Tag: nfl

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • IPG, the parent company of mega-agencies Weber Shandwick, Golin and others, has reduced its headcount by 2,400 positions, or about 4.5%, in the first half of the year, according to regulatory filings.
  • Meanwhile, WPP reported a 10.2 percent drop in revenues for the first half of 2025, and a 47.8 percent drop in operating profit. WPP owns Hill+Knowlton, BCW and Ogilvy, among other large agencies.
  • WNBA players are enduring a new trend of sex toys being thrown from the stands onto the court. It has happened in three games over the past two weeks, and is threatening to become a regular occurrence. Now questions are being raised as to whether crypto bros are behind it.
  • Former Kansas City Chief and Minnesota Viking Jared Allen split his pants performing his signature calf-roping sack dance during his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
  • Colleagues are distancing themselves from San Francisco KOB-TV reporter Griffin Rushton after he got a little … amorous? … with a dinosaur statue during a live shot.
  • The NFL sold a host of its media assets – the NFL Network, linear distribution rights to RedZone and NFL Fantasy, among others – to ESPN in exchange for a 10% equity stake in the sports network. Bottom line – I wouldn’t count on ESPN and its journalists or analysts being particularly critical of the NFL going forward.
  • A retired Aurora police detective kept “30 boxes of investigative material in his home under his floorboards,” and Aurora’s police chief says it may not constitute a crime. He did acknowledge that the records breach was “unacceptable” and raises “legitimate concerns.”
  • Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is fighting back after President Donald Trump called for his resignation due to alleged “investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.”

Who won the week?

