End of An Era for the Big East and Pac-10

I shouldn't let today go by without noting the retirement of the commissioners of the Big East and Pac-10 conferences. Both men have been in their jobs for what seems like an eternity and I guess in the college athletics world, it probably is. Michael Tranghese has been commissioner of the Big East for 18 years, following Dave Gavitt, its first commissioner and Tranghese's boss at both the Big East and Providence College from where Gavitt brought Tranghese in to be the Big East's second employee. Tom Hansen has been commissioner of the Pac-10 for 26 years, dating back to to the time in which the conference was the Pac-8.

Tranghese may well be remembered as the man who saved the Big East. More than anyone else, he is responsible for holding the conference together following the ACC raid on the conference and the defection of three key football playing schools. He went out and found new members Lousiville, Cincinnati and South Florida and has been able to balance the interests of the eight, mostly public (all except Syracuse) football playing schools against the eight (including Notre Dame) private, Catholic non-football playing, basketball dominant schools. It has not been an easy task but the conferenc is far stronger now than it was before the raid, as evidenced by on field and court results and its new contract with ESPN, which Tranghese often refers to as the Big East Network. It is a level of prosperity that no one in the league takes for granted and no one would have thought possible in the wake of the ACC raid. However, Tranghese leaves his successor, his right hand man, senior associate commissioner John Marinatto (another former Providence guy) a major football task and that is to upgrade the conference's bowl games. The last time that bowl contracts were signed was right after the ACC raid, and bowls were skeptical of the New Big East. As a result, outside of the BCS slot, the league's bowls really don't measure up to the caliber of either the members of the conference or their fan support and it will be Marinatto's first job to upgrade those significantly.

Tom Hansen leaves behind a legacy of overall athletic excellence unequalled anywhere else in college sports. As usual, Pac-10 schools dominated this year's Directors Cup, placing eight schools in the top 25 (where are you Wazoo and OSU?) topped by Stanford in its customary spot at number one. In addition, Pac-10 schools won 11 national titles, more than any two other conferences combined. The Big Ten and ACC were next with five each. The Pac-10 also had nine runner-up finishes. However, there is still a major challenge Hansen leaves for his successor, Larry Scott, former CEO of the WTA. The Pac-10 has to improve its television contracts or strongly consider the formation of its network. It longstanding relationship with Fox has simply not been sufficient to place it before a national audience. It may do well in its natural market, although I'm not really convinced of that, but outside of the West, the conference lacks visibility.

Supreme Court Grants Cert in American Needle

Yesterday, was the last day of the Supreme Court's term, and Justice David Souter's career on the Court before he rides off into the New Hampshire hills, and the Court handed down a number of orders including a notice that it had decided to grant cert in American Needle v. the NFL. The Seventh Circuit had ruled that the NFL can have single entity status, and enjoy immunity from antitrust claims, for a limited purpose, (here, apparel licensing). Until American Needle, the prevailing law of the land was that the NFL acted as a joint venture or partnership of individual clubs, thus subject to Section I of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The decision in American Needle could have far reaching consequences for not only the NFL but for all major leagues. Both the NFL and American Needle asked for a review of the Seventh Circuit's ruling. American Needle for the most obvious reason that the Circuit Court ruled against it and would like the Supreme Court to find that there is no single entity for any purpose. The NFL has asked the Supreme Court to broaden the Seventh Circuit's ruling to find that the league operates as a single entity for all purposes.

The NFL has little to lose before the Supreme Court. Should the Court hold against the league, life as the NFL knows it will return to the reality as it existed before the case began. American Needle will still have to prove a violation of the Section I of the Sherman Act, and the court will analyze the exclusive licensing agreement that is at the core of the dispute under the rule of reason. Do the pro-competitve benefits of the exclusive licensing agreement outweigh its anti-competitive effects?

