Toronto Approves Soccer Stadium

The Toronto City Council approved the financing plan for a new soccer stadium at Exhibition Place that will serve as the home field for an expansion entry in Major League Soccer as well as the showcase stadium for the World Under-20 Championships in 2007. With this approval, MLS expansion is almost assured, as Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Maple Leafs NHL team and the Raptors NBA team will join MLS as the owner-operator. The stadium design calls for 20,000 seats with the capability to expand by an additional 10,000. MLS has plans to add an additional franchise the same year that Toronto joins from among a number of American cities.

Theo Says Goodbye to the Sox

In a stunning blow to Red Sox Nation, wunderkind General Manager Theo Epstein turned down a new three year contract and walked away from the Boston Red Sox, apparently a decision motivated more by concerns about his role and power than by money. The Red Sox had agreed to pay Epstein, at 31 the youngest GM ever to win a World Series, $1.5 million per year for 3 years, quadrupling his salary. However, concerns about his relationship with his mentor, Red Sox President Larry Lucchino, seemingly are the reasons behind his departure.

What Epstein will do next is unclear. His statement gave no real indication of his future plans. While there are three general manager vacancies, including the new one with the Los Angeles Dodgers, none of them have a payroll remotely approaching the one he had to play with while at the Red Sox. It's not at all certain that Epstein would be interested in jumping right into a situation without the approaching the resources Boston had available. Of course, there are not many comparable situations in baseball.

Weis Staying at ND

Forget all those rumors about Charlie Weis heading back to the NFL. Notre Dame announced today that Weis signed a new 10 year contract to coach the Irish through the 2015 season. Details about the contract, other than its length, were not released. Irish fans are orgasmic.

UPDATE: On the NFL Pregame Show Sunday morning, ESPN reported that the contract was worth between $30-$40 million and was closer to $40 million, making Weis the highest paid coach in the history of college football.

Premier League Parity

We have talked before about the lack of parity in the English Premier League and the long-term effects that may have on the sport. It ultimately decreases fan interest if the same 3-5 teams are the only ones who contend for the championship and spots in Europe every year. Fans of the other teams lose interest, attendance decreases, television ratings drop and revenue falls. Ultimately this affects everything from player salaries and transfer fees to club share prices.

New evidence of how bad things have gotten came out this week. In an article appearing in the Daily Telegraph, Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson was reported to have said that Man U no longer goes after players that the club knows that Chelsea also wants as Chelsea outbids them every time. When Man U loses every player it wants, something has fundamentally changed in the football universe. The money that Chelsea has at its disposal has so altered the rules of the road, soccer has become Chelsea's game and everyone else is left to fight over the players Chelsea has left behind.

This development, if left to continue to grow unchecked, will eventually leave Premier League football with fewer and fewer fans paying ever higher ticket prices and pay per view prices. That is not a sustainable business model. It's time for the Premier League to seriously consider some form of salary cap as a means to promote parity. It might want to look to the NFL as a model and see what it accomplished with a salary cap and revenue sharing - the explosion of popularity and revenue that followed cemented the NFL as America's true national sport. If the Premier League doesn't take drastic steps soon, it may self destruct.

The Saints Saga

The whereabouts of the New Orleans next year remains an open question although league sources have been reported to have indicated that the current thinking is that the Saints will remain in San Antonio for next season with a move to Los Angeles likely.

Tom Benson, the Saints owner, published an open letter to New Orleans and Saints fans in the New Orleans Times Picayune this week, proclaiming that no decisions on the future of the Saints have been made and that he was committed to exploring every avenue to bring the Saints back to New Orleans. It's doubtful that many New Orleanians believed him.

One of the major factors in any decision on the future of the Saints is the status of the Superdome, their New Orleans home field. The Superdome suffered heavy damage during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath including the damage it incurred while being used as a refuge for tens of thousands of people trying to seek shelter from the floodwaters. According to officials involved with the Superdome, although the complete report on the costs of repair and reconstruction won't be finished until the end of November, it appears that the building is structurally sound and can be repaired. It will not have to be torn down as many had feared. Repairs and reconstruction will cost between $125-200 million, practically all of which will be covered by insurance and federal funds.

New Orleans will rebuild the Superdome even without the Saints as the building is vital to the city's tourist economy. Tourism has been one of the city's most important industries and post-Katrina it may be the city's only significant industry, other than the work passing through the port. However, rebuilding the Superdome, which officials believe can be completed by late fall, 2006, will not be enough to ensure that the Saints return.

