Rugby Stars Get Naked for Powerade

In a new ad campaign that's not likely to see the light of day in North America for a number of reasons, Powerade has decided that the way to combat Gatorade and promote its sponsorship of British Rugby Union is through women. Three stars of British Rugby Football Union are posing nude in various rugby poses in print and poster ads. I'm not much of a rugby fan so the names of the three stars are lost on me, but for those of you who are, or who live in the UK, they are: Paul Sackey, Steve Borthwick and Shane Williams. All three posters can be seen here.

RichRod NCCA Football's Newest $6 Million Man

Well, that didn't take long. It seems that Bob Stoops is not college football's only $6 million man after all. Michigan, which finished a sparkling 3-9, paid Rich Rodriguez $4.1 million to cover the cost of buyout of his West Virginia contract and associated taxes, which of course was only achieved after settling rather contentious litigation and the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees. When added to his salary and related compensation of $2.5 million, Rodriguez will cost UM $6.6 million this year. That puts Rich Rod far ahead of the leader in the clubhouse, Mr. Stoops, who pulled in a paltry $6.11 million. And just for the record, Oklahoma did make it to the BCS National Championship Game.

Now, I'm not going to say that Michigan may have its values out of whack, but I would be remiss in failing to report that the university president made $553,500 and the athletic director made $380,368. Of course, it would be hard to find a BCS school in which the football coach, and in most cases the basketball coach, did not make more than the school president. I merely point it out in this case as a glaring example of how completely distorted the system has become.

HT Wiz of Odds

NHL Players Won't Reopen Collective Bargaining Agreement

It's All Star Weekend in the NHL, with the league's All Star Game slated to be played before a capacity crowd in Montreal tomorrow night. Montreal fans made sure that they would have a rooting interest in what is traditionally one of professional sport's least realistic all star games by stuffing the ballot box and electing four Canadiens to the East's starting lineup.

The Players Association did their part to kick the weekend off with good feelings by announcing that the NHLPA's executive board had unanimously voted not to re-open the collective bargaining agreement, thus ensuring that it will remain in effect through 2011. The NHLPA had a one time option to re-open the agreement in September, 2009. The players have the option of extending the collective bargaining agreement for one additional year. The players had understandable concerns about re-opening the agreement in the midst of this economy with at least two teams, the Coyotes and Predators, in financial difficulties.

Here's a little video from the NHL to get ready for tonight's Young Stars Showdown:



With the economy in tatters and tickets sales in some markets falling, there is obvious concern about the ability of the league to continue to increase revenue year after year. As this year's revenue is mostly booked, i.e. season tickets have been sold, sponsorships have been sold and TV money has been contracted, the impact of the economy won't really be visible until the playoffs. Therefore, the effects of the recession on the league's overall revenue for salary cap purposes won't really be felt until the 2010-2011 season, as the revenue drop will first be really recognized. Don't be surprised to see the NHLPA extend the CBA by one year sometime next season.

High School Football Coach Indicted in Player's Heat Related Death

Last summer, a high school football player in Louisville, Kentucky collapsed during summer football practice and died a short time later from heat stroke after his body temperature reached 107 degrees. It is alleged that the coaches withheld water and continued to run the players at practice despite a heat index that reached 94 degrees. Another player collapsed and was hospitalized but recovered following two days in the hospital.

Yesterday, a grand jury returned an indictment against the head coach for reckless homicide, in what is believed to be the first time a high school or college football coach has ever been indicted in the case of a death of player. Witnesses reported hearing the coaches deny players water. Other witnesses reported hearing the coaches say that they would run the players until someone quit the team. The grand jury refused to take the testimony of the now indicted head coach.

Whether the coach is ultimately acquitted, the indictment alone should have immediate impact on coached around the country. Every school district and college and university should develop protocols and procedures for practices held during the summer, which outline exactly under what conditions practice may be held. The practice protocols should be developed in conjunction with physicians and national sports training and sports physician groups. Once adopted, they should be strictly followed. Any deviation from them which is not authorized by a physician should be grounds for immediate termination. Among other protocols, water should be freely accessible to athletes at all times, without any restrictions.

The lives of young people placed in the care of coaches should never be taken for granted. While the overwhelming majority of coaches are well meaning with the best interests of their athletes at heart, the pressure to win can get the better of them and cloud their judgement. That is why protocols are necessary and should be strictly enforced. Coaches don't have the medical training to make judgements about what is best for the athletes placed in their care and shouldn't be forced to make judgement calls about weather and practice. There have been too many incidents when the wrong call has been made.

