Cavs to Employ E-Ticketing

Perhaps it's fitting that a team owned by someone who made his fortune in e-loans is the leader in deploy electronic ticketing, but the Cleveland Cavaliers are using the owner's company to go deeper into seemless, paperless ticketing than anyone in professional sports in North America. The Cavs are trying to lure their season-ticket holders into using their paperless, electronic ticketing system for the secondary market. At the same time, they are trying to sell the system to the other teams in the league.

It is just one more example of how teams are trying to beat scalpers at their own game in the red hot secondary ticket market, a market that is heating up even more with the recently announced purchase of StubHub by eBay. It will be interesting to see if the paperless model can compete with StubHub. Does a buyer in the secondary market want the security of a paper ticket or the benefit of knowing he is dealing with a company owned by the team? Interesting marketing angles abound in both scenarios.

The Knicks: It's Not What You Know, It's Where You Are

The NBA's most valuable franchise, according to the most recent Forbes rankings is bloated by the league's largest payroll. It just reached a multi-million dollar settlement with its former coach that has it paying out more to him than most franchises pay their present coaches. It is coached by its President, who has presided over a debacle of an organization that would have gotten most executives fired long ago. The price of this litany of disaster: a one year 9% increase in value and the number one spot in the league in total franchise value at $592 million. This team had $185 million in revenue and lost $39 million. Chief cause of those losses? Look at the sentences above and the $118 million player payroll. Who else could this be but the New York Knicks. Proof positive that location trumps everything.

Proof that management counts is the San Antonio Spurs, the quintessential small market team, coming in at number 9 in the league, valued at $390 million, with an 11% increase in value from last year, on $122 million in revenue and $11.7 million in operating profit on a payroll of $67 million. Yes, you can manage your way to success in this league; it's just harder when you don't have the New York media market.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is now up at Long or Short Capital. I'm honored to be one of the 15 posts selected to be featured this week. Get over there and check it out.

Barbaro Euthanized

Barbaro finally lost his gallant struggle to overcome a serious and debilitating leg injury. He suffered a setback last week that proved to be too devastating to overcome and his owners decided this morning to put an end to his suffering. He was euthanized earlier today. Co-owner Roy Jackson summed up the situation:

We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain. It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do. We said all along if there was a situation where it would become more difficult for him then it would be time.

Barbaro will be remembered both for his exciting Kentucky Derby win and his long struggle to overcome injury. He received hundreds of thousands of well wishes during his stay at the animal hospital at the New Bolton Center.

Extra Innings to Direct TV

Major League Baseball owners have always been quick to grasp the idea of making a buck. Traditions have been giving way to profit in ways large and small over the past years from the demise of double-headers and afternoon World Series games to the abomination that is November baseball. Now comes yet another profit induced indignity to be heaped upon the long-suffering baseball fan, well, at least the cable television served baseball fan.

All signs now point to Major League Baseball following the path first laid out by the NFL and moving its Extra Innings package of virtually unlimited games broadcast with local announcers exclusively to Direct TV, in return for a mere $700 million. For baseball fans without access to Direct TV or who choose not to purchase it, the only alternative is MLB.tv, the online access to every major league game for $100 for the season. Of course, you do have to watch it on your computer. So, most people will be stuck with the choice of staying with cable and no out of market games or switching to Direct TV. Fans, baseball really doesn't care about you, just your money.

Direct TV has decided that sports is the niche that will be the defining factor to pull people away from cable. With baseball in hand, it will now have exclusive packages in baseball, football and college basketball (the Final Four and the Big Ten Network) to entice people. In addition, this summer or fall, at the latest, Direct TV expects to have two additional satellites launched enabling it to begin broadcasting 150 national High Definition channels and 1500 local ones. These two moves mark the direction of its push for customer expansion and clearly show the direction it is taking in marketing as we all know that sports is what drives HD viewing. Extra Innings may be crucial to its marketing push. Total viewership of this package last year ran about 750,000 and it's by no means certain how many of these Direct TV needs to keep for the project to be deemed a success, nevertheless I would expect hundreds of thousands of new subscribers as a result with them just in time to upgrade to all of those new HD channels.

For Baseball, Direct TV would be the logical jumping off point for the Baseball Channel that MLB has been talking about forever. It is something that supposedly has been in the works for the at least the last three years but we have yet to see. Baseball has a large year-round programming inventory, due to its large minor league system, the well developed winter league system as well as leagues in South America, Japan and the Caribbean, yet MLB has been unable to pull off a Baseball Channel, while we have both the NFL Network and the NBA Channel, with much more limited programming bases and fan support. The only explanation I can see is Commissioner office incompetence but maybe John Malone and the folks at Direct TV can fix that.

