Developer Buys 1/2 of Dolphins

Wayne Huizenga decided it was a good time to start cashing out Now, coming off a 1-15 season, one can argue with his timing, but after getting an offer valuing the Dolphins at $1.1 Billion, which would have placed the team fourth on the Forbes list of NFL teams by highest value, a significant upgrade from the $942 million value which Forbes placed on the team, how could he not jump at a deal?

Even so, he has made a good deal, leaving him in charge of the team for the foreseeable future, which allows him to both cash out and stay in charge - no mean feat. The buyer, real estate developer and billionaire Stephen Ross, the owner of Related Companies, is a native of South Florida who grew up a Dolphins fan. While he is a resident of New York, he has a home in Palm Beach and will be actively involved in the team, making decisions with Huizenga "50/50". He will become managing partner, at his choice, in the future.

It's a good day for the Dolphins as they gain a new owner with solid business background, real estate credentials and, most importantly, a South Florida background. Most importantly, he grew up as a Dolphins fan, so he gets the team's connection to South Florida and its residents.

Finally! IRL and Champ Announce Open Wheel Racing Merger

After 13 years of disastrous competition and weeks, no years, of on again, off again merger talks, officials of Indy Racing League and Champ Car announced the signing of an agreement in principle to unify open wheel racing. Champ Car will fold and Indy Racing will go forward, adding three Champ Car fixtures to the IRL calendar: likely to be Long Beach, CA, Surfer's Paradise in Australia and Edmonton, Alberta. The balance of the Champ Car calendar will be canceled.

While the merger is good news for open wheel racing fans, the sad fact is it may be five years too late. It will likely save the Indy 500, but even that race is a shadow of its former self. It hasn't sold out for years and most of the attention in the past few years has focused on Danica Patrick, who has driven well, but hasn't won and has drawn attention as much for her looks, (check out her SI swimsuit gallery here). Many of its leading drivers have defected to NASCAR in the last two years. Whether a merger would have kept them is debatable, but it sure would have improved the chances. Still, better late than never and it's clearly something that needed to be done. Just don't expect miracles - it will take years for the sport to recover from the disaster inflicted upon it by the split 13 years ago; this is the first small step.

Philly Gets MLS' 16th Team

According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a deal has been struck to award a MLS expansion franchise to Philadelphia. The team will play in an 18,500 seat, $115 million, soccer only stadium to be constructed in Chester, Pennsylvania. The state will provide $47 million in funding towards construction of the stadium. The operator/owners will be local investors Robert Sugarman and James Nevels. The announcement is scheduled for February 28.

Philadelphia has beaten out St. Louis for the last franchise expected to be awarded for the near future by MLS. It is not clear when the next wave of expansion when open up, but it's not expected to be for several years at the earliest.

Goodell Gets Religion: Churches Get to Show SuperBowls

The NFL has finally seen the light and relented from the absolutely absurd policy that prevented churches from holding viewing parties for the Super Bowl. In a letter to Senator Orrin Hatch, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, responding to a letter from Hatch, finally relented from his campaign to force every American who wished to watch the game on a set larger than that available in his house to pay the league for the privilege. He conceded that churches would have the right to have viewing parties and could show the game on giant screens if they so desire, so long as the viewing was free.

HT to engadget HD

Duke Lacrosse Players Sue the University

And now another shoe drops, as the 38 members of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team who were not charged in the now infamous case brought by the Durham District Attorney have filed suit against Duke in US District Court charging the university with inflicting emotional distress and other injuries in their treatment of the students during the case. Specifically, the students charge that university officials remained silent when despite being in possession of evidence that contradicted charges of gang rape made by a stripper. An official blog maintained by the plaintiffs can be found here.

The students suffered through a "horrifying personal nightmare", according to the students attorney. He said that the accusations caused them "unspeakable suffering." The attorney went on to add, "They were victimized by a corrupt investigation that ignored or suppressed evidence that would have cleared them. And all for a crime that never took place."