Cubs Settle On Buyer; Sam Waterston to Pitch Tickets

The Tribune Company has settled on a buyer for the Cubs, Wrigley Field and the Cubs' interest in Comcast Chicago. The apparent winning bidder is the Ricketts family. Although the family does not live in Chicago, they do have business interests there and have pursued the Cubs for some time. Family patriarch J. Joe Rickettts founded what became T.D. Ameritrade and is estimated by Forbes to be worth $1.2 billion.

The purchase price is said to be $900 million, which would be a record for Major League Baseball far eclipsing the $700 million for which the Red Sox, Fenway and an 80% interest in NESN sold in 2002. Nevertheless, Tribune had wanted to get $1 billion but that was before the global credit crisis hit. While the Ricketts family resources are substantial and in any normal credit environment financing this purchase would not be an issue, these are not normal times. Don't assume this is a done deal until all the papers are signed and the wire transfers are completed and the Trib has received its money. While I would expect the Ricketts to be able to finance this deal, in this environment one never knows.

In addition, at this point all that has happened is that the family has been designated as the buyer and has been given an exclusive right to negotiate a definitive agreement with the Tribune Company within a certain period of time, probably 90-180 days. During that time, a final purchase agreement will be hammered out and the approval of the MLB owners will be sought. The Ricketts will also look to finalize commitments for financing so that the deal can close as rapidly as possible once the agreement has been ironed out and MLB has approved the sale.

So, what will the new buyer mean to the Cubs? Will they bring the long awaited, ever hoped for but never dreamed would actually come about World Series? Will they break the curse? Hard to say how they'll handle player acquisitions and team payroll, although I suspect that the push for a winner will continue unabated if not accelerate. The one thing that can be predicted with reasonable certainty is that Wrigley Field is due for a substantial facelift. What has long be deferred will be undertaken by new owners soon after any deal is closed. The Trib has a $250 million modernization plan known as Wrigely 2014, in honor of Wrigley's centennial, that could be handed to the new owners and undertaken right away. It involves substantial work on both the fans' side of park and the players' side. Consistent with Wrigley's designation as a historical landmark, any renovation will of necessity preserve the exterior fairly well intact.

Ky Appeals Court Restores Sanity, Blocks Domain Name Seizure

Last fall, Franklin County, Kentucky Circuit Court Judge Tom Wingate upheld the seizure of 141 domain names of online gaming sites by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Judge Wingate found that the domain names were gaming devices within the meaning of Kentucky's gambling statutes and, as such, were subject to seizure. Since the sites were accessible to Kentucky residents, the owners of the sites were doing business in Kentucky and subject to state jurisdiction.

In a 2-1 ruling issued today, the Kentucky Court of Appeals restored some degree of sanity to the state's legal system by prohibiting the seizure of the domain names. Judge Michelle Keller, writing for the majority, found that the domain names were not "gambling devices" within the meaning of the gaming statutes ( no kidding). She noted that the Kentucky General Assembly could have included domain names within the definition of gambling devices had it intended to do so, but it chose not to, and therefore, the Commonwealth could not proceed with the seizure action.

"[I]t stretches credulity to conclude that a series of numbers, or Internet address, can be said to constitute a "machine or any mechanical or other device...designed and manufactured primarily for use in connection with gambling," Judge Keller wrote. "We are thus convinced that the trial court clearly erred in concluding that the domain names can be construed to be gambling devices."

In his concurring opinion, Judge Jeff Taylor added that the Commonwealth could not seek a civil forfeiture based on a criminal statute where there had been no criminal prosecution. Since there had been no criminal proceeding or conviction against any of the domain name owners, the Commonwealth could not take control of any of their property.

I'm glad to see that at least one court in Kentucky understands how to read a statute book, especially since the Commonwealth's hypocritical governor surely does not. Why hypocritical? His major campaign issue just a short year and one half ago was the legalization of casino gaming in the Commonwealth. So, I guess he believes he should shut down all Internet gaming in order to eliminate competition for his new casinos if he ever manages to get the General Assembly to approve casino gaming, an effort which failed miserably last year. So, he's not against gambling, just gambling on the Internet where the state can't get its cut. Sad, really, really sad. Oh, and I forgot to add, this poor excuse for a statesman happens to be a lawyer to boot.

