FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-PER-20 1/17/07
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME INJURY REPORT – WEDNESDAY
New England Patriots Probable Tom Brady (Right Shoulder)
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS AT CHICAGO BEARS
New Orleans Saints
QUESTIONABLE WR Joe Horn (Groin); S Omar Stoutmire (Hip); TE Mark
Campbell (Knee)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
WED Joe Horn; Mark Campbell
Chicago Bears
QUESTIONABLE WR Mark Bradley (Ankle)
PROBABLE DE Adewale Ogunleye (Quadricep)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
WED Mark Bradley; Adewale Ogunleye
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS AT INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
New England Patriots
DOUBTFUL S Rodney Harrison (Knee)
QUESTIONABLE DE Mike Wright (Illness-Flu); T Ryan O'Callaghan (Illness-
Flu); WR Troy Brown (Illness-Flu)
PROBABLE QB Tom Brady (Right Shoulder)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
WED Rodney Harrison; Mike Wright; Ryan O'Callaghan; Troy
Brown
Indianapolis Colts
QUESTIONABLE WR Ricky Proehl (Hamstring); CB Nicholas Harper (Ankle);
T Ryan Diem (Shoulder); LB Cato June (Concussion); S
Bob Sanders (Knee); G Ryan Lilja (Knee)
Listed players who did not participate in ''team'' practice:
(Defined as missing any portion of 11-on-11 team work)
WED All Players Participated
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Vikings Defensive Coordinator Mike Tomlin Favorite For Pittsburgh Steelers Job
Profootballtalk.com - Mike Florio
TOMLIN TO TAKE GRIMM'S GIG?
At a time when pretty much everyone in the league and the media believe that the Steelers will promote offensive line coach Russ Grimm to the position vacated by Coach Chin, don't rule out Vikings defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin.
Though some in the organization also believe that Grimm will be the guy, the reality is that the decision will be made, in the end, by Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and team president Art Rooney II, who are being very tight-lipped (we're told) about their plans.
Tomlin is regarded by the organization as a great candidate, but his lack of experience is a concern. Due to the Buccaneers' standard refusal to allow assistant coaches under contract to leave for bigger jobs other than head coach, Tomlin was stuck in Tampa until his deal expired, and he has worked as a defensive coordinator for only one year.
The Steelers conducted a second interview of Tomlin on Tuesday, meeting with him for several hours before taking him to a Penguins game at Mellon Arena.
And unless Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was merely looking for filler for his Wednesday item, the fact that he spent a full article getting the locals ready for the changes that would come if Tomlin gets the job could be a strong hint that Grimm might not be the guy who gets the gig.
We've said it before and we'll say it again -- we'd hire Tomlin. In a heartbeat. He instantly energized a Vikings defense that had played soft and loose and weak for most of the past decade. Sure, he's young; so were Bill Cowher and Chuck Noll.
And there's something to be said for learning on the job. Tomlin will improve, and the team that is employing him when he peaks will be a team that is annually in the conversation for the playoffs and the Super Bowl.
AFC and NFC Championship Weekend Game Capsules - NFLMedia.com
FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-POST-3 1/16/07
FINAL STEP TO SOUTH FLORIDA! SAINTS CONFRONT BEARS,
PATRIOTS TAKE ON COLTS IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
“Two wins away from having a ring on my finger for the rest of my life.”
That’s what quarterback REX GROSSMAN exulted after leading the Chicago Bears to victory last Sunday. And that’s
where every player on the four teams competing this weekend in the AFC and NFC Championship Games find themselves –
one win away from Super Bowl XLI in South Florida on February 4 and another victory away from wearing a Super Bowl
championship ring “for the rest of their lives.”
The four teams going for those “two wins”:
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
3:00 PM ET New Orleans Saints (11-6) at Chicago Bears (14-3) (FOX-TV)
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
6:30 PM ET New England Patriots (14-4) at Indianapolis Colts (14-4) (CBS-TV)
The 2006 playoffs through the first two rounds have been the most competitive since the NFL went to the 12-team
format in 1990. The average margin of victory in the eight Wild Card and Divisional games was 7.3 points per game. That is
the lowest point margin since 1990. The previous low was a 9.8-point average in 2003.
The AFC-NFC Championship lineup is an impressive one:
· New England plays in its third championship game in the past four years. Indianapolis plays in its second in that
span.
· The combined winning percentage of the championship teams is .757 (53-17).
· They are a resilient bunch. They come off a Divisional Playoff weekend in which all four games were decided by a
total of 18 points – the fewest since the divisional round began in 1970. Three of the four games were decided by
three points or less – the first time ever in the Divisionals.
· The top two passing offenses of 2006 are featured, led by the two starting Pro Bowl quarterbacks – New Orleans,
No. 1 (DREW BREES) and Indianapolis, No. 2 (PEYTON MANNING).
· The Saints are a resurrected team. In addition to going from “worst to first” in their division, winning it one year after
finishing in last place the year before, they are the first team in history to go to a championship game after losing 13
or more games the year before.
A rundown of the AFC and NFC Championship Games:
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FACTOID
DUNGY & SMITH A FIRST: An NFL milestone will be reached in this Sunday’s championship games.
Two of the four head coaches – TONY DUNGY of Indianapolis and LOVIE SMITH -- are African-Americans. It will mark the
first time in championship game history that African-American head coaches led two of the four teams involved. African-
American head coaches in AFC-NFC Championship Games: Dungy (1999, 2003), DENNIS GREEN (1998, 2000) and ART
SHELL (1990). No African-American head coach has coached in a Super Bowl.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (11-6) at CHICAGO BEARS (14-3) (Sunday, 3:00 PM ET, FOX)
STORYLINE: Top two seeds go at it.
And that’s just the way the No. 1 Bears want it. “This is the matchup we wanted,” says Chicago CB NATHAN VASHER.
“It’s great for us, great for TV, everything. We wanted to see the highest-seeded team and beat the best.”
It’s January at Soldier Field, so the running game should play a big part in this one. Both teams come equipped with RB
tandems. The Saints bring in “the big guy,” as Bears LB BRIAN URLACHER calls him – 6-1, 232-pound DEUCE
MC ALLISTER – and fleet rookie REGGIE BUSH. The pile-moving McAllister rumbled for a Saints playoff-record 143 yards
and two TDs in the Divisional. Bush produced some spectacular moves, including a four-yard TD scamper and a 25-yard run
that set up a field goal.
The Bears have their own ground-eating tandem in THOMAS JONES and CEDRIC BENSON, the second-year runner who
has been worked into the rotation more and more recently. The two combined for 1,857 yards this year and 111 yards (with
two Jones TDs) in the Divisionals.
New Orleans – 6-2 on the road this season – arrives with the league’s No. 1 offense, controlled by the ’06 passing yardage
leader DREW BREES (4,418). His key targets have been WRs MARQUES COLSTON and DEVERY HENDERSON, but the
Bears also will have to keep an eye on TE BILLY MILLER, who, after 129 yards this season, led Saints receivers last
Saturday with 64 yards.
And for all the attention Chicago QB REX GROSSMAN has received – “he’s taken us to 14 wins,” says head coach LOVIE
SMITH -- one stat is overlooked. Grossman’s seven games of 100.0 passer ratings tied PEYTON MANNING for second
most this year in the NFL behind St. Louis’ MARC BULGER with eight.
Grossman’s WR targets are as potent as New Orleans’ – BERNARD BERRIAN (105 yards in the Divisional with a 68-yard
TD catch) and MUHSIN MUHAMMAD.
Championship tidbit: Saints RB REGGIE BUSH can become the fourth Heisman Trophy winner to play in a Super Bowl in
his rookie year, following RB MIKE GARRETT, Kansas City, 1966 season; RB TONY DORSETT, Dallas, 1977; and RB RON
DAYNE, NY Giants, 2000. Only Dorsett won a Super Bowl ring.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (14-4) at INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (14-4) (Sunday, 6:30 PM ET, CBS)
STORYLINE: Here we go again!
For the third time in the past four years, the former AFC East rivals – with identical records -- will meet in the playoffs. The
game also marks the seventh time since realignment in 2002 that the clubs have met, including for the second time this
season (27-20 Colts win on November 5). Overall leader during that span? The Patriots, 4-2, including both playoff meetings
(2003 AFC Championship and 2004 AFC Divisional).
What does the Colts quarterback who has started all those games (vs. New England’s TOM BRADY) have to say about
Sunday’s opponent? “The Patriots,” says PEYTON MANNING simply, “are as great a team as there is…ever.”
But the Colts have two things going for them right off: they have won the past two meetings, so they know the winners of
three of the past five Super Bowls are not invincible…and they finally have a home playoff game against New England. It will
be the first AFC Championship contested in a dome.
The meeting will be one full of great positional matchups.
There’s Brady vs. Manning – pitting two of the most-recognized NFL quarterbacks, and the most successful since
realignment in 2002. Manning has won 60 regular-season games since 2002, the most in that span, with Brady at No. 2 with
59. But Brady also comes equipped with a 12-1 playoff record and three Super Bowl titles.
Then there’s the combo running backs. New England has basically split time between COREY DILLON and rookie
LAURENCE MARONEY the whole year. Colts RB DOMINIC RHODES started every game, but JOSEPH ADDAI became the
first rookie in history to rush for 1,000 yards without starting a regular-season game.
Next comes the well-known/getting-to-be-well-known wide receivers. Indy’s MARVIN HARRISON and REGGIE WAYNE
turned in their usual 1,000-yard seasons. New Patriots JABAR GAFFNEY and RECHE CALDWELL have really come on in
the playoffs, with 18 (1 TD) and 12 catches (1 TD), respectively.
Finally, there’s the big question: can the reenergized Colts defense, which finished 32nd against the rush this season, yet
has allowed only 44 and 83 rush yards in two playoff games, replicate this performance against Dillon/Maroney?
