http://www.mcnsports.com/en/node/6513
What do people want from sports? Just ask them in 2000 and 2009
By Evan Weiner
April 26, 2009
6:30 EDT
(New York, NY) As an opinion writer whose words are analyzed in college sports business management classrooms across the United States and as a lecturer who has represented his country as part of a State Department imitative at the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A and M in College Station, Texas in August 2007 on how the business of sports operates in America to 16 foreign nationals from Canada, Venezuela, Turkey, Nigeria, Russia and Indonesia along with four Americans and as someone who speaks globally, it is incumbent upon me to review my thoughts on a constant basis. Do I need to review my opinions, do they stand up after all of these years? How many times have I been wrong and when do I admit it? It all goes into being a diligent observer.
There is a lot of noise coming from the sports columnist community about the ticket and concession costs at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Apparently many of these writers along with the chatter from sports talk radio have woken up to the fact that sports is a business and a costly one at that. My advice back in January 2000 was the sports writers, commentators and other reporters needed to leave the protective cocoon of sports media and talk to real people with real lives about sports. That didn't happen and now the scribes and the noisemakers are beginning to take notice of a trend that has been part of the industry for nearly a quarter of a century.
Sports costs are been rising for years and someone needed to pay for it. The well heeled started buying luxury boxes and club seats in the 1960s and the blue collar fan was pushed into the "Bob Uecker seats" or moved farther away from the court, the gridiron, the diamond or the rink. Cable TV operators and sports owners cut large deals giving owners millions in the 1970s and that proliferated in the 1980s and 1990s. Cable TV took sports off of over-the-air TV because cable TV was paid in two ways, subscriber fees and advertising. Over-the-air TV stations got money from just sponsors. The "real" fans started watching more games on TV instead of attending games which were becoming more and more expensive. They were replaced by customers, the corporates looking for a good time out.
Back in January 2000, the three legged stool of financial support for sports, government paying for stadium/arena facilities, large cable TV contracts and selling tickets to corporate buyers who could write the cost of ever increasing ticket costs had taken hold. But in 2000, that formula was 14 years old. Sportswriters, sports columnists, and the noise crowd from sports talk radio never looked at how federal legislation had changed sports right before their collective eyes.
Nor did fans. Or did they?
Back on January 24, 2000, this was my op ed in the Sports Business Journal. It seems sportswriters, sports columnists and the noise community blasting out of AM radio and maybe a few FMs and satellite radio has finally caught up to the fans after seeing the new Yankee Stadium. It may be a little late though for them in looking back at the January 24, 2000 piece I penned.
"What do people want from sports today? As someone who gives speeches and lectures about the business and politics of sports before college kids, young adults, middle-aged adults and senior citizens, I ask that question. The answers from across the board are generally the same.
People want good entertainment value for their money but feel cheated today.
The No. 1 complaint is the cost of tickets and how expensive it is for a family to see a major league contest. Second, those who have attended my speeches say there is too much inconvenience in physically attending games.
People don't like the loud, continuous music and the fact that team owners think a game experience should include ear-splitting music, sideshows and boorish actions by fans that in theory give a hometown team an edge. In fact, people have told me after my speeches that games are supposed to be a leisurely activity and for the most part have become hard to attend for numerous reasons.
People 35 and older don't like the fact that they cannot discuss any aspect of a game during any dead moment because some programmer has turned up some heavy metal song to the noise level of a jet taking off at an airport.
People don't like the boorish behavior of young people who seem to use the excuse of going to a sporting event to get drunk and spit out mean-spirited, foul-mouthed obscenities or start fights with others.
Others don't like all the sideshow aspects connected with the presentation of the game because it interferes with their intent of watching a baseball, football, basketball, hockey or soccer game. That includes shooting T-shirts into a crowd where people jump over one another for a chance at getting one of those prized garments. That includes people dressed in sumo wrestler suits fighting at center ice between periods at hockey games.
People don't mind seeing kid hockey players having a mini game between periods at hockey games or Punt, Pass and Kick contests at halftime of football games. That's not artificial entertainment. People don't like the ersatz quality of most sideshow promotions that teams run today.
