Business

NEWS’ SUPER BRAWL

JUST in time for Super Sunday, the sports department at the Daily News has been roiled by another controversy that pits the paper’s top sports columnist, Mike Lupica, against sports columnist Lisa Olson, who has quit the paper in a huff.

Olson, a 10-year veteran at the paper, whose columns focused on sports social issues and features, quit last Friday, Media Ink has confirmed after the story was first reported by Web site thebiglead.com.

The site reported that Lupica’s big-footing apparently played a big behind-the-scenes role in Olson’s frustration and resignation from the paper.

“It wasn’t just this one incident, but she had been frustrated with things that had been going for years and Lupica definitely played a role,” said one source.

It reached a boiling point in the frenzy to file stories following the New York Giants’ stunning victory over the Green Bay Packers two weeks ago.

Insiders said Olson was originally assigned to do a story on the Giants place kicker Lawrence Tynes, who went from goat after missing two late game field goals to hero when he made the final one to win the game in overtime.

At the last minute, Olson was told to drop her Tynes line, apparently because Lupica, dashing for a private plane to fly him and his kids back East, said he was doing a similar story about the Scottish-born kicker.

The last-minute switch meant Olson also had to file a new story, which arrived late. Lupica, meanwhile, wrote about Tynes in his story, but never quoted him. When the Snooze doled out its Super Bowl press credentials to 21 people last week, Olson was not among those chosen, despite having covered football all season long, traveling with either the Giants or Jets.

Lupica, by comparison, didn’t begin showing up at Giants games until the playoffs, according to sport department sources.

Neither Lupica nor Sports Editor Leon Carter returned a call seeking comment. Olson could not be reached for comment.

Olson gained notoriety in 1990 when, as one of the first women allowed in the men’s locker room of a professional sports team, she sued the National Football League claiming sexual harassment from some of the New England Patriots’ players and team executives. Working at the time for the Boston Herald, she claimed she felt she had been the victim of a “mind rape” because of the action of some of the players. Fans were said to have slashed her car tires and threatened her.

Eventually, the NFL investigated and levied fines against some of the players. The team was fined $50,000, and at least one high-ranking Pats exec lost his job.

One source close to the News said it might have been her stormy past that kept her away from the big game between the Giants and the Patriots.

Still, others said if Lupica was orchestrating Olson’s removal from covering the game, it would not be the first time that the long-time columnist had horned in on potential rivals inside the paper.

“Everything falls into place based on what he wants to do,” said one source. “He’s like the spoiled kid who is enabled by his parents.”

Sources said that the highly paid columnist – he is reputed to earn $750,000 a year – has far more influence inside the paper than a typical columnist. Indeed, one of Lupica’s kinder nicknames inside the Snooze is “The Little General.”

“He’s like a mafia don,” said one source.

Supe

While tickets to the Super Bowl in Phoenix are hard to come by, the black market to gain entry into the parties leading up the game are proving to be even tougher to snag.

For the past half dozen years, million-dollar parties tossed by leading men’s magazines have triggered a competition almost as intense as what takes place on the field. At stake: bragging rights for best Super Bowl party.

And its getting tougher than ever.

“Nine years ago, it started as a small event, now we’re the premiere party,” boasted Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, whose Saturday night party at The Pavilion at Wild Horse Pass will include 26 Playmates and his four “girls” from the TV show “Girls Next Door.”

He’ll have celeb DJ’s Nick Cannon and Reach, as well as rapper Common.

Since 2002, when the skin mags began joining the action, the parties have started to attract outside sponsors, turning the events into extravaganzas, said Darren Rovell, a sports business reporter for CNBC who first began rating the parties eight years ago when he was at ESPN.

Kent Brownridge, running his first Super Bowl party as the CEO of Alpha Media, the new owner of Maxim, said the magazine will spend $1 million, but “will get more than 50 percent of that back from sponsors.”

“I don’t think you’ll get dollar for dollar back on this, but it’s all about the buzz – how much do you want to be known as having the best Super Bowl party,” said Rovell, who last year rated Playboy’s party the best, dethroning Maxim.

ESPN.com reporter Jemele Hill also gave Playboy the crown last year with a 9.5 rating, vs. Maxim’s 9.0. rating.

Maxim last year had Fergie performing, but this year it is not disclosing who will provide the live entertainment for the party, which will be held at the grand opening of the Stone Rose Lounge in the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess.

The magazine is promising tonight’s party will feature a “surprise guest” along with featured DJ’s AM, Vice and Eric Cubeechee and Echo. The event will be broadcast live on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Attendance is expected to surge from the 1,200 who showed up last year to 1,700 this year.

Playboy is expecting 2,000 at its party.

Penthouse usually goes all out, but last year, Hill only gave the magazine’s party a 7.0 because the guy-to-girl ratio was about 6 to 1. “You have to balance out that male to female ratio or it can die fast,” said Hill.

Though magazines are typically the best party tossers, this year they are not alone in their bids to outdo one another. Sean John tossed a bash last night in which he scooped up just about all the Cristal champagne in Arizona.

Last year, ESPN The Magazine lost points because its sushi seemed to get a little ripe sitting in the warm Miami Beach air. This year, it is sticking with hors d’oeuvres and is splitting the party into a two-day event.

Today there will be a VIP party at the Scottsdale Performing Arts Center with a special live performance by Ludacris. About 1,000 are expected at that event.

Then tomorrow afternoon the magazine will toss a party for 10,000 that is one of the few open to the public. It will also be staged over 21 acres at the Scottsdale Performing Arts Center. Rapper Soulja Boy Tellem will perform and hold a “Crank That” dance challenge with athletes.

Sports Illustrated, meanwhile, is holding party at the Barcelona Club in Scottsdale with The Roots, and 800 guests are expected. Among the bold-face names expected to attend, NBA MVP Steve Nash and “Dancing with the Stars” contestant and former Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis. And, of course, swimsuit models from the magazine’s special issue that comes out next week.

“We’re literally turning people away,” said an SI spokesman.

keith.kelly@nypost.com