Championship tidbit: Patriots QB TOM BRADY has six game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in the playoffs
since he became a starter in 2001 – the most of any quarterback in that time.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2006 PLAYOFFS
(Home team in CAPS)
WILD CARD WEEKEND
AFC: INDIANAPOLIS 23, Kansas City 8, January 6
NFC: SEATTLE 21, Dallas 20, January 6
AFC: NEW ENGLAND 37, N.Y. Jets 16, January 7
NFC: PHILADELPHIA 23, N.Y. Giants 20, January 7
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
AFC: Indianapolis 15, BALTIMORE 6, January 13
NFC: NEW ORLEANS 27, Philadelphia 24, January 13
NFC: CHICAGO 27, Seattle 24 (OT), January 14
AFC: New England 24, SAN DIEGO 21, January 14
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sunday, January 21:
NFC: New Orleans Saints (11-6) at Chicago Bears (14-3), 3:00 PM ET (FOX)
AFC: New England Patriots (14-4) at Indianapolis Colts (14-4), 6:30 PM ET (CBS)
SUPER BOWL XLI: Sunday, February 4 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida, 6:30 PM ET (CBS)
PRO BOWL: Saturday, February 10 at Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii, 6:00 PM ET (CBS)
TEAMS MEET in AFC Championship Game for 2nd time in past 4 years & for 3rd time in postseason play. New England is
2-0 against Colts in postseason. This marks 1st time in AFC history that neither top seed has advanced to conference title
game as Indianapolis is 3rd seed & New England is 4th. Since 1970, home teams are 47-25 (.653) in conference
championship games.
PATRIOTS: Team is 5-0 all-time in Conference Championship games since 1970…Among NFL teams w/ at least 10 playoff
games played, NE has 2nd-highest win pct. of .633 (19-11)…Head coach BILL BELICHICK is 13-2 (.867) in career playoff
games, 2nd-best win pct. all-time behind HOFer VINCE LOMBARDI (9-1, .900)…QB TOM BRADY is 12-1 (.923) in career
playoff starts, including 3-0 in Super Bowl. Brady is 1st QB in NFL history to win 12 of his 1st 13 playoff games. Brady has
100+ passer rating in 4 of last 6 playoff games – all 4 were wins. Brady has TD pass in 11 consec. playoff games, 3rdlongest
such streak in NFL history (BRETT FAVRE, 16; HOFer DAN MARINO 13). Brady has started 13 postseason
games & has thrown 0 INTs in 8 of those contests. Only HOFer JOE MONTANA has more postseason starts w/ 0 INTs (9
of 23 career playoff starts). Brady threw 51 times last week vs . SD, becoming 1st player to pass 50+ times in non-OT
postseason game & win (26 previous times resulted in a loss). In two career postseason games indoors, Brady is 2-0 w/ 48
of 75 passing for 499 yards & 4 TDs vs. 1 INT (95.4 passer rating)…RB COREY DILLON has 3 career postseason rushing
TDs for NE, 2 shy of franchise record held by CURTIS MARTIN (5). NE is 36-8 (.818) in games he’s played & 1-4 (.200) in
games he has missed since he joined team in 2004. RB KEVIN FAULK has played in 13 career playoff games, most by RB
in team history…WR JABAR GAFFNEY has 18 catches for 207 yards in two playoff games this season, including 1st two
career 100-yard playoff receiving games, after finishing ’06 regular season w/ 11 receptions for 142 yards. WR RECHE
CALDWELL led team with career-high 65 receptions in regular season…CB ASANTE SMAUEL (10) tied for NFL lead in INTs
in regular season & has INT in 3 of last 4 playoff games, 2 resulting in TDs. Samuel is 1st player in NFL history to score
postseason TDs on interceptions in consecutive seasons. S RODNEY HARRISON is only player in history w/ 25+ sacks
(28.5) & 30+ INTs…Rookie K STEPHEN GOSTKOWSKI is 6 of 6 in FG tries in 2 career playoff games. Gostkowski
became 1st rookie to kick a 4th-quarter game-winning FG in postseason since former Baltimore Colts K JIM O’BRIEN
defeated the Dallas Cowboys on last-second FG in Super Bowl V.
COLTS: Team advances to AFC Championship Game for 3rd time in past 12 years. Colts are 2nd AFC team & 6th team
overall since 1970 to advance to conference title game with 4,000-yard passer (QB PEYTON MANNING, 4,397), 1,000-yard
rusher (rookie RB JOSEPH ADDAI, 1,081) & 2 1,000-yard receivers (WR MARVIN HARRISON, 1,366; WR REGGIE
WAYNE, 1,310). Team is 1st No. 3 seed to host conference title game since 3rd-seeded Washington Redskins hosted 5thseeded Minnesota Vikings in 1987. Over past 35 years, Redskins were only other team to hosted postseason game after
road playoff game in previous week. Colts (12-4, 2006; 14-2, 2005; 12-4, 2004; 12-4, 2003) join Dallas (1992-95) as only NFL teams to win 12+ games in 4 consecutive seasons. Defense has allowed just 14 points total in 1st 2 playoff games…
Head coach TONY DUNGY aims to join HOFer MIKE DITKA & TOM FLORES as 3rd person to win Super Bowl as player & head
coach. Dungy has led his teams to playoffs in 8 consecutive seasons…In 2 career playoff games vs. NE, Manning has
thrown 42+ passes in each contest, including a career-postseason high 47 times in 2003 AFC Championship. Manning
owns 5-6 (.455) career record in postseason & looks to advance to his 1st Super Bowl. Manning has posted passer rating of
90.0+ in 3 of last 4 vs. NE. In 5 career games at home vs. NE, has passed for 1,345 yards with 12 TDs & 3 INTs for 99.8
passer rating…Addai is 7th rookie running back in AFC history to rush for over 1,000 yards & lead his team to conference
title game & 1st since JAMAL LEWIS in 2000. He led all rookies w/ 1,081 rush yds, averaging 4.8 yds per carry w/ 7 rush
TDs. Addai finished with 48 rushing yds & 1 TD in regular-season game vs . NE in 2006 mtg…Harrison has 10+ TD catches
in NFL-record 8 consecutive seasons. Manning & Harrison have connected for 106 TD receptions – most in NFL history by
any tandem. Harrison has nine 10+ reception games in 18 career matchups vs . NE & has 7 100-yard receiving games,
including past 2. He finished with 145 yds receiving & 2 TDs in Week 9 victory at NE. Wayne has 15 receptions for 214 rec.
yds in last 2 regular-season games vs . NE…DE DWIGHT FREENEY has 4.0 sacks in his last 4 postseason games. S
ANTOINE BETHEA has 2 INTs in his 1st 2 playoff games…K ADAM VINATIERI has made 34 playoff FGs, most in NFL
postseason history. He has scored in 19 consecutive postseason games, tied for 1st on NFL’s all-time list with HOFer
GEORGE BLANDA. Vinatieri booted 5 FGs last week at Bal., becoming 1st player to kick 5 FGs in 2 postseason games in
a career (2003 AFC Championship Game vs. Ind.).
# # #
GAME FEATURES NFC’s top 2 seeds. Bears (No. 1) won NFC North & Saints (No. 2) won NFC South…Teams meet in
playoffs for 2nd time – Bears defeated Saints 16-6 at Soldier Field on 1/6/91.
SAINTS: Play in 1st Championship Game in team history. Head coach SEAN PAYTON was named AP Coach of Year.
Club has 10-3 (.769) mark in conference, including last week’s win over Eagles. Saints are 1st team in NFL history to reach
Championship Game year after finishing with 13 or more losses…All-Star QB DREW BREES set team records with 4,418
yards & 96.2 passer rating. Had 8 300-yard games, including 510-yard performance. In 2 career playoff games, Brees has
99.0 passer rating with 3 TDs vs. 1 INT, 562 yards & 68.9 comp. pct. (51 of 74). Offense led NFL with 65 plays of 20+ yards.
Team tied for 1st with 16 pass TDs of 20+ yards & 18 total offensive TDs of 20+ yards…RB DEUCE MC ALLISTER led club
with 1,057 rushing yards, his 4th 1,000-yard season in past 5 years. Last week, McAllister rushed for team-postseason
record 143 yards & scored 2 TDs (1 rush, 1 rec.). McAllister is 3rd player in NFL history to rush for 140+ yards & score rush
& rec. TD in playoff game. Last player to accomplish feat was TONY DORSETT (12/28/80). McAllister rushed for 116 yards
in last meeting (10/12/03). Rookie RB REGGIE BUSH had team-best 88 receptions, most in NFL history for rookie RB.
Former Saint CHAD MORTON holds NFL record for most catches in postseason by rookie RB with 15. Bush recorded 2
100-yard receiving games & 100-yard rushing game in season’s final month. Scored on 4-yard rush TD in 1st playoff game.
T JAMMAL BROWN was selected to start in his 1st Pro Bowl… WR MARQUES COLSTON led team with 1,038 yards & is
1st player drafted in 7th round or later to record 1,000 yards in rookie season & had team-best 8 TDs. WR DEVERY
HENDERSON led NFL with 23.3 yards-per-catch avg. (32-745). WR JOE HORN has 4 TD catches in past 4 games vs.
Bears…Pro Bowl DE WILL SMITH led team with career-best 10.5 sacks. DE CHARLES GRANT has recorded sack in 6
games this year & Saints have posted 6-0 mark. Has 2.0 sacks & 2 FFs in past 2 vs. Chi. LB SCOTT FUJITA had 1 INT in
only game vs. Bears (12/28/03 w/ KC). CB FRED THOMAS had INT in last meeting…
BEARS: Team has won 9 NFL championships, most among 2006 playoff participants. Club makes 24th postseason
appearance, tied for 4th-most in NFL history. Head coach LOVIE SMITH earned 1st career playoff victory last weekend.