Crum Court - About Time!!

The University of Louisville has finally woken up and done the right and honorable thing, deciding to name the hallowed Freedom Hall floor Denny Crum Court, in honor of Hall of Fame Coach Denny Crum. The now retired Crum coached the Cardinals for 30 years directing the Cards to two national championships and six Final Fours, including four in the 80s alone. He won a total of 675 games and his teams made 23 NCAA appearances, which ranks him third all time in that category. The Cardinals are moving to a new arena which is to be built in a few years and that floor will also be named for Crum. He retired following the 2000-01 season and was succeeded by current coach Rick Pitino.

The High Price of College Success

The feel good story of college football this past season was arguably the success of the Rutgers University. Long a laughingstock, the school which played in the first intercollegiate game ever played, was a triple-overtime loss away from a Big East championship and a berth in a BCS bowl.
As it was, the Knights went to the Texas Bowl and secured the first bowl victory in the school's long and inglorious history and with it an historic 11-2 record. Success did not come without a price however.

Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano is the highest paid public official in the state of New Jersey and is making well over $1 million this year. He qualified for several bonuses this year, plus he turned down an offer from the University of Miami, which did not come without cost. It is his staff's raises that probably rankle New Jersey officials and Rutgers' faculty more.

The University and the state are mired in financial distress, yet the football staff has received double-digit raises. The 2007 raises ranged from a low of 7.8% to the highest paid assistant (who will be making $185,000) to a high of 23.1% to one who will be making $160,000. This while the university $80 million in lost state aid, cut 459 course sections and six Olympic sports at a total cost of $800,000 to the athletic department. Are we comparing apples to oranges? Perhaps, although certainly the Olympic sports and football salaries come out of the same pot. Nevertheless, the cutbacks and the financial crisis the state finds itself in do not lend themselves to a general public feeling particular predisposed towards feeling particular good about excess spending on coaching salaries. Granted, the Rutgers football team generated enormous goodwill this season, but that can be wiped out quickly with too much being lavished on coaches. Now, these salaries being paid to assistants don't really strike me as excessive given the marketplace imperative Schiano has to work with, but he has to be conscious of the campus and state environment as well and should temper the raises he gives out.

Carnival of the NBA #40

Carnival of the NBA #40 - the Bill Laimbeer Edition is now up at the Detroit Bad Boys. Get over there and check it out for a return to the visit to the blogosphere of the NBA and a quick trip back to the glory days of the past. You have to visit to truly see what I mean - the boys outdid themselves this time.

Nets Sell Brooklyn Naming Rights to Barclays

The naming rights market continues to heat up with red hot New York as the molten core. The Nets, soon to move to their new Brooklyn home, have made a deal with Barclays plc, the British bank, for to give it a name. The price tag is a staggering $400 million over 20 years, far and away a new record for an American indoor arena and nearly equaling the amount Citi is paying to put its name on the new Mets stadium. It is particularly impressive, as the Deputy Mayor of New York pointed out, because Barclays doesn't even have retail branches in this country. It is also interesting to note that the Brooklyn arena, to be designed by world renown architect Frank Gehry, will house only the Nets - there will be no hockey team, at least as of now, as a co-tenant. That usually reduces the naming rights value although obviously that wasn't the case here. Barclays took out full page ads in the Wall Street Journal and perhaps the New York Times(I'm guessing since I didn't see the paper edition only the online) today touting the new Barcalys Center with an artists conception of what it will look like. Nice to see the marketing machine in full swing only two years ahead of time.

While the Nets are certainly a big winner here, because Bruce Ratner couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams that he would be getting this much money for naming rights when the process started, the real winners are probably the New York Jets and the New York Giants who have yet to price the stadium they are building in New Jersey. As a general rule, football draws a larger price than a NBA arena. In addition, the Yankees have indicated that they will not seek naming rights for new Yankee Stadium, so the most iconic property in New York is off the market. That leaves the new home of the football partners as soon to be hottest property in the naming rights marketplace. So, one is left to wonder, if the Brooklyn Center goes for $400 million, what is the home of the two teams the best managed and marketed professional sport in the largest media market in US going to be priced at, $600 million, $750 million? The mind boggles.

