Just kidding. Today continues to be Press Release Thursday. I have more releases for you to read. Stop me now!
NFL Network begins its annual “Path To The Draft” as it gears up for the NFL Draft in April.
PATH TO THE DRAFT BEGINS MONDAY, MARCH 8 ON NFL NETWORKFourth Season of NFL Network Show Offering Comprehensive Coverage ofPro Days and Workouts of Top Prospects Leading up to the 75th NFL Draft in Primetime“E.F. Hutton of Draft Experts” Mike Mayock Headlines Team of Analysts Including Charles Davis, Michael Lombardi, Charley Casserly and Bucky BrooksThursday Nights Feature “Draft Journey” Segments with Colt McCoy, Ndamukong Suh and Myron RolleNFL Network continues on the Path to the Draft with the 30-minute shows premiering Monday, March 8 and running right up until the 2010 NFL Draft, which will be on in primetime for the first time starting on Thursday, April 22. Path to the Draft airs Monday through Friday at 6:30 PM ET providing in-depth analysis on prospective draft choices and a look at each NFL team’s needs during the off-season.After headlining NFL Network’s exclusive 2010 Scouting Combine coverage, draft expert Mike Mayock quarterbacks NFL Network’s Path to the Draft analyst team. Mayock “towers above the rest,” wrote SI.com following last April’s NFL Draft. “He’s confident and offers complex information…he’s prepared endlessly for this event…and he clearly loves his job.” Mayock was also billed by the Buffalo News as “the E.F. Hutton of draft experts.”Charles Davis and Bucky Brooks join former NFL front office executive Michael Lombardi and former general manager Charley Casserly to comprise the rest of Path to the Draft’s expert analysts. Paul Burmeister heads up the rotation of hosts.Following the daily draft news and free agent signings, Path to the Draft features interviews with NFL head coaches, general managers, scouts, and potential draft picks, plus guest analysts to deliver the most updated and relevant information on the 75th NFL Draft. The show will include Pro Day workout highlights of Tim Tebow, Colt McCoy, Jimmy Clausen, Sam Bradford and others to give fans more inside information and analysis of who will be picked by each team.In addition, every Thursday edition of Path to the Draft will feature the “Draft Journey” of three prospects: McCoy, DT Ndamukong Suh and S Myron Rolle. Each installment offers a behind-the-scenes look at each player’s preparation towards draft day in their own words, including inside access into their daily lives and training.To view the first installment of “Draft Journey” for McCoy, Suh and Rolle, please visit the following links:Using coaching tape, along with exclusive Senior Bowl, NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Day workout footage, the Path to the Draft crew will focus on potential NFL prospects and provide insight into which players best suit each NFL team’s needs.Path to the Draft will encore weekdays at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT and 1:30 AM ET/10:30 PM PT. In addition, the entire week’s shows will be replayed back-to-back from 10:00 AM ET to 3:00 PM ET on Saturdays.
ESPN has extended agreements with the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl, and has lured the Gator Bowl away from CBS. All three bowls will air on New Year’s Day, the Capital One Bowl on ESPN which will lead into 2 BCS Bowls on January 1. ABC will have the Outback Bowl and ESPN2 will take the Gator Bowl. Two will air at 1 p.m. ET with the other at 1:30 p.m ET.
ESPN Signs Deal with Gator Bowl, Extends Agreements with Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl; All T
hree Games to be Televised on New Year’s Day
2010 Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl Show Significant Audience Growth
ESPN has reached a new multiyear pact with the Gator Bowl and has agreed to extensions with the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl. All three post-season college football games will air annually in the early window of Jan. 1 as part of a “roadblock” of bowls matching a team from the SEC against one from the Big Ten across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2.As a result of the agreements, ESPN will receive exclusive rights to televise the Gator Bowl and Outback Bowl through 2014 and the Capital One Bowl through 2018 annually on Jan. 1. ESPN360.com and ESPN Mobile TV can simulcast ESPN and ESPN2 telecasts each year.This year, the Capital One Bowl will kick off an ESPN tripleheader on Saturday, Jan. 1, at 1 p.m. ET and will be followed by the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi and Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, both BCS Bowls. It will mark the first year ESPN will televise all five of the BCS bowls – also including the Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and Tostitos BCS National Championship – exclusively. Also on Jan. 1, the Outback Bowl will be televised at 1 p.m. on ABC (the game was previously played at 11 a.m. on ESPN) and the Gator Bowl at 1:30 p.m. on ESPN2.“We are thrilled to add the Gator Bowl to our extensive postseason coverage and to extend our longstanding relationships with the Capital One Bowl and Outback Bowl,” said Dave Brown, vice president, ESPN programming & acquisitions. “These premier matchups between teams from two elite conferences in a three-wide ‘roadblock’ across the ESPN platforms will drive viewers to our inaugural Rose Bowl Game telecast.”Capital One BowlThe Capital One Bowl has been televised on ABC since 1987. The Capital One Bowl will have the first pick of teams from the SEC and Big Ten after the BCS selection.The 2010 telecast on ABC was the fifth most-viewed bowl game of the season and the most-viewed of the non-BCS games. The telecast – featuring a last-minute touchdown by Penn State for a thrilling 19-17 victory over LSU — averaged 7,843,000 households and 11,631,000 viewers based on a 6.8 rating, marking a 7 percent increase in households and viewers (vs. 7,361,000 and 10,839,000. respectively) and 6 percent in ratings (vs. 6.4) over last year.Outback BowlESPN has televised the Outback Bowl every year since 1993. The game will have the third selection overall and second after the BCS of teams from the SEC and Big Ten.ESPN’s 2010 telecast, featuring Auburn defeating Northwestern 38-35 in overtime averaged 4,020,000 households, 5,685,000 viewers and a 4.1 rating making it the network’s second most-viewed Outback Bowl telecast ever. The game showed increases of 33 percent (vs. 3,033,000), 39 percent (4,093,000) and 32 percent (3.1), respectively, over last year.Gator BowlThe Gator Bowl was previously televised on ESPN from 1988-91. The game will pit the fifth selection after the BCS from the SEC against a third/fourth selection after the BCS from the Big Ten.