Before I leave this, I should add that this case is important also for the substantive reason that the poorly reasoned and just wrong lower court opinion should not be allowed to stand as good law. The issue is too important for internet commerce to rest on a poorly reasoned opinion by a Kentucky circuit judge who apparently did not fully understand the internet and how it operates.

UPDATE: Inexplicably, the Governor of the good Commonwealth has decided to waste additional scarce tax dollars (Kentucky is running a HUGE deficit) and has appealed this decision to the Kentucky Supreme Court. Now we all have to wait for that august body to confirm the Court of Appeals correct decision for the Governor to crawl back to the Mansion and get back to on legalizing casino gambling, which is where he should be spending his time rather than on frivolities like this lawsuit.

AIG Won't Renew Man U Shirt Deal

From the category of too obvious for words, but I feel compelled to report it anyway, AIG has announced that it will not renew its sponsorship deal with Manchester United when it expires in May, 2010. AIG has been essentially nationalized by the US government following hundreds of billions of dollars in losses in the global financial crisis. The US has injected more than $150 billion in an attempt to rescue AIG of which at least $60 billion must be repaid to the government as a loan repayment. Given AIG's still precarious financial condition, it was inevitable that this deal would not be renewed. In fact, AIG explored the possibility of terminating it early when the news of its financial condition first became public, but both parties decided that it would abide by the contract.

Man U should have no trouble finding a new jersey sponsor and should get a nice price for it too. However, I think the market is not anywhere near what it was before the global recession took hold last fall. As a result, while Man U commands a premium price, it is not likely to reach the price it had been receiving from AIG. I haven't seen any numbers for any jersey deals done in the last four months, in fact, I'm not sure I remember seeing any jersey deals having been done in the last four months, so there is no baseline to extrapolate from, still I think the Red Devils should be pleased to get a little raise for their new deal. I expect them to look to the Asian market for a prospective sponsor as they are making a big push to expand the Man U brand into Asia. An Asian jersey sponsor would dovetail nicely with that marketing push.

Stanford Considers Cutting Sports

As the economic recession continues, the effects are being felt throughout collegiate athletics. It is hitting large and small colleges alike. The impact may be greater on smaller schools with limited budgets that are ill equipped to absorb the substantial increases in travel and other costs together with a large decrease in revenue, but large athletic programs at Division I (excuse me, Bowl Subdivision) schools are feeling the pinch as well.

The latest and most telling example of that is the perennial Division I Directors Cup winner Stanford. Winner of the last fourteen Directors Cups, the Cardinal now finds themselves facing a $5 million loss in revenue over the next three years. The athletic department is cutting salaries and considering layoffs to meet the revenue deficit. Department officials are hopeful these measures will be sufficient to balance the budget, but dropping sports is on the table. Stanford currently fields 35 teams, 19 women's, 15 men's and one coed.

This is the first D-I school from a BCS conference that I have heard of to consider dropping any sport as a result of the current economy. There have been sports dropped recently but that has been directly related to Title IX compliance issues. This is far more dramatic and may be the canary in the coal mine alerting everyone involved in collegiate athletics that the era of free spending is over. If the arms race in facilities and coaches salaries was ever going to be brought under control, this should be the impetus needed to do it.

ESPN Boots MLS From Thursday Night Slot

The two year experiment with turning Thursday night into soccer night in America is now over. Starting this season, ESPN will show its MLS game of the week on different nights throughout the week, depending on matchups, stadium availability and lead-ins. In what all involved say is a tacit admission that MLS is not yet strong enough to carry a night's programming on its own, ESPN decided to move the game around and give it stronger lead-in programming.

The ratings for the Thursday night game never materialized the way that MLS and ESPN had hoped. The games averaged a 0.2 rating and 289,000 viewers in 2007 and dropped to o.2 and 257,000 viewers in 2008. ESPN is entering the third year of a eight year rights deal which pays MLS $8 million annually.

I think this may turn out to be a win-win for all involved, including those few hundred thousand viewers out there who would like to watch MLS games but instead have been watching reruns of Grays Anatomy, or late in the MLS season, college football. The WWLS will be able to avoid competing with football, will give MLS better lead-ins, like baseball and football and hopefully better matchups without being tied down to some stadium restrictions. The Home Depot Center is restricted during the week as a result of an agreement with Cal State Dominguez Hills, on whose campus it was built. I imagine there are restrictions on the Dynamo's use of Robertson Stadium. Hopefully, this new arrangement will lead to better ratings and a stronger league; the ratings certainly can't get any worse.

