Will USC Join UCLA at the Rose Bowl?

USC has played its home football games at the Los Angeles Coliseum, an historic venue hard by the USC campus, for 80 years. However, the Trojans' lease of the Coliseum expires at the end of the season, Saturday, and negotiations for a new lease have not gone well.

In fact, USC officials have opened negotiations with Rose Bowl officials to move the Trojans home games to the Rose Bowl, where they would join archrival UCLA as a tenant. A lease deal is on the agenda of the Rose Bowl Operating Co.'s December 6 meeting, although USC insists no deal has been reached. The approval of UCLA is needed for any deal bringing USC to the Rose Bowl and UCLA was consulted before negotiations began. USC and UCLA used to share the Coliseum before UCLA moved to the Rose Bowl in 1984.

USC has offered the Coliseum $100 million for repairs and renovation but in return wants the right to operate the facility. The operating rights are apparently the major sticking point in the negotiations , but from the university's perspective, why should it commit significant funds to the renovation of a facility it does not control - especially when there have been issues over upkeep, maintenance, scheduling and just about everything else involved in the operation of a modern stadium. The resolution of the USC-Coliseum negotiations could also affect the drive to bring a NFL team to LA, as the Coliseum is the site that LA government leaders keep pushing. However, the NFL would prefer another site. If the Trojans are out of the picture, that could change.

Read This Before You Bet on Tennis

Now you wouldn't have thought that tennis, the game of the country club elite, strawberries and cream, and mandatory whites on the grass lawns of staid Wimbledon would grow to be the third most popular betting sport in Europe, but at Betfair, one of the world's largest online sports betting exchanges, tennis is now third behind horse racing and soccer. More than $12 billion was bet online in 2005 and now tennis is mired in its own gambling scandal.

Betfair started the current controversy when it voided bets in a relatively obscure match involving world number 4 Nikolay Davydenko in Poland after it noticed irregularities. It then notified the ATP. The ATP, 10 days ago, mandated that players and their entourages notify tennis officials within 48 hours of any information regarding gambling or match fixing. This will give the ATP the ability to act quickly to suspend players when necessary and to act to preserve the integrity of the game. The presence of the rule also give the ATP an extra enforcement tool for those circumstances when information comes to it that players haven't been exactly forthcoming.

It's not exactly shocking that tennis has a gambling problem although I have to admit I had no idea that the volume of bets on tennis had reached that level. The sites I visit from time to time for research purposes don't usually carry lines on tennis so to see it as the third most popular bet in Europe is a bit shocking. That volume makes me think there may be something to all of this after all. Where there is smoke when it comes to gambling there is generally fire, as the bookmakers generally know when something is off before anyone else. That's why most of them have working arrangements, as Betfair does, with most of the leagues and other authorities such as the ATP.

Carnival of the Capitalists

It's Carnivals day here at SportsBiz as we're trying to load you up on reading material to carry you through the holiday. This time, it's the Carnival of the Capitalists and this edition is at SEO ROI. Get over there and check it out - it will be well worth your time. Gabriel did an excellent job compiling a large number of posts this time out.

Carnival of the NBA

The much delayed but not to be missed Thanksgiving edition of the Carnival of the NBA is now up at Loy's Place. Get over there and check it out. You'll thank me. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

MLBAM - Digital Divide on the Clock?

When the history of Bud Selig's run as Baseball Commissioner is written, there will be few true success stories. Steroids will be writ large and should properly loom over the entirety of his term in such magnitude as to perhaps block out all else that he has accomplished. One of the few, if not the only, unalloyed successes of his term is the creation of Major League Baseball Advanced Media. More importantly though was Selig's convincing the owners to each put up $1,000,000 and own the resulting company equally and share all profits from digital media, to which all rights were assigned, equally. MLBAM produced revenue of $360 million last year, producing baseball on the Internet and handling the sale of one-third of all the tickets sold at the ballpark. This is the singular genius stroke of his commissionership and now it too is about to go down the tubes.

