A's Won't be Moving to San Jose

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolf threw in the towel yesterday in his years long battle to move his team to downtown San Jose. In a speech to the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, he declared defeat in his attempts to convince the Giants to waive their territorial rights to San Jose and allow him to move the A's to a new downtown stadium proposed to be built near the H-P Pavilion, home of the San Jose Sharks. The most telling quote from his speech was this:

"It's not a matter of money with the Giants. I think it should be, but it isn't."

Apparently the Giants prefer to have their friendly rivals 10 miles across the bay rather than 30 miles down the road. The logic of that escapes me.

All is not lost for the A's however. Wolff, ever the shrewd real estate developer, has another plan. He is said to be in talks with Cisco over a site in nearby Fremont, over the county line and therefore out of the Giants territorial rights and within the A's territory. Yet, a mere 12 miles from downtown San Jose, certainly close enough to allow him to call the team the San Jose A's if he chooses - certainly closer than Anaheim is to the Los Angeles Angels. Anyway, word is that the talks include the development of a "ballpark of the future" for Cisco Field, to be the new home of the A's, not a bad sounding back-up plan.

Finally, Gameday

Randy Walker had been looking forward to this game for a long time. After all, he had played at Miami and then returned to become the winningest coach in the school' s illustrious coaching history. However, it was not to be. On June 29, Walker died suddenly of an apparent heart attack and the Walker family's and the Wildcats' world was turned upside down. Somehow, through their grief and mourning, the Wildcat football has prepared for this season and tonight they will finally be able to put that aside, take the field and channel their mourning into playing the game they love and Walk loved to honor him.

Before the game, there will be a special ceremony in Walker's memory in which both schools will participate. Both teams will be wearing patches in his memory; a red "41" and a purple "Coach Walk", symbolizing his number at Miami and his nickname. The Cats will have to fight through the emotion the ceremonies will generate to focus on the game at hand. It will be a significant debut test for both new head coach Pat Fitzgerald and new quarterback redshirt freshman Mike Kafka.

Expect to see the Cats relying on the run while keeping the spread offense. The one tried and true aspect of the offense is sophomore running back Tyrell Sutton and I expect to see him carrying the ball early and often. Whether Miami can contain Sutton and force NU to the air will go a long ways towards determining NU's fortunes. The Red Hawk defense returns only two starters so expect some early offensive opportunities for the Cats.

Miami is also breaking in a new quarterback in Mike Kokal, who got one start last year but has thrown only 27 passes in his career. Kokal may be the best rusher on the team and run defense was not NU's strong suit last year. The defensive line will have to improve to contain the Red Hawk running game.

Look for a close game but I just don't see the Cats letting this get away from them. No way do they allow themselves to lose Walk's game. Make it 28-21 NU.

Where's the Toughest Place to Play in the Big Ten?

Jake over at the um, cough, um The Illini Report has combed the Big Ten (and a few stragglers from our friends out west) to compile a list of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten. It's an interesting discussion and worth a trip over there to check it out.

Army Gets Bowl Bid

The season hasn't started yet and already the first bowl bid has been issued. Army, which hasnt' been to a bowl since 1996, has been invited to the Poinsietta Bowl, to face a team from the Mountain West. The bowl will be played in San Diego on December 10. There is a catch, however, and in Army's case, it could be a big one - Army must finish at least 6-6, something that has been hard for it to do in recent years.

NCAA, NBA to Discuss Amatuer Basketball

Amateur basketball must really be broken. We've know for a long time that it has needed fixing but yesterday Myles Brand, of all people, provided the proof. He indicated in a speech he gave at Howard University that he would be willing to sit down with the enemy - David Stern and maybe even representatives of AAU ball and the shoe companies - to discuss ways to "improve the pre-collegiate environment." Don't you just love that phrase - "the pre-collegiate environment". Of course, for certain members of Team USA, that applies to the NBA, but we won't go there.

Let's hope something actually comes of this because youth basketball in this country needs fixing in a big way and the first thing that needs to happen is to get the shoe companies and their money out of it. Then, we need to get the agents and their money out of it. Somehow, control of the game and the players needs to return to high school coaches who may be the only people who we have a fighting chance in believing have the kids best interest at heart.

Carnival of the NBA #35

The Carnival of the NBA #35 is now up at Bench Renaldo. Get over there!

NASCAR Will License Anything

If you have ever watched a NASCAR race, you know that there is no square inch of a car that is not covered by a sponsor's decal. Witness the amazingly cheap product placement deal that Wonder Bread got for Talladega Nights. However, I think this time, NASCAR may have finally stuck their proverbial foot in it.

