Home » Sports Business

Sports Business

Articles

Lilly says hands off Gemzar: Drugmaker files suit to keep cancer drug off generic market

Fresh off one blockbuster patent defense, Eli Lilly and Co. mounted another last month when it filed suit to protect its billiondollar cancer drug Gemzar. The Indianapolis drugmaker sued Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and a subsidiary, Sicor Pharmaceuticals Inc., to prevent them from selling generic versions of Gemzar, which treats several forms of cancer and comprises 9 percent of Lilly’s worldwide sales. Lilly learned in January that California-based Sicor had filed so-called “abbreviated new drug applications” with the U.S. Food…

Read More

WANTED: Coach with Midas touch: IU searching for hoops leader who’ll bring financial stability to athletics-and university

With a $1 billion capital campaign looming at Indiana University, athletic director Rick Greenspan is facing his biggest decision. Many observers think the choice of basketball coach will determine not only the health of the men’s basketball program, but of the entire IU athletic department-and to some extent the entire university-for decades to come. IU officials have not yet publicly announced their capital campaign, which would allocate about $85 million for the university’s athletic facilities, and likely won’t until next…

Read More

SPORTS: It’s about more than hoops if Chicago gets tourneys

Our month of Much Madness has begun. Forty-one games in 33 days downtown. The Big Ten women’s and men’s tournaments (20 games). The IHSAA girls’ and boys’state finals (eight games). The National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star Game on Final Four weekend. The NCAA Men’s Final Four (three games). And, interspersed throughout, nine Indiana Pacers home games. So what’s your pleasure? High school, college, pro? No matter the level, it is coming to Indianapolis in abundance. Quality and quantity, packaged…

Read More

Bulls of the Fairways:

David Simon and Alan Cohen are outstanding golfers, among the best of all Indianapolis businessmen. The CEOs of Simon Property Group Inc. and Finish Line Inc. share something else in common: Their companies are top performers, with their stock prices more than dou-Professor sees link between golf scores, biz success bling in a little more than three years. Coincidence? Not according to Dan Dalton, golf aficionado and former dean of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “Business is like match…

Read More

Ticked off over tickets: NCAA plans to battle hospitality brokers during Final Four

The launch of The Tournament Club at this year’s men’s basketball Final Four in Indianapolis is the first shot across the bow of brokers, travel agents, hotel room resellers and others who’ve stepped in to meet the demand for hospitality packages the NCAA previously ignored. In December, the NCAA hired rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency, to launch the association’s own hospitality package, including lower-level tickets, access to an exclusive hospitality area at the game venue, premium hotel…

Read More

Blog Boom: Newest Web craze becoming a key tool for business marketing, communications

Myles Brand needed a way for his organization to reach out to the public. It had to be direct and immediate and initiate an honest two-way discussion. Brand, NCAA president, chose an offbeat idea-albeit one with a growing following-to solve this age-old business problem. He gave the directive late last year for the NCAA to launch its first blog, an online presence that two years ago few corporate types understood, much less considered a viable means of communication. Now, the…

Read More

SPORTS: IU doesn’t have to hire from the ‘family,’ but it will

There will be no shortage of worthy successors to Mike Davis as the head basketball coach at I.U. Rick Majerus? I love Rick Majerus. He’s the absolute basketballjunkie with nothing like a wife, family or even a home to distract him from the job. He’s a tremendous motivator and strategist. But he’s also a guy who’s had heart problems and I worry if he could survive the stress-not from coaching, but from being within an hour’s drive of Iaria’s. Thad…

Read More

Labor tiff puts loan for stadium in limbo: NFL Players Association refusing to back $34 million as fight with owners drags on

A $34 million loan from the NFL that the Indianapolis Colts are counting on to fund part of their share of stadium construction could get sacked, at least temporarily, in an NFL labor dispute. Teams with pending stadium loans-including the Colts, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants and Jets-hoped to get final approval of their loans at the March owners’ meeting. That is now in serious doubt, league sources said. NFL owners last June approved a $34 million loan for…

Read More

SPORTS: Time for Mike Davis to look himself in the mirror

“Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” – from the song “Charlie Brown,” by The Coasters I count myself among many, many Indiana University alumni, supporters and basketball fans in general who wanted to see Mike Davis succeed as the Hoosiers’ coach. I admired his demeanor, humility and honesty. I respected the incredibly difficult situation he inherited, first as the interim coach, then as the man designated to sustain IU’s tradition in the wake of Bob Knight’s firing. And certainly, no…

Read More

Entrepreneurship the Indian way: A day with a Bangalore software-maker reveals business parallels

BANGALORE, India-HealthAsyst CEO Umesh Bajaj remembers when the only computers allowed in India were self-assembled. As recently as 20 years ago, the Indian government’s protectionist measures prohibited foreign companies from directly selling PCs. Instead, Indians imported microchips and built the computers themselves. In his first job as an electronics engineer for an Indian conglomerate, Bajaj crisscrossed the country marketing versions of mainframes and desktops made in India. Today Bajaj, a 55-year-old born in New Delhi, owns his own Bangalore-based health…

