Knowing Your Market – Selling Tickets

A key to any sports organization successfully marketing and selling ticket understands their audience – knowing their demographics of their audience. The WNBA is in the midst of celebrating the league’s 10th anniversary. A key element of the WNBA’s ticket selling efforts has always been reaching the lesbian community.

The Nashville Sounds, the Triple-A affiliate for the Milwaukee Brewers successfully began a series of Faith Night promotions several years ago, bringing religion to the ballpark. This year several other minor league baseball teams joined the Sounds in faith based events as did the Atlanta Braves. The Arizona Diamondbacks will hold their first faith based promotion later this month.

Mixing gender and religious based promotions can be lucrative but at the same time it’s tricky to successfully pull off.

The Braves held their first faith day on July 27 which was organized by Nashville-based Third Coast Sports (the group behind the series of Sounds promotions). But days after the Braves held their first event they called the organizers formally requesting a change in the two remaining events.

“We have asked Third Coast Sports to not include Focus on the Family in our other two Faith Day events,” Beth Marshall, Braves spokesperson, said Aug. 1. “We do not feel it is an appropriate connection for Focus on the Family to be part of this event.”

Marshall made it clear to The Southern Voice what the Braves rationale was for offering faith based promotions -- “We were approached by Third Coast about the event and with over 5,000 churches within 75 miles of Turner Field, it made good business sense,” she said.

And how does Focus on the Family feel about being kicked to the curb by the Braves? They’re not talking. When asked, the group’s spokesperson Christina Loznicka acknowledged the Braves had indeed had asked them to “leave” and any further comments would come from the Braves – and they aren’t talking.

Third Coast promotes themselves on their website with the mission statement “Third Coast Sports has established itself as the foremost authority in church marketing and event planning for sports teams.”

According to Third Coast, their Faith Nights marry a Christian concert with a professional sporting event. At each event one of the home team's players gives his personal testimony of how God has worked in his life. Sponsors partner with Third Coast to give away items to the first 2,000 fans on certain nights. Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato from the hit animated series VeggieTales appear in each city thanks to Big Idea, Inc.

The Hagerstown Suns, the Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, recently held a Faith Night and included a member of the Suns delivering his message to fans attending that night’s faith night.

"God has given me the ability to throw a baseball," Brandon Nall, 24, a second-year pro from Dothan, Ala., says to the circle of spectators that has stopped to listen. "I don't take that for granted. I am who I am because God has a purpose for me. I'm going to glorify him by giving my all."

One concern with a promotion that includes an appearance with a Christian rock group is it might be offending other religions and religious beliefs. If the Suns faith night is any example of how the events are organized, that isn’t an issue. Representatives of the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Baha'i faiths all threw out ceremonial first pitches as part of the evening’s events.

Brent High, the person behind Third Coast Sports holds his first event with a Major League Soccer franchise tonight at the D.C. United’s game at RFK Stadium. High told The South Florida Sun Sentinel his company is close to deals to stage events with teams from the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

"It constantly amazes us how this grows," says High, president of Third Coast Sports in Nashville, Tenn. "We think we're on just the tip of the iceberg."

Celebrating their 10th anniversary, the WNBA has become a mainstay for women’s sports. The WNBA is the eighth American professional basketball league to surface in the last 25 years – the first to succeed. The WUSA has come and gone as have several women’s professional fastball, softball and baseball leagues.

One of the biggest reasons the WNBA is still alive is the league’s focused marketing efforts to reach the lesbian community. The league’s efforts to reach the lesbian community captured a great deal of attention in 2001. Interestingly the WNBA had never made their marketing campaigns focused on the lesbian community a secret, it just wasn’t an issue the media was interested in reporting on.

''Lesbians have been the WNBA fan base since (the league started in) 1997,'' Los Angeles Monarchs season ticketholder Kat Fox, a spokeswoman for the Davis Dykes and the national distributor for Fleer's WNBA trading cards told the USA Today. ''We're saying our money is the same as the traditional family money. It's not that we need to be acknowledged. But (WNBA teams) need the money and their marketing efforts are brilliant if they target the lesbians.''

The Seattle Storm are arguably more successful then the NBA’s Sonics in Seattle and understand how important lesbians are to their ability to sell tickets.

Women who are in a committed relationship feel more accepted at WNBA events as this couple told The Seattle Times.

"I'm not a highly social person, but this is something where you see people and you say, 'Oh, hey, let's get together' and we start instant-messaging and e-mailing," says Gretchen Fudala 37, who works at Microsoft.

"I'm completely out but sometimes I'm guarded," says Andrea Jessee of Redmond. "If our boys refer to us as Momma and Mommy, as soon as they address both of us, there are moments when I look around and say, 'OK, what kind of people are around me?' "

Bottom line – as other Storm ticket holders made it clear in the Seattle Times report – they’re happy to have found a social setting where they feel accepted.

"I've heard someone call it 'the fruit loop,' " says Jill Gagliardo, 40, a physical therapist and Storm season ticket holder, laughing. The games are must-do happenings for her group of friends who all happen to sit in the same row, in Section 108 together — except for her. So half-time means heading to the Pyramid Ale beer garden to meet up.

"It's great to see a lot of us. It's a social event," she says.

"For me, it's supporting women athletes. But it doesn't hurt that our friends are there," says Tamara Murphy, chef/owner of Brasa. After the games, her downtown restaurant typically hosts friend Gagliardo and some other women for a post-game soiree; once a month it's pre-game Girl Thursday.

"We've just never had the time to hang out, and that's what the games have become," Kelly Hudson of Everett, who attends the games with partner Denise Keegan, explains. "There's something exceptional about going to the Storm games. I can high-five with the man and woman who sit in front of me, and you don't get the sense that they're looking at you any differently."

As open as 2006 may be for the fans of the Seattle Storm, the USA Today’s Tom Weir almost found a hostile attitude towards the WNBA marketing efforts towards the lesbian community in his 2001 USA Today report.

''The WNBA is a business, so like all businesses they face a dilemma at this point in history, which is how can they reach out and profit from gay people without alienating homophobic, straight people?'' says Mariah Burton Nelson, author of The Stronger Women Get, the More Men Love Football.

''The WNBA has not done very well on this so far, in my opinion,'' Nelson says. ''In fact, they have bent over backwards to portray a family environment and family atmosphere, and family is always a code word for straight.''

As challenging as marketing to the gay community has been the new era of religious based events can be filled with even more pitfalls. Just ask the Atlanta Braves, after agreeing to host three events, dramatically changed their faith based events after their first event on July 27.

Focus on the Family, the group tossed from the Braves subsequent event(s) are considered right wing and anti-gay. It goes without saying Focus on the Family, won’t be a part of any future WNBA promotions.

For the Sounds – their decision to run faith based promotions remains in their belief that it’s proven to be a positive experience for their organization and it is helping drive the teams’ bottom line.

"We've always had some form of a targeted marketing plan towards churches," says Glenn Yeager, general manager of the Sounds. "At the beginning, you would put on your schedule Catholic night or Presbyterian night and just give churches of that denomination a reason to come to the ballpark together in hopes of selling large blocks of tickets. When it changed for us is one of our season ticket holders was also involved in the Christian music industry."

The bottom line is at the end of the day that’s what drives any sports promotional event is in drawing and audience and selling tickets. You want to sell tickets, but at the same time you don’t want to offend anyone.

If the Atlanta Braves are interested in hosting a series of faith nights that’s good. However if one of the groups associated with that night has been labeled as anti-gay, the Braves risk serious damage if the gay community decides to boycott Braves games and by extension people who know members of the gay community, or a simply bothered by a focus group whose beliefs they don’t agree with. Family values are one issue being anti-gay is another.

As homophobic as the sports world is, why risk turning anyone off? Knowing and understanding your market – a key to a successful season for any professional sports franchise.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Southern Voice, the Seattle Times and the USA Today

The Billionaire Boys Club or what might be the worst deal in sports history!!

The time is now, and this is the issue. Corporate welfare for professional sports franchises. Its time someone finally told members of the Billionaire Boys Club – “I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!”

In this case, the recent agreement the City of Sacramento reached with the Maloof brothers the billionaire owners of the Sacramento Kings is a hallmark arena building deal – one of the worst in a very long time.

