Six Is In SIght

After a very satisfying revenge victory in Friday's 15-10 defeat of North Carolina, the Northwestern Wildcats lacrosse team find themselves in very familiar territory: the NCAA championship game.  Going after their sixth straight championship, the Cats take on a Maryland squad that came into the NCAA tourney ranked number one in the country and has done nothing in the tourney to disabuse anyone of the notion that the ranking was well deserved.  

The Terps rely on a deliberate offense and tough defense although the Terps did put up 14 goals while dispatching Syracuse 14-5 in Friday's semi-final, so don't be surprised if this game resembles the low scoring first half of the NU-UNC match, or the keep away game the Cats played in the last five minutes of the game.  Northwestern is coming into the game with a 23 game NCAA tournament winning streak, while Maryland, whose record of seven straight NCAA titles NU is shooting for, is making its first final since 2001. 

You can watch the Cats claim their sixth straight NCAA championship tonight at 5:30 eastern on CBS College Sports Network

UEFA Adopts Financial Fair Play Rules to Reign In Big Spenders

None of the major European soccer leagues have salary caps or any restrictions on player payrolls that resemble those in place in any of the North American professional sports leagues.  As a result, player salaries regularly outstrip club income, especially at the big clubs competing for both their league championships and the Champions League title, clubs such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Inter Milan.

UEFA has now adopted Financial Fair Play rules, to be phased in over a six year period, which will require that clubs break even over a rolling three year period if the clubs wish to play in the Champions League or Europa League.  The clubs will also be assessed on a risk basis taking into account salaries and debt.  While this new rule will not eliminate the advantage held by high revenue clubs like Man U and Real Madrid, it will restrain the spending of owners with virtually limitless funds who care more about winning than about the money spent to get there, such as the owners of Chelsea, Manchester City and AC Milan.  It will begin to restore a modicum of balance to European soccer.

Whether the new rule will work as intended will not be known for a number of years.  It is, however, the first attempt at bringing some element of rationality to player salaries in European soccer and is to be commended as such.  There is no salary cap in any major European league that compares to anything found in any North American professional league and, at least partly as a result, the competitive balance of the major soccer leagues in Europe is non-existent.  Each year, the battle for the championship and places in the Champions and Europa Leagues involve mostly the same clubs and the more interesting competition is found at the bottom of the league.  The most intense competition comes at the bottom of the table at the end of the season as clubs battle to avoid relegation and the resultant loss of tens of millions of dollars.  It is usually much more exciting than the same old fight at the top.  Hopefully, over the next decade, this rule will begin to change that.

NYRA Gets Bailout from New York State

I'm a bit late in reporting but there's good news for those of you who like to summer in Saratoga.  On Monday, New York Governor David Patterson signed a bill authorizing a $25 million loan to the New York Racing Association allowing NYRA to operate meets at Belmont, Saratoga and Aqueduct.  Had it not received the loan, NYRA would have followed through with the notice it had sent to its 1400 employees that it planned to shut down the tracks following the running of the Belmont Stakes on June 5.  NYRA's problems stem from the inability to get approved slot machines and video lottery terminals installed and operating at Aqueduct in a timely manner.  Racing has been insufficient to actually fund NYRA's operations several years now.

Texas Rangers File Chapter 11 In Hopes of Speeding Sale

The liquidation of the Tom Hicks sports empire took another step closer to reality yesterday when the Texas Rangers filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in an effort to get approval to sell the club to a group led by attorney Steve Greenberg and Nolan  Ryan.  The group already has the approval of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.  An interesting graphic from the Wall Street Journal attempting to illuminate the transaction is below:

Hicks and the Greenberg-Ryan group have had a deal since January which would involve the purchase of the team, the rights to operate the stadium and 150 acres adjacent to the Ballpark at Arlington for about $530 million.  The problem, however, is that the creditors, led by hedge fund and vulture investor Monarch Capital have refused to approve the sale, contending that the deal does not return enough money to them.  The bankruptcy is an attempt to force the creditors to accept the deal and forestall the possibility that the creditors could force a sale to one of the other two groups who have bid for the team, at least one of which was a higher bid returning more to the creditors.  As has been the case with every sale of a team in the Selig era, the Greenberg-Ryan group have won favor in part due to their close ties to the Commissioner.

