Sports Biz Daily

Naming Rights On Hold For Cowboys Stadium

2009-03-05T13:35:00.001-08:00

When the Dallas Cowboys play their first game here later this year, team owner Jerry Jones might have a temporary name for his stadium and a lot less cash than he expected.

When the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium opens in June, there may not be a corporate sponsor attached to its name. 'Chances are, there are offers, but they are coming in well below what the Cowboys want,' said naming rights consultant Terry Burton, who is not involved with the negotiations.

A naming rights deal to add hundreds of millions of dollars to his bottom line hasn't materialized, and sports business professionals said Jones might not find a sponsor this year unless he's willing to offer a deep discount. Even optimistic naming rights consultants are saying that a blockbuster deal is probably off the table in this year of economic turmoil.

"Chances are, there are offers, but they are coming in well below what the Cowboys want," said naming rights consultant Terry Burton, who is not involved with the negotiations.

He said the Cowboys would be best served by waiting for the economic downturn to "play out." Burton, owner of Vancouver, Canada-based Dig In Research 2007 Inc., which evaluates sponsorship and philanthropic naming rights deals, said he believes the market could bounce back to previous levels in time for Super Bowl XLV in Arlington in 2011.

However, such a delay means that a sponsor would miss all the publicity surrounding the opening – such as concerts, large-scale tours and other high-profile events – as well as national attention when the Cowboys play their first regular-season game in Arlington.

Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels declined to comment about naming rights negotiations for the $1.1 billion stadium, which is projected to open June 1. Team officials, including Jones, also have declined to discuss specifics in the past.

Daniels also would not say what the team would call the stadium if a naming rights deal weren't in place when it opens.

AT&T officials, who have been rumored to be interested in the stadium's naming rights, said they have not signed a deal with the Cowboys. Sarah Andreani, spokeswoman for the telecommunications giant, said several high-profile stadiums are opening soon, and "we have been approached about most of them."

She declined to say whether AT&T was negotiating with the Cowboys.

AT&T is among the world's biggest corporate advertisers and spent about $1.3 billion to promote its brand last year. Its name can be found from the San Francisco Giants' baseball stadium to the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic to the AT&T Center in San Antonio, home of the Spurs.

Tough Times For Development Around New Cowboys Stadium

2009-03-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

The new Dallas Cowboys stadium was predicted to transform its surroundings into a vibrant urban center comparable to Times Square or at the very least Victory Park.

But the bright lights, restaurants, hotels and pedestrian-friendly shopping district are nowhere to be seen. The severe recession has sabotaged much of the planned development around the $1.1 billion stadium, whose inaugural event will be a June 6 concert featuring George Strait and Reba McEntire.

Aside from road improvements, a row of new town homes and a few more commercial vacancies, the neighborhoods surrounding the Cowboys stadium differ little from when construction began. And the chances of any major development opening in time for the 2011 Super Bowl are shrinking daily.

"We're totally helpless to make that go forward until we're over this problem that we're having," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said. "The economy is beyond anyone's control."

The 1.2 million-square-foot Glorypark retail, residential and entertainment project from Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks is being redesigned after nine months on the shelf and has no timeline yet. Just a few blocks from the Cowboys stadium, Glorypark was expected to be a center of activity on game days and during the week of the Super Bowl.

When the Cowboys kick off their first preseason game in late summer, it's likely that rather than upscale sports bars, the closest dining will be CiCi's Pizza, Panda Express, Pitt Grill and a handful of other small restaurants.

Developers planning the Solaris Plaza hotel, retail and office complex for the historic but long shuttered Eastern Star Home off Division Street called it quits before the project was publicly announced and never even bought the land.

That project was expected to also include parking garages and convention space, according to e-mails sent to city officials in March 2008. It wasn't clear when plans for the development were halted. Portions of the old retirement home were in such bad shape that they had to be demolished, said former owner Hal Thorne, a Grand Prairie lawyer.

The e-mails about Solaris Plaza and others relating to projects around the stadium were obtained as part of a Public Information Act request made by The Dallas Morning News last year. The city appealed to the Texas attorney general's office, which decided that many of the documents and e-mails were public records. The city disagreed and sued the attorney general's office to prevent their release.

Some of the documents were finally released early this year.

Arlington supporters of the new Cowboys stadium hoped that it would be a catalyst for redevelopment in an area dominated by parking lots, motels, auto sales and repair and retail targeting immigrants. The mixed-use developments and pricey condominiums planned for the area would have targeted the more affluent football fans who could afford tickets that cost as much as a few hundred dollars and seat licenses that cost thousands.

The city is contributing about $325 million in funding toward construction of the stadium.

"The city of Arlington was clearly banking on that ancillary development," said economist Bernard Weinstein. "It's not the city of Arlington's fault or the Cowboys' fault that we're having the worst economic downturn since the 1930s."

The adjacent developments were considered particularly important since most of the money generated inside the stadium will go to the Cowboys or toward paying off a portion of their debt.

Since the stadium will also be owned by the city ($325m in funding), it will not generate property taxes.

As far as the Super Bowl is concerned, even if dirt started to fly this week, there's no guarantee that a large, full-service hotel or big mixed-use development near the stadium would be finished in time for the Super Bowl.

Source: Dallas Morning-News

Past Bankruptcies In The Sports World

2009-03-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

With the current economic downturn, here are some of the sports franchises or majority owners who have declared bankruptcy in the past 30 years.

The Pittsburgh Penguins Partners, who owned 100% of the Pens, filed for Chapter XI protection on June 13th, 1975.

The Cleveland Barons, an NHL franchise that started out as the California Golden Seals in 1967 and moved to Cleveland in 1976, were merged with the Minnesota North Stars, who were also having financial problems, in 1978.

Bruce McNall, who owned 28% of the Los Angeles Kings, filed for Chapter XI protection on May 12th, 1995

The Pittsburgh Penguins, then owned by a group headed by Roger Marino, filed for Chapter XI protection on October 13th, 1998

In early January 2003, the Ottawa Senators, who listed debts of $166.2 million, including $50.7 million to Covanta Energy Corp., $40 million to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, $20 million to FleetBoston Financial Corp., and $14.2 million to the NHL, filed for bankruptcy protection

A few days later, on January 13th 2003, the Buffalo Sabres filed for Chapter XI protection, listing $206 million in debt to its 40 largest creditors.

On June 6th, 2008, William "Boots" Del Biaggio, who owned 20% of the Nashville Predators, filed for bankruptcy.

In addition, the Tribune Company, owners of the Chicago Cubs, file for bankruptcy protection on December 9th, 2008; the Cubs were not part of the filing.

The dates of these filings are not strongly related to business cycle downturns. The June 1975 filing by the Penguins took place two months after the March 1975 trough (identified by the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee) and the Del Baggio filing was during the current downturn. The rest took place during expansions. Only one of these franchises, the Cleveland Barons, did not emerge from bankruptcy. In two cases, it was minority owners that were bankrupt.

It's pretty clear that we have not yet reached the bottom of the current downturn. Based on past events, if a North American pro sports team is going to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter XI in the near future, it will probably be a franchise in the NHL, and that franchise is unlikely to disappear. I have not been following the events on the other side of the Atlantic recently, but I would guess that things could be bad for football clubs in the top European leagues.

Sports Teams Using Food To Draw Crowd

2009-03-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

Forced to get creative from the "Great Recession," sports teams — already freezing or lowering ticket prices — are using food to coax us to the ballpark or arena.

It's not a bad idea considering the fact that the CDC says two in every three Americans are overweight.

It's also not a bad idea because like tickets and salaries, the markup on concession items at a sporting event are due for a major correction.

Two minor league teams — the Lakewood BlueClaws and the Trenton Thunder — are offering up a can't pass up type of deal. The teams recently announced that kids, 12 and under, will get a free hot dog, bag of potato chips and 12-ounce soda with their ticket.

But the minor leagues are the minor leagues.

So you can imagine our shock when we heard that the San Diego Padres are now offering the "Five for $5" plan. It's a bucket of popcorn, a cookie, a 22-ounce soda, a hot dog and peanuts for $5 total. As a reference point, the Padres charged $4 for that hot dog and $4.25 for that soda last year.

I'm just going to guesstimate here, but I'm thinking the retail cost of this deal last year probably would have cost you about $18.50. This year, it's $5. That's a 73 percent drop in prices.

Crazy? Nah.

It still makes sense to the Padres. See, the retail cost of these items is around $1. So instead of making $17.50 on the sale of all of these items, the Padres will make $4. The difference of course is that, with the price lowered, the Padres will likely sell at least twice the amount of food and potentially more tickets. Last year, the Padres had their lowest total attendance in five years. If the game is a great background for a cheap dinner, so be it.

Expect more teams to understand this margin correction on concessions is coming pretty soon. The days of $1 hot dog night are over. At least for now, that's going to be every night in many places around the country.

By Darren Rovell, CNBC

Yankees, Bank of America End Sponsorship Talks

2009-02-26T15:14:00.000-08:00

The New York Yankees and Bank of America have ended talks on pursuing a major sponsorship deal.

The deal was being termed as a "pseudo stadium naming rights deal" because the two parties had discussed giving the bank premium branding in the new Yankee Stadium.

On Thursday afternoon, Bank of America confirmed to Newsday that talks were suspended last month.

A Yankees official told CNBC on Thursday that the two mutually agreed to part ways after seeing the heat that Citigroup was getting for putting its name on the new Mets stadium.

New York Yankees spokesperson Alice McGillion released this statement Thursday afternoon:

"During our discussions with Bank of America, we discussed a special relationship, not a naming rights relationship, with the bank at the new stadium. In light of recent events, with the downturn in the economy and the effect on financial institutions including government support of those institutions, we have determined that it is better to enter into a traditional business arrangement with a financial institution."

Both Bank of America and Citigroup received $45 billion in TARP funds.

Source: CNBC

Coyotes Getting A Bailout From Glendale

2009-02-25T07:05:00.001-08:00

The city of Glendale has been quietly bailing out the money-losing Phoenix Coyotes for several months, according to documents obtained by 12 News.

A record of lease payments by the Coyotes shows the city has been letting the team play virtually rent-free at Jobing.com Arena for seven months. Based on past payments, the break could be worth up to $4 million over the course of a year.
The city is giving the team the multimillion-dollar break even as it tries to plug a multimillion-dollar hole in its own budget.

AT&T On Tiger's Bag

2009-02-25T06:52:00.001-08:00

AT&T is the new bag sponsor for Tiger Woods.

For the last nine years, Woods has had the Buick logo on his bag. The two ended their endorsement deal late last year.

AT&T is the main sponsor of the PGA tournament Woods hosts in July and is the presenting sponsor of his main charity event "TigerJam." Yet Woods has never done commercials with the company. Under this expanded deal, Woods will now star in spots.

AT&T said on Monday that it would invest more than $1 billion this year to expand its global telecommunications network. Woods is probably the best spokesman the company could have hired to help them reach that goal.

AT&T is very well accustomed to branding its name on sporting venues and tournaments. The company has naming rights on a pro stadium and arena. SBC had the naming rights to both the San Francisco Giants stadium and the San Antonio Spurs arena. But when SBC purchased AT&T and adopted the AT&T name, it turned into AT&T Park (Giants) and AT&T Center (Spurs). The company also purchased naming rights to the ballpark where the Oklahoma City RedHawks, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, play.

Besides Woods' tournament, they sponsor two other PGA Tour events, including the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the AT&T Classic. They also are the presenting sponsor of the Cotton Bowl.

Despite all this branding, AT&T hasn't done much in the area of associating itself with individual athletes. They ditched their sponsorship of Jeff Burton's No. 31 car last year and ended their deal with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps when it expired in December. Woods will now obviously be their face.

AT&T has held up, to some extent, in this rocky economy. Over the past year, the stock is down 35 percent. That's compared to the Dow being down 42.5 percent and the S&P 500 plummeting 45 percent over that same time period.

Tiger's Foundation Linked With Stanford Financial

2009-02-25T06:49:00.000-08:00

By Darren Rovell, CNBC

The Tiger Woods Foundation has a deal with the troubled Stanford Financial, which is still listed as a platinum partner on the charity's Web site.

At his WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship press conference today, Woods was asked about the relationship, but he didn't give many details about how the foundation will proceed.

The Tiger Woods Foundation has an agreement with Stanford Financial. I wonder if you can explain that and where that stands at the moment and what's going on.

Tiger: Everything is wonderful on our side. The foundation is doing well. Obviously as you said we have an agreement there, but everything is good on our side.

You haven't had any word from them whether that would continue?

Tiger: We're okay.

Easy Tickets? ACC Makes Tournament Tickets Available

2009-02-25T06:46:00.000-08:00

In another sign of the trying economic times, Atlantic Coast Conference officials said Tuesday tickets are available for the men's basketball tournament.

The ACC will make tickets available to the general public for the first time since 1966. They go on sale starting next Monday for the March 12-15 tournament, which will be held at Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

While tournament seats are normally among the toughest in sports to land, ACC commissioner John Swofford attributed the availability to a "unique combination of playing this year's tournament in a dome during very trying economic times."

The Georgia Dome, normally the home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, is the largest venue used for the ACC tournament, seating more than 30,000 in its basketball configuration. Last year, the facility gained notoriety when a tornado struck during the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, forcing the remaining games to be shifted to nearby Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the Georgia Tech campus.

This will mark the second time the ACC tournament has been held at Georgia Dome, and it's scheduled to return in 2012 -- the only time in the next six years the event will leave its traditional home, the Greensboro Coliseum.

"Playing in the Georgia Dome provides a great stage for our conference teams and Atlanta has been a terrific partner," Swofford said in a statement. "Having already sold more tickets to this year's tournament than the capacity of any of our other venues, our schools felt it would be appropriate to offer the remaining tickets to college basketball fans in the Atlanta area."

All available seats are in the upper deck. The entire 11-game book must be purchased at a cost of $363 -- an average of $33 per game.

The ACC did not immediately respond to a query on how many tickets were still available for the tournament.

Tickets are normally sold out in advance through the 12 member schools, but the economic downturn made it tougher to find buyers. This will be the first public sale of tickets since the 1966 tournament, the last held at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, N.C.

Source: AP

University of Northern Iowa To Drop Baseball

2009-02-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Northern Iowa will eliminate its baseball program after this season, a cost-cutting measure officials say will save the school about $400,000.

Athletic director Troy Dannen made the announcement Monday, three days after the baseball team began what is now slated to be its last season.

Dannen noted an expected athletic department budget shortfall of up to $600,000 next year, thanks to a 9 percent drop in state funding.

The baseball program is expected to cost around $485,000 to run in the 2009 fiscal year but only bring in about $87,000 in ticket sales and fundraising.

Northern Iowa also plans to reduce its athletics travel budget by $200,000 and leave some vacant staff positions unfilled to help fill the gap left by state funding cuts.

Northern Iowa coach Rick Heller broke the news to the team Friday -- right after its season opener at Arkansas-Little Rock -- and Dannen spoke with the team for 90 minutes Monday.

"They're emotional. I'm emotional, and they're mad. They should be mad because they've worked hard for a very long time to make this program go. We're at a point where, as much as we want it to go, we can no longer fund it," Dannen said.

Dannen said the athletic department based its decision on potential cost savings, facilities, weather and travel requirements and gender equity issues.

The school said it decided to eliminate one sport rather than spread the cuts across the entire athletic department because of concerns that doing so would hamper the ability of the teams to stay competitive.

The elimination of baseball leaves Northern Iowa with 17 varsity teams, 10 of which are women's programs.

Dannen said that the decision to cut baseball wasn't directly related to the NCAA's Title IX gender equity requirements. He said the school wouldn't have considered dropping any sports if it weren't for the pending budget cuts.

But because 57 percent of Northern Iowa's students are women compared to just 39 percent of its athletes, Dannen said cutting a women's program wasn't feasible.

"This isn't a matter of equity. This is a matter of funding," Dannen said.

The team has 35 players, and the NCAA will let those with remaining eligibility transfer to other schools without sitting out a year. Those who remain at Northern Iowa will have their scholarships honored.

Northern Iowa has gone 248-254-1 since Heller took over before the 2000 season.

The Panthers, who were picked to finish seventh in the nine-team Missouri Valley Conference this season, don't have their own ballpark, playing instead at nearby Waterloo Riverfront Stadium. They'll also spend the first month of the season on the road to avoid playing in cold weather.

Dannen offered a possible, but highly unlikely, plan for saving the program.

He said it would take about $10 million in endowment funds to sustain baseball long-term. If $1.2 million could be raised in the next two months, the baseball team could survive for three years while giving the school time to build that endowment.

But since ticket sales and fundraising isn't expected to crack even $90,000 this year, few expect that to happen.

Northern Iowa's final home game is scheduled for May 16 against Bradley.

"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I'm not mad because I am. I'm angry. I don't particularly like the way [the decision] was handled," Heller said. "I really feel sorry for the players. That's where my focus is right now."

Northern Iowa is the state's second Division I baseball program to be eliminated this decade. Iowa State cut its program in 2001.

Northern Iowa previously dropped men's and women's gymnastics in 1981 and women's field hockey in 1983. Men's and women's swimming and tennis also were dropped in 2002, but the women's teams were later reinstated.

Yankee Stars Caught In Stanford Financial Mess

2009-02-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

Johnny Damon, earning $13 million this season, cannot pay his bills.

Xavier Nady, earning $6.55 million, cannot purchase an apartment in New York.

The Stanford Financial Group scandal extends to Major League Baseball.

The issues facing Damon and Nady — both New York Yankees outfielders and both clients of agent Scott Boras — stem from the alleged $8 billion fraud scheme involving billionaire financier Robert Allen Stanford.

Damon, 35, and Nady, 30, told FOXSports.com on Friday morning that their finances are frozen because of money they have with a Stanford company.

On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission froze all assets of three entities — Stanford International Bank, Stanford Group Co., and Stanford Capital Management — all managed by Robert Allen Stanford. Those were the only three entities whose assets were frozen, according to the SEC filing.

"I can't pay bills right now," Damon said at the Yankees' spring training facility in Tampa. "That started on Tuesday. I had to pay a trainer for working out during the offseason. I told him, 'Just hold on for a little bit and hopefully all this stuff gets resolved.'"

Nady faces similar concerns.

"I'm affected in some ways. I have the same (advisor) as Johnny," Nady said. "He said I didn't have money with Stanford (investments). But all my credit card accounts are frozen right now because of that situation. I'm trying to get an apartment in New York. I can't put a credit card down to hold it."

Boras said his clients have no reason to worry about losing money.

"Our personal-management auditors have looked into the financial elements of it," Boras said. "None of our clients is in any financial jeopardy."

Both Damon and Nady said they were told by their financial advisors that the matter could be resolved within a few days. Damon said he was told that his money was insured by a bank in New York, which Boras identified as the Bank of New York.

First baseman Mark Teixeira, another Boras client who is a member of the Yankees, said he did not have money with Stanford. Third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who also is represented by Boras, was not available for comment.

