take bribes?!”

5) “Who really wants to get Gatorade dumped on them?”

4) “Should have campaigned harder in Ohio.”

3) “It’s totally unfair, the Patriots are really good.”

2) “Maybe being from the land of cheese steaks ain’t a good thing.”

1) “When Tom Brady looked at us with those gorgeous eyes, we just melted.”

Last night’s edition of “The Tonight Show” featured a report from comedian Mitch Fatel from the Super Bowl. Fatel asked Terry Bradshaw, “Would you tell me if you think I could be a quarterback like you one day?” Bradshaw: “No, you can’t. ... Number one, you’re ugly. Number two, you’re short.” Fatel: “I’ve got better hair than you.” Bradshaw: “I don’t have any hair.” Fatel: “That’s what I’m saying.” Fatel asked referee Terry McAulay what the signal was for holding, unnecessary roughness, “illegal use of a jockstrap” and “being distracted by big breasts” (“The Tonight Show,” NBC, 2/7).

Tom Brady appeared on “Late Show” last night where he talked about waiting two weeks from the AFC Championship to the Super Bowl. Brady: “You’re just caught up in the week-to-week stuff for so long and then finally the AFC Championship and then two weeks of listening to Freddie Mitchell talk got pretty long.” Letterman said to Brady, “On the sidelines, Bill Belichick is dressed like a sherpa.” Brady: “On game days, he usually pulls out his best stuff. You should see what he looks like on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He walks in and everybody looks at him and goes, ‘What is he wearing?’” (“Late Show,” CBS, 2/7).

Last night’s edition of MTV’s “Cribs” featured the Houston home of Seahawks CB Bobby Taylor. In the “trophy room,” Taylor had his bobblehead doll displayed on a shelf. Taylor: “I got my first bobblehead. It kind of looks like me. Most bobbleheads you see don’t even look like guys, but this actually looks like [me]” (“Cribs,” MTV, 2/7).


LAST NIGHT’S TV MONITOR

Net

Show

Lead

Next Items

ESPN

“Around The Horn”

Super Bowl XXXIX

Patriots’ legacy; Eagles WR Terrell Owens

ESPN

“PTI”

Super Bowl XXXIX

Patriots’ legacy; Terrell Owens

ESPN

11:00pm ET “SportsCenter”

UConn-Syracuse

Big East; Villanova-St. Joseph’s

FSN

“I, Max”

Super Bowl XXXIX

Terrell Owens; Patriots’ legacy


FINAL JEOPARDY ANSWER

“What is oxygen?”


If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please let us know at:
dailyinsider@sportsbusinessdaily.com

The Morning Buzz provides an early update of the news and headlines each Monday through Friday at approximately 9:00am ET. If you would like to sign up for an e-mail alert to the Morning Buzz, go to My Account and personalize your e-mail alert options.

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