Tribune Will Sell The Chicago Cubs After the ‘07 Season
April 3, 2007
Tribune Company announced today that it plans to sell the Chicago Cubs and the company’s 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago after the conclusion of the 2007 baseball season. The sale is expected to be completed in this year’s fourth quarter.
“The Cubs have been an important part of Tribune for more than 25 years and are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports,” said Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In our last season of ownership, the team has one mission, and that is to win for our great fans.”
Tribune has long-term contracts in place for Cubs programming on WGN-TV, Superstation WGN, WGN-AM Radio and Comcast SportsNet Chicago. The company was a founding partner when Comcast SportsNet Chicago was launched in 2004 and holds a 25 percent stake the network, which will broadcast 72 regular season Cubs games in 2007.
“This transition will not impact our on-field performance,” said John McDonough, Cubs president and chief executive officer. “We expect to compete and win — our goal of bringing a World Series championship to Cubs fans everywhere hasn’t changed.”
Tribune purchased the Chicago Cubs and historic Wrigley Field in 1981. Attendance has soared in recent years, setting a record of 3,170,184 fans in 2004. Total attendance again surpassed 3 million in 2005 and 2006.
The sale of the team is subject to the approval of Major League Baseball.
Source: The Tribune Company
Serena Williams Destroys Maria Sharapova In Miami
March 28, 2007
Australian Open tennis champion Serena Williams of the United States has easily defeated top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia to advance to the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida.
The 13th-seeded Williams overpowered Sharapova 6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday, in a rematch of their Australian Open final earlier this year. Williams next faces number-eight Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic for a berth in the last eight.
Meanwhile, ninth-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze advanced to the semifinals, battling from behind to beat No. 15 Li Na of China, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
In men’s play, 12th-seeded Andy Murray of Britain fought off two match points and rallied for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 win over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu. In the quarterfinals he will play the winner of the match between third-seeded American Andy Roddick and Spain’s David Ferrer.
Source: VOA
March Madness Coming To YouTube (Clips, Anyhow)
March 18, 2007
CBS Sports, the NCAA and Pontiac will bring NCAA March Madness to YouTube, the announcement was made today with the launch of the CBS Sports NCAA Tournament Channel (http://www.youtube.com/cbsncaatourney), sponsored by Pontiac on YouTube. This CBS Sports programming will feature NCAA game clips and highlights — uploaded by CSTV in near real time — from the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship which begins airing today, on the CBS Television Network and online through NCAA March Madness on Demand on NCAASports.com, CBS SportsLine.com and CSTV.com.
“Through this agreement, CBS is monetizing its content on the Internet and proving that world-class programming can help bring brand-name advertisers to online platforms,” said Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports and News. “This year, CBS Sports and YouTube will expand on the success of March Madness on Demand reaching sports fans everywhere, on all levels across all media, making the fan the real winner as we enter this Tournament.”
“The NCAA continues to look for new and creative avenues to promote and enhance the game of college basketball and the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball and Business Strategies. “YouTube will allow both the NCAA and CBS to reach a broader audience and will provide increased exposure for the men’s basketball championship.”
The CBS Sports NCAA Tournament Channel on YouTube will include NCAA game tournament highlights as soon as they happen, press conferences and various video produced by CBS Sports, CBS SportsLine and CSTV surrounding coverage of the tournament. Game elements will be uniquely tailored by CSTV for the YouTube community and uploaded as close to LIVE as possible so fans can interact with the content almost immediately. Users will also be able to interact with each other having the ability to comment on NCAA tournament clips, rating them, recommending them to friends and posting their own video responses to communicate with other viewers. The new branded channel will also include links to CBS Sports, CBS SportsLine, CSTV, and the NCAA’s official Website, NCAASports.com, making it easy for fans to effortlessly move from YouTube, back to the full games being featured online through NCAA March Madness on Demand.
The CBS Sports NCAA Tournament Channel, which will be sponsored by Pontiac, will give the YouTube community the opportunity to easily interact with and share their favorite game moments — all of which will be made available on the channel.
“The NCAA Tournament is consistently one of the most exciting experiences in all of sports,” said Suzie Reider, Head of Advertising Sales, YouTube. “Tournament coverage is a welcome addition to the site. Our community is incredibly fortunate to be able to engage this high-quality CBS Sports and NCAA content in an entirely new way, strengthening YouTube’s expansive range of sports content. We’re hopeful this partnership will also introduce the tournament and NCAA basketball to an even wider audience than it already enjoys.”
In addition, the YouTube community will be encouraged to vote on their favorite round-by-round Pontiac “Game Changing Performances” at NCAASports.com. The top vote earning team of the Pontiac challenge will be announced live on CBS during halftime of the NCAA championship game on Monday, April 2. The winning team’s school will receive a $100,000 general scholarship.
“Traditional media working with new media is better for the fans and better for us,” said Mark-Hans Richer, Pontiac Marketing Director. “Now our Pontiac Game Changing Performance platform is more viral which is great for the fans, students and the NCAA.”
Source: CBS Sports