The usual big market teams have raised the usual big market objections to the current arrangement. Led by the Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox and Orioles (surprise, the Yankees haven't been heard from aren't' you) there is a move afoot to split off the local markets for themselves. In the unctuous words of TV producer and Red Sox owner Tom Werner, "We want MLBAM to continue to grow, but the local markets are ours." Werner is probably one of the producers negotiating the writers strike. This should be non-negotiable. It is one of the few true revenue sharing and true market leveling operations in baseball, which doesn't share TV revenue equally as football does, and baseball should not give in to the big market operators who surely don't need one more revenue stream by which to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. Just say no for once in your life Bud.

Slots Going on Maryland Ballot in '08

The future of horse racing in Maryland will be decided by the voters in 2008. The Maryland state Senate approved a bill on Sunday night placing a referendum on the legalization of slot machines on the ballot for approval by the voters next year. The House had approved the measure on Friday.

The bill which passed the General Assembly provides for slot machines in five locations, assuming the referendum is approved by the voters. The locations would permit slots at Laurel Park and Ocean Downs racetracks, but most significantly not at Pimlico, home of the Preakness. How this will affect the future of the Pimlico and the Preakness is difficult to say with any certainty but it can't be good.

In any event, this is good news for racing and for the Maryland breeding industry. While the bulk of the money will be devoted to education, as it should be, there will be a significant impact on the purse being paid to horsemen. The boost in purses will not only be positive for those who are racing but will be a major positive for the Maryland breeding industry, especially if they are smart in how those funds are distributed. If they are earmarked for bonuses paid out to Mayland breeders, then an industry that is currently facing substantial competition from Kentucky, Florida and New York will be immediately strengthened. It will help save a failing track in Laurel, but what it will not do is save Pimlico and the Preakness. What will happen to the Preakness remains a question as Magna will not invest the substantial sums needed to refurbish and renovate Pimlico without slots and without that renovation Pimlico does not have long term viability. Will Magna move the Preakness to another track? Stay tuned - the end of the Maryland racing story has yet to be written.

Technical Problems

Please excuse the continuing technical problems. We're working on them but still having difficulty isolating the source of the problem. It's an ongoing issue and I don't know when we'll be able to resolve it. Hopefully, we'll get to it over the holiday. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, try viewing in Firefox - it's not perfect, but it is better.

Troubles in Holy Land Hardball

The Israel Baseball League had a successful debut season on the field with six teams competing in a full schedule of games that were well received with attendance that generally exceeded expectations. The on-field product was very good and two players received minor league contracts with the Yankees. However, the offseason is a different story and the viability of the league and its ability to play a second season are in serious doubt.

Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer, who is the Commissioner of the IBL, along with nine members of the IBL advisory board have resigned, charging the founder of the league with mismanagement and a failure to provide the necessary capital to maintain the league. The group also charged that players, managers and umpires had not been paid. The resignations may have been triggered by a lawsuit filed in federal court in Massachusetts charging league founder Larry Baras with fraud, securities fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the operation of the league. The IBL defense, as noted in the Times article is that it hasn't completed its financials yet, some three months after the end of the season. However, it is attempting to raise money to salvage the league but without financials? That doesn't seem to add up, does it?

The Knicks: When Does NYC's Nightmare End?

How long does New York have to wait for Jimmy Dolan to get the caojones to fire Isiah Thomas, waive Stephon Marbury and begin to breathe life into the New York Knicks? I know, I know, it's late on a Saturday night and i must be dreaming or perhaps I have just been indulging too much tonight. I don't know. It's too much to think it might actually happen. For anything like that to actually take place, Jimmy would have to be relieved of command and replaced with someone who knew what he was doing and had the brass ones to actually do something constructive to stem the tide.