In what surely seemed at the time like a logical brand extension, NASCAR decided to form the NASCAR Performance Network, a listing of auto repair shops and parts dealers who have paid a licensing fee to use the NASCAR name in signage and marketing. However, the boys at NASCAR have made absolutely no attempt to distinguish quality among the applicants. Anybody who ponies up $1,000 gets to join the Performance Network, so if you want to legitimatize your fly by night auto repair shop, what better way is there than to tag along with NASCAR? This is a story that can only end badly.

Income Inequality and Baseball

There was an interesting article in the Washington Monthly recently discussing the issue of income inequality in America today. The author blames the growing disparity between the top 10% of America and and the rest, as well as the ever widening disparity between the top 1% and the rest of the top 10%, in part, on the diminished power of the unions. He offers up baseball as an, admittedly imperfect, analogy.

According to the article, baseball salaries didn't begin to explode until after the players union became a force to be reckoned with, demandeding free agency and an end to the reserve clause and backing it up with strikes. While on the surface, the analogy makes some sense, it ignores most historical data. There is little question that the players union had a dramatic effect on baseball. The importance of the elimination of the reserve clause tying a player to a team for his entire career cannot be overstated. However, it was the confluence of timing of the entrance of free agency and the era of large television dollars that created baseball multimillionaires. The true income explosion in baseball salaries didn't occur until the riches of broadcast contracts and cable contracts starting flowing in the late nineties. It wasn't just the union that made players rich - it was television and endorsements.

If you want to look at a sport that more truly mirrors the stratification we see in society, take a look at football. There you see few guaranteed contracts, large bonuses paid to the high draft picks and big free agent signings or star players teams don't want to lose to free agency. The regular, everyday players, however, don't see the mega dollar, multi-year, guaranteed contracts. They see one year deals or multi-year contracts which are not guaranteed and have to fight for their jobs every year. They are represented by a union that agreed to a hard dollar salary cap and never got its members guaranteed contracts in the most dangerous of the major sports. The gap in income between the stars and the everyday player is greatest in the NF. It is another example of the American star system at work.

What the American economy has developed into is a star system, where the managers at the top are paid 100s of times greater than the men and women who produce the goods. Are they truly worth that much more? No, but the incestuous governance system has allowed them free reign to pay themselves whatever they want with no checks from a hand-picked board and certainly not from the shareholders who have no real voice. Unfortunately, in corporate America today, CEOs and other senior management are paid like stars even if they haven't delivered like stars. It's the basketball model of guaranteed contracts where production doesn't matter. What corporate America needs is accountability and end to this system of paying whether there is performance or not. There are far too many major corporations whose senior management ranks look like the roster of the New York Knicks - guaranteed contracts with folks who can't or won't perform. ( Sorry for the mixed sport analogy) It's way past time to for a league wide shakeup.

HT to Garrett.

Where O Where Is My World Championship Gone?

Team USA has been selected and we were promised a new and improved model. One that was both designed to dominate the game and be fan friendly while doing so. With young stars willing to play team oriented, fast paced basketball led by Coach K having instilled a college system, America was supposed to fall in love with this team all over again. There is only one problem - no one gets to see them play.

Oh sure, ESPN2 carries their games live at 6:30 am with announcers broadcasters direct from Bristol, something the WWLS doesn't exactly hide but just doesn't exactly let anyone know either. However, if you want to enjoy a tournament, you have to watch more than 45 point beat down of Senegal, you need to see the rest of the competition. What happened to the games with Brazil, France, Spain and Germany. Why don't we get to see the competition before the medal round starts? Where were all those games? Who gets NBA TV anyway?

Sporadic one-off games is no way to broadcast a world championship tournament. And exactly what scintillating events did ESPN and its bevy of networks have to show us that they couldn't fit this tournament in? Endless reruns of the poker and endless rounds of the Little League World Series? This is the quote I love from the WWLS PR flak,

“ESPN is aggressively covering USA Basketball, including all of the team’s telecasts live on ESPN2 throughout the tournament plus coverage within SportsCenter, ESPN.com, ESPNEWS, Mobile ESPN and other news and information outlets.”

If aggressive coverage of a world championship means broadcasting only Team USA games and then only with announcers stationed in Bristol, using the international feed, well I guess he's right. For a network that carries the NBA, I expected a whole lot more.

Should the PGA Tour Drug Test?

Yesterday, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem insisted, not for the first time, that golf doesn't need to institute drug testing because he has no evidence that golfers are taking steroids or any other performance enhancing drugs. In a sport that is increasingly being marketed by the allure of the long ball, is that stance sufficient to reassure a sporting public increasingly suspicious of professional athletes of all types?

