LATEST STORIES FROM SPORTSBIZ
Weekend Reading
A few stories for your weekend:IMG is taking over college athletics and why you should care (USA Today)Economic crisis apparently has skipped Australia, at least where footy is concerned; AFL looking for a A$1 Billion TV rights deal (AFL.com)Economic crisis in full flavor in US; personal...
Hicks Defaults on $525 Million in Loans
In case you couldn't guess why Tom Hicks put minority interest in the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars up for sale, the answer came today as Hicks Sports Group defaulted on $525 million in loans by missing interest payments. Those loans are supposedly secured by the interests of...
Curlin Former Owners Convicted on Fraud Charges
Remember that mistrial last year in which a jury could not decide whether two lawyers who once owned Curlin were guilty of committing fraud against their clients in the fen=phen diet drug case? Their retrial ended yesterday when a jury convicted William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham...
Vote Bing For Mayor of Detroit
The latest fad in former NBA guards is to run for mayor. Following in the footsteps of Kevin Johnson, the recently elected mayor of Sacramento, Detroit has its own local hero making his political debut in a mayoral race. Dave Bing, once an all-NBA guard with the Detroit Pistons, and...
Congrats to the Lady Cards
Congratulations to the University of Louisville Lady Cards for knocking off Oklahoma last night and making it to their first ever national championship game. Waiting for them there will be the UConn Huskies, who are seeking their date with destiny. The Huskies are undefeated and have...
USA v. Jamaica Track Series Set for 2010
If you like speed, you're going to love this. The US Track Federation and the Jamaican Athletics Association announced the start of the USA v. Jamaica Challenge Series, meets that will feature USA and Jamaican track athletes competing against each other in a series of scored competition...
Fox Soccer Channel Snags Champions League from ESPN
So, it doesn't look like ESPN is quite as committed to soccer as a foundation programming as it was a couple of years ago. Earlier this year, it announced that the MLS game of the week was no longer going to have a fixed time slot on Thursday night but was going to float through...
Minor League Promotion of the Week
Actually, this may turn out to be the promotion of the month. The Quad Cities River Bandits (Midwest League, Class A) are having a "Van Down by the River" promotion at every home game this season. Each game, eight lucky fans will be chosen to spend the game from an outfield...
Calipari Goes to Kentucky
It just wasn't Rick Pitino's week. First, his Louisville Cardinals picked the most inopportune time to throw their most uninspired game of the year, against Michigan State in the Elite Eight, and lost a chance at the Final Four and his first national championship at Louisville...
Innovative Naming Rights
Now this is a case of naming rights that not only goes to a worthy cause but actually is desperately needed, as I can attest to firsthand. In what I believe is a first of a kind, KFC is tackling the pothole in Louisville, which is a major problem in a cash strapped city. KFC is financing...
He's Baaaack!
Any questions about Tiger's fitness or the return of his golf swing were answered yesterday with his comeback win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Classic. Was anyone who was watching the 18th hole in person or on television ever in doubt as to the outcome of Tiger...
Recession, What Recession? Ohio State Sells Media and Marketing Rights for $110 Million
If there is a recession going on, you would be hard pressed to know that by looking at the athletic programs at the nation's largest universities. Bundling marketing and media rights has led to guaranteed contracts in the multiple millions for terms of up to twelve years in some...
Weekend Reading
A few Friday links:The Florida Panthers have totally integrated TV, radio, digital and arena marketing which may become the wave of the future (Ad Age)Impact of the economic crisis on Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 (Denver Post)Do investors biased belief in upcoming event affect the...
Minority Interest in Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars for Sale
Dallas based venture capitalist and sports magnate Tom Hick is trimming his holdings a bit. The owner of the Dallas Stars, 95% of the Texas Rangers, 50% of Liverpool FC and 50% of the American Airlines Center, which is the Stars home, is marketing up to 49% of the Rangers and a similar...
Villareal's Millionaires Taking Care of Unemployed Fans
Unemployment in the Castellon region of eastern Spain where the Villareal soccer team is located is running at a rate of 14.7%, the highest in the European Union, as Spain endures its deepest economic crisis since Franco was in power (and alive). The Yellow Submarine have a Champions...
Marlins Clear Last Political Hurdle to New Stadium
In a process that has seemingly taken decades, if not centuries, the Florida Marlins have won the last votes of public bodies needed to begin construction of a new baseball stadium on the site of the former Orange Bowl. Both the Miami City Commission and the Dade County Commission...
DirecTV Extends NFL Sunday Ticket Through 2014
In a contract extension that was vital to DirecTV's marketing strategy, the satellite TV operator has extended its Sunday Ticket package exclusive of out of market NFL games through the 2014 season. The extension did not come cheap however, as sources have pegged the price to be...
Want to Buy a Pair of Legends? Canadiens and Liverpool on the Block
The latest victim of the global financial financial crisis happens to have financial interests in two of professional sports most legendary professional franchises, neither of which are located in his home country. Colorado businessman George Gillet, Jr., owner of the Montreal Canadiens...
March Madness Good to CBS
Early returns from March Madness has shown the tournament still has its hold on America. Ticket sales have been down slightly from last year, slightly to significantly to not at all depending on the site. for a total of being off perhaps 5% to 10%. Much of that can be attributable...
Illinois House Backs Chocago Olympic Bid With $250 Million
The International Olympic Committee will be sending its bid evaluation team to Chicago next month to evaluate that city's bid for the 2016 Summer Games. the Illinois House gave a boost to the city's bid last week, passing a bill to establish a $250 million insurance fund to...
Twitter and the NBA
The Times is full of stories today. Interesting piece on the popularity of Twitter in the NBA, including the now infamous tweet from Charlie Villanueva during halftime of a Bucks game. Coach Scott Skiles was not amused. Shaq has also sent out a halftime tweet, which he announced in...
Impact of the Recession/Depression Cont'd
We have been discussion the impact of the Great Recession or the Not So Great Depression (your choice) in this space for so time. It's impact has been felt by every major professional sport and, to a lesser extent so far, by collegiate football and basketball. From the once invincible...
Coach K to Obama: Get to Work
As most of you have probably heard by now, Andy Katz of ESPN famously scored an hour or less with President Obama who filled out an NCAA bracket much as he has done every year, I'm quite sure. Now, far be it from me to tell the Leader of the Free World what to do with his time...
March madness Productivity Loss
Tuesday marked the official opening of March Madness with the debut game between Morehead State and Alabama State. It also saw the opening games in the NIT as well as two other tournaments beginning with the letter "C" that I don't know what the initials stand for nor...
Naming Rights Gone Bad
We've seen numerous examples over the years of stadium and arena naming rights deals sold to corporations that for one reason or another a team wishes had never happened. Who can forget Enron Park (now, the memorable? Minute Maid Park) or the three names that the Baltimore Ravens...
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