The chairman of NBC Sports, Dick Ebersol, is reaching for the plug to disconnect his network from the XFL. Ebersol said this past week that his network is prepared to cut its losses and run if ratings don’t go up significantly for the two weekend playoff in April.
There has been no secret that TV ratings for the XFL have spiraled downward each week. Vince McMahon, the head of the WWF and the father of the XFL, said he hopes NBC will stay on board for another year. But he said he’ll understand if the network decides to pull out. He admitted that the league can’t exist without a TV partner but said that he has been talking with UPN about a partnership.
Ebersol is justifiably proud of the technological innovations the network developed for its XFL coverage. Things like on-field cameras, locker room cameras and overhead cameras and mikes on players and coaches are likely to see some use in the future.
Three Ohio colleges are competing for the opportunity to arrange sponsorship for a race car. It’s a win-win situation for the car owner and the students involved in the projects.
Dale Stump, owner of Stump Racing Enterprises, was looking for a way to attract a top notch sponsor. He made an offer to a number of Ohio schools.
Students in their sports management courses could formulate sponsorship plans. Stump and several other judges would choose what they felt was the best one and that school’s logo would be displayed on his American Speed Association car for the 2001 season.
Only three schools took him up on the offer, Kent State University, the University of Dayton and Xavier University. The project gave students a unique college project and Stump got an inexpensive marketing plan.
Speaking of marketing, some state attorneys-general have filed multi-billion dollar lawsuits against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. In Arizona, the AG claims that RJR advertises its NASCAR Winston Cup series and NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series year round, even though the series only appear in Maricopa County once a year.
The master agreement signed by the major tobacco companies and the states allows tobacco advertising three months prior to company sponsored events and requires the signs be taken down within ten days of the end of the event.
A spokesman for RJR said it is a matter of interpretation. She said that the company feels that the series is the event referred to in the agreement, while the AG apparently thinks that it means the actual local show.
Ohio also has filed a lawsuit against RJR over its advertising on matchbook covers, which is prohibited by the agreement.
Tony Stewart was fined $10 thousand this week for hitting Jeff Gordon and spinning him into a retaining wall along pit road at Bristol last weekend. You may have seen it.
Gordon, trying to go inside to pass Stewart for fifth place on the final lap … some contact, and Stewart slid up the banking. As the racers pulled onto pit road after their cool down laps, Stewart wove through the traffic to get to Gordon and hit him from behind.
It was the latest installment in a continuing feud between the two drivers.
It may be the best side show NASCAR has going for it right now. There’s also a sort of geopolitical ring to it, sort of like the chaos which has gripped eastern Europe following the demise of the Soviet Union.
The sudden demise of Dale Earnhardt has left a superstar vacuum in NASCAR and both Gordon and Stewart want to fill it.
The feud also smacks of the good guy/bad guy dichotomy we middle agers saw between Pat Boone and Elvis Presley in the 50’s, or even between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the 60’s.
NASCAR probably should have paid Stewart instead of fining him.