People do tell me boxing and track and field offer events to watch without the sideshow. Even though boxing is a sideshow in itself with its bikini- or swimsuit-clad card women, still, the action in the ring is the thing.
Some people are very interested in how their taxes go to support stadiums and arenas and how the general public is left out of the public financing debate for athletic venues.
There are a few hecklers here and there who tell me I don't know what I am talking about. That's fine. They are entitled to their opinion as long as I am entitled to mine. And I don't mind the hecklers as long as they realize I get paid and they don't.
College-aged people accept sports as a business these days with grievances, threats of franchise relocation, strikes and lockouts as parts of the sports landscape. They aren't bothered by the turmoil because they don't know anything else. Some of them weren't even born when baseball shut down during the 1981 player walkout.
People 35 and older are resentful of the high salaries and the business aspect of the sports industry.
I do get a cross-section of people in my audiences, some sports fans and some not. The non-sports fans seem to have the most curiosity about the business and politics of sports. They don't go to the game yet are paying for it through government financing of arenas and stadiums.
In downstate New York, people wonder why their taxes go to upstate New York for minor league venues in Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Binghamton and Albany. People in Michigan wonder why, when they went to Seattle, Tampa, Miami and Texas, they paid extra car rental and hotel/motel and restaurant taxes for venues that they probably will never use.
(Former Baseball Commissioner) Peter Ueberroth once told me never to underestimate the intelligence of the public. I think sports operators should forget about focus and research groups and head to a library, a local Y, a senior citizens home or a college and give a talk. They might be surprised by some of the feedback they get and might listen to people who are not screened and eliminated by some focus coordinator. They actually could learn something from the average person — who might really be a paying customer."
Those 35 year olds back in 2000 are now 44 and older. They have become more detached from sports in terms of watching live events because it costs too much money and with big screen TVs with High Definition capabilities, they get a better view of the game.
Meanwhile, local and state governments are on the hook for billions for facilities which local officials promised would bring jobs and serve as economic engines. Stadiums and arenas have done neither, just ask those in Cleveland and Seattle to name two cities.
In Europe, I learned that Liverpool football fans were frightened with the prospect of American sports owners Thomas O. Hicks and George Gillett turning the Liverpool Football Club into some sort of a American business complete with a new stadium and higher ticket prices which would create a consumer base of just very well off fans who would attend matches. The construction of the new stadium has been delayed because of the global recession.
Sportswriters, those who still have jobs, are producing prose that includes how Yankee Stadium is promoting a caste system of fans. My advice to those writers, review what you have been writing about for years and figure out where you went wrong in your coverage. The caste system was created in 1965 by Houston Astros owner Roy Hofheinz with the opening of the then so-called "Eighth Wonder of the World," the Houston Astrodome that came complete with sky boxes which separated the rich of the blue collar fans. Of course to be technically correct, the Roman Colosseum also had a caste system when it opened in 80 AD.
The concerns of January 2000 by sports fans haven't changed. It appears the "we want customers not fans" mentality is here to stay with the mantra of we need customers to support the high costs of sports. The recession is now hitting the sports world, it seems that for those who claim to be the moral guardians of the game, the sports media, they were just as asleep at the wheel as sports costs soared as they were doing the so-called baseball steroid era. They failed to keep up with their readers, listeners and viewers who knew that sports was no longer live entertainment for everyone anymore.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sports economy, is it tanking?
http://www.examiner.com/x-3926-Business-of-Sports-Examiner~y2009m3d12-Sports-economy-is-it-tanking
Evan WeinerBusiness of Sports Examiner
Sports economy, is it tanking?
March 12, 9:42 PM
Has the sports economic bubble burst? The answer would seem to be yes, although Major League Baseball's Spring Training ticket sales are up and both Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association seem to be making money on the World Baseball Classic as World Baseball Classic, Inc. will be distributing more than $15 million in proceeds from the 2009 World Baseball Classic to the participating federations and the International Baseball Federation according to a March 4 news release. The participating teams will split $14 million, which is nearly double the $7.8 million that was awarded after the inaugural event in 2006. In addition, the IBAF, the worldwide governing body for the sport of baseball, will receive over $1 million to invest in game development globally.
The 15 million dollar haul is pretty sizeable considering that the global economy is tanking despite a Wall Street rally over the past few days.