Damon, Nady and other Boras clients use Personal Management Consultants, a division of the Scott Boras Corporation, to monitor their assets.

Players pay PMC a percentage of their earnings on top of the commission they pay Boras. The company employs CPAs who check investments, audit teams, do tax work, and perform other services.

"I talked to PMC, talked to guys at Stanford Financial Group," Damon said. "The first thing they kept saying was, 'You should be OK.' I was like, 'Not should be OK.' They clarified it that yeah, I've got nothing to worry about. But unfortunately, the money is frozen."

PMC does not make actual investments, Boras said.

"We have no link to Stanford, no financial connection to any investment company with any of our clients," Boras said. "We do not invest our clients' money and receive no compensation for it, unlike other agencies."

On Thursday, The New York Post reported that IMG, a sports management agency, quietly agreed to steer clients looking for investment advice to Stanford Financial Group, potentially exposing them to millions of dollars in losses resulting from the financial firm's alleged fraud.

According to the report, which cited three sources with knowledge of the situation, IMG and Stanford have a quid-pro-quo agreement under which Stanford Financial pays IMG a low- to mid-seven-figure consulting fee in exchange for IMG advising its clients to have their money managed by Stanford.

IMG has denied the quid-pro-quo charges.

The SEC alleges that Stanford ran an $8 billion fraud that involved luring customers into buying certificates of deposit that carried "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates." Stanford's operation claimed the CDs were backed by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"I have not gotten into the CDs," Damon said. "But I will tell you one thing: When I did see the CDs that were that high, I thought, 'Why don't I just do that?' It's a good thing I didn't."

Still, both Damon and Nady said they were uneasy about the state of their finances.

"I hope we're all safe," Nady said. "You're concerned because of things that have happened these last few months. To get that kind of news is never good news. You've got to hope you're OK."

Asked if the situation makes him nervous, Damon responded candidly.

"It does," he replied. "I'm not sure if the banks we owe mortgages would understand our money's frozen, start putting penalties on stuff. The whole financial world is all messed up right now. Hopefully they will go on a case-by-case basis. I'm not sure the mortgage is going to be paid this month. But hopefully it's only a couple of days."

Source: Fox Business News

15 NBA Teams Borrow From The League

2009-02-18T18:06:00.000-08:00

As if one needed more proof as to whether or not the economic recession is affecting sports, the NBA announced that they will be borrowing $175M, in a private placement deal, to help “bailout” some of the teams in the league.

The NBA is set to borrow $175 million on Feb. 26, marking one of the first league financings since the crash of the credit markets last fall.

“In general, the NBA has a league-wide credit facility, just like the other leagues do. The league had already utilized the major portion of that,” Martins said. “The league went out to the 30 teams and asked if they were able to get another line of credit, would we be interested? We said, ‘Yes.’ “

The league surveyed its 30 teams, and 15 were interested in acquiring a loan. Each of the 15 teams can borrow a maximum of $11.7 million from the debt proceeds.

The private-placement deal was arranged by JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. In a private placement, non-banking lenders such as pension funds and insurers extend the cash, commonly at fixed rates for five- to seven-year terms and at rates higher than what banks offer for floating-rate loans.

Harvey Benjamin, the NBA’s executive counsel for business and finance, said it’s important not to compare the rates with what the NBA had been paying before the credit market collapse — about 200 to 300 interest points less for similar debt, sources said — but rather, what borrowers of similar standing are paying in today’s environment. In that light, he said, the 8.27 percent the NBA will pay on $100 million of the debt, and the 7.45 percent on the remaining $75 million, is favorable.

A New Football League? That's Guts!

2009-02-17T16:32:00.000-08:00

It's the most improbable story in the sports business industry so far this year.

While sports leagues try to figure out exactly how they're going to deal with this economic downturn, a new sports league is being announced today.

It's called the United Football League and its season, dubbed "UFL Premiere," is scheduled to kick off in October with four teams that will play a six-game season in at least seven cities.

Led by former NFL executive and agent Michael Huyghue as commissioner and prominent sports marketer Frank Vuono as chief operating officer, the season has been financed through $30 million of capital provided by a group of investors including investment banker Bill Hambrecht, Google senior vice president Tim Armstrong and Paul Pelosi, the husband of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

The cities where the teams will play are: Las Vegas/Los Angeles, New York/Hartford, Orlando and San Francisco/Sacramento. Players are expected to be signed, at what the league says will be salaries higher than NFL minimums, starting this summer. They will be trained and housed in Casa Grande, Arizona, where the league says a $20 million training complex is being constructed.

The league says the average ticket price will be $20 to $25 per ticket and the single-entity league will do its best to lure the crowds by assigning players to areas where they played their high school, college or professional football. The financial model hopes for 20,000 to 25,000 fans per game in the first season.

The announcement comes after the Arena Football League announced plans to fold up for at least the 2009 season, and maybe forever. It also comes eight years after the XFL played its first game. That league, co-owned by the WWE and General Electric, folded after one season.

Asked if he’s scared that people will immediately shoot down the idea of the league being successful given the XFL’s past and the fact that they’ll be playing during the NFL and college football seasons, Frank Vuono told us, “I kind of like that.”

“People have been telling me I can’t do things most of my life,” Vuono said. “That motivates us. That and the fact that the business community doesn’t really know much about what we’re going to do.”

Vuono says there will be advertising on jerseys and sponsors in eight categories will have exclusivity. He also said that when the league is established, the idea is to have it trade publicly. It was Hambrecht who convinced Google to use an internet-based auction for their IPO five years ago.

Unlike the XFL, Vuono says the NFL will be “quietly happy” with the startup. “It will be like putting 200 people on their practice squads,” Vuono said.

League officials say they are in final negotiations with a television network and the venues where the games will be played.

Stanford Financial Caught In $8b Fraud

2009-02-17T16:20:00.001-08:00

The sports world is reeling today after the SEC accused Robert Allen Stanford of the Stanford Financial Group of massive fraud.

Stanford made huge investments in the sports sponsorship world, so much so that the London Times recently named Stanford the 65th most powerful person in the business of British sports.

The athlete with the most to lose is golfer Vijay Singh, who signed a big sponsorship deal with Stanford earlier this year. Stanford is the sole logo that appears on Singh's hat and shirt. Singh's agent Clarke Jones did not return calls for comment, so it is not known how much money Singh got up front or whether he invested any money with the firm.

Other golfers said to have relationships with Stanford include Henrik Stenson, Camilo Villegas and Morgan Pressel. Villegas wears the Stanford Financial logo on the side of his cap.

Stanford Financial recently pulled out money from his worldwide cricket tournment called the Stanford Twenty20 Super Series. But there are many more deals that are still active.

Stanford is one of many host sponsors of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, the fifth largest tennis event in the world which will take place from March 23-April in Florida. Tournament director Adam Barrett said that it's most likely that Stanford paid up for the majority of its 2009 sponsorship bill. "We're hearing about this along with the rest of the world today," Barrett told us. Stanford Financial has been a sponsor of the tournament for five years.

More exposed, certainly for the future, will be the PGA Tour's Stanford St. Jude Championship, which will be played June 11-14 in Memphis. PGA Tour spokesman Chris Smith said the tour has no comment at this time. The company started sponsoring the tournament in 2007.

There are so many deals here we simply didn't have time to reach out to others before the business day ended. Stanford Financial has a commitment to sponsor the year-ending LPGA Championship and a big naming rights deal with the Miami Heat. The company sponsors one of the entrances to the American Airlines Arena, where the Heat play and they have co-sponsored many events with the team, including a recent Miami Heat Celebrity Cook-Off Event last month.

Real Madrid, Manchester United Top Richest Soccer Clubs

2009-02-12T14:49:00.001-08:00

Manchester United have come second in the list of the world's richest clubs, while Real Madrid stay top for the fourth year in a row.

Deloitte's Football Money League, based on financial information for the 2007/08 season, features seven English clubs in the top 20 positions.

The authors said that United would have been top of the Money League if the pound was still at June 2007 levels.

Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Exchange rate factor

"If the exchange rate value of the pound had not depreciated, there would have been nine, rather than seven English clubs in the top 20 and Manchester United would have topped the Money League ahead of Real Madrid," said Dan Jones, partner in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.

United won the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League in 2008, posting a significant 21% pound-denominated revenue growth. Real Madrid posted only a 4% revenue increase.

WORLD'S WEALTHIEST CLUBS BY REVENUE
1) Real Madrid: $414.02m
2) Man Utd: $367.49m
3) Barcelona: $349.32m
4) Bayern Munich: $334.15m
5) Chelsea: $304.28m
6) Arsenal: $299.13m
7) Liverpool: $238.68m
8) AC Milan: $236.88m
9) AS Roma: $198.45m
10) Inter Milan: $195.59m

Source: Deloitte: 2007/8

Lancaster Barnstormers Convert Ballpark To IcePark

2009-02-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

Is your organization looking for new ways to generate revenue during the off-season? Are you looking for ways to cross-promote your organization during the off-season months?

For three consecutive years, the Lancaster Barnstormers have successfully converted their ballpark into a winter wonderland for fans within the local community. The Barnstormers teamed up with Lancaster County Hyundai and the Lancaster County Motors Subaru Superstore to feature the "Ice Park at Clipper Magazine Stadium". The team sees the ice skating initiative as a great way to generate incremental revenue and buzz during the off-season months.

From December through March, the team erects a 135'x80' ice rink in the outfield of Clipper Magazine Stadium that is made available to fans for skating on Thursdays (6-10pm), Fridays (6-10pm), Saturdays (12-10pm), and Sundays (12-6pm) of every week. In addition, the team offers group sessions and Ice Park birthday parties on weekdays at a select price.

In 2007, the Ice Park attracted over 15,000 people out to the ballpark, willing to pay $9 per ticket for the experience ($6 if they owned their own skates). The team closes the rink when temperatures rise above 50 degrees.

The A-Rod Brand Is Tainted

2009-02-12T09:02:00.000-08:00

Alex Rodriguez's image transformed in a three-day span, costing himself millions of dollars in future endorsements.

Marc Ganis, president of the consulting company Sports Corp. Ltd., said Rodriguez will be viewed differently by fans and sponsors as his home-run total climbs from 553 and nears Barry Bonds' mark of 762.

The A-Rod brand has been tainted.

"He is going to have a cloud over him, particularly as he approaches the home run record, where before this revelation, he was considered the anti-Bonds, the guy who was going to get the greatest record in all of sports back into the hands of a clean athlete," Ganis said Tuesday. "He will always have this postscript. Sponsors don't like postscripts."

Baseball's highest-paid and perhaps most-talented player, Rodriguez said Monday that he used banned drugs from 2001-2003 while playing for Texas. The admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported that his name was among 104 players on a list seized by federal agents five years ago.

Rodriguez was at the University of Miami's campus Tuesday morning for a workout session, with several photographers staking out the gym he frequents and surrounding his vehicle. He did not comment.

Rodriguez is to be the headline attraction at the school's annual baseball banquet Friday night, when the Hurricanes' home park gets renamed in honor of the $3.9 million gift he gave Miami in 2003.

Manager Joe Girardi, speaking on WFAN radio, predicted his players will rally around the three-time MVP. He's spoken with Rodriguez and texted.

"He's been through so much already as a person, as a Yankee, as a baseball player, and I think it's just another challenge for him," Girardi said. "And the one thing that I think Alex loves is challenges."

Former AL MVP Jose Canseco, who in a pair of books revealed details on drug use in baseball, hopes to meet with commissioner Bud Selig and Fehr.

"I think I have the ear of the nation now," Canseco said. "I think everyone realizes I have not in any way, shape or form tried to create smoke and mirrors like Major League Baseball has and the players have. I have been excruciatingly honest about what's going on in baseball."

The list was a spreadsheet seized by federal agents from Comprehensive Drug Testing in Long Beach, Calif., in April 2004. The agents had a search warrant for the testing records of 10 players involved with BALCO. When they saw the spreadsheet, agents obtained additional search warrants, copied the entire computer directory and took the records of all the players.

Test samples and records were to remain anonymous and be destroyed, but MLB and the players' association couldn't arrange for the destruction with the test companies between Nov. 13, 2003 — when the results were finalized — and that Nov. 19, when the union became aware of the subpoena.

The players' association filed motions to get the records back and won in three U.S. District Courts. But a 9th circuit panel reversed in a 2-1 vote in December 2006, a decision the panel mostly reaffirmed in January 2008.

The full 9th Circuit then threw out that panel decision and decided to have 11 judges hear the matter. It included five judges appointed by Bill Clinton, four by George W. Bush and one each by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Oral arguments were heard in December, and it's uncertain when a decision will be issued.

"I think it's too close to call. These are very hard issues and they're new issues. It's really hard to predict," said Orin S. Kerr, professor of law at The George Washington University Law School. "This is a lawyers' battle for people that can hire very good lawyers, and that's not true in most criminal cases."

Prosecutors want to ask the wider group of players where they obtained steroids, which might advance investigations. The players' association, citing privacy rights, claims the search violated the Fourth Amendment.

The case, which could wind up before the Supreme Court, might define what "plain view" means in the digital age. Or the 9th Circuit could decide it on procedural grounds.

"It really depends on how they write it. So this could be an extremely important case, and it could be a very narrow case," Kerr said. "It's an unusual case in that the information has value outside the criminal case, which is not normally the case."

Citi Stands By Mets Naming Rights Deal

2009-02-03T10:42:00.001-08:00

As the days go by, the pressure seems to be mounting on the folks at Citi to get out of their 20-year, $400 million naming rights deal with the New York Mets.

Citigroup has received $45 billion in government bailout money and some believe the deal for the new stadium is therefore not the best use of funds.

Despite all the noise, including a front page story in the Wall Street Journal today, the Mets just sent us this statement.

"In conversations this morning, Citi reinforced that they will honor our legally binding agreement."

Costas To Join Upstart MLB Network; Remain At NBC

2009-02-03T10:39:00.001-08:00

Bob Costas, a 19-time Emmy Award winner and NBC broadcaster, has signed a multi-year contract to join the upstart MLB Network, CNBC has learned, though he will remain at NBC Sports.

The MLB network, which debuted on Jan. 1 as the largest launch in cable history at 50 million homes, will announce the news later today.

Costas will host original programming on the channel and will serve as play-by-play commentator for a select group of regular season games broadcast by the network, which is owned by the league.

"Bob's love for baseball is well documented and very sincere," said his agent Sandy Montag of IMG. "When this opportunity came up, it made a lot of sense. The network's distribution out of the box is strong, the management is strong and the place looks great."

He is the author of the bestseller, "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball," which was written in 2000.

Montag also said the network's geographical location was also a plus. The MLB Network is based in Secaucus, N.J., close to New York, where Costas now lives.

Costas, who hosted NBC's recent coverage of Super Bowl XLIII, will continue his responsibilities with NBC Sports, including hosting the Olympics and the Sunday Night Football show, "Football Night in America." Costas has been with the network since 1980.

As part of the deal, Costas will leave HBO, where he hosted "Costas Now" and "Inside the NFL" over the last eight years.

Although a deal wasn't finalized at that point, Costas interviewed Don Larsen and Yogi Berra for the network as part of its rebroadcast of the 1956 World Series perfect game, which was the first thing viewers saw when the network debuted on Jan. 1.

Costas will host a new one-hour program for the network called "MLB Network Studio 42 with Bob Costas."

His first interview, with Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre, will air on Thursday, Feb. 5.

Chiefs Change Supermarket Sponsorship

2009-02-02T12:28:00.001-08:00

Say so long to “Chiefs and Chopper.”

After nearly three decades, the homegrown Price Chopper chain will no longer be the Kansas City Chiefs’ “official” grocery sponsor. Price Chopper said the Chiefs indicated that when the sponsorship contract ran out in March, Iowa-based Hy-Vee Food & Drug would take over.

“Price Chopper has been a sponsor for 28 years, back when the Chiefs were building their fan base and the stadium wasn’t as full as it is now,” said Phil Hermanson, a spokesman for Price Chopper. “Being a local company, Price Chopper wants to support the Chiefs.”

Hy-Vee declined to comment, referring calls to the Chiefs.

Tammy Fruits, vice president of sales and marketing for the Chiefs, said the National Football League team had a “long and good relationship” with Price Chopper, but she confirmed that the contract was ending. She declined to elaborate “out of respect to our partners.”

Industry experts say grocers depend on community support and that one way to garner that is by supporting things the community cares about — from local schools to major-league sports teams.

Indeed. Sports have become one of the largest categories of sponsorship spending in the United States. IEG, a Chicago research firm, estimates that sports leagues and their teams generated $11.4 billion in sponsorship revenue in 2008, compared with $9.9 billion in 2007, a nearly 15 percent increase.

Hy-Vee’s timing may be pretty good. Although the Chiefs’ last two seasons were dismal — the team compiled records of 4-12 in 2007 and 2-14 in 2008 — there is renewed excitement since Scott Pioli was named general manager this month.

Still, overcoming the Chiefs and Chopper connection may be a challenge.

“Hy-Vee bought a category, so they are the ‘official’ grocery. But that only gets them in the game,” said Dave Wilson, a partner of InQuest Marketing LLC, a Leawood-based marketing and communications company that has worked with Price Chopper owners and other grocers. “Then it’s how you leverage it.”

The Chiefs logo has been prominent in Price Chopper ads and in the stores. Players, team owners, broadcasters, cheerleaders and even the KC Wolf mascot have made guest appearances at Price Chopper supermarkets. And the chain used the Chiefs to push its deli value meals called Wolf Packs.

How Hy-Vee handles the sponsorship remains to be seen.

“In the early days, Price Chopper would buy out remaining tickets — sometimes thousands — so the local game would be televised,” Wilson said.

William Chipps, senior editor for IEG, said Hy-Vee, which is based in West Des Moines, Iowa, probably had to offer something “pretty extraordinary” to the Chiefs.

If the chain offered more money, Hy-Vee has the luxury of spreading costs across its region of 225 stores in seven states. Price Chopper is a local banner of Associated Wholesale Grocers with 48 locations in Kansas and Missouri.

In response to losing the official sponsorship, Price Chopper recently made a “major commitment” to advertising within KCTV-5’s telecasts of Chiefs games and pregame and post-game specials, along with “Locker Room” and “Kick-off” shows.

Super Bowl XLIII Winners and Losers

2009-02-02T12:10:00.001-08:00

By Darren Rovell, CNBC

WINNERS

Santonio Holmes: His 131 yards receiving and amazing game-winning TD grab secured him the MVP, the Disney World spot, and a nice pension of sorts from the collectible world for always being a Super Bowl MVP.

The Business of the Super Bowl

Dick's Sporting Goods: the Pittsburgh-based sports retailer hit the jackpot with the Steelers winning. They have virtually no competition in Pennsylvania, made a huge bet on the Steelers winning it all and it will pay off to the tune of major sales of full priced merchandise -- a rarity in these times.