Cardinals to Super Bowl; Warner Cashes In

Congratulations to the Arizona Cardinals for making their first Super Bowl, especially since I had them beating Philly. My condolences to Donovan McNabb, a genuinely fine QB, whose life will now be a living hell for failing to get the Eagles to the Super Bowl again, despite overachieving to get this far. However, it's Kurt Warner who engineered the Cardinals unlikely run to Tampa, especially today throwing four touchdowns, including three to Larry Fitzgerald. He completed 21 of 28 passes for 279 yards with no interceptions and those 4 touchdowns.

Speaking of overachieving, Kurt Warner who started the season as Matt Leinart's backup is now passing his way into a pretty nice paycheck thanks to the bonuses built into his contract. He earned $1.5 million in performance bonuses during the regular season and has already banked bonuses totalling $2 million for getting the Cardinals to the Super Bowl. He will get another $500,000 if the Cardinals can win in Tampa, doubling his salary. Not a bad few weeks of work, don't you think.

While I'm passing out mazel tovs to Cardinals, I shouldn't forget the University of Louisville who took down number one Pitt yesterday before a raucous full house at Freedom Hall for their fourth straight win and third straight over a ranked Big East team. The surging Cards seem to have put their early season problems behind them and face a crucial road test this week against Syracuse ( but then every game in the Big East is a test). To cap a good sports weekend for me, the Northwestern Wildcats finally managed not to cough up a lead and held on to beat 17th ranked Minnesota today in what may turn out to be a season changing performance. Following closely on the heels of Wednesday near take down of Purdue, during which the Cats lead nearly the entire game but couldn't hold on at the very end, it's clear that this edition of the Cats can compete with anyone in the Big Ten and this week will hopefully have given the Cats the confidence necessary to do so.

T-Mobile Pulls Plug on Wade and Barkley

In the wake of Charles Barkley's DUI arrest, T-Mobile has decided to pull the television campaign featuring Sir Charles, which had been considered very successful. Most recently the campaign had been featuring Barkley and Dwyane Wade in T-Mobile's "Fave 5 program," which landed in Time magazine's Top 10 ads of 2008.

Barkley, a NBA analyst for TNT Sports, has taken a leave of absence from the network for an undetermined length of time.

HT: Business of Sports

Since you won't get to see this year's Super Bowl ad, here's last year's to remember Sir Charles by:

T-Mobile Super Bowl: Barkley Adds Dwayne Wade to MyFaves

NFL Ad Sales Still Super

One place the recession has not seemed to hit has been ad sales for the NFL playoffs. Both Fox and CBS report that sales for the Conference Championship games are just about sold out and NBC has reported that 90% of the ads for the Super Bowl have been sold. That would leave about seven 30 second spot, selling for $3million each.

NBC's ad sales so far are consistent with where past Super Bowl's have been at this stage and NBC executives are not too concerned, at least publicly, with selling out. Expect to see quite a few movie ad as studios are traditionally the ones who are hit up for last minute spots, since the studios are not sure too far in advance what spots they might want. Fast food is another category that could be strong, as it is one category of retailing that has held up decently so far during the downturn.

The strength of NFL's ad sales during this economy is just one more notch in its holster of continuing professional sports dominance in North America. It is unlikely that any of the other major sports will be able to hold up quite as well if the recession is long lasting. The combination of fewer games, greater gambling and fantasy playing interest and consistently strong television ratings place the NFL in a category all its own. It's the one property everyone has to have.

Cardinalsl Now A Hot Ticket

What a difference a game makes! When the Cardinals hosted the Falcons in the first round of the NFL playoffs, they needed an extension from the Commissioner's office in order to sell out University of Phoenix Stadium and avoid a home market television blackout. After knocking out the Panthers 33-13 yesterday in Charlotte, the Cardinals needed all of six minutes to sell out the NFC Championship Game next Sunday against the Eagles, who earned their ticket by beating defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants today 23-11. In the AFC Championship Game, the Steelers will play host to the Ravens for their third game of the season, after the Steelers became the only home team to win in this round of the playoffs, beating the Chargers 35-24 in the snow.

Porn Industry Wants Bailout

This is a couple of days old but I just saw it and it was too good not to post in case someone missed it. As proof that this recession/depression is like no other, the porn industry is now complaining about hard times. In past downturns, you would see an increase in activity for the movies industry as people flocked to the theater to escape their troubles for a couple of hours. They would also buy porn, or go to porn theaters, to escape their troubles for a few minutes.