Smith has guided team to wins in 24 of past 30 games, including playoffs. Smith is 1st head coach to lead Bears to
consecutive division titles since MIKE DITKA. Club posted 12-1 (.923) conference record this season, including
playoffs...Team placed NFC-best 7 players on Pro Bowl team, most by franchise since club had 7 All-Stars in 1986: ST
BRENDON AYANBADEJO (1st), LB LANCE BRIGGS (2nd), K ROBBIE GOULD (1st), DT TOMMIE HARRIS (2nd), rookie
CB-KR-PR DEVIN HESTER (1st), C OLIN KREUTZ (6th) & LB BRIAN URLACHER (6th)…QB REX GROSSMAN’s 282
yards passing vs. Seahawks was 2nd highest total in franchise playoff history (SID LUCKMAN, 286 vs. Wash., 12/26/43).
Grossman has won 17 of 1st 23 career starts & is 14-3 (.824) in past 17…RB THOMAS JONES became 1st Bears RB to
register 2 rushing TDs (9, 7) in playoff game since HOFer WALTER PAYTON in 1979 Wild Card game vs. Eagles. Led club
with 1,210 yards, his 2nd consecutive 1,200-yard season. Jones is 1st Bear since Payton to post back-to-back 1,200-yard
seasons. In past 15 when Jones has more than 20 attempts, club is 14-1 (.933) …WR BERNARD BERRIAN’s 68 yard TD
reception last weekend was 2nd longest playoff reception in club annals (WILLIE GAULT, 75t, at Wash.,12/30/84). WR
MUHSIN MUHAMMAD has posted career (192, 9/13/98) and 3rd highest (179, 12/5/04) single-game receiving totals vs.
Saints. Has 2 100-yard games in postseason career. LB Urlacher is 1st Bear LB since HOFer MIKE SINGLETARY (10) to
be named to 6 Pro Bowls. DE MARK ANDERSON led rookies with 12.0 sacks & set club rookie record. CB-KR-PR Hester
set NFL record with 6 return TDs in season, including 108-yard return of missed field goal to tie longest play in NFL history.
CB RICKY MANNING JR.’s 5 career postseason interceptions currently stands 3rd among active players (RODNEY
HARRISON & TY LAW, 6)…K Gould’s 49-yard OT game-winner ranks as 2nd longest such FG in NFL Playoff history (GARY
ANDERSON at Hou., 12/31/89). Set team record with 32 FGs, converting 88.9 pct. & leading NFL with 143 points.
# # #
NFL-POST-3 1/16/07
FINAL STEP TO SOUTH FLORIDA! SAINTS CONFRONT BEARS,
PATRIOTS TAKE ON COLTS IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
“Two wins away from having a ring on my finger for the rest of my life.”
That’s what quarterback REX GROSSMAN exulted after leading the Chicago Bears to victory last Sunday. And that’s
where every player on the four teams competing this weekend in the AFC and NFC Championship Games find themselves –
one win away from Super Bowl XLI in South Florida on February 4 and another victory away from wearing a Super Bowl
championship ring “for the rest of their lives.”
The four teams going for those “two wins”:
NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
3:00 PM ET New Orleans Saints (11-6) at Chicago Bears (14-3) (FOX-TV)
AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
6:30 PM ET New England Patriots (14-4) at Indianapolis Colts (14-4) (CBS-TV)
The 2006 playoffs through the first two rounds have been the most competitive since the NFL went to the 12-team
format in 1990. The average margin of victory in the eight Wild Card and Divisional games was 7.3 points per game. That is
the lowest point margin since 1990. The previous low was a 9.8-point average in 2003.
The AFC-NFC Championship lineup is an impressive one:
· New England plays in its third championship game in the past four years. Indianapolis plays in its second in that
span.
· The combined winning percentage of the championship teams is .757 (53-17).
· They are a resilient bunch. They come off a Divisional Playoff weekend in which all four games were decided by a
total of 18 points – the fewest since the divisional round began in 1970. Three of the four games were decided by
three points or less – the first time ever in the Divisionals.
· The top two passing offenses of 2006 are featured, led by the two starting Pro Bowl quarterbacks – New Orleans,
No. 1 (DREW BREES) and Indianapolis, No. 2 (PEYTON MANNING).
· The Saints are a resurrected team. In addition to going from “worst to first” in their division, winning it one year after
finishing in last place the year before, they are the first team in history to go to a championship game after losing 13
or more games the year before.
A rundown of the AFC and NFC Championship Games:
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME FACTOID
DUNGY & SMITH A FIRST: An NFL milestone will be reached in this Sunday’s championship games.
Two of the four head coaches – TONY DUNGY of Indianapolis and LOVIE SMITH -- are African-Americans. It will mark the
first time in championship game history that African-American head coaches led two of the four teams involved. African-
American head coaches in AFC-NFC Championship Games: Dungy (1999, 2003), DENNIS GREEN (1998, 2000) and ART
SHELL (1990). No African-American head coach has coached in a Super Bowl.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (11-6) at CHICAGO BEARS (14-3) (Sunday, 3:00 PM ET, FOX)
STORYLINE: Top two seeds go at it.
And that’s just the way the No. 1 Bears want it. “This is the matchup we wanted,” says Chicago CB NATHAN VASHER.
“It’s great for us, great for TV, everything. We wanted to see the highest-seeded team and beat the best.”
It’s January at Soldier Field, so the running game should play a big part in this one. Both teams come equipped with RB
tandems. The Saints bring in “the big guy,” as Bears LB BRIAN URLACHER calls him – 6-1, 232-pound DEUCE
MC ALLISTER – and fleet rookie REGGIE BUSH. The pile-moving McAllister rumbled for a Saints playoff-record 143 yards
and two TDs in the Divisional. Bush produced some spectacular moves, including a four-yard TD scamper and a 25-yard run
that set up a field goal.
The Bears have their own ground-eating tandem in THOMAS JONES and CEDRIC BENSON, the second-year runner who
has been worked into the rotation more and more recently. The two combined for 1,857 yards this year and 111 yards (with
two Jones TDs) in the Divisionals.
New Orleans – 6-2 on the road this season – arrives with the league’s No. 1 offense, controlled by the ’06 passing yardage
leader DREW BREES (4,418). His key targets have been WRs MARQUES COLSTON and DEVERY HENDERSON, but the
Bears also will have to keep an eye on TE BILLY MILLER, who, after 129 yards this season, led Saints receivers last
Saturday with 64 yards.
And for all the attention Chicago QB REX GROSSMAN has received – “he’s taken us to 14 wins,” says head coach LOVIE
SMITH -- one stat is overlooked. Grossman’s seven games of 100.0 passer ratings tied PEYTON MANNING for second
most this year in the NFL behind St. Louis’ MARC BULGER with eight.
Grossman’s WR targets are as potent as New Orleans’ – BERNARD BERRIAN (105 yards in the Divisional with a 68-yard
TD catch) and MUHSIN MUHAMMAD.
Championship tidbit: Saints RB REGGIE BUSH can become the fourth Heisman Trophy winner to play in a Super Bowl in
his rookie year, following RB MIKE GARRETT, Kansas City, 1966 season; RB TONY DORSETT, Dallas, 1977; and RB RON
DAYNE, NY Giants, 2000. Only Dorsett won a Super Bowl ring.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (14-4) at INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (14-4) (Sunday, 6:30 PM ET, CBS)
STORYLINE: Here we go again!
For the third time in the past four years, the former AFC East rivals – with identical records -- will meet in the playoffs. The
game also marks the seventh time since realignment in 2002 that the clubs have met, including for the second time this
season (27-20 Colts win on November 5). Overall leader during that span? The Patriots, 4-2, including both playoff meetings
(2003 AFC Championship and 2004 AFC Divisional).
What does the Colts quarterback who has started all those games (vs. New England’s TOM BRADY) have to say about
Sunday’s opponent? “The Patriots,” says PEYTON MANNING simply, “are as great a team as there is…ever.”
But the Colts have two things going for them right off: they have won the past two meetings, so they know the winners of
three of the past five Super Bowls are not invincible…and they finally have a home playoff game against New England. It will
be the first AFC Championship contested in a dome.
The meeting will be one full of great positional matchups.
There’s Brady vs. Manning – pitting two of the most-recognized NFL quarterbacks, and the most successful since
realignment in 2002. Manning has won 60 regular-season games since 2002, the most in that span, with Brady at No. 2 with
59. But Brady also comes equipped with a 12-1 playoff record and three Super Bowl titles.
Then there’s the combo running backs. New England has basically split time between COREY DILLON and rookie
LAURENCE MARONEY the whole year. Colts RB DOMINIC RHODES started every game, but JOSEPH ADDAI became the
first rookie in history to rush for 1,000 yards without starting a regular-season game.
Next comes the well-known/getting-to-be-well-known wide receivers. Indy’s MARVIN HARRISON and REGGIE WAYNE
turned in their usual 1,000-yard seasons. New Patriots JABAR GAFFNEY and RECHE CALDWELL have really come on in
the playoffs, with 18 (1 TD) and 12 catches (1 TD), respectively.
Finally, there’s the big question: can the reenergized Colts defense, which finished 32nd against the rush this season, yet
has allowed only 44 and 83 rush yards in two playoff games, replicate this performance against Dillon/Maroney?
Championship tidbit: Patriots QB TOM BRADY has six game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime in the playoffs
since he became a starter in 2001 – the most of any quarterback in that time.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2006 PLAYOFFS
(Home team in CAPS)
WILD CARD WEEKEND
AFC: INDIANAPOLIS 23, Kansas City 8, January 6
NFC: SEATTLE 21, Dallas 20, January 6
AFC: NEW ENGLAND 37, N.Y. Jets 16, January 7
NFC: PHILADELPHIA 23, N.Y. Giants 20, January 7
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
AFC: Indianapolis 15, BALTIMORE 6, January 13
NFC: NEW ORLEANS 27, Philadelphia 24, January 13
NFC: CHICAGO 27, Seattle 24 (OT), January 14
AFC: New England 24, SAN DIEGO 21, January 14
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Sunday, January 21:
NFC: New Orleans Saints (11-6) at Chicago Bears (14-3), 3:00 PM ET (FOX)
AFC: New England Patriots (14-4) at Indianapolis Colts (14-4), 6:30 PM ET (CBS)
SUPER BOWL XLI: Sunday, February 4 at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida, 6:30 PM ET (CBS)
PRO BOWL: Saturday, February 10 at Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii, 6:00 PM ET (CBS)
TEAMS MEET in AFC Championship Game for 2nd time in past 4 years & for 3rd time in postseason play. New England is
2-0 against Colts in postseason. This marks 1st time in AFC history that neither top seed has advanced to conference title
game as Indianapolis is 3rd seed & New England is 4th. Since 1970, home teams are 47-25 (.653) in conference
championship games.
