The J-Mac Story Profitably Goes On

The absolute feel-good story of 2006 was Jason McElwain pumping in 20 points in the only game of his high school career at Greece Athena High School near Rochester, New York. Most everyone can remember seeing video of J-Mac dropping jumpers from all over the court, whether on SportsCenter or the evening news or CNN or YouTube:



I recently read an article in the Sports Business Journal, reporting that the good news for the McElwain family continues, as Jason has been one of the fortunate few able to leverage his fifteen minutes of fame into a significantly longer and more lucrative period. J-Mac has an agent with the famed William Morris Agency, is working on a book and has joined the lecture circuit at a cool $15,000 per speech., unless made to a nonprofit group for which he lowers his rates. Columbia Pictures won the movies rights to his story last April, with Magic Johnson as one of the executive producers.

This is one of those stories where you see someone attempting to cash in on his fame and you can't help but feel good about it. I hope that it continues for years if that is what Jason wants for himself. He has a good uplifting story to tell and his audiences seem to embrace him for telling it.

Haveil Havalim #108

Haveil Havalim #108 featuring the best in the world of the Jewish Blogoshpere is now up at Life of Rubin. While a little off the beaten track of what we do here at SportsBiz, for those of you who might have interest, I commend it to you. My recent post on the Jewish Jordan is included in this week's collection of the best of the Jewish blogs.

Shalom NASCAR

The world of stock car racing is not exactly the first place you would look to find a nice Jewish boy. After all, NASCAR grew out of a bunch of hillbillies running moonshine through the Carolina Mountains to avoid the revenuers. From there it grew into a bigger bunch of good ole boys testing their cars and their manhood against each other in dirt tracks around the South. It was decades before it became the logo filled spectacle we can't seem to avoid today. Not exactly a locale in which you would expect to find many young refugees from a BBYO convention - until now.

Meet Jon Denning, the first Jewish NASCAR driver in at least 20 years, and surprisingly, Jon is not a Southerner. He is, however, from a family with roots in the auto business. His family owns and operates Dobbs Autobody in Springfield, New Jersey. Denning is racing for Sellers Racing at the South Boston Speedway in southern Virginia, which has gained a reputation as one of the best places to race and is becoming the short track on which to develop as a driver. Denning is off to a good start, having won twice in 2006 and finishing sixth overall for the year. South Boston has a history of turning out Nextel Cup stars too, with such NASCAR luminaries as Richard Petty, Junior Johnson, Benny Parsons and both Earnhardts winning there. It's a great place to get your start.

It's also a good place to get used to the fact that "you're not in Kansas" anymore. New Jersey, this isn't and Denning has had to adjust to life in southern Virginia and on a stock circuit that still starts each race with a prayer- stipulated by the television contract with Fox. There are cars sponsored by Christian groups and several Christian organizations with strong ties among the drivers conduct services along backside. It only makes Denning stand out more and has helped him rediscover his Jewish roots.

“I’m not extremely religious, but I have a strong value for Jewish religion,” Denning said. “Antisemitism has made me want to defend those traditions.”

NASCAR's business plan for the 21st century involves conquering new markets and diversifying its audience. That included broadening the ranks of drivers by including minorities and women, as well as geographic expansion into areas not previously believed to be pockets of closed wheel racing fans such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Indianapolis and Las Vegas. As Jon Denning rises through the ranks, it will be interesting to see if NASCAR reaches a new demographic not previously believed to be interested in auto racing - Jewish sports fans.

Direct TV and Baseball

The deal between baseball and Direct TV granting Direct TV exclusive rights to the Extra Innings package of out of market broadcasts for $700 million has drawn plenty of complaints from fans and politicians, especially Red Sox fan Senator John Kerry. Now, the FCC has decided to step in and examine the deal. The FCC today requested further information from Direct TV and MLB regarding the deal. It's unlikely that the FCC will take any real action to stop the deal, and is likely only responding to political pressure, but the suits at the MLB office probably aren't real happy about getting this letter.

Whatever Happened to the Jewish Jordan?