NHL's Southern Problem

We have talked quite a bit about the various problems facing the NHL, and they are many and varied. Perhaps none of them are quite as pressing however as that posed by the franchises located in the American southeast. Home of two recent Stanley Cup champions and the home of at least four franchises in serious trouble in their current locations, including the current Stanley Cup holder: Nashville, Atlanta, Carolina and Florida. Tampa Bay is probably not in great shape either, especially if the others relocate. The troubles faced by the Southern franchises are varied but generally come down to a inability to penetrate the corporate community. The problems are detailed well in this post by Howard Bloom. Long term, I'm not optimistic about any the future of any of these franchises and I think that it is more likely than not that at least three if not all five will be relocated in the next four years.

Kobe Completes His Comeback

Kobe has completed the resurrection of his reputation, at least in the eyes of the mostly young people who buy NBA jerseys. Changing his number apparently helped too. His new number 24 jersey is topped the best seller list of the league's most popular jerseys through December 31 at NBA.com and the NBA store in New York. Kobe took over the top spot from Playoff MVP Dwyane Wade, who is now second, followed by LeBron, Allen Iverson's Nuggests jersey and rounding out the top five is his new teammate, Carmelo Anthony. The rest of the top 10 are:

Steve Nash
Vince Carter
Gilbert Arenas
Shaquille O'Neal
Stephon Marbury

Posting Will be Sparse

Posting will be light for the next couple of days as it has for the last two as I'm battling a virus or bad cold that has kept me bundled up in bed and too sick to post or read email. Must have caught it from Bill Cara. :) Hopefully, the sneezing and fever will subside soon and I can get back to regular posting.

NFL to London

The NFL plans to stage a regular season game in London in 2007, the first regular season game played outside North America. It is part of the league's commitment to grow the game outside the US. The plan is to play the game in the new Wembley Stadium, but given all of the construction problems that have plagued Wembley, it is likely to be held in Twickenham Cricket Ground. The teams haven't been announced but are rumored to be the Dolphins and the Giants.

What's a National Title Worth?

It really depends on who it is you're asking. If you're asking Urban Meyer, it was worth $300,000 in bonuses and, if history is any guide, a likely contract extension and a raise. Of course, given that he works for the Florida Gators, if he wants a raise, he better not ask for it. All he needs to do is wait. Since the bar has been raised so high in the SEC for coaches salaries thanks to whatever it was Mal Moore was smoking when he drew up Nick Saban's contract, it's only a matter of time before Meyer's contract is upgraded. Besides, Florida historically upgrades Gator coaching contracts without coaches havng to ask anyway. Just ask Billy Donovan.

Speaking of Donovan, his Gators' NCAA title was worth a $250,000 bonus. Donovan actually declined the opportunity for a raise (this time), as he thought it would be a tad unseemly for him to cash in on the title when his players were turning down the chance to leap to the NBA . He accepted the bonus since it was already in his contract.

If you are talking about the University, however, the story is a little different. The Gators saw an increase in merchandise sales after the basketball title, but not nearly as much as they expect to see now. They sold about $500,000 in officially licensed basketball championship merchandise and expect to sell significantly more football swag. The Gators total take from sales in the year ending in June, 2006 was $3.2 million; they're looking for a double this year. By comparison, Texas, which is traditionally one of the country's leaders even when they don't win any titles, cleared $8 million from merchandise last year, which was double the 'horns average. Moral: It's good to be the national champion and it's even better to be one from a big state.

Haveil Havalim #102

I'm featuring a new carnival today because one of my posts is included in it. It is called Haveil Havalim and this week's carnival can be found here. Check it out. It is a weekly collection of posts from all around the Jewish Blogosphere covering every kind of topic imaginable dealing in any way with a topic of some Jewish interest. My recent post on the Bahraini runner who was stripped of his citizenship for competing in Israel was included.

Posh (and Becks) Are Coming to Hollywood

The MLS Beckham Rule had it intended effect today as its namesake signed a contract with MLS and the LA Galaxy to join the team after the summer transfer window. David Beckham will become the second highest paid team player in the United States this summer after signing a $250 million, 5 year contract to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy and bring his world class soccer skills and, perhaps more importantly, his world class marketing image to MLS. Bringing his wife along won't hurt either.