Last Monday, Major League Baseball announced that Spring Training attendance was up by two percent over last year's pace for overall Spring Training attendance through Sunday's exhibition games. "A total of 871,502 fans have gone through Cactus and Grapefruit League turnstiles in 154 games, an average of 5,659 per exhibition. That compares with an average of 5,548 through the same number of games in 2008," according to the news release.
So far, Major League Baseball based on the WBC and Spring Training attendance looks to be recession proof. But looks might be deceiving. It is far too early to tell if regular season attendance will drop, if luxury boxes will be sold or be empty over the course of an 81 game home schedule and if teams like the Yankees or Pirates can replace a sponsor like General Motors and get comparable dollars when someone jumps in, if someone jumps in, to take General Motors place. The real test comes once the regular season starts. April will not only be a litmus test for Major League Baseball, but Minor League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League as well. NBA and NHL playoff bound teams are looking for their patrons to buy playoff tickets at a higher price than the regular season.
The NBA and NHL sold all of its sponsorship and inked all of its marketing partners for the 2008-09 before the crisis hit last September. NBA revenues in 2008-09 are up two percent from 2007-08 levels but there is trouble ahead. Major League Baseball is either selling new sponsorship or renewing expiring marketing agreements during the economic meltdown, the NBA and NHL are just selling playoff tickets now, the National Football League is beginning to sell tickets for 2009. The economic conditions are not favorable. Bill Davidson, the owner of the Detroit Pistons, will be lowering season ticket prices in 2009-10. Detroit may be the hardest hit sports market in either the US or Canada. The continuing troubles of the Big 3 automakers combined with a falling Canadian dollar will have an affect on The Pistons along with the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Lions.
In Charlotte, a city dominated by the banking industry, Bobcats owner Bob Johnson will slash season ticket prices by an average of 17 percent in 2009-10.
Also this week, the NBA was hit with major economic jolt. The Simon Brothers told the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board that they no longer could afford to assume the losses of their Pacers franchise and operate the team's home arena. The Simons are seeking relief and could sell or move the franchise with some city layer of government doesn't step in. The problem with that threat is simple. There are very few places that can take on a team. Kansas City is one place but that was a risky market even before the economic downturn. Kansas City's market is too small for the NFL's Chiefs, MLB's Royals and NASCAR, adding another team would just drain the other sports entities in the Kansas City market. Las Vegas is a dead market right now.
In good economic times, the Simons claimed they lost money on the team and they were one of eight ownership groups who asked for additional revenue sharing two years ago.
The NBA has offered 15 teams "bailout" money to help them get through tough economic teams. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association still have two years left on their Collective Bargaining Agreement and a lot can happen between now and 2011. The economy could pick up or conditions could deteriorate.
All seems to be quiet in the NHL compared to the NBA. New York Islanders owner Charles Wang wants to see his "Lighthouse Project" given the go ahead by various Long Island governments. The Phoenix Coyotes franchise has major financial problems and the falling Canadian dollar is not helping the six Canadian teams. The NHL is in better shape than the Russian Kontinental Hockey League which was fueled by oil money. The KHL season is drawing to an end and it will be interesting to see how many of the 24 teams that started last September will be back in 2009-10 and if the KHL can hold onto big name players, particularly Jaromir Jagr.
In all of this economic chaos, there is some glimmer of hope for the sports economy and growth. The fledgling United Football League on Wednesday held a news conference to discuss plans for the 2009 season, the first one for the league. Paul Pelosi, who along with other investors, has sunk $30 million said the establishment of the UFL was "a tremendous opportunity, recession is time of opportunity."
Pelosi, the husband of United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, thinks his league will thrive in time. Pelosi will know by December 1, long after the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have found out just how much the economy has dragged them down.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
Evan WeinerBusiness of Sports Examiner
Sports economy, is it tanking?
March 12, 9:42 PM
Has the sports economic bubble burst? The answer would seem to be yes, although Major League Baseball's Spring Training ticket sales are up and both Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association seem to be making money on the World Baseball Classic as World Baseball Classic, Inc. will be distributing more than $15 million in proceeds from the 2009 World Baseball Classic to the participating federations and the International Baseball Federation according to a March 4 news release. The participating teams will split $14 million, which is nearly double the $7.8 million that was awarded after the inaugural event in 2006. In addition, the IBAF, the worldwide governing body for the sport of baseball, will receive over $1 million to invest in game development globally.