It's not that the sinking ship can't be saved, can it? The situation is so bad it is beyond comical. As one senior NBA executive put it, “I could have taken LSD, hallucinated AND been a great writer and I still couldn’t have made this stuff up." Just when does David Stern decide that he has had enough and order the Knicks owners to clean up the circus. There is only so much embarrassment that Stern can stand before he feels compelled to act, so I assume that there have been numerous calls and closed door meetings trying to pressure the Dolans to just DO something about Thomas and Marbury. Of course, once that happens, the rebuilding begins - do you think the Knicks have enough tradable assets to make an attractive offer for Kobe?

Buffet Helped Broker A-Rod Deal

You know by now that A-Rod and the Yankees have made up and that the slugging third baseman is about to sign a 10 year deal worth about $275-300 million. What you may not have known until now is how they got back together. According to a story in today's Wall Street Journal, the key figure in getting team and player back together only role in baseball is that of a big fan and friend of A-Rod, and he has an interest in a minor league team. Who is this mystery man? None other than the Oracle of Omaha - the second richest man in the US, Warren Buffet. It seems that our forlorn third baseman went to Buffet for advice and he told Rodriguez to call the Yankees directly, bypassing his agent, Scott Boras, and tell them he wanted to stay.

So, A-Rod made contact with the Yankees through a banker at Goldman Sachs (yes, they are everywhere), a firm with strong ties to the Yankees through decades of banking relationships and an ownership interest in the YES network. The Goldman Sachs bankers played intermediaries and the rest is history.

It's An A-Sun World and We're Just Living in It

The first week of the college basketball season demonstrated that roundball promised to pick up where the oblong ball left off. In the space of four days, three teams from the conference formerly known as the TAAC (how many of you knew what those initials stood for before last weekend) knocked off two ranked teams and one former power who was a team on the rise in a one of the two best leagues in the country. Not a bad half weeks work for a poor southern conference, don't you think?

I think that the WWWL's mid-major beat writer Kyle Whelliston probably captured the Atlantic Sun's week best of the stories that I read, but then he has been on this beat for years and it is clearly a labor of love. The best story I heard, however, I haven't found online and I haven't been able to verify anywhere so I don't know if this is actually true, but it sure makes a good story. Anyway, the story goes that Gardner-Webb's bookstore sold over 4,000 t-shirts the day after the win over Kentucky, apparently most of them to Louisville fans. Cardinal head coach Rick Pitino supposedly bought 15, which is, not surprisingly, the number of players on the Cardinal basketball team. Just what is this T-shirt? It's just your basic "Upset Special" on the front and the score of the UK-Gardner-Webb game on the back. Since Louisville is ranked number 6 in the polls and Kentucky is currently unranked, as a result of the Gardner-Webb game, I don't think Pitino is trying to impart the usual direct message - this time I think he's just trying to warn his kids.

EleVen:: Venus Enters Fashion Market

With the start of the NBA season, comes the debut of new shoes, clothes video games and other products tied to the league. For Stephon Marbury and retailer Steve & Barry's, it's a true test to see if the innovative Starbury sneaker is a flash in the pan phenomena or has staying power. From all accounts, it is here to stay, has done what it promised and begun to transform, if not an industry then at least a company.

The Starbury, which retails for $14.95, has succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of most people involved in its launch other than its namesake, the Knick guard and supremely egotistical Marbury. In two months following its release last year, over 3 million pairs were sold. The shoes are sold exclusively at Steve & Barry's stores, and as result of the success of the shoes launch, the number of stores has increased from 120 before the launch to 270 by the end of 2007. the company has added a Ben Wallace endorsed shoe to the line, beginning this fall. Although it's not likely to sell nearly as well, it was important to branch out to another player, particularly one who will the shoe on the court, as both Marbury and Wallace do.

The more significant proof of concept for athlete endorsed, high quality, low price sneaker and clothing is the debut this month, again exclusively in Steve & Barry's stores, of the EleVen line marketed by Venus Williams. The Wimbledon champion and holder of six Grand Slam titles will be marketed a line of clothing and shoes that will not have any products that sell for more than $20, with the first products to go on sale this Thursday. While similar in concept to the Starbury line, this is not a brand extension but an entirely new line.