If the current projections prove correct that only half the population returns to New Orleans, the city will simply be too small to support a NFL team. It's already one of the smallest markets in the league and has had problems in the past. If the city is only half its former size, it's hard to believe the league will not let Benson leave, even if its sympathies may be the citizens of New Orleans. In that case, New Orleans would be wise not to pursue a replacement team if the cost of that team is a new stadium entirely paid for with public dollars, as was the case with Cleveland. The costs of reconstructing New Orleans are simply too high to be spending $400 million on a football stadium to further enrich an already obscenely rich NFL owner who would decide to put a team in a shaky market like New Orleans. The deal would have to be so one-sided that all the risk would be borne by the taxpayers of New Orleans, the ones who could least afford it. So, if the Saints do in fact leave for Los Angeles, New Orleans should be upset with Benson but in the long run, may be better off for it.

Sheryl Swoope's Announcement

So it turns out that one of the most high profile American woman basketball players, the reigning WNBA MVP and three time Olympic gold medalist, is gay. Not really a big deal, right. It's not the announcement that's interesting, but the timing.

You see, it seems that the timing of Sheryl's coming out is tied to an endorsement opportunity, at least according to Darren Rovell of ESPN (by way of Howard Bloom). Swoopes had booked a cruise on a gay cruise ship and an alert executive at the travel company noticed her name and contacted her about endorsing the company. However, she had to be openly gay for Olivia travel service to use her. Is this the only reason Swoopes chose to come out? Probably not, but it certainly is a contributing cause and may have been a major factor in the timing of her announcement.

BlogPoll is Up

The BlogPoll for this week is up. Making the biggest move up and entering the poll at number 20, jumping six spots is the mighty Northwestern Purple Haze (aka Wildcats). Falling the farthest, to no one's surprise I'm sure, are Texas Tech and Tennessee.

BlogPoll Week 9

Here's my ballot for this week's poll, unlike the computers I think the champ is still the champ until U$C gets beat:

1. Southern Cal
2. Texas
3. Virginia Tech
4. Georgia
5. Alabama
6. UCLA
7. Miami (Florida)
8. Louisiana State
9. Notre Dame
10. Penn State
11. Florida State
12. Boston College
13. Oregon
14. West Virginia
15. Wisconsin
16. Ohio State
17. Texas Tech
18. Auburn
19. Florida
20. Tennessee
21. Northwestern
22. TCU
23. Louisville
24. Cal
25. Virginia

Are the Cubs for Sale?

The Cubs are currently owned by the Tribune Company, the owner and publisher of among other properties, the Chicago Tribune. Last quarter, due to a unfavorable decision in a tax case, Tribune profits were down 82%. The stock price is off almost 25% in the last year and at least one stock analyst thinks the Cubs may be on the block.

The Tribune Company CEO told analysts earlier this month that the company would be looking at its entire portfolio for ways to boost profits. Is a sale of the Cubs actually a good thing either for the franchise or the city? It's, of course, hard to answer that question without knowing the identity of the buyer. The Tribune's' ownership has not been without controversy. It has been accused of not being willing to devote the resources necessary to consistently field winning teams while at the same time not respecting the Cubs traditions. The company has stepped on a lot of toes in efforts to wring more money out of Wrigley Field and out of the Cubs television rights, despite their presence on Tribune owned WGN.

If the Cubs are sold to locally based owners who are respectful of Wrigley Field and yet creative enough to find new sources of money, then the Cubs may prosper, similar in some ways to the way in which the Red Sox flourish under the new ownership. A great deal depends on the attitude taken by the new owners towards both the fans and Wrigley Field. Wrigley is so tied up with the Cubs identity that it has to be handled with kid gloves when it comes to making changes. I'm not sure the Tribune ever fully realized that.

It's not at all clear that the Tribune wants to sell the Cubs. The value of the team is probably in the range of $400-550 million and that's not going to make much of a difference to the corporate coffers. It may be that the corporate honchos decide that the value of the Cubs as an executive perk may be worth more to them than the sales price and that selling the WB network and the Food Network will raise the cash they need far easier than selling the Cubs.

Carnival of the Capitalists #107

This week's Carnival of Capitalists is up at Blawg Review and no, that's not a misprint. I really meant the Carnival of Capitalists. Of course, this week's Blawg Review is also up, but this week is a special issue devoted to business law to correspond to the Carnival of Capitalists. No contribtutions from me to the Blawg Review this week but it's still definitely worth a look as is the C of C, of course.

Fox World Series Ratings Plummet

Any thought that Fox may have had that the White Sox might prove just a pale version of the Red Sox in America's television sets, was quickly thrown aside last night. In the overnight ratings, Fox drew 9.5% of the American households with televisions, down from the 13.7% which the Red Sox-St.Louis opener drew last year. Not surprisingly, the city with the best local ratings was Houston at 36%, followed by Chicago at 33.5%. While it is the Astros first Series ever and the White Sox first since 1959, it is almost impossible to duplicate the emotional appeal that accompanied the Red Sox first appearance in the World Series since 1918. I doubt that anyone at Fox believes that this Series would approach the ratings reached last year, especially without the New York, Boston or Los Angeles markets.