However, the benefits to the NFL and the other professional sports leagues of a victory at the Supreme Court, and the adoption by the Court of the position urged by the NFL that the league operates as a single entity for all purposes, is hard to overstate. Not only will the leagues be freed from litigation over exclusive licensing agreements, but the leagues will gain unquestioned control over franchise relocations and ownership transfers. For a look at how important that may be to a league, one need only visit the bankruptcy court in Phoenix and peruse the Coyotes file on the fight between Jim Basillie and the NHL. The NFL had its own problems some time ago with the on again, off again Oakland, Los Angeles, Oakland Raiders and the league's favorite litigation partner Al Davis.

Haveil Havalim is Now Up

Haveil Havalim, the weekly carnival of Jewish Blogs is now up and you can and should go visit it here. While this is clearly not a Jewish focused blog, last week's post on Omri Casspi and the NBA draft was picked up. There is a great collection of a wide range of post on various topics and you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy them.

Reinsdorf Submits Bid for Coyotes

I guess there was a real bidder for the Coyotes besides Jim Balsillie after all. Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf yesterday submitted to the bankruptcy court an outline of his offer to buy the Coyotes at the auction which the bankruptcy judge has scheduled for August 5. The bid will be for $148 million substantially below Balsillie $212.5 million, but Reinsdorf is promising to keep the team in Arizona, which is apparently worth $64.5 million.

Why and how that is, I've yet to figure out, but, hey I'm not the NHL expert who put a team in the middle of the desert in the first place, much less put the team on a cable network nobody can find, so what do I know?

Please note in the article that the August 5 auction is only for bidders who will keep the club in Phoenix, leaving Balsillie out once again. That presumably assures Reinsdorf as the winner and we can expect the Board of Governors to rubber stamp it. One interesting sidelight, Reissdrof's group includes Tony Tavares, an experience executive who is likely to run the team if the group ends up buying it. Tavares is also a part of the group now negotiating to buy the Florida Panthers, so presumably he would drop out of that group if this one is successful. The man must really want to run an failing hockey team.

Omri Casspi Makes History

Many of you might know that basketball is the second most popular sport in Israel and that Israeli basketball has long been competitive in Europe. In fact Maccabi Tel Aviv , the New York Yankees of Israel, was the Euroleague champion in 2004 and 2005 and the runner-up in 2006 and 2008. However, despite that success no Israeli has ever played in the NBA, until now.

Last night in the first round of the NBA draft, the Sacramento kings selected Omri Casspi, a 6'-8" forward from Maccabi Tel Aviv with the 23rd pick in the draft. As a first round selection, Casspi gets a guaranteed three year contract, which would make him the first Israeli to play in the NBA. He is the first Israeli ever chosen in the first round of the draft. Assuming, of course, that he signs a contract with the Kings. As a European player under contract with Maccabi, he has the option of staying in Israel and continuing to play for Maccabi if he decides he doesn't like the situation at the Kings. There have been some hints from his camp that he might do that. I think that is more likely to be negotiating talk than anything else. He certainly sounded like he was coming when he discussed the draft last night:

"I can't speak," Casspi said, tears pouring down his face. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life ... I'm as happy as can be. We made history. I feel like I am in a dream."

He went on to say:

"Anytime you fulfill a dream a new one arises," he said, as friends poured champagne on his head. "I'm in a great place now and the goal is to become a legitimate NBA player."

Cross-posted to SportsYids

Deal Reached to Save Unified F1 Racing

1Remember those dire predictions of the last few weeks that Formula One racing was never to be the same again as eight of the ten teams that make up the sport were leaving to form a breakaway tour, and taking many of the sponsors with them? Well, it's not going to happen. A deal has been reached to keep the breakaway teams in the fold. The major fallout is the deal is going to cost F1 President Max Mosley, he of the orgy with five prostitutes in a "torture dungeon". He probably could have called Dick Cheney and had the party a lot cheaper.

Mosley has agreed to not stand for reelection for another term as FIA president in October, but he has also been effectively stripped of all his duties and responsibilities effective immediately, even if he gets to keep his title, and, presumably, his salary. Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire marketer who holds the marketing rights to Formula One, was the one who negotiated the deal and fired Mosley. In the end, it was the only course to take to keep Formula One racing viable.