The Maloof’s have agreed to pay 26 percent of the proposed Sacramento Kings arena’s $542 million cost. Taxpayers will decide in November if they’re prepared to accept a quarter-cent sales tax that will last for 15 years to offset the $470 million taxpayers they’re being asked to invest in the future of the NBA in their city. The proposal has enflamed many Sacramento residents – wondering why two charter members of the Billionaire Boys Club are going to taxpayers with their hands open demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars.

"I think the game is rigged," Dave Jones a former Sacramento city councilman now serving in the state Assembly, told The Sacramento Bee earlier this week. "The NBA is a monopoly. They purposefully limit the number of franchises. By reducing supply, they drive up their profits. And they pit local governments against each other to fund sports arenas.

"When the market is rigged like that, there is no point in playing. Sports is supposed to be fair, it's supposed to be about letting the best person or the best team win based on a fair competition. This isn't fair. It's a rigged game. And I think you walk off the court when the game is rigged like that."

The deal the Maloofs reached includes an immediate $20 million payment for a capital repair fund and another $4 million a year over the term of the team's 30-year lease. The Maloofs also agreed to pay the city the $71 million remaining on an outstanding loan they inherited when they bought the franchise in 1998. The outstanding loan repayment isn’t part (nor should it be considered) of the Maloofs investment in the new arena.

"The Maloofs can say what they want, but this is not a terrific deal," said Andrew Zimbalist a sport economist and a professor at Massachusetts’ Smith College, who has been critical of public subsidies for sports.

"It's worse than an average deal. The typical financing package these days in the NBA is somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 percent public, 30 percent private."

Joe and Gavin Maloof collectively are worth billions of dollars. In July of 2000, the Maloof family sold the operating interest in the Fiesta Hotel Casino for over $185 million. The family immediately re-invested the money into the construction of the Palms, a $285 million hotel casino just off the Las Vegas strip with a 42-story tower and 447 guestrooms. The Palms, which opened for business on November 15, 2001, features outstanding customer service, unique architecture, and award winning restaurants, entertainment, nightlife, and amenities. In just four years of operation, the Palms has become the hottest property in Las Vegas with thousands of visitors daily. The Palms is currently undergoing an expansion that will include additional rooms and amenities for use later this year.

In addition to their gaming business, the Maloof’s have exclusive proprietorship rights to the distribution of Coors, Miller, Corona, Heineken, Tecate, InBev, Boston Beer, and Guinness products throughout New Mexico. The Maloof Companies also is one of the largest single shareholders in Wells Fargo Bank, which operates banks and branches in 23 states throughout the Western United States with over $200 billion in assets and 15 million customers.

The Maloofs are in the process of expanding their business in the entertainment industry with the development of Maloof Productions and Maloof Music. Maloof Productions is committed to developing and producing quality television and motion picture entertainment. The Maloof Music label debuts as a joint venture with Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records, which is the largest record company in the world under the direction of chairman and legendary music mogul Jimmy Lovine. In fact, Maloof Music is the first joint venture with Interscope/ Geffen/A&M without a previous music industry background such as an artist, writer, or producer.

"We did the best we could," said Dan Barrett, the sports financing consultant hired by the city and county to negotiate with the Maloofs told the Sacramento Bee.

"In smaller markets, the trend has been public financing of these facilities," Barrett added. "I would say this is a deal that is comparable to other markets of similar size. In fact, in our opinion, it's better than three out of four of them."

The Maloofs stand to keep all of the revenue(s) the arena generates. Assuming the Maloofs find a corporate partner willing to pay $2 million to $3 million per year for the buildings naming rights, the $141.7 million the Maloofs are paying towards the arenas costs over the 30-year term of their lease, will be largely paid by a corporate partner.

Sacramento voters will be asked to support a measure at the ballot box on November 7, 2006. What will make the November vote so intriguing – California politicians and voters have never shown an interest in supporting the building of sports facilities.

Two recent examples in Northern California. The San Francisco Giants built AT&T Park largely with private dollars and the proposed San Francisco 49’ers stadium will be built with private dollars as well. In the case of the Giants and the proposed 49’ers stadium, taxpayers paid the infrastructure costs. The proposed $1 billion New York Giants/New York Jets stadium will be built with private dollars with the State of New Jersey offering the land (valued at over $1 billion). The New York Yankees $1 billion stadium will be paid for in most part by George Steinbrenner. The Staples Center the home of the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and the NHL’s Kings was built with private dollars as well. Built in 1992, Chicago’s United Center (the home that Jordan built) was paid for by private – not taxpayer dollars.

Warren Cushman, a member of the coalition People United, a public service group opposed to welfare for billionaires made it clear, he and his group are not pleased.

"Dickinson (Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson), Steinberg (former Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg) and Fong (Vice Mayor Rob Fong) have betrayed the trust of the public by not having a public dialogue on this issue," Cushman said. "They go around cutting deals, in secret meetings. The big three aren't going to be allowed to do it without public fallout."

D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams worked tirelessly to bring Major League Baseball back to the District, succeeding in finally convincing MLB to move the Montreal Expos (at the time owned by MLB) to Washington at the end of the 2004 season. MLB, who paid Jeffrey Loria $120 million for the Expos in 2002, sold the Washington Nationals to Ted Lerner for $450 million in May. The District forever in debt has broken ground on a baseball specific stadium that will cost taxpayers more then $500 million. Williams realized his days as a politician had ended when he spearheaded the District’s MLB rebirth. He will not run for reelection in November’s elections.

It remains to be seen if the same fate befalls Sacramento politicians who supported the measure – political suicide.

"It was a strategic decision," Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, who wisely stepped back from the talks said. "Sometimes it's helpful to change the faces. I think we have a very strong team."

Fong who clearly put her political future on the line with what may be the worst stadium deal California taxpayers have faced in decades, stands by her belief the deal is a great one for Sacramento taxpayers.

"I know that any deal around trying to build a new arena is going to be controversial -- it has been and it will be," Fong said. "But to me, that doesn't mean it isn't the right thing to do. It doesn't mean you don't roll up your sleeves and take it on."

"It's a big problem and a big challenge," Steinberg added in the Sacramento Bee report. "One of the things I've prided myself on is being unafraid to get involved to help solve big issues."

Clearly few if any recognized sports business analysts believe the agreement as proposed is one that will benefit Sacramento taxpayers.

"If they're trying to energize development in the railyard, you could actually lose money on the arena and still net money if the larger neighborhood pencils out," said Robert Waste, a professor of public policy at California State University, Sacramento.

"The fair way to evaluate (the deal) is to add up all the known and possible costs and all the known and possible benefits and evaluate how we feel about spending public money on those things," he said.

Dave Jones, the state assemblyman who for years supported a taxpayer built arena for the Kings, has clearly changed his tune, adamant the deal that’s been worked out will be a disaster for local residents.

"There are a lot of seniors and ordinary Sacramentans who are going to be hit by this who are struggling to make ends meet now and are going to be asked to pay for something that they will never be able to afford to go to," Jones says.

The deal is so one sided – all cost overruns will be paid for by taxpayers – adding insult to what is one the worst arena deals in recent memory.

The Maloofs are part of a new breed of NBA owners – the billionaire boys club. Along with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, the Maloofs like to be seen and heard as Kings. While not as vocal or visible as Cuban, the Maloofs who did a guest appearance on the NBC series “Vegas” love the limelight.

What happens if Sacremento voters make the right decision and suggest in no uncertain terms – the Maloofs can take their bid for corporate welfare and pay for the arena with the billions they’re making from their Las Vegas properties? The Maloofs have suggested they’ll move their team to Las Vegas if they don’t get what they want from Sacramento taxpayers.

As recently as November the Detroit News reported the Maloofs were looking at moving their team to Las Vegas. The report was in part based on a belief the NBA might be ready to allow a team to relocate to Las Vegas after awarding the 2007 NBA All-Star Game to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has long desired a major league sports franchise for Sin City. Goodman approached the Florida Marlins about moving to Las Vegas, an idea that for the least has been torpedoed by MLB commissioner Bud Selig. Goodman isn’t interested in an NHL franchise moving to Las Vegas.

One important condition to any major league sports franchise setting up shop in Las Vegas would likely include that Vegas sports books agreeing to not only end betting on that teams games, but likely for that sport. Given that betting on National Football League games accounts for more then 50 percent of all money bet on sports, there will never be an NFL franchise in Las Vegas. Goodman may be prepared to build an arena for the Maloofs, but it isn’t likely as long as David Stern is running the NBA they’ll be a franchise allowed to move to Vegas.