The PGA Tour Has TV Trouble Ahead

In 2001, the PGA Tour signed cable and television contracts totaling $850 million, a 50% increase over its previous contracts. As those contracts all roll out in 2006, the landscape has changed rather dramatically. Golf does not draw as well today as it did in 2001, a situation that is partly attributable to Tiger Woods lack of overwhelming dominance of the Tour today. As a result, according to Business Week, the networks are expected to collectively lose about $50 million, not a situation network executives take to very kindly.

What this means for the average golf fan is unclear at this point. The networks are saying that the rights fees will have to drop but the Tour will obviously push hard to prevent that from happening. As I mentioned before,the Tour is considering a restructuring of the end of the season so that it effectively ends in September about the time the NFL kicks off. In addition, a NASCAR style points chase is being considered where golfers will accumulate points during the year to qualify for three year ending tournaments.

What will fill the time after September? That will be used for smaller tournaments played mostly be second and third tier golfers who are trying to qualify for the Tour next year. The tournaments won't have wide appeal and will be televised primarily on cable - the Golf Channel and USA Network most likely.

None of this appears to be decided yet. So far it seems that it still is in the talking stage but given the losses that the network took and the reluctance to ante up for new contracts, it is likely that some type of restructuring will happen, even if the details turn out to be slightly different than I have laid out here.

Bradley University Appeal Denied -Braves Still Hostile

The NCAA denied the appeal of Bradley University to have its Braves nickname removed from the list of "hostile and abusive" Native American nicknames despite the fact that Bradley had removed almost all vestiges of Native American references years ago. Bradley was lauded by the NCAA for the steps it has taken in removing its Native American mascot and imagery but that was not enough. This was the first test case of a general name not tied to a specific tribe and does not bode well for any other school with a general name. Bradley can appeal and has not yet decided what it will do.

Chivas USA: The Power of a Brand

When a team wins only four games in its inaugural season, one would not expect great things from it at the cash register either. Such is not the case with one of the two new for 2005 franchises in MLS, Club Deportivo Chivas USA. In fact, Chivas USA led MLS in jersey sales and sponsorship dollars.

Granted, Chivas is an unusual case. It is an offshoot of one of the most popular soccer clubs in Mexico, Club Deportivo de Guadalajara, commonly known as Chivas. The owners of Chivas opened the US outpost in an attempt to leverage the Gaudalajara brand among Mexican immigrants in the US, and it seems to be working. Attendance at Chivas USA games is estimated to be 88% Spanish speaking and Chivas USA draws a crowd on the road wherever they play.

The success of the Chivas experiment from a business standpoint has peaked the interest of other Mexican teams. Club America is said to be interested in placing a team in Houston and MLS is rumored to be in discussions with several European clubs about possible participation in the league. It appears that a new business model may be developing: leverage an existing brand into the United States and appeal to the American immigrant community.

The question remains, however, just how far one can go with that strategy. While Chivas USA has plenty of upside ahead and there is likely room for Club America as well, there is certainly a limit to teams that make no attempt to appeal to the local fan base but confine themselves to the immigrant community. Ultimately, if MLS is to break of its current role as a niche sport and into the major sport status it craves, it needs to learn from Chivas how to appeal to local fans and what marketing tactics have been successful in Mexico that may translate into success here.

Fox May Dump MLB Divisional Playoffs

Television broadcast rights for Major League Baseball may be taking an interesting turn as Fox steps to the plate for the renewal of its package involving the bulk of the Divisional Playoffs. The Divisional Playoffs are a legacy of Fox's old contract with the Fox Family Channel which was sold to ABC, however Fox retained the renewal rights to the baseball package.

While ESPN is undoubtedly interested in picking up the rest of the Divisional Series that it doesn't already carry, the way could still be open for Comcast's OLN to slip into baseball coverage. This opening by Fox could certainly make the package of Tuesday-Thursday games significantly more valuable than they would otherwise be and the bidding may get heavy if OLN remains in the game.

BlogPoll Week 8

The BlogPoll for Week 8 is now up. Southern Cal remains on top followed, not surprisingly by Texas, then Virginia Tech. Michigan State and Florida fell the furthest: 8 and 7 spots respectively; while West Virginia and Wisconsin rose the furthest, each rising 5 spots.

BlogPoll Week 8

Here's my ballot for this week's BlogPoll. No change at the top but lot's of change throughout as the weekend of wild finishes takes its toll.