The 15 million dollar haul is pretty sizeable considering that the global economy is tanking despite a Wall Street rally over the past few days.
Last Monday, Major League Baseball announced that Spring Training attendance was up by two percent over last year's pace for overall Spring Training attendance through Sunday's exhibition games. "A total of 871,502 fans have gone through Cactus and Grapefruit League turnstiles in 154 games, an average of 5,659 per exhibition. That compares with an average of 5,548 through the same number of games in 2008," according to the news release.
So far, Major League Baseball based on the WBC and Spring Training attendance looks to be recession proof. But looks might be deceiving. It is far too early to tell if regular season attendance will drop, if luxury boxes will be sold or be empty over the course of an 81 game home schedule and if teams like the Yankees or Pirates can replace a sponsor like General Motors and get comparable dollars when someone jumps in, if someone jumps in, to take General Motors place. The real test comes once the regular season starts. April will not only be a litmus test for Major League Baseball, but Minor League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League as well. NBA and NHL playoff bound teams are looking for their patrons to buy playoff tickets at a higher price than the regular season.
The NBA and NHL sold all of its sponsorship and inked all of its marketing partners for the 2008-09 before the crisis hit last September. NBA revenues in 2008-09 are up two percent from 2007-08 levels but there is trouble ahead. Major League Baseball is either selling new sponsorship or renewing expiring marketing agreements during the economic meltdown, the NBA and NHL are just selling playoff tickets now, the National Football League is beginning to sell tickets for 2009. The economic conditions are not favorable. Bill Davidson, the owner of the Detroit Pistons, will be lowering season ticket prices in 2009-10. Detroit may be the hardest hit sports market in either the US or Canada. The continuing troubles of the Big 3 automakers combined with a falling Canadian dollar will have an affect on The Pistons along with the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers and the Detroit Lions.
In Charlotte, a city dominated by the banking industry, Bobcats owner Bob Johnson will slash season ticket prices by an average of 17 percent in 2009-10.
Also this week, the NBA was hit with major economic jolt. The Simon Brothers told the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board that they no longer could afford to assume the losses of their Pacers franchise and operate the team's home arena. The Simons are seeking relief and could sell or move the franchise with some city layer of government doesn't step in. The problem with that threat is simple. There are very few places that can take on a team. Kansas City is one place but that was a risky market even before the economic downturn. Kansas City's market is too small for the NFL's Chiefs, MLB's Royals and NASCAR, adding another team would just drain the other sports entities in the Kansas City market. Las Vegas is a dead market right now.
In good economic times, the Simons claimed they lost money on the team and they were one of eight ownership groups who asked for additional revenue sharing two years ago.
The NBA has offered 15 teams "bailout" money to help them get through tough economic teams. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association still have two years left on their Collective Bargaining Agreement and a lot can happen between now and 2011. The economy could pick up or conditions could deteriorate.
All seems to be quiet in the NHL compared to the NBA. New York Islanders owner Charles Wang wants to see his "Lighthouse Project" given the go ahead by various Long Island governments. The Phoenix Coyotes franchise has major financial problems and the falling Canadian dollar is not helping the six Canadian teams. The NHL is in better shape than the Russian Kontinental Hockey League which was fueled by oil money. The KHL season is drawing to an end and it will be interesting to see how many of the 24 teams that started last September will be back in 2009-10 and if the KHL can hold onto big name players, particularly Jaromir Jagr.
In all of this economic chaos, there is some glimmer of hope for the sports economy and growth. The fledgling United Football League on Wednesday held a news conference to discuss plans for the 2009 season, the first one for the league. Paul Pelosi, who along with other investors, has sunk $30 million said the establishment of the UFL was "a tremendous opportunity, recession is time of opportunity."