Griffin Schools Jared (Yes, That Jared)

What do you do when you're the number one pick in the NBA draft and you're in NYC with a couple of days to kill? Well, you do what your sponsors suggest and one of Blake Griffin's, formerly of Oklahoma and soon to be a Los Angeles Clipper, suggested a game of S-U-B-W-A-Y (H-O-R-S-E) between Griffin and Jared. So the two of them head out to the legendary courts at "The Cage" for a game and a photo shoot. You can see the results below:

Now, Yanks Are On to the Final

In what was a most improbably but well deserved upset of the number one team in the world, the US men's soccer team took out Spain 2-0 Wednesday in a Confederations Cup semifinal in South Africa. The US played with unaccustomed spirit for 90 minutes, taking the game directly to the Spaniards in sharp contrast to the Americans earlier somewhat listless efforts in losses to Brazil and Italy. Goalie Tim Howard was stunning in making eight saves against the best offense in the world; clearly the man of the match.

This game was an upset for the ages, ranking right up there with with the US hockey win over the Soviet Union in the 1960 Olympics, the US soccer defeat of England in 1950,the upset of number one Brazil in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the defeat of Mexico in the 2002 World Cup. While this match gives the US its first FIFA men's final since starting play in 1916, its real benefit should come in the draw for the 2010 World Cup. In recent World Cups, the US has been seeded below Mexico despite finishing ahead in qualifying. After this tournament, and with the results of CONCACAF qualifying, it will be extremely difficult not to seed the US as the best team in the region, giving it a chance to only play only one highly seeded team in group play rather than the two it has been facing in past World Cups.

ESPN Grabs Premiership Rights Held by Setanta (Update)

It doesn't call itself the Worldwide Leader in Sports for nothing. ESPN walked away yesterday with the rights to broadcast English Premier League games formerly held by the now financially crippled Setanta, which had defaulted on its payments. The EPL conducted a hastily arranged auction which ESPN is thought to have won with a bid of about 90 million pounds, which, together with the 40 million pounds already received by the EPL from Setanta means the league is actually coming out about even with where it would have been under the original Setanta contract. That certainly comes as good news to the smaller, bottom of the table EPL clubs which rely on the broadcast rights fees to pay the salaries and transfer fees that keep them in the Premiership

Up north, the Scottish Premier League is in a similar boat, having sold its television rights to Setanta but its rights are far less attractive. BSkyB TV, a Fox affiliate is likely to be the new buyer, likely partnering with ESPN, but at a price that is 35 million pounds less than what Setanta was going to pay. The effect on a few of the Scottish Premier League clubs, Kilmarnock in particular, could be devastating. Kilmarnock is a bottom of the table club which is heavily in debt, draws poor crowds and must rely heavily on the payments media fees to survive. A significant cut, and 35 million pounds, even over the five years of the Setanta contract and divided among the 12 clubs, is a significant cut, especially to clubs in precarious financial condition, could see Kilmarnock and several other clubs wind up either sold or in administration (bankruptcy in American English).

UPDATE: As anticipated, Setanta was placed into administration yesterday. As a result of the filing, its two sports channels in the UK went off the air yesterday evening.

Protesting Iranian Soccer Players Banned

You may recall that some members of the Iranian national soccer team expressed solidarity with the protesters in the streets by wearing green arm and wristbands during their World Cup qualifying match last week against South Korea. The regime took its revenge announcing lifetime bans for four of the six players, the fate of the other two is not known at this time. The players involved included several of the most well known Iranian players including team captain, Mehdi Mahdavikia. Officially, the players have been "retired" from the sport, but since one of the players involved is only 24, we can safely assume that this retirement was anything but voluntary.