1. Southern Cal
2. Texas
3. Virginia Tech
4. Georgia
5. Alabama
6. UCLA
7. Miami (Florida)
8. Louisiana State
9. Texas Tech
10. Notre Dame
11. Oregon
12. Penn State
13. Florida State
14. Auburn
15. Boston College
16. West Virginia
17. Wisconsin
18. Ohio State
19. Florida
20. Tennessee
21.Virginia
22. Northwestern
23. Michigan State
24. TCU
25. Louisville

Twins Sue to End Metrodome Lease

The battle for a new stadium for the Minnesota Twins took a new turn this afternoon as the Twins filed suit against their Metrodome landlord asking for a ruling that the team has no long term obligation to play in the dome. While the team contends that the suit is not a ploy to get a new stadium out of the state legislature, it is hard to view this action as anything other than stepping up the pressure on the Governor and the legislature.

The Twins have been actively pursuing a new stadium for the last decade and have failed to win the support of the state legislature in the last two sessions. The suit may actually be the first step in moving the team from Minneapolis. That would not be the first time that the team's owner has tried to move the Twins. In fact, it was the Metrodome lease that prevented the sale of the Twins and their eventual move to North Carolina in 1997.

Whether the Twins can ever win the support of the legislature for public funding of a new stadium is not clear. At this point, the Twins and the University of Minnesota are both seeking funding for new stadiums as the Gophers want to leave the Metrodome for an on campus football stadium. The likelihood of all of these stadiums, including a new one the Vikings have proposed in suburban Blaine, receiving public funding at the same time has to be seen as remote at best. I think this volley by the Twins should be characterized as the first step in a move to leave rather than a step to a new home in Minnesota.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists is now up at Accidental Verbosity. It's part two of the second anniversary of the Carnival and, as usual, has a great number of very interesting posts on a wide range of topics. Get over there and check it out.

The Acquisition of Chelsea

In a fascinating account, the Guardian takes a behind the scenes look at Roman Abramovich's purchase of Chelsea and the transformation of what was a soccer club on the brink of financial ruin into the wealthiest club in the world. What is most striking to me is the speed with which the entire deal was done. It took 15 minutes to strike a deal in principle and only one more 20 minute meeting to further seal it. After that, it only took the lawyers 5 days to write up and everyone to agree to it and sign it, which is just amazingly fast for a deal this large and relatively complicated. Clearly, what Abramovich wants, he gets and he gets it when he wants it too.

San Antonio Mayor Goes After Saints

The gloves are off and all pretense is finally gone when it comes to the future home of the New Orleans Saints. The Mayor of San Antonio, Phil Hardberger, has said that he will sit down with Saints owner Tom Benson after the season end to discuss moving the Saints to San Antonio. Hardberger believes that Benson wants to move to San Antonio as well. "That is his desire as well. I'm pretty comfortable in saying he wants to be here," said Hardberger.

However, Benson is likely to face strong resistance from the NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has said on several occasions that he doesn't favor moving the Saints to San Antonio. In fact, the league has indicated many times that Los Angeles is the preferred site for a franchise relocation should one become necessary. In the case of the Saints, so far the league office has been cautious in saying that it is too early to judge whether New Orleans will be able to support the Saints in the future.

However, it is reasonable to think that the team is likely to move. The Superdome is likely to be torn down or require substantial repair that could take as much as two years to accomplish. Also, at this point, no one knows what the size of the New Orleans community will be once it is rebuilt. Clearly, it will be substantially smaller than it is now and it is the smallest market in the NFL not named Green Bay now.

Mazel Tov Maccabi!!

For only the second time since the NBA sanctioned international competition in 1987, an NBA team lost today as Maccabi Tel Aviv, the defending Euroleague champion defeated the Toronto Raptors 105-103 in Toronto. The win marked the first by Maccabi over an NBA team since it defeated the then champion Washington Bullets 98-97 in 1978.

Maccabi's victory was well earned as Toronto kept their starters in for most of the game. Maccabi was led, as usual, by guard Anthony Parker with 24 points while Nikola Vujcic added 21 points and 10 boards. Although the game was played at the Air Canada Centre, it was apparently just like a home game for Maccabi, as the stands were filled with yellow and blue clad supporters screaming for Maccabi at every basket.

While winning this game may be a good omen for the Euroleague season to come, unless it opens the eyes of NBA scouts to the talent on the Maccabi roster, it certainly can't bode well for the Raptors. A team with a payroll of $50 million should feel mighty embarrassed about losing a home game to a team with a total budget of $12 million, even if the players have the extra incentive of trying to impress all the NBA people in the house.

Should Baseball Put a Third Team in New York?