  • CORRECTED RESULTS: PRSA Colorado announced its annual Gold Picks awards this week, and using the proprietary Denver PR Blog formula (3 points for the Grand Gold Pick, 2 points for Gold Picks, 1 point for Silver Picks), the following were the agency winners:
    • Schroderhaus – 10 points
    • Sidecar PR – 8 points
    • Linhart PR – 7 points
    • Barefoot PR – 3 points
    • CIG – 3 points
    • Jumel PR – 2 points
    • Philosophy Communications – 2 points
    • ETPR – 1 point
    • Prim – 1 point
    • Root Marketing & PR – 1 point
  • Metropolitan State University was the big winner of the night, including winning the PRSA Colorado Grand Gold Pick award for its campaign, “Simulating the Future of Healthcare.” It also won four additional Gold Picks, and barely edged Schroderhaus with 11 points.
  • Elise Bishop has joined the PR firm Jack Taylor as a VP.
  • Real estate news service CoStar Group hired Elisabeth Slay to cover residential real estate in Denver. Slay has been with Colorado Community Media for the past two years as a reporter. 
  • Kendrick Castillo, the teen who died trying to protect his fellow students during the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019, has been nominated for sainthood.
  • Denver-based Palantir Technologies was awarded a $10 billion U.S. Army contract, yet another win in a string of them that has helped push its stock price up 600% over the past year. Great news for the company but not such great news for privacy advocates.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ 1 Comment
  • The Girl Scouts of Colorado say they could lose millions of dollars in cookie sales due to the King Soopers strike. “We’re respecting the strike and the picket lines, but also being creative and really banding together and making calls and doing whatever we can to support the girls,” said Leanna Clark, CEO.
  • Six years – SIX YEARS – after a Comcast–Altitude Sports carriage dispute blacked out Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets games for most of Denver, the two companies agreed to a new television deal that reflects the terms essentially offered back in 2019. What did fans miss in those six years? Two championships and four MVPs.
  • 9News parent company TEGNA has laid off its 20-member VERIFY fact-checking team whose mission was “to stop the spread of false information.” I’d love to hear the “Next with Kyle Clark” editorial commentary on that decision.
  • Media outlets have been dismissive of President Donald Trump‘s strategy of using “deceptive advertising” claims as a legal strategy to sue media he doesn’t like (CBS, Des Moines Register, etc.), but now some First Amendment lawyers are growing concerned it could actually lead somewhere with the current U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Few Colorado school districts are taking the Denver Broncos up on their generous offer of free “smart” football helmets. Districts are concerned about potential liability and student privacy. The Broncos intended to donate more than 15,00 helmets statewide at a cost of about $12 million.
  • Karla Sofia Gascón, the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for an Oscar for best performance by an actress in a leading role, has apologized for since-deleted social media posts in which she appears to attack Muslims, George Floyd and the lack of diversity at the Oscars. She probably only needed to apologize for two of those.
  • Waffle House is charging a $0.50 surcharge per egg due to the shortage caused by an aggressive strain of the avian flu. Speaking of bird flu, you may want to stock up on milk and butter now. A new strain has started infecting dairy cows.
  • The cost to insure a car in Colorado increased 26% last year, one of the largest jumps in the nation. The biggest jump was Minnesota at 58%. Extreme weather, including hail, is driving the increase in our state.
  • Side hustles are all the rage, but the NFL cannot be happy that the president and head of communications of the New Orleans Saints have gotten caught up moonlighting in a local Catholic diocese sex abuse scandal. Emails show that team representatives may have persuaded city prosecutors to remove some names from a list of clergy members accused of abuse that was released, and the PR head gave media interview critiques to church officials.
  • Colorado could see fewer federal transportation dollars thanks to a new directive from President Donald Trump that prioritizes projects in places with high birth and marriage rates. Colorado has one of the lowest fertility rates in the country.
  • It’s been a tough few weeks for “old” Denver. First, we lost preservationist Dana Crawford and now we have lost Dan Ritchie. The impact of both on the development of Denver was immeasurable.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Edelman is laying off 330 employees as it navigates what it expects to be an 8% decline in revenue in 2024.
  • When we last heard from John Bowlen, the son of former Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, he was being arrested for domestic violence charges in 2015. So, did receiving $500 million from the sale of the Broncos help his situation? Looks like not. Westword reported this week that Bowlen posted a series of statements – “White fucking power. … F**k Black people. White is right” on his Instagram while attending a Broncos game in Las Vegas.
  • The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed while arriving at an investor conference Manhattan in what appears to be a targeted attack. The New York Times noted that the assassination “has unleashed Americans’ frustrations with an industry that often denies coverage and reimbursement for medical claims.” Some users on social media platforms posted sentiments such as “Thoughts and deductibles to the family” and “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
  • In what may or may not be a related story, 24 hours after the shooting Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield dropped its plan to limit the amount time it would cover anesthesia used in surgeries after doctors went ballistic strongly protested.
  • PR Week released its annual rankings of “Best Places to Work,” and as usual it is heavy on the coastal firms. Of the 29 winners, 62% are located in NYC/NJ and 90% are located in coastal states. Only three non-coastal agencies – in Austin, Chicago and Fairfax, Va. – managed to break through.
  • Vail native Mikaela Shiffrin suffered a deep abdominal puncture wound and “severe muscle trauma” during a frightening crash in a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont. It is not clear when she may return.
  • Florida International University fired its head football coach, Mike MacIntire, after his third straight 4-8 season. You may remember MacIntire as the head coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes from 2013-2018.
  • U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley excoriated representatives from Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines at a Senate hearing this week. Hawley proclaimed, “Flying on your airlines is a disaster,” and it went downhill from there.
  • The City of Denver has seized the Wash Park Grille for back taxes. The unpaid taxes reportedly date back to April.
  • The Morrison Police Department, most known for running the most brazen speed traps in the state, has disbanded. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department will now provide police support to the town.
  • An Italian nun was arrested as part of a raid against the mafia in Milan. She is alleged to have served as a go between for the mafia and its jailed members.

Who won the week?