The Improbable is Possible: US v Spain in Confederations Semis

Congratulations to Bob Bradley and the US Men's Soccer team for the most improbable run to the semifinals of the Confederations Cup tournament now taking place in South Africa as you could possibly imagine. Listless, unimaginative and uninspired in a 3-0 loss to Brazil on Thursday, one could have expected the team to mail in today's game against Egypt. After all, Brazil would need to defeat defending world champion Italy 3-0 just to give the Americans a shot at getting through. And if that happened, the Americans would have to take down the Pharaohs by a similar margin.

Bradley didn't rest any of his key players other than goalie Tim Howard, for whom Brad Guzan ably filled in. He believed in his team and his team responded with an inspired performance in beating Egypt 3-0 to earn the chance at taking on the world's number one ranked team, Spain in Wednesday semifinal. Brazil takes on host South Africa in the other one. Another improbable win and the Yanks could earn a much desired rematch with the Brazilians.

Father's Day Links

A few links for your Father's Day reading pleasure - hope you have a Happy Father's Day:

It's been a bad month for Manchester United; first Ronaldo and now Carlos Tevez is gone (Guardian)

Jets join Giants in selling space on their practice jerseys (Daily News via thejetsblog)

Cubs sale may be in trouble (Tribune via Abnormal Returns)

NHL looking at Winter Classic Doubleheader (Globe and Mail)

FIA says that a deal is near to prevent Formula One break-up; we'll see (Bloomberg)

University of Georgia signs what may be largest NCAA media rights deal, at least on a per annum basis (Atlanta Journal-Constiution via Wiz of Odds)

Hoist a Molson for the Canadiens

George Gillett, the owner of the Montreal Canadiens and a 50% partner in Liverpool FC has been having a few financial problems thanks to the Great Recession. The fact that he and his Liverpool partner, Tom Hicks, he of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, aren't getting along hasn't helped. Gillett put the Canadiens up for sale a few months back and has now found a buyer. And what a buyer it is, in fact, it's almost Canadian royalty.

The new owner of the Canadiens is the same as the old owner of the Canadiens. Indeed for the Molson family this will be the third time around. The purchase price is reputed to be between $506-537 million and includes, in addition to the team, the Bell Centre arena and Gillett's concert promotion business. The concert business is lucrative, said to have grossed over $100 million last year. The bid is backed by BCE, the telecom whose name is on the arena, and an unnamed Quebec financial institution. Gillett will make a nice profit since he bought the club (well, the 80.1% that he owns and is selling) from the Molsons for about $180 million in 2001. He'll need it all to deal with Liverpool's crushing debt and his ongoing feud with Hicks.

This should be good news for Habs fans as the Molsons are dedicated to the club - after all they keep coming back to it time after time. Gillett has been distracted and the club has suffered from a lack of attention of late. Perhaps the new generation of Molsons will inject some money into personnel and make a few smarter decisions as well. It is good for league when the Canadiens are successful.

Timex and New York Giants Naming Rights Pact Extends Beyond Practice Field

So far, the Jets and the Giants have been unable to secure a naming rights sponsor for the $1.3 billion New Meadowlands Stadium scheduled to open for the 2010 season. That has not stopped the Giants from finding other ways to bring sponsors aboard. The Giants training facility located adjacent to the new stadium, will sport the name Timex Performance Center, as the centerpiece of a 15 year $35-40 million deal. The deal, however, includes much more than just the name on the training facility. Timex has obtained some highly visible turf for its money.

The Giants training jerseys will be sporting a Timex patch on the left shoulder, as the NFL has just recently allowed teams to sell practice jersey sponsorships. Perhaps this is the first step down that slippery slope to game jersey sponsorship? There are several NFL owners with English Premier League teams so they know the value of that jersey space. I expect to see it coming down the road and maybe sooner than most expected.

In addition, Timex will have "Countdown to Kickoff" clocks on the 16 video towers encircling the stadium, as well as "Timex Timeouts" on the jumbotrons for each timeout. There will also be branding opportunities on the Giants radio and local television broadcasts and the Giants health and fitness magazine which is distributed to 100,000 doctors' offices in the Giants market.