No, not that guy on the Lakers. I'm talking about the original one. Do you remember the high school phenom of the late 90s which the media dubbed the "Jewish Jordan." Tamir Goodman was a Maryland kid who played for a small Jewish high school who blew up in an All Star game and gained national pub in part because he was an observant Jew who always wore a yarmulke when he played. During his senior year, Maryland offered him a scholarship but when Gary Williams discovered Goodman wouldn't play on Saturday, the scholarship disappeared and Goodman wound up at Towson State. After a brief sojourn, and a fight with his coach, literally and figuratively, he decamped for Israel and professional basketball with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Well, Goodman is still playing ball and he is still in Israel. He is no longer with Maccabi; in fact, he is no longer in the Premier League. He is playing for Maccabi Shoham in the National League, Israel's second division, and living in a suburb of Tel Aviv. He is still an Orthodox Jew and is the first observant Jew to play in the Israeli league. He now serves as a bridge not only between the Americans and the Israelis on his team and in the league but between the secular and the observant. All in all, an interesting journey and I commend the article to you.

While we're talking about Israeli athletes, it seems that Israel has their own immigration battle going on right now and a soccer star is right in the middle of it. Toto Tamuz was raised in Israel and wants to be an Israeli citizen. His adopted mother is Israeli, he speaks Hebrew and he has a job with an Israeli company, actually two of them - he is a soccer star for Beitar Jerusalem and the Israeli national team. The only problem is he was born in Nigeria of parents who arrived in Israeli illegally Tamuz has applied for Israeli citizenship and has been denied, but his application is currently on appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court. In the meantime, he has gone on strike from the Israeli national team and has refused to play for it until he is granted citizenship. Since Israel is involved in qualifying for the European Championships, that makes the strike something of a national cause - especially with a game with England looming. For Toto's sake, let's hope that the Supreme Court does the right thing and grant him the citizenship he desires. The Israeli soccer team can use him and the country can always use citizens who are willing to work that hard to be there.

Wimbledon Joins 21st Century

The All England Club announced yesterday that its more than century old imitation of Rip Van Winkle was over and that, yes indeed, the 21st century had in fact reached the lush, green and heavily rain soaked lawns of Wimbledon. Beginning with this year's edition of the The Championships, the prize money for the men and women will now be equal. The total purse for this year hasn't been announced but last year, Roger Federer won 655,000 pounds while Amelie Mauresmo got 625,000 pounds for winning the women's side. The WTA has been lobbying to equalize the prize money for years, with the pressure ramping up in recent years to the point that even Prime Minister Tony Blair started lobbying last year.

The move by the All England Club brings Wimbledon in line with two of the other three Grand Slam events: the US Open and Australian Open. The French Open only pays equal prize money to the champions.

Welcome to the world, All England Club directors. We're glad you're finally awake - you've missed a lot. In case you're wondering, your country is at war and your prince, Harry, has just been deployed to the front. Just thought you might want to know. Oh, and London is going to host the Olympics in 2012 - better start getting ready. We know how long it takes you to do anything.

US to Bid on 2018 World Cup, If Not Sooner

The US Soccer Federation is preparing a serious bid to host the World Cup in 2018, while still letting FIFA know that it is prepared to step up in 2014 in the event that a South American country is unable to host the event as expected. The World Cup is slated to be held in South America, likely in either Brazil or Colombia in 2014, although doubts have already been raised about the ability of either country to be ready in time.

With South Africa already awarded the World Cup for 2010 and FIFA having determined that in 2014, it is South America's turn in the continental rotation, the USA is likely to face competition in 2018 from England, and perhaps Mexico. England last hosted in 1966, while Mexico hosted in 1970 and 1986. The US, of course, was a host only once, in 1994. England's bid will rest in great part on the length of time since it last hosted as well as the venues being built for the 2012 Olympics and the new Wembley Stadium. The USA will rely on the new soccer stadia that have sprung in support of MLS, the goodwill built up from the performance generated by the US Soccer Federation in hosting both the wildly successful 1994 World Cup and the two Womens World Cups held in the US since then, the interest likely to be generated by the presence of David Beckham on the LA Galaxy and, perhaps most importantly, the American media market. With all that, expect the 2018, or, more likely the 2014 World Cup in the USA and the 2018 in England.