Monarch had threatened to take the club into involuntary bankruptcy but this filing would seem to preempt that.  However, expect Monarch and other creditors to fight this reorganization plan in an attempt to at least force the Greenberg-Ryan group to pay more.  The backing of the Commissioner may be enough to forestall the possibility of another serious bidder entering an auction but Monarch will certainly push the bankruptcy judge hard to determine why this lower value will proveide the best return to creditors, which is one of the stated goals of any bankruptcy proceeding.  The club however contends that sale of the team would produce enough money to pay the Rangers’ creditors in full, including players, like Alex Rodriguez, the club's largest unsecured creditor, who were still owed millions of dollars in deferred compensation.

Why Russian Oligarchs Buy Sports Teams

I've heard plenty of reasons, and no doubt you've thought of few yourself, as to why Russian billionaires have taken to buying professional sports franchises in western sports leagues, i.e. Roman Abramovich's Chelsea and Mikhail Prokhorov's Newark/Brooklyn Nets.  One of the more interesting reasons I've seen is in this post from the Business Insider, in which Henry Blodgett suggests the purchases are basically protection against a hit from the Kremlin in the event the oligarch loses favor with Putin.  It's a plausible reason given what's being happening in Russia lately and, of course, one we'll never be able to know for sure.  I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the next Daniel Silva novel.

Congrats to Cats and Hawks

It's a good weekend to be a Chicago sports fan.  On Saturday, the five-time defending national champion Northwestern Wildcat lacrosse team booked its ticket to next weekend's Final Four defeating Duke 18-8.  On a rain and windswept Lakeside Field which at times more closely resembled a Scottish links course at dawn than a lacrosse field, the Cats scored the first ten goals to put away the fifth ranked Blue Devils.  The Cats were paced by senior Danielle Spencer's four goals and two assists, while senior Katrina Dowd continued to rewrite record books.  Dowd's hat trick gave her 42 career postseason goals breaking former teammates Hillary Bowen's NCAA tournament record of 40. 

The Cats move on to Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland next weekend for the eagerly anticipated revenge matchup with third ranked North Carolina.  The Tar Heels, who beat Virginia to earn their way to Towson, are the only team to beat Northwestern, winning 18-16 in Evanston on April 18.  That loss shattered a 41 game winning streak and a 59 game home winning streak so you can just bet the Cats have been salivating at the thought of getting a chance at the Heels again.  The loss really woke the Cats up as they have gone 7-0 and played their best games since.  No reason the second school on Tobacco Road should go down any harder than the First School did yesterday.  Expect NU in the final on Sunday.

Today, for only the second time in more than 35 years the Blackhawks have reached the Stanley Cup Finals.  I'm typing these words but I still don't believe them and probably won't until the Hawks take the ice against what looks to be the Flyers.  The Hawks dispensed with the Sharks overcoming a two goal deficit to take out the top seed in the Western Conference and sweep the series.  The Hawks look primed for what should be a tough and entertaining series with the surprising seventh seeded Flyers, who lead Montreal 3-1.

Worldwide Wes and LeBron

If you're interested in the phenomena that is Woldwide Wes, William Wesley, thought by many to be the key to the next location of LeBron James, go read this post. For years, Wes has operated in college and NBA circles as the man with the largest rolodex in basketball, but without any apparent source of income from it.  He has now received his agency credentials from the NBA and, according to the post above, is now negotiating with Creative Artists Agency, the best and perhaps the most powerful agency in the entertainment industry, to join them as an agent.