Will all of this work for Timex? It better help Timex in its attempts to reposition its brand because it is a fairly large bet for the company in rather unfriendly economic times for a consumer goods company. Timex is trying to shed the image of cheap but durable and move into the performance category that will allow it to expand margins. This deal is a cornerstone of that strategy. The exposure will be there; the product has to follow.

Formula One Racing Facing Split

It was only last year that the men who run open wheel racing in the United States finally wised up and ended the fued between the Indy Racing League and Champ Car and merged, giving open whell racing fans something they had not experienced for years: a single unified calendar of races. As luck and money would have it, just as Americans are enjoying the fruits of merger, the imperious head of the FIA and eight major teams of Grand Prix racing, organized as the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) are engaged in a fight of their own. That fight has reached its unfortunate climax this week.

Yesterday, FOTA announced the formation of an alternative championship circuit to begin this summer with five events in Europe. FOTA claims that its series will attract "the major drivers, stars, brands, sponsors, promoters and companies historically associated with the highest level of motorsport." We'll see about that but given the teams belonging to FOTA, I wouldn't bet against them. It's unfortunate for racing fans to see a split like this, but it will be interesting to see how races not controlled by Bernie Ecclestone are run. I suspect that when everything is controlled by the teams, and run for the benefit of the teams, their sponsors and drivers and not for the economic benefit of one man and his family, we'll see a much better series.

Team Iran Wears Green in Support of Protest Movement

It is rare that international politics fails to find its way onto the stage of international sporting events and yesterday's World Cup qualifying matches were no exception. In a match beamed live to Iran, some members of the Iranian national soccer team wore green armbands in support of the Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and the hundreds of thousands back home protesting the results of last week's disputed presidential election. The players wearing armbands reportedly included the team captain, Mehdi Mahdivikia. The armbands were removed when the team came out for the second half.

The protesters received additional support from fans in the stands at the game. Some of the fans unfurled signs and banners that would have been seen back in Iran, despite the government's latest tightening of restrictions on internet and satellite use.

Since this is a sports related blog, I should report that the Iran - South Korea match ended in a 1-1 draw. South Korea had already qualified and Iran's hopes were dashed when North Korea took the spot away from it with a 0-0 tie with Saudi Arabia later in the day.

Phelps Gets First Endorsement Post Photo; Not for a Hookah

Since Michael Phelps was spotted in the now infamous "bong photo", he has served a three month suspension from organized swimming, lost sponsorships (most prominently being Kellogg) and become the butt of late-night comedians (at least before they decided to take on Sarah Palin and family again). It now appears that Phelps is no longer a toxic asset. He has now signed his first new sponsorship since the photo and, surprise, it is not for Maui Wowee or any brand of water pipe. It is however related to water, which of course makes perfect sense. He will be endorsing H2O Audio, a maker of waterproof headphones and accessories, which will use his image on packaging, advertising and retail displays.

Judge Keeps Coyotes in Glendale For Now

US Bankruptcy Court Judge Redfield T. Baum (great name, sounds like something out of the Wizard of Oz) yesterday ruled against a proposal that would have seen the team sold to Jim Balsillie who wants to move it to Hamilton, Ont. The judge ruled against an auction date of June 22, and Balsillie placed a June 29 "drop dead" date on his offer. Round One goes to Bettman, sort of.

Why sort of? Judge Baum ruled the timing of Balsillie's offer untenable, but in doing so he noted that the NHL has already approved Balsillie as an owner, way back in 2006 when he was trying to buy the new Stanley Cup champion Penguins, implying that the league may be stuck with that approval should Balillsie's bid be the highest come time for the auction. Although he was approved as an owner, I should note that the sale did not go through as the league never approved his proposal to move the Pens to Hamiltion. Balsillie withdrew his offer when he was unable to resolve the relocation issue with the NHL. Round Two to Balsillie, sort of.