Tiger Woods, for one, believes not. He said today that he would like to see drug testing implemented as soon as possible. "I think we should be proactive instead of reactive," he said. "I just think we should be ahead of it and keep our sport as pure as can be. This is a great sport, and it's always been clean."

While it is unlikely to be implemented soon, I think Tiger's approach is correct. Getting ahead of the public relations curve on performance enhancing drugs would be the best move for golf. It was a bad idea to start emphasizing the long ball to the exclusion of all else, but that decision will pale in comparison to the damage to the game that will be done by a major doping scandal. Start testing now while the likelihood of catching someone is small. When the Tour comes out clean, it can only look good.

Bowl News

The Gator Bowl is looking for a new sponsor after this year's game. Toyota has decided to end its sponsorship of the bowl after 12 years, not wanting to increase its commitment to match the bowl organizers new payout levels. Gator Bowl officials want to keep pace with the other bowls that are just below the BCS, like the Cotton, Holiday and Capital One.

In other bowl news, the Ft. Worth Bowl has finally found a sponsor and a new name. It will now be officially known as the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl and will continue to feature teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West.

In other college football news, Maryland became the first college football program to enter into a naming agreement for its football field. To raise funds for the renovation of Byrd Stadium, the Terps have sold the naming rights to Chevy Chase Bank for $20 million for 25 years, an amount that is reasonable given the television exposure likely to be generated by the Maryland program.

Blogger Template Problem

I'm pleased to report that the Blogger template problem has now been corrected and that IE users can now view the blog with the same usability as Firefox users. Now, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't still follow my advice and get Firefox - the more you use it, the more you will like it. So, click on the Get Firefox button in the right sidebar and download and start using Firefox. You can thank me later.

UPDATE: A reader has alerted me that the problem has not been fixed and I see now that the fix proved only temporary. Blogger has struck again, demonstrating that Firefox is really the way to go. I'll work on the template over the weekend to see what the display problem in IE is and try to fix it. In the meantime, sorry about that, you'll just have to bear with me.

The Clint Demspey Problem

Major League Soccer has a problem. It has a problem it didn't expect to experience at this stage of its development and it is has brought the problem on itself by the manner in which it is organized. The very basic organizing principle that has allowed it to stay in business is the source of the problem - the single entity organization. Since all player contracts are owned by the league, all player transfers are negotiated by the league - hence the Clint Demspey problem.

You see, Clint Dempsey wants to play in Europe and teams in Europe want him to play there. However, he is signed with the league through the end of 2007 and MLS has so far rejected all transfer offers as insufficient. SI's Grant Wahl says that MLS turned down a $1.5 million offer from Charlton Athletic, perhaps in the hopes of a higher offer from West Ham before the transfer window shuts down the end of this month. Perhaps also, MLS just wants to keep one of its only real stars at home. The problem is Dempsey has no leverage with the league and with the club having no say in what happens even having an unhappy player means little.

When MLS announced its new television package at the recent All Star Game, it also announced plans whereby a team would retain rights to players developed through that team's youth academy, creating the beginnings of a development system. It is the first real step away from the single entity concept. It is perhaps time to reexamine the necessity of the single entity concept. The league has far firmer financial footing now than at any other time in its existence. However, it continues to pay its players wages that are far from comfortable. The relatively low overall wage system, combined with a stringent transfer system (if hardball being played with Dempsey is the new model) may be laying the seeds of a player revolution to be led by a rejuvenated players union.

Resurrection of Kobe's Image

The resurrection of the Kobe Bryant image is now complete. He has made it all the way back from the debacle following that night in Colorado as he will be the cover boy for the latest edition of one of the most sought after basketball video game, Sony's NBA 07. As you can see, he'll be wearing his new number 24 jersey, sure to help boost sales as the mysterious switch from number 8 takes place this season. This is Kobe's first major marketing deal since the sexual assault charges were brought against him in 2003. He will not only be on the cover but will appear in ads on TV and in print.

The game is a leading seller among videogames and will be produced for Playstation 2 and the PSP portable. It will also be among the first games to be produced for the new Playstation 3 when it is introduced later this fall.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is now up at Forty Media. Check it out.

Are Fantasy Sports Gambling?

Are fantasy sports players really just degenerate gamblers feeding an addiction? Are ESPN, Yahoo and CBSSportsline, the three major suppliers of fantasy sports games online, just online casinos masquerading as legitimate online news sources? Well, according to Charles E. Humphrey, Jr. that's exactly what they are and he has made those claims in a lawsuit he filed in New Jersey alleging that fantasy games are games of chance, not skill and therefore are gambling under New Jersey law. Humphrey v. Viacom Inc., No. 2:33-av-00001 (D.NJ.).