The NFL: Incredible championship games like this help separate the NFL from the rest of the major sports leagues.

James Harrison: The NFL Defensive Player of the Year, previously cut three times by the Steelers, will forever be known for the amazing 100 yard touchdown return.

Disney: Not only did they get Roethlisberger and Holmes on the contingency list so that they had them "Going To Disney World" after they won. But officials with the company were surprised when Bruce Springsteen finished his set with "I'm going to Disneyland."

Bridgestone: The tire company gets halftime when Springsteen finally says yes. Not only that, two of their ads -- tires on the moon and Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head -- are among the most popular.

NBC: The network still managed to sell out ads to the tune of record revenue and actually gave those who bought second-half spots value for their money.

Ben Roethlisberger: Two titles at such a young age, combined with the tradition and fan base of the Steelers, makes him the most marketable player in the league once again.

President Barack Obama: To our new president's credit, he avoided being politically safe and boldly picked the Steelers, proving that he knows a winner. Getting thanked by Dan Rooney as the biggest member of Steeler Nation in the postgame gave him more cred.

Mike Tomlin: Winning Super Bowl coaches have a long leash. For Tomlin, the youngest coach to win the Big Game, this is the best job security you can hope for.

PUSH

Bruce Springsteen: Sure, it's a big deal to play at the Super Bowl Halftime show. Just see Tom Petty's rise in digital music sales last year. But the crowd was dead when he was trying to convince them to like his latest, "Working On A Dream."

Michael Phelps: Nothing good can come from evidence of smoking pot, but if there were a day for this story to emerge, you'd want this game, and a five-setter between Nadal and Federer, to bury it deep into the paper.

Kurt Warner: The Arizona Cardinals quarterback still comes away with a book deal, though a bit less lucrative, and another great game to add to his legacy.

El Salvador: They will still get a great donation of "Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl Champion" gear, but the donation would have been larger had the Steelers lost.

Ticket Sellers: After predictions that this would be the worst market ever, no one was getting tickets at face, as too many Steelers fans showed up with no tickets to keep the ticket market soft.

LOSERS

Larry Fitzgerald: An amazing game for the Arizona Cardinals wide receiver -- two touchdowns in less than five minutes in the fourth quarter. But it's hard to get attention in Arizona and Fitzgerald won't get big marketing deals without a championship and a Super Bowl MVP in his hands.

Stanley Druckenmiller: With the Rooneys squabbling over what to do with the Steelers, Druckenmiller appeared to have the cash to do the deal before the Rooneys backed off. Having a championship months after buying the team would have been sweet.

Tampa Business Owners: It's better than normal business, but it doesn't seem like there was a whole lot of spending going on here. Not only were people pouring their hard earned dollars into the game ticket, but there was a big contingent of people staying 80 miles away in Orlando.

Rahal-Letterman Racing In Doubt For 2009 IRL

2009-01-29T13:54:00.000-08:00

The Rahal Letterman Racing team says it is making a last-ditch effort to find a sponsor so it can compete in the 2009 IndyCar Series.

Team co-owner Bobby Rahal said Thursday the situation looks "pretty grim" but he remains hopeful the reeling economy won't prevent his cars from running.

Earlier, Rahal said in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "At this time Rahal Letterman will not be in the IRL in 2009." But he's not giving up.

"We are continuing to search for sponsorship to run the 2009 season and to run in the Indianapolis 500," he said in a statement, "and we feel that there is still time for us to put something together that will allow that to happen."

The IndyCar opener is April 5.

RLR is co-owned by talk-show host David Letterman.

Rod Tidwell Will Be In The House At Super Bowl

2009-01-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

It has confirmed that "Rod Tidwell" himself will be at the Super Bowl as his Arizona Cardinals play in the game for the first time.

Nancy Kane, who represents Cuba Gooding Jr., told us that the actor who won the Oscar for his role as the Cardinals wide receiver in "Jerry Maguire" will be in attendance this weekend in Tampa.

It is not known whether Gooding Jr. will be wearing his No. 85 jersey around town. He attended last year's Super Bowl in Arizona, but spent the previous year in New York City at the 40/40 Club.

Here are a couple interesting tidbits on the Rod Tidwell character:

The No. 85 is currently worn by tight end Jerherme Urban. The best Cardinals player to play in that jersey since the movie (1996) was Rob Moore, whose footage was used in the flick.

Reebok sued Tri-Star because they thought they weren't portrayed in a positive light. As part of the settlement, a Reebok commercial featuring Tidwell was attached to the end of the movie.

Four companies currently have live trademarks to the phrase "Show Me The Money."

It includes the rights to use the phrase on clothing, on slot machines, on radio programs and has even been trademarked by a sports management firm.

The play-by-play announcer for the game against the Dallas Cowboys, where Tidwell had his big catch, was Al Michaels. Michaels will be the play-by-play announcer this Sunday.

Stanford Considering Cutting Sports

2009-01-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

Stanford’s athletic department is projecting a $5 million loss in revenue over the next three years and is considering cutting staff and eliminating some sports teams, The Associated Press has learned.

The school is expected to decide in the next 30 to 60 days on staff cuts, a Stanford employee familiar with the budget issues told the AP on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to discuss the shortfall.

The person also said Tuesday it wasn’t clear which teams, if any, would be considered for elimination—and it likely wouldn’t be until next season so at the earliest in the fall.

“That’s the last thing they want to consider. They don’t want it to affect student-athletes,” the person said, noting another department was looking to eliminate 50 positions from a staff of about 140. “We do have some serious budget problems. We’re looking at other ways (to save).”

Reducing travel costs also was being discussed.

Times are tough all over. Because Title IX essentially puts a cost on men's teams that is not placed on women's teams, how will Title IX be used if it comes to cutting teams?

Despite Poor Economy, Super Bowl Won't Lose Luster

2009-01-24T14:33:00.001-08:00

The sagging economy has put a hit on plans for this year's Super Bowl, not that visitors to Tampa for the game and hundreds of millions watching on TV will be able to tell the difference.

America's bacchanalian bash in honor of football will still roll for the TV cameras with all its over-the-top glitz. Yet there are signs — fewer and smaller parties, maybe not quite so many reporters and traveling fans — that the shine will be a little less bright this year.

The game will still be sold out. The town will be crawling with party-hopping celebrities. Hotels will be busy, fans wearing Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals garb will be ubiquitous on the streets, and hundreds of media members will descend to cover the event, which will still likely be the nation's most-watched TV broadcast this year.

The impact of the nation's economic woes on the event are more subtle.

The Super Bowl Host Committee had to lower its fundraising goal by $1 million. Corporations that are sponsoring the game are sending fewer bigwigs to town. A couple of the big Super Bowl parties and other events were bagged, others are downsizing, and some media companies — especially hard hit by the downturn and the changing habits of news consumers — are sending fewer scribes to cover the game.

"No one is immune from the economy, not the NFL, not the host committee for the Super Bowl," said Reid Sigmon, the host committee's executive director.

The committee lowered its local fundraising expectation from $8 million to $7 million after sponsorships lagged, but it will still meet its financial obligations to the NFL, Sigmon said. The committee started early and got a lot of the money raised before the economy took a hard turn in late summer, he said.

The auditing firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicted the economy would be a factor on game week, resulting in "fewer visitors and media, a shorter average length-of-stay per visitor, and less spending in the hospitality and related industries throughout the Tampa Bay area."

The projected $150 million in direct spending tied to the game will be about 20 percent off what it would have been if the economy were stronger, the company said in a report Wednesday.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league tried not to spare any expense for this year's event, adding that "we're bullish on the Super Bowl and what it means to America."

If the NFL's private sponsors' party seems smaller this year, it's simply because some sponsors are sending fewer people to the game, which the league sees as its pinnacle event, McCarthy said.

As an "acknowledgment of what our fans are going through," a block of 1,000 game tickets were offered for $500 each — $300 less than the face value of most game tickets, he said.

Tourism officials say it's still too early to tell how well Steelers and Cardinals fans will travel and whether the area's more than 50,000 hotel rooms will fill up. Tampa Bay & Company, the area's tourism bureau, is reaching out to media outlets in the Pittsburgh and Phoenix areas to drum up business.

"We're still expecting 100,000 fans in Tampa Bay," visitors bureau spokesman Travis Claytor said, citing the estimated number of visitors expected for a typical Super Bowl.

The economic woes led Sports Illustrated and Playboy to pull the plug on their traditional high-end Super Bowl parties this year. Sports Illustrated spokesman Scott Novak said "it wasn't the right thing to do," given the state of the economy.

However, there will be no shortage of glitzy fetes and red carpet scenes around town in the days leading up the game. Among the hosts and other big names: Kevin Costner, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson and T-Pain.

The Maxim magazine party is still on; it's just being downsized a bit. More than 1,000 people are expected to attend what has become one of Super Bowl week's most popular affairs.

"We're all cognizant of the difficult economic environment in which we operate, and our party reflects that," said Glenn Rosenbloom, co-CEO of Alpha Media Group Inc., which publishes the men's magazine. "So we're going to have it in a smaller venue and it will be more exclusive."

Viewers at home will get to see plenty of quirky Super Bowl commercials, as usual. Although Super Bowl regulars such as General Motors Corp. and FedEx Corp. opted out of advertising on the broadcast, NBC said it had sold 90 percent of Super Bowl ads as of mid-January.

Most ads have sold for about $3 million per 30-second spot — an all-time high price for the Super Bowl, which will be seen by about 100 million U.S. viewers.

AIG Will Not Renew Man United Shirt Sponsorship

2009-01-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

AIG has confirmed it will not be renewing its shirt sponsorship of Manchester United when the deal expires in 2010.

American International Group Inc. is in the process of restructuring its business and shedding assets to raise funds after receiving a $150 billion bailout last year from the U.S. government.

The company has already ended its decade-long sponsorship of the U.S. Davis Cup team.

The Manchester United deal is worth a reported 19 million pounds ($27 million) annually.

"The shirt sponsorship runs to May 2010," AIG said in a statement given to The Associated Press on Thursday. "There are no plans to renew the deal."

United has already started looking for a new sponsor and has sounded out Sahara, a leading Indian business conglomerate as well as Saudi Telecom.

"We are in dialogue with a select number of companies worldwide," United spokesman Phil Townsend said earlier this week.

Even with the current economic climate, United should have no problem securing a deal better than the AIG agreement. Manchester United is the most popular soccer team in the world and won the Premier League, Champions League and the FIFA World Club Championship last season.

Dolphins Sale Finalized

2009-01-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga was serious about wanting to sell his majority share of the team to co-owner Stephen Ross before Barack Obama became president.

Granted the sale didn’t take place during 2008, which means if capital gains taxes do increase this year, Huizenga is likely to be socked with a higher bill. But from what I’m being told, the deal to sell the additional 45 percent of the Dolphins and Dolphin Stadium was signed before Obama took the oath of office this afternoon.

Ross now owns 95 percent of the team and the stadium and 50 percent of the surrounding land. Huizenga, who maintains his attachment to the team calling the sale “bittersweet,” is hanging onto 5 percent of the team and stadium and half the land. Total value of the deal: $1.1 billion.

But with Tuesday’s deal, Huizenga gave up his last majority ownership in a South Florida sports franchise. In the 1990s, Huizenga owned three teams: the Dolphins, Marlins and Panthers. Huizenga brought both baseball and hockey to the region.

Tuesday began a new era. That wasn’t lost in Ross, a New York real estate developer and part-time Palm Beach resident.

“The United States is entering into a new climate, a new opportunity,” Ross said when asked about the sale being completed the same day Obama took office. “And I saw myself, being able to enter into a new opportunity for me that was very exciting, and I’ve always dreamt of.”

Ross wouldn't discuss the financial structure of the deal, but sources say Huizenga is holding a note on the transaction and allowing Ross to owe him a portion of the balance. He says he has been pursuing investors to buy a stake in the team.

"I always wanted to have a few people join me. And in these times, no one has joined me at this point in time," Ross said adding he is still talking with a few potential investors.

Ross didn’t reveal much about how he intends to run the Dolphins, other than he hopes to build on Huizenga’s legacy. He vowed not to increase ticket prices next season, saying now, in a struggling economy, was not the time to raise prices.

He said he plans to alter the game-day experience, but he didn't offer any details. He’ll examine the stadium and business side of the operation and the possibility for additional renovations or development, he said.

“We’re really looking into all of that and seeing the pricing of all of that and how we might put that together, but I’m examining every aspect of the business,” Ross said.

He said he never intended to offer a job to friend and former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson, who Ross invited to join him at the Dolphins-Baltimore Ravens playoff game.

He is still talking about former USTA CEO Arlen Kantarian possibly joining the team as a business side executive, but “there is no deal.”

And he offered some welcome news to those of us still in the newspaper business:

“When you love a sport which I do, I love all sports and am constantly reading the sports pages,” he said. “Even today, when I read the paper and I read a couple of them, the first section I go to is the sports section. You can’t get that out of your system no matter what you’re doing. I was brought up always wanting to be involved with sports, it’s always a dream. Since I wasn’t going to make it as a player, it was a dream to become an owner.”

City of San Diego Sues Chargers For Back Rent

2009-01-22T19:29:00.001-08:00

Is it too late to funnel some of that bailout money to the Chargers?

In a move that surprised everyone, including the Chargers, the City of San Diego sued the Chargers on Wednesday, for breach of contract.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the city of San Diego has filed a breach-of-contract suit against the Chargers, claiming the team owes the city more than $170,000 for use of Qualcomm Stadium in 2004, including more than $44,000 in accrued interest.

The suit came as a surprise to the Chargers, who noted that the team’s lease with the city calls for any controversy between the two parties to be decided in arbitration – and not in a lawsuit.

The idea behind mandatory arbitration was to save legal expenses and time. Fabiani said he expected the suit to be dismissed because of this lease stipulation.

The city’s suit says the Chargers were obligated to pay $250,000 per game in rent for the city-owned stadium, subject to certain rent credits allowed by the city in the lease. In 2005, the city audited payments by the team for 2004 and found the team underpaid the city by $125,795 as a result of the Chargers claiming skybox rent credits that were previously disallowed by the city for the 1996 through 2000 seasons.

Papa John's Has Special Super Bowl Offer

2009-01-22T19:25:00.000-08:00

Are you looking to create a unique football-themed promotion? Are you looking for an interesting way to tie in a media personality to your promotional offer?

Looking to capitalize on all of the frenzy surrounding the Super Bowl, Papa Johns has created a unique performance-driven promotion that has the potential to reward fans in a LARGE way.

If the opening kickoff of the Super Bowl (Papa Johns uses the terminology "The Big Game") is returned for a touchdown, every consumer who registers* on the Countdown To Kickoff webpage before 6pm on Super Bowl Sunday will become eligible to receive a large, one-topping pizza for just 25 cents. The 25 cent offer coincides with this year being Papa John's 25th anniversary.

Is the promotional offer possible? Yes, very possible - eight (8) kickoffs have been returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history (seven (7) of which have occured since 1984). During the 2008-09 season, thirteen (13) kickoffs were returned for touchdowns (Source: Countdown to Kickoff webpage)

Papa Johns has called on ESPN football personality Desmond Howard, who holds the record for the longest touchdown return in Super Bowl history, to help promote the unique discount offer for fans. The Countdown to Kickoff webpage features a few great viral clips that show Desmond Howard expressing his love for football and Papa Johns pizza while working at a Papa Johns retail location. Papa Johns is also supporting the promotion with a Facebook application/group which already boasts 200,671 fans.

Tribune Chooses Ricketts To Buy Cubs

2009-01-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

The billionaire Ricketts family has been selected by Tribune Co. as the winning bidder for the hard-luck Chicago Cubs, according to several reports.

The bid is worth about $900 million, according to the Web site of the Chicago Tribune, which also is owned by Tribune Co. The sale would include Wrigley Field and a 25 percent interest in a regional sports network, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The selection of Tom Ricketts, a member of the founding family of TD Ameritrade Holding Corp., and chief executive of InCapital LLC, was first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times' Web site.

Both reports cited an unidentified source.

Tribune Co. purchased the Cubs from Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for $20.5 million in June 1981. It put the team on the market on opening day 2007, when real estate mogul Sam Zell agreed to buy Tribune Co.

Cubs chairman Crane Kenney said last week that the team hopes to have a new owner in place by opening day, April 6, but many steps must happen before a sale can be completed.

Ricketts must reach an agreement with Tribune Co., which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. While the Cubs and Wrigley Field were not included in the bankruptcy filing, a sale likely will have to be approved by the creditors' committee.

In addition, a sale must be approved by baseball owners.

Major League Baseball had not been informed by Tribune Co. of the winning bidder as of Thursday evening, a baseball official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions between the team and MLB are not made public.

Other finalists in the bidding included Hersch Klaff, who owns a Chicago commercial real estate firm, and a partnership between two New Yorkers involved in private equity, Marc Utay of Clarion Capital and Leo Hindery Jr. of InterMedia Partners.

Tom Ricketts grew up watching the Cubs on WGN, once lived in an apartment above a bar across the street from Wrigley Field, and met his wife in the bleachers at a Cubs game. His father, J. Joe Ricketts, founded Ameritrade and became a leading online stockbroker, but Tom never worked for that company.

He was a market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and finance executive before starting investment bank Incapital LLC. He has been serving as the family's point man in the bid to buy the Cubs.

If the deal is approved, the Ricketts would acquire a team that hasn't won the World Series since 1908 and hasn't even made it to the World Series since 1945. While the Cubs won the NL Central in each of the last two seasons, they were swept in the first round of the playoffs both times.

Tribune Co. considered selling the team and the famous ballpark separately but rejected a plan from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to purchase the ivy-walled stadium. Kenney said recently that the two would be sold together.

Stewart Adds Burger King

2009-01-22T19:15:00.000-08:00

Tony Stewart is adding another sponsor to his roster for next season.

Burger King has signed a two-race Sprint Cup Series deal to serve as primary sponsor of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. The deal, which is valued at $2.8 million, also includes sponsorship of Stewart's Eldora Speedway dirt track in New Weston, Ohio.

The fast food chain will serve as primary sponsor for the second races at Daytona International Speedway (July 4) and Dover International Speedway (Sept. 27).

"I've been using my team card a lot," Stewart joked at the announcement. "So I'm not starving by any means."

Stewart's primary sponsorship of his No. 14 Sprint Cup entry will be split by Office Depot and Old Spice.

Super Bowl Tickets Falling

2009-01-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

Prices for Super Bowl tickets are falling.

LiveStub, a secondary ticket site that doesn't charge commissions for tickets it sells, says the average selling price is $2,278 per seat. eBay's StubHub has the average this morning at $2,790 per seat.

Considering the average price on StubHub for the last three Super Bowls has been over $3,000 (2008: $3,536, 2007: $4,004, 2006: $3,009), early indications are that it will be a bargain if you can get a ticket to Tampa.