Marbury was somewhat petulant about the EleVen line, despite Ms. William holding six of something that Marbury has yet to win - championships. "I'm doing sneakers, so she should have been under my line," Marbury said. "But obviously, that didn't happen." The company, clearly surprised by Marbury's comments, decided not to respond. A wise decision on the part of Steve & Barry's; they have obviously learned how to deal with Marbury over the time they have worked together. The EleVen line should be as successful as the Starbury; it certainly as a more accomplished and engaging spokesperson.

MLS Coming to Seattle

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Times are both reporting that MLS has confirmed that an expansion team will be awarded to Seattle to begin play in 2009. Both papers are reporting that an MLS spokesman has confirmed their reports and that MLS Commissioner Don Garber will be in Seattle on Tuesday to make the announcement.

The team will begin play at Qwest Field and Seahawks owner, and Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen, will be the principal owner. Other members of the ownership group will include Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer and Hollywood producer and executive Joe Roth. The group is paying an expansion fee to MLS of $30 million.

While I think Seattle is a great addition for MLS, there is one major unanswered question, which is, what about the soccer specific stadium that is supposed to be the absolute minimum requirement for any new addition to the league. No mention in either story about that and no real talk about a new stadium seems to be anywhere around. We know what trouble the Sonics are having getting public funding and that has to be a concern. Granted, this group could build it out of petty cash, but what ownership group ever wants to pay for a stadium themselves? The contention is that Qwest Field was built as a soccer stadium as well as a football stadium, but dual use stadiums is not the policy agreed to by the league. Apparently, billionaires get special rules.

NHL Team Values or Why Bettman is Still Employed

If you wonder why Gary Bettman still has a job despite the fact that you can't watch your favorite hockey team play more than once or twice a year, wonder no more. The folks at Forbes have answered that mystery once and for all in their annual look at the value of NHL franchises. In the two years since the lockout, the value of the average franchise has increased 23% and the league has gone from an operating loss of $96 million to an operating profit of $96 million. The average team is now worth $200 million and posted EBITDA this past season of $3.2 million. It's all attributable to the salary cap achieved in the lockout masterminded by Bettman. The television deal is a disaster but the league can survive until the contract with Versus is over and a new deal with ESPN can be cut, because of the salary cap, so long as teams can continue to sell tickets and put fans in the seats. More than any other sport, the NHL is dependent on ticket revenue and ancillary revenue derived from fans in the building.

So, all that is fun, but what is the most valuable team in the league? In this case, it's not a question of on ice success, because the most valuable franchise has not experienced on ice success in quite some time. No, it's a question of market, tradition, real estate, local TV and operations. The most valuable franchise is the Toronto Maple Leafs, with a value of $413 million, helped in part by league high local TV revenues of $23 million. The Leafs own the Air Canada Centre, Leafs TV, the Toronto Raptors and Raptors TV. Following in number two, with a similar business model, but with far less savvy management (it is Jimmy Dolan) is the New York Rangers at a value of $365 million. It's not clear how much of MSG is included in the valuation of the Rangers, but the business model of MSG and that of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is very similar. The rest of the list in order shows the importance of local TV value to the value of the franchise.

Survey Says: Biggest Brand in Team Sports Is?

No, it's not the New York Yankees and thanks for playing, we have some lovely parting gifts for you. In fact, the team formerly run by the Boss came in, and you should probably be sitting down before you read this far, as the 29th strongest team brand team among the 122 team brands in MLB, NBA, NFL and the NHL, according to a new study recently released by market research firm Turnkey Sports and Entertainment.

The somewhat surprising results of the Turnkey Team Brand Index found that the strongest team brand among the major sports (for purposes of this study, the NHL was included and MLS was excluded - I didn't design the study, I'm merely reporting) was the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"The Steelers are the model brand for a team," Turnkey's president and chief executive, Len Perna, said in a statement. "Down through their history, ownership, players, coaches, stadium and style match the hard-nosed work ethic of their city."