Manchester United's Loan Rate Rise May Take It Out of Transfer Market

With mortgage rates running around 4 1/2 % per annum, for those folks who still have jobs and feel relatively secure in their jobs, this may be a good chance to refinance their mortgage.  With prime rate running at 3 1.2% consumers and businesses who have a relationship with a bank that is actually making loans should be refinancing their debt.  If only the Glazer family had it that easy.

You see, when the Glazers bought Manchester United, they borrowed most of the purchase price.  In 2006, the family reorganized the club's debt, borrowing at least 500 million pounds from accommodating banks.  However, that was not quite enough, as they also took out a 138 million pound loan from a number of hedge funds and other like investors.  That loan was a payment in kind loan, with no payments due until the whole loan comes due in 2017.  The PIK loan originally bore interest at 14 1/4% and carried numerous financial and other covenants meant to rein in the Glazers ability to manage the club for the benefit of just themselves.  The club is in breach of those covenants, so the rate bumps to 16 1/4%.

With the rate that high, the Glazers will be paying an additional 75 million pounds in interest.  The repayment amount now rises to 662 million pounds in 2017 and that is a tough number to make for any club, even the top grossing club in the world.  What that might mean for ManU's operations is simple: the Red Devils are not likely to be active in the top end of the transfer market where crosstown rival Manchester City is throwing money around like a, well, soccer mad Arab sheik.  The club may also begin looking at the roster to see who might be shopped for cash.  There has been no public indication from either the club or Sir Alex that sales are coming, but sitting out the transfer market looks to be almost a sure thing.

ESPN Lands New ACC Football and Basketball Rights

Overcoming spirited bidding from Fox, ESPN landed the football and basketball rights contract for the ACC for the next 12 years.  That bidding by Fox drove the price up from an expected $125 million per year to $155 million per, still well south of the SEC's $205 million from its new CBS and ESPN contracts.  The new contracts take effect with the start of the 2011-12 season and represent a substantial increase from the existing contracts with Raycom and ESPN, paying the conference an average of $73-$75 million.  Each member school will go from earning about $5.6 million to an average of $12.9 million.

Although Sports Business Journal indicated that Fox helped drive up ESPN's bid, as mentioned above, according to ACC sports.com, Fox was not given a chance to match ESPN's bid, as the league decided that ESPN's reach was too broad to give up.  That may prove a problem for Fox as it looks to the Big XII and Pac-10 down the road.

The ACC has the misfortune of its contracts expiring with the end of the 2010-11 season and therefore being in a position of having to act now before the after-effects of Big Ten expansion will completely sort itself out. Whether the contract takes into account the possibility of future expansion of the ACC is not known, but if it does not also add an additional $13-$15 for each additional school added to the league upon expansion, then this contract will be a major hindrance to the league when it comes time to deal with the after the Big Ten announcement.  Since the ACC chose not to pursue the establishment of its own network when the option was presented to it by Comcast, it will be all the more vital that this contract have the flexibility to reward the league for improved numbers in the event of expansion.

Preakness Covenant Ensures Race Will Stay In Maryland; Model for Others

When Maryland was faced, last year,  with the bankruptcy of Magna Entertainment, the owner of Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes it refused to sit back and await results like so many other state and municipal governments faced with the threat of losing local sports franchises.  The Maryland General Assembly swung into action passing legislation giving the state condemnation authority over all of Magna's Maryland assets, including the Preakness, which, when coupled with Maryland's existing right of first refusal over any transfer of Pimlico gave the state all the hammer it needed to secure an agreement with Pimlico's owner ensuring the Preakness Stakes will remain in Maryland forever.

Pimlico is about to get new owners in MI Developments (a Frank Stronach controlled entity and a successor to Magna) and Penn National Gaming, Inc.  As a condition of the state's waiver of its refusal rights, the state and MI Developments entered into an agreement known as the Preakness Covenant that the Preakness Stakes could never be moved from Maryland.  MI Developments agreed that the Preakness Covenant would be binding on its successors, any action in connection with the agreement could only be tried in Maryland courts and subject to Maryland law and that Maryland's remedy would be specific performance of the Covenant, blocking the removal of the race.