However, he also said that the NHL would be entitled to a relocation fee if the franchise was relocated to Hamilton, given that it was a considerably more valuable location than Phoenix. He did not say how much the fee would be, as he did not have to reach that conclusion yet. He strongly urges the parties to attempt to resolve everything through mediation but unless Bettman is prepared to concede a relocation to Hamilton and a fee somewhere south of $100 million, mediation will be fruitless. Still, Balsillie is not giving up.

Rise of the Los Galacticos Nuevos

I'm gone for a couple of days having contracted some sort of virus, no it was not swine flu, and an orgy of spending breaks out in the world of soccer and strange doings going on in hockey. Just goes to show, you never know what is going to happen next in the sports world. First, the orgy of spending, which so far has been confined to one man and one club, but with those millions of euros changing hands, more is sure to come.

Florentino Perez just recently took the reins back as the President of Real Madrid, having been elected promising a return to glory. Archrival Barca scored a treble this past season, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. Real Madrid fans could not hide their disappointment nor their desire for a change in the way their club operated. Enter, or rather re-enter Perez, who, when he last ran the club from 2000-2006, initiated the Galacticos by signing Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Michael Owen, Ronaldo and David Beckham. He paid the the then highest transfer fee on record in compiling talent and did not allow Real's debt to deter him. That debt however, did prove to be so expensive that he had to sell the club's training field to pay for it. The original Galacticos were conceived by Perez to be more of an economic project than a football one and in that they were successful. The club grew to be the top grossing club in the world even as the parts failed to mesh successfully on the pitch.

He now appears to be replicating the strategy although with lessons learned from the original run: that the players must also fit together strategically from a playing standpoint and not just a marketing one. In little more than ten days time, he has paid out a reported 68 million euro transfer fee to AC Milan for Kaka followed closely by the record fee of $131 million to Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo. That sum was sufficient to cause the public debt of Man U to rise to 85 bid from the low 80s in which it had been infrequently trading. Man U is heavily indebted due to the debt incurred when the Glazer family bought the club several years ago. While there had been concern that all of the transfer fee would go to pay down that debt, Sir Alex has been given an 80 million pound pot to seek new talent. On the other hand, Real Madrid is tapping a credit line Perez established immediately upon taking office and is not done with its acquisitions.

While the moves were not unexpected, the scale of the transfer fees involved I think dwarfs what anyone would have thought likely before transfer season arrived. In the midst of the Great Recession, it is a bit unseemly for soccer clubs to be spending unbelievable sums for essentially the rights to negotiate with players, although we all know the player negotiations have already been concluded before the transfer fee negotiations are finalized. Fans understand that athletes make millions and to some extent that's fine, but these exorbitant amounts just don't go down that easily.

EPL Can Teach NBA All About the Joys of Bankruptcy

You'll recall that yesterday in discussing the proposed marketing tie-up between the NBA and the English Premier League, one of the supposed benefits the NBA would get from the deal was help in learning how to diversify its ownership, particularly with international owners. Well, it now looks like the EPL can teach the NBA how to deal with owners who have come into the fold through foreclosure, as a consortium of international banks will soon be in control of West Ham United. Iceland's former billionaire, now broke, financier Bjorgolfur ­Gudmundsson will be giving up control of the club to the consortium which are the major creditors of the Icelandic bank Straumur and will put the club up for sale.

Also up for sale is the storied club Newcastle United which has been relegated to the Championship for next season, marking its first season out of the Premiership since 1993. While the loss of the television revenue which accompanies a spot in the EPL will depress the price, the club draws very well, and an owner with patience should realize an excellent return once the Magpies return to the EPL.

The last major financial problem surfacing for the EPL over the weekend is the impending bankruptcy of pay television broadcaster Setanta, which holds a portion of the EPL's television rights. This is something that the NBA isn't likely to have to face, given that its rights are held by Disney and Time Warner, but in the current economic climate you can never be sure of anything anymore. In any event, it looks like it is increasingly likely that a portion of the EPL's broadcast rights may again be put up for bid, which will benefit the BBC and may depress the price to the Premiership as there will certainly be far less competition. Fox, in the guise of BSkyB, may be prohibited from bidding due to European antitrust rules, as it already holds the other portion of the rights. ESPN could be a player, in which case the price may stay as high as it originally was.

