Pro Sports
Email
Print
Sports Briefs: Watkins Glen race is looking for a sponsor after Centurion bolts
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: December 13, 2008
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Watkins Glen International needs a title sponsor for its NASCAR Sprint Cup race after Centurion Boats took the option on the final year of its contract.
Company officials said that the decision was based on the downturn in the national economy. Centurion spokesman Les Clark said that the company has cut production 50 percent and has laid off half its work force at its North Carolina manufacturing facility.
"The economy is not going to make this easy. It is having an effect on our sport; it's going to have an effect on our year. These are tough times," Craig Rust, the president of Watkins Glen International, said yesterday. "I don't think we ever expected it to get this bad. I haven't seen it this bad in sports from a sponsorship standpoint in a long time."
The value of a Sprint Cup title sponsorship can exceed a million dollars, but Rust would not put a figure on the Watkins Glen race.
"A title sponsor is important, because it gives us a marketing partner to promote the race," Rust said. "We're working hard on it, but no matter what, it's important for fans to know we'll have a Sprint Cup race in 2009."
Centurion Boats will continue to have a presence at Watkins Glen but in a reduced role, Rust said.
Olympics
■ Chicago 2016 organizers unveiled several venue changes yesterday in its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
They say the changes will benefit athletes and the community, and make their bid more attractive in the highly competitive international field. In addition to moving the aquatic center and making the competition pool a temporary facility, the sailing, canoe/kayaking, track cycling and BMX cycling venues all will be moved under Chicago's retooled bid plan.
The changes will add about 5 percent to the budget, which remains at $4.7 billion, Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan said. That's a bargain compared with other Summer Games; London estimates its overall costs for the 2012 Olympics will be about $16.5 million, three times the original estimate.
Chicago is bidding against Tokyo; Madrid, Spain; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Games, which would be the first Summer Olympics in the United States in 20 years. Chicago is touting a compact bid, with 90 percent of athletes within 15 minutes of their competition sites and most venues clustered along the scenic downtown lakefront.
Racing
■ Al Unser Jr., a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, is listed as an extortion victim in a grand jury indictment against the suspected head of an Albuquerque prostitution ring.
The district attorney's office said the suspect, 47-year-old Bobby McMullin, tried to blackmail Unser with claims of a "compromising" videotape in February and March 2004.
Prosecutor Mark Drebing said yesterday the video is not related to the prostitution ring and Unser was not a client.
"I don't think Little Al did anything wrong," Drebing said. "For our purposes, he is listed as a victim. He was extorted."
Miscellaneous
■ Volleyball players Christine Tillman and Katie Lineberger of Salem were second-team selections in voting for the NCAA All-Association of Division III Independents team. Tillman set single-season school records for blocks (59) and service aces (51), and Lineberger set single-season records for kills (391) and digs (367).
■ Ronaldo, a three-time FIFA player of the year, joined the Brazilian soccer team Corinthians yesterday, returning to his home country and ending months of speculation about his future. Ronaldo, 32, sustained a major knee injury in February that ended his time at the Italian club AC Milan.
It is uncertain, however, when Ronaldo will play again. When asked, he answered: "Soon."
■ Three world records were set yesterday at the European short-course championships in Croatia, and Amaury Leveaux of France set his second in two days. Also, Alessia Filippi of Italy set a world record in the 800 freestyle, and Netherlands set the record in the 200-meter relay.
Leveaux won his 100 freestyle semifinal in 45.12 seconds, shaving 0.57 seconds off the mark set five days ago by Olympics champion and teammate Alain Bernard. Filippi won in 8:04.53, more than three seconds faster than the mark set last year by Kate Ziegler of the United States, and the Dutch relay team won in 1:33.80, lowering the record by 1.02 seconds.
Email
Print