Pelosi, the husband of United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi, thinks his league will thrive in time. Pelosi will know by December 1, long after the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball have found out just how much the economy has dragged them down.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
http://www.examiner.com/x-3926-Business-of-Sports-Examiner~y2009m2d17-All-Sports-Business-Eyes-Turn-to-Florida-Arizona-and-Detroit
All sports business eyes turn to Florida, Arizona and Detroit
Add a Comment
February 17, 12:21 PM
by Evan Weiner, Business of Sports Examiner
Today is the day President Barack Obama signs the stimulus bill into law with the hope that pouring billions of dollars into numerous projects nationally will create jobs and get Americans spending again.
In sports, owners have not yet felt the effects of the economic downturn because tickets for National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League contests were sold prior to the September-October meltdown and the leagues were locked into long term over-the-air and cable/satellite TV contracts along with marketing partnerships which were signed months before the economic crisis started.
But the calendar has caught up to sports, particularly Major League Baseball. Tickets need to be sold, marketing deals need to be signed and commercials need to be in place to pay for bills. Within the next two weeks, Major League Baseball teams will find out just how difficult the economy is as games will be played in two of the states hit hardest by home foreclosures, Florida and Arizona. If attendance is below normal in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues, that might be a sign that some franchises may be in for some difficult times, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
The franchise that seems to be in for the toughest season economically is the Detroit Tigers. No reorganization plans that General Motors and Chrysler submit to the White House and Congress today so they can accept government loans will help the Tigers in the near term.
The Big 3 automakers have laid off tens of thousands of workers, both blue- and white-collar workers, and the home foreclosure rate in the Detroit area is skyrocketing. A good portion of the Detroit consumer base comes from Windsor, Ontario, and other parts of Canada. The fall of the Canadian dollar has made going to baseball, hockey, football and basketball games along with college sports in the Detroit and Auburn Hills area much more expensive as Canadians are paying $1.26 Canadian per every U.S. dollar to cross the river and head into Michigan.
Even if U.S. and Canadian government loans help the Michigan-Ontario auto industry, the business will be forever changed in Michigan/Ontario and that will impact the Tigers as well as the NBA Pistons and the NHL Red Wings beginning this spring - and the NFL’s Lions and college sports next fall.
The stimulus package is designed to pump money into states, cities, towns, villages and municipalities for infrastructure development and repairs. Things like energy projects, road reconstruction which would create jobs. There also could be stadium/arena construction although that would seem to be on the low priority end behind building and repairing bridges and retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient. In New York, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner, a political operative under New York City Mayors John V. Lindsay and Ed Koch in the 1970s, is turning to former New York Senator Al D'Amato's lobbying firm to help him get stimulus money in an attempt to get the stalled Atlantic Yards-Brooklyn Arena project moving.
Getting federal money for stadiums and arenas is nothing new. In the 1930s, the President Franklin Roosevelt's depression-era recovery plan included stadium and arena building under the umbrella of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Public Works Administration (PWA) agencies. Among those projects included the Aud and the War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati and other venues used in major league, minor league and college sports.
President Obama's signature on the stimulus bill could help sports owners in a variety of ways but it may take a while before the economy shows signs of recovering. In Florida, Arizona and Michigan, sports owners can only help that the economy comes back a lot sooner than hoped.
Contact the author at this address.
Add a Comment
February 17, 12:21 PM
by Evan Weiner, Business of Sports Examiner
Today is the day President Barack Obama signs the stimulus bill into law with the hope that pouring billions of dollars into numerous projects nationally will create jobs and get Americans spending again.
In sports, owners have not yet felt the effects of the economic downturn because tickets for National Football League, National Basketball Association and National Hockey League contests were sold prior to the September-October meltdown and the leagues were locked into long term over-the-air and cable/satellite TV contracts along with marketing partnerships which were signed months before the economic crisis started.
But the calendar has caught up to sports, particularly Major League Baseball. Tickets need to be sold, marketing deals need to be signed and commercials need to be in place to pay for bills. Within the next two weeks, Major League Baseball teams will find out just how difficult the economy is as games will be played in two of the states hit hardest by home foreclosures, Florida and Arizona. If attendance is below normal in the Grapefruit and Cactus leagues, that might be a sign that some franchises may be in for some difficult times, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Florida Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
The franchise that seems to be in for the toughest season economically is the Detroit Tigers. No reorganization plans that General Motors and Chrysler submit to the White House and Congress today so they can accept government loans will help the Tigers in the near term.