But that could be deceptive based on what happens this weekend. The thinking in the secondary market is that an Eagles-Steelers (all Pennsylvania Super Bowl) could lead to the most expensive ticket ever, while a Ravens-Cardinals matchup could produce the cheapest ticket since the Patriots played the Rams in 2002, when tickets went for $100.

Source: Darren Rovell, CNBC

Cards, Eagles Sell Out In 6 Minutes

2009-01-13T06:58:00.001-08:00

The bandwagon overflowed within minutes on Sunday.

Arizona Cardinals fans starved for success gathered by the thousands at the stadium's box office to purchase tickets for next weekend's NFC Championship.

Most walked away empty-handed as season-ticket holders already had purchased tickets and the 20,000 or so for the general public were gone in record time.

Ticketmaster sold out in six minutes.

The Cards even added more tickets to the mix by upping University of Phoenix Stadium's standard 64,500 seats to more than 70,000.

It was a far cry from the team's first home playoff game a week ago when the NFL had to give two extensions before the game sold out.

Clearly, the team's domination of Carolina on Saturday made believers out of skeptics. The Cards are for real and they're one win away from the Super Bowl.

This Sunday, the dust barely settled on the Philadelphia Eagles win over the New York Giants, which locked in the Cards' second home playoff, when fans converged on the mother ship in Glendale.

Barkley No Longer In T-Mobile's Fave Five

2009-01-13T06:52:00.000-08:00

The repercussions from Charles Barkley's DUI arrest continue.

On Monday, T-Mobile announced that it will be pulling its ad campaign featuring Barkley and Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade. The ads, which originally featured Wade trying to get into Barkley's 'Fave Five', had run since 2006.

In a statement, T-Mobile says that "for the time being, we've replaced TV ads featuring Mr. Barkley with more general-market advertising." It is unknown when, if at all, the Barkley ads will return to the air.

This comes merely three days after Turner Sports announced that the popular NBA analyst would be taking an extended leave of absence from his duties on the NBA on TNT.

D-Backs CEO Resigns; Will Buy Padres

2009-01-13T06:49:00.001-08:00

Jeff Moorad has resigned as Arizona Diamondbacks chief executive officer and says he has reached an agreement in principle to buy the San Diego Padres.

Moorad said Friday he heads a "small but significant" group of investors that has an exclusive right to complete the specifics of negotiations with Padres owner John Moores. Moorad said he hopes the transaction can be completed in the next three months.

Moorad said he has a long friendship with Moores and his wife, Becky, whose divorce precipitated the Padres' potential sale.

Discussions on the potential purchase became extensive after Moores hired Goldman Sachs to oversee the sale of the club in late November, Moorad said.

"We have a lot of work to do," Moorad said on a conference call, "but John and Becky and the folks at Goldman Sachs have been very attentive and focused as I intend to be over the next month or so. I'm hopeful that we can get to the finish line."

The Moores reportedly own 90 percent of the Padres. Community property laws in California give Becky Moores a 50 percent share of that asset and she must agree to any sale.

San Diego owner John Moores confirmed in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Moorad had exclusive negotiating rights to buy the team. Jesse Jacobs from Goldman Sachs didn't immediately return a call or e-mail seeking comment.

Moorad said he would be the majority owner if the deal goes through. He would have to sell his share of ownership in the Diamondbacks if the Padres deal is finalized.

He said he first approached Moores about buying the team when rumors surfaced that the Padres might be for sale.

"I told him that I was very happy in Arizona, that I was very excited about the organization that the Diamondbacks had become," Moorad said, "and that the only thing that would turn my head would be the possibility of returning to California, particularly Southern California."

Moores got back to him "a couple of months ago" to say that indeed he was selling the team, and the talks progressed from there. Moorad said he was required to resign from his Arizona job in order to have exclusive rights to complete negotiations with the Padres. Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall replaces Moorad as CEO.

The Moores would continue to have a share of the team's ownership for a yet undetermined number of years, Moorad said.

The transaction would come in an economy that is reeling on all fronts.

"I think sports teams will be challenged going forward as all businesses will be in the short term," Moorad said, "but I'm bullish on baseball and I'm particularly bullish on baseball in Southern California. I think we've shown in Arizona there are ways to not only survive but win even on a medium-sized market payroll."

Moorad grew up in Modesto, Calif., and graduated from UCLA in 1978 before getting his law degree at Villanova. He and his family lived in Newport Beach, Calif., for more than 20 years and still have a home there.

Moorad was a formidable agent who represented several major sports figures, including baseball's Manny Ramirez and Eric Karros, before he purchased a share of the Diamondbacks in 2004. His connection as an agent concerned other owners, so Ken Kendrick continued to serve as managing partner, representing the team in league ownership issues.

However, Kendrick said those concerns have been erased by Moorad's performance since assuming his CEO position with the Diamondbacks.

"Jeff has established himself through the years with us and I think Major League Baseball, from discussions I've had with them directly, would be comfortable with him controlling an ownership group with another club," Kendrick said.

Moorad also said he's been assured his past as an agent would not be an obstacle to him being a principle owner.

"I think he has roots that are very deep in Southern California," Kendrick said. "To get an opportunity in San Diego is exactly on point for the family in terms of that element of their lives."

Moorad lured many of the current top Diamondbacks officials, including Hall and general manager Josh Byrnes, to their jobs in Arizona. Hall joined the team in May 2005 as senior vice president, communications. Marketing-related issues were added to Hall's responsibilities in December 2005. He was promoted to president on Sept. 6, 2006, and will retain that title in addition to his new CEO position.

Hall called his promotion "bittersweet" because of his long relationship with Moorad, but added that he looked forward to the challenges of his new position.

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

China & Bahamas Building Stadium

2009-01-13T06:43:00.000-08:00

China is offering to help build a national sports stadium in the Bahamas.

The Bahamas’ foreign affairs minister says construction will start early next year in the capital of Nassau. Brent Symonette says China will send the Bahamas a $7.3 million grant as well as Chinese construction workers who will build the stadium.

The Bahamas announced the agreement on Tuesday.

Could be an interesting move. How long before the Bahamas is petitioning the NFL to host a Dolphins game (the Dolphins are very popular in the Bahamas) or maybe some games for the World Baseball Classic? Lets see what develops.

Newspapers Tighten Sports Belt

2009-01-13T06:40:00.000-08:00

The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram will begin sharing some of their sports coverage with each other, the newspapers said Monday, in the latest example of increased collaboration between the one-time rivals.

Beginning Feb. 1, The News will provide its beat coverage of the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars to the Star-Telegram.

In exchange, the Star-Telegram will share its Texas Rangers coverage with The News. The two will continue to cover the Dallas Cowboys separately.

The deal will allow the two largest North Texas newspapers to cut costs at a time of unprecedented business challenges. The troubled newspaper industry faces falling revenue, rising costs and the mass migration of readers and advertisers to online information sources.

“This arrangement allows both papers to reduce expenses, eliminate duplicative stories and still maintain high quality exclusive coverage our readers have come to expect,” said Robert W. Mong Jr., editor of The News, in a memo to staffers.

The two papers will also share coverage of some college teams and a few other sporting events, he said.

The papers do not plan to share each others’ sports columnists, and columnists at both papers are expected to continue commenting on all local sports teams.

In addition, The News plans to supplement its Rangers coverage as it sees fit, and the Star-Telegram is expected to do the same with the Mavs and the Stars, Mong said.

“As I’ve said before, this only works because both papers have nationally recognized sports sections,” he told staffers.

Starting last fall, The News and the Star-Telegram launched a joint distribution agreement in which the Dallas paper delivers copies of its Fort Worth counterpart in Dallas, Cooke, Denton and Ellis Counties.

In return, the Star-Telegram distributes The News in Tarrant, Parker, Hood and Johnson Counties.

The two papers also began sharing some arts coverage and photographs late last year.

Redskins Lay Off 20

2009-01-09T15:36:00.001-08:00

Washington Redskins director of player development John Jefferson was among more than 20 people laid off by the team this week as the economic downtown took its toll on one of the NFL's most valuable franchises.

Salary cap analyst Jimmy Halsell also was released, along with the team's longtime director of publications and a member of the public relations department. There were also layoffs among the team's marketing, legal and technology departments.

The layoffs were first reported by The Washington Post.

Jefferson, the former receiver for the San Diego Chargers and Green Bay Packers, had been with the team for nine years, working with players on off-the-field matters during the transitions in and out of their NFL careers.

Jefferson and Halsell were the only people directly involved in the football operations to lose their jobs.

The Redskins are the second most valuable NFL franchise with an estimated worth of $1.538 billion, according to Forbes' annual rankings. They play in the NFL's largest stadium and have sold out every home game since the 1960s.

Source: Washington Post

Philly MLS Expansion Franchise In Trouble

2009-01-08T18:35:00.000-08:00

The Philadelphia MLS soccer franchise is slated to begin play in 2010.

The franchise owners, Keystone Sports was recently quoted as saying: "I wish we could give you hard commitments today, but we’re not even sure the stadium is going to be built. If the markets tank next month, then we won’t build this thing. We’ll be out $15 million and everyone goes home.”

Aside from the obvious problems arising out of the recession and the markets, there are problems with the governmental authorities involved in the stadium deal, which is probably no big surprise to anyone who has ever followed a stadium project in the last decade or so. The stadium is to be built along the Chester, Pennsylvania waterfront and is to be a public/private hybrid project. The state is kicking in $47 million, Delaware County is putting in $30 million and the ownership group is supposed to come up with the balance of the projected $115 million stadium. The stadium is to be a portion of a $500 million project that would include a mix of office, residential and commercial space, which, of course, has run into market problems.

Whether the problems between the developers and the county can be ironed in time for construction to beat a further market downturn is certainly an open question at this point. This is probably good news for Portland and a few of the other cities vying for the next two expansion slots, as there may now be three openings.

Naming Rights Firm Folds

2009-01-08T18:32:00.001-08:00

The Bonham Group, a Denver-based — but nationally and internationally known — sports marketing company has closed its doors, effective Tuesday, Jan. 6.

The name will continue under a new company, Bonham Sports Entertainment, led by Charles Costigan, former vice president of The Bonham Group’s market insight team, and Rob Vogel, the president and COO of The Bonham Group, Costigan said Thursday.

“I licensed them to use my name in the company, although I don’t own an interest in the company,” Dean Bonham said. “They’re continuing to provide services to our past and existing clients.”

But as for The Bonham Group, Bonham said, “we have closed our doors.”

The 20-year-old company was involved in about 137 discussions around the world involving naming rights on sports stadiums, such as the new, $321 million Consol Energy Center — still under construction — where the Pittsburgh Penguins expect to play their 2010-11 hockey season.

The 21-year naming rights deal between Consol Energy Inc. and the Pittsburgh Penguins was announced in December 2008.

“Dean Bonham is known as one of the forefathers of negotiating naming rights,” said Vic Gregovits, the senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Cleveland Indians.

The Indians signed a 16-year, nearly $58 million naming rights deal with car insurance company Progressive Corp. in January 2008. What was Jacobs Field is now called Progressive Field. The Bonham Group worked with Progressive on the deal.

The company was a victim of the economy’s financial meltdown, according to Bonham.

“We began experiencing problems one and a half years ago when Merrill Lynch, our financial institution, imposed changes,” Bonham said.

Merrill Lynch cut The Bonham Group’s credit lines by more than half and discontinued other credit business, Bonham said.

Merrill Lynch agreed to be bought by Bank of America in September 2008, the deal closed Jan. 1, 2009, after posting about $50 billion in losses and writedowns related to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

“After one and a half years of struggle, combined with the overall general conditions [of the economy] it was a result of our shutting our doors,” Bonham said.

“It’s quite a blow to me personally,” Bonham said. “My entire personal fortune is lost as well as the corporate assets.

“It’s a huge loss for all of is and it’s a shock, but that said, in these economic times, they don’t apply just to the GM’s of the world and the Chrysler’s of the world — it filters down to companies like us as well.”

The company had 16 employees when it closed this week, down from 23 or 24, including an office in London, when troubles started 18 months ago, Bonham said.

Bonham said he would pursue opportunities internationally, as he’s restricted by an employment agreement from doing business in the United States.

Members of Denver’s sports and sports marketing community were shocked and saddened by word of The Bonham Group’s demise.

Matt Yonan spent a decade at The Bonham Group, leaving in 2004 to form his own company, Tigris Marketing.

“They’re incredibly well known,” Yonan said of Bonham’s agency. “When I told people I’d been with The Bonham Group, people would nod, understanding my pedigree. It was a good selling point for me starting my own company.”

Source: Denver Business Journal

Home Depot Drops Olympic Sponsorship Program

2009-01-08T18:21:00.000-08:00

After 16 years as an Olympic sponsor, Home Depot is hanging up its rings.

On Wednesday, the world’s largest home improvement retailer informed 98 employees in its Olympic jobs program that it is ending its sponsorship of the Olympics and Paralympics.

The innovative jobs program had allowed Olympic athletes to work part-time at the Home Depot while enjoying full-time pay and benefits, giving them time to train.

Three Georgia athletes will be affected. They live in Morrow, Savannah and Athens, said Home Depot spokeswoman Jean Niemi, who couldn’t immediately provide their names.

Over the course of the retailer’s 16-year sponsorship, more than 660 athletes participated in the jobs program; 300 Home Depot athletes made Olympic and Paralympic teams; and they brought home nearly 150 medals, 95 of them gold.

Athletes will be paid through March 2. After that, they can stay in their current positions for part-time pay, apply for full-time jobs that become available or leave the company.

Home Depot had been a U.S. Olympic Team sponsor since the 1992 games in Barcelona, followed by the 1996 games in the company’s hometown of Atlanta. The company currently maintains expensive sponsorships for NASCAR and other popular American sports.

Home Depot, a publicly traded company, doesn’t disclose how much it spends on sports sponsorships. Niemi wouldn’t specify Wednesday night how much money it invests in the Olympic jobs program. “We don’t disclose that at all.”

While other companies also sponsor Olympic athletes, Home Depot’s program was high profile: It had used its athletes in advertising campaigns.

In May, before the summer Olympics, 137 athletes were in the program. At the time, the company had said it was weighing whether it would continue its Olympic sponsorship.

Home Depot’s announcement could signal a cascade of ending sports sponsorships, as some big brand names and retailers are suffering from the economic downturn.

Niemi said Home Depot’s decision wasn’t based on the economy, but rather on finding “new ways” to reach out to customers and staffers.

“We came to the decision the time was right to move on and look at other opportunities,” she said. “There are no plans in place as of now as to what to do with the money.”

Summer Olympic games in recent years have been in far-flung locations, from Sydney to Athens to Beijing, where the big box chain doesn’t have a presence, or only a small one, like its dozen or so fledgling stores in China.

Meanwhile, the company has added on expensive sponsorships for NASCAR and other American sports, such as college and professional football.

These sports appeal to the main customer base of Home Depot, as the majority of the chain’s stores — just under 2,000 out of about 2,274 — are in the U.S. market. The company’s other three markets are Mexico, Canada and China. Still, the bulk of the company’s revenue and profit comes from its U.S. stores.

The company’s total advertising and marketing budget in 2007 was $1.2 billion, according to the 2007 annual report, the most recent available.

Several firms track the numbers. One, IEG Sponsorship Report, says Home Depot spent $60 million to $65 million on sports sponsorships in 2007.

The Nielsen Co. reported that Home Depot purchased $25.3 million and $30.1 million in ads during the 2004 Summer and 2006 Winter games, respectively. Nielsen also reports Home Depot spent nearly $12 million on NASCAR ads in 2007, while rival Lowe’s spent $7.7 million.

Even though the Olympic flame is flickering out for Home Depot, in 2008 the company started sponsoring soccer, the NFL and Major League Baseball. The company also backed Tony Stewart, the popular NASCAR driver in the No. 20 Home Depot car in the 2008 season, and this year is backing driver Joey Logano.

GM Renews Daytona International Speedway Sponsorship

2009-01-07T14:18:00.001-08:00

General Motors has renewed its long-time sponsorship of Daytona International Speedway, according to a report Wednesday in the Detroit News.

The deal comes with a cheaper price tag than before and will be on a year-to-year basis, the report said. Financial terms were not released.

Economic woes are wearing on GM, and there was concern that the automaker would be forced to end its sponsorship of NASCAR's most prestigious event.

The new deal was finalized Dec. 19, the report said, the same day the U.S. government announced it would give GM up to $17.4 billion in short-term loans.

"It was a coincidence that the agreement was signed the same day we got the bridge loan," Chevrolet spokesman Terry Rhadigan said, according to the report. "It was in the works when we started discussions back in the fall. Let's just say it's a fraction of what it had been in previous years, dollar-wise."

GM has sponsored Daytona for over 40 years. The Daytona 500 drew 33.5 million television viewers a year ago, and the 2009 race is slated for Feb. 15 on FOX.

Source: Detroit News

Stoops The $6 Million Coach

2009-01-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

When Nick Saban was lured away from the Miami Dolphins to resurrect the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football program, he was lured by a contract that was said to be the richest ever offered to a NCAA football coach.

Whether that remained true before this season, I'm not sure. Saban's guaranteed base salary, before bonuses, of $3,750,000 puts him ahead of Mack Brown, who is the highest paid coach in the Big 12, when bonuses are not included. Brown's base salary is $2,900,000.

It's the bonuses, however, that separate the truly well paid from just the run of the mill high paid and when it comes to including one year pay from all sources, it's going to be hard to beat Oklahoma's Bob Stoops.

Stoops' base salary is $2,775,000 and he has earned an additional $350,000 in performance bonuses so far this year with, of course, one big game left to play. A win in the BCS Championship Game is worth an additional $250,000. In addition, Stoops earned a bonus of $3,000,000 on December 31, 2008 for having served as coach at Oklahoma for 10 years. That brings Stoops total pay for 2008 (without the bonus for the BCS win) to $6,110,000.

Bob Stoops, college football's first $6 million man.

FedEx Ends Super Bowl Sponsorships; Keeps BCS

2009-01-01T16:31:00.001-08:00

After 12 straight years of advertising during the Super Bowl – and a presence in 18 Super Bowls since 1989 – FedEx is bowing out of the 2009 game. At an average price of $3 million for a 30-second spot, lots of companies are making difficult choices about television’s most expensive advertising.

But FedEx is likely to get plenty of exposure during the next week, with its name attached to the 75th annual Orange Bowl game tomorrow night and the BCS National Championship game a week later on Jan. 8.

When the BCS added a fifth bowl game to the mix three years ago, not only did the national championship host location get an extra bowl game, the title sponsors did, too. The eight-figure four-year agreement with Fox to broadcast the BCS games includes a number of ads for the title sponsors during the games and promotion during other Fox broadcasts and in print and radio advertising. FedEx is also the “official overnight delivery service of the BCS.”

Eric Wright, vice president of research and development for Joyce Julius, which measures sponsor exposure, says the title sponsor earns more mentions during the non-championship bowl game, but the value from the national championship game is higher.

