OILERS & NFL AID NASHVILLE TORNADO VICTIMS

The Tennessee Oilers and NFL Charities have donated $200,000 to help repair the damage caused by two tornadoes that hit the team’s home city of Nashville, Tennessee last week. On Thursday, April 16, the tornadoes struck unexpectedly, damaging 19 schools and downtown businesses and organizations, including the Red Cross. Oilers Owner K.S. "BUD" ADAMS quickly pledged $100,000 to help in the restoration effort. Adams then called NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE to see if the league would match his gift. Tagliabue immediately agreed and now the United Way of Middle Tennessee will divide $200,000 between the schools and the Red Cross. "Our players have been very active in the Nashville school system, and we were very sorry to hear that the storms caused damage to so many schools," said Adams. "We wanted to do something to help."

MORE FANS TUNE IN – AND CLICK ON – TO NFL DRAFT

The numbers were higher this year. There was even one more pick than last year (for a total of 241) in the annual NFL Draft of college players that was conducted last weekend. But where the increases were more impressive were on television and the Internet. ESPN and ESPN2, which split coverage of the draft from the first pick (PEYTON MANNING) to the last (CAM QUAYLE), enjoyed a 13 percent increase in ratings compared to last year. The two days of selections, interviews and analysis delivered a 2.9 overall household rating encompassing 4.5 million viewers. Meanwhile on the Internet, things were humming. Traffic to ESPN SportZone, NFL.com and a special NFL Draft site generated more than 34 million impressions (page views) and 4.7 million visits. Those totals were noticeably higher than last year. On the NFL Draft site, there were 12 million impressions and 1.1 million visits.

RECORD-SETTING EMMY FOR "NFL FILMS PRESENTS"

Three in a row – a first! That’s the record set this week by "NFL Films Presents" as the syndicated show that will begin its 31st season this year won its third consecutive Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Series. "NFL Films Presents" also became the only syndicated sports series ever to win four Emmys in four different categories in one night – adding Emmy "Outstanding Achievement" awards for features, editing and audio. "It’s nice to know that good old-fashioned storytelling is still appreciated," said "NFL Films Presents" host and NFL Films President STEVE SABOL. This year, "NFL Films Presents" moves from syndication to ESPN and will be shown five times a week.

LARGEST BANK MERGER TOPPED OFF WITH NFL CAPS

What’s the best way to symbolically "cap" off the largest bank merger in U.S. history? Pull on NFL caps, of course, as the CEOs of their respective banks did last week when they posed for photos while announcing a $62.5 billion merger that created the country’s biggest bank – BankAmerica – and the first to stretch from coast to coast. There was HUGH MC COLL, head of NationsBank Corp. of Charlotte, North Carolina, sporting a San Francisco 49ers cap, and DAVID COULTER, chairman of BankAmerica of San Francisco, wearing a Carolina Panthers cap. Each donned the NFL cap of the other’s home city to symbolize the merger.