  • Daniel Brogan has sold 5280, the magazine he launched in 1993, to Charity Huff, the owner of January Spring, a Denver-based advertising technology company that works with dozens of niche publishers.
  • Spencer Soicher, the nephew of former 9News sports anchor Drew Soicher, is joining the station as a reporter. His father, Marc Soicher, was a sports reporter at Fox31.
  • 9News meteorologist Laurann Robinson announced she is leaving the station.
  • Jeremy Bloom, the Olympic skier who also starred in football for the University of Colorado and the Philadelphia Eagles, has been named CEO of the X Games.
  • The annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list included three with Boulder connections – social media content creator Alex Haraus; Sristy Agrawal, the cofounder of Mesa Quantum; and Maddie Freeman, the founder of the nonprofit NoSo.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

Who won the week?

  • Boulder‘s Comprise has been named “Agency of the Year” for the fourth straight time by Business Intelligence Group.
  • Philosophy Communications added Phyllis Offee to its team. I’ll give you a minute.
  • The Denver Post healthcare reporter Meg Wingerter will be on maternity leave beginning Monday.
  • A crowdfunding effort has at least temporarily saved The Denver Voice. The Voice’s editor is Elisabeth Monaghan who is well known and loved in Denver’s PR community.
  • University of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders earned more NIL money – $5.6 million – this year than any other college athlete in the country.
  • Seven friends in England who were testing a new metal detector discovered $5 million-worth of Norman-era coins.
  • Taylor Trammell, currently a 27-year-old minor league outfielder enjoying the offseason, played in 10 major league games this year – five for the Los Angeles Dodgers and five for the New York Yankees. As a result, he is assured of a championship ring when the two teams play in the World Series.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Former Denver Broncos and current (for the moment) Washington Commanders kicker Brandon McManus is being sued by two women who say he sexually assaulted them on a team flight last year when he was with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He denies the allegations.
  • A man in Michigan joined a Zoom court hearing about his suspended drivers license while he was driving. The judge immediately revoked his bond.
  • A necklace straight out of the Mr. T collection likely saved a Colorado man’s life when it stopped a bullet, according to Commerce City police.
  • Deion Sanders‘ son Shiloh has filed for bankruptcy. Shiloh has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIL money, but he appears to be trying to get out from under an $11.3 million judgment against him from a civil trial alleging that he assaulted a school security guard when he was 15.
  • American Airlines quickly fired its outside law firm after its lawyers filed court documents blaming a 9-year-old girl for allegedly being secretly recorded in one of its airplane’s bathrooms by a flight attendant. The filing claimed that the young girl “knew or should have known” about the secret recording device. This should serve as a reminder to C-level executives that some lawyers care only about winning in court and do not consider what brand damage they may cause in pursuit of that.
  • Newcomers may complain about the skunky smell coming from grow houses along I-70, but those of us who have been here more than few decades know that the Purina pet food plant is the OG of I-70 nasty smells. Now, a group of nearby residents has filed suit, claiming that the plant emits “rancid” and “noxious” odors.
  • If you are headed to Red Rocks, you may want to closely follow the speed limit. The Town of Morrison‘s new radar camera system ticketed more than 10,000 speeders in its first two weeks. At that rate, Morrison will generate more than $10 million in annual revenue from the system.
  • The Denver Post‘s editorial page team is tightening its requirements for contributed articles after an open-records request identified that a lobbyist actually wrote a column submitted under the name of the mayor of Pueblo.
  • A freak lightning strike in Jackson County, Colo., east of Steamboat Springs, killed a rancher and 32 head of cattle.
  • Denver-based STK Steakhouse had its newest restaurant in Washington, D.C. reviewed by The Washington Post, and it was ugly. Describing his meal, food critic Tom Sietsema noted, “For a moment, I imagine(d) myself at 30,000 feet, eating an airplane meal.”
  • If you were wondering how fashion designer Alexander Wang got Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande and Kylie Jenner to appear in an ad campaign, it turns out they are actually celebrity look-a-likes. I wouldn’t want to be the person that has $1,500/hour attorneys, the FTC and the BeyHive after him.