While Maryland had the advantage of a looming bankruptcy to goad the legislature into action, and the law required no cash outlay on the state's part, the idea of declaring the Preakness Stakes a state asset could be a useful model to a community determined not to lose a professional sports franchise which threatens to relocate.   The costs to the state and municipality may be greater than would be apparent in a condemnation proceeding for Pimlico or just the Preakness might have been but, remember Maryland never actually had to condemn anything.  It was the presence of the condemnation threat and the first refusal right which brought the new owner to the table and made the Preakness Covenant possible.  Imagine what might have happened in Seattle had such laws been in place when Clay Bennett showed up to take the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

In case you missed it, here's is today's Preakness victory by Lookin' At Lucky:

Watch this video on VideoSurf or see more 2010 Videos or Horse Racing Videos

A Small Gift for the Duke Haters

 The NCAA recognizes schools each year for their exceptional work in the classroom as part of the its academic performance program. The Public Recognition Award is  given to each school that performs in the top ten percent in each sport on the APR. A total of 841 teams are being recognized this year.  

So, what is the little present for the Duke haters?  Three out of four schools in this past year's Final Four received the award; the one who didn't is, of course, the one who touts its academic achievements at every turn - your reigning National Champion basketball team the Duke Blue Devils. Oh, and one more thing, the ACC finished behind the, ahem, Big East in total number of teams being recognized as the Big East finished third among all conferences behind the Ivy Group and the Patriot League.

Thursday Tidbits

I don't usually do two linkfests in one week, but I have a number of stories that are worth reading or just shaking your head at, and wanted to get them out there:

As NBA ownership officially goes internationally, a look at why Bruce Ratner failed so miserably as the owner of the Newark/Brooklyn Nets (WSJ)

Who is going to win, and profit from, the World Cup (FT Alphaville via Abnormal Returns)

The details on Anheuser-Busch's big bet on the NFL, which we reported earlier (SBJ)

New York Magazine's cover story on why LeBron should become a Knick; (my take:he should stay with the Cavs provided they go out and find him a team to play with - also a problem with NY) (NY Mag)

Texas high school basketball player arrested for impersonating a high school player - since he was 22 and had used up his eligibility in Florida - school was Permian of Friday Night Lights fame (Dallas News)

Do soccer players and goalies act rationally in playing penalty kicks? (Cognition and Culture)

How stock traders are like callers to sports talk radio (Chris Perruna via Abnormal Returns)

Wilpon family and Mets look to add soccer, Islanders and arena to Flushing  (NYT) 

Super Saver, the Preakness morning line favorite at 5-2, draws post position 8, right next to main rival Luckin' at Lucky, who is at 3-1 and is in post position 7 (Baltimore Sun)

Monday Morning Links

A few links to get your week off to a good start, or at least give you something to read while you drink your coffee and delay opening your office email.

Ex-Trail Blazer Chris Dudley running for Governor of Oregon is one of a number of former athletes competing in Republican primaries around the country (AP)

Reflecting the difficulty of athlete endorsers, Nutrisystems drops Lawrence Taylor in wake of rape charges (Darren Rovell)

Intereesting look at Todd Pletcher's coast to coast racing operation and the importance of good assistant trainers, which he was once one for D. Wayne Lukas (C-J)

Sports and pseudo-sports (WWE) drive cable viewing to top four in Mediaweek Cable Hot List 2010, as TBS takes #1, followed by USA, ESPN and TNT (Mediaweek)

The final list of early entrants to the NBA draft - read 'em and weep (CBS)

Virginia seeded number one in men's NCAA lacrosse tournament;  five-time defending champion Northwestern seeded second behind Maryland in the women's tournament; grief stricken UVa seeded sixth  (LaxPower, LaxPower)

MLS Comes to Montreal as Expected

MLS is considering a second team in New York as a twentieth club.  Discussions had been held with the Wilpon family, who own the Mets.  Those discussions were put on hold ostensibly due to the family's need to focus on the opening of CitiField, but also, perhaps to assess the impact on the family and its business of their investments with Bernie Madoff.  MLS is likely to try and resume those discussions shortly. St. Louis, Atlanta and Miami have also expressed interest in a club.