Other markets interested in an NBA franchise include Anaheim and Kansas City. However there are a finite number of cities (maybe a few more) capable of being home to an NBA team. Portland and Orlando may both be looking for new cities sooner rather then later, with Seattle likely moving to Oklahoma City in two years time. The Maloofs are playing a classic game of chicken with the people who support their team – Sacramento taxpayers. One has to question if putting a gun to the heads of taxpayers makes any sense given how limited the Maloofs options are.

The proposed arena deal is remarkable in every detail. It reeks of arrogance and an attitude that should no longer exist in communities wanting interest in being home to a professional sports franchise. While the Maloofs could pay for the stadium by themselves that wouldn’t be fair either. What should be considered is a true partnership, a public/private partnership. An agreement where the costs are shared on an equal basis. The deal as proposed with taxpayers paying 74 percent of the upfront costs, all cost overruns and through an increase in a sales tax isn’t only one of the worst public/private deals ever – it’s an insult to common decency.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The Sacramento Bee

Decision 2006 – Roger Goodell a week later

Has it really been a little over a week Roger Goodell blew out the candles on the biggest day of his professional career? Goodell is living the dream; having reached what he realizes is his dream job – National Football League commissioner. Well, Roger its time to get down to the job, and at the very least SBN is pleased to offer Commissioner Goodell a laundry list of challenges that lie ahead for the NFL’s eighth commissioner.

Returning the National Football League to Los Angeles

Has it really been 11 years since Los Angeles was home to an NFL franchise? Al Davis moved the Raiders back to Oakland and Georgia Frontiere moved the Rams to St. Louis. Both franchises left the nation’s second biggest market after the 1994 season. The challenge the NFL faces hasn’t changed since the second biggest television market was left without a football franchise – a stadium without the amenities an NFL franchise needs on the eve of the 2006 season. The Rose Bowl (the home of the UCLA Bruins) and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (home of the USC Trojans) both seat in excess of 90,000 more then enough for an NFL team back lack any suites and club seats – a key component of every NFL teams revenue streams.

In one of his last “missions” as commissioner, Tagliabue led an NFL delegation to Los Angeles in May in hopes of assuring the NFL would return to Los Angeles. The Rose Bowl had shown interest; the NFL is offering the City of Los Angeles $137.2 million to improve the Coliseum and Anaheim remains interested in trying to figure out how they can fit into the NFL plans. The real question that has yet to be answered – will any of the proposed stadiums offer the NFL what it needs, a stadium capable of being home to an NFL franchise?

There is little if any political support for taxpayer dollars to be used for a stadium.

"It's clear to me that the NFL and their supporters are still looking for the county and the city to use … public tax dollars to help finance this deal," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky told The Los Angeles Times. "Such an arrangement would be fiscally irresponsible and contrary to the promises that have been publicly made by most public officials involved in this project."

"This is not a children's hospital we're building here," he said. "This is not a high school or university. This is a for-profit business. They ought to pay taxes.

"If everybody did this," he said, "we'd have no taxes."

"We can't forget our basic obligations to our constituents," Councilman Ed Reyes said. "We could be forgoing opportunities to keep millions of dollars in the city and in the neighborhood."

What remains even more important to the NFL’s future in Los Angeles – will Southern Californian’s support an NFL franchise? Both the Trojans and the Bruins have strong followings in the market. As big as the population base is, lets remember less then 30,000 people attended the Rams last game in Anaheim.

There are several potential franchises that will try and leverage Los Angeles as a potential relocation city. San Diego (next challenge for Roger), Minnesota and New Orleans are all looking for new stadiums that will be built with taxpayer dollars. There are those who have suggested many occasions Southern Californian’s are less concerned about an NFL franchise and will end the 11 plus seasons of great football choices for residents of Los Angeles. Without an NFL franchise, networks can showcase their best games on a weekly basis, attracting strong television numbers.

A very old stadium down San Diego way

The National Football League has made it clear – San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium can no longer be home to an NFL franchise.

“I'm surprised that we are here this week,” Tagliabue said two days before Super Bowl XXXVII was played at Qualcomm Stadium in 2003. “If it weren't for Alex (Spanos) ... I don't think that San Diego would have been on the top of the list of most owners who were considering Super Bowl sites.”

As is the case with Los Angeles politicians, you’re committing political suicide in California if you attempt to push through a taxpayer supported plan to build a stadium for a National Football League team. Making it that much more difficult for Roger – the not so satisfying legacy Paul Tagliabue left behind.

“My sense is that Roger's style will be dramatically different than Mr. Tagliabue's,” said George Mitrovich, president of the City Club of San Diego. “Roger Goodell has a clear understanding of the importance of good public relations as it relates to people in cities. I can't imagine him saying what Tagliabue said when he was here.”

“Roger is clearly a smart guy, a realist,” Mitrovich said. “Most people give him credit for the (NFL's) television package. So he has the competence and the skill to get a great many things done, but because he's just a different person (than Tagliabue) – an engaging, likable person – it makes things easier. ...

“People remember how (Tagliabue) dissed our city at a very bad time. Those are the kind of things that if you think them, you shouldn't say them. This is a very insecure place. You say something like that and it goes down a lot worse here than it would in other places. In New York or Chicago or San Francisco, who cares? But here, it shakes us down to our toes.”

The Chargers can pay a $6 million penalty to the City of San Diego after the 2008 NFL season and move the franchise. The organization will be allowed to negotiate with cities interested in giving them the keys to a yet-to-be-built stadium as soon as January 1, 2007. Mark Fabiani hired by the Chargers to negotiate a stadium building agreement on the teams behalf has said all the rights things in the short term – the team wants to stay where they are, as long as they get what they’re looking for, a new stadium.

San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders made it clear three months ago. San Diego facing a $1.4 billion pension deficit, didn't have the money to help the Chargers replace aging Qualcomm Stadium in Mission Valley. The city has suggested the Chargers focus their stadium search in San Diego County, but not in the city of San Diego. The clock will reach midnight soon enough. No one really believes the Chargers are going to find a stadium solution anywhere in San Diego County.

What will team president Dean Spanos next move be? Likely out of San Diego, with Los Angeles being his first choice for the Chargers relocation. Before anyone gets too far ahead of themselves, Los Angeles still needs a stadium and Spanos has made it clear he isn’t interested in paying for a stadium – making Los Angeles an unlikely destination. And the other 31 NFL owners elected Goodell as their commissioner; they have big expectations Goodell is going to deliver significant new revenues. Spanos may want to move his Chargers to Lotus Land; however wouldn’t it make more sense the league expand to Los Angeles. The last NFL expansion franchise – Bob McNair paid the NFL $700 million for the Houston Texans. Given that Al Lerner paid $540 million for the Cleveland Browns it is not unreasonable to expect the next NFL expansion franchise fee to top $1 billion. Each NFL team stands to gain close to $35 million if the NFL expands to Los Angeles and $0 if Spanos is allowed to move his team – good luck in figuring this out Mr. Goodell.

Small may indeed be big in the National Football League

Goodell was elected unanimously on the fifth and final ballot. In reality he had 23 votes (22 was the magic number) after the fourth ballot. A minority group of owners never supported Goodell, the so-called small market franchises. These owners were upset with the NFL’s new collective bargaining agreement, believing the revenue sharing component worked against smaller market NFL franchises.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver suggested after Goodell was elected he supported Goodell but still sent a strong message to the NFL’s new boss.

"There is a consensus that our business model has to change, and the union has to participate in some way in having an agreement that works for the players and all 32 clubs,'' Weaver told the Florida Union Times.

Weaver and other so-called small market owners concerns are focused on the 59.5 percent of total NFL revenues which the players are guaranteed.

"I think, clearly, in the immediate future, we've got to let the union understand there's risk-reward in these new businesses," Weaver said. "If we're going to continue to grow the revenues of the NFL, there's a cost to that, and the union has to share in that cost.''

“There's some defects in our CBA that cause us internal problems, and we have to work very hard to get the players association to understand what the problems are and get them to work with us,” Houston Texans owner Bob McNair says.

The small market franchises believe ownership is taking all the risk, by guaranteeing the players almost 60 percent of league revenues. If the owners had taken the time to consider increasing their television rights fees you would honestly have to question if the owners are just being selfish. In less then ten years, NFL television rights increased to $1.1 billion for the 1997 season. The current agreement that runs through the 2011 seasons guarantees the NFL $3.4 billion a year, more then $100 million per team, per year. NFL team owners can pretty much be guaranteed they’ll be able to pay most of their bills before they sell their first ticket. NFL teams share 83 percent of their revenues. Maybe the message Commissioner Goodell should be delivering to the small market owners – you might be best advised to keep your feelings quiet and not wake-up the big market teams.