Weekend Leftovers

Interesting profile of Bob Johnson, the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats on the front page of the Sunday New York Times Business section. Charlotte ran the Hornets out of town because they were unwilling to build a new arena for the team in part due to the public's disenchantment with the owner's antics. Johnson is having difficulty winning acceptance in the community for himself and his team because he is an outsider and a loner. Part of his response was to bring in His Airness and part was to take on a more hands-on role, but acceptance comes slowly, if at all. Does race have anything to do with it? Does losing? Is it just because the Bobcats are terrible and Johnson doesn't seem to be willing to spend the money necessary to make them competitive? It is probably a combination of all these things and there is no quick fix. There is only recognition that Charlotte is at heart a college basketball market that must be won over sponsor by sponsor and that can't be done by remote control. That is a problem for both Johnson and Jordan - the two top executives are part-time, out of town executives and that just isn't working.

Staying with the NBA, but with something that is working, the Washington Post took a good look at the marketing phenomenon that is Gilbert Arenas - 2007. The Post took a good look at how Arenas took control of his marketing determined that he was "going to will myself". The results are apparent throughout the league. He was voted an All Star starter, his jersey is a top 10 seller and Adidas plastered his likeness 180 feet high across the side of the MGM Grand on the Vegas Strip. Great story on someone doing it on his own terms.

The last story I want to mention comes from the Wall Street Journal and it's about the latest trend in stadium design. Apparently, baseball teams, mostly, are knocking out luxury suites to make way for lower priced, upscale "party areas". Now, it's not because they really believe that so-called luxury lounges are actually likely to make more money than the luxury suites they are replacing, it's just that the luxury suites aren't leasing anymore so they don't want to leave them vacant. It's certainly better to use them at a lesser rental rate as luxury lounges than as vacant suites. This is a phenomenon that is happening most often in baseball stadiums, with the occasional basketball arena (notably Minnesota who isn't playing well) and is attributable in part, I believe to the length of the season and number of games involved in a suite commitment. It is also a natural result of lease terminations which are not renewed as a result of economic reasons unrelated to the team or the sport, but may be endemic to the region. Regardless, it is something to keep an eye on as new stadiums start to come online.

Fox

My thanks to the fine folks at Fox Atomic for featuring yours truly on their home page along with PopBytes, TechCrunch, TheBosh, TV Without Pity and Core77. It's great company and I'm proud to be included. Get over to FoxAtomic and check it out.

Illinois Bans Chief Illiniwek

Bowing to pressure from the NCAA and others, the University of Illinois announced today that its American Indian mascot Chief Illiniwek would be banned from performing at athletic events following Wednesday's home basketball game. By doing so, they caved into the NCAA and will now be allowed to host postseason games. The announcement followed a state court judge's decision not to grant a preliminary injunction in an action filed by the two current students serving as a chiefs. That suit alleges that the University has denied them due process, violates their academic freedom, damages their reputations, impairs their ability to earn academic credit and future economic earnings.

The university chose to end the 80 year tradition of Chief Illiniwek with almost no notice to the community or the students involved. It tried to do so with no fanfare and no notice to the former chiefs attempting to keep the entire episode as low key and quiet as possible. The university was hoping it would go unnoticed and could escape into the offseason with no press coverage. Unfortunately for Illini officials, such was not to be the case and their capitulation to the PC police at the NCAA was not going to go unnoticed. While the students did not get the preliminary injunction they hoped for, the case will go forward on the merits. Good luck with that UofI.

Sin City Weekend

Mid February and that can only mean it's carnival time. Mardi Gras in the desert by another name is an apt comparison to the traveling road show better known as the NBA All-Star Weekend. This year's edition though is something altogether different and unlike any that has gone before it, because this year, for the first time, the NBA has brought its carnival to a city which doesn't yet have its own NBA team. Not for lack of trying, mind you does Las Vegas not have its own NBA team as Mayor Oscar Goodman has made sure every newsman within one hundred yards of the sound of his booming voice is sure to know.

No, this year's All Star Game is a dry run for Vegas and everyone knows it even if David Stern denies it to one and all. Stern continues to claim that the NBA will never award a franchise to Las Vegas as long as the sports books in town take bets on NBA games. Aside from the hypocrisy of a league trying to dictate to a legitimate business how it ought to be run, especially one who has so much problem with gambling that it allows a WNBA franchise to be owned by, and run out of a casino, just what are we talking about when it comes to the NBA action in Vegas? It turns out not to be such a big deal. Darren Rovell of CNBC, calculates that all it would take to pay off the sports book and make them whole would be about $6 million a year. That's right, just a measly $6 million a year. You think, in the end, the Maloof brothers are going to let a little something like $6 mil a year stand between them and the Kings in Vegas? Didn't think so.