“It looks like the sponsor grabs slightly more onscreen time and mentions in their traditional bowl than the championship game, but the ad rates being what they are [in the national championship game] were higher,” Wright said.

For example, Allstate received 61 mentions and two hours and 42 minutes of screen time during this year’s Allstate Sugar Bowl for a total value of $172.4 million, when measured against ad rates during the game. The insurance company got just 50 mentions and one hour and 53 minutes of screen time during the BCS National Championship game, but that time was valued at $231.1 million, Joyce Julius reported.

By contrast, the title sponsors FedEx for the Orange and Tostitos for the Fiesta and presenting sponsor Citi for the Rose Bowl, received less value from their exposure, even if there were more mentions or screen time. Joyce Julius figures show FedEx received 48 mentions and an hour and 49 minutes of screen time for a value of $117.3 million. Tostitos got 61 mentions and two hours and 12 minutes of screen time for a value of $142.3 million. And Citi got 29 mentions and an hour and 42 minutes of airtime for a value of $107.4 million.

The trend was similar in 2007, the first year the fifth game was added to the BCS rotation. Tostitos got 86 mentions and two hours 10 minutes of airtime for a value of $101.2 million for the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. For the BCS National Championship game, the company got 36 mentions and an hour and 50 minutes of airtime for a value of $175.3 million.

Meanwhile, Fedex received 66 mentions and one hour and 55 minutes of airtime for a value of $88.6 million; Allstate received 56 mentions, an hour and 58 minutes of screen time for a value of $89.6 million; and Citi got 26 mentions and just 16 minutes of air time for a value of $26.6 million from the Rose Bowl.

NHL Chief Bettman Denies Phoenix Coyotes Are In Trouble

2009-01-01T16:21:00.001-08:00

In an interview before the third annual Winter Classic outdoor NHL game at Wrigley Field, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said that the Phoenix Coyotes "will be okay" in an interview with CNBC's Darren Rovell.

The Coyotes are owned by Jerry Moyes, the owner of national trucking firm Swift Transportation. In response to reports that the league is helping them get a cash infusion or whether they're going to be bankrupt, Bettman said "I don't believe they're going to be bankrupt. They're not going to miss any payroll. There always seems to be in this sector of the business world a lot of rumor and speculation. They've got some challenges but we think they'll be okay."

When Rovell followed up with a question as to whether the league supporting the team financially right now, Bettman stated "It's not unusual for a club to get advances against money that the league typically has for clubs, but Phoenix will be okay."

The NHL has thrived in the last three years with record revenue and attendance for the 2008-09 season.

Petty Closes Shop; Merges With Gillett Evernham

2009-01-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

As 2008 comes to an end, so will the Petty Enterprises that NASCAR fans and racers came to admire.

Multiple sources have confirmed that after 60 seasons of stock car racing and 10 championships, America's first family of stock car racing will shut its doors and merge with the team currently known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

A deal was inked between Petty Enterprises and team owner George Gillett on Christmas Eve, but the terms of that agreement have yet to be divulged. A formal announcement is expected early next week.

The venerable No. 43 Dodge covered with the trademarked Petty blue glaze will become part of the Gillett stable with Reed Sorenson expected to be behind the wheel. Bobby Labonte, who finished 21st in the point standings, parted ways with the Pettys on Dec. 11 following a three-year stint in the No. 43 car.

Most of the remaining 39 employees at Petty Enterprises will conclude their duties at the Mooresville-based shop on Wednesday. The company moved from its original shop adjacent to the Petty homestead in Level Cross, N.C., in January to what was formerly the Yates Racing complex.

Robbie Loomis, Petty Executive VP of Racing Operations, is expected to assume a managerial role under the new partnership, which will likely be rebranded under the Petty banner. Former car chief Ray Fox Jr. will assume a similar role at JTG-Daugherty Racing with the No. 47 team.

David Zucker, who was named CEO of the team when private equity firm Boston Ventures purchased controlling interest in June, is expected to be reassigned to the Petty Driving Experience.

Source: FoxSports

Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium Gives A Sponsor Bang For Its Buck

2009-01-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

The Indianapolis Colts closed out their first regular season at Lucas Oil Stadium last week. The stadium offers an example of how teams are working to generate more dollars from sponsors while giving companies more real estate and fans more things to do inside sports venues.

Sponsors don’t just get signage anymore. That’s been true for some time, but in Indianapolis, companies’ names are connected to an actual section of Lucas Oil Stadium. The companies work with the Colts to decorate and program the areas to maximize their businesses and entertainment for fans.

There’s the Lucas Oil Gate, naturally, the Huntington Bank Gate, the hhgregg Gate and so on. The Air Tran Food Court features a first class fuselage that people can sit in. The team’s five- to eight-year sponsor contracts are worth $10 million to $12 million annually.

“We are considered a small market NFL team so a new stadium was critical for us. Based on the way the economics of the National Football League work today, we needed a stadium that was going to drive revenue,” said Peter Ward, Colts senior executive vice president. “This helps us stay competitive on the field...This allows us the opportunity to maximize our revenue.”

At the Lucas Oil Gate, there are dragsters; old-fashioned gas pumps that have LCD TVs installed in them; over-sized oil cans that also serve as stations for TVs; planes that hang from the ceiling; and a horseshoe-shaped stage for bands and TV and radio shows.

“Our goal was to create areas that could be sponsored and themed that also create points of interest for the fans. It had to work for the sponsors as well as our fans,” Ward said.

Hhgregg, a TV and appliance retailer with stores in nine states including Florida, has a 26,000-square-foot interactive fan area at the stadium’s south entrance with flat screen TVs, digital cameras and even washers and dryers on display. There’s an interactive video game in which fans can throw or kick a football across a virtual screen designed to look like Lucas Oil Stadium.

There are also six 52-inch Samsung TVs, a seating area in the shape of a horseshoe, and poles that look like goalposts. There’s a product pavilion with Electrolux appliances, including refrigerators. Everything is wrapped in hhgreg signage, but there's also signage for Electrolux, Sony and other appliance brands.

In addition, the Colts’ official appliance retailer of flat panel TVs, has sales associates working the gate entrances, handing out coupons.

“We’ve had a long-standing partnership with the Colts,” said Jeff Pearson, hhgregg vice president of marketing. “We sell a large number of flat panel TVs. All of that helps us sell TVs … Lucas Oil Stadium is going to be a place a lot of people go through in the next number of years.”

Rovell: MLB Salary Cap?

2009-01-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

By Darren Rovell, CNBC

Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio caused quite a stir when he told Bloomberg that the league "may need to impose a salary cap to preserve competition."

After the New York Yankees signed C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira this offseason, Attanasio said that he wasn't sure anyone could compete with them.

I understand that Mr. Attanasio might be frustrated by the fact that he doesn't think he can sign the players the Yankees have signed, but he's really misguided if he's going to try to use the competitive angle.

The last time I looked at the record books, the New York Yankees had what was always classified as outrageous payrolls and my "research" has confirmed that the Yankees haven't won a championship since 2000.

Readers of this blog know I define parity as the number of the teams that have won the championship over a certain period of time. Do I have to run the 15-year list again for Attanasio? As you can see, there's no relation here between salary caps and competitive balance. Over the last 15 years, baseball has more winners than two "capped" sports and only one fewer winner than the hardest of the capped sports.

(FYI: The NHL, NFL and NBA all have salary caps.)

Here's the list.

NFL (11 winners): Giants, Colts, Steelers, Patriots, Buccaneers, Ravens, Rams, Broncos, Packers, Cowboys and 49ers.

MLB (10 winners): Phillies, Red Sox, Cardinals, Marlins, Angels, White Sox, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Braves and Blue Jays.

NHL (9 winners): Red Wings, Ducks, Hurricanes, Lightning, Devils, Avalanche, Stars, Rangers and Canadiens.

NBA (7 winners): Celtics, Spurs, Heat, Pistons, Lakers, Bulls and Rockets.

The Yankees can make more mistakes with their money, but the idea that it somehow guarantees them a championship is completely ridiculous.

Beckham, Pepsi End 10-Year Sponsorship

2008-12-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

Despite his high-profile loan move to AC Milan, the fizz could be evaporating from David Beckham's commercial appeal after ending a 10-year deal with Pepsi.

"David's football legacy will live on and everyone at Pepsi will continue to be as passionate about his success as we have been over the last 10 years," the soft drinks manufacturer said in a statement. "We wish David well with the many projects he is pursuing and look forward to the possibility of partnering together with him again someday."

The 33-year-old England midfielder, who is in Italy on loan from Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy, still has lucrative sponsorship deals with major brands like Adidas and Armani.

"I have nothing but good memories of my association with Pepsi," Beckham said. "I've played a gladiator, a cowboy, a surfer, and worked alongside Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez as well as some of the biggest names in world football."

NY Times Trying To Sell Red Sox Stake

2008-12-26T07:39:00.000-08:00

The New York Times Co is trying to sell its stake in the holding company of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the discussions.

The sale, which could give the Times desperately needed cash as newspaper advertising revenue falls and its debt payments loom, could involve its 17.5 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures and possibly the struggling Boston Globe daily newspaper, the Journal reported.

New England Sports Ventures owns the Red Sox, the Fenway Park baseball field where the team plays, and most of the cable network that shows their games.

A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.

The Journal report comes on the same day that the Times Co reported a 20 percent drop in advertising revenue in November, compared with the same period last year.

The Times has said that it is evaluating the future of its assets, which also include online encyclopedia About.com and several daily newspapers throughout the United States, as it tries to meet its debt obligations and cut its borrowing.

Debt is proving difficult for many U.S. publishers to handle because they are bringing in less cash to make them able to meet their obligations. This is partly because of the fading relevance of printed newspapers to people now used to getting news for free online. The world financial crisis has only worsened the ad sale declines.

The Times could raise at least $200 million if it sold its stake, analysts and sports bankers told Reuters earlier this month. The team, while not central to the Times's business, could be attractive to many buyers despite the recession because it is popular with fans.

Other baseball teams are up for sale as well, including the Chicago Cubs, which is owned by Tribune Co, the privately held newspaper publisher that filed for bankruptcy this month.

The Times got the Red Sox stake in 2002 as part of a group led by hedge fund manager John Henry that bought the team, Fenway Park and an 80 percent stake in the New England Sports Network. The price for the deal was $700 million, including debt. The network also includes a NASCAR auto-racing team.

My Impression Of "The Q"

2008-12-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

The new JQH Arena, affectionately nicknamed "the Q", is definitely on par with the best arenas around the country for college basketball.

The $67 million facility opened its doors this season and the reviews have been positive. I have to agree that there is really not a bad seat in the house. In comparison to Hammons Student Center, the seats are bigger and wider and come with cup holders.

As far as the concourse, the wide open spaces are very nice as well as the numerous restroom facilities. The suites are spacious and have all the things you need to watch a game in comfort. The selection of menu items at the concession stands are tremendous. Who would think you could get Starbucks at a Bears game?

Also on the concourse is the tremendous offerings of the BearWear Shop. If you remember the same store inside Hammons, only two people were allowed in the store at one time. This store looks like one you'd see at the mall.

At the center of the arena is an awesome video scoreboard with constant game action and all the stats you'll need. Public address announcer Rick Jester gets a little time off with the abundance of video advertisements going on at the breaks.

The only negative I saw on the night was the lack of noise in the building. Now I've been told it was very noisy on opening night and nearly 11,000 people in one place would do that. What I'm talking about was during the starting lineups when traditionally the crowd is rockin', not the play on the court of which there was nothing to cheer for during the game. Last night reminded me of an NBA game. A few people were clapping to the new lineup song (which I think was expertly put together by the MSU staff). However, that same loud vibe that we heard in Hammons wasn't there.

In Hammons, the band nearly blew you out of the arena. The starting lineup song with Michael Buffer would send a ringing through your ears and make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. When there was a horrible call, like the foul Chris Cooks' face made on the MTSU players knee that knocked Cooks senseless, and the crowd booed, it didn't have the same effect. I remember times in Hammons where my water bottle vibrated and I had to yell at my staff so they could hear me if that same thing happened.

So in fairness, the Q is new and 6,000 fans in an 11,000-seater probably isn't as loud as Hammons. I do wish that the designers would have left out the sound mufflers and let the roof rock a little more. Or maybe, just turn up the speakers and let the lineup music take over.

Rovell: Why The Yankees Can Sign Who They Want

2008-12-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

By Darren Rovell, CNBC

ESPN is reporting that the New York Yankees have signed free agent first agent Mark Teixeira. Add up Teixeira's contract with the offseason signings of A.J. Burnett and C.C. Sabathia and you have $423.5 million in guaranteed contracts. Pretty amazing, huh?

Sure, the Yankees have contracts that come off the books, but that's not the reason why the Yankees can do this. The reason the Yankees can do this is because their owners, the Steinbrenners, have no other primary business besides the Yankees.

What am I talking about? Think about all the other owners who have gotten pounded this year in the sector of the economy that they might still have their money in.

Think about the New York Mets, whose owners not only lost money from the Madoff mess, but are in the real estate investment business. So too is Theodore Lerner, the owner of the Washington Nationals, who were hoping to land Teixeira. The Chicago Cubs are being sold by an entity that is bankrupt.

Go down the list and you can see that there's a lot of people that lost money this year in other businesses. I have no idea where the Yankees are investing their personal money, but the bottom line is that their business is only the New York Yankees.

What does that mean? It means that as long as the Steinbrenners believe that the business of the Yankees will be good, they are not as affected as the others are. Will people still go to games? If not, will they watch the YES Network. It's a pretty simple equation.

Here's a quote from an owner: "One of the challenges I have is buying into a falling market," he told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "When you buy into a rising market, you can't move fast enough. The challenge here is that, look, any investment you made in 2008 on Wall Street, 12 months ago, 12 weeks ago, 12 days ago, even 12 hours ago, you are down. We have to be careful with what is going on here."

That owner was Mark Attanasio. He is the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. He gave up C.C. Sabathia. And you have to believe that some of that has to do with the fact that he's an investment banker. Hank and Hal Steinbrenner are not.

Bears JQH Attendance Up Slightly Compared To Last Season

2008-12-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Attendance at men's basketball games at the new JQH Arena on the Missouri State campus is up by over 1,211 fans per game through the first eight games. However, if you take out the Arkansas arena opener and the high game of last season versus league foe Creighton, that average number drops to a meager 857 additional fans in the seats.

Two Missouri Valley Conference games figured into last season's first eight with home dates against Bradley and Creighton.

The economy and the holiday season may have a contributing effect on the season so far. As far as the product on the floor, the Bears have exceeded expectations by going 7-4 during their non-conference slate.

Missouri State opens Valley action on Sunday, Dec. 28 at the "Q" with unbeaten Illinois State.

2008-09 at the new JQH Arena (56636 in 8 games | 7,080 average)

Arkansas (10,881); JQH Opening Night
Utah (7,742)
UALR (6,366)
Arkansas State (7,246)
Central Arkansas (7,216)
Norfolk State (5,831)
UC-Irvine (5,596)
Middle Tennessee (5,758)

2007-08 at Hammons Student Center (46,957 in 8 games | 5,869 average)
Harding (5,880)
UNC-Greensboro (5,734)
Saint Louis (6,126)
UNC-Wilmington (5,532)
UT-Pan American (5,286)
Bethune-Cookman (5,435)
Bradley (5,760)
Creighton (7,204)

Yankees Assessed $27 million Luxury Tax

2008-12-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

The New York Yankees not only failed to make the playoffs, they were hit with their highest luxury tax in three years.

The Yankees were assessed a $26.9 million tax by the commissioner's office on Monday, up from $23.9 million last year and their biggest bill since paying nearly $34 million for 2005.

The Detroit Tigers, who also failed to qualify for the postseason, are the only other team that must pay tax and owe $1.3 million to the commissioner's office.

Checks are due by Jan. 31.

Both teams got little for what they spent. The Yankees' streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances ended, and they finished third in the AL East at 89-73, prompting them to spend nearly a quarter-billion dollars to sign pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

Detroit entered the year with lofty expectations after acquiring Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis but went 74-88 and finished last in the AL Central.

While the Yankees pay at a 40 percent rate for the amount over $155 million, the Tigers pay at a 22.5 percent rate because they exceeded the specified threshold for the first time.

This year's figure brings the Yankees' total tax to $148.5 million in the six seasons since it began - 90 percent of the total.

Before this year, the only other teams to pay were the Boston Red Sox, who owed $13.9 million for exceeding the threshold in four seasons, and the Los Angeles Angels, who paid $927,000 in 2004.

New York's payroll was $222.2 million and Detroit was second at $160.8 million for the purpose of the luxury tax. To compute it, Major League Baseball uses the average annual values of contracts for players on 40-man rosters and adds benefits.

The threshold rose from $148 million last year to $155 million this season. It goes up to $162 million next year and rises by $8 million in each of the following two seasons.

Source: Associated Press

Bowl Game Attendance Down Through Five

2008-12-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

The first five college bowl games have been completed and bowl game attendance is down considerably.

For the first time in at least five years, we're below the 30,000 attendance mark for the first five games.

Average Bowl Game Attendance Through First Five Games
YEAR | NUMBERS
2008-09 | 29,852
2007-08 | 34,094
2006-07 | 32,677
2005-06 | 32,832
2004-05 | 31,150

NHL Has Been Recession-Proof, So Far

2008-12-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Is the recent restructuring of the National Hockey League after the lockout helping save the league?

It very well may be.

Every major sports league in the United States has cut its workforce over the past month. The NBA cut nine percent of its workforce, the NFL announced plans to slash 10 percent of its employees and the majority of Major League Baseball teams have many of their seat prices frozen for next year. Even the once darling powerhouse of NASCAR, in the face of a massive bailout of the auto industry, is cutting jobs and expenses to the bone.

Every league has their weak franchises but the NHL is thriving under their new hard salary cap that has effectively made all the franchises viable on one scale or another. Only the owner's finances could be an issue. NHL teams as a whole are down only an average of 193 fans per game through December 1 or 1.1%. As a comparison, the NBA is down an average of 2,056 fans across the league per game.

And we didn't even talk about the depreciating Canadian dollar, which is now worth 17 cents less than the American dollar.

Padres For Sale?

2008-12-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Because of the sagging economy and because of President-Elect Obama's restructured tax plan that will heavily tax the wealthy, there is a belief that we will see more teams put up for sale in 2009 than we've seen in the previous several years combined.

The San Diego Padres have started that parade by hiring Goldman Sachs to search for a potential buyer.

Most sports owners make their money off of the value of the franchise increasing over the course of their ownership - but most teams are operated at a slight profit or even a loss from year to year. So if you are a cash strapped owner, you probably can't afford to run your team at a loss and you may be needing the equity you've made from your franchise value to support the other businesses in your portfolio.

Values were up in 2008 according to Forbes. However, the current economic climate could make 2009 a down year.

