Sarah Talalay
Sports business columnist

July 2, 2006, 12:20 PM EDT

Continuing the melding of sports and entertainment, the NFL Network has tapped OutKast video director Bryan Barber, whose first feature film, Idlewild, is to debut next month, to direct a series of commercials for its new program NFL Replay, set to debut this fall. The program will re-broadcast the weekend's four best NFL games -- two on Tuesday and two on Wednesday -- with additional footage, postgame interviews and highlights.

The spots, filmed at the Sony lot in Los Angeles last week, feature eight players, including five former University of Miami players, who sing or lip sync an updated version of The BusBoys' Did You See Me.

"We wanted to find an advertising campaign to get people talking about the re-airs," said Judy Fearing, NFL Network senior vice president of marketing.

Oakland Raider and former 'Cane Warren Sapp will sing about watching games on Sunday, popping up from behind a couch that then breaks apart to reveal a football field. Washington Redskin and another former 'Cane Clinton Portis will appear in different flashy outfits, like he does for postgame interviews. The other former UM players are Ray Lewis, Willis McGahee and Jeremy Shockey, who join Tony Gonzalez, Keyshawn Johnson and Chad Johnson in the spots.

"We coincidentally ended up with Miami guys," Fearing said. "They have really big personalities."

The spots will begin airing Aug. 1 on the NFL Network, as well as during NFL preseason games.

The 400's club

The Dolphins are trying to give Dolphin Stadium's upper deck a personality.

They've dubbed the 34,500 seats "The 400" and are adding amenities for the 2006 season including: shade and cooling misters in areas called PolarZones; live music; a 400 Fins Force entertainment team; cheerleader and NFL alumni visits; more food choices; "The 400" branded apparel and merchandise; and special promotions and giveaways.

The enhanced 400 level was the result of fan research the team conducted as part of its effort to improve the fan experience, Dolphins Enterprises CEO Joe Bailey said. The improvements are just a part of the team's overall plans, which include the ongoing renovation of the stadium.

PHOTO FINISHING

TSS (also known as The Sports Section) Photography, which specializes in youth sports photography, has been helping fill seats at Marlins games this season. The company, which began partnering with the team last year, takes photographs of youth sports teams and last year sold more than 500 seats to Marlins games by including tickets in special photo packages of kids in Marlins-themed photos, sports cards and magazine covers.

This year, the company, which takes photos of about 70,000 kids involved in youth sports a year, is pitching Marlins group discounts and other ticket specials at youth league events it attends and via e-mail newsletters, said Mitch Ziffer, president of TSS of South Florida based in Margate.

Loose change

The 12-day Nasdaq-100 Open tennis tournament pumped more than $166 million into South Florida economy this spring, when the tennis world converged on Crandon Park Tennis Center on Key Biscayne, according to an economic impact survey by Fort Lauderdale-based Sport Management Research Institute.

Starting next year, baseball fans will be able to take their fan loyalty with them to the great beyond. Major League Baseball has signed a licensing agreement with Eternal Image that allows team names and logos to appear on funeral caskets and urns.

Sarah Talalay's sports-business column appears every other Sunday. She can be reached at stalalay@sun-sentinel.com.

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