No, the bigger issue for a team in Vegas isn't the sports book, it's just like it is in every other town - an arena. There isn't one and there isn't any real appetite to build one with public money. To get one built is going to require a significant investment of private funds in the way of presale of luxury suites and premium seats and probably naming rights. Can it be done? Sure, this is Vegas we're talking about and they can build anything and everything in Vegas, but the casinos are going to have to step and decide they want this. If they do, then it will get done and you can bet that the Kings will be in Vegas within 3 years.

Braves Sale Sent to MLB for Approval

In what may go down as the longest baseball sale negotiations ever, Time Warner has at long last successfully concluded the sale of the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media and sent the deal on to the Major League Baseball office for approval by the owners. It requires the consent of 75% of the owners. The deal was extraordinarily complex driven by Time Warner's desire to minimize its taxes as much as possible.

The deal is far from the typical sale of a baseball team and for that reason may take some time for the owners to consider. In essence, as previously discussed here, Time Warner will swap the Braves and about $1 Billion for the return of all of the shares of Time Warner stock owned by Liberty. The baseball owners will be concerned about the intentions of Liberty and its CEO John Malone concerning the future of the Braves. Although Malone insists he is in this for the long haul, the key to approval of this sale is the extent to which the Lords of Baseball believe him. Liberty has maintained throughout that it not only intends to keep the team, but its executive management and coaching staff intact. That is good news to Braves fans and perhaps another key to approval. How long approval could take is unknown, especially considering how long it took the parties to put the deal together. It's complex and will take time to evaluate. Baseball will be cognizant of the deadline the parties face relating to the impending change in the tax law effective a the end of May and I'm sure that any decision will be made before then.

Real and Barca Top the Money List; England to Bid on World Cup 2018

We've been talking about soccer quite a bit lately and you'll have to indulge me at least one more post. The Deloitte money list of the richest soccer clubs in the world by revenue was released last week and it provides some very interesting reading. The English Premier League is widely recognized as, well, the premier league in the world. It is where the world's best players now ply their trade, given the recent problems in Italy. Granted, there are exceptions, as the roster of the Galacticos and Barca attest, but for a league as a whole, the Premier League is at the top and its recently signed global television contracts, to the tune of some 2.1 billion Pounds, or about $3.5 Billion makes that abundantly clear. It also confirms that the fall of English clubs down the Deloitte rankings this years is only a one year blip, as the effect of those television contracts won't be felt until next year's rankings.

So, what do this year's rankings show? Sitting on top are the two Spanish giants and arch rivals Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Taking full advantage of the ability to negotiate individual television contracts and market themselves around the globe, Real earned 202 million euros on revenues of 292 million euros, while reigning European champion Barca, helped by its own TV contracts and that European championship came in second with earnings of 179 million euros on revenues of 259 million euros. Demonstrating the importance of the Champions League, and of doing well there, Manchester United dropped to fourth primarily due to getting bounced from the Champions League early.

Even without the benefit of the new television revenues, there were eight Premiership clubs on the twenty club list, including several not generally thought of as financial powerhouses: West Ham, Manchester City and Newcastle United. None of these teams qualified for the Champions League last year and reached the list on the strength of the Premier League's television contracts and global reach. It's no wonder that so many foreign investors are buying in to Premiership clubs.

In other English soccer news, England is gearing up to bid on World Cup 2018, the next World Cup logically thought to be played in Europe. With the World Cup scheduled for South Africa in 2010 and thought to be going to South America in 2014, Europe would the logical rotation for 2018 and today Prime Minister in waiting Gordon Brown threw his weight behind an anticipated English bid. The facilities certainly wouldn't be a problem, coming after the London Olympics of 2012 and the new stadium building already open or planned by a number of clubs, including Arsenal and Liverpool.

Carnival of the NBA

The Carnival of the NBA All Star Edition is now up at Loy's Place, a Celtics Blog. You really should get over there and check it out. It's a special edition and worth your time.

Soccer Can Draw TV Viewer in US

The Thursday night soccer match between the US and Mexico resulted in yet another win for the Red White and Blue over their regional arch rival as the Americans held the Tri Color scoreless in a 2-0 win. The Mexicans scoreless streak on American soil has now reached 8 games since 2000, with the US going 7-0-1 in that time.