PATRIOTS: Team is 5-0 all-time in Conference Championship games since 1970…Among NFL teams w/ at least 10 playoff
games played, NE has 2nd-highest win pct. of .633 (19-11)…Head coach BILL BELICHICK is 13-2 (.867) in career playoff
games, 2nd-best win pct. all-time behind HOFer VINCE LOMBARDI (9-1, .900)…QB TOM BRADY is 12-1 (.923) in career
playoff starts, including 3-0 in Super Bowl. Brady is 1st QB in NFL history to win 12 of his 1st 13 playoff games. Brady has
100+ passer rating in 4 of last 6 playoff games – all 4 were wins. Brady has TD pass in 11 consec. playoff games, 3rdlongest
such streak in NFL history (BRETT FAVRE, 16; HOFer DAN MARINO 13). Brady has started 13 postseason
games & has thrown 0 INTs in 8 of those contests. Only HOFer JOE MONTANA has more postseason starts w/ 0 INTs (9
of 23 career playoff starts). Brady threw 51 times last week vs . SD, becoming 1st player to pass 50+ times in non-OT
postseason game & win (26 previous times resulted in a loss). In two career postseason games indoors, Brady is 2-0 w/ 48
of 75 passing for 499 yards & 4 TDs vs. 1 INT (95.4 passer rating)…RB COREY DILLON has 3 career postseason rushing
TDs for NE, 2 shy of franchise record held by CURTIS MARTIN (5). NE is 36-8 (.818) in games he’s played & 1-4 (.200) in
games he has missed since he joined team in 2004. RB KEVIN FAULK has played in 13 career playoff games, most by RB
in team history…WR JABAR GAFFNEY has 18 catches for 207 yards in two playoff games this season, including 1st two
career 100-yard playoff receiving games, after finishing ’06 regular season w/ 11 receptions for 142 yards. WR RECHE
CALDWELL led team with career-high 65 receptions in regular season…CB ASANTE SMAUEL (10) tied for NFL lead in INTs
in regular season & has INT in 3 of last 4 playoff games, 2 resulting in TDs. Samuel is 1st player in NFL history to score
postseason TDs on interceptions in consecutive seasons. S RODNEY HARRISON is only player in history w/ 25+ sacks
(28.5) & 30+ INTs…Rookie K STEPHEN GOSTKOWSKI is 6 of 6 in FG tries in 2 career playoff games. Gostkowski
became 1st rookie to kick a 4th-quarter game-winning FG in postseason since former Baltimore Colts K JIM O’BRIEN
defeated the Dallas Cowboys on last-second FG in Super Bowl V.
COLTS: Team advances to AFC Championship Game for 3rd time in past 12 years. Colts are 2nd AFC team & 6th team
overall since 1970 to advance to conference title game with 4,000-yard passer (QB PEYTON MANNING, 4,397), 1,000-yard
rusher (rookie RB JOSEPH ADDAI, 1,081) & 2 1,000-yard receivers (WR MARVIN HARRISON, 1,366; WR REGGIE
WAYNE, 1,310). Team is 1st No. 3 seed to host conference title game since 3rd-seeded Washington Redskins hosted 5thseeded Minnesota Vikings in 1987. Over past 35 years, Redskins were only other team to hosted postseason game after
road playoff game in previous week. Colts (12-4, 2006; 14-2, 2005; 12-4, 2004; 12-4, 2003) join Dallas (1992-95) as only NFL teams to win 12+ games in 4 consecutive seasons. Defense has allowed just 14 points total in 1st 2 playoff games…
Head coach TONY DUNGY aims to join HOFer MIKE DITKA & TOM FLORES as 3rd person to win Super Bowl as player & head
coach. Dungy has led his teams to playoffs in 8 consecutive seasons…In 2 career playoff games vs. NE, Manning has
thrown 42+ passes in each contest, including a career-postseason high 47 times in 2003 AFC Championship. Manning
owns 5-6 (.455) career record in postseason & looks to advance to his 1st Super Bowl. Manning has posted passer rating of
90.0+ in 3 of last 4 vs. NE. In 5 career games at home vs. NE, has passed for 1,345 yards with 12 TDs & 3 INTs for 99.8
passer rating…Addai is 7th rookie running back in AFC history to rush for over 1,000 yards & lead his team to conference
title game & 1st since JAMAL LEWIS in 2000. He led all rookies w/ 1,081 rush yds, averaging 4.8 yds per carry w/ 7 rush
TDs. Addai finished with 48 rushing yds & 1 TD in regular-season game vs . NE in 2006 mtg…Harrison has 10+ TD catches
in NFL-record 8 consecutive seasons. Manning & Harrison have connected for 106 TD receptions – most in NFL history by
any tandem. Harrison has nine 10+ reception games in 18 career matchups vs . NE & has 7 100-yard receiving games,
including past 2. He finished with 145 yds receiving & 2 TDs in Week 9 victory at NE. Wayne has 15 receptions for 214 rec.
yds in last 2 regular-season games vs . NE…DE DWIGHT FREENEY has 4.0 sacks in his last 4 postseason games. S
ANTOINE BETHEA has 2 INTs in his 1st 2 playoff games…K ADAM VINATIERI has made 34 playoff FGs, most in NFL
postseason history. He has scored in 19 consecutive postseason games, tied for 1st on NFL’s all-time list with HOFer
GEORGE BLANDA. Vinatieri booted 5 FGs last week at Bal., becoming 1st player to kick 5 FGs in 2 postseason games in
a career (2003 AFC Championship Game vs. Ind.).
# # #
GAME FEATURES NFC’s top 2 seeds. Bears (No. 1) won NFC North & Saints (No. 2) won NFC South…Teams meet in
playoffs for 2nd time – Bears defeated Saints 16-6 at Soldier Field on 1/6/91.
SAINTS: Play in 1st Championship Game in team history. Head coach SEAN PAYTON was named AP Coach of Year.
Club has 10-3 (.769) mark in conference, including last week’s win over Eagles. Saints are 1st team in NFL history to reach
Championship Game year after finishing with 13 or more losses…All-Star QB DREW BREES set team records with 4,418
yards & 96.2 passer rating. Had 8 300-yard games, including 510-yard performance. In 2 career playoff games, Brees has
99.0 passer rating with 3 TDs vs. 1 INT, 562 yards & 68.9 comp. pct. (51 of 74). Offense led NFL with 65 plays of 20+ yards.
Team tied for 1st with 16 pass TDs of 20+ yards & 18 total offensive TDs of 20+ yards…RB DEUCE MC ALLISTER led club
with 1,057 rushing yards, his 4th 1,000-yard season in past 5 years. Last week, McAllister rushed for team-postseason
record 143 yards & scored 2 TDs (1 rush, 1 rec.). McAllister is 3rd player in NFL history to rush for 140+ yards & score rush
& rec. TD in playoff game. Last player to accomplish feat was TONY DORSETT (12/28/80). McAllister rushed for 116 yards
in last meeting (10/12/03). Rookie RB REGGIE BUSH had team-best 88 receptions, most in NFL history for rookie RB.
Former Saint CHAD MORTON holds NFL record for most catches in postseason by rookie RB with 15. Bush recorded 2
100-yard receiving games & 100-yard rushing game in season’s final month. Scored on 4-yard rush TD in 1st playoff game.
T JAMMAL BROWN was selected to start in his 1st Pro Bowl… WR MARQUES COLSTON led team with 1,038 yards & is
1st player drafted in 7th round or later to record 1,000 yards in rookie season & had team-best 8 TDs. WR DEVERY
HENDERSON led NFL with 23.3 yards-per-catch avg. (32-745). WR JOE HORN has 4 TD catches in past 4 games vs.
Bears…Pro Bowl DE WILL SMITH led team with career-best 10.5 sacks. DE CHARLES GRANT has recorded sack in 6
games this year & Saints have posted 6-0 mark. Has 2.0 sacks & 2 FFs in past 2 vs. Chi. LB SCOTT FUJITA had 1 INT in
only game vs. Bears (12/28/03 w/ KC). CB FRED THOMAS had INT in last meeting…
BEARS: Team has won 9 NFL championships, most among 2006 playoff participants. Club makes 24th postseason
appearance, tied for 4th-most in NFL history. Head coach LOVIE SMITH earned 1st career playoff victory last weekend.
Smith has guided team to wins in 24 of past 30 games, including playoffs. Smith is 1st head coach to lead Bears to
consecutive division titles since MIKE DITKA. Club posted 12-1 (.923) conference record this season, including
playoffs...Team placed NFC-best 7 players on Pro Bowl team, most by franchise since club had 7 All-Stars in 1986: ST
BRENDON AYANBADEJO (1st), LB LANCE BRIGGS (2nd), K ROBBIE GOULD (1st), DT TOMMIE HARRIS (2nd), rookie
CB-KR-PR DEVIN HESTER (1st), C OLIN KREUTZ (6th) & LB BRIAN URLACHER (6th)…QB REX GROSSMAN’s 282
yards passing vs. Seahawks was 2nd highest total in franchise playoff history (SID LUCKMAN, 286 vs. Wash., 12/26/43).