Nonetheless, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, one of the leagues more respected and influential owners has made it clear in the last week, the NFLPA would be well advised to understand who is buttering their toast.

“[Players Association executive director Gene ] Upshaw did a good job for his members, but he overreached," said Kraft. ``If it's not good for both sides, in the end it won't work. By November 2008, we have to decide."

Goodell for his part seems focused on the status quo when it comes to revenue sharing and the current CBA.

“I think they certainly have differences of opinions on certain things, but they always do what's in the best interests of the game,” Goodell said of the league's 32 owners. “I think they will continue to do that.”

“I think that this process required you to tell the ownership how you saw the future, what you thought the National Football League should be doing to prepare for that future,” Goodell said.

Roger it would appear likes the Big Easy

It’s good that Roger Goodell has made seven trips to the Big Easy since the devastation Hurricane Katrina left behind. The Saints are heading back to New Orleans. There remains no shortage of issues that Goodell is going to have to deal with. The good news – Goodell appears to have a great deal of support from business leaders in the Big Easy starting with Saints owner Tom Benson.

"I have watched him grow in the league, and his work ethic and knowledge of our business has led him to where he is today," Benson said. "With regards to our relationship, he and I have a long-standing and good working relationship with regards to the Saints in New Orleans, and I would expect and think that would continue."

According to Benson, Goodell played the key role in finding $20 million in government grants to help offset the estimated $185 million it will cost to fix the damage left behind for Hurricane Katrina.

"I think the NFL made a great selection," Doug Thornton, regional vice president of SMG, the company that runs the Superdome for the state told The New Orleans Times Picayune. "Roger has a full grasp on what we're doing with the Superdome and has been instrumental in helping us put the Dome back together."

"I am very pleased. We've got a great relationship with him. I don't see that changing. I think he'll continue to be supportive."

"Roger has been sort of my go-to guy on the NFL staff in New York," Thornton said. "He is very intellectual. He seems to have a great feel for the business and is a person who, like Paul Tagliabue, has the ability to grasp issues very quickly."

But Tagliabue and Goodell have their differences, Thornton said.

"I would characterize Paul Tagliabue's style as very presidential, almost like a head of state," Thornton said. "I would characterize Roger's style as being more a business approach. He has a very good understanding of the issues that are important to the league. You have to be sensitive to the political side, you have to be sensitive to the NFL Players Association and you have to be sensitive to the economics, plus you have to keep 32 owners happy. That's always a big challenge.

"Everybody has his own unique style. But I think Roger represents the new face of the NFL."

"I think Roger's selection is a tremendous one both for the NFL and for the city of New Orleans," New Orleans Councilman at-large Arnie Fielkow said. "He's a tremendous leader who is very intelligent, very compassionate and he understands the challenges that New Orleans faced before Katrina and will face in the future. He has always been a great friend of the Saints and of our city.

"Commissioner Tagliabue has been fantastic in every way. His successor brings those same qualities to the table in terms of wanting to be of help to New Orleans in its rebuilding efforts."

Those platitudes aside, Benson and Thornton didn’t address the biggest issue Benson has with the Saints. Before Hurricane Katrina almost wiped New Orleans off the face of the earth, Tom Benson had made it clear in no uncertain terms he no longer believed the Superdome could offer the Saints the revenues they needed to remain competitive. After taxpayer dollars will have paid $185 million to repair the Superdome and with billions needed to bring the Big Easy back from near death its unreasonable to expect any political support to build a new stadium, it just doesn’t make sense. For all the good the NFL is trying to do in returning the Saints to the Big Easy it all indeed may be for nothing. The challenges Goodell faces in New Orleans are daunting.

New media, globalization and performance-enhancing drugs

Clearly the four immediate challenges Goodell is facing are labor peace, what to do with the Los Angeles market, the San Diego Chargers and the long-term future of the New Orleans Saints. As important as those issues are to Goodell, he can’t ignore a trio of additional issues:

New media: The sports industry leaders in working with the Internet remain Major League Baseball. MLB is making money at streaming their games over the Internet. NFL TV contracts are all national, the blackout ruels would make streaming NFL games challenging. But it’s a major opportunity waiting to be taken advantage of and could prove to be a very lucrative new source of revenue for the league.

Globalization: The sports industry leaders in working to take their sport and league globally is the National Basketball Association. Stern has backed away from suggestions he believed a European division was in the NBA’s future. The United States men’s national team preparing for the upcoming World Championships in Japan stopped in China for a series of games. Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League talk about going global but have no real plans in place.

The NFL played a regular season game in Mexico City last year and will in the not too distant future play a regular season game in Toronto. NFL Europe has never proven to be a moneymaker for the league, but sooner rather then later the NFL will play a regular season game in England, but does it really make sense?

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The New Orleans Times Picayune, The Los Angeles Times, The San Diego Times Union and the Florida Times Union

Finally sports writers are treated with respect

Freedom of the press (or press freedom) is the guarantee by a government of free public press for its citizens and their associations, extended to members of news gathering organizations, and their published reporting. It also extends to news gathering, and processes involved in obtaining information for public distribution. In the U.S. this right is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Not all countries are protected by a bill of rights or the constitution pertaining to Freedom of the Press. Australians have nothing in their constitution nor a bill or rights that suggests anything to do with Freedom of the Press.

Today, the very foundation of the American Constitution has reached out and touched – the Fourth Estate’s version of a ‘toy box’ the sports industry. And when all is said and done, the legal system treated sports reporters as they would any other writer.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White Tuesday ruled that two San Francisco Chronicle reporters must disclose (name their sources) as to who offered, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams sealed grand jury testimony from Barry Bonds and other athletes from their testimony in the Justice Department’s case against BALCO. Many media reports have suggested BALCO founder Victor Conte (the subject of the Grand Jury) may have provided the reporters with the transcripts. Both Fainaru-Wada and Williams have refused to say who gave them the information.

Much of Fainaru-Wada and Williams’ New York Times bestselling book “Game of Shadows” was a direct result of the leaked information. The San Francisco Chronicle offered copies of the transcripts in their 2004 BALCO coverage. Before Tuesday’s ruling, Fainaru-Wada and Williams had been steadfast in refusing to reveal their source(s) may be. The Chronicle has been very supportive of their two reporters.

Phil Bronstein, editor of The Chronicle, said after White's ruling that the newspaper would continue to back the reporters in resisting grand jury subpoenas that seek their testimony.

"We will not comply with the government's effort, which we believe is not in the best interests of an informed public,'' Bronstein said. He said the ruling "does not change our complete commitment to Mark and Lance. We support them fully in maintaining the confidentiality of their sources. We will pursue all judicial avenues available to us."

Eve Burton, general counsel of the Hearst Corp., which owns The Chronicle, told the paper the ruling would be appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. She believes that White relied on rulings from that court in concluding that journalists have no right to withhold evidence from a grand jury.

"We are deeply disappointed with the court's decision but note that the court acknowledged the important First Amendment interests at stake,'' Burton said. She was referring to White's discussion of the essential role often played by confidential sources in allowing the press to inform the public about the workings of government.

"Judge White clearly felt constrained by the Court of Appeals' decisions and that is where we are headed next," she said. "We believe we will ultimately prevail and that is clearly what is in the public's best interest."

The original series of articles that focused on the leaked grand jury testimony appeared in 2004 and included not only parts of Barry Bonds testimony, but Jason Giambi, sprinter Tim Montgomery and other athletes.

Phil Bronstein, editor of The Chronicle in a statement Tuesday evening made it clear how important Fainaru-Wada and Williams are to the Chronicle.

"We believe they performed a service by creating public awareness of the use of performance-enhancing drugs by some of the best athletes in the world,'' the editor said. "as a result of their work, significant reforms have been instituted from Major League Baseball to high school sports.''

The paper contended in the argument they presented to Judge White that reporters should not be compelled to testify if the public benefit of their work outweighed the harm caused by the leak.

In his ruling, White said, “a court should not engage in a balancing test that would require it to place greater value on the reporting of certain news stories over others.''

There is as always two sides to most stories, this story being no exception to that belief. This isn’t the first time the courts are attempting to force reporters to reveal who their sources are. It happens often in the newsroom, rarely if ever in the sports department. What’s important is that this case of reporters protecting their sources be treated with the same respect similar cases not dealing with athletes using performance-enhancing drugs are treated.