The match, held in front of a predominately pro-Mexico crowd of almost 65,000 at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, was televised on ESPN2 and Univision. On Univision, the game drew 6.1 million viewers, making it the second most watched Spanish language telecast in history. In Los Angeles, the game drew 1.2 million viewers outdrawing American Idol, Lost and CSI: New York. On ESPN2, the game drew 1 million viewers.

Proof positive, in my mind, that there is a market for soccer in the US. MLS needs to ensure that the marketing does not neglect the Hispanic community while it embraces and targets the suburban community that it has moved it stadia into.

HT: Howard Bloom and the Sports Business News.

Arsenal links up with Rapids as Premiership looks West

In a reversal of recent business moves in the Premiership, English heavyweight Arsenal announced today that it is entering into a partnership with the Colorado Rapids of MLS. The partnership will involve exchanging coaching, training sites and personnel and additional steps to increase the American presence of Arsenal. It is likely only the first step for Arsenal, which would like to change the name of the Rapids to Arsenal Colorado.

The Rapids announced a new logo and color scheme today, as well. The logo is a Colorado version of the Arsenal patch, with its distinctive size and style. While the color scheme varies from Arsenal's traditional red and white, it is consistent with the rest of the Kroeneke sports empire.

What will be interesting to watch is how this relationship plays out. Is this really just a foothold for Arsenal in the North American market, a steppingstone to American players and the vast wonderland that is the North American consumer marketplace? Or is it really something much deeper - a trial run for Stan Kroeneke so he can get a good feel for Arsenal and it personnel before he decides to buy it? So far, Arsenal's majority owners claim that they are not interested in selling, but with the other three members of the EPL Big Four (Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool) now in foreign hands, how long will they hold out?

Light Posting

The light posting over the last few days has been due to a combination of traveling and technical problems. Both problems have been remedied, as I'm now back home and my computer seems to have corrected itself. Hopefully, whatever it was that was causing Norton not to load and thereby render my laptop unusable has decided to fix itself, since I have no idea what was causing the problem. Assuming no new technical difficulties, regular posting should resume later tonight. Thanks for your patience.

NFL No Halbla Espanol

In October, 2005, the NFL played the first regular season game ever held outside the US when the Arizona Cardinals hosted the San Francisco 49ers in front of a screaming crowd of 103,467 people in Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The game was a rousing success on all fronts and the NFL felt that a breakthrough in its approach to the Hispanic market had been made. It was only half right.

It is now apparent that professional football American style is more popular in Mexico than among Americans whose primary language is Spanish. While the NFL continues to make inroads among Hispanics, particularly in Mexico and several other Latin America countries, the popularity of the NFL among American Hispanics remains a hit or miss proposition. In many respects that is due to the marketing mistakes or lack of effort of the individual franchises as it attributable to the league. For instance, the Miami Dolphins, the franchise sitting in the market in which over 70% of the population speaks a language other than English and which is predominately Latino, still does not offer its web content in Spanish, a fact I find both astounding yet completely in character for a team that takes its market for granted.

Those teams that actively market to the Hispanic community will be rewarded with a new and growing fan base, starting as always with the kids. Those kids will bring their parents and with a population that is growing nationally at the rate of 10% per year, with a growth rate substantially higher than that in selected markets, how can the league, or any franchise afford to ignore it or market to it so ineffectively. The long-term success of the league demands a better approach, and there are no lack of easy ways to make it happen. For starters, don't rely on SAP to broadcast games. Make sure there is a Spanish language broadcast of the Super Bowl available to the same number of viewers as the original broadcast, with the same ease of access. That is just too basic and the same rule holds true for game broadcasts on radio and TV, as well as all club websites. It's relatively simple, inexpensive and should be implemented before next season.

NHL Television Ratings

column in the New York Times on Friday drove the point home with more clarity than ever before. The move to Versus (the former I've discussed the NHL increasing bleak television ratings here before but a Richard SandomirOLN) has proved to be disastrous in a number of ways, which was never shown more clearly than the recent All Star Game, which was held on a Wednesday night of all things. The idea that the game would be held in the middle of the week is bizarre enough, but that the league's major network partner, NBC, refused to carry the game, or OLN had demanded the game as a part of its original contract and Commissioner Gary Bettman foolishly agreed (I'm not sure which is worse) speaks volumes. In any event, the All Star Game drew a grand total viewership of 691,000 households, down from 2.7 million on ABC, when it was last played in 2004 and down even steeper from the 6.5 million in 1996 on Fox. The game wasn't held last year due to the Olympics and the year before due to the lockout.