Beckham brings somewhat diminishing skills from his world class brilliance, but he is still capable of instantly adding strength to the the Galaxy midfield and bolstering the defense. This is not a man in decline. He was sought by Champions League clubs AC Milan, Inter Milan, Marseilles and Lyon, as well as mid-table Premier League clubs, but chose the economic package offered by the Galaxy and MLS. He did not want to come to America merely at the end of his career when he would be accused of coming just for the money when he was ready to retire. He can still play. His passing skills are undiminished. While he may be surprised at the pace of the American game, he should be able to complement Landon Donovan in a way that elevates both their games.

From a marketing standpoint, this is without question, the most significant event in MLS history and certainly is comparable to the arrival of Pele in the history of the NASL. Let's hope that what happened after Pele's arrival doesn't happen here. There is ample reason to believe it won't. For one, MLS has better control over player payroll, then the NASL had over its owners. Equally importantly, there is a better sense of financial discipline which may seem funny to hear when you look at the size of Becks contract. However, the bulk of his contract is made of his marketing and image rights, which MLS and AEG don't have to pay. The soccer portion of his package is reported to be $5 -10 million per year, depending on where you see it reported.

Saban's Title Safe

Since Ohio State has gone and laid a big, fat egg in the Tostistos BCS National Championship Game (Fox and the BCS Commissioners have got to come up with a better name by next year), Nick Saban's title as highest paid college football coach will be safe for this week at least. Buckeye coach Jim Tressel, who is making only about $2 million a year, has a clause in his contract allowing him to renegotiate his contract in the event the Bucks win the national championship. With Saban's new contract at Alabama setting the bar, you can just bet that if the Buckeyes, instead of the practice squad or whatever other group of impostors that took the field against the Gators, had been able to actually show up and play tonight, Tressel would have been aiming for a major raise in any renegotiation. Unfortunately for him, Chris Leak, Tim Tebow and the Gator defense decided there wasn't going to be any salary increases handed out in Columbus this year. Instead, Florida becomes the first university ever to hold the national championships in men's basketball and football at the same time - it's not the same academic year, but it's still at the same time and that's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations to the Gators.

Congrats to the Big East

Congratulations are in order for the Big East for having concluded the most successful bowl season in the BCS era. For the first time since the BCS era began, a conference has successfully gone undefeated, with the league going 5-0, including Louisville's Orange Bowl win and West Virginia's come from behind Gator Bowl win on New Year's Day as highlights.

Devils Sell Arena Name to Prudential

The New Jersey Devils have sold the naming rights to their new home in downtown to their neighbor across the street. For $105.3 million over 20 years, Prudential has bought the rights to name the new $375 million arena, which will be officially called the Prudential Center, but which everyone will undoubtedly call "The Rock". The price of roughly $5 million per year is in line with most NHL only arena naming rights deal concluded recently, although below those of arenas that include both NBA and NHL teams.

Mideast Reality Hits Isreali Marathon

The Tiberias Marathon was run last week and was notable not for the winning time, which while good by international standards was not record breaking, but by the nationality of the winner. You see, the winner, Mushir Salem Jawher, a Kenyan born Catholic, was from Bahrain and was the first citizen of an Arab nation to compete in Israel. Yesterday, the other shoe dropped, as the island nation and ally of the United States, stripped Jawher of Bahraini citizenship, with Bahrain's Athletic Union expressing "shock and regret" over his participation in the race.

It seems that Bahrain's friendship with the US doesn't extend to even the simplest and most basic form of relationship with Israel. If an athlete is not allowed to participate in a race as an individual, how can we hope to ever see real relationships between countries and true peace in the region.

Here is one of the supposedly most trusted allies of the US, which is presumed to be one of the most moderate regimes in the region and it reacts like to a simple race? What a disgrace. Bahrain should be tossed out of the IAAF and IOC for this, and the Israeli Athletics Association has filed a complaint. However, we all know that nothing will happen to Bahrain. Nothing ever happens as the international boycott of Israel continues and no one lifts a finger to protest. There will be no consequences for this action, except to the Bahraini/Kenyan runner who tried to use running as a means to reach across lines and teach a little brotherhood.

NCAA Shows Its True Colors Yet Again

The NCAA Convention has been meeting this weekend for its annual winter meeting, which is always a scary time if you are a student athlete or a fan of college athletics because you just never know what rule changes the institutions might make when they get together. Well, they did it again this weekend, showing their blatant disregard for the students. Specifically, the Division I institutions overturned a new rule that would allowed a student who had graduated from a four year school with a year of eligibility remaining to transfer to another institution for graduate school and play for the new school immediately.