This is the third suit filed against Duke as a result of the now infamous investigation. Duke, as usual, directs the students to Durham and former D.A. Nifong. A statement from University Counsel Pamela Bernard says, in part:

"Their legal strategy -- attacking Duke -- is misdirected and without merit. To help these families move on, Duke offered to cover the cost of any attorneys' fees or other out-of-pocket expenses, but they rejected this offer. We will vigorously defend the university against these claims."

Of course, as Duke has always done in this case, the statement and all others, does nothing to justify its actions or inactions in the case, almost all of which are indefensible. Duke hung these students out to dry. Ccontrary to Bernard typically Duke arrogant response, I think the students probably have a fairly decent case, especially if they can show that the administration was in possession of contradictory evidence and remained silent in the face of withering attacks by the faculty in class and around campus. The campus atmosphere was poisonous and no student should have to be subjected to that in class and in the dorms. It was the administration's responsibility to do something about it but they abdicated that responsibility and sat by idly while the faculty tore these kids reputations into bits and pieces. They should be called to account for that and I think a federal court will do just that.

Of course, they'll likely settle before then.

Here's a video fromt the AP of the students' attorney discussing the case:

New York City to Shutter Off Track Betting

Thoroughbred racing in New York is in turmoil and the is only getting more chaotic by the day. Last week, the state legislature and Governor Elliott Spitzer announced a plan to extend the New York Racing Association's exclusive franchise to operate Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga racetracks for an additional 25 years, together with a $105 million subsidy from the state and forgiving $125 million in debt owed by NYRA to the state.

This week, in response to ongoing financial issues which were not addressed in the NYRA bailout, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked the New York City Off Track Betting Corporation Board to shut down the off track betting parlors in New York City in an effort to staunch the flow of red ink flowing from OTC. Last night, the New York City OTC Board did just that, agreeing to shut down shops immediately and to close every New York City outlet by June 15, laying off 1500 employees in the process, not to mention provoking yet another fight between the Mayor and Albany. Needless to say, the state does not believe that the New York City OTC Board has the authority to take this action without consulting with it first.

Now, I don't pretend to understand the ins and outs of the New York off track betting law, nor the corporate structure of the Off Track Corporation. However, I presume that the Mayor, astute businessman that he is, has consulted with competent legal counsel before urging the Board to take this action and actively promoting this fight. It's reasonable to assume that the same legal counsel believes that the NYCOTB is on solid legal ground.

All that aside, the actual shut down would be a devastating blow to racing as NYC offtrack betting takes in $1 Billion annually and accounts for 40% of the total New York take. That ripples throughout the national racing scene as the OTB handle includes racing from tracks throughout North America and that $1 Billion is shared with horsemen across the continent. Hopefully, this game of chicken will be settled well before the June 15 deadline and the OTB shops will remain open. It will be a dark day indeed for racing acroos the continent if Mayor Mike gets his way and OTB is actually shut down.

Carnival of the Capitalists

This week's Carnival of the Capitalists is at Bizophere. I'm a little late in posting that it's up but that doesn't mean you shouldn't still get over there and check it out.

Premier League Abroad - Not So Fast

The English Premier League has proposed playing one match a year outside England in locations to be determined. This proposal was unanimously approved by the EPL owners and was developed following the success that the NFL had with its game in Wembley last fall. The Premier League, quite a few of whom are not British, see an opportunity for substantial profit by taking the wildly popular Premier League on tour, playing to packed houses in enormous stadia around the world.

On the surface, this idea would seem to have merit. However, the proposal is to add one match to the calendar, taking the league to a total of 39 matches and losing the symmetry of each team playing every other team home and away. In short, the Premier League title would then be determined by lottery rather than by the fair play on the field. It would come to resemble most of the major college football conferences who, in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, have sacrificed the symmetry of fair conference schedules.

In addition, while there is no denying the worldwide popularity of the Premiership, there is a real question as to whether anyone will want to come out in the cold of winter (the games are to be played in the January break) to watch a bottom of the table match between say, Derby and Reading. Chelsea and Arsenal will always draw a crowd, but will Wigan and Bolton? It's hard to believe that all of the ground work for this decision has been done and that this decision was fully thought out. I would love to see the projections that showed the crowds for those games in Melbourne and Sydney between Wigan and Bolton, and Sunderland and Birmingham. Greed is a dangerous principle to use as a business decision making guide.

