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Written by Maury Brown
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 19:08 |
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 Ben Langton of Carleton, Mich., water-skied his way into a suite for tonight's Stanley Cup playoff game against the Nashville Predators. Carleton is the first-place winner of the Detroit Red Wings 'Are you in?' video contest.
"After viewing all the entries we received, no one can doubt that Detroit is Hockeytown," said Steve Violetta, senior vice president of business affairs for the Detroit Red Wings. "The creativity and passion of our fans was clearly evident! This was a great opportunity for them to showcase their enthusiasm for a chance to be a part of the excitement that is playoff hockey."
Contestants submitted videos showing what crazy, funny stuff they'd do to win tickets to the playoffs. All entries were reviewed by a panel of judges including play-by-play announcers Ken Daniels and Ken Kal.
Langton's winning video featured him water skiing on the Detroit River in front of Joe Louis Arena. He donned a Zetterberg jersey as he glided across the 40-degree water proclaiming he'd do anything for tickets. Langton's grand prize is an executive suite for him and 19 friends to game one in the first round of playoff action, which gets started tonight at 7:00 p.m.
The second place prize goes to Kristopher Kopchick of Clinton Township, Mich., for his "Fan Factory" video. Kopchick gets four tickets to tonight's game for his piece, which showed how ordinary men are made into extraordinary fans.
The three finalist videos will be played on the scoreboard at tonight's game. In addition, the winning videos along with the 'best of the best' entries are available on the Detroit Red Wings site in the Fan Zone section.
"We congratulate the winners, and all the fans that submitted videos for the contest," added Violetta. "We hope to be offering Hockeytown fans even more opportunities to join us in the quest for the cup, so stay tuned."
OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
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Written by Maury Brown
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Thursday, 10 April 2008 12:29 |
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 The National Hockey League's Stanley Cup Playoffs begin this week, and the cities hosting the 2008 Republican and Democratic National Conventions will be watching the games closely when the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche face off. The two leaders planning the political conventions agreed to a friendly wager on the series.
Republican National Convention President and CEO Maria Cino and Democratic National Convention Committee (DCCC) CEO Leah Daughtry agreed to the stakes. The losing city's convention team will send a "taste" of that city's local delicacy for the winning city's convention staff to enjoy. If the Wild win, the DNCC will send the Republican National Convention staff a selection of Colorado-raised beef steaks. If the Avalanche win, the Republican team will send the DNCC staff an assortment of walleye from the lakes of Minnesota.
"Minnesota is the 'State of Hockey,' and I am proud that we have become part of the 'Team of 18,000," Cino said, using the term the Wild coined to describe its consistent sellout crowds. "It is only fitting that we stand with our new community in Minneapolis-Saint Paul and enter into this friendly wager with my friend in Denver, where she and her staff are working equally as hard.
"Our staff in Minneapolis-Saint Paul is pretty excited that the roads to the White House and the Stanley Cup Championship will both lead through the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul," Cino added.
"To my friend Maria and her fine team in Minnesota: get ready to be buried by our Avalanche," said Daughtry. "Denver has welcomed us with open arms, and I'm now proud to ante up on behalf of the hometown team. Fortunately for me, the Avs know what it takes to win a championship. Soon enough, the Pepsi Center will be home to the Stanley Cup once again. And just five months from now, it'll play host to another winner - our nominee for President of the United States."
The Northwest Division Champion Wild play at the Xcel Energy Center, which is also home of the 2008 Republican National Convention. The Avalanche makes its home at the Pepsi Center in Denver - site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to be held August 25-28.
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Written by Maury Brown
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Wednesday, 09 April 2008 18:07 |
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 The Detroit Red Wings are entering their 17th consecutive Stanley Cup playoff appearance, and to help cheer the team to victory, the Fabulous Fox Theatre tower sign will shine red during the entire playoff run, which begins Thursday, April 10 when the Red Wings take on the Nashville Predators. The tower has switched from its standard multi-color display to all red.
"No other team in major professional sports has a longer playoff streak," said Christopher Ilitch, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, Inc. "With such an amazing track record, we really have something to be proud about and we want to show that 'we are in!' The Red Wings need all fans to show their colors to give the team an edge in this year's playoffs."
The Fox tower sign, originally restored and unveiled in January 2006 in anticipation of Super Bowl XL, can be computer programmed to perform over a million different color and light variations. The 18-foot sign will run completely in the color red in support of its hometown Red Wings team. The LED light tubes used to light the tower use less than half the power of an incandescent bulb and can last 10 years.
The Detroit Red Wings will take on the Nashville Predators on Thursday, April 10 at a special start time of 7 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena in the Opening Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Game 2 will be held at the Joe at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 12.
OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK
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Written by Maury Brown
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 20:08 |
 In a sign that the credit crunch has hit the sports industry, the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning has been stalled. Now nearly four months since the pending sale, Hollywood producer Oren Koules has yet to close the deal. As reported by the St, Petersburg Times: There have been all kinds of rumors on why Koules hasn't closed the $200-million purchase from Palace Sports & Entertainment that includes the team, the St. Pete Times Forum lease and 5½ nearby acres. He needs more investors. The group can't come up with 50 percent of the purchase price before financing as the NHL prefers. But interviews with several investment bankers familiar with sports lending indicate the holdup likely is the worldwide credit crunch tied to the subprime mortgage crisis. "There are a lot of places in the last three to six months that have shut down all lending," Pagliuca said. "Even for a hockey team, as good as the collateral might be, in this environment, they're not loaning." "Even if you have the 50 percent, you still have to go out and find financing," said Brian Marler, senior vice president of the media, sports and entertainment group at Houlihan Lokey, a Los Angeles investment bank. "Due to the credit market, it may be tougher to get."
As to how the finances of the NHL in general are at this time, the report continues to say that NHL gross revenues should approach $3 billion this year, $900-million more than 2005-06. With the increase in revenues, the salary cap could be raised from $50 million to $56 million “with a minimum payroll of at least $40-million.â€
OTHER NEWS ACROSS THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 14:32 |
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 For those that are Chicago Blackhawks fans, you’re going to get to see all of next season’s schedule wire-to-wire on television. And, not only that, over-the-air broadcasts will be plentiful, as well. As reported by the Chicago Tribune:
The deal will be particularly satisfying to hockey fans who don't have cable TV. Industry sources say that as many as 20 games will go to WGN-Ch. 9, which carried the Hawks in the 1960s and early '70s. The bulk will go to the Hawks' main partner, Comcast SportsNet, which televised 50 games this season, leaving about 30 unavailable to Chicago viewers. John McDonough is the former president of the Chicago Cubs.
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Written by Maury Brown
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 23:29 |
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 THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS NETWORK WANTS YOU!
If you are interested in blogging about the NHL, WHL, and NCAA Hockey from the prospective of off the ice, then we may have an opening for you. The Biz of Hockey taps into everything from trades and free agent signings, to new stadium development, television and radio deals, analysis, interviews and much more. As part of the Business of Sports Network, we feed links across all of our sites, including The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, and The Biz of Basketball... and beyond. All our sites are part of the BlogBurst Network, which distributes all of our front page content to mainstream media sites such as USA Today, Reuters, Cox Ohio family of sites, as well as the Internet Broadcast System, which supports a vast array of local television news websites. If you're interested in getting your name to a broad audience, then we may offer you that opportunity as one of our volunteer bloggers. Interested in more than just hockey? The ability to cross report on other sites within the Business of Sports Network is an option. If interested, please contact us. Maury Brown
Founder and President
Business of Sports Network
Bizball LLC
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