It's Official: AFL Cancels 2009 Season

2008-12-15T11:41:00.000-08:00

The Arena Football League canceled its 2009 season Monday pending an agreement with its players union. The decision throws the future of the 22-year-old league into question just days after it said next season had not been suspended.

The AFL's owners voted against playing next year during a conference call Sunday night. It was unclear what had changed since the league issued a statement Wednesday night that said the 2009 season had not been suspended "despite rumors and reports to the contrary."

The league said in Monday's statement it was "developing a long-term plan to improve its economic model."

"Every owner in the AFL is strongly committed to the league, the game, and, most importantly, the fans," acting commissioner Ed Policy said in a statement. "Owners, however, recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport."

Last week's statement came after a meeting of the league's board of directors and did not say the AFL definitely would play next year.

The AFL's woes come at a time when the world of sports, once thought to be largely recession-proof, has felt the economic chill. The NFL has said it would cut 150 jobs, while the NBA and NASCAR also have laid off dozens of workers. The NHL is in a hiring freeze while the Internet operation for Major League Baseball also has trimmed positions.

The AFL had been in limbo for weeks. With rumors swirling about its viability, the 16-team league delayed indefinitely the start of free agency, the release of next season's schedule and a dispersal draft to award players from the defunct New Orleans Voodoo.

The AFL has not selected a permanent replacement for longtime commissioner David Baker, who abruptly resigned from the 22-year-old league two days before the ArenaBowl in July.

Source: AFL

AFL Season Update

2008-12-11T13:45:00.001-08:00

The league's board of directors met in "what had to be a tumultuous conference call" on Wednesday night, and will meet again on Thursday "in an effort to reach a three-quarters majority among the 16 league owners on a course of action."

David Mayo of The Grand Rapids Press describes the owners as being split between "AFL hard-liners", and "NFL bottom-liners" -- owners of NFL and AFL franchises, who "seeing their 100-yard profits shriveling, have become quick to view their 50-yard commodities as expendable playthings." In a separate article, Mayo cites an interview with Grand Rapids Rampage union rep Ahmad Hawkins, who alleges that "the owners of the Colorado Crush and Dallas Desperados are ... pushing hardest to suspend league operations for 2009 and perhaps resume in 2010." The Crush and Desperados are owned by Pat Bowlen and Jerry Jones, respectively, both owners of NFL teams.

According to Mayo, even though AFL teams account for "relatively insignificant operating losses compared to the huge profits NFL teams generate," they are an "easy place to cut" for NFL owners feeling the effect of the economic downturn.

For their part, the AFL's players are willing to make major concessions in order to play next season. The union voted on Friday to cut the salary cap by 30%, from $2 million to $1.4 million. Quoting the aforementioned Hawkins, "If I make $50,000, that's still more than I can make if I go out and try to find a job."

Source: Various

Missouri State Offers Additional Ticket Plans For JQH

2008-12-11T12:38:00.001-08:00

Missouri State has announced additional ticket plans for men's and women's basketball, including a "Valley Five Pack" plan for upcoming Missouri Valley Conference games.

The plan includes upper-level seats for five league games for each team. The men's package is for games against Wichita State (Jan. 14), Northern Iowa (Jan. 25), Southern Illinois (Feb. 7), Indiana State (Feb. 14) and Creighton (Feb. 24).

Lady Bears games in the plan are Illinois State (Jan. 19), Creighton (Feb. 1), Drake (Feb. 6), Wichita State (Feb. 21) and Southern Illinois (March 1).

Cost is $65 for the men and $50 for the women.

This weekend, a $5 upper level ticket will be available for the Bears' Saturday game against Central Arkansas and the women's game on Sunday against Arkansas-Little Rock. Fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items for collection for a Salvation Army food drive.

Current season ticket holders also may purchase additional individual-game tickets.

Call the box office at 836-7678 for more information.

Source: MSU

Arena Football League To Suspend Play In 2009?

2008-12-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Arena Football League, which has grown steadily in popularity and fan attendance during the past decade, is expected to cancel what would have been its 23rd season in 2009, according to multiple media reports.

The Rocky Mountain News reported Wednesday that league officials are expected to make the announcement before the end of the week. The Kansas City Star later reported that Pete Likens, communications director for the Kansas City Brigade, said the AFL players' union agreed late Tuesday to the decision.

"It's pretty much a done deal to suspend the 2009 season and work toward a single entity-league," Likens said, according to The Star. "We plan to start up again in 2010."

The league, which has been seeking ways to improve its financial footing, said Tuesday it still is not ready to announce a long-term plan. On Tuesday, the release of the 2009 schedule was delayed for the third time, and the league also put off its dispersal draft and the start of free agency.

In a statement released Wednesday, the AFL said: "Despite rumors and reports to the contrary, all AFL teams are continuing to work towards ArenaBowl XXIII. As it has previously stated, the AFL continues to work on long-term structural improvement options.

"Some of the options may impact the 2009 season. There is currently no timetable for an announcement of any kind. We remain grateful to our fans for their enthusiasm and patience."

The AFL's New Orleans franchise folded despite being near the top of the league in attendance the past two seasons. Saints owner Tom Benson, who also owned the VooDoo, said the decision was based on "circumstances currently affecting the league and the team."

The AFL has endured an offseason of uncertainty. No replacement has been named for longtime commissioner David Baker, who abruptly resigned in July two days before the ArenaBowl championship game.

Sports Business Journal reported in October that AFL owners had approved a tentative deal with Platinum Equity, in which the company would invest up to $100 million and assume management control of the league. That deal, however, has yet to be completed, and there are no guarantees of an AFL bailout. A message seeking comment was not immediately returned by Platinum Equity.

The arenafootball2 league, the official development league of the AFL, said it will continue to operate as usual and will play in 2009 -- its 10th anniversary season. The af2 operates entirely on its own and is not directly affected by the AFL's current situation.

The Kansas City Brigade has operated the last three seasons in Kansas City, playing at Kemper Arena for two seasons before moving into the new Sprint Center in 2008.

Source: Rocky Mountain News & KC Star

Illinois Governor Fed Charges Include Cubs Blackmail

2008-12-10T06:35:00.001-08:00

The arrest of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has uncovered alleged charges related to public funding for Wrigley Field in Chicago.

According to the criminal complaint, the public funding was being used as a threat to get the Tribune Company to fire journalists who weren't friendly to Blagojevich.

From the government's criminal complaint against Gov. Blagojevich (some paragraph breaks added):

13.... b. Defendants Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, together with others, offered to, and threatened to withhold from, the Tribune Company substantial state financial assistance in connection with Wrigley Field, which assistance Rod Blagojevich believed to be worth at least $100 million to the Tribune Company, for the private purpose of inducing the controlling shareholder of the Tribune Company to fire members of the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, a newspaper owned by the Tribune Company, who were responsible for editorials critical of Rod Blagojevich ....

69. Intercepted phone calls reflect that Rod Blagojevich and John Harris, together with others, are corruptly using and threatening to use the powers of Rod Blagojevich’s office as Governor of the State of Illinois to exert financial pressure on the owners of the Tribune Company, the parent corporation of the Chicago Tribune newspaper, to fire Chicago Tribune editorial board members who were responsible for editorials sharply critical of Rod Blagojevich’s actions as Governor and, among other things, calling for his impeachment.....

72. On the evening of November 3, 2008, Rod Blagojevich talked to Deputy Governor A. Rod Blagojevich stated that he was concerned about possibly being impeached in the Spring and that the Chicago Tribune will be “driving” the impeachment discussion. Rod Blagojevich asked Deputy Governor A to check to see if the Tribune has recently “advocate[d]” that he be impeached. In fact, the Chicago Tribune recently had published editorials critical of Rod Blagojevich.

73. In another call between Rod Blagojevich and Deputy Governor A that occurred a short time later on November 3, 2008, Rod Blagojevich and Deputy Governor A discussed an editorial from the Chicago Tribune regarding the endorsement of Michael Madigan and calling for a committee to consider impeaching Rod Blagojevich. During the call, Rod Blagojevich’s wife can be heard in the background telling Rod Blagojevich to tell Deputy Governor A “to hold up that f*****g Cubs s**t... fuck them.” Rod Blagojevich asked Deputy Governor A what he thinks of his wife’s idea. Deputy Governor A stated that there is a part of what Rod Blagojevich’s wife said that he “agree[s] with.” Deputy Governor A told Rod Blagojevich that Tribune Owner will say that he does not have anything to do with the editorials, “but I would tell him, look, if you want to get your Cubs thing done get rid of this Tribune.”

Later, Rod Blagojevich’s wife got on the phone and, during the continuing discussion of the critical Tribune editorials, stated that Tribune Owner can “just fire” the writers because Tribune Owner owns the Tribune. Rod Blagojevich’s wife stated that if Tribune Owner’s papers were hurting his business, Tribune Owner would do something about the editorial board. Rod Blagojevich then got back on the phone. Rod Blagojevich told Deputy Governor A to put together the articles in the Tribune that are on the topic of removing Rod Blagojevich from office and they will then have someone, like John Harris, go to Tribune Owner and say, “We’ve got some decisions to make now.”

Rod Blagojevich said that “someone should say, ‘get rid of those people.’” Rod Blagojevich said that he thinks that they should put this all together and then have Harris or somebody go talk to the Tribune owners and say, “Look, we’ve got decisions to make now ... moving this stuff forward (believed to be a reference to the IFA helping with the Cubs sale) ... someone’s gotta go to [Tribune Owner], we want to see him ... it’s a political fuckin’ operation in there.” Deputy Governor A agreed and said that Harris needs to be “sensitive” about how he does it.

Rod Blagojevich said there is nothing sensitive about how you do it and that it’s “straight forward” and you say “we’re doing this stuff for you, we believe this is right for Illinois [and] this is a big deal to [Tribune Owner] financially” but what Rod Blagojevich is doing to help Tribune Owner is the same type of action that the Tribune is saying should be the basis for Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment. Rod Blagojevich said Tribune Owner should be told “maybe we can’t do this now. Fire those f******s.”

Deputy Governor A suggested that Rod Blagojevich say, “I’m not sure that we can do this anymore because we’ve been getting a ton of these editorials that say, look, we’re going around the legislature, we gotta stop and this is something the legislature hasn’t approved. We don’t want to go around the legislature anymore.” Rod Blagojevich agreed and said that he wants Harris to go in and make that case, “not me.” Deputy Governor A agreed and said that he likes it. Rod Blagojevich asked Deputy Governor A to put the list of Tribune articles together....

76.... Rod Blagojevich stated that “our recommendation is fire all those f******g people, get ‘em the **** out of there and get us some editorial support.”

Source: Various

NFL Cuts 150 Jobs

2008-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

The economic downturn continues to affect the world of sports.

The NFL will cut 150 jobs, or "more than 10 percent of its headquarters staff", in the next sixty days due in part to the crumbling economy. The cuts will affect "its staff of 1,100 in New York, NFL Films in New Jersey and production facilities in Los Angeles."

The league also announced the cancellation of a preseason game in China.

The NFL "will fall at least $50 million short of projected revenue" for this fiscal year, which began on April 1 and will end on March 31.

Source: NFL

Arena Football League In Trouble?

2008-12-09T13:06:00.000-08:00

There are a number of reports out that the Arena Football League is in deep financial trouble. The Denver Post reported that the league could dissolve unless it gets financing by Dec. 19.

Last week, AFL officials said they were working on a long-term solution.

More to follow.

Source: Denver Post

Cubs Parent Company Tribune Files For Bankruptcy

2008-12-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Media conglomerate Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, as the owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Cubs and other properties tries to deal with $13 billion in debt.

The Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field are not included in the petition.

Severe reductions in advertising this year because of the recession have put pressure on the Chicago-based company. Most of its debt comes from the complex transaction in which the company was taken private by real estate mogul Sam Zell last year.

Although the next major principal payment isn't due until June, analysts say Tribune has been in danger of missing lender-imposed financial targets.

Tribune made the filing Monday in bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Source: Associated Press

PGA Lining Up New Sponsors As Autos, Banks Struggle

2008-12-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has held discussions with energy, retail and environmental companies to replace some struggling auto and financial sponsors of the U.S. golf tour if needed.

The PGA, which operates the main professional U.S. golf tours, depends on corporate sponsors such as U.S. automaker General Motors to help support its tournaments.

However, the turmoil in the auto and financial services sectors has left the sport vulnerable to a loss of marketing and advertising dollars.

"There are a number of companies clearly cutting back on their sports marketing budgets. We anticipate some of those kind of conversations," Finchem told the Reuters Media Summit in New York on Wednesday.

"We've got to assume and prepare for some slippage, and prepare for some replacement there."

Finchem said the PGA had already held a wide range of discussions with companies about adding new sponsors or expanding existing deals if necessary.

Finchem said Toyota Motor Corp, the world's largest automaker, could be one candidate for a bigger marketing presence in U.S. golf, while others could come from industries that "have performed relatively well during the downturn".

Such sectors include energy, the environment and retail, and Finchem mentioned the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart may be one company that could broaden its role.

Finchem said ticket and other sales remained "reasonably robust" in 2008, but it is unlikely to be able to sidestep "a pullback in spending in the branded area, advertising area -- those things come home to roost" in a downturn.

He said advertising and public relations budgets were often the first trimmed by corporations in recessions, although Finchem added that in the past the PGA Tour has come through any cutbacks "reasonably well".

Source: Reuters

University Of Tennessee System Discussing Athletics Cuts

2008-12-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

University of Tennessee trustees today discussed eliminating athletic programs, providing more courses online and changing the way tuition is calculated as options for cutting the UT budget by up to 15 percent.

The trustees also were told that administrators already are putting in place a program to provide counseling to employees who lose their jobs.

About 70 percent of UT’s costs come from payroll and benefits, officials said, so it is probable that 70 percent — perhaps more — of imminent budget cuts will come through layoffs, furloughs or other personnel actions. Already, UT has abolished 174 vacant job positions.

The UT trustees’ Committee on Effectiveness and Efficiency met in Nashville for the discussion, though it made no recommendations. UT President John Petersen said he hopes to present Gov. Phil Bredesen with a budget-cutting plan by mid-January.

Among options discussed were:

-- Cutting the athletic programs at UT-Martin and UT-Chattanooga, which are subsidized by taxpayer dollars. The state provides about $3.9 million per year for athletics at Martin and about $4.3 million at Chattanooga, officials said. At UT Knoxville, the cost of all athletic programs is covered money from revenue-producing football and basketball programs.

Source: Knoxville News Sentinel

Report: Honda To Quit Formula One, Citing Economy

2008-12-04T15:24:00.001-08:00

Honda will quit Formula One on Friday.

The Japanese company hopes to sell its team, which costs $400 million a year to run, but is prepared to close the team early in 2009 if no buyer is found.

Sources told BBC Sport the team were "optimistic" they would continue, but no investor had yet been found.

However, according to the Reuters news agency, team bosses Ross Brawn and Nick Fry fear Honda could close the Brackley-based team within weeks.

According to a Reuters source, Brawn and Fry told a meeting of the Formula One Teams' Association: "They have a month to find a buyer, otherwise they are closing the team."

Honda appointed Brawn, the man who masterminded seven world titles for Michael Schumacher, as their team principal ahead of the 2008 season.

Honda, who recently cut road vehicle production as a response to the global economic crisis, is expected to make an announcement regarding the team's future on Friday.

A notoriously expensive sport in which to compete, teams have spent recent months in intensive discussions over cost-cutting measures.

However, Honda are considered a major player within Formula One, bankrolling more than 800 staff at the team's Northamptonshire base with the largest budget in the sport.

Source: BBC

Petty Enterprises Merging With Gillett-Evernham?

2008-12-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

Petty Enterprises is in discussions to merge its storied franchise with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, The Associated Press has learned.

Multiple people familiar with the talks told the AP on Thursday that the two teams were discussing a deal that would merge Petty's famed No. 43 Dodge with GEM to become a four-car operation. They requested anonymity because the negotiations are ongoing.

Petty, the team founded by seven-time series champion Richard Petty, has no full-time sponsorship lined up for next season. The team fields its flagship No. 43 for 2000 NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte and a second car that Chad McCumbee and Kyle Petty shared this season. Kyle Petty was expected to have a minimal role — if any — with the organization next season.

Drew Brown, a spokesman for Gillett Evernham, said the team would not comment on any potential merger with another team. But it's no secret that majority owner George Gillett Jr. has canvassed the industry looking for a partner that would help his team expand from three cars to the NASCAR maximum four cars.

Gillett is believed to have had earlier discussions with Toyota teams Bill Davis Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing, as well as Ganassi. Earlier this year he terminated an agreement with Robby Gordon that would have brought Gordon into his organization as a fourth car.

As potential deals failed to develop, Gillett turned his attention to struggling Petty Enterprises. Richard Petty in June sold majority interest of the family-run team to private equity firm Boston Ventures, which assumed day-to-day control of the 60-year-old operation.

But the new leadership has yet to put Petty Enterprises on solid footing, largely because the economic crisis has made sponsorship very difficult to secure. Numerous teams have reduced their staffs since the Nov. 18 season finale, and Petty laid off 30 employees last month.

Now, if a merger with Gillett goes through, a team that has been in NASCAR since 1949 may cease to exist as it has been known.

Source: Associated Press

Forbes: Knicks Most Valuable NBA Team Again

2008-12-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

For the fourth straight year, and despite front office and player turmoil, the New York Knicks are the NBA’s most valuable team.

The Knicks are worth $613 million, according to Forbes’ latest rankings, an increase of 1 percent over their 2007 value. Throughout the past year, the franchise has made many headlines off the court, ranging from former team president Isiah Thomas being found guilty in a sexual harassment lawsuit to guard Stephon Marbury’s feud with management and coach Mike D’Antoni.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Los Angeles Lakers are ranked second by Forbes, at $584 million, up from $560 million.

Rounding out the top five are the Chicago Bulls at $504 million; the Detroit Pistons at $480 million; and the Cleveland Cavaliers at $477 million.

The biggest change in value belongs to the Portland Trail Blazers, who increased by 21 percent to $307 million. They still rank only 20th out of 30 franchises.

Also showing a huge increase are the NBA champion Boston Celtics, up to $447 million from $391 million.

The biggest drop in value hit the New Jersey Nets, who fell 13 percent to $295 million, 26th overall. The Nets have had delays in their plans to build and move into a new arena in Brooklyn.

Below the Nets are the Memphis Grizzlies ($294 million), New Orleans Hornets ($285 million), Charlotte Bobcats ($284 million) and Milwaukee Bucks ($278 million).

The average team value is $379 million.

Forbes ranked the value of franchises in the other major pro sports earlier this year. The Dallas Cowboys topped the NFL at more than $1.6 billion, the New York Yankees led baseball at over $1.3 billion and the Toronto Maple Leafs led the NHL at $448 million.

Source: Forbes

AL MVP Pedroia Gets $40.5 Million Deal

2008-12-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Red Sox wasted no time locking up American League MVP Dustin Pedroia with a six-year, $40.5 million contract, with an option for 2015, that takes them through three arbitration and two free-agent seasons.