While the case raises interesting issues, I think the basic premise is wrong. Fantasy sports is a game of skill. It takes study and considerable knowledge, and yes, a bit of luck, to pick a good fantasy team. A case can be made that an individual's knowledge of players' skill levels and coaches' tendencies to use certain players in certain situations will give that individual an advantage when it comes to selecting players to place on a fantasy team. Wall Stree Journal writer Sam Walker, in his recent book Fantasyland, wrote extensively about the skills and time devoted to the game by the players involved in the league of "pros" in which he was playing. Games of chance just don't involve that much brain power and effort.

Putting a fantasy team together is a matter of both skill and luck. It is not wholly one or the other. As such, a game does not fall into the realm of a game of chance. It is sufficiently involved with skill to fall outside of the standard legal definition of a game of chance. It is, in many respects, similar to a game of "pick em" played by the Oregon lottery in the past where contestants would pick the winners of the NFL games played that week. The game was similar to many illegal football "cards" used by bookies all over the country. It was ruled, as was a similar game proposed to be played in Kentucky but never actually played, to be a game of skill. The rationale being that there was a substantial amount of knowledge employed in picking winners in professional football. This is true despite statistics that show that just about 50.01% of the favorites in NFL games have beaten the spread over any extended period of time.

Blawg Review #71

This week's Blawg Review, #71 if you're counting, , a weekly collection of the best posts from the world of lawyers' blogs, is now up at Quizlaw. Get over there and check it out. You won't be sorry.

Starbury One

I'm not a big Stephon Marbury fan. If you follow his NBA career, he seems to be one of those players who tends to make a team worse when he shows up. He probably bears almost as much responsibility for Larry Brown losing his job as Isaiah Thomas. However, when the man does something worthwhile, he should be recognized. He is launching a new line of sneakers the Starbury One that will retail for $14.95. That's right, let me say that price again, $14.95. It's not a misprint.

As Marbury says,"Two hundred to buy a pair of sneakers, that's groceries for the week." He wants Starbury One's low price to show kids how little it costs to make a high-quality sneaker. "History is going to say Stephon Marbury changed the game," he says." He has a line of clothing in the works to go along with the sneakers, which will be similarly low priced. If this takes off the way it should and I hope it will, Marbury will deserve all the credit in the world in the world for changing the shoe culture of the streets. If he can convince kids they don't need expensive sneakers, he will be well deserving of all the props we can give him. Good luck with it Stephon. Let's hope wearing the shoes won't prevent kids from getting back on "D".

UPDATE: Here is a video of Steve and Barry's co-CEO talking about the introduction of the Starbury One showing the Starbury One on court sneaker as well as the rest of the line of shoes and some of the clothing.

Caddying: It's Not Just For Tips Anymore

Tiger Woods has dramatically changed the lives of professional golfers as the Tour has grown in popularity and the purses have exploded since he joined. The members of the Tour are not the only ones who should be thanking Tiger for their newly bulging bank accounts, however. Tour caddies have also seen their incomes soar.

According to Bloomberg, about 70 caddies on the PGA Tour make $100,000 or more, led, naturally, by Tiger's bag carrier Steve Williams, who made several times that amount. In addition to his standard caddie's 5-10% share of Tiger's Tour winnings, Williams may be the only caddie on Tour with an endorsement contract. Valvoline Motor Oil has signed him to wear their shirts underneath his caddie bib, which he removes at every opportunity and whenever a TV camera is in close proximity. Williams is very conscious of television and of his duties as a marketer. He is good at what he does both for Tiger and for Valvoline.

It's a new day on the Tour and the money is now good enough to bring a new group of people interested in becoming caddies. The new professional caddies are often golfers who found themselves not quite good enough to make the Tour and saw that the money was as good as the Asian Tour so decided to give it a shot. After all, the money is good and you get 20 weeks off a year.

Oakland Writer Resigns from Baseball Hall of Fame Voting

Congratulations to Dave Newhouse for having the courage of his convictions and the willingness to resign from the Baseball Writers Association of America so that he would no longer have a Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Mr. Newhouse, an Oakland area writer, could no longer vote in good conscience for players that he could not be sure were "clean" in this era of steroid abuse. I whole-heartedly endorse salute Mr. Newhouse. While he says that it is a personal decision and he is not making a blanket statement by his action, he is making a public statement by his column and it is one I hope will be repeated by many of his former colleagues in the BBWAA.