However, that really wasn't the point of this post or the worst news for the NHL. Last Saturday night, the Devils went to South Florida to play the Panthers before a surprising crowd of 18, 136. It was surprising to me at least, but maybe the Panthers have been drawing like that all year. Anyway, the game was broadcast back to metro NY and NJ on MSG and a grand total of 736 households tuned in. Yes, you read that right. In the largest media market in the US, 736 households tuned in to watch to the Devils play hockey. By way of comparison, that night, 10,271 households tuned in to watch the New York Titans take on the Rochester Nighthawks in the National Lacrosse League. If the NHL Board of Governors isn't considering going after Bettman's scalp by now, they are abdicating their responsibility to their shareholders, fans and banks. The time has long since come for Bettman to go.

Super Ads

Ah, Super Bowl Week, that wonderful seven day period before the game when the nation turns its attention turn to pondering just what ads will be run during the broadcast of the game. Who will be the big ad winner this year? Who will run the most outrageous ad? the most memorable ad? Who will wake up Monday morning and be crowned in USA Today as the ad bowl winner? Yes, America seems to care about the Super Bowl ads almost as much as if not more than the game itself, and why not, with each 30 second spot on CBS going for a cool $2.5 million this year, those ads cost almost as much as much as a good offensive lineman.

Something new is rolling out this year, as many companies are stretching their ad buys with pregame leaks and to the press and previews of their spots on websites. Many companies are also tying campaigns into digital campaigns that will have a long life well beyond the game. For instance, long-time Super Bowl major buyer Budweiser has decided to use this year's game to debut its new online effort, a web entertainment channel, at Bud.tv the day after the game. Rather than use the game's expensive air time to promote the site and not the beer, Bud has decided to use the site to replay its ads the day after the game. Will that draw people to the site? Well, you would be surprised at the number of people drawn to see replays of Super Bowl ads.

Are Super Bowl ads worth their enormous cost? It depends on what you hope to accomplish and who you are. If you use the ads as one shot ads then generally it is a waste of money. If your company is large enough to take advantage of the large audience the game draws and you have a well thought-out follow through campaign, then the Super Bowl ad can be a bargain. What is important is the follow-through. The Super Bowl ad needs to be the kick-off, so to speak, of a coordinated marketing push that reaches through a variety of media. It can't be a one off ad and hope to have more than transitory impact. If you are a small company, the impact of a Super Bowl ad can be huge if it's used as an introduction of your company or a product. Follow through is even more important here than with larger companies. What makes this Super Bowl so interesting is that more of the follow through campaigns for even the larger companies are digital focused than ever before.

UPDATE: If you're interested in exactly who is advertising Sunday, here is a list of the ads that have been bought so far, when they are expected to run and a brief description of the ad. Previews of various ads are starting to appear on the web through sites authorized by advertisers as their agencies are using the previews as the beginnings of viral campaigns to build pregame buzz. Expect snips to show up on YouTube and I will be interested to see how long before the game kicks off before the full footage of an actual ad appears on YouTube. It shouldn't be that hard for some enterprising video mind to upload and I would imagine that several agencies are hoping that will happen.

Paul Allen Buys Rose Garden

From True Hoop comes word that Paul Allen has reached a deal to buy back the Rose Garden from the creditors who took it over after Allen's ownership group filed for bankruptcy in 2004. Apparently, David Stern has been able to broker a deal which goes a long way towards securing the Blazers future in Portland. The situation with Allen owning the team and his creditors owning the arena was not one that could last long-term and if a deal similar to the one announced today was not able to be brokered soon, it was logical to assume that the Blazers would be one of the dominoes to be affected by the Hornets return to New Orleans. Now, it is reasonable to expect that they will stay in Portland and remain in Allen's hands for the foreseeable future.

Super Bowl Advertising Again

Came across an interesting article about advertising in the Super Bowl over the years and how it has grown. What I found particularly interesting was a chart comparing ad spends in the Super Bowl, World Series and Final Four over the years. Remembering that the Super Bowl is one day and the World Series is multiple days while the Final Four is three games, the figures are surprisingly close in the last few years (in millions):

2006 SB $162.5 WS $160.8 FF $154.7

2005 $159.2 $147.5 $142.2