In June 2005, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from Time magazine's Matthew Cooper and The New York Times' Judith Miller, who have balked at testifying before a grand jury investigating the leak of an undercover CIA agent's identity. Miller stood by her principals and went to jail, Cooper choose to testify. Miller spent 85 days in jail, before revealing her source was Lewis Libby, the vice president's chief of staff.

When Miller finally decided she had spent enough time in jail, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., the Times publisher stood by his reporter -- ''She'd given her pledge of confidentiality,'' said Sulzberger Jr. ''She was prepared to honor that. We were going to support her.''

Whatever Sulzberger Jr. believed that day, shortly after she was released from jail she was no longer employed by The New York Times.

Is jail in the immediate futures of Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams – it has to be? The paper is free to do what Miller and Cooper and the New York Times did in their 2005 case, appeal their case to the highest court in the Land – the Supreme Court.

There is, however, no reason to believe the decision the Judges made on June 27, 2005 in the Miller/Cooper case won’t be the same decision they’ll make again.

Sports reporters want to be treated, demand to be treated with the same respect their brethren in the news department are regarded. Fair enough, then its time to play by the same set of rules. Smarter minds then SBN can offer a legal perspective on Judge White’s ruling. At the end of the day, Judge White treated sports reporters just as the court system treats all reporters – and that is very good.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times

The Case of the Missing Russian Hockey Player

Innocently enough the story began ten days ago. Evgeni Malkin, the second overall selection in the 2004 NHL entry draft fired his agent, Don Meehan of Newport Sports Management. Malkin’s two month courtship with Meehan (one of hockey’s biggest agents) ended. Malkin decided he would again be represented by Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry, who bought IMG's hockey division last month. Brisson and Barry represented Malkin for several years but the Russian phenom left them in June to sign with Newport and Meehan, who also represents fellow Russian Alexander Ovechkin.

In the last ten days Malkin has gone missing, the Russian team he’s contractually obligated to play for, for the 2006-07 season is accusing the Pittsburgh Penguins of 'sports terrorism'. Once again the National Hockey League is capturing attention and once again it’s for all the wrong reasons.

Earlier this month, the Russian Hockey Federation after agreeing to sign a player transfer agreement with the National Hockey League in mid July, decided it wasn’t in their best interest to sign the agreement. The NHL imposed an August 1 deadline for the Russians to sign the agreement, the Russians refused.

Vladislav Tretyak (for the uninitiated Tretyak is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and considered a hockey icon) president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF), said the proposed agreement was not in the best interest of Russian clubs.

“We have been in constant negotiation with the NHL, trying to reach a fair deal, but unfortunately we were unable to fully take into account the interests of Russian clubs,” said Tretyak.

The Russians remain the only national hockey governing body to have not signed a working agreement with the NHL. IIHF president Rene Fasel has made it clear, there remains a very real possibility the Russians could be barred from competing in the 2010 Olympics if they don’t sign the agreement.

“There is a danger that if we do not find an agreement with (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman, Russian players will not be allowed to play in Russia next year,” Fasel told reporters at May’s world championship in Riga.

Under the NHL’s collective bargaining averment, the NHL and NHL Players Association can prevent a player from taking part in a world championship without a transfer agreement in place.

Malkin had a two year contract with Mettalurg of the Russian Super League. Malkin (without the assistance of any agent) renegotiated the contract ten days ago, from a two to a one year contract. At that point it appeared Malkin would play one more year in the Russian Super League and then be free to join the Penguins.

Regardless of whether or not the Russian Hockey Federation reached a transfer agreement with the NHL, Evgeni Malkin was going to pursue his dream of playing in the National Hockey League. That makes perfect sense. Russia is a free and democratic society – holding people against their will ended in the early 1990’s.

Mettalurg are currently training in Finland. Saturday, Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported that Malkin had left the team, taken his passport, possibly obtained a Canadian visa and was reportedly on his way to the United States to sign a contract with the Penguins.

Initially his agent Pat Brisson and then the Penguins claimed they had no knowledge where Malkin was. That left the Malkin’s Russian team an opportunity to do all the talking – getting their message out to the media.

"I think he's in the process of getting an America visa or he's already here," said Slava Malamud, who works with the Moscow-based Sport Express, the largest sports publication in Eastern Europe.

"He could be signed with the Penguins in two weeks," said Malamud, who is based in Washington and just returned from Moscow after writing about Malkin's contract situation with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Gennady Velichkin, the general director of Metallurg Magnitogorsk made it clear to Reuters he was very upset – he’s ready to look for his pound of flesh whether its Malkin’s, his agents, the Penguins and the NHL.

"We've put so much resources, effort and money into Malkin's development as a player," Gennady Velichkin told Reuters. "He was our gold diamond, our prized possession. He had a contract with us. We were building the whole team around him and now he is gone. But don't think we will just sit there and do nothing. We will go to court to get what we believe is just compensation."

Velichkin offered an interesting analogy -- reminding Reuters European based soccer teams pay tens of millions of dollars in transfer fees when a player of Malkin’s ability moves to another team.

While the Russians have been asked to sign the same agreement every other national hockey federation has with the NHL, as far as their concerned (or at least Malkin’s team is) the NHL can’t put a gun to the heads of the Russian Hockey Federation and force the group to sign an NHL player transfer agreement.

As valid as it is for anyone to have the freedom of choice as to where they want to work (and let’s remember professional hockey players are working at their chosen profession), the Russians are right in suggesting the NHL is wrong in trying to circumvent the player transfer process to meet the NHL’s needs.

"They all like to talk about democracy, the American way, and then they shamelessly steal our best players. This is pure sports terrorism," Velichkin said. "Don't forget, Malkin is a young kid. He is still very naive, and it was easy for them to get into his head all that stuff about the American dream and how great the NHL is.

"The Pittsburgh owners are trying hard to sell the club, and the price would be totally different if they had Malkin. But you can't just take our best players and expect to get away with it."

While as the publishing of Wednesday’s SBN DailyDose (midnight) Brisson now admits he knows where his client is, but is refusing to say where he is. All Brisson is saying, the Malkin is “safe”.

Velichkin continued his verbal assault telling Soviet Sport:

"How am I supposed to look for him? What, am I supposed to ask Interpol to look for him? Is it not clear that Evgeni left for America at the invitation of the people overseas? The Americans' arrogance is beyond any bounds. This is the theft of the century. They don't care that Malkin is Russia's national treasure.

"We must sue not only Pittsburgh but the entire National Hockey League and its whole arrogance. The NHL must receive a total condemnation from the entire sporting world. Let's get back to the question of the compensation. ... Money is not most important for us. The most important [aspect] for us is to get a precedent and win the case."

The National Hockey League for its part remained silent, until Bill Daly, the league’s deputy commissioner answered an email sent by The Toronto Star’s Paul Hunter.

"Russian clubs need to understand the consequences of their reluctance to enter into a mutually acceptable framework for player transfers," wrote Daly.

Hunter sent Daly a second email, this time asking the NHL’s second in command to clarify exactly what he meant by “consequences”

"Continually losing players with no compensation."

Daly also spoke with The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, sending an even more ominous message, echoing some of the issues SBN has raised for several months.

"The days of involuntary servitude are behind us," Daly told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We certainly respect the player's ability to make personal choices consistent with his rights and obligations under applicable law. And it certainly doesn't surprise us that he wants to play in the NHL. At the end of the day, players are going to play where they want to play."

In Daly’s final comments it is very clear as far as the National Hockey League is concerned whatever contract Malkin may have signed, isn’t legally binding as far as the NHL is concerned.

As for Velichkin's intention to take the NHL to court over Malkin, Daly wrote that he had "no idea what Magnitogorsk's current intentions are."

"At this point, this is a matter that is strictly between Mr. Malkin and his former team. We certainly support Mr. Malkin's right, however, to make personal decisions affecting his career."

Before this develops into anymore of an embarrassing situation, here a few recommendations all the parties involved should consider:

Evgeni Malkin should be allowed to play in the National Hockey League. However not until the 2007-08 NHL season.

The contract he signed for one more season with the Mettalurg of the Russian Super League should be honored, respected and fulfilled by Malkin

The National Hockey League and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF) agree to negotiate a transfer agreement between September 1 and December 31.