Now, I don't know about you but I'm guessing that realistically, the chances of this happening too many times isn't really too great. However, when it does, I say more power to the kids who are able to do it and we should applaud them and do everything we can to make it easier for them not harder to make it work. After all, the NCAA and its members are supposed to be about education and a student athlete should be allowed, no encouraged, to pursue a graduate education at the institution that best serves his or her educational goals. Should that institution also happen to have an opening that would allow the student to continue with his or her sports career, well that's great and an added bonus.

I know that the coaches and athletic directors are worried about recruiting these kids and a wave of one year transfers, but come on- the numbers just aren't there. The few instances in which that occurs are not sufficient cause to penalize the entire student athlete population by forcing them to pursue their graduate studies at the same school in which they received their undergraduate degrees. Those schools may not even have the graduate programs those student athletes intend to pursue. This is just one more example of the incredibly narrow minded, entirely business focused self-interested NCAA. I can't wait to read how Myles Brand tries to answer the House Ways and Means Committee's questions about this action. C'mon Dr. Brand, do you really think you can justify this one on educational grounds?

DC United Sold

DC United has been sold once again, this time to a group headed by San Francisco real estate developer Victor MacFarlane, who is joined in the group by former Duke basketball player Brian Davis, Discovery Communications founder John Hendricks and another investor. DC United President Kevin Payne will continue to run the club and oversaw the deal putting the group together. It is likely he will also be a participant in the group. The price is $33 million and will leave AEG with just 3 teams, the Galaxy, the Fire and the Dynamo.

Brian Davis has been involved in an attempt to purchase the Memphis Grizzlies, which to be charitable, has not gone very well. Hendricks has a history of involvement with soccer and was a founder of the WUSA, which folded in 2003. He could be involved in the rebirth of the league, perhaps as the owner of the DC franchise, which could play at the new stadium proposed for DC United.

Given the make-up of the ownership group, it is likely that this is as much a real estate play as it is a soccer investment. Both MacFarlane and Davis are real estate developers and MacFarlane in particular has been very involved in development activity in the DC area near the proposed site of the new stadium for DC United in Poplar Park.

Superhero

You may have seen this floating around the internet,but I decided to take the superhero quiz to find out which superhero I am. Much to my surprise, I found myself in company with Jerry Seinfeld, as you can see:

Click here to take the quiz yourself.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 75% Spider-Man 70% Green Lantern 60% Hulk 60% Supergirl 53% Robin 47% Catwoman 40% The Flash 40% Iron Man 35% Wonder Woman 33%

Former Duke Lacroose Player Sues School

Now, this will be an interesting case to follow: a former Duke lacrosse player has filed suit against the university alleging that a visiting professor gave him a "F" in a class because he was a member of the lacrosse team and involved in the now infamous alleged rape, although he was not one of the three players charged in the case.

He alleges that all of his assignments in the class had grades of "C" up to the point of the party. The school later changed his grade to a "D", saying it was a calculation error.

In addition, the professor was one of the 88 faculty members who signed a full page ad in the student newspaper entitled "What Does A Social Disaster Sound Like?"

The player is asking the grade be changed to "P" and for $60,000 in damages.

I suspect this is not the last suit to be filed relating to this incident. In fact, I suspect that the next one to be filed will be filed by the Duke 3 against the Durham District Attorney for malicious prosecution, once all of the charges have been dropped. Those charges should be dropped soon, if there is any justice left in Durham County and the Duke 3 should collect handsomely when and if they file that suit. As for the claims filed by this former player, well, it appears to be a good case on the surface, but let's see what all of the facts are. If there are no more facts that are adverse to his case than what's present here, he's got a good case and I wish him well.

Cincy Hoops: Hugs Gone but Gifts Keep Coming

Former Cincinnati Bearcat basketball coach Bob Huggins may now be wearing purple mock turtlenecks and scowling at refs on the sidelines in Manhattan, Kansas but the Bearcats are still receiving reminders of his tenure at the helm of UC basketball. The latest reminder has come in the form of a lost scholarship as Cincinnati has fallen short of the NCAA academic progress rate, or APR and has been penalized by the NCAA.

As new coach Mick Cronin is well aware, if academic performance doesn't improve, UC faces more severe measures including the loss of additional scholarships. Since he is currently not using the full complement of scholarships, the loss of additional scholarships could be problematic in Cronin's drive to resurrect his program. As a result, Cronin is placing great emphasis on academics, perhaps for the first time in the basketball program for a long, long time. It's' a welcome change at UC and perhaps the first sign that the APR is doing what it was intended to do.