It is impossible at this point to know for sure who the cheaters are in baseball anymore. The safe assumption is that there are no "clean" players, but that assumption is as unfair as is the opposite. So, what are we left with - the cheaters have so debased themselves and the game they purport to love that we no longer can separate the wheat from the chaff. That is the real crime they have committed against baseball, staining the reputation of all the stars who played the game with them.

So, again, Congratulations Mr. Newhouse, here's hoping you have set off a wave of resignations so that none of the cheaters ever cross the door of Cooperstown.

Where in the World is Evgeni Malkin?

The greatest mystery in the hockey world ended today as long sought after Russian youth hockey star and fugitive from his Russian club team Evgeni Malkin turned up at a Los Angeles Kings practice rink in El Segundo, California. This rather bizarre mystery more suited to a Russian novel than American sports pages began several weeks ago. Evegeni Malkin, a 20 year star forward widely considered the best hockey player in the world not playing in the NHL and the second pick in the 2004 draft by the Pittsburgh Penguins had publicly expressed a desire to play for the Pens. However, several weeks ago he suddenly signed a new one year contract to play for his Russian hometown club team, Metallurg Magnitogorsk. What made that even more suspect - the contract was signed at 3:00 - in the morning.

Shortly after signing his new contract he left with his Russian club for a training camp in Finland. Now, here is where the real fun begins. Suddenly, without warning, Evgeni leaves his Russian club and disappears. For about a week, he remains incommunicado and the only reports released to the press come from his agents who report that he is well and and that they don't know where he is. This causes a stir throughout the hockey world. The Russian club accuses the Penguins of terrorism and threatens to sue. The Penguins deny knowledge of Malkin's whereabouts and of anything to do with his disappearance. He is front page news for days.

Today he shows up in LA and makes the first step on the road to Pittsburgh. His agents confirm that he has notified Mettalurg Magnitogorsk of his intention to void his new contract. Under Russian law, this is the equivalent of a two week notice and even thought there is a contract, he has the right to terminate it with two weeks notice. He will be free to sign with Pittsburgh in two weeks and all indications are that he intends to do just that. Pens fans couldn't be happier. Fans of Russian novels can't wait for the written version. A Hollywood version is sure to follow.

Adidas May Have Expensive NFL Season

Adidas made a big splash this NFL preseason of signing Reggie Bush and number 1 draft pick Mario Williams of the Houston Texans to endorsement contracts. In fact, Bush's deal is reported to be worth $1 million per year, rich by football standards where the shoes aren't that visible to TV viewers. They are visible however to the NFL officials and that's where the young Mr. Bush ran into trouble.

You see, adidas doesn't have a contract with the NFL to provide equipment and players are only allowed to wear officially authorized equipment during games. So, the league fined Bush and undisclosed amount, thought to be $10,000, for wearing his new adidas clears during the Saints preseason win over the Titans Saturday. Bush wasn't too concerned, "Adidas took care of it", he said of the fine. It could add up if the company can't complete its negotiations for a contract with the league and Bush and Williams continue to wear their new cleats.

Carnival of Capitalists

This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists is now finally up. Get over there.

Lerner Buys Villa

The NFL takeover of the English Premier League continues as Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner has agreed to buy Aston Villa for 62.6 million pounds ($118.5 million), about 10% more than the August 11 closing price. The price had been bid up in recent weeks in anticipation of the possible sale as several buyers have been circling the club. Lerner becomes the second NFL owner to own a team in the EPL following the Tampa Bay Bucs Glazer family, who own Manchester United. I'm sure the Villa fans are happy to see previous management gone and are hoping that Lerner will use some of his billion dollar fortune on player acquisition. Villa finished 16th last season.

Carnival of the NBA #34

Carnival of the NBA #34 - the Summer Movie Edition is now up at Mavs Moneyball. Get over there and check it out.

Clippers' Owner Sterling Sued for Racial Discrimination and No One is Talking

On Monday, the US Department of Justice sued Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for housing discrimination claiming he refused to rent apartments to blacks and families with children. The question of the moment is where is the press coverage? Why is there not more outrage that a man who makes millions in a sport dominated by African-Americans is accused of refusing to rent apartments to them?

As my friends at Golden State Of Mind pointed out, one columnist at espn.com reported on it and reminded us that this was not Sterling's first run-in with housing discrimination. Yet, the press silence continues and is deafening by its refusal to expose Sterling to the light of the country for his actions. The NBA press should be ashamed.

