Curt Schilling’s video game finally gets on base
Curt Schilling, the former pitcher and two-time World Series champ is more nervous about his new video game than he ever was about baseball.
He told a New York crowd at an event put on by Electronic Arts on Tuesday that he slept like a baby before World Series games in 2007 — but didn’t catch a wink on Monday night ahead of the release of his company’s first video game.
Schilling’s personal fortune is on the line with “Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning,” a fantasy-action game that hit stores Tuesday. Schilling told Reuters last July he had invested between $30 million to $35 million of his own money into the 400-person company he founded that made the game.
“‘This is opening day of career 2.0,” he told the crowd . And it’s an opening day that’s seven years in the making–Schilling founded the company called 38 Studios (after his jersey number) in 2006.
Schilling has been a video fanboy for years. Peter Moore, EA’s chief operating officer said he first spoke with him in 2005. Schilling called Moore, who then worked at Microsoft, to see if he could get his hands on an advance copy of the Xbox 360.
Moore, who said he turned down phone calls from Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson that same day, took Schilling’s because he was a big Red Sox fan.
“We spoke one hour about massive multiplayer games. I tried to talk him out of it,” Moore said, of Schilling’s idea to bankroll a video game.
Baseball makes its pitch in new ad campaign
Ah spring. Opening day. Stolen bases. Hot dogs. Rain delays. Fresh baseball commercials flashing across your TV set.
Major League Baseball has just taken the wraps off its new 2009 campaign, “The is Beyond Baseball,” supported by 20 TV spots running through the World Series.The spots will run on ESPN, Fox, TBS, MLB Network and MLB.com.
The idea, developed by McCann Erickson, is that baseball is more than just a game; it’s part of the fabric of our culture. In trying to get that message across, the spots will play up the stories behind star players like Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies.
And what’s an ad campaign without a web element? Here’s how the release describes baseball’s effort: “In addition, MLB.com will host Beyond.Baseball.com, which will feature interactive elements of the campaign including the campaign commercials, the MLB Network special, highlighted player profiles, a photo gallery, production outtakes, online vignettes and a detailed campaign description.”
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DirecTV bats for cricket in the U.S.
Sports fans in the US will now have the chance to cheer fours and sixes as much as home runs.
Satellite TV service provider DirecTV Group plans to step off the baseball diamond and onto the pitch by bagging broadcast rights for big-ticket cricket tournaments in 2009.
With an Asian Indian population pushing 3 million in the US, DirecTV is assured of a loyal fan following. Indians are crazy about the game, with the country boasting the largest global cricket audience. Cricketers are feted like pop stars and tote multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals.
Hi, I’m Gregory Lee, banker for The New York Times
We’ve heard in recent days that The New York Times has gotten some interest in its stake in the Boston Red Sox, but it seems like whatever offers are being discussed, they must not be enough for the publisher.
In the murky, mysterious world of mergers and acquisitions, companies and their bankers and financial advisers tend to operate far below the radar — only surfacing to leak the news in The Wall Street Journal that a deal is close at hand.
Not this time. While the Journal did get the tip-off back in December, the Times on Wednesday simply issued a press release inviting all comers to take a look at the stake. Not only that, the Times published the name of the Goldman Sachs banker handling the sale, along with his phone number. Usually, as a reporter, you have to cash in lots of chips to get digits like that.
Why do it this way? Because no one bit when they did it in the usual way. That means the NYT’s price for the stake either will come down, or it will have to wait a while until it finds someone who shares its conception of what the stake must be worth. (We’ve heard all sorts of numbers, but $200 million seems like one that analysts could agree on. It could go lower from there.)
So in the new spirit of openness and media companies helping media companies, serious buyers can call Gregory Lee at Goldman Sachs, 212-902-7584.
from Summit Notebook:
Baseball’s Bud Selig: Won’t be Commish again. Really.
It's easy to tell that Bud Selig, Major League Baseball's commissioner, is a lifer, a true old-school fan with his dream job. He tells great stories about being a fan, a lifelong friend of icons like Hank Aaron, and is famous for being energetic when watching games live.
He loves it so much that this year he re-upped for 4 more years as its top dog, even after he said he would not. But at the Reuters Media Summit, he says that in 2012, he's done. It's over. Seriously. Done. Selig, signing off. Over and out. Right Bud?
Reuters: Two years ago you told us that none of your cohorts would believe you when you said that in two years time when your contract was up, that you were going to walk away...
Selig: (interrupting) I am done this time. I'm going to be 78 years old -- if anybody thinks I'm doing it after that... I know, I've said it seven times and I understand all the concerns, and you are right to have them, but this time (pounding his fist on the table) I'm done. I've got four more years. That's enough. "
For what it's worth, the next few years won't be so easy, with a troubled economy threatening to shrink ticket sales and advertising revenue. He's cautiously optimistic, and hopes to leave the game is good shape, when he (ahem) leaves in a few years.
"The sport has had remarkable growth. And it's more popular than it's ever been. I look at my job.... I just want to keep it on an even keel as we go through some very troubled waters."
(Photo: Reuters)