Anheuser-Busch and NFL in $1Billion Deal to Replace Coors

When Anheuser-Busch was bought by Brazilian-Belgian giant Inbev last year, there was great concern that Anheuser-Busch's sports advertising and promotion might be in jeopardy as the two companies had had a different philosophy towards advertising and promotion.  At the time of the merger, the two companies had made public assurances that nothing would change, but companies do that routinely at merger time, whether they really mean it is another question.  It's sort of like a coach who tells you that he loves his current job, the city great, the fans are wonderful and he would never consider another job and wham, he becomes Nick Saban and you wake up two days later and he has a new job.


Well, it appears that this time, the companies were telling the truth.  Anheuser-Busch and the NFL are preparing to announce a $1billion (yes, with a "B") deal for Bud Light to replace Coors Light as the official beer sponsor of the NFL.  It will be a six year deal beginning in 2011.  Even though Coors Light has had official sponsorship since 2002, Budweiser has held official sponsorship of the Super Bowl for the last 22 years.  Prior to 2002, Budweiser shared sponsorship of the league with Miller, but that changed in 2002 when sponsorship became an exclusive and Miller won the original exclusive bidding.

Yardbarker Survey for $100

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Bo-Rail Gave Super Saver a Super Ride to the Roses

The track was slop but it wasn't uniformly so and only someone intimately familiar with the way Churchill Downs drains would know the channels to the finish line that held firmer ground.  The race is a cavalry charge at the beginning and one key to winning is to avoid getting too banged up or boxed during the early going (sorry Luckin At Lucky and Stately Victor) to be unable to recover.  The early pace was a killer and anyone who went out with Conveyance and Sidney's Candy was cooked after the first half just as they were.


So, how was I so wrong in leaving Super Saver out?  I stupidly discounted the Calvin Borel factor.  Super Saver had shown nothing leading up to the Derby to indicate that he could win this race.  He had only won one race.  His sire, the late Maria's Mon, had given us a Derby winner, Monarchos, and there was distance and class all over his pedigree.  Again, why did I miss him - it was those prior performances, that measly single win.

So, ok, I blew it and forgot about Calvin.  If ever there was a jockey for a course, it's Calvin and Churchill Downs.  It's his home track and he performs at his absolute peak here.  Three of the last four Derbies is only the beginning.  This horse went off at 9-1 and probably should have been about 25-1, a testament to the fans faith in Calvin.  He rode this race about as nearly perfectly as a rider can, saving ground along the rail where the trip is shorter and he knew the ground was firmer, until he saw a bit of daylight heading into the stretch and headed out just a bit to find a way through to the lead.  It was then back to the rail and on to the finish with nothing in front of him but roses.  Calvin, I promise never to overlook you again.

In case you missed the race, here's a replay:

Mazel Tov to Goldberg

Famed WWE wrestler and former Georgia Bulldog football star Bill Goldberg headlines a class of seven inductees into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.  Also, headlining this year's inductees are Virginia Tech head basketball coach Seth Greenberg and US National Swim Team, and Beijing Olympic star Jason Lezak, he of the touch-up win in the thrilling 4x100 meter relay that kept Michael Phelps medal march intact.  In addition, the class consisted of female judo champion Rusty Kanokogi; Penn State women’s volleyball coach Russ Rose; Achilles Track Club founder Dick Traum; and former NFL offensive lineman Alan Veingrad.

Goldberg of course is an athlete and personality all his own and is rumored to be mulling a comeback to professional wrestling.  He would not address that preferring to focus on Celebrity Apprentice.  All by himself, he manages to destroy the stereotype of the shy, bookish and retiring Jewish weakling schoolboy, and an entire generation of Jewish youth will forever look up to him for that.