MLS Starts to Hit the Mainstream

The World Cup may have changed the dynamics of soccer in this country after all, even with the somewhat disappointing showing by the US. As I have discussed previously , the World Cup television ratings played a major role in the new television deals that MLS was able to secure. Those deals, and the wonderful crowds turning out night after night to see the international soccer now on display in the tours of Real Madird and FC Barcelona have even caught the eye of the mainstream media. Witness today's article on The Street.com. Maybe MLS is finally coming of age after all.

Auburn Update

Auburn, in reaction to a furor over academic irregularities, has forced the chairman of the sociology department to resign. It has also revised its policy on the so-called directed study courses that were at the heart of the New York Times story alleging that the chairman of the sociology department had provided an easy avenue for keeping athletes, especially football players, eligible. This is an unusually quick reaction for a school that is notoriously slow to react for anything that has to to do with its football program. Perhaps it is hoping to ward off the sword of the NCAA investigators who are sure to be descending on the campus looking into the Times' allegations. It is always better to be seen as having taken steps to clean your own house, although the NCAA prefers you to clean up athletics rather than academics.

Goodbye to ABC Sports

It was once the most renowned brand in sports broadcasting. It pioneered Olympics broadcasting and made famous "the constant variety of sport." We should have seen this day coming however. When Disney bought ABC several years ago, the changes began and the announcement today was all but inevitable. Yet, it was still somewhat sad, the end of an era. The passing of a once major presence in sports - at one time the most powerful force in sports broadcasting will, as of September 1, be no more. The final step in the total takeover of ABC Sports by ESPN is now complete as from that day forward, ABC Sports will be known as ESPN on ABC. It just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it. The public unveiling of George Bodenheimer total domination of sports in America is now complete. America, you have been warned.

Welcome to Street.com

Welcome to the readers from TheStreet.com It's a pleasure to have you. Look around, see what I write about on an almost daily business as I try to cover the news about the deals that drive sports. You can sign up to deliver Sports Biz delivered to your email box or for one of my RSS feeds. I'm glad you found your way here and hope you stop by often. Let me know what you think by leaving comments. Thanks

Fantasy Baseball Scores a Big Hit

Major League Baseball suffered a big setback in its fight for more revenue from the burgeoning fantasy baseball industry yesterday. In a lawsuit brought by Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the internet arm of MLB, a US District Court Judge ruled that fantasy baseball leagues do not have to pay a licensing fee to use the player names and statistics because they are not the intellectual property of the players or MLB.

Judge Medler held that players do not have a right of publicity in their names and playing records when used in fantasy games and CBC, the defendant in the MLBAM suit, has not violated that claimed right. The Judge went on to hold that even if the players had a right of publicity in their names and statistics, the First Amendment protected their use in fantasy games. The guarantee of freedom of the press trumped MLB's claimed copyright, which the Court determined not to be copyrightable, in any event

This is an important decision limiting the scope of the MLB's property rights in statistics and player names. The fantasy business is now an extremely and very fast growing business with revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars. This decision enables hundreds of small operators to stay in business and limits the ability of all of the major professional leagues to capitalize monetarily on fantasy games growing popularity. I don't think it will have much effect on the licenses already signed with the large operators of games such as Yahoo, CBSportsline.com and ESPN.com. Those contracts will continue for now, however renewals will be unlikely at the same rates.

We have not heard the end of this story. This decision will almost certainly be appealed and MLB will be supported fully by the other major professional leagues in that appeal. The stakes are large and getting larger. To give you an idea of what kind of market we are talking about, consider that Ad Age estimates that there are 15 million people spending more than $1.5 billion on fantasy sports. That includes more than baseball of course but baseball dominates the marketplace, with football a close second. Not only that, they are a valued market, since they are predominately male, educated, married and upper income. It's a demographic that marketers love and have a difficult time reaching.

Nevertheless, I think the judge's rationale is correct and will be upheld and her well reasoned opinion is most likely to be upheld. While her conclusion that the use of the statistics does not constitute commercial speech and is therefore protected by the First Amendment may not hold up, I think she is correct that the use of those statistics by fantasy leagues does not violate the right of publicity. As a result, there will be no need for the appeals court to even get to the First Amendment argument.

If you would like to read the full opinion, please go here.

Houston's Fatherhood Project

There is no shortage of bad publicity for professional athletes and NBA players seem to draw more than their fair share. So, it's a pleasure to share with you a story like this one about a project being run by Allan Houston, formerly of the New York Knicks to promote fathers and sons together. Not just toetherness though, but living life the right way with the right values. It's an extremely worthwhile program that I hope he can extend to other cities, perhaps with some outside funding.