Grossman has won 17 of 1st 23 career starts & is 14-3 (.824) in past 17…RB THOMAS JONES became 1st Bears RB to
register 2 rushing TDs (9, 7) in playoff game since HOFer WALTER PAYTON in 1979 Wild Card game vs. Eagles. Led club
with 1,210 yards, his 2nd consecutive 1,200-yard season. Jones is 1st Bear since Payton to post back-to-back 1,200-yard
seasons. In past 15 when Jones has more than 20 attempts, club is 14-1 (.933) …WR BERNARD BERRIAN’s 68 yard TD
reception last weekend was 2nd longest playoff reception in club annals (WILLIE GAULT, 75t, at Wash.,12/30/84). WR
MUHSIN MUHAMMAD has posted career (192, 9/13/98) and 3rd highest (179, 12/5/04) single-game receiving totals vs.
Saints. Has 2 100-yard games in postseason career. LB Urlacher is 1st Bear LB since HOFer MIKE SINGLETARY (10) to
be named to 6 Pro Bowls. DE MARK ANDERSON led rookies with 12.0 sacks & set club rookie record. CB-KR-PR Hester
set NFL record with 6 return TDs in season, including 108-yard return of missed field goal to tie longest play in NFL history.
CB RICKY MANNING JR.’s 5 career postseason interceptions currently stands 3rd among active players (RODNEY
HARRISON & TY LAW, 6)…K Gould’s 49-yard OT game-winner ranks as 2nd longest such FG in NFL Playoff history (GARY
ANDERSON at Hou., 12/31/89). Set team record with 32 FGs, converting 88.9 pct. & leading NFL with 143 points.
# # #
The Cincinnati Bengals Lease at Paul Brown Stadium Remains Valid - ENQUIRER.COM
Hamilton Co. pays up for PBS turf
And Bengals make their rent payment
BY KIMBALL PERRY | KPERRY@ENQUIRER.COM
The Cincinnati Bengals lease at Paul Brown Stadium remains valid.
During weeks of arguments between the team and its landlord, Hamilton County, there were indications the lease might be defaulted because of disagreements over money.
Concerns about the possible default disappeared, though, when the team paid its 2006 rent Wednesday and Hamilton County starting reimbursing the Bengals for the stadium's new synthetic turf.
In recent weeks, Commissioner Todd Portune signaled that Hamilton County may not make the payments for the turf and its accompanying heating system, which were installed in 2004.
He said that the Bengals insisted on grass fields when the stadium opened in 2000 and the synthetic turf was needed only after the grass kept dying.
The Bengals, insisting the lease required the county to pay for stadium enhancements already in other NFL stadiums, offered Hamilton County to reimburse it for the turf - costing $889,000 - in three yearly payments.
Portune wanted the county administration to investigate whether taxpayers had to foot the bill.
After the Bengals threatened to declare the county in violation of the 30-year lease if the turf payment wasn't made by Wednesday, commissioners reluctantly said they at least would make this year's payment.
Hamilton County paid the team $296,535.32 on Tuesday, County Administrator Patrick Thompson said.
Wednesday was also the deadline for the team to pay its 2006 rent for Paul Brown Stadium.
Thompson said the Bengals sent the rent check Wednesday morning. The lease called for the team to pay $1.1 million for the 2006 season.
Animosity between the sides was heightened after Hamilton County filed a federal lawsuit against the Bengals and the National Football League, alleging they used their monopoly to win a lease unfavorable to the public, paying for the $450 million stadium with a sales tax.
The lawsuit was thrown out but is being appealed.
And Bengals make their rent payment
BY KIMBALL PERRY | KPERRY@ENQUIRER.COM
The Cincinnati Bengals lease at Paul Brown Stadium remains valid.
During weeks of arguments between the team and its landlord, Hamilton County, there were indications the lease might be defaulted because of disagreements over money.
Concerns about the possible default disappeared, though, when the team paid its 2006 rent Wednesday and Hamilton County starting reimbursing the Bengals for the stadium's new synthetic turf.
In recent weeks, Commissioner Todd Portune signaled that Hamilton County may not make the payments for the turf and its accompanying heating system, which were installed in 2004.
He said that the Bengals insisted on grass fields when the stadium opened in 2000 and the synthetic turf was needed only after the grass kept dying.
The Bengals, insisting the lease required the county to pay for stadium enhancements already in other NFL stadiums, offered Hamilton County to reimburse it for the turf - costing $889,000 - in three yearly payments.
Portune wanted the county administration to investigate whether taxpayers had to foot the bill.
After the Bengals threatened to declare the county in violation of the 30-year lease if the turf payment wasn't made by Wednesday, commissioners reluctantly said they at least would make this year's payment.
Hamilton County paid the team $296,535.32 on Tuesday, County Administrator Patrick Thompson said.
Wednesday was also the deadline for the team to pay its 2006 rent for Paul Brown Stadium.
Thompson said the Bengals sent the rent check Wednesday morning. The lease called for the team to pay $1.1 million for the 2006 season.
Animosity between the sides was heightened after Hamilton County filed a federal lawsuit against the Bengals and the National Football League, alleging they used their monopoly to win a lease unfavorable to the public, paying for the $450 million stadium with a sales tax.
The lawsuit was thrown out but is being appealed.
LONDON TO HOST NFL REGULAR-SEASON GAME - NFLMedia.com
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573
WWW.NFLMedia.com
Joe Browne, Executive Vice President-Communications
Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations
LONDON TO HOST NFL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
London will be the venue for the first regular-season NFL game to be played outside North America, the National Football League announced today.
The NFL will stage the first in its new series of international regular-season games in the United Kingdom’s capital city in the fall of 2007. NFL owners voted in October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series kicking off with a single game in 2007.
“There is great interest in the NFL around the world,” said NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL. “Playing a limited number of regular-season games outside the United States is the next step for us in serving that interest. This is what our international fans, media partners, and sponsors want. There is no better place to begin this initiative than London. It is one of the
great cities of the world with an established and growing fan base for our game. We are thrilled to bring the excitement of the NFL regular season to the United Kingdom.”
London’s effort to secure the game was supported by Mayor of London KEN LIVINGSTONE, who visited Commissioner Goodell in New York to state the city’s case for staging an NFL game.
“London is proud to host the first competitive NFL game held outside the North American continent,” Mayor Livingstone said. “There are many NFL fans in London – both American and non-American – and this will be a spectacular sporting occasion. The Super Bowl is followed by almost five-million people in the UK. Hosting an NFL game in London will bring more than
10,000 international visitors to the city. London will be working with the NFL to build on this success to ensure that Londoners, NFL fans, international visitors, and the tens of millions who will watch the game on television have a great day of sport and experience London at its best."
London was selected based upon several factors, including general fan interest, current NFL visibility through existing media agreements, the range and quality of large, world-class stadia, including Wembley and Twickenham, the size and value of the overall sports and entertainment market and the potential to build year-round marketing, sponsorship and fan engagement.
More details about the London game – including the venue and participating teams – are expected to be confirmed during Super Bowl week (January 29-February 4) in South Florida.
The NFL staged its first regular-season game outside of the United States in 2005 when 103,467 people saw the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City on October 2 – the largest crowd for a regular-season game in NFL history.
# # #
280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
(212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573
WWW.NFLMedia.com
Joe Browne, Executive Vice President-Communications
Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations
LONDON TO HOST NFL REGULAR-SEASON GAME
London will be the venue for the first regular-season NFL game to be played outside North America, the National Football League announced today.
The NFL will stage the first in its new series of international regular-season games in the United Kingdom’s capital city in the fall of 2007. NFL owners voted in October to play up to two games outside the United States every year for the next five years, with the series kicking off with a single game in 2007.
“There is great interest in the NFL around the world,” said NFL Commissioner ROGER GOODELL. “Playing a limited number of regular-season games outside the United States is the next step for us in serving that interest. This is what our international fans, media partners, and sponsors want. There is no better place to begin this initiative than London. It is one of the
great cities of the world with an established and growing fan base for our game. We are thrilled to bring the excitement of the NFL regular season to the United Kingdom.”
London’s effort to secure the game was supported by Mayor of London KEN LIVINGSTONE, who visited Commissioner Goodell in New York to state the city’s case for staging an NFL game.
“London is proud to host the first competitive NFL game held outside the North American continent,” Mayor Livingstone said. “There are many NFL fans in London – both American and non-American – and this will be a spectacular sporting occasion. The Super Bowl is followed by almost five-million people in the UK. Hosting an NFL game in London will bring more than
10,000 international visitors to the city. London will be working with the NFL to build on this success to ensure that Londoners, NFL fans, international visitors, and the tens of millions who will watch the game on television have a great day of sport and experience London at its best."
London was selected based upon several factors, including general fan interest, current NFL visibility through existing media agreements, the range and quality of large, world-class stadia, including Wembley and Twickenham, the size and value of the overall sports and entertainment market and the potential to build year-round marketing, sponsorship and fan engagement.
More details about the London game – including the venue and participating teams – are expected to be confirmed during Super Bowl week (January 29-February 4) in South Florida.
The NFL staged its first regular-season game outside of the United States in 2005 when 103,467 people saw the Arizona Cardinals play the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City on October 2 – the largest crowd for a regular-season game in NFL history.
# # #
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
"Tom Cruise Coming?" Anatomy Of A Super Bowl Party - Baeur's Hosts "Pure Rush" The Miami Party 2007
BAUER'S PURE RUSH UPDATE - TICKET DISCOUNT. Celebrities from the NFL and Hollywood like The Black Eyed Peas, Troy Aikman and Serena Williams are officially comfirmed for this dual-site party to be held at The Havana Club in Miami at 200 South Biscayne Boulevard, 55th Floor, Miami City Club, Miami, Florida and from 8 PM to 10 PM. This is a TWO SITE PARTY!
The second site for the party is at BRICKS, located at 66 SW 6th Street, Miami. The Premier VIP ticket is $600, but you can buy it for $550 here by clicking on "BAUER'S PURE RUSH SUPER BOWL PARTY" and using the promotional code "sportsbiz".