It is one of the four biggest non-arbitration deals ever, along with the contracts given to Hanley Ramirez, David Wright and Ryan Braun.

Generously listed at 5-foot-9, Pedroia has quickly piled up a huge stack of hardware. Besides being named the AL's MVP, he also won a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger this offseason. He was the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year and capped off that season with a World Series ring.

Pedroia led the AL in hits, runs and doubles in helping the Red Sox win the wild-card berth. He batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBIs and also stole 20 bases.

The deal demonstrated how much the Red Sox value Pedroia's production, energy and leadership at a middle-of-the-field position.

That it got done this quickly shows how much Pedroia loves playing in Boston, and that he prefers playing to dickering over arbitration and free-agent dollars. His favorite phrase is "it's all about winning."

And he means it.

Source: Peter Gammons

Bad Economy? WNBA's Houston Comets Fold

2008-12-03T10:42:00.001-08:00

The team that won the first four WNBA championships is disbanding.

The Houston Comets will be shut down because new owners could not be found for the team.

Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander sold the team to Houston businessman Hilton Koch last year. The WNBA took over the franchise earlier this year.

League president Donna Orender said a new owner needed to be in place before the end of the year if the Comets wanted to stay in business. The sluggish economy slowed that process and Orender announced the franchise will fold.

"It's a sad day for me personally and, of course, for the city of Houston," former Comets Coach Van Chancellor told KPRC Local 2 Sports Monday evening. "We had a terrific run and I really feel for the fans who won't have the Comets in town to support anymore."

The Comets were one of the original teams when the WNBA debuted in 1997 and won the league's first four championships under the leadership of Chancellor on the bench and the combination of Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson and Cynthia Cooper on the floor.

Orender said there is no indication that any of the league's other 13 franchises are in any trouble.

Source: KPRC Houston

Leagues Do Well On Black Friday

2008-12-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

The sports leagues did pretty well on Black Friday. The NBAStore.com and the NBA Store in New York City had its best Black Friday sales ever.

The NBAStore.com and NBA Store had a combined sales increase of 38 percent as compared to last year. The best selling item was a Chris Paul jersey.

The NFL reports that sales on its NFLShop.com were also a record high for Black Friday and the site's third highest grossing day ever. The top four best selling items since Thanksgiving all involved New York: Favre jerseys were No. 1, a Giants hooded sweatshirt was No. 3, while Eli Manning jerseys were fourth.

In an interesting side note, the new quarterback for the Packers, Aaron Rodgers, placed 25th on the jersey sale list while Tony Romo of the Cowboys was second.

Source: Various

Got An Extra $3 Million? Super Bowl Ads Available

2008-12-01T10:14:00.001-08:00

Turns out that rapid Super Bowl ad buying recorded in September has slowed down significantly. NBC says it has eight 30-second spots still available during Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa on Feb. 1.

NBC, broadcaster of the 2009 game, says about 59 spots during the game have been spoken for and are running about $3 million each. That’s up from about $2.7 million last year. But the company also told the Associated Press it is negotiations for the remaining spots.

Regular Super Bowl advertiser General Motors announced in September it would skip the Super Bowl. FedEx Corp., Garmin Ltd. And Salesgenie.com are also not buying ads this time.

Monster Worldwide, however, which hasn’t bought an ad since the 2004, game will be back and competing with ads from CareerBuilder.com. Probably not a bad spend, given how many people have lost their jobs and are looking for work.

Source: NBC

Bundesliga Passes Barclays Premiership For Total Shirt Sponsorship Income

2008-11-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

The Bundesliga may no longer regularly produce Champions League finalists, and their national team bowed to Fabio Capello's resurgent side in Berlin six days ago, but Germany has edged ahead of England in one increasingly significant league table - the value of its shirt sponsorship.

Figures released today show that the Bundesliga has overtaken the Barclays Premier League as the league with the largest total income from shirt sponsorship, and that Bayern Munich are ahead of Manchester United in having the single most valuable shirt sponsorship deal.

However, this shift in power is only partly a consequence of German top-flight clubs becoming more attractive billboards for sponsors. SPORT+MARKT's tenth annual European Jersey report explains that the economic climate and the drop in the exchange rate of the pound against the euro have been largely responsible for reducing the value of English sponsorship deals relative to those of the top European clubs - even though the contracts have not been renegotiated.

It also helps to explain why the overall level of shirt sponsorship across the six main European leagues has dropped for the first time, from €405.3million (about £344.2million) in 2007-08 to €393.2million this season.

“Due to the weak British pound, Bayern Munich beat Manchester United to the title of the most valuable jersey deal,” Hartmut Zastrow, the executive director of SPORT+MARKT, said. “The main reasons why the Bundesliga now generates higher income from jersey sponsorships than the Premier League lies in [clubs] lacking jersey partners and the current weakness of the British currency. The sponsor of West Ham United, XL airlines, went bankrupt, West Bromwich Albion have yet to find a partner and Aston Villa now bears the logo of a charity organisation on its jersey.

“The Bundesliga is the winning league in this jersey report after slipping behind the English FA Premier League last season. For the first time revenue from jersey sponsorship in the Bundesliga exceeds the €100million mark. No other league has reached such a consistency of sponsorship deals for all teams.”

At the other end of the scale, a dip in revenues in Spain has meant that it has almost been caught by the Dutch Eredivisie. “It is astounding that a small league like the Eredivisie reaches the same level as the Primera División in terms of jersey sponsorship,” Zastrow said.

In the early days of sponsorship, shirts tended to bear the names of beers and electronics manufacturers. Nowadays, financial institutions such as AIG, Manchester United's sponsor, lead the way in Europe, followed by travel and tourism companies and betting outlets such as bwin, whose name adorns the jerseys of Real Madrid and AC Milan. Telecommunications do not make the top three sectors despite the presence of T-Home and Samsung on the shirts of Bayern and Chelsea respectively.

However, that is expected to change. “As contracts are fixed over a long period of time, the Jersey report proves that sport sponsorship is not affected by the financial crisis - yet,” Zastrow said. “Instead of a decrease in sponsorship value, we expect a shift of sectors amongst sport sponsors.”

SPORT+MARKT also expects England to regain its pre-eminence. “If the currency or the teams that are lacking a paying sponsor recover, the Premier League will top the ranking again next season,” Gareth Moore, the international sales director, said.

Source: The Times UK

Seats Going Fast At New Dallas Cowboys Stadium

2008-11-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

The faltering economy has humbled many American icons this year, but not the Dallas Cowboys.

The team announced Monday that it has sold nearly 85 percent of the season tickets for next year's inaugural season in Arlington and that the remaining tickets are now available to the general public. The sales figures seem to back up owner Jerry Jones' financial decision to charge record-high seat options, which cost as much as $150,000.

About 9,500 of the 61,000 seats are still available after nearly a year of sales, said Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels. He said the economy is probably having an effect, but it's hard to quantify.

"Certainly we're aware of the economic uncertainty in the marketplace, but at the same time, the fans view this as a long-term commitment," Mr. Daniels said. "This isn't a one-year decision. This is a 20- or 30-year commitment that they are making, and so I think that has an impact on their thought process."

Monday's announcement coincided with the opening of season ticket sales to the general public. Previously, season tickets for the new $1.1 billion stadium were only available to current season ticket holders or fans who paid for a spot on a waiting list.

The stadium's 80,000-seat capacity comes from the 61,000 reserved, club and loge seats as well as suites and standing-room-only tickets in the end zones. Temporary seats and additional standing-room-only tickets in the end zones could boost that to at least 100,000.

Sean Pate, a spokesman for ticket reseller StubHub.com, said the 85 percent mark for season ticket sales is impressive, but it shouldn't be a surprise. He said that this year the team has been the hottest NFL ticket on his company's Web site and is regularly at the top in ticket demand.

Combine that with the lure of a new stadium, Mr. Pate said, and the team has a strong sales pitch.

"The stadium itself for a number of years is the attraction," he said. "It's the place to be. It's the cool factor."

Mr. Pate said the Arizona Cardinals were able to sell out their new stadium despite a poor record and long playoff drought.

The Cowboys also revealed Monday that 240 of the stadium's 300 suites have been sold. The Cowboys originally planned to build 200 suites but increased that number this year in response to strong sales.

Those suites originally cost $100,000 to $500,000 annually and require 20-year contracts. Mr. Daniels said most of the remaining suites are priced between $150,000 and $350,000.

For season tickets, the one-time seat options for remaining tickets cost between $4,000 and $150,000. Ticket prices range from $89 to $340 per game.

Many of the cheapest seats have sold out for the 2009 season. All of the upper-deck corner seats, which cost $59 per game and don't require a seat license, are gone. Some of the other upper-deck seats, as well as many in the end zone, have also sold out. Club and loge seats are still available in every price range.

"They are pretty evenly dispersed across the reserved seats and the club," Mr. Daniels said about the available tickets.

He said the team hasn't calculated what percentage of Texas Stadium season ticket holders bought seats in the new stadium.

He said the team's plans to expand season ticket sales to the general public by the last half of this season is on schedule. That gives the Cowboys until late next summer to reach its goal of selling out the stadium with season tickets.

It's not clear whether any single-game tickets will be available through the Cowboys.

"We still have nine months to go before our opener, and we're down to this few tickets," Mr. Daniels said.

Source: Dallas Morning News

Woods, GM End Sponsorship Agreement

2008-11-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

General Motors Corp. agreed to discontinue a marketing accord with Tiger Woods, the world’s top-ranked golfer, at year’s end as plummeting sales spur cost cuts at the automaker.

Woods, 32, endorsed GM products including Buick for the past 9 years. He had been under contract through 2009, Pete Ternes, a spokesman for the Detroit-based automaker, said today.

The need for “budget efficiencies during a difficult economy” contributed to the decision, according to a statement from GM, which is seeking to cut U.S. marketing expenses by 20 percent. Sales of Buick vehicles dropped 24 percent through the first 10 months of this year, outpacing the 20 percent decline for all of GM’s cars and light trucks.

Sales of Buick vehicles in the U.S. plunged 58 percent to 185,791 units from 1999 to 2007, more than any other GM brand in the period. Sales of the 105-year-old Buick brand peaked in 1984 at 941,611, according to trade publication Automotive News.

Woods made $122.7 million in on-course earnings and endorsements last year, according to Golf Digest magazine. GM posted almost $73 billion in losses since 2004.

GM will continue sponsoring the Buick Invitational in California and Buick Open in Michigan indefinitely, said Ternes. The company is the largest and original PGA Tour sponsor, according to Buick’s Web site.

GM gained 53 cents, or 17 percent, to $3.59 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. That was GM’s biggest percentage increase since Oct. 13.

Source: Bloomberg

Mets and Citigroup Still Confirmed For Naming Rights

2008-11-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Mets fans can rest easy. Citigroup and the New York Mets have confirmed that their record 20-year, $400 million naming rights deal for the team’s new ball park, set to open for the 2009 baseball season, is still on. Not that Citi could wiggle out of the deal anyway.

On Sunday, the struggling bank won a $326 billion bailout from the federal government. But the Mets deal was signed in 2006, when times were flush for Citi, or at least when the extent of its troubles was harder to see.

To be sure, handing over $20 million a year to the National League baseball team is a drop in the bucket compared to the magnitude of the bailout, but even the bank seems to be having second thoughts about the deal’s value.

Millions of fans and television spectators will be regularly reminded of how much Citi spent to name the baseball field, before ultimately turning to the government to be rescued. Probably not be the branding Citi intended for when it signed the deal.

Here is what CFO Gary Crittendon had to say about it Monday on CNBC:

“That was a decision made in a different time. We have binding legal agreements… I don’t think it’s an issue.”

So let’s follow the money here: The government gives funds to Citigroup, who is now better able to make an annual payment to the Mets. Sounds a bit like a new taxpayer subsidy for the Mets, who are already receiving government subsidies for building their stadium.

Source: Reuters

Half Now, Half When The Dow Hits 10,000

2008-11-24T06:12:00.000-08:00

Tough economic times call for creative promotions.

Enter the Reno Bighorns who came up with a season ticket promotion that ties the payment plan to the performance of the stock market. The NBA development league team is rolling out what they are calling their "Wall Street" financing plan.

Under this plan, buyers will be allowed to pay half their balance now and the remaining half on the day the Dow Jones reaches 10,000 or by Nov. 15, 2009, whichever comes earlier. The dow closed Thursday at 7,552.

The plan is available for new season ticket buyers purchasing courtside seats, club seats and center seats. Team officials believe they are the first team in professional sports history to tie a ticket plan to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Source: Reno Bighorns, CNBC

Dodgers Give Name To New Spring Site; White Sox Will Share Facility

2008-11-21T16:08:00.001-08:00

The Dodgers and White Sox announced Thursday that their new joint venture Spring Training facility in Glendale, Ariz., will be called "Camelback Ranch."

The 141-acre site is located on Camelback Road just west of the Loop 101. The $80 million baseball facility includes more than 118,000 square feet of Major and Minor League clubhouse space, 13 full baseball fields and three half-fields. The site will feature walking trails, landscaped grounds and an orange grove. There will also be two ponds and a fully stocked lake between the Dodgers and White Sox facilities.

The shared stadium, which will be the focal point of the complex, is the largest in the Cactus League with a capacity of 13,000, which includes 3,000 lawn seats, 12 luxury suites, a party deck and a center-field rotunda entrance.

The Dodgers and White Sox announced plans to move to the Glendale site two years ago, but the White Sox received final clearance only earlier this week when they bought out the remaining three seasons of a contract to train in Tucson, Ariz., for $5 million. The White Sox had been sharing a complex with the Arizona Diamondbacks since 1998 after relocating from Sarasota, Fla.

In addition to serving as the Spring Training home of the White Sox and Dodgers, the campus will become the home for all Dodger Minor League operations throughout the year, including the team's Arizona League entry and Fall Instructional League team. The White Sox also will use Camelback Ranch in Glendale as the home for their Fall Instructional League.

The teams are currently looking for naming rights in the region of $1 million per season for the facility.

Source: MLB

Wizards Get Tax Break To Start New Stadium

2008-11-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

The Wizards’ new soccer-specific stadium took one major step toward reality Thursday.

The Missouri Development Finance Board approved $30 million in tax credits toward The Trails development in southeast Kansas City. That clears the way for the LANE4 Property Group and the Wizards’ ownership group, OnGoal LLC, to begin demolition of the old Bannister Mall site and start construction of a $1 billion mixed-use project.

The centerpiece of the project will be the $100 million soccer stadium, seating 18,500, scheduled to open late in the 2010 Major League Soccer season or for the start of the 2011 season.

“It’s a really big day for us,” said Robb Heineman, chief executive officer of OnGoal and president of the Wizards. “It’s huge for us to have this out of the way to make sure the project comes together.

OnGoal is investing about 71 percent of the capital required for the project, which will include the stadium, 12 tournament-quality soccer fields, 590 hotel rooms, 1.13 million square feet of mixed-use retail, 1.7 million square feet of office space and 18,249 parking spaces. Public taxing districts will provide the additional 29 percent, mostly through TIFs.

There are still some details remaining before the wrecking ball hits Bannister Mall, including the purchase of the Sears building, Heineman said.

He also conceded the current economic climate “may impact us a little bit … if you look at the broad credit markets right now, they’re not great.

The Wizards, founded in 1996 by the late Lamar Hunt, played their first 12 seasons at Arrowhead Stadium before taking up temporary residence at CommunityAmerica Ballpark this season for all but one home game that was played at Arrowhead.

Last year, the club moved into a privately financed, $3 million state-of-the-art training center in Swope Park, just minutes from the site of the new stadium project.

Of the 13 other MLS franchises, eight play in soccer-specific stadiums, and the New York Red Bulls have broken ground on a new facility in Harrison, N.J. The Wizards will remain at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, which seats 10,385 for soccer, until the new stadium is completed in 2010.

Source: Kansas City Star

REPORT: Pinkel Close To Long-Term Contract Extension

2008-11-21T14:04:00.001-08:00

Missouri officials have told The Kansas City Star they’ll have no comment today but anticipate being able to announce early next week a contract extension for Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel.

For some time now, the extension of Pinkel’s contract has been a foregone conclusion, despite speculation that Pinkel was high on Washington’s list to replace Ty Willingham.

MU athletic director Mike Alden had an athletic department staffer call The Star on Friday that he would be making no immediate comment.

“We could have something early next week,” athletic department spokesperson Chad Moller said.

MU’s acknowledgement of the situation dovetailed with sources telling The Star, ESPN’s Pat Forde and others that a new agreement was imminent.

Reportedly, the agreement -- which would boost Pinkel’s compensation to $2.5 million a year -- is in the hands of attorneys.

Pinkel currently is under contract through 2012 at $1.85 million a year. That currently is fourth in the Big 12 Conference behind Mack Brown of Texas ($2.8 million), Bob Stoops of Oklahoma ($2.65 million) and Mark Mangino of Kansas ($2.3 million).

Pinkel’s new contract would move him back ahead of Mangino in compensation into third in the Big 12.

While Pinkel will be back at Missouri, his offensive and defensive coordinators may not. Multiple sources list offensive coordinator Dave Christensen as the leading candidate as head coach at Wyoming. Toledo officials have spoken with defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus about the Toledo head job.

Source: Kansas City Star

SOLD OUT! No Room At The Q For Arkansas-MSU

2008-11-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

The first ever basketball game at the new JQH Arena in Springfield on the campus of Missouri State University is officially sold out according to my sources.

MSU will face the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday night, Nov. 22 in a 7:15 pm tipoff with 11,000-plus in attendance at the $67 million facility.

Standing room only tickets go on sale at 4 pm on Saturday afternoon. The game will be broadcast locally on KTXR-FM 101.3 and Mediacom cable.

Get Our Weekly Radio Update on KADI 1340AM

2008-11-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Every Friday morning, Rob Rodgers will give his weekly SportsBiz Update on KADI 1340AM from 8:30 to 9:00 am. Join Rob and Morning Sports Drive host Steve Largent for all that's going on the world of money and sports.

Click the KADI logo on the left to LISTEN LIVE!

Chiefs Playing In Front Of Empty Seats?

2008-11-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

The Chiefs have lost 19 of their last 20 games, dating to last season, and that has tested the faith of many fans, and they are showing it by not attending games.

The team announced last Sunday that more than 74,000 tickets had been sold for the 30-20 loss to the New Orleans Saints. But thousands of seats were empty on that sunny afternoon. Similar scenes at other home games have caused worry at Arrowhead Stadium that fans are losing interest in paying to watch a team that, as recently as five years ago, needed a waiting list to accommodate ticket demands.

Things are different this season. The team has sent out notices that tickets — even premium lower-level seats — were available days before five of the six home games so far, including Sunday against Buffalo. The team has booked famous musicians to sing the national anthem and offered ticket discounts. Still, most of this season’s home games have threatened to fall short of sellouts, a rarity among NFL teams.