NFL Stays In-House: Goodell New Commish

To the surprise of probably few football fans, the NFL owners did what they have been doing for most of the past 17 years, followed Paul Tagliabue. As they have in most major decisions over that time, they did what Paulie Tags would have them do and named as his successor the man he groomed for the job, his chief lieutenant, Roger Goodell. Goodell has been the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the NFL since December of 2001 and has been working for league in one capacity or another since graduating from college in 1982.

Goodell had been Tagliabue's point person on stadium construction and expansion and was deeply involved in the negotiations over the league's collective bargaining agreement and the recently concluded television negotiations. Since these issues are the league's highest priorities the owners got an up close view of Goodell's ability to operate under pressure and obviously liked what they saw.

His ability to deliver stadium deals in city after city will stand him in good stead as there are several franchises with stadium problems that will have to be dealt with in the next couple of years. He has been shepherding the discussions about a new stadium in Los Angeles. He will be faced with a stadium problem in Minnesota where the Vikings have so far failed in attempts to convince the legislature to help get a new stadium built. The Saints appear to be staying in New Orleans but he will have to deal with an owner who doesn't want to be there. The Chargers need a stadium but can't seem to make a deal for one.

Those problems will pale in comparison to the one that will fall into his lap in 2009, the first year the collective bargaining agreement can be reopened. The low revenue, small market teams still feel like they have been "screwed", not to put to fine a point on it and he better start trying to deal with it now. In fact, I would not have been surprised if a group of teams like the Bengals, Bills and Jags had tried to lead a movement to block Goodell's election as a result of their anger over the CBA. That he was elected unanimously on the fifth ballot is a testament to his ability and his diplomacy. He will have his work cut out for him.

I think Paul Tagliabue leaves the NFL in good hands. Goodell has been working towards this job his entire career and no one outside of Tags himself knows the business of the NFL better. His brief the last five years has been the areas of the football business that have needed the most attention and that bodes well for the future. Most importantly, he has had years of deepening relationships with the 32 owners who are his bosses and the importance of that can never be overestimated. Congratulations Roger and Good Luck. You're going to need it.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's edition of Carnival of the Capitalists is now up at The Business of America is Business. Get over there.

New TV Deals Milestone for MLS

In speaking to the media on the eve of the MLS All Star game, Commissioner Don Garber confirmed the league's new television deals with ESPN/ABC, Fox Soccer Channel, HD Net and Univision. The new deals mark a new milestone for the league as ESPN is paying a rights fee for the first time, meaning the league joins the other four major league sports North American sports leagues in receiving payment for broadcast rights rather than buying time in a risk sharing arrangement. In all previous ESPN deals, MLS has been risk sharing with ESPN, with no rights fee paid by the network.

In addition to paying for the rights, ESPN will be moving the game of the week from 4:00 Saturday afternoon to Thursday night primetime, which is additional evidence of the major commitment ESPN is making to soccer going forward. While the contract still calls for the games to appear on ESPN2 and not the mother ship, this is not quite as bad as it used to be. At least it will be in high definition in some parts of the world even if my unenlighted cable company refuses to carry ESPN2 HD.

Return to FSC is beneficial as well as any additional coverage can only help the league. More games is always better and having another party at the table surely influenced the decision by ESPN to pay a rights fee. Besides, with the move to Thursday night, we need FSC to complement HD Net for Saturday games.

A Joint Bid for NYRA

In a move that is somewhat akin to Coke joining with Pepsi to bid for Dr. Pepper, Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment announced they would submit a joint bid on the New York racing franchise. The New York Racing Authority's license to operate the racetracks in New York State expires next year and the state is soliciting bids. Churchill and Magna declined to comment on whether they would divide the tracks between them or operate them jointly.

It is hard to imagine that two fierce rivals would be able to cooperate to operate the tracks although the two have been partners in the operation of Triple Crown Productions, as Magna owns Pimlico, home to the Preakness Stakes and Churchill Downs is, of course, the home of the Kentucky Derby. The third partner in that company has been NYRA, the operator of Belmont Park, the home of the Belmont Stakes. Should Churchill and Magna win the license to operate the New York tracks, they would win complete control of the Triple Crown and the nation's premier stakes races.

Allen Decides to Keep Blazers

Despite receiving multiple bids for the team and the Rose Garden which were apparently acceptable to the owners of the arena, Paul Allen has decided to keep the Portland Trail Blazers after all. The owners of the arena and Allen each released statements a short time ago which can be found below:

Vulcan Statement: Vulcan and Portland Arena Management LLC (PAM) agreed to work together on a process to examine ways to maximize value for their respective operations. Unfortunately, we were not able to identify a mutually agreeable solution through this process.