Last year, my friend Gary Bauer, who owns Bauer’s Limousine based in San Francisco, was a spectator at Super Bowl XL. I should know; he was sitting with me. This year, he worked to "up his game" and become one of the producers of a Super Bowl Party. He's teaming up with the "Pure Rush" party planners to bring about "Baeur's Hosts 'Pure Rush' The Miami Party 2007."
A party of this size calls for one thing: major sponsors. To land them, you have to hype the event and imply that stars like Tom Cruise will be there in full effect. As such, the organizers of the event have put together a cool PDF file that "sells" the event, and even mentions...Tom Cruise. My good friend Beth, who met Gary through me when we all worked on the bid to bring the Super Bowl to Oakland, got an email about sponsorship for the party and forwarded it to me. The PDF starts with this page:
Touted by sports anchor, Andrew Siciliano, Fox
Sports/Radio, "Pure Rush hosted the BEST party at super
Bowl! The hottest girls and best party scene!"
PURE RUSH, known to Athletes, Celebrities, and Media, as some of the greatest producers
of high-profile events, will again host one of its LEGENDARY evenings, in conjunction with
Bauer’s Limousine, Thursday, February 1st, 2007!
The opening event of Super Bowl
weekend, BAUER’s and PURE RUSH will treat the city, athletes, entertainers, corporate
clients, and the media, to a truly unique party experience! Like every PURE RUSH event, a
great mix of superstar athletes and celebrities will be on hand to get the party and Super
Bowl weekend started in style!
"PURE RUSH was by far the best party at Super Bowl," Tony
Bruno, Sporting News Radio.
It's basically a look at the anatomy of a Super Bowl party. (Ok, excuse the pun, but the pict of the party girls came with the sponsorship document I got. I guess they'll be there.) Here's the email below, but note that I've left out full names to protect the participants.
Beth,
Sorry for catching you off guard like that...thanks so much for your help with this!!!
We are thrilled to have BNC PR as our PR firm handling all of our media strategies. With the strength of both our events, Bauer's and Maxim, we know the media coverage will be incredible.
We also have Global Sports securing the celebrities and athletes and ensuring that the VIP experience is first rate.
Listed below are attending guests recap from the Agency after the party in Jacksonville.
Let me know if there is anything else I can get you to help with this... Happy Holidays and we can visit when you get back.
Warmest
Michelle T
Attending Athletes, Celebrities, Guests and Media
The following list includes a sampling of legendary athletes, celebrities, media and guests who attended the event in Jacksonville, Florida.
ATHLETES
Anderson, Alfred NFL (Steelers)
Anderson Cadillac #1 Draft Pick
Anderson, Ottis NFL (Cardinals, Giants) HOST
Augustyniak, Mike NFL (Jets)
AyodeleAkin, NFL (Jaguars)
Bascak, Cris MLB (Mets)
Bettis, Jerome NFL (Steelers)
Brodeur, Martin NHL (Devils)
Brown, Larry NFL (Cowboys)
Brown, Ray NFL (Redskins)
Brown, Troy NFL (Super Bowl Patriots)
Clayton, Mark NFL Draft WR Oklahoma
Crockett, Ray NFL (Broncos)
Culpepper, Daunte NFL (Vikings)
Dennis, Al NFL AD (Seahawks)
Dorsett, Tony NFL(Cowboy's, Bronco's)
Duper, Mark NFL (Dolphins)
Edwards, Braylon NFL projected #4 pick in Draft
Esiason, Boomer NFL (Bengals)
Eller Car lNFL (Vikings)
Elway, John NFL (Broncos)
Faulkner, Len NFL (Seahawks)
Foreman, Chuck NFL (Vikings) (HOST)
Gatling, Chris NBA (Miami Heat)
George, Eddie NFL (Oilers, Titans)
Givens, Drew NFL (Broncos)
Gonzalez, Tony NFL (Chiefs)
Gordon, Jeff NASCAR
Green, David NFL Draft QB Georgia
Hartwell, Ed NFL (Ravens)
Irons, Grant NFL (Raiders)
Jefferson, Roy NFL (Steelers, Redskins)
John-Baptiste, Peter NFL (Giants)
Johnson, Billy "White Shoes" NFL (Oilers)
Jones, Joe "Turkey" NFL (Steelers)
Jones, Julius NFL (Cowboys)
Kelsey, Chris NFL (Bills)
Kennedy, Lincoln NFL (Seahawks)
Lankford, Paul NFL (Dolphins)
Law, Ty NFL (Super Bowl Patriots)
Lee, Larry NFL (Lion's)
Marshall, Grant NHL (Devils)
Martin, Curtis NFL (Jets)
Martin, Kelvin NFL (Cowboys)
May, Ted MLB (Yankee's)
McGruger, “Scooter” Mike NFL (Patriots)
Mecklenburg, Karl NFL (Broncos)
Merriweather, Mike NFL (Vikings)
Moore, Nat NFL (Dolphins)
Mooreman, Brian NFL (Bills)
Morris, Mercury NFL(Dolphins)
Oates, Bart NFL (Giants)
Orton, Kyle NFL Draft QB Purdue
Payton, Eddie NFL (Lion's)
Pisarick, Joe NFL (Eagles)
Pressley, Josh MLB (Royals)
Rein, John NFL (Lion's)
Rogers, Aaron NFL, #1 Draft Pick
Sanders, Dion NFL (Ravens)
Sharpe, Shannon NFL (Broncos)
Sherrard, Mike NFL (49er's)
Smith, Lance NFL (Giants)
Smith, Rod NFL (Broncos)
Smith, Terrelle NFL (Browns)
Stevens, Scott NHL (Devils)
Stewart, Shannon MLB (Twins)
Stinson, Lemuel NFL (Bear's)
Strahan, Michael NFL (Giants)
Swann, Lynn NFL (Steelers)
Taylor, Charlie NFL (Redskins)
Taylor, Lawrence NFL (Giants)
Thomas, Thurman NFL (Bill's, Dolphins)
Vanderjerk, Mike NFL (Colts)
Watters, Ricky NFL (49's, Eagles, Seahawks)
Webb, Spud NBA (Hawks)
White, Jason NFL (Steelers)
Williams, Byron NFL (Giants)
Williams, Doug NFL (Bucs)
Williams, Roland NFL (Raiders)
Woodson, Darrion NFL (Cowboys)
Woodson, Rob NFL (Steelers)
Wright, Eric NFL (49's)
**HONOREE'S**
MEDIA
Berlin, David Fox Sports Net
Acampora, Anthony Sporting News Radio
Allegre, Raul NFL, ESPN
Berman, Chris ESPN
Betesh, Sam Sportscaster, Fox Sports
Calufetti, Larry Sporting News Radio
Cox, Brian NFL/Fox
Dickerson, Greg Fox Sports
Galanty, Katherine Westwood One Radio
Hagen, David Sirus Radio
Holzman, Tami Spike TV/Universal
Kaze, Benji Fox Sports Net
Kucko John Sportscaster
Mammeli, David Fox Sports Net
Martin, Alvaro ESPN
McDowell, Rachel Fox Sports Net
Meyers, Chris Fox Sports
Pavlotis, Nick Sirus Radio
Pilger, Andrew Fox Sports Net
Pressley, Buddy Sporting News Radio
Pressley, Ed Sporting News Radio
Pressley, Howard Sporting News Radio
Rosario, Andrew NY Beacon
Schein, Adam Sirus Radio
Siciliano, Andrew Sportscaster, Fox Sports
Thomas, Cat WAPE-FM
Walker, Doc Pro Preview
White, Joe Jacksonville Magazine
Zimmerman, John Sporting News Radio
COVERAGE
Entertainment Tonight
ABC Affiliate
CBS Affiliate
Detroit Free Press
ESPN
Florida Times Union
Fox 25 News
Inside Edition
Miami Herald
NBC Affiliate
NECN
NFL Network
People Magazine
WBZ-5 Boston
SPECIAL GUESTS
Banner, Joe President, (Eagles)
Baxter, David President, Reebok
Borojevic, Sarita National Football League
Dupree, Mark National Football League
Gabriel, Roman National Football League
Glanzman, Amy National Football League ALUMNI
Goodson, Michael Sports Agent
Jones, Dan Sports Agent, Intersport
Judge, Clayton National Football League
Kurek, Ken Jacksonville 39
Michaelson, Mike Owner (Eagles)
Miller, David Detroit Mayor's Office
Newsome, Mike Preident, Nike
Payton, Connie Wife, Walter Payton
Robinson, Stacy National Football League -PA
Rosenthal, Adam Sports Agent, CSMG
Stahlberger, Ira Sports Agent, Intersport
CELEBRITIES
Affleck, Ben Actor
Coors, Twins Models
Fantone, Joey N'Sync
Hammer, MC Singer
Hawiian Tropic Girls, Models
Lachey, Nick 98°
Lopez, Jennifer Actress
Moore, Melba Singer/Actress
Morris, Nathan Boyz II Men
Popper, John Blues Travelers
Rucker, Darius Hootie & The Blow Fish
Black Eyed Peas
Wilson, Owen Actor
Ying Yang Twins, Group
--------------------------------------------------------------
All I can say is "wow." The sponsorship offers are extensive for the price, which is between $14,000 and $100,000. I'm not the sales person for the event, so I'm not going to go into all of that. But it's cool to be able to look "behind the scenes" of the event before it happens. I'm set to go, so I'll let you know how it turns out.
Jerry Reese, GM - NY Giants Gutsy Front Office Move The Right One!
Another great Giants Piece by Arthur Staple-My comments at the end.
Reese facing challenges with Giants
After being named GM today, he'll have to fill quite a few holes
BY ARTHUR STAPLE
Newsday Staff Writer
January 16, 2007
Jerry Reese will be officially named Giants general manager this morning at a news conference. Had the Giants not stumbled to an 8-8 record with a 2-6 second half of the season and then lost to the Eagles in the playoffs nine days ago, Reese's appointment would have been made sooner.