The Big 3 automakers have laid off tens of thousands of workers, both blue- and white-collar workers, and the home foreclosure rate in the Detroit area is skyrocketing. A good portion of the Detroit consumer base comes from Windsor, Ontario, and other parts of Canada. The fall of the Canadian dollar has made going to baseball, hockey, football and basketball games along with college sports in the Detroit and Auburn Hills area much more expensive as Canadians are paying $1.26 Canadian per every U.S. dollar to cross the river and head into Michigan.
Even if U.S. and Canadian government loans help the Michigan-Ontario auto industry, the business will be forever changed in Michigan/Ontario and that will impact the Tigers as well as the NBA Pistons and the NHL Red Wings beginning this spring - and the NFL’s Lions and college sports next fall.
The stimulus package is designed to pump money into states, cities, towns, villages and municipalities for infrastructure development and repairs. Things like energy projects, road reconstruction which would create jobs. There also could be stadium/arena construction although that would seem to be on the low priority end behind building and repairing bridges and retrofitting buildings to make them more energy efficient. In New York, New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner, a political operative under New York City Mayors John V. Lindsay and Ed Koch in the 1970s, is turning to former New York Senator Al D'Amato's lobbying firm to help him get stimulus money in an attempt to get the stalled Atlantic Yards-Brooklyn Arena project moving.
Getting federal money for stadiums and arenas is nothing new. In the 1930s, the President Franklin Roosevelt's depression-era recovery plan included stadium and arena building under the umbrella of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Public Works Administration (PWA) agencies. Among those projects included the Aud and the War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati and other venues used in major league, minor league and college sports.
President Obama's signature on the stimulus bill could help sports owners in a variety of ways but it may take a while before the economy shows signs of recovering. In Florida, Arizona and Michigan, sports owners can only help that the economy comes back a lot sooner than hoped.
Contact the author at this address.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Should Sports Leagues Bailout Newspapers Sports Sections?
Should Sports Leagues Bailout Newspapers Sports Sections?
By Evan Weiner
12:00 PM
January 30, 2009
(New York, NY) – A few weeks ago, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggested that perhaps it was time for sports leagues like the National Basketball Association and sports teams to serious think about forming what he called a “beatwriter co-operative.” Cuban laid out a premise that “pro sports, every single league from the NFL to NBA to MLB to MLS to NHL need newspapers” because local coverage of teams on the Internet is not as extensive as it would be in a hometown newspaper.
Newspapers in the United States, Spain and France to name three countries are becoming an endangered species. The New York Times is in major financial trouble. The Chicago Tribune newspapers, which include the flagship Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun among others is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U. S. The Minneapolis Tribune is suffering the same financial fate. The Rocky Mountain News is still in business in the Denver, Colorado area but it may join the New York Sun and the Cincinnati Post as recent additions to newspaper heaven. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is on death row and will be put to bed permanently in less than two months unless a buyer emerges. The Tucson Citizen will give up the fight in March. The Baltimore Examiner will vanish in two weeks.
Gannett is ordering workers to take a one-week leave without pay. In Spain, the Metro newspapers have been put out of business. In France, the government is giving 18-year-olds a free newspaper subscription to whatever paper that 18-year-old wants in an effort to get young people interested in reading a newspaper and the country plans to double France’s advertising commitment to county newspapers.
America’s radio and TV industry are also in awful financial shape. Even the World Wide Sports Leader, ESPN, is lopping off workers.
There are numerous reasons for the state of the media industry in the U. S.. Radio was severely hampered by the 1996 Tele Communications Act which allowed companies like Clear Channel and Infinity to became behemoths and own hundreds and thousands of radio stations and the industry consolidated as by 2005 there were six major media companies controlling radio. The model proved unworkable. Clear Channel wants to exit the industry and Infinity would like to follow.
There is too much TV product now with hundreds of cable TV stations competing with the traditional American TV networks, ABC, CBS and NBC along with what really is a syndicator of product, not a network FOX. But the radio and TV discussion should be left for another day. Mark Cuban wants to talk about newspapers.