In a very thought provoking post on his Economics Unbound Blog for Business Week, Michael Mandel sets out the proposition that based on personal income per team, New York and Boston should each receive get a new baseball team to restore competitive balance to the Major Leagues. He analyzes the personal incomes of each major league city, dividing the markets with two teams by half and finds that New York and Boston are far in front of the rest of MLB.

We all know that the Yankees payroll far exceeds all other MLB teams and that the Red Sox are not coincidentally number 2. It is not however just because the personal income of the Boston market is great that causes the Red Sox to outspend the balance of the American League. It is the great rivalry with the Yankees and being in the same division as the team in the hated pinstripes. Boston has the second highest payroll in the Major Leagues and it is still just 60% of the Yankees.

This is not simply a market size phenomenon, although that is certainly part of it. The Mets have not benefited from the market size of New York in quite the same way as the Yankees and there is no reason to expect that a third team in New York will make a significant dent in the Yankees enormous local television revenue which is the key to their ability to spend so freely on payroll. The Yankees and the Red Sox are both sitting home thinking about next year(and the Mets haven't made the post-season in so long I can't remember when it was). Of the remaining teams in the playoffs, the Angels represent the third largest market and have the fifth largest payroll, although they play in Anaheim despite what they call themselves or it says in your newspaper. However, the other teams are not quite from the upper echelon of markets based on Mandel's personal income test. Their payroll's, however, are in the upper tier. The White Sox are the lowest at 13th, with St. Louis 10th and Houston 11th.

I don't believe the answer to moderating the Yankees payroll is placing another team in New York. I don't doubt that the metropolitan New York could probably support another team but I am doubtful that it would make a significant enough dent in the Yankee fan base to have Mandel's desired effect. To truly bring more parity to Major League Baseball requires the introduction of greater revenue sharing of local television and cable revenue. It is this revenue stream that marks the difference between the haves and the have-nots of baseball. It is the YES, the cable network that the Yankees control and which carries Yankee games, which provides the revenue stream that enables the Yankees free-spending ways. Were MLB to insist on greater revenue sharing of local revenue, I believe the results on the field would be visible almost immediately, as small market teams would have greater resources to spend on free agents and to invest in scouting and their farm systems. The true path to parity lies not in expansion or franchise movement but in revenue sharing.

NASCAR to Return to ESPN and ABC

NASCAR will be returning to its former broadcast home of 20 years when the current fall contract expires after this season. According to a report in today's New York Times , ESPN and ABC will be the new fall home for NASCAR for the next six years.

The price tag is a hefty $280 million, which represents a forty percent increase over the amounts that NBC and TNT had been paying for the current July to November package. NBC has previously indicated that NASCAR has produced significant losses for the network although it has been unwilling to specify exactly how much. The losses were significant enough that NBC allowed its exclusive negotiating period to lapse, allowing ESPN and ABC to enter the bidding.

Fox is expected to renew its rights to telecast the February to June package. It too has suffered significant losses on NASCAR but has indicated that it expects to continue to broadcast it. In fact, in 2002, Fox wrote off $297 million from the value of its NASCAR agreement. NBC seems to be continuing its long standing policy of fiscal sanity and not bidding on rights on which it will take a significant financial loss.

Frank Beamer Gets New 7 year $14 Million deal

Looks like moving to the ACC has been awfully good to Frank Beamer. He has reached agreement on a new 7 year deal that will pay him a guaranteed $2,008,000 per year, a nice, tidy $600,000 per year raise. Oh, and that doesn't include incentives.

Also, and perhaps more important for Hokie fans, his assistants received raises too. Beamer gets $100,000 a year to divide among his assistants on January , 2006 and another $100,000 to divide on July 1, 2006. The decision on how to divide the money is entirely up to Beamer.

The deal makes Beamer the second highest paid coach in the ACC behind only Florida State's Bobby Bowden, who Beamer is likely to face in the first ever ACC Championship this December. This deal is also likely to guarantee, as much as coaching contracts ever can, that Beamer will coach at Va. Tech for the remainder of his coaching career.

Chargers to Consider Switching to Powder Blues?

The San Diego Chargers have not ruled out a switch back to the best uniforms in professional sports, the powder blue jerseys and white pants, which they most recently wore in the Monday nighter against the Steelers. They will wear them one more time this season against the Bills. Any permanent move back to powder blue would require advance notice to, and approval from, the league so that merchandise could be ordered and coordinated and, so far at least, no notice to the league has been given.

Sports Illustrated Wants out of Price Settlement

It seems there may be a cost to talking too much about a good thing. Time Inc., the parent company of Sports Illustrated, has asked an Alabama judge to throw out the settlement with former Alabama coach Mike Price because Price and his attorney "deliberately and flagrantly" breached the settlement in their statements to the media.