If the agreement isn’t signed, not just verbally agreed to, but signed and enacted by January 1, 2007 the two sides agree that within 45 days both parties agree to submit their final positions to binding arbitration. Whoever the arbitrator is announces the agreement no later then March 1, 2007.

If it’s wrong for the Russians to hold Evgeni Malkin hostage it’s just as wrong for the National Hockey League to be putting a gun to the heads of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. For the sake of all parties involved a fair and equitable solution needs to be found. If the Russian Ice Hockey Federation believes their athletes have greater value then the various federations who have already signed the agreement that is their right. Look for solutions to the challenges, if Malkin signs a contract with the Penguins it will represent a step backwards for the evolution of the National Hockey League.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: Reuters, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Soviet Sport

Jeffrey Loria – the Major League Baseball franchise killer!!

Florida Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is the latest professional sports owner to demonstrate who he believes is “The Boss”. Loria last week went where Yankees owner George Steinbrenner and a former Atlanta Braves owner have been before, believing they knew more then the paid professionals they put in place to manage the multi-million dollar sports franchises.

In what has become a well reported incident, Marlins manger Joe Girardi and Loria had an ‘interesting’ exchange last Sunday when the Marlins ended a homestand losing a third consecutive game to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Girardi, who had been ejected from the previous game, didn’t react after a key ball-strike call went against the Marlins. Loria seated behind his teams’ dugout did what a baseball fan would do, he yelled at the umpire. That was only the start of Loria’s heckling. He then shouted at his manager, yes, during the Marlins game with his team listening and Marlins fans within hearing range, the manager and owner of a Major League Baseball team became involved in a heated exchange of views – airing their dirty laundry in public. The Marlins have been steadfast in refusing to comment on the matter, which reportedly included orders from Loria to set up the teams’ conference room at Dolphins Stadium where Loria intended to fire Girardi ten days ago.

Thankfully cooler heads took control of the situation and Loria was saved from embarrassing himself, his team and Major League Baseball. It wouldn’t have been the first and sadly it wouldn’t have been the worst example of a Major League Baseball owner believing he was holier then God.

A year after buying the Atlanta Braves in 1976, Ted Turner decided to give his manger Dave Bristol the day off. He would manage the team that day.

"That was up in Pittsburgh he thought he could manage," longtime Atlanta Braves announcer Ernie Johnson Sr. told The Palm Beach Post. "We knew it wasn't going to last very long. He needed some help from the coaches, but he was in uniform and everything. After the game, the commissioner said you can't do that. He was just trying to snap us out of a losing streak, and we had a few in those days."

Turner gave new meaning to "hands-on" ownership. The Braves fired manager Bobby Cox in 1981 only to rehire him in 1990, with Turner saying, "Why did we ever get rid of this guy?" In time, the Braves came to dominate their division and claim a World Series title. For all his foibles, Turner "did a lot of good things for the Braves," Johnson said in the Palm Beach Post report.

The ownership antics of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner is the stuff legends are made of. In the first 23 years Steinbrenner owned the Yankees he changed managers 20 different times. Steinbrenner hired and fired Billy Martin five times between 1975 and 1988. Steinbrenner’s track record of not being able to deal with managers makes Joe Torre’s ten-plus seasons as Yankees manager that much more remarkable.

The linage between Steinbrenner and Loria runs much deeper then their inability to deal with people. Steinbrenner has become sports best owner because he grew up. He’s still as committed to winning as he ever was, he’s finally come to understand what an effective owner of a business does, hire the right people and let them manage your business. They’ll have good and bad days and you’d like to believe they’ll have more winning then losing days. Long before Jeffrey Loria won a World Series defeating Steinbrenner’s Yankees in the 2003 Series, Loria had a minority ownership stake in the Yankees.

As history will one day clearly demonstrate Jeffrey Loria may one day be considered the worst owner in the history of Major League Baseball, a man who will be dubbed – the Franchise Killer!!

Loria owned several minor league baseball teams along with his minority stake in the Yankees in the late 1990’s. In 1999, Loria purchased 24 percent of the Montreal Expos from the Expos ownership group and replaced Claude Brochu as the Expos managing partner. Loria cleverly structured his purchase agreement effectively giving him complete control of the team. His agreement allowed for Loria to make a series of ‘cash calls’ on the Expos ownership group. If the group failed to heed Loria’s cash calls, his percentage of the Expos ownership would increase. In what must have seemed to Montréalers to have taken place in the blink of an eye, Loria had control of 94 percent of the Expos by the end of the 2001 Expos season.

On February 14, 2002, after a 30–0 vote, Major League Baseball formed a Delaware partnership (Expos Baseball, LP) to buy the Expos from Loria for $120,000,000 with the intent of eliminating the franchise along with the Minnesota Twins. Loria then paid John Henry (Henry now owns the Boston Red Sox) $158 million for the Florida Marlins. MLB may have bought the Expos with the intent of contracting the franchise, however the Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association agreed contraction would not be a part of the current MLB collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires in December.

That left MLB owning and managing a rudderless Montreal franchise. The team had died several years earlier, Loria responsible killing what was left of the Expos soon after he arrived in Montreal in 1999. The Expos moved to Washington after the 2004 season, renamed the Washington Nationals. On May 3, 2006, Ted Lerner agreed to pay Major League Baseball $450 million for the franchise, an amazing return on the $120 million they had paid Loria four years earlier for the Expos.

Ownership issues have been a hallmark of the two Major League Baseball franchises Jeffrey Loria’s owned. The problems may not have initially been his direct responsibly, however at the end of the day Jeffrey Loria effectively may lead to the death of two Major League Baseball markets. Is it the man (Loria) or the circumstances (failure to get new stadiums built)?

When Jeffrey Loria arrived in Montreal in 1999 he brought with him Steinbrenner’s ownership attitude. His first major decision was to take the Expos off radio and television. Loria was right in believing media rights counted for a significant component of a Major League Baseball franchise’s revenue streams. His lack of understanding of the Quebec market (Loria overvalued the Expos media rights, both French and English in Quebec), led to the Expos games being taken off both radio and television at the start of the 1999 season.

The die was cast; the final nail had been hammered into the Expos coffin with Loria’s decision. Any chance the Expos had to survive ended with the perception Loria had left among corporate Quebec. A few months later the Expos returned to French language radio. The Expos became the first MLB team to broadcast their games on exclusively on the Internet in 1999, when Dave Van Horne was banished to the Internet with the Expos English radio broadcasts. Any attempts the Expos made to correct the error in judgment Loria had made where next to impossible. No one wanted anything to do with Major League Baseball. The problem that began many years earlier found its ultimate solution with Loria as Expos managing partner – the death of the baseball in Montreal.

When Loria arrived in Montreal he knew the Olympic Stadium wasn’t working as the teams’ home. Loria knew that Claude Brochu had failed in his attempts to secure public funding for a proposed downtown baseball stadium. It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Loria failed. Canadians have never had much of an appetite when it comes to building sports facilities – welfare for billionaire sports owners.

In a classic example of déjà vu Loria again knew from John Henry’s failed attempts with the Marlins -- South Florida taxpayers have no intention of offering any assistance in paying to build a new baseball stadium. Just like the Montreal Expos played their games in a terrible and unfriendly stadium, Major League Baseball is never going to work in Dolphins Stadium.

Since early January Loria has dispatched Marlins president David Samson (his son-in-law) to San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland and Charlotte in hopes of finding a city ready to build and then give him the keys to a new $250 million taxpayer built baseball stadium. The only seriously interested city has been Las Vegas and Major League Baseball made it clear several months ago they have no intention of allowing Loria to move the Marlins to Sin City.

Loria’s next move could indeed be to offer to sell Major League Baseball the Marlins or to legally challenge MLB’s attempt to prevent him from moving the Marlins to Las Vegas.

Hialeah has shown some interest in getting involved in a building a new stadium in South Florida, with the clock ticking towards the end of the Marlins current lease at Dolphins Stadium there isn’t enough time to get a deal done. The Marlins current lease expires at the end of the 2010 season. The team can end their lease after the 2007 season. Samson has gone on the record, suggesting in no uncertain terms either the Marlins get what they want (a new stadium) or they’ll pack their balls and bats and move elsewhere.

"There's no more fake deadlines or real deadlines," Samson said in a November 2005 interview. "This is about the Marlins trying to save its franchise. We need a place to play after 2010 and we don't have one."