Cost Cutting at Division I Colleges Looking in the Wrong Places

There was a very interesting article on the website of the San Francisco Chronicle yesterday detailing some of the cost-cutting measures being implemented at colleges and universities across the west. If you follow college athletics, the litany of measures will not be new to you. Since the advent of the Great Recession, colleges and universities across the spectrum of the NCAA have initiated cost-cutting measures ranging from the elimination of teams, tennis teams have been a favorite target, to a ban on staying in hotels the night before home games, to my favorite, no gifts at league tournaments (the Big Ten's contribution - hey when you're rolling in money, cost-cutting is relative).

The common denominator of all the cost-cutting measures being taken across the country is the disproportionate impact that they are having on Olympic sports. While it's true that Olympic sports don't bring in much revenue, they already receive significantly less funding than do the high revenue and high profile sports of football and men's and women's basketball. The sport that is almost uniformly spared any significant cut is football. It is a sacred cow, to be left untouched for fear that any move to limit spending might cause the golden goose to lay fewer eggs.

The only attempt to reign in the free-spending sport is a limit on the traveling squad permitted to be taken to away games. While certainly positive, it will do nothing to address the arms race that is at the root of the NCAA"s basic financial struggles. Even successful programs don't make money and there are very few schools who can come close to breaking even in good times, much less now. Until spending on football, and to a lesser extent basketball, is brought with some measure of rationality college sports is doomed to a long period of ever increasing decline, with schools finding the ability to provide Olympic sports severely compromised by the money scooped up by football.

HT: SportsBusinessNews.com

NBA and English Premier League Exploring Tie-up

Get out the wedding bells and stock up on rice. David Stern has finally decided that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have this international thing completely worked out the way he wants it and that expert help, particularly in Asia just might be a good thing. So, where do you go to get that kind of expert advice?

You turn to the one professional sports organization that is more popular worldwide than you are, the English Premier League. The two leagues are in discussions to form a joint venture of some sort, most likely at this point just marketing, but you never know, with Asia as its principal focus. Both leagues have been active in Asia but see it as clearly the greatest area of growth and one that each could greatly benefit from the other's expertise. For one thing, they have different broadcast relationships that they could seek to exploit in Asia. The NBA is currently tied to Disney/ABC/ESPN and Turner/Time Warner in the US, with individual relationship in countries abroad, while the EPL currently has a relationship with BSkyB/Fox and Setanta. Although given Setanta's financial condition, I'm not sure that is a relationship worth exploiting.

Finally, there is this amazing quote from David Stern: “We are unapologetic imitators. The Premier League’s ability to negotiate their [media] deals and the way they split their packages [of media rights] . . . is something we can learn from.” Did you ever think you would hear Stern talk about the learning about media deals like that?

The NBA also wants to get more international owners, meaning the Chinese investment in the Cavs is hoped to be only the beginning. The EPL has an extremely diverse ownership roster with owners from North America, Russia and the Middle East. The NBA hopes to leverage the EPL's experience to recruit new investors.

NFLPA and Retired Players Settle for $26.25 Million

In the surest sign yet that there is a new regime at the NFL Players Association, the union and the retired players reached a surprise settlement of the retired players' lawsuit against the NFLPA. The NFLPA agreed to pay the retired players $26.25 million to settle claims that the union failed to actively market the retired players in its marketing deals with EA Sports and others.  A jury had found in favor of the retired players but the NFLPA under the leadership of the late Gene Upshaw, appealed the verdict and refused to deal with the retired players (of which he was one) on any matters.  New NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith made settlement of this case one of his highest priorities.  Hopefully, this a sign he will work with the NFLPA on their other issues as well.

In another good sign, union representatives and owner representatives met this week to begin negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement.  The current one expires following the 2011 season. 