Read More

Industry veteran at helm as ATA exits bankruptcy: After months of tumult, Karnik ready for ‘boring’ year

Subodh Karnik slowly backed up to his chair at ATA Airlines Inc. and slumped into it. His 46-year-old back was killing him. One of his elementary-age sons back home in Atlanta used him like a trampoline over the weekend. The injury got worse when Karnick ran through the airport, like O.J. Simpson in an old Hertz commercial, to catch a flight back to Indianapolis. “I was born a masochist,” said Karnik, a 6-foot-4-inch native of Mumbai, India, who sports a…

Read More

SPORTS: Here’s to the last champion of single-class sports

Somewhat overlooked at the time because it was (A) girls softball and (B) took place in June, Turkey Run’s 11-7 victory over Center Grove nonetheless remains a lasting testimonial to those who believe the size of the dream should not be diminished by the size of the school. A year later, the dream died for all time when the Indiana High School Athletic Association’s board voted to divide team sports championships into classes according to enrollment. That decision-later affirmed by…

Read More

Speedway waits to renew deal with Formula 1: New date puts Grand Prix up against World Cup soccer, IRL and NASCAR races

The long-term future of the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis may hinge on a littleknown American driver and a soccer match several thousand miles away. Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials said they will keep a close eye on attendance for the July 2 race before deciding whether to negotiate with Formula One brass for a new contract to bring the race back. This is the final year in a two-year contract extension F1 czar Bernie Ecclestone signed with IMS President Tony…

Read More

CHRIS KATTERJOHN The case of the missing passport Commentary:

Friday, 7:30 a.m.: I arrive at Indianapolis International Airport for a 9:01 a.m. flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where I’ll be attending a conference, and realize I have left my passport at home. I ask myself, “How could I be so stupid?” Friday, 7:35 a.m.: I check in at the American Airlines ticket desk, then call my brother, who is already at work. I ask him for a “huge favor,” whereupon he leaves work, goes to my house to retrieve…

Read More

IRL traveling bumpy road: Despite successes, sponsors are walking, teams are folding and top drivers lack rides

The Feb. 4-7 auction of locally based Panther Racing hangs over the open-wheel series like a dark cloud at a time when IRL officials have been crowing about its 2005 successes. Television ratings soared 53 percent from 2004 to 2005, attendance increased 9 percent, merchandise sales were up 75 percent, and Web traffic on the series’ site rose 162 percent. According to Joyce Julius and Associates, an independent Ann Arbor, Mich.-based media research firm, sponsors got 57 percent more exposures…

Read More

SPORTS Count your blessings, depressed Colts fans:

OK, as you read this, the Super Bowl is about to occur, or has just taken place, depending on when you get your IBJ. And you are, perhaps, gloomy. Depressed. Still nursing that emotional hangover. You’re blue … Colts blue in hue and psyche. The Horseshoes didn’t make it, and that brings to mind another expression beginning with “horse”. So, as a public service to all those still suffering an extended case of dejection and despair-to be compounded by hours…

Read More

SPORTS: Crazy-with-grief Colts fans, you’re now on the air

Welcome to WIBJ Radio. I’m Beebee, your host of “Sports Geeks.” Our first caller is Fred from Franklin. Fred? Beebs, man, here’s how we handle those low-life, stomp-onour-hearts, marshmallow-soft Indianapolis Colts. We take their new stadium away. I mean, they are not worthy. So until they reach the Super Bowl, I say keep ’em in the Dome. Fred, what do we do with that big hole? Fill it in with water so the bean company can have beachfront property. Let’s…

Read More

Landing ad revenue: Airport charged up over sponsorship of electrical outlets

Advertisements for mutual funds, watches and kolaches. Now as you wait at the gate for your flight, you’ll even see ads on electrical outlets. The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Jan. 20 was expected to approve a $65,000 marketing partnership with Chase in what is the latest and certainly the most electrifying of all advertising schemes at Indianapolis International Airport. These are desperate times for marketers. Too many ads are getting lost in the shuffle. And barraged consumers have figured out…

Read More

African-American museum pushes back opening date: Group starts public fund-raising campaign Feb. 4

Civic leaders announced in 2004 they hoped to raise $50 million to build the Indiana Museum of African American History in White River State Park by 2008. On the eve of the museum’s first public fund-raiser-a black-tie dinner at the downtown Westin Hotel on Feb. 4-officials acknowledge plans have changed for the 120,000-square-foot building. In 2004, a feasibility study, paid for with $800,000 in seed money raised from groups including Lilly Endowment Inc., showed the aggressive fund-raising and construction schedule…

Read More

SPORTS: Crazy-with-grief Colts fans, you’re now on the air

Welcome to WIBJ Radio. I’m Beebee, your host of “Sports Geeks.” Our first caller is Fred from Franklin. Fred? Beebs, man, here’s how we handle those low-life, stomp-onour-hearts, marshmallow-soft Indianapolis Colts. We take their new stadium away. I mean, they are not worthy. So until they reach the Super Bowl, I say keep ’em in the Dome. Fred, what do we do with that big hole? Fill it in with water so the bean company can have beachfront property. Let’s…

Read More