Swoosh! Inside Nike

Is it because they got their clock cleaned at the World Cup last year by archrival Adidas? Is it because the world's best marketing opportunity dawns in a few short month's in China, that is, is it because it's an Olympic year? Or is it just because it's All Star Weekend next weekend? Whatever the reason, Nike has embarked on an unprecedented public relations campaign for the notoriously secretive company that has resulted in a cover story in Forbes and an upcoming prime time documentary special on CNBC by my friend Darren Rovell.

The Forbes piece was generally positive and didn't break too much new ground. It did a nice job discussing the positive impact CEO Mark Parker has made in reorganizing the company. It used to be organized into categories of products: shoes, apparel and gear (golf clubs, for instance). It is now organized by sport. Each sport, basketball, golf, soccer, cricket, etc, includes shoes, apparel, gear and all research and development associated with it.

I got an opportunity to preview the CNBC documentary which will air Tuesday night, February 12th at 10:00 Eastern time. I wholeheartedly recommend it if you have any interest at all in how Nike came to be the largest shoe and sporting apparel company in the world. Rovell does an excellent job in getting inside Nike and getting to the essence of the Nike ethos. He also delves into Nike's past labor problems with Asian shoe factories and how Nike has managed to turn this around to become a leader in employee relations, yet finds that all is not well with Nike's Vietnamese factories. Rovell presents the major figures in Nike's growth story from co-founder Phil Knight to key endorsers Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, LeBron James and others. It is an hour well worth your time, and I strongly suggest you watch it or Tivo it for later if you're busy.

You can view a preview video by following this link.

Russia Tops Israel; Makes Fed Cup Semis

Behind Maria Sharapova, Russia blasted by Israel in the reverse singles to take their quarterfinal Fed Cup match staged in Israel today. Sharapova had little trouble with Israel's number one player, Shahar Pe'er, winning 6-1, 6-1. Pe'er could not muster any comeback against the Aussie Open champion similar to the one she staged yesterday. In the other singles match, Anna Chakvetadze beat Tzipi Obziler 6-0, 6-4 to clinch the match for Russia.

Israel, Russia 1-1 in Fed Cup Play

Israel and Russia split opening day singles matches in Fed Cup quarterfinal play today at the Ramat Hasharon Tennis Center. Maria Sharapova, playing in her first ever Fed Cup match, overwhelmed Tzipi Obziler 6-0, 6-4, while Shahar Pe'er rallied to defeat Dinara Safina 0-6, 6-2, 6-2. Reverse singles will be played on Sunday followed by the doubles match.

The sellout Israeli crowd was not your typical tennis crowd. At one point in Sharapova's match, the crowd began imitating Sharapova's grunts each time the Aussie Open champ hit the ball. It didn't seem to faze Sharapova however:

"I don't mind it," Sharapova said. "It brings out the best in me. I love the atmosphere, the crowd and their craziness. It is what we live for. I got really anxious and excited as I was close to finishing my first Fed Cup match.

The NFL Says No to Religion

The NFL may have become the nation's secular religion with its meetings every Sunday and its total dominance of the nation's weekend air waves, but when it comes to the real thing, the league is quick to say no. You would think that with the $5 billion television contracts the NFL has in place, that church gatherings to view Sunday's Big Game (not a NFL trademark) would be too small for the NFL to worry about. You would be wrong.

Last year, you may recall, the NFL sent a letter to a church in Indianapolis warning the church not to show the game on a big screen to a giant crowd of, oh, 400 freaking people, in the church of all places. As a result, churches around the country have decided not to risk challenging the NFL policy by hosting Super Bowl parties and showing games on their big screens. It seems that the NFL only wants its games shown on screens no larger than those found in most homes. Isn't it great when America's League shows such compassion for America's soul?