Aon and Man U in Record Jersey Deal

And the winner is... Aon. Manchester United has confirmed reports that US insurance giant is set to replace disgraced and broke AIG as the jersey sponsor for the world's most popular soccer club, in a deal said to be worth 80 million pounds over four years. Man U and AIG will terminate their existing deal at the conclusion of the 2009-2010 season, as Nike had already made up next season's kit and the cost of redoing the millions of Red Devil jerseys being sold around the world was just too prohibitive to unwind the AIG deal before the 2010 season.

To put the deal in perspective, the current top European jersey deals are:

Bayern Munich - £17m-a-year, four-year deal with telecommunications company T-Home.

Real Madrid - £15m-a-year, four-year deal with Austrian gambling company Bwin.com.

Juventus - £15m-a-year, five-year deal with Libya-based oil company Tamoil.

Chelsea - £10m-a-year, five-year deal with Korean electronics giant Samsung.

Liverpool - £8m-a-year, four-year deal with Carlsberg.

Manchester City - £8m-a-year, three-year deal with Etihad Airways.

Barcelona - European champions donate £1.5m-a-year to Unicef in order to wear the charity's logo.

Chelsea and Samsung are due to end their sponsorship agreement following the upcoming season and there are indications that Samsung is interested in looking elsewhere. It was rumored to be in the running for Man U, but apparently was outbid. Whether that means it is back at the table with Chelsea we'll just have to wait and see.

Panthers to Be Sold to Public Company

The old boys club of the NHL has not had a good couple of weeks when it comes to keeping league business under the wraps the Board of Governors prefers. The NHL owners prefer to keep all information about team operations and financial data strictly private. That helps clubs get better sale prices and helps the league make a better case with arena owners and others when it comes time for contract negotiations.

However, last week, the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy filings provided more public information about the inner workings of a NHL franchise than most investment bankers buying franchises often receive. Now comes word from South Florida that the Panthers may be sold for $240 million to a company called Sports Properties Acquisition Corp. Why is that a problem, assuming the sale is approved by the owners?

Well, the buyer just happens to be a publicly traded company, commonly called a special purpose acquisition company, traded on the AMEX, (ticker symbol HMR). It is headed by Tony Tavares a former executive with both the Washington Nationals and Anaheim Ducks, so it does have someone with a real sports background in management. But, there is that public reporting thing. With HMR as the owner, and as the Panthers will be the company's only asset, at least for now, all of the Panthers financial information will have to be reported since it will all be material to the company's operations. It will be interesting to see if the Board of Governors is willing to approve the sale with that type of disclosure on the horizon.

Are the Rams Heading Back to LA?

The St. Louis Rams (it still doesn't sound quite right to me) have been a success in St. Louis but have a lease problem. The Edward D. Jones Dome is now an old building, having been built in 1995. I know it's only 15 years old but by NFL standards that's old. With new stadiums coming online this year for Dallas and the two New York/New Jersey teams and with what is in the planning or construction phase, by next season, 23 stadiums will have been built or substantially renovated since the Jones Dome opened.

The Rams are currently owned by Chip Rosenbloom and Linda Rodriguez, who inherited the team from their late mother, Georgia Frontiere. Since inheriting the team, they have worked on internal operations and at solving some inheritance tax issues. Neither one wants to be a long-term owner of the team and they have searched for a local buyer for about a year. That's where Los Angeles comes in to play.

No local buyer has yet surfaced for the team. The Jones Dome stipulates that the Dome must be in the "top eight" stadiums in the league or the Rams can bolt. It is difficult to believe that the County will put up the money needed to bring the Dome into top eight status given the construction that has gone on recently, i.e. Cowboys Stadium , new Giants Stadium, Lucas Oil Field. If not, then the Rams can break the lease and are free to move anywhere they want, even back to their former home in sunny LA. Of course, that would mean working out a stadium deal in Los Angeles which hasn't been done in the ten years that Commissioner Goodell has been trying.

Stay tuned, this could get interesting.