But Giants president John Mara and treasurer Jonathan Tisch took their time evaluating the front office and coaching staff before deciding to stay the course. So they brought Tom Coughlin back for at least one more season as coach and will name Reese, 43, as Ernie Accorsi's successor, as the retiring Accorsi wanted it.
Reese started as a scout for the Giants in 1994 and worked his way up, from assistant director of pro personnel to director of player personnel, a job in which he oversaw the Giants' last four drafts. He is the third African-American general manager in the NFL, joining Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome and Houston's Rick Smith.
The priorities for Reese this offseason start with finding a running back to fill the void left by Tiki Barber's retirement. That will likely be accomplished through free agency -- the Packers' Ahman Green is a free agent and the Chargers' Michael Turner is a restricted free agent -- rather than with early draft picks in April. The Giants may seek a veteran to complement Brandon Jacobs.
The Giants also must decide whether to sign center Shaun O'Hara. He and kicker Jay Feely are the only significant players who would be unrestricted free agents. O'Hara's agent, Tony Agnone, negotiated with the team briefly during the season, but O'Hara didn't want the talks to drag on; plus, with Accorsi retiring, there was no GM to sign off on a long-term deal.
On defense, Reese may look to the draft to grow some talent. One player told Newsday that Coughlin tore Corey Webster apart at halftime of the Redskins game on Dec. 30, and Webster, the Giants' top pick (second round) in 2005, has not developed as the team had hoped, so another high pick on a cornerback may be needed.
The same is true at linebacker, where Carlos Emmons may have played his last game as a Giant and Brandon Short is unrestricted. The Giants took Gerris Wilkinson in the third round last season, but he was inactive for the playoff loss after a spotty season spent primarily on special teams.
My slant: Why do i think it's a smart move? he's been with the team 12 years. He smart, still young at 43, and he knows personnel. So he is only the 3rd minority GM in Pro football. but this is the best thing for the team on so many levels.
Even with the turmoil at the end of the season, this is a no -brainer.
"I Have A Dream" - The Full Video Speech Of Martin Luther King
This proves the amazing value of YouTube and other video distribution systems. We now have history right at our fingertips. What's presented to you above is the video of what some call the greatest speech ever given in history, Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream Speech". Below, the text of the speech.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Monday, January 15, 2007
SUPER BOWL XLI : Miami Hotel Rates Double For Event - NY Times
The Super Bowl Means Super-Size Hotel Rates
By JENNIFER CONLIN - NY TIMES
Published: January 14, 2007
Finding a moderately priced hotel room in Miami during the winter is never easy, but securing one over Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 2 to 5) is a totally different ballgame, regardless of availability.
This weekend, for instance, the rate for a double room at the Miami Airport Holiday Inn is $190. For the night before the Super Bowl , that room goes for $430. At the already pricey Delano, a city view deluxe room that would have cost $775 for last night is more than twice that amount, $1,625, on Feb. 4 (and it’s booked solid). Even the ultraexpensive Setai is requiring guests to stay a minimum of seven nights during Super Bowl week, at $950 a night for a double room.
Robert Tuchman, president of TSE Sports & Entertainment (www.tseworld.com), said his company was selling four-night Super Bowl packages with upper-level game tickets, but without air fare. For example, $5,850 a person gets a double room at the Westin in Fort Lauderdale, while $7,350 a person puts you in a penthouse suite at the Albion South Beach.
(The actual ticket prices are $600 and $700. Most tickets are technically available through the 30 National Football League teams, but are essentially sold out. Brokers charge far more for the tickets.)
“When you couple the Super Bowl with a great location like Miami, hotels can charge five times their normal price,” Mr. Tuchman said, adding that last year’s location, Detroit (featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers, above), was a bit of a bust. “We only sent around 300 people,” he said. “This year, we already have a thousand.”
His packages include an autographed football, a celebrity golf tournament and a Sunday morning chat with a former N.F.L. player or coach.
Loyal N.F.L. team followers might prefer “fan packages,” starting this week, from Sports Traveler (www.sportstraveler.net), a Chicago-based company. It is $6,300 to $7,500, including three or four nights accommodation, reserved game tickets and air fare from your championship team’s city. A required deposit of $200 to $500 is refunded if your team doesn’t make the big game. But, as Mr. Tuchman said, “The Super Bowl has become such a spectacle, most people don’t even come anymore just for the game.”
By JENNIFER CONLIN - NY TIMES
Published: January 14, 2007
Finding a moderately priced hotel room in Miami during the winter is never easy, but securing one over Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 2 to 5) is a totally different ballgame, regardless of availability.
This weekend, for instance, the rate for a double room at the Miami Airport Holiday Inn is $190. For the night before the Super Bowl , that room goes for $430. At the already pricey Delano, a city view deluxe room that would have cost $775 for last night is more than twice that amount, $1,625, on Feb. 4 (and it’s booked solid). Even the ultraexpensive Setai is requiring guests to stay a minimum of seven nights during Super Bowl week, at $950 a night for a double room.
Robert Tuchman, president of TSE Sports & Entertainment (www.tseworld.com), said his company was selling four-night Super Bowl packages with upper-level game tickets, but without air fare. For example, $5,850 a person gets a double room at the Westin in Fort Lauderdale, while $7,350 a person puts you in a penthouse suite at the Albion South Beach.
(The actual ticket prices are $600 and $700. Most tickets are technically available through the 30 National Football League teams, but are essentially sold out. Brokers charge far more for the tickets.)
“When you couple the Super Bowl with a great location like Miami, hotels can charge five times their normal price,” Mr. Tuchman said, adding that last year’s location, Detroit (featuring the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers, above), was a bit of a bust. “We only sent around 300 people,” he said. “This year, we already have a thousand.”
His packages include an autographed football, a celebrity golf tournament and a Sunday morning chat with a former N.F.L. player or coach.
Loyal N.F.L. team followers might prefer “fan packages,” starting this week, from Sports Traveler (www.sportstraveler.net), a Chicago-based company. It is $6,300 to $7,500, including three or four nights accommodation, reserved game tickets and air fare from your championship team’s city. A required deposit of $200 to $500 is refunded if your team doesn’t make the big game. But, as Mr. Tuchman said, “The Super Bowl has become such a spectacle, most people don’t even come anymore just for the game.”
CBS Has Only Sold 70 Percent Of Super Bowl XLI Ads - Mediaweek
January 15, 2007
By John Consoli Mediaweek
NEW YORK -- The Super Bowl has become a super pain for the broadcast networks to sell.
Case in point: CBS this year. With just three weeks to go until kickoff, the network has sold slightly more than 70% of the in-game commercial units. And with a total of 58 spots, the network still has about 16 slots available.
With so much potential revenue and prestige at stake—CBS could take in as much as $140 million on the three-hour game alone, in addition to millions from the six hours of pre-game programming—the three weeks prior to kickoff can generate severe angst for sales teams facing fourth and goal.
One media agency executive described this current Super Bowl selling season: "CBS is definitely in hustle mode, trying to come up with any innovative way possible to move those in-game units."
As the cost of a 30-second spot rises each year, so does the pressure on advertisers to come up with innovative and creative spots that will be talked about and acted upon by the 78 million viewers who tune in. The growing popularity of polls such as USA Today Ad Meter, which have consumers rate the in-game commercials the next day, has become a major factor in the decision-making process of advertisers as to whether or not they should create a spot and run it in the Super Bowl.
One network sales executive, who has sold past Super Bowls, said the next two weeks are crucial for CBS to get a bulk of the remaining units sold before Feb. 5. "It's OK to go into the week before the game with three or four units left, but it can be a real problem if you have more than that," the exec said.
The closer to game day, the more the ad community is in the driver's seat as far as trying to price down the spots because the network cannot sharply lower prices without running the risk of alienating clients who came in early and paid more.
While the remaining spots are mostly in fourth quarter and early birds most likely are in the first half when the attention level is usually higher, no advertiser, regardless of placement, is going to be happy seeing a straggler get in the game at a deep discount.
"There are always Super Bowl units still available at this point, but this year there seem to be more left than the norm," said one media exec, echoing the viewpoint of many contacted for this story.
But John Bogusz, CBS evp-sports sales and marketing, and Tony Taranto, svp of NFL sales at CBS, both insist the network is right where it was sellout level-wise when it televised the Super Bowls in '01 and '04.
"It is getting to be a harder sell, and we do wish more advertisers would embrace it for what it is and take advantage of the huge audience it draws," said Bogusz, acknowledging the harder slog to sell out. Added Taranto, "Advertisers should realize that in addition to the in-game units, those ads are going to be replayed all over the Internet in the days and weeks following the game. Awareness levels for those ads rise every year."
But that heightened awareness of the commercials—not the price tag per spot, which this year ranges anywhere from $2 million to $2.6 million depending on pod location and quantity bought—can be the problem, according to media agencies charged with buying Super Bowl spots for clients.
"The decision an advertiser faces is not a price dilemma," said Marc Goldstein, CEO at media agency MindShare. "The reason advertisers may not go in is because of creative issues. No one wants to run an old commercial in the Super Bowl, so you have to go out and spend money to produce a new one. And the advertiser wants to make sure that this commercial does well in all the recall and opinion polls the next day. Many advertisers feel if they do not have a new product to launch, it is not worth the risk."
By John Consoli Mediaweek
NEW YORK -- The Super Bowl has become a super pain for the broadcast networks to sell.
Case in point: CBS this year. With just three weeks to go until kickoff, the network has sold slightly more than 70% of the in-game commercial units. And with a total of 58 spots, the network still has about 16 slots available.
With so much potential revenue and prestige at stake—CBS could take in as much as $140 million on the three-hour game alone, in addition to millions from the six hours of pre-game programming—the three weeks prior to kickoff can generate severe angst for sales teams facing fourth and goal.
One media agency executive described this current Super Bowl selling season: "CBS is definitely in hustle mode, trying to come up with any innovative way possible to move those in-game units."