In the last seven years Jeffrey Loria has purchased controlling interest in two Major League Baseball franchises. One team (the Expos) are history and unless there is a stunning reversal of fortune Jeffrey Loria will again be at the center of Major League Baseball dying in another market. Before Major League Baseball moved the Expos to Washington, it had been 33 years since the last MLB team moved, the then Washington Senators to Dallas/Fort Worth where they became the Texas Rangers at the start of the 1972 season.

Is it the man, is it the problem, is it the sport, is it the market – irregardless of which answer you choose the man at the center of two of the biggest disasters in Major League Baseball ownership history is Jeffrey Loria.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The Miami Herald and the Palm Beach Post

A Sucker’s Bet

There’s no easy way to send the following message to those who may hold sports wagers with Betonsports.com – the shop is closing (allegedly moving to parts unknown, sounding like the birthplace of many masked professional wrestlers). Good luck in recovering any money you may have bet or good forbid won with the sports betting site looking for a home in cyberspace.

TheOnlineWire.com (a self proclaimed “sports betting resource”) seized the moment declaring in a headline on its site Friday – “Bettors Panic over BETonSPORTS Shut-Down”.

According to published reports, BETonSPORTS stopped processing payouts July 19; two days after the United States Department of Justice secured a temporary restraining order against the company. Anyone who had any money with BETonSPORTS hasn’t seen their money (and likely never will) since July 21.

"[Paying staff, creditors and customers] will take time and their successful completion will depend upon the Company’s ability to persuade banks and cash processors to release its funds. It also will depend on the Company’s ability to realize further and sufficient funds from its assets and operations outside Costa Rica and Antigua and to earn sufficient profits from operations which are not US facing." BETonSPORTS Board of Directors announced Friday morning to the London Stock Exchange.

"The Department of Justice is not taking or confiscating funds. I get 5 to 10 calls a day from clients that think the US Department of Justice made them close. I think this should be made clear to the gambling community." a respected bookmaker who wishes to remain anonymous told TheOnlineWire.com Friday. "Just because a federal judge in some state puts an indictment on a sportsbook doesn’t mean that they have to close. Sportbooks are perfectly legal in Costa Rica as long as operators obey Costa Rican laws. Why BetonSports closed is a mystery." the bookie added.

While Congress has attempted to enact laws directed against Internet gambling (The Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 was passed by the U.S. Senate on July 23, 1998, by a vote of 90-10. However, it was not approved by the House of Representatives), it hasn’t stopped the wheels of Justice or new legislation from moving forward. The Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act was passed by the House of Representatives in early July..

If anyone is really surprised the Justice Department finally managed to shut down one of the major sports betting sites, they only have themselves to blame for ignoring what had become obvious since the start of the year.

On Friday, January 20, 2006, The Sporting News reached a $7.2 million settlement with the Justice Department to resolve accusations that it promoted Internet gambling by publishing and broadcasting advertisements for online casinos overseas. The Sporting News didn’t say they had done anything wrong, but agreed to pay the United States $7.2 million. Vulcan Media, owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen may have been able to afford to write a $7.2 million check, but that should have sent a strong wake-up call to Internet based gambling websites trying to attract American dollars.

The United States attorney's office in the Eastern District of Missouri began what has been an extensive investigation that focused on Internet casinos and sports gambling in 2003. Catherine L. Hanaway, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri told the New York Times, her office has been sending out letters for more then three years to trade organizations representing major media organizations stating that their members could be violating the law by accepting advertising from offshore casinos. Shortly after, there was a significant drop in the number of American media companies accepting such ads.

In Canada one of the more interesting sponsorships takes the issue of sports gambling to an entirely new level. Several Canadian Football League teams ‘enjoy’ have working sponsorship agreements with Bowmans.com, another sports and gambling Internet service. Bowmans is based on the Island of Mauritius, which is about 900 kilometers east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

The Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders each have major sponsorship agreements with a business (Bowmans) that actively solicits bets on CFL games.

"We are not aware of any issues regarding Internet gaming," said Lee Genier, the Calgary Stampeders club's vice-president of business development in a National Post report. "We have requested a directive from the league, and they are investigating it."

The league itself had a league sponsorship with Bowmans in 2004 and 2005. The league now has something called “Partypoker.com” as its gambling partner and has almost a cavalier attitude towards working with Internet gambling sites.

"Under current CFL operations, the franchises are free to solicit sponsorship independent of the league," Perry Lefko, the CFL’s public relations director told the National Post. "If any sponsorship is deemed to fall outside the law or by general perception not in the best interest of the fan, the matter, including a recommendation from the league, would be tabled for discussion at the board of governors."

According to the report in The National Post, “the four clubs doing business with Bowmans may be violating parts of Section 202 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which states it is against the law to: "[commit] an offence [that] prints, provides or offers to print or provide information intended for use in connection with book-making, pool-setting ..."

The section goes on to say that it does not matter if the gambling has taken place in Canada, or if any gambling has or has not taken place. And it states that any person or group that "imports or brings into Canada any information or writing that is intended or is likely to promote or be of use in gambling, book-making or pool-setting ..." is violating the law.”

Similar to the legal problems Paul Allen’s Sporting News Radio faced (and again paid a $7.2 million file), at least two Canadian all-sports radio stations, Toronto’s Fan 590 and Ottawa’s Team 1200 ran a program sponsored by Bowman’s during the 2005-06 NFL and NHL’s seasons.

The sports betting show hasn’t aired since the NHL season ended. It remains to be seen if it will resume in September when the NFL and NHL seasons begin. Bowman’s was also a major advertiser on the Team 1200 and on Montreal’s Team 990. Both all sports radio properties are currently owned by CHUM Media. CHUM was recently purchased by Bell Globemedia, Canada’s largest media company.

Gambling and other vices are all too often referred to as ‘victim-less’ crimes. There are many (mostly gamblers) who believe people should be left to decide if they want to spend their money betting on sports events. According to a recent Business Week report, online gambling (poker and sports betting are one and two respectively in money wagered) now generates in excess of $12 billion a year.

BETonSports may indeed be forced out of business, but like weeds in one’s garden, it appears next to impossible to eradicate the problem. Few who have taken the time to understand what Congress is trying to do, believe anything will stem the tide of sports betting on the Internet.

"We believe this bill is rhetoric and it will only indirectly help problem gamblers," says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C. "We suspect that, much like with people buying illegal drugs, the money will find a way to flow. Certainly prohibiting sports gambling over the last 20 years has not done much to limit the flow of money to domestic sports gambling."

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: the New York Times, the National Post, TheOnlineWire.com and Business Week

In the Frozen North – it’s the motherhood issue

Imagine if you will for a moment a universe without the National Football League on network television. Imagine if you will for a moment a universe where you were forced to watch your local National Football League’s team’s cable on cable TV. Imagine if you will for a moment a universe with your favorite National Football League teams’ playoff games shown only on cable TV. This isn’t placing Major League Baseball or National Basketball Association playoff games on the domain of cable television, its taking those games football fans wait all year to enjoy and the games ending up on cable TV, not on an over-the-air carriers that currently carry all NFL playoff games.

How important National Football League games are to Americans is how important National Hockey League games are to Canadians. If you did a survey of American sports fans the NFL would top everyone’s list. In Canada, the NHL is listed one through 10 on everyone’s favorite sports list. In the land of the Maple Leaf, it’s Family, God, Country and the National Hockey League. A series of reports from Bill Houston, one of Canada’s premier industry insiders, the well respected sports media writer for Canada’s most important newspaper The Globe and Mail suggest the NHL is heading towards “The Twilight Zone”.

Houston reported first in Friday’s edition and then followed that on Saturday with a suggestion Bell Globemedia, the parent company for CTV Canada’s largest private national network, TSN and RDS Canada’s two largest sports cable network are getting ready to offer the NHL $1.4 billion. The agreement would include English, French, cable (French and English) and new media NHL rights for a ten-year period. The proposed agreement would start when the NHL’s current Canadian agreements with among other the Canadian Broadcasting Company ends after the upcoming NHL season.

Rick Brace, who at one time was the programming director for TSN and is now the President of CTV tried to downplay Houston’s report in Saturday’s Globe and Mail.

"We don't have a document to present to the NHL," he said. "We're just not there yet."

"That's a big number," Brace said. "We run numbers and we do that as a matter of course, and that's not something we've contemplated. We're just not there yet."

There are a multitude of issues that the NHL better consider if in fact they’re serious about handing over their rights to the CTV, including but not limited to:

Playoff coverage. The Stanley Cup playoffs are sacred to Canadians. Like the preverbal line in the sand, here’s where the proposed Bell Globemedia agreement will never work.