Now, Larry Flynt, of Hustler magazine fame, and Joe Francis. of Girls Gone Wild fame, have teamed up to ask Congress for a $5 billion bailout. "With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind," Flynt says. "It's time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America."

Here's Joe Francis on the bailout he and Flynt are asking Congress for:

Red Sox Find a Bull Market

When a group of investors led by futures trader John Henry took over the Boston Red Sox, it didn't take them long to realize that the marketing principles applied to the Sox could easily be applied to other sports. They decided to expand the scope of their interests to other sports related ventures. The first of those ventures was Nascar, when, in 2007, the Fenway Sports Group acquired a 50% interest in Roush Racing, which became Roush Fenway Racing.

Fenway didn't stop there. The group has acquired the a minor league baseball franchise, the Salem Avalanche and I would expect them to acquire additional minor league franchises as the opportunities present themselves. However, it is the Fenway Sports Group's latest deal that has attracted media interest. The group has acquired the marketing rights to the Professional Bull Riders, the world's top bull riding circuit. I bet you didn't know there was more than one.

Fenway's stated reasons for doing this deal are interesting as they say a lot about their vision for their company. "I see PBR poised in a similar fashion to Nascar 10-plus years ago," says Brian Corcoran, executive vice president for FSG, which has received raves for transforming the Red Sox into a national marketing juggernaut. "PBR has a talented team that has done a good job cultivating relationships with a few blue-chip companies, but they are underdeveloped from a corporate-sponsorship perspective."

PBR is seen on the same networks that brings you the lost major league North American sport, the National Hockey League. It has a few national sponsors, but nothing comparable to what it should have given the sport's following and the number of people that show up at competitions or watch on television, especially taking into account the difficulty in finding the broadcasts. In short, a true diamond in the rough, exactly what Henry believed the Red Sox were when he bought them. When a sport whose primary appeal is to working class young males does not even have a national sponsor in the beer category, there is substantial opportunity and significant money to be made.

MLS Expansion to Philly May Be in Trouble

The Philadelphia MLS soccer franchise is slated to begin play in 2010. The franchise owners, Keystone Sports was recently quoted as saying: "I wish we could give you hard commitments today, but we’re not even sure the stadium is going to be built. If the markets tank next month, then we won’t build this thing. We’ll be out $15 million and everyone goes home.”

Aside from the obvious problems arising out of the recession and the markets, there are problems with the governmental authorities involved in the stadium deal, which is probably no big surprise to anyone who has ever followed a stadium project in the last decade or so. The stadium is to be built along the Chester, Pennsylvania waterfront and is to be a public/private hybrid project. The state is kicking in $47 million, Delaware County is putting in $30 million and the ownership group is supposed to come up with the balance of the projected $115 million stadium. The stadium is to be a portion of a $500 million project that would include a mix of office, residential and commercial space, which, of course, has run into market problems.

Whether the problems between the developers and the county can be ironed in time for construction to beat a further market downturn is certainly an open question at this point. This is probably good news for Portland and a few of the other cities vying for the next two expansion slots, as there may now be three openings.

More Proof of the Recession - NFL Style

The myth that sports is exempt from the effects of a recession should have been exploded from everyone's minds by now, but just in case you needed to be reminded that either this is no ordinary recession/depression (it's not, see 1929) or that it is hitting sports as hard as any industry save maybe banks and the auto industry, along comes the NFL playoffs. For the first time ever, the NFL Commissioner's office has given two franchises extensions on the sale of playoff tickets in order to assist them in getting sellouts to avoiding having to blackout their games in their home markets.

Both the Cardinals and the Vikings had unsold tickets as of this morning. The Cardinals had 5600 unsold tickets as of the regular Wednesday afternoon deadline, which was extended to this afternoon. That is pretty remarkable for a team which has been absent from the playoffs as long as the Cardinals. The Vikings had 8,000 tickets to sell as of Wednesday afternoon and may seek another extension through tomorrow afternoon, since their game is not until Sunday. Both teams naturally expressed optimism that they will sell all their tickets but it's a testimony to the state of the economy that they haven't been sold yet. It may also be a reflection of the teams' relationship to the community as the Cardinals have been bad for so long and the Vikings keep threatening to move if they don't get a new stadium.