The settlement agreement contained confidentiality provisions that Sports Illustrated is now contending were breached by Price and his attorney, so flagrantly as to warrant dismissing the underlying case against the magazine and sanctioning Price's attorney. In response, Price's attorney denied breaching the agreement, contending that neither he nor Price disclosed any of the details of the negotiations or the final terms. The judge has sealed the court file and has yet to rule on Time, Inc.'s motion. Just another example of what you get when you shoot off your mouth without thinking through what you're going to say. It's not always smart to try a case in the media, especially after you won.

BlogPoll Week 7

The complete BlogPoll for week 7 can be found here.

Coach K to coach Olympic Team

According to a report in USA Today Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski will be named the new head coach of the US Olympic basketball team. He will lead a team expected to be composed of mostly professional players, possibly with a few collegiate stars, who are expected to commit to play not just in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but also in the 2006 World Championships being held in Japan. USA Basketball is demonstrating a new commitment to international play and is looking for the same commitment from the players. It is anticipated that substantially the same team will play in both events, perhaps a first for the US.

MLS Paves the Way for Toronto expansion

MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced that the league is ready to expand by two teams in 2007 with one of them going to Toronto if Toronto can wrap up a stadium deal by the end of the month. Toronto Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the owner of the Leafs and the Raptors will be the owner operator of the franchise and will pay an expansion fee slightly higher than the $10 million that the owners of Real Salt Lake and Chivas USA paid. The other team will play in a city yet to be selected, but the leading candidates are Houston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and St. Louis. That assumes that no current team moves to one of those cities in the interim. Rumor has it that the Quakes are headed to Houston, but there has been no confirmation of that. The Wizards are in limbo as owner Lamar Hunt has put the team up for sale and the team is in need of a soccer specific stadium if it were to stay in Kansas City.

The current plan in Toronto is to put the stadium on the lakefront at the site of the old Exhibition Park, the original home of the Blue Jays. Details continue to be worked on and a financing plan is being negotiated. Both the federal government and Ontario government have pledged contributions. If the city pledges what has been proposed, then MLSE believes that it can make up the difference, between selling naming rights to the stadium and its own contribution to construction. The plan will need the approval of the Toronto City Council. The proposal is for a $60 million (Canadian) soccer specific stadium, which will also be capable of use for rugby games, and will be the showcase stadium of the World Under-20 championships, to be played in Canada in 2007. MLS has given MLSE a deadline of October 31 to work out the stadium details or the expansion deal will be taken off the table.

MLS has agreed that the Toronto franchise will be almost 2/3 Canadian. The limits on foreign players on teams will apply equally to Toronto and that Americans will be foreigners for purposes of the Toronto team. Toronto may be permitted a higher salary cap if it proves necessary to attract Canadian players. A Canadian MLS team should help improve the performance of the Canadian national team, now ranked 87 in the world by FIFA and did not make the final round of CONCACAF qualifying.

Jay-Z to Buy into the Gunners?

From the ProHipHop - Hip Hop Business News Blog, comes news that rapper and business mogul Jay-Z is interested in buying a share of Arsenal to add to his interests in the New Jersey Nets. He supposedly approached Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich about purchasing a share in Chelsea but was turned down and has since set his sights on Arsenal, in part because he has met Arsenal star Thierry Henry and thinks he is "cool". You just have to love the Daily Mirror's headline - "Beyonce's Rapper Lover Is After A Piece of Arse."

BlogPoll Week 7

Here's my entry in this week's BlogPoll. USC remains number one, but the gap between it and Texas is narrow. Penn State has momentum after its big home win over tOSU but a tough road game at the Big House should tell us a lot more this week. Newcomer Northwestern has only lost narrowly to Penn State and to Arizona State in the desert.

1.Southern Cal
2.Texas
3.Virginia Tech
4.Alabama
5.Penn State
6.Gergia
7.Florida State
8.UCLA
9.Miami(Florida)
10.Louisiana State
11.Florida
12.Texas Tech
13.Oregon
14.Notre Dame
15.Michigan State
16.Louisville
17.Auburn
18.Boston College
19.Wisconsin
20.Cal
21.Tennessee
22.West Virginia
23.Arizona State
24.Colordao
25.Northwestern

Sports Illustrated Settles Defamation Suit

Deciding that discretion really was the better part of valor, Sports Illustrated settled the defamation suit filed against it by UTEP football coach Mike Price stemming from an article run in the magazine alleging antics by Price while he was the head coach at the University of Alabama. Price claims vindication, although details of the settlement have not been released.