As the cost of a 30-second spot rises each year, so does the pressure on advertisers to come up with innovative and creative spots that will be talked about and acted upon by the 78 million viewers who tune in. The growing popularity of polls such as USA Today Ad Meter, which have consumers rate the in-game commercials the next day, has become a major factor in the decision-making process of advertisers as to whether or not they should create a spot and run it in the Super Bowl.
One network sales executive, who has sold past Super Bowls, said the next two weeks are crucial for CBS to get a bulk of the remaining units sold before Feb. 5. "It's OK to go into the week before the game with three or four units left, but it can be a real problem if you have more than that," the exec said.
The closer to game day, the more the ad community is in the driver's seat as far as trying to price down the spots because the network cannot sharply lower prices without running the risk of alienating clients who came in early and paid more.
While the remaining spots are mostly in fourth quarter and early birds most likely are in the first half when the attention level is usually higher, no advertiser, regardless of placement, is going to be happy seeing a straggler get in the game at a deep discount.
"There are always Super Bowl units still available at this point, but this year there seem to be more left than the norm," said one media exec, echoing the viewpoint of many contacted for this story.
But John Bogusz, CBS evp-sports sales and marketing, and Tony Taranto, svp of NFL sales at CBS, both insist the network is right where it was sellout level-wise when it televised the Super Bowls in '01 and '04.
"It is getting to be a harder sell, and we do wish more advertisers would embrace it for what it is and take advantage of the huge audience it draws," said Bogusz, acknowledging the harder slog to sell out. Added Taranto, "Advertisers should realize that in addition to the in-game units, those ads are going to be replayed all over the Internet in the days and weeks following the game. Awareness levels for those ads rise every year."
But that heightened awareness of the commercials—not the price tag per spot, which this year ranges anywhere from $2 million to $2.6 million depending on pod location and quantity bought—can be the problem, according to media agencies charged with buying Super Bowl spots for clients.
"The decision an advertiser faces is not a price dilemma," said Marc Goldstein, CEO at media agency MindShare. "The reason advertisers may not go in is because of creative issues. No one wants to run an old commercial in the Super Bowl, so you have to go out and spend money to produce a new one. And the advertiser wants to make sure that this commercial does well in all the recall and opinion polls the next day. Many advertisers feel if they do not have a new product to launch, it is not worth the risk."
Giants Select Jerry Reese As General Manager - Only Third Black GM In NFL History - NFL.com
Giants tap Jerry Reese as general manager
NFL.com wire reports
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Jan. 15, 2007) -- The New York Giants hired Jerry Reese as their general manager, making him only the third black GM in NFL history.
Reese, who served as the team's director of player personnel the past four years, was considered the favorite among the Giants' in-house candidates to replace Ernie Accorsi, who held the post for nine seasons before retiring.
The 43-year-old Reese will formally be introduced as general manager and senior vice president at a news conference Jan. 16, the team said on its Web site.
The only other black general managers in the NFL are Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome and Houston's Rick Smith. There are several black men who have considerable say in front offices, notably Rod Graves of Arizona, whose title is senior vice president-football operations. Ray Anderson was vice president of the Atlanta Falcons for the past four years before moving to the NFL in August as senior vice president of football operations.
There were seven black head coaches in the NFL last season, the most ever. Two of them, Dennis Green of the Cardinals and Art Shell of Oakland, were fired after the season, although Shell will remain in the Raiders front office.
Critics of the NFL's minority hiring policy have generally praised the league for increasing the number of minority coaches, but have pointed out that there is a void in the front office.
Last month, when Reese was mentioned as the favorite for the job, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, the senior black head coach, said: "That's great -- just to have an African-American mentioned that way is great."
A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, Reese first joined the Giants' scouting department in 1994 after working on the coaching staff at his alma mater.
As the Giants' player personnel director, he oversaw all aspects of college scouting and had most of the responsibility for the draft. Reese previously served as assistant director of pro personnel for three years.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
NFL.com wire reports
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (Jan. 15, 2007) -- The New York Giants hired Jerry Reese as their general manager, making him only the third black GM in NFL history.
Reese, who served as the team's director of player personnel the past four years, was considered the favorite among the Giants' in-house candidates to replace Ernie Accorsi, who held the post for nine seasons before retiring.
The 43-year-old Reese will formally be introduced as general manager and senior vice president at a news conference Jan. 16, the team said on its Web site.
The only other black general managers in the NFL are Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome and Houston's Rick Smith. There are several black men who have considerable say in front offices, notably Rod Graves of Arizona, whose title is senior vice president-football operations. Ray Anderson was vice president of the Atlanta Falcons for the past four years before moving to the NFL in August as senior vice president of football operations.
There were seven black head coaches in the NFL last season, the most ever. Two of them, Dennis Green of the Cardinals and Art Shell of Oakland, were fired after the season, although Shell will remain in the Raiders front office.
Critics of the NFL's minority hiring policy have generally praised the league for increasing the number of minority coaches, but have pointed out that there is a void in the front office.
Last month, when Reese was mentioned as the favorite for the job, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy, the senior black head coach, said: "That's great -- just to have an African-American mentioned that way is great."
A graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, Reese first joined the Giants' scouting department in 1994 after working on the coaching staff at his alma mater.
As the Giants' player personnel director, he oversaw all aspects of college scouting and had most of the responsibility for the draft. Reese previously served as assistant director of pro personnel for three years.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson Goes Off On Bill Belichick And The New England Patriots; Calls Them "No Class" Organization
I've included the video version of LT's rant as well.
LT rips Pats' 'no class' dance on field logo
And so begins a nasty new rivalry. And this is one born not from two good teams in the same division, but from the way two good teams treat each other when they play. I think LT has something of a point. Moreover, my own mother pointed out that had it been Terrell Owens who was responsible for the nasty act at the end of the game, he'd have been criticized and fined. Not so with the Patriots.
By Jay Posner and Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
January 15, 2007
No team wants to watch another team celebrate on its home field, especially after a playoff game. But several Chargers were particularly disturbed at the way New England celebrated after yesterday's AFC divisional playoff game.
And no one was more upset than league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, who had to be restrained by more than one Patriots player from going after another New England player. Tomlinson later accused some Patriots of showing “no class at all” and added “maybe it comes from the head coach (Bill Belichick).”
Said Tomlinson: “I would never, ever react in that way. You guys know me; I'm a very classy person. I wouldn't have reacted like that, so yes, I was upset, very upset.
“When you go to the middle of our field and you start doing the dance that Shawne Merriman is known for, that's disrespectful to me and I can't sit there and watch that.”
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said he saw some Patriots pointing to the scoreboard, doing Merriman's “Lights Out” dance and stomping on the Chargers helmet logo at midfield.
“They won and they deserve a lot of credit,” Rivers said. “Personally I was disappointed in the way they handled winning. I mean, for as much as everybody said they expected them to win, they didn't act like it. But that's neither here nor there. They're playing next week and we're not.
“I think what got LT, and I was right there, was just a little of the taunting. Hey, celebrate – we'd have been sprinting on the field, too, I guarantee you. But it was a little finger pointing and I don't know where it came from.”
The teams will play in Foxboro next season, and Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips said he can't wait.
“Every time I will play New England it will be a personal grudge,” Phillips said. “That was very classless. . . . When we went in and beat their head in New England (last season), blew them out (41-17), we did nothing but compliment them and say they were a good team. We would never disrespect a team like that. We have class, and that's how classless individuals are. Shaun Phillips will have a grudge against them the rest of his career.”
Added Phillips: “What it is, they didn't expect to win and they won, so they were excited.”
The Patriots were not available to answer the Chargers' comments, although linebacker Rosevelt Colvin said San Diego's players “talked from the beginning to the end. We'll take the win.”
LT rips Pats' 'no class' dance on field logo
And so begins a nasty new rivalry. And this is one born not from two good teams in the same division, but from the way two good teams treat each other when they play. I think LT has something of a point. Moreover, my own mother pointed out that had it been Terrell Owens who was responsible for the nasty act at the end of the game, he'd have been criticized and fined. Not so with the Patriots.
By Jay Posner and Kevin Acee
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
January 15, 2007
No team wants to watch another team celebrate on its home field, especially after a playoff game. But several Chargers were particularly disturbed at the way New England celebrated after yesterday's AFC divisional playoff game.
And no one was more upset than league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson, who had to be restrained by more than one Patriots player from going after another New England player. Tomlinson later accused some Patriots of showing “no class at all” and added “maybe it comes from the head coach (Bill Belichick).”
Said Tomlinson: “I would never, ever react in that way. You guys know me; I'm a very classy person. I wouldn't have reacted like that, so yes, I was upset, very upset.
“When you go to the middle of our field and you start doing the dance that Shawne Merriman is known for, that's disrespectful to me and I can't sit there and watch that.”
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said he saw some Patriots pointing to the scoreboard, doing Merriman's “Lights Out” dance and stomping on the Chargers helmet logo at midfield.
“They won and they deserve a lot of credit,” Rivers said. “Personally I was disappointed in the way they handled winning. I mean, for as much as everybody said they expected them to win, they didn't act like it. But that's neither here nor there. They're playing next week and we're not.
“I think what got LT, and I was right there, was just a little of the taunting. Hey, celebrate – we'd have been sprinting on the field, too, I guarantee you. But it was a little finger pointing and I don't know where it came from.”
The teams will play in Foxboro next season, and Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips said he can't wait.
“Every time I will play New England it will be a personal grudge,” Phillips said. “That was very classless. . . . When we went in and beat their head in New England (last season), blew them out (41-17), we did nothing but compliment them and say they were a good team. We would never disrespect a team like that. We have class, and that's how classless individuals are. Shaun Phillips will have a grudge against them the rest of his career.”
Added Phillips: “What it is, they didn't expect to win and they won, so they were excited.”
The Patriots were not available to answer the Chargers' comments, although linebacker Rosevelt Colvin said San Diego's players “talked from the beginning to the end. We'll take the win.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)