Derby Picks

UPDATE: 9:45AM   When I posted the picks last night I said that I might be back to supplement them as I gave further thought to the race and got a better feel for the weather and track conditions.  It has been raining hard since about 5:00am and the prediction is for at least another couple of hours before a let-up.  It is also expected to return later this afternoon, all of which promises an off track at best and sloppy one at worse. 

With that in mind, I still think Stately Victor has a great chance to win this thing.  However, I also would like to add  the filly, Devil May Care and Awesome Act (I keep calling this horse Awesome Age because there is a decent bourbon called Ancient Age)  to the mix.   The filly  has the pedigree to not only get the distance buy handle the off track.  She won the Bonnie Miss faster than the boys ran the Florida Derby an hour later.  She's in this race because Pletcher saw a softer spot than the Oaks.

Awesome Act ran well in Europe and his third in the Wood behind Eskendereya came despite losing a shoe.  His pedigree shows both distance and off track.  His sire won the Breeders Cup at Churchill Downs and loved the track. 

So, there you have it - I'm only adding these two to the mix.  I'm not backing out of the other ones.  With a twenty horse field you can add several permutations of five horses in mix and match exactas and straight bets. How I end up using these horses may depend on the condition of the track closer to post time.


I'm sitting here in front of the TV watching the fillies parade to the gate for the start of the Kentucky Oaks on a day without a cloud in the sky and before an Oaks Day record of in excess of 116,000.  It's hard for me to imagine how bad the track is likely to look tomorrow but with the forecast calling for severe thunderstorms all day, it's prudent to factor off-track performance into your handicapping if you can.  Unfortunately, this crop of three year olds doesn't have a great deal of off-track experience for us to call on.

As I mentioned this morning, the two likely favorites drew the two worst post positions, the pole and the far outside.  It will be worse for Sidney's Candy, a notable frontrunner, than Luckin At Lucky, who can be rated if he doesn't get boxed as he did in the Santa Anita Derby.  That said, trip is everything in the cattle call that is the twenty horse start of the Derby.  I still think either or both of these horses should be there coming down the home stretch, but there are two relative longshots that have a real opportunity here.  One, the unknown winner of the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland, Stately Victor, is rumored to be an excellent performer on a off track.  I say rumored to be as he is the only horse not to workout at Churchill Downs.  All of his workouts were at the Downs owned training facility Trackside, which is also a marvelously downscale OTB facility.  Stately Victor is owned by the Attorney General of Kentucky who is running for the US Senate and is named for his deceased best friend.  It will be a true Kentucky moment for a state constitutional officer to receive the Derby trophy from another (the Governor). 

The other relative long-shot is Ice Box.  His odds won't be nearly as long as Stately Victor, more in the 10-1 or 15-1 range, but the Florida Derby winner is getting no pre-race attention.  He has won all of his races at distances longer than a mile and should have no trouble with the Derby distance.  His late running style should keep him out of trouble as the pack slips and slides through the backstretch. The track footing may be an issue for him as he is a famously late closer but should he not have any trouble with his footing look for a late surge around horses and down the stretch.  

So, there you have it.  My four horse exacta box.  I may add to it tomorrow but as of now, that's what it looks like:  1-2-6-20.

Non-Derby Links for An Early Derby Morning

Here's what I've been occupying myself with while I get ready for my assault on the Churchill Downs pari-mutuel pools:


On the marriage between television and sports (Abnormal Returns)

Do the Giants want to buy the Warriors? (SF Chronicle)

Ted Leonsis reaches deal to buy remaining interest in Wizards, so will own Capitals, Wizards and Verizon Center (WaPo)

Promotion to Premier League worth 90 million pounds per year to promoted clubs (Sports Business)

Kobe again top selling player jersey and Lakers top selling team (Business of Sports)