USATF putting customers first
The USA Track & Field headquarters in downtown Indianapolis is taking a cue from Wendy’s restaurants. They’re staying open late.
USATF’s new CEO Doug Logan said this is the first step in creating a…
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Fever pumps up attendance
The Indiana Fever re-start their season tonight with the hope of cranking up the team’s attendance even more than it has already elevated this year.
Through 13 homes games, the local WNBA team has…
Olympics hurt IRL TV ratings
Officials for the Indy Racing League are probably happy the Olympics happen only once every four years. This year’s games in Beijing, IRL officials said, have done a number on their TV viewership lately.
The IRL’s Aug. 24 race in Sonoma…
IRL revs effort to get in fans’ ears
Indy Racing League officials are unveiling a new communications system using Bluetooth technology that will beam audio messages straight into the wireless telephone earpieces of fans attending their races.
Fans at the track will…
Favre hot on Manning’s heels
Believe it or not, there are a few people who actually don’t know anything about Peyton Manning. They wouldn’t know him if they saw him drinking Gatorade, and they wouldn’t know him with or without a fake mustache. They wouldn’t…
Colts cuts not made on emotion
First and foremost Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian is a businessman. And he’s one of the best in the National Football League. Don’t expect Polian to get too giddy over the extra bucks…
NBC wins, Oprah seeks Olympians
This year’s Summer Olympics turned out to be a winner for NBC. Through Saturday night, NBC was averaging a 16.2 rating—meaning about 27.7 million viewers tuned in for its prime time coverage. Nationally, 28 percent of households on average tuned…
IUPUI, Pacers negotiating deal
The IUPUI men’s basketball team appears headed across town to play home games at Conseco Fieldhouse. Officials for Pacers Sports & Entertainment said they would let IUPUI make any announcement.
University officials said an…
Wet spring, slow economy slice into area golf business
On a typical Saturday at Smock Golf Course on the city’s south side, visitors are treated to a symphony of thwacks, pings
and the occasional plunk. In good or bad economic times, it seems, people in Indiana and across the country have always played
golf. But these days, the sound of that symphony has waned. Nationwide, the number of rounds of golf played through the first
half of this year is down 2 percent from last year. In Central Indiana, the situation is worse.
NCAA mum on date to reopen fire-damaged Hall of Champions
Almost a full year after a fire in a single exhibit closed the NCAA Hall of Champions, the wait for the college sports
museum’s reopening is becoming as prolonged and agonizing as sitting through a college football game during
a freezing November rain. The NCAA is apparently in no hurry to relieve the suspense.
NOTIONS: Got gold? Share the wealth with your Jason Lezak
Like hundreds of millions of other people around the world, I’ve been watching the Olympics on TV. Like most Americans among those viewers (especially NBC executives), I was pulling for swimmer Michael Phelps to win eight gold medals and surpass the record seven set by Mark Spitz in 1972. As everyone not buried under a rock knows by now, Phelps succeeded in his quest, but only by the narrowest of margins and only with considerable help from his teammates. Thus,…
Firm helps area high schools sell themselves
Continental Enterprises, an intellectual property consulting firm, launched a service this summer to help area high schools register their logos, names and mascots as trademarks and establish licensing programs, assuring that schools will get a cut of all merchandise sales bearing their mark. This month, North Central High School, one of the state’s largest, signed with Continental, and six to eight more schools are expected to follow suit within 60 days.
SPORTS: Let the ‘greatest athlete ever’ debate begin
Back from vacation with thoughts of this, that and the other: Even as my bride and I traveled through the magnificent scenery of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, our nightly ritual was the same as that of millions of other Americans: making sure we were in front of the television to watch the Olympics. And yes, especially, Michael Phelps. Some have rushed to proclaim him the greatest Olympian of all time and, certainly, the argument can be made if you look…
Harrison can catch, but won’t pitch
Marvin Harrison is a football superstar, but he sure isn’t a commercial superstar. Harrison had a deal with Degree antiperspirant in the late 1990s and another with the Got Milk campaign following the…
Subway jilts Tony Stewart
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is having a pretty bad week. During the same week Stewart was docked 150 points for his team’s efforts to mask his car’s true horsepower at a recent Nationwide…
Indians’ prospect featured in SI
Indianapolis Indians outfielder Andrew McCutchen is included in a baseball prospects feature in this week’s Sports Illustrated. The print version includes a photo of him shot by team photographer Bill Gentry.
SI…
Crean chasing Hoeppner’s record
Indiana University basketball coach Tom Crean hasn’t even coached his first game for the Hoosiers, and he’s already breaking records. Yesterday, Crean signed the richest coaching contract in IU history, a 10-year $23.6…
Will JMV drive over to The Fan?
A couple things became clear from reader feedback I’ve been getting about a story I wrote regarding dueling sports/talk radio stations for this week’s print edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal. First, fans of WNDE-AM 1260 are much more…
Colts fans let Lucas hear it
Lucas Oil Products Inc., and its owner Forrest Lucas, are taking a beating from IBJ readers after his request that Indianapolis Colts fans and local media not call the team’s new stadium “The Luke.” Lucas…
Would JMV drive over to The Fan?
Two things are clear from reader feedback I’ve been getting this week about two stories I wrote for this week’s print edition of the Indianapolis Business Journal. First, fans of WNDE-AM 1260 are much more vocal than those of WFNI-AM…