WUSA Revival Likely - and You Know What That Means

The WUSA has been dormant now since 2003 but looks closer to revival now than ever before. This time, however, there will be no single entity, no cavernous empty, football stadiums and hopefully a cooperative spirit with those folks at MLS, at least that's the plan according to revival mastermind Tonya Antonucci.

She is well aware of the problems that plague the WUSA in its first incarnation and is doing her best to create WUSA II in a manner that will minimize if not eliminate them. First and foremost is the desire to take advantage of the soccer specific stadiums that have sprung around the country in both MLS and USL cities. The change to a franchise system is designed to solve the problem posed by the inability to work with the stadium owners last time around and the failure to align incentives with them. If you're just the tenant, well, that's not the best position to be in.

Handing over marketing to SUM accomplishes two goals: it aligns the league with MLS instead of competing with it and it takes advantage of what MLS has learned about marketing soccer in this country since the WUSA's demise. Given the marketing of the MLS lately, the WUSA organnizers might want to reconsider that last strategy.

Finally, the rebirth of the WUSA means that once again we may be blessed to see the lovely Heather Mitts and Amy Taylor on a regular basis.

Will the Orange Bowl Save the ACC's BCS Bid?

Step into the Wayback machine and return to the summer of 2003, when John Swofford made his midnight raid on the Big East, stealing away with the University of Miami and Virginia Tech and believing that he had solved his football future. Turncoat Boston College came skulking along a few short months later. After a few months of scrambling and hard work by numerous people, especially Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese, the Big East reformed and was able to keep its seat at the BCS table at least through the 2007 season.

However, the BCS adopted the so-called "Big East" eligibility rule, which essentially allows the BCS Commissioners to re-examine the eligibility of member conferences for the BCS games after the 2008 and 2009 seasons. The factors to be considered are:

(1) the ranking of the highest-ranked team in the final BCS standings each year, (2) the final regular-season rankings of all conference teams in the computer rankings used by the BCS each year and (3) the number of teams in the top 25 of the final BCS standings each year.

Initially, this was to be based solely on the BCS ranking of the conference champion but was liberalized in its final application. Applying these principles a year early, however, the conference that would appear to be in trouble is not the Big East but the erstwhile raiding party itself, the ACC. Its champion in the years in question has finished 8th (Va. Tech), 8th (Miami) and at best 13th (Wake Forest). In 2004, it had 3 teams in the top 25, with an average ranking of 12.67; in 2005, it had 5, with an average of 17; and as of the final regular season poll of 2006, it had 3 with an average of 17.67.

By contrast, the supposed of the rule, the Big East, had a champion (or highest ranked team) that finished 10th (Louisville), 11th (West Virginia) and likely no worse than 5th (Louisville). The Big East had 2 teams in 2004, average of 15.5, in 2005, it had 2, with an average of 15,a nd in 2005, it has 3 with an average of 11.67.

Now, those are not that statistically different and you can argue that neither deserve to be booted out. The trend for the Big East is clearly up as evidenced by this season's performance, while the trend for the ACC is clearly done, as evidenced by the same. To add to the trend, as of tonight, the Big East is 4-0 in bowls. In any event, the ACC doesn't have to worry about getting booted out since it got cozy with the Orange Bowl. Unless the Orange Bowl reconsiders its contract when it's up for renewal in 2009, the ACC is saved by the clause requiring that the contracts between the hosting bowls and conferences be honored. So, John Swofford can rest easy that no matter how poorly his football dreams crash around him, his BCS bid appears secure at least through the 2009 season. However, the way his conference teams have been performing lately, the bowl contract renewal season in 2009 should be very interesting indeed.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is now up at Free Money Finance. Get over there and check it out.

From the Only in Soccer Files.....

First, comes the transfer deal of the last half of 2006, Romanian division. How would you feel if you were traded for a gas pipeline? Ask goalie Cristian Belgradean of second division club Minerul, where the Mayor of Lupeni, who also runs the club has offered to send him to first division club Jiul if the owner of Jiul would pay for the construction of a gas pipeline in Lupeni.

From Sicily, comes the word of the unique Christmas present received by the wife of the general manager of Palermo. I'm sure that Rino Foschi's wife will never opening the mail and being greeted by the severed head of a young goat, covered in blood. Ah, the true gift of love in Sicily - but Foschi insists it was a joke.