The team's brand was "clearly defined" and "consistent for decades," while its ownership was widely perceived as genuine, Perna said. Fans described the team's brand as "strong," "tough" and "hard-working," he said.

The strength of the NFL in the public's mind can be seen by the presence of five teams in the top ten of the study, including the top three. Baseball's decline can be seen by its absence of teams in the top of the list. Only two teams made the top 10 and only two more made the next 10. That's a far cry from the nation's pastime.

Now, that said, there are difficulties with these results - not the least of which is the placing of the Yankees at 29 by any measure, that's hard to see how it would be justified. Just to point out one glaring error, at least to me, would be the Cavs at 14. I don't know how a brand built around one player, who hasn't been in the league for even 5 years can have that kind of strength, because that team without LeBron has no brand strength inside or outside of Cleveland. If BronBron leaves, so do the Cavs. I don't think that is what team brand strength is supposed to mean.

Carnival of Sports Business

The latest edition of the Carnival of Sports Business is now up at Take a Peck. Get over there and check it out.

Hornets Back In Nola, Does Anybody Know?

The New Orleans Hornets have returned home from their two year exile in Oklahoma City having left behind sold out crowds in the Ford Center and legions of adoring fans. So, what greeted them in the team in the Crescent City? Do they return home to cheering crowds of screaming fans and a sold out New Orleans Arena? Well, not exactly.

What they got exactly, last night was the second smallest crowd in New Orleans Hornets short tenure in the city, an announced crowd of only 9,187, which cheered the Hornets to a 113-93 win over the Trail Blazers. This does not bode well for the Hornets future in New Orleans. Now, one night does not determine the course of a franchise but it is not an auspicious debut. Can you say Seattle Hornets? Better yet, sell the Hornets to Clay Bennett and his band of Oklahoma City cowboys and let the Hornets move to OKC, where they will be welcomed with open arms. Leave the Sonics in Seattle where they belong, albeit after working out a new arena deal.

New Orleans cannot, and will not, support a NBA team. It was not successful before Katrina and the population of the city has shrunk to a point that there is little hope for success now. The city has embraced the Saints and will do everything possible to keep them. That is not the case with the Hornets nor will it ever be. Let them go after this season, peacefully and with the league's blessing.

Curlin May Be Auctioned

The saga of Curlin's ownership continues to be just as dramatic as his racetrack performance and produces even more surprising twists and turns. The latest came out of a Boone County, Kentucky courtroom this week as a Boone County Circuit Court judge handed a 20% ownership interest in the colt to the 400 plaintiffs who had been bilked out of legal fees by the two lawyers now sitting in the Boone County correctional facility. As a result of the judge's ruling, the 400 plaintiffs will share in the colt's earnings going forward and will claim 20% of the $2,7000,000 winner's share of the Breeders Cup Classic purse recently won by Curlin. The plaintiffs may also attempt to collect on the purchase price received by the Gallion and Cunningham when they sold 80% of Curlin prior to the Kentucky Derby for an unknown amount believed to be many millions.

The more interesting possibility raised by the plaintiffs' lawyer is the sale of Curlin at public auction. While no decision has apparently been made as of yet, it is clear that should a sale be necessary, a public auction is the only way to assure a buyer of clear title. A public auction of Curlin, based on recently announced stud fees of his close competitors Street Sense and Hard Spun and the possibility that he could be kept in training for a 4 year old season with the Dubai World Cup and another Breeders Cup Classic in his sights, should bring somewhere between $45-60 million.

I can't remember another auction of a proven colt and stallion prospect of his caliber, so the bidding could be spectacular - the interest is likely to be intense with stud farms in Kentucky and overseas all vying for the chance to buy him. There may well be interest from certain international buyers who want to race him next year and have major stallion operations to which he would be a welcome addition. It would be a fascinating auction, sure to be the highlight of any sale. Of course, it's also possible that the 80% owners will just make a good offer and buy out the 400 plaintiffs, although it may be hard to be sure you get all 400 to go along with the sale in anything short of a public auction.