“We need to continue to give them a show,” said Bill Newman, the team’s senior vice president for administration. “We knew that, during a rebuilding period, we needed to do all we could to be competitive. What we didn’t see coming was this economic downturn. It’s taking its toll, as well as the team’s performance.”

The online ticket brokerage StubHub.com offered dozens of tickets for the Buffalo game at $12 each and less. The team’s lowest price for an individual seat was $35, already a discount.

On Tuesday, the Kansas City shopping region on Craigslist.org was swarmed with 55 posts offering tickets to Sunday’s game as low as $15 per seat. Some sellers threw in parking passes, and one was so desperate that he offered to trade his tickets for goods.

Source: Kansas City Star

Pujols Part Of MLS Ownership Bid

2008-11-19T11:09:00.001-08:00

St. Louis Soccer United, a group committed to bringing a Major League Soccer expansion franchise to the St. Louis metropolitan area in 2011, today announced that St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has joined the proposed St. Louis ownership group.

Pujols, one of the most popular athletes in the history of St. Louis sports, was named on Monday as the Most Valuable Player in the National League, marking the second time in four years that he has earned the league’s highest honor. Earlier this year, Pujols was named the 2008 recipient of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award, which honors the Major League Baseball player who combines outstanding play on the field with devoted work in the community.

“I am very proud and excited to join the effort to bring Major League Soccer to the St. Louis area,” Pujols said. “This means a lot to me and my family, as we all love soccer and we believe in MLS.

“Plus, this is something that will be great for our community, especially our youth. I strongly encourage St. Louis business leaders and sports fans to join me in this effort. St. Louis is an unbelievable sports town and we’ll be a great city for Major League Soccer.”

St. Louis Soccer United submitted a formal bid for an MLS expansion team to the league on Oct. 15. SLSU chairman Jeff Cooper, who will be at MLS Cup this weekend in Carson, Calif., said other investors with Pujols in the still-growing ownership group will be announced in the weeks ahead.

An MLS team in St. Louis would play in a new soccer-specific stadium in suburban Collinsville, Ill., located just 10 minutes from downtown St. Louis.

Source: St Louis Soccer United

New Cowboys Stadium Gets Final Four In 2014

2008-11-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

The NCAA says the men's basketball Final Four will be played at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington in 2014.

It's also awarded the 2016 men's Final Four to Houston. Those games will be played at Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans.

The 2012 Final Four will be played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, with finals awarded to Atlanta's Georgia Dome in 2013 and the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2015.

They were chosen from 10 bids submitted in June. Also competing to host the tournaments were Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix and St. Louis.

Source: NCAA

DHL Pulling Out Of US & MLB?

2008-11-19T09:14:00.000-08:00

DHL may end its sponsorship of the Atlanta Braves following the Deutsche Post AG unit’s withdrawal from the U.S. express-delivery market.

“They have indicated a desire to terminate,” Derek Schiller, executive vice president for sales and marketing for the Braves, said in an e-mail. “We are currently evaluating their sponsorship.”

Major League Baseball will hold talks with DHL about the future of its partnership, and Cincinnati Reds executives are scheduled to meet with the company tomorrow.

“As we do with all of our partners, we stay abreast of their business situations and how it relates to our partnerships,” MLB spokesman Matt Bourne said. “We’re discussing DHL’s situation with them.”

Company and baseball officials declined to disclose terms of the agreements.

DHL has said it will continue its MLB partnerships even after it fired 14,900 workers and closed three-quarters of its outlets because it failed to compete with United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp. in the U.S. It will only focus on international deliveries in the U.S.

“We have made no changes with regard to our baseball sponsorships,” company spokesman Jonathan Baker said in an e- mail yesterday. “Given the change in strategic direction to focus on our international services in the U.S. market, we will be examining these in conversations with our partners.”

DHL in 2005 signed a three-year agreement with Major League Baseball to sponsor the sport’s monthly and annual “DHL Delivery Man” awards for relief pitchers. The company extended its partnership in March 2007 through the 2010 season and sponsors at least six clubs (Reds, Giants, Red Sox, Dodgers, Indians, Braves). DHL also sponsors the All-Star Fan Fest that includes exhibits and player autograph sessions.

Source: Bloomberg

BCS Moves To ESPN In 2011

2008-11-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

The Bowl Championship Series is moving to ESPN from FOX starting in January 2011 (following the 2010 regular season).

ESPN and the BCS announced the deal on Tuesday. It includes exclusive television, radio, digital, international and marketing rights for the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar Bowls from 2011-2014 and the BCS title game from 2011 to 2013.

The Rose Bowl will continue to be televised on ABC through 2014 under a separate, previous contract. The Rose Bowl is also slated to host the 2014 title game.

ESPN is currently available in 98 million American homes. The current BCS deal with Fox Sports expires after the 2010 games.

The games will also be carried on ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes Radio. Digital Media rights include operation of the official BCS Web site and the opportunity to simulcast the games online at ESPN360.com and on ESPN Mobile TV for mobile devices.

ESPN International will distribute and televise the BCS matchups around the world through networks and syndication, including on the re-branded ESPN America in Europe (known as NASN until Feb. 2009). In addition, ESPN has the right to televise BCS games on ESPN Deportes, the U.S. Spanish-language sports network.

"The BCS will thrive on ESPN," ESPN president George Bodenheimer said. "Our slogan is 'College Football Lives Here' and the BCS will now top college football's best regular-season and studio coverage, the sport's top awards shows, Bowl Week and other national championships all carried on our family of networks. This is a proud day for ESPN and an exceptional day for this great sport and its passionate fans."

"We are tremendously pleased to reach an agreement with ESPN and feel that the BCS games from 2011 to '14 will be in good hands," said BCS commissioner John Swofford, who is also the commissioner of the ACC. "With the continued growth of technology and the depth of coverage that ESPN gives to the college football fan on all its platforms during the regular season, this postseason partnership is a natural fit."

ESPN is available in just over 98 million U.S. homes, which is 86 percent of all households with televisions, according to Nielsen. Swofford expects that number to grow by 2011. Of the people who watched the BCS title game on Fox last season, 95 percent had cable or satellite, ESPN said.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report

Source: ESPN

Fresh Off World Series Appearance, Rays Raise Prices

2008-11-19T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Tampa Bay Rays, coming off their first-ever playoff appearance (and World Series berth), have slightly raised individual ticket prices for the 2009 season.

Rays president Matt Silverman said Monday that about 70-percent of the single-game tickets will increase by $1 (for example, upper deck goes from $9 to $10 for regular game, from $14-16 for prime pricing). But in an effort to bolster their season-ticket base - the "lifeblood" of any baseball team - Silverman said the club is also increasing the discount for season ticket holders (up to 35 percent).

Silverman said the club is cognizant of the struggling national economy, but felt - especially with the continued free parking for cars with four or more, and the ability to bring in food and drink - it still makes the Rays tickets one of the most affordable in major league baseball.

"In order to continue fielding a team that makes the entire Tampa Bay region proud, our family of season ticket holders has to grow," Silverman said. "The pitch to a season ticket holder is an easy one; sit in the best seats, support your home team, and enjoy considerable savings off individual ticket prices."

Most everything else at Tropicana Field will remain the same; vehicles with four or more passengers can park for free, you can still bring in your food and drink, the upper-deck tarp will remain.

Source: St Petersburg Times

Johnson Wins Third Straight; "Pink Slip Monday" arrives

2008-11-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

The ’08 NASCAR season closed Sunday with Jimmie Johnson cementing his legacy with a record-tying third straight Cup title as ABC earns a 3.6 overnight rating for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami, down slightly from '07.

But most of the talk in the garage over the weekend revolves around off-the-track issues, as hundreds of job cuts are expected as part of "Pink Slip Monday." The magnitude of the layoffs, which will hit even the most successful teams, remains to be seen, but some believe the number of jobs lost could exceed 1,000.

There seems to be an acknowledgment among drivers and owners that teams have operated beyond their means for the past decade, and everyone is scrambling to adjust to the harsh economic realities.

In addition to the imminent layoffs, NASCAR's testing ban is sure to save millions of dollars for teams, and in the wake of Johnson's continued dominance, may help level the playing field.

Whoops, Mark Cuban Accused by SEC of Insider Trading

2008-11-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Dallas Mavericks owner and dot-com billionaire Mark Cuban with insider trading for selling 600,000 shares of an Internet search engine company prior to an impending stock offering.

The Commission's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, alleges that in June 2004, Mamma.com invited Cuban to participate in a stock offering after he agreed to keep the information confidential.

Cuban knew that the offering would be conducted at a discount to the prevailing market price and that it would be dilutive to existing shareholders, the SEC said in a statement.

Cuban then told his broker to sell Cuban's entire position in the company, the SEC alleged. Mamma.com's stock price opened at $11.89 after the offering was announced, a decline of more than 9 percent.

According to the complaint, Cuban avoided losses in excess of $750,000 by selling his stock prior to the public announcement of the offering.

Cuban is expected to fight the charges.

Mark Cuban is a billionaire entrepreneur and is also the chairman of HDNet, an HDTV cable network.

In 2005, Mamma.com acquired desktop search company Copernic Technologies. In 2007, the combined company changed its name to Copernic [CNIC], which trades publicly on the Nasdaq.

Source: Associated Press

Steelers Chairman To Buy Out Family For Control

2008-11-17T08:57:00.000-08:00

Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and his son will likely buy a controlling interest in the team from Rooney's four brothers.

"It's not really (that) a deal has been reached, but we're coming along very well," Art Rooney Jr., one of the brothers, said Saturday.

"You're dealing with five people who are very private. There are a lot of ideas and nuances. We're moving in the right direction after all," he said. "There's still things that have to be worked out, but it's headed that way."

Dan Rooney was the only person interested in buying the team, which the brothers want to see remain in the family, according to Art Rooney Jr.

"That was a pretty big factor in this whole thing," he said.

Art Rooney Jr. was reluctant to name a price, saying it could change. The team has been estimated to be worth as much as $1.2 billion.

Each brother owns 16 percent of the team, adding up to 80 percent, with another Pittsburgh family, the McGinleys, owning 20 percent. Those shares are not being sold. The Rooneys' father, Hall of Famer Art Rooney Sr., bought the franchise in 1933 for $2,500.

Source: Fox Sports

Tour de Georgia Cancels 2009 Race

2008-11-16T22:01:00.000-08:00

The Tour de Georgia will not hold its annual race through the state in 2009 but plans to return in 2010.

The Tour de Georgia, the seven-day race billed as North America's premier professional cycling event, has struggled financially as it could not find a title sponsor the last two years.

Support in the Tour de Georgia declined following Lance Armstrong's retirement. The announcement to cancel the race came despite Armstrong's recent comeback, including plans to return to the Georgia event.

The decision to cancel the 2009 race was announced by board member Tom Saddlemire on the race's Web site.

Saddlemire said 2009 will be used "to plan ahead and properly position" the Tour de Georgia.

REPORT: With economy hurting budgets, NASCAR bans testing to save money

2008-11-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

NASCAR will implement a no-testing policy next season in order to save millions of dollars during a massive downturn in the U.S. economy.

NASCAR officials met with teams' crew chiefs Friday morning at Homestead-Miami Speedway to inform them of the change. The official announcement is expected later today.

All tracks that have NASCAR events in the top three series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Trucks, which will be renamed Camping World Trucks next season -- are expected to be included in the testing ban.

The change also is expected to include Daytona International Speedway and the traditional two weeks of test sessions in January before the '09 season begins.

"It has pluses and minuses," said Pat Tryson, crew chief for the No. 2 Dodge driven by Kurt Busch. "Times are tough right now, so it's probably not that bad a thing for most people. It's the same for everybody. It may make the racing better with nobody having the opportunity to test."

This is a dramatic change from the idea NASCAR officials proposed to the teams two months ago, when the plan was to increase testing to 24 sessions per team, with every Cup track included. But the faltering economy caused NASCAR to rethink that idea and take a major step to limit costs.

Many teams spend more than $3 million a season on testing. Each test day can run more than $100,000 per car in expenses.

Cup teams had lobbied for more testing at Cup tracks to gain valuable data on the new car at each Cup facility. Only a few tracks had open test sessions this year, so teams were forced to test at tracks where NASCAR doesn't have Cup races.

The new policy will not keep teams from testing at non-NASCAR tracks.

MLB: Economy Makes Free Agent Signings More Risky

2008-11-14T09:44:00.001-08:00

Associated Press

Major League Baseball's free-agent market opened for business at 12:01 a.m. EST Friday morning and the Yankees, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 1993, are expected to dominate proceedings.

"We're going to do what we do every year, and that's try to field a championship team," co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner told reporters on Tuesday. "That's not going to change. We know that we've got some weaknesses, and we're going to fix the problems as best we can. If that means spending money, obviously that means spending money. The philosophy has not changed."

Yankees GM Brian Cashman got things started Thursday by signing reliever Damaso Marte to a three-year, US$12-million contract and trading for Chicago White Sox first baseman/outfielder Nick Swisher.

That will likely not be the end of the moves for baseball's richest team.

New York is moving into a new Yankee Stadium that will generate tens of millions of dollars more than the team's former home, although a slowing economy has impacted luxury suite sales for this season. Seven were still available this week.

But with single-game ticket prices as high as US$2,500, the team will not be hurting for cash.

A.J. Burnett must be hopelessly underpaid because he didn't think twice about telling the Toronto Blue Jays that his current contract guaranteeing him $12 million a year just wasn't going to cut it anymore.

Hard to blame him, because fellow pitcher CC Sabathia figures to make double that by the time he reports to spring training a few months from now. Besides, there's always the nagging worry that a new administration taking office soon just might be coming after some of his fortune.

Some team, perhaps even the Blue Jays, will pay Burnett what he wants. They will because this is baseball and, as super agent Scott Boras points out, the economic rules that govern normal civilized society don't apply.

"In our myopic world," Boras said, "there's a lot of fixed elements that frankly are not as applicable to the outside world."

They may listen and nod approvingly when Bud Selig says times are tough and that teams should watch what they do with their money, as he did in a video call to general managers meeting this week in Dana Point, Calif. But toss a top starting pitcher in front of them, and even the mid-market teams start salivating and begging their bankers for a loan.

Cowboys Look To Refinance $350 million debt

2008-11-14T09:26:00.000-08:00

The Dallas Cowboys are seeking to borrow $350 million by Dec. 1, according to numerous finance sources, in one of the worst credit environments in the nation’s history.

The club’s proposed deal would refinance $126 million the team borrowed last year through the now-imploded auction-rate securities market, as well as add new debt to cover cost overruns at the team’s $1.2 billion stadium that is set to open next year, the sources said.

“Everyone is looking at the Cowboys’ deal. It is a huge bellwether,” said one finance source. “This is one of the only deals, period, in the market [sports or otherwise].”

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the team’s lead lender, Bank of America, hosted more than a dozen banks at the suite sales center adjacent to the under-construction stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 27, offering a deal priced 2.5 percent over the London Interbank Offered Rate, a floating-rate index, sources said.

The Cowboys and Bank of America want the other banks to buy pieces of the loan, a process called syndication. The Cowboys and Bank of America declined to comment.

The Cowboys are relying on a few factors to get the deal done. One is the allure of the Cowboys brand. Second, the team has pledged in the proposed deal nearly all revenue lines from the new stadium, sources said. That’s a feature that was common in stadium financing six years ago but disappeared during the go-go years of easy credit, when pledged revenues were lighter.

A third factor is the growth of the Dallas market. During the bank meeting, according to a banking source, Jones pitched Dallas as being second only to Chicago in terms of market size among NFL cities with just one team. He referred to the Dallas Metroplex, which includes Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington.

For the Cowboys, getting out from underneath the auction-rate debt is a pressing concern. They are one of four NFL teams to have borrowed from the auction-rate securities (ARS) market, a market that allowed companies to borrow cheaply and continue to reset the interest rate with auctions of the debt weekly and monthly.

The Cowboys estimated the stadium would cost $650 million when they announced the project in 2004. With $350 million of public funding and $76 million from the NFL, it looked like a choice deal for the team.

The club arranged to borrow at least $450 million through Banc of America Securities for its portion, with the first $126 million through the ARS market. But Jones agreed to cover cost overruns as part of the team’s share, and like many stadiums in this period, the price has spiraled.

The team has not yet secured a naming-rights deal for the stadium, which would bring in additional revenue. The club also could raise as much as $735 million from the sale of personal seat licenses, according to a Fort Worth Star-Telegram report. There are 55,000, 30-year PSLs available at prices ranging from $2,000 to $150,000.

The stadium will seat 80,000 but will be able to expand to 100,000 for special events like the Super Bowl, which Dallas is scheduled to host in 2011.

Report: Cuban has 'zero chance' of buying Cubs

2008-11-14T08:14:00.000-08:00

From the Chicago Sun-Times

Cubs owner Sam Zell would love to sell the team to Mark Cuban.

Plenty of Cubs fans would love to have him own the team.

But that's not going to happen, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

"There's no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen. Zero chance," a Major League Baseball source told the paper this week.

The Cubs originally went on sale on Opening Day of the 2007 season, but there has been little movement toward a resolution.

The recent global financial crisis has only stalled it even more as the value of the team and ballpark has dropped from a high of $1 billion.

The source doesn't see a resolution any time soon, telling the paper, "We'll be standing here at next year's GM meetings and this will still be unresolved."

The paper says a group headed by John Canning Jr. is the likely front-runner.

Blues Offer Their Own Homeowner "Bailout" Program

2008-11-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

Rob Rodgers | www.stableretirement.com

Another reason to see the Blues in STL. The St Louis Blues of the NHL are introducing "Fannie and Freddie Mortgage Saturday." One fan chosen at random during each Saturday home game will receive relief on his or her monthly mortgage or rent payments for up to four months ($1,000 maximum per month).

With eleven Saturday homes games left on the regular season calendar, eleven lucky fans in total will be "bailed out." The team is also offering reduced Saturday night ticket prices on 1,000 seats.

Friday Morning Review On KADI 1340 AM

2008-11-13T13:23:00.001-08:00

Rob Rodgers | www.stableretirement.com

Wow! Time flies, especially 30 minutes, when you're talking money and sports.

Today on the show, we discussed how the JQH Arena will pay its bills and the advantage of having national acts like the Eagles and Casting Crowns coming to Springfield.

The St Louis Blues have a "mortgage bailout plan" for fans. See the full story on this blog.

We also talked about the best deals in sports. From buy one, get one season tickets to buy now, pay later deals. Teams are doing everything they can to put fans in the seats in this tough economy.

Did you know Jerry Jones has to refinance $350 million in debt on the new stadium in Dallas? Not your ordinary mortgage.

And will Mark Cuban be able to buy the Cubs? Cub fans like it as well as current owner Sam Zell. However, MLB is not to exited about it.

Join Rob and Steve on Sports Biz Friday on KADI 1340 AM from 8:30 to 9:00 am. Don't forget to get your market opening bell report every Friday.