Universal Sports will carry the banner for Olympic skiers this weekend as it airs World Cup Skiing from Europe.
U.S. Olympic Stars Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso Headline Universal Sports’ Alpine World Cup Coverage March 5-7Alpine Teams Head to Europe to Compete for World Cup Titles; Vonn Pursues Crystal GlobeMarch 4, 2010—Los Angeles—Coming off impressive Olympic Winter Games results, stars of the U.S. Ski Team return to Europe to compete for World Cup titles and the coveted Crystal Globes, as the 2010 FIS Alpine World Cup season resumes on Universal Sports. Universal Sports’ three-day coverage of these key races will feature Olympians Lindsey Vonn, Bode Miller and Julia Mancuso—who collectively racked up seven medals in Vancouver—from March 5-7 when the World Cup circuit arrives in Crans Montana, Switzerland (women’s), and Kvitfjell, Norway (men’s).Having just concluded 17 days of Olympic news and updates with its Universal Sports at the Vancouver Games studio programming, the network’s presentation of the upcoming alpine events will be co-anchored by Olympian and current commentator Doug Lewis, along with former U.S. Ski Team member and current skiing analyst/commentator Steve Porino.The Crans Montana races are of particular importance to Olympic Downhill Gold Medalist Vonn, who holds a 137-point lead in the season’s overall World Cup standings. She also leads points in the downhill, super-G and combined races. Among the men, super combined Olympic champion Miller stands 15th on the overall World Cup list, fifth in combined. American Ted Ligety, who did not secure a medal in Vancouver, is seventh in overall World Cup points.Universal Sports will present same-day coverage, as well as re-airs, of all of the weekend’s events. Additionally, LIVE online coverage is available at UniversalSports.com, complete with full-length video, highlights, photos and recaps. For complete television schedules, visit www.universalsports.com/whats-on-tv For complete online LIVE schedules, visit www.universalsports.com/skiingUniversal Sports FIS Alpine World Cup CoverageFriday, March 510:00am – 11:30am ET: Women’s Super Combined Downhill (with various re-airs)12:30pm – 1:30pm ET: Women’s Super Combined Slalom (with various re-airs)Saturday, March 610:00am – 11:30am ET: Women’s Downhill (with various re-airs)2:00pm – 3:30pm ET: Men’s Downhill (with various re-airs)Sunday, March 710:00am – 11:30am ET: Women’s Super-G (with various re-airs)12:30pm – 2:00pm ET: Men’s Super-G (with various re-airs)
NBC Sports gets back into the PGA Tour this weekend by airing the first event in the Florida Swing, The Honda Classic.
HONDA CLASSIC KICKS OFF FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKS OF GOLF COVERAGE ON NBC SPORTS“The Bear Trap is dramatic.” – NBC Sports’ Roger Maltbie
“It makes for great drama on Sunday when the final holes can make or break a winner.” – NBC Sports’ Dan Hicks
NEW YORK - Mar. 3, 2010 - NBC Sports begins five consecutive weeks of PGA TOUR coverage with the Honda Classic this Saturday and Sunday from 3-6 pm E.T. from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. The tournament’s 2009 champion Y.E. Yang - who also won the 2009 PGA Championship - returns to defend his title against a field that includes Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington (2005 winner), Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els (2008 winner), and Vijay Singh (1999 winner).
The Honda Classic enters its fourth year at the Jack Nicklaus re-designed PGA National Championship Course with its signature 15th, 16th and 17th holes, a daunting test known as “The Bear Trap.” The 17th hole is a 190-yard par three over water. The course played host to the 1983 Ryder Cup and 1987 PGA Championship.
Host Dan Hicks and analyst Johnny Miller, in their 11th season together as NBC’s lead golf team, will anchor the coverage from the 18th hole tower. They are joined by tower reporters Gary Koch and Mark Rolfing; course reporters Roger Maltbie and Dottie Pepper; and interviewer/essayist Jimmy Roberts.
HICKS: “The quality of the field in recent years illustrates that the Honda Classic is one of the tournaments that players really want to compete in and win. PGA National is such a great course with some of the most exciting finishing holes in golf. It makes for great drama on Sunday when the final holes can make or break a winner.”
MALTBIE: “The Bear Trap is dramatic. We’ve seen tournaments thrown away on those holes. The two par threes can be brutal. Whoever can maneuver through ‘the trap’ under pressure is going to win.”
FIVE CONSECUTIVE WEEKS OF GOLF: NBC Sports has coverage of the PGA TOUR for each of the next five weeks. In addition to this weekend’s Honda Classic, NBC Sports will also broadcast the WGC-CA Championship, the Transitions Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard and the Shell Houston Open. Below is the schedule following this weekend’s Honda Classic (all times ET):
WGC-CA Championship at Doral - Miami, Fla.
Saturday, March 13 2-6 p.m.
Sunday, March 14 3-7 p.m.
Transitions Championship - Tampa Bay, Fla.
Saturday, March 20 3-6 p.m.
Sunday, March 21 3-6 p.m.
Arnold Palmer Invitational - Orlando, Fla.
Saturday, March 27 2:30-6 p.m.
Sunday, March 28 2:30-6 p.m.
Shell Houston Open - Houston, Texas
Saturday, April 3 1-5 p.m.
Sunday, April 4 3-6 p.m.
I’ll do more releases later. That will tie you over until I get home.