  • TV networks are scrambling for advertising dollars as the median ages of their viewers continue to climb. Fun fact: the median age of MTV viewers is 51.
  • Nissan issued a rare “do not drive” warning for nearly 84,000 of its cars due to potentially exploding airbags.
  • An Ohio billionaire who apparently does not read the news has announced an audacious new plan – traveling to the wreck of the Titanic in a submersible.
  • Pope Francis has issued an apology after it was reported that he used an offensive slur to refer to gay men in a meeting with bishops.
  • June is Pride Month, but PR Week reports that “many brands are taking a break from Pride this year due to the economy or political opposition to DEI and ESG programs.”
  • Denver’s Carrie J. Austin wrote a letter to the editor of The Denver Post complaining about all the growth that Denver has experienced since she “relocated here in 1995 after having spent more than 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”
  • Bill Walton was a Hall of Fame basketball player and one of the all-time eccentric basketball announcers. Like all of the all-time greats, he was loved by most and hated by some. He died at the age of 71 after a lengthy battle against cancer.
  • Correction: Last week, I expressed surprise that CPR agreed to a settlement with former host Vic Vela that included leaving the door open to collaborate on his “Back from Broken” podcast. CPR’s Clara Shelton let me know that the agreement is that Vela can continue his podcast on his own and that CPR would not be involved in any future editions.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Former Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai Anderson has been ordered to pay $61,000 in legal fees to Black Lives Matter 5280 and its board member Amy Brown related to his unsuccessful defamation suit.
  • The layoffs in the journalism industry continue and are hitting close to home. Colorado Public Radio has cut 15 employees in its audio and podcast production departments, although the station’s newsroom was spared.
  • The Denver Broncos announced they will cut QB Russell Wilson, a move that will count $85 million against the salary cap for a player no longer with the team. In his two years with the Broncos, Wilson earned $124 million in salary and bonuses. The Broncos also cut fan favorite safety Justin Simmons.
  • Comedian Nick Swardson had a melt-down on-stage in Beaver Creek that forced organizers to yank him from the stage. He blamed the effects of alcohol and cannabis edibles for his bizarre behavior.
  • European Union regulators fined Apple the equivalent of $1.95 billion for allegedly “thwarting competition among music streaming rivals.”
  • Three passengers who were aboard the Alaska Airlines flight whose door plug blew out mid-flight are suing Boeing and the airline for $1 billion.
  • And Boeing just can’t catch a break. This week, a tire fell off of a United Airlines Boeing plane shortly after take-off as it was en route from San Francisco to Osaka, Japan.
  • A jury has ordered the Denver Police Department – i.e., Denver taxpayers – to pay a 78-year-old Montbello woman $3.76 million for conducting a SWAT-style raid on her house that found nothing. The jury determined that police did not have reasonable cause to search her house.
  • New York Times crossword puzzle editor and NPR “puzzle master” Will Shortz is recovering from a stroke he suffered last month.
  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn both suffered unusual outages this week.
  • Scammers cost Coloradans about $164 million in fraud in 2023, up 17% from 2022 and nearly double the amount Coloradans lost to fraud in 2021.
  • Liberty University has been fined a record $14 million by the Department of Education for violations of federal law that included failing to issue timely warnings about criminal activity, failing to notify the campus about emergencies and dangerous situations, and not maintaining an accurate and complete crime log.
  • A U.S. House committee unanimously supported a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest its ownership or face an app store ban in the U.S. 
  • Ikon season passes for Alterra resorts will cost $1,249 (up 7.7%), and Vail Resorts‘ Epic passes will set you back $982 (up 8%).
  • About a dozen fans who attended the bitterly cold January playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins suffered such severe frostbite that amputations were required. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, Patrick Mahomes was not one of them.

So, who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

So, who won the week?