CTV will have no issue with devoting their Saturday night coverage to the National Hockey League. However the real value in securing NHL Canadian TV rights isn’t in regular season games, it’s the Stanley Cup playoffs where the big advertising dollars are generated.

Currently as Houston reported, the CBC generates in excess of $30 million in earnings from their two months of Stanley Cup playoff coverage. There is every possibility CTV could generate even greater profits from committing two months of their network coverage to the Stanley Cup playoffs – only one problem with that, CTV will NEVER commit to two months of Stanley Cup playoff telecasts. That would prove to be economic suicide for CTV.

CTV proudly promotes the network is home to 17of the top 20 rated Canadian television shows. All 17 are shows are produced by American television networks. The regulating body for television and radio in Canada (the CRTC) mandates if the same program is shown at the same time on an American and Canadian network both feeds have to be simulcast with the Canadian feed shown on the American cable network feed.

As an example American Idol, Lost, Law and Order, ER, four of the highest rated Nielsen programs on American television are all shown by CTV. CTV is able to generate a premium on advertising dollars generated for American based dramas and comedies simulcast in Canada. CTV national sales representatives create packages that include the key May sweeps and the April lead up to the end of the television season. From cliff hangers to series ending shows, there is absolutely no way CTV would ever consider giving up any primetime programming in April and May. CBC doesn’t have the same issue(s) showing at least one and often two NHL games most weeknights in April and May.

So then why not put the playoff games, the ones featuring Canadian teams (in Canada’s six biggest markets) live on cable TV and on a tape delayed basis on CTV. After all close to 85 percent of Canadian homes currently have cable TV. What about that 15 percent who can’t afford cable TV? What about students or families from disadvantaged homes who can’t afford cable TV. What about seniors and veterans living on a fixed income?

Back to our Twilight Zone analogy, imagine if you will the impact a picture of a living Canadian World War II veteran would have (the veteran can only afford a Black & White television) on the Canadians psyche.

If that isn’t damaging enough to the image of the NHL consider the issue turning into a political fireball overnight? Friday, the Ottawa Senators learned the property tax the team pays for Scotiabank Place their home arena is going to double from its current valuation of $717,000 to $1.6 million over a four-year period beginning next year. That would still leave the facility paying less than half what other similarly assessed properties pay.

If the NHL’s proposed agreement with CTV would allow local playoff games featuring Canadian teams it would be political suicide. NFL cable TV rights dictate any cable available in a home teams market, Monday night football or the new NFL Network series of late season Thursday and Saturday night games must also be televised in an over-the-air carrier in each market. There is an average of three to five additional over-the-air television states in each major American market. In Canada most major cities offer three networks (the CBC included). After agreeing to pay the NHL a rights fee in excess of $1.4 billion over then years, the last decision CTV will ever make is to offer games featuring Canadian teams in their home market on the local CBC affiliate because CTV is televising the finals of American Idol.

Back to that lasting image of the vet, sitting in his one bed apartment, black and white television, rabbit ears to ensure he’s able to receive the few over-the-air carriers available. He’d love to be able to afford cable, but on a fixed income he can’t afford the money it will coast him. He’s put his life on the line for his country and during the few remaining years he has left in the country he was ready to give his life for he no longer can see his Ottawa Senators’ playoff games because of the greed of National Hockey League owner. If Canada’s six NHL franchises believe they have it tough in dealing with their local governments today, just wait until the first tax bill after they sell Canadian NHL rights down the river.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: The Globe and Mail.

The new look for ABC Sports – makes perfect "business" sense

Wednesday, Disney announced their third quarter earnings. If anyone wanted to know how important ESPN is to Mickey and Company they needed to look no further then ESPN accounting for roughly half of Disney's $2 billion in operating income.

In other words, the company's other main businesses combined - the ABC broadcast network, its many parks and resorts, its movie studio and consumer products division - equal about the size of ESPN, when measured by operating income.

Disney announced that it had generated $2 billion in operating income on $8.6 billion in revenue in the third quarter. Its cable network division, the bulk of which is ESPN, generated $969 million in operating income - representing 15 percent growth over the year-ago period - and $2.2 billion of revenue.

In simplistic terms – the economic engine that drives one of the world’s largest media companies are the sports based ESPN networks and it’s related programming.

In what should not have surprised anyone, Thursday, Disney announced that ESPN will become the overarching brand for all sports programming carried on the ABC Television Network beginning Saturday, Sept. 2 – the debut of ABC’s college football season.

“It makes perfect sense for The Walt Disney Company to bring the strongest brand in sports media, ESPN, to our company’s most expansive platform – the ABC Television Network,” said George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN, Inc. and ABC Sports and Co-Chairman, Disney Media Networks. “Our collection of multimedia sports assets is unmatched in the industry and we will now extend the ESPN brand across all platforms.”

Too many in the industry it must have seemed like the darkest of days, ESPN an upstart cable network barely more then 25-years old showing ABC Sports the door.

"It's going to be interesting news outside of the sports media industry," said sports television consultant Neal Pilson, a former president of CBS Sports who runs his own consultancy firm and often works with ESPN in an SI.com report. "It reflects the continued expansion of influence of ESPN. This is a company that not only has four 24/7 cable channels, plus it's online, Internet, mobile phone, you name it, they now will basically contract for and control some 400 hours of network broadcast time. This isn't to say they don't already do it. But now they are going to have this additional brand platform."

If the change in how ABC Sports presents itself caught anyone by surprise they only have themselves to blame for not reading the tea leaves.

Bodenheimer added: “This evolutionary step reflects the extraordinary relationship ESPN has with today’s sports fans and the dynamic changes in how sports are consumed. ESPN has been infused with ABC Sports’ history of innovation, and we are committed to building upon that legacy as we continue to serve fans and our partners more effectively through ESPN on ABC.”

Well respected New York Times sports business columnist Richard Sandomir invoked the names and images of the greats of ABC Sports past -- Roone Arledge, Jim McKay, “Wide World of Sports,” Howard Cosell, 10 Olympics and Mexican cliff diving. The key, these names are all in the past and while they should be cherished and remembered for what they contributed to the sports industry and to ABC, they’re from a bygone era in sports television.

“My heart just weeps for Roone’s legacy,” said Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, whose career started as an Olympic researcher at ABC Sports before becoming Arledge’s executive assistant in Sandomir’s New York Times report.

Sandomir did speak with one of sports broadcasting true living legends the now retired and longtime voice of ABC’s college coverage (and the first voice of Monday Night Football) Keith Jackson for his reaction to the news.

“It was inevitable.” He retired earlier this year (for the second time) after spurning ESPN’s offer to stay. “When ABC was sold to Capital Cities, and then to Disney, the handwriting was on the wall.”

He added: “A lot of people worked to make ABC what it was, and they deserve more than to have their legacy callously tossed aside.”

Frank Gifford, an ABC star for 27 years, mostly on “Monday Night Football”, and the broadcaster who replaced Jackson after MNF’s inaugural season offered this to Sandomir, ““The tail took over the dog,” he said, with a bit of a laugh. “The tail outgrew the dog. The world has changed.”

There are those who will suggest the beginning of the end for ABC Sports was when the ABC so closely associated with the Olympic Games lost their “Olympic brand” after failing to acquire the rights to the 1988, 1992 and finally the 1996 Games. ABC lost what many believed was their sports brand signature to NBC. Ebersol took what he had learnt at the feet of Arledge in building NBC’s sports programming around the Olympic Games convincing NBC the Olympic Games where in the peacock network’s destiny.

It’s much more important in understanding ABC’s thought process to recognize how gigantic a sports machine ESPN has evolved into.

Born in 1979, the ESPN brand is now home to seven different networks, has its own growing entertainment division that creates original movies and daily programming, the number one sports radio network and the number one sports website. ESPN is the new home of Monday Night Football (the single biggest property in sports television), Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, thousands of college football and basketball games, the World Cup and an host of other events.

Melding together the “ESPN look” on ABC will only further serve to drive viewers to ESPN.

The daunting task sports properties face that aren’t a part of what ESPN televises (the National Hockey League is one example) the nearly impossible task of creating any awareness among America’s sports fans if you’re not a part of ESPN’s programming. ESPN doesn’t have a monopoly on sports coverage, but they’re certainly heading in that direction.

For Sports Business News this is Howard Bloom. Sources cited in this Insider Report: the New York Times.