No single entity has invested more over the years than Vulcan has in the Trail Blazers - and in that sense, no single entity has more at stake in an outcome that enhances the future prospects of the Trail Blazers as a franchise than we do.

We will continue to explore ways to address the broken economic model under which the franchise now operates, while working to ensure the viability of the Trail Blazers as a team and a business.

PAM statement: In June, Portland Arena Management LLC (“PAM) and Paul Allen began a process to jointly market the Trail Blazers and the Rose Garden arena. An investment banking firm acting on behalf of Mr. Allen and PAM and in cooperation with the NBA identified potential buyers and solicited offers. As a result of the process, multiple bids were received, a number of which were in a range which PAM found acceptable, and PAM confirmed that it wanted the sale process to continue to pursue negotiations with certain bidders. However, Mr. Allen has advised PAM that he does not wish to pursue a sale of the team at this time, and the sale process has been terminated. PAM intends to continue to operate the Rose Garden for the benefit of the City of Portland and the fans of the Trail Blazers, the WinterHawks and the LumberJax and to bring more family shows, concerts and other entertainment opportunities for the Portland community.

What this means is the poor suffering Blazer fans have at least one more season like last year where little good will be accomplished as the team will continue to lose millions. Unless Allen can resolve the lease situation, the only good solution is a sale. Now that he has taken that off the table, he needs to buy back the Rose Garden so he can reunite the team and the arena.

UPDATE: Henry Abbott over True Hoop has a several interesting theories about Paul Allen's decision and the one that I think has the most legs is that this may be just a move in the elaborate dance between Allen and the arena owners in dividing the sale proceeds. Now, it may prove to have been the last dance, at least for a while and Allen may have overplayed his hand, pissing off the buyers and Stern in the process, but we probably won't know that for several weeks. If this is just another bargaining ploy by Allen, then there is still hope the team and arena can be sold. If not, well, Portland you're still stuck with him.

Jury Awards O'Brien $2.2 Million

A judge has ordered Ohio State to pay former basketball coach Jim O'Brien $2.2 million in damages in his suit for wrongful dismissal. O'Brien alleged that Ohio State had no right to fire him after the school terminated his contract following the discovery that he gave $6,000 to a recruit, lied about it and covered it up. The NCAA found numerous rules violations, forced the school to forfeit victories, repay $800,000 in tournament revenue and placed the school on probation. As a result, the school fired O'Brien.

O'Brien claimed, and the court agreed, that his contract did not allow the school to terminate him as a result of those violations. He claimed that he was entitled to the balance of his contract, which would be at least $3.6 million. Since the contract's termination provision were so loosely written, OSU can consider itself lucky to have gotten off with only $2.2 million.


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In Auto Racing, Just Who Do the Sponsors Sponsor?

This is a time of some upheaval in auto racing circles as driving jump from one type of racing platform to another or from one team to another. Already this year, we have seen announcements that Formula One winner Juan Pablo Montoya is jumping to NASCAR and, in the latest move, Indy Racing League sensation Danica Patrick announced that she would stay in in open-wheel racing but move from Rahal-Letterman to Andretti Green Racing. The question is whether Argent Mortgage, Patrick's car and uniform sponsor will follow her.

As Patrick's old team owner, Bobby Rahal, points out , "It's our team sponsor, not hers." Well, technically, I suppose, he is correct in that the contract Argent signed is with Rahal-Letterman Racing and not with Danica, but let's get serious here. Who do you think is associated in the racing fans' mind with Argent: Danica Patrick behind the wheel of the car with the Argent name emblazoned on it or Bobby Rahal in the pit with headphones on? I mean, who get their picture taken most often with wearing an Argent jumpsuit? When all is said and done, Argent will sign a new contract next year with Andretti Green Racing to sponsor Danica's car and Rahal will find a new sponsor for whatever car and driver replaces her on the Rahal roster. Such is the way of racing, regardless of what may be on the pieces of paper.

The next incarnation of Frequent Flyers

You may have gotten a free flight to see your favorite team play by all those business trips you had to take. Soon, you may be able to get a free sweatshirt to wear to the game just by shopping at your favorite Internet sites. The University of North Carolina has rolled out a shopping rewards program similar to those being run by numerous credit card companies that enable Tar Heel fans to rack up award points by shopping on the Internet. Those points can then be used for a variety of Tar Heel rewards including a tuition credit. So far, tickets to the Dean Dome do not seem to be included. The sponsoring company is in discussions to roll the program out at a number of other universities shortly; Duke is not one of them.