In Cuban’s Dallas market, the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram plan to share content. Sam Zell’s Chicago Tribune Company’s Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post will be sharing stories. Paradoxically, with the Internet, sports talk radio, cable TV, cell phones and radio there is more information available to the consumer but in sports, the local newspaper and the beat writer are the lifeblood between the fans and the teams.
The dirty secret that is well known in the media industry but not to fans is that sports talk radio could not exist without the beat writer. The beat writer generates the story, which the sports talk radio hosts read and then put his or hers spin on what the beat writer reported. The same holds true with TV sports readers on local news, but that might be a dying business as well as local TV news executives look at the bottom line and look to cut out costly segments of newscasts.
Cuban’s suggestion, made on December 24, 2008, would have been unworkable in the past. Newspapers do accept advertising money from teams and there are stories from the early 1960s about certain baseball writers who would pocket airline fares that were supposed to be given back to teams for flying on charters in exchange for favorable articles. But there was supposed to be a wall between a journalist and a subject that journalist was covering.
But newspapers are looking at various funding methods, including accepting donations and turning themselves into a not for profit venture. Accepting a government bailout like France is offering would have been unthinkable but the United States government has propped up ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, a plethora of regional sports networks, Comedy Central and other cable TV networks through the 1984 Cable TV Act which allowed cable systems operators to take The Weather Channel, CNN, ESPN and bundle them into a basic expanded tier and deny cable subscribers to buy those channels on an a la carte basis. CNN, MSNBC and FOX are taking money from subscribers whether those subscribers want that programming or not. Those are bona fide news organizations that exist because of the way the government allows them to be funded.
CNN, MSNBC, FOX, the New York’s area News1, News 12, the DC area’s NewsChannel 8 and other cable TV news covers the people who help fund them---the US Government.
Newspapers should not be slammed if Cuban’s idea gains traction. After all, CNN has lived that way for 25 years; they have been funded by people who are buying a basic expanded tier. Without that law, CNN, MSNBC and FOX would be scrambling to make ends meet. It is so funny that people on FOX like Sean Hannity scream about government involvement in too many programs and how a gadfly like Grover Norquist goes on cable TV shows screaming about the need for smaller government in the U. S. without acknowledging that cable TV funding method that was mandated by Congress and President Ronald Reagan, a small government advocate and someone who was for media deregulation. Hannity would not be making a living without government assistance both on Cable TV and radio.
So there is a precedent for Cuban’s newspaper bailout plan.
For what it is worth, here is the Cuban “beatwriters co-operative.” Cuban wrote, “we need to create a company that funds, depending on the size of the market and the number of teams, 2 or more writers per market, to cover our teams in depth. The writers would cover multiple teams and multiple sports. They will report to the newspapers where the articles will be placed, who will have complete editorial control. In exchange, the newspapers will provide a minimum of a full page on a daily basis in season, and some lesser amount out of season. That the coverage will include game reporting that is of far more depth than is currently in place, along with a minimum number of feature articles each week in and out of season. And most importantly, these articles will be exclusive to print subscribers”
Cuban even is suggesting a pay scale for those writers, $65,000 annually with $10,000 worth of health benefits and that big markets pay more into the “beatwriter co-operative” than small markets for the 100 writers that are needed.
Cuban did not include golf, tennis, boxing writers in his plan nor did he discuss Olympics coverage. His plan is as he pointed out, a starting point.
Whether the leagues and teams will say yes is another story. The NBA and NFL have laid off employees, individual teams have cut back employees including the Washington Redskins. Even Cuban realizes that having leagues pay for sportswriters is a “violation of editorial church and state.” But Cuban rationalized his idea by writing “watching papers going out of business and not even being able to give themselves away means its time to start a new branch of that church.”
Newspapers owners arrogance is a big part of the newspaper problem. Newspapers were slow to react to the changing world. Newspapers did survive radio, which delivered news faster than a paper in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and in World War II. They survived TV, which televised events, but newspapers didn’t know how to use new technology and have failed to become multi-media properties. Craig Newmark’s Craig’s List destroyed the help wanted, things for sale sections of newspapers and deprived papers of a major source of income. The newspapers didn’t see that coming. Nor did they see a recession coming and the tightening of credit lines.
Cuban’