The case had been closely watched among the media as it had developed into a battle over the protection of confidential sources. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that Alabama law did not protect the Sports Illustrated's sources as it did not extend to magazines even thought it specifically applied to newspapers and broadcast news operations.

Blawg Review #27

Blawg Review #27 is now up at Legal Blog Watch. Go on over there and take a look. There are plenty of interesting posts.

Carnival of the Capitalists

The Second Anniversary of the Carnival of the Capitalists is being celebrated today at Business Pundit. Get over there and check out the party.

Milwaukee Admirals to wear Brewers Logo

In what surely must be a first in professional sports in this country, it was announced that the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League would wear the Milwaukee Brewers logo on their sweaters. The Brewers are the official jersey sponsor of the Admirals in what is believed to be the first time that a team in one of the four major sports has crossed over to sponsor a team in one of the other. While there are some ownership ties between the teams, this goes beyond the usual back office coordination.
Also included in the deal are dasherboard advertisements, program ads and radio and TV ads during Admiral broadcasts.

This is another example of creative and unique marketing thinking of the new Brewer ownership. Brewers owner Mark Annastasio has breathed new life into the franchise since taking over by instituting fan friendly procedures and promotions including his unique all fans get in free for the last game fan appreciation night. As the new attitude takes hold, and the young Brewers start to win, Miller Park will become a much more fun place to be and a much tougher ticket to get.

Will Saints Use Contract to Move?

The New Orleans Saints contract with the Louisiana state authority that controls the Superdome contains a provision allowing the Saints to terminate the contract on 90 days notice in the case of an event causing damage or destruction to the Superdome that renders it unfit for the Saints use. Tom Benson, the owner of the Saints, is deciding whether to invoke this clause to allow him to move the team out of New Orleans.

The NFL remains opposed to moving the team and is especially opposed to moving it to San Antonio which appears to Benson's first choice. The league's first choice for any relocation is Los Angeles, although where any team relocated to Los Angeles would play still has yet to be determined.

The force majeure clause in the Saints Superdome lease is a common provision in leases and is likely to allow the Saints to move without having to pay the $81 million termination fee that would have been due had they terminated the lease at the end of this year. However, state officials are expected to fight the Saints if they try to terminate. One of the reasons that the state and the NFL fought hard to have the Saints play some home games in Baton Rouge is to prepare for a battle over this clause. The state will argue that it provided a suitable alternate venue, but unless the lease provides that an alternate venue is an acceptable cure for the destruction of the Superdome, I don't think that legally that will hold up.

Major League Baseball and Fox Discuss Baseball Network

Major League Baseball and Fox are discussing the launch of a new multisport cable network according to Mediaweek. The new network would be a multisport network carrying more than just baseball. In fact, its launch would be contingent on Fox securing the rights to the Thursday-Saturday prime time NFL package that is still under discussion and that Comcast is also reported to be interested in for OLN.

Baseball has delayed announcement of the start of the Baseball Network that had been previously announced as a result of the discussions with Fox. MLB would like to see if a broader network could be worked out which would render the need for the launch of the Baseball Network moot. Fox had been negotiating the extension of its current broadcasting deal which includes the playoffs and World Series. The weeknight deal with ESPN is also up and that deal includes early playoff rounds. Comcast is in the bidding for that package as well.

If MLB and Fox don't make a deal on a multisport network or Fox doesn't land the Thursday-Saturday NFL package, look for MLB to move ahead with the Baseball Network. It's conceivable that MLB will discuss a multisport network with Comcast, especially if it lands the prime time NFL package and is willing to pay up for the Tuesday-Thursday MLB package, but that is clearly now not MLB's first choice. Fox will fight hard to keep Comcast out of the picture.

NFL Votes to Keep NFL Europe

The NFL owners voted today to keep operating NFL Europe for five more seasons on a 31-1 vote, just two years after almost shutting it down. Apparently, the concentration of the teams in Germany marked the successful turnaround for the league. "Concentrating the teams in Germany is a real positive in terms of team rivalries, fan interest, business support and media interest, said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. There is only one team, the Amsterdam Admirals, located outside Germany.

As the NHL Returns, are the Changes Enough to Save the Small Markets?

The NHL returned to the ice last night showing off new rules which emphasized speed, stick handling and scoring. All designed to be more appealing to the fans who have been without hockey for 14 months. In an interesting article which should be required reading for all of hockey's business executives, the Raleigh News and Observer discussed the return of hockey to one of the smallest American markets in the NHL, and, as the article points out, the Hurricanes may be the canary in the NHL coal mine.

One advantage that the Canes and the Columbus Blue Jackets have, that the small market teams in Canada don't share, is that they have new buildings and they are the only pro team in town (well, the Blue Jackets do have to share the town with the Crew of MLS). The Canes share their market with ACC basketball which is almost like sharing with a pro team but doesn't take the same bite from the corporate ticket base.

From the Canes (and other small market teams) perspective, the two major elements of the new agreement are the salary cap and revenue sharing. The cap makes it possible to field a team that can compete and save $12 million from last years payroll. Revenue sharing, which the league hasn't made public, will result in payment to the Canes of between $2 million to $8 million, which together transform unsustainable losses into the potential for profit.

The problem of ticket sales remains. Canes ticket sales dropped in the year before the lockout and season ticket sales haven't been too strong going into the opener. Other American small markets have had similar experiences. Ultimately in a league that is more dependent on ticket revenue than any other major sport, the fans reaction to the new product will matter far more than revenue sharing. If fans don't return to watch hockey, it won't matter what is in the collective bargaining agreement. The results from the opening night were promising, but it's a long season.

Barca Reconsiders Jersey Sponsorship

FC Barcelona has apparently reconsidered its jersey sponsorship deal with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and will no longer enter the contract in which its jerseys were to carry the name "Beijing". Press reports today indicated that Barca has not completely given up the idea of selling jersey space but will limit its search to American and European multinationals. Barca is currently the only top European soccer club without a jersey sponsorship and has resisted one for years on principle. However, the club needs to raise significant new funds to compete with in the Champions League with clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United and apparently is now willing to sacrifice its principles in the name of competition.

BlogPoll Week 6

Below is my entry for this week's BlogPoll. As you will see USC remains on top, troubled only by ASU's first half. Major moves by Alabama following a great win over Florida and by Penn State, new to the poll after smashing Minnesota in Happy Valley.

1. Southern Cal
2. Texas
3. Virginia Tech
4. Florida State
5. Georgia
6. Ohio State
7. Alabama
8. Tennessee
9. Miami (Florida)
10. Louisiana State
11. Wisconsin
12. Notre Dame
13. Penn State
14. Cal
15. Texas Tech
16. Michigan State
17. UCLA
18. Louisville
19. Boston College
20. Georgia Tech
21. West Virginia
22. Auburn
23. Virginia
24. Michigan
25. Oregon

Games watched include most of Louisville - Florida Atlantic while channel hopping to Virginia Tech - WVU and Michigan - Michigan State, parts of South Florida-Miami, Pitt-Rutgers and Colorado State -Air Force

Does Yahoo Meet Your Fantasy?

There is little question that the explosion in fantasy sports participation has been fueled by the internet. After all, having the web available to keep track of player performances and injuries, facilitate drafts and trades and communication among players has allowed millions to engage in a hobby that, although still time consuming, would have been so time demanding as to have foreclosed the possibility of a life beyond work and the game. (I know some people think fantasy players still have no life but that's an entirely different post.)

However, it's not just the players that have benefited from what the web has brought to fantasy games. No, fantasy games have become big business for the sites that sponsor them and none more so than Yahoo. The Yahoo fantasy site attracted 5.6 million unique visitors in August, about double the 2.9 million which ESPN.com, the number 2 fantasy site attracted, as reported by the TheStreet.com Interestingly, Yahoo offers its fantasy leagues for free, although players can add features for an additional charge.

Why does Yahoo give the league away? Fantasy players are a highly prized demographic and one that is hard to reach. They are mostly male, with average yearly incomes of $70,000. Even more importantly from the standpoint of both Yahoo and its advertisers, the players stay on the site for long periods, averaging at least 30 minutes a visit. That type of stickiness is hard to find and advertisers are willing to pay premium rates for it. It is also the reason why ESPN,Fox Sports and the NFL all recently began to offer their fantasy games for free after years of charging entry fees.

Arsenal Fans to Get Chance at Highbury Souvenirs

Are you an Arsenal fan who has always wanted a piece of Highbury to call your very own? Well, now you have your chance. Arsenal is moving into new $629 million Emirates Stadium next August, leaving Highbury stadium, its North London home since 1913. After the move, Highbury will be turned into a residential complex of about 700 apartments.

As a part of the move, Arsenal plans to auction about 5,000 items from Highbury, with the proceeds given to charity, as reported by Bloomberg. The club has established an auction site at http;//www.highburyauction.com. Details of what will be offered haven't been released.

Once Arsenal moves into Emirates Stadium, the club may raise its game day sales by as much as 50 million pounds a year. It may be sufficient to raise Arsenal past Manchester United as the largest match day earning club in the world.

Carnival of the NBA #16

Carnival of the NBA #16 is now up at 120 Proof Ball and with the opening of preseason camp, it couldn't be more timely. Go check it out.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Drakeview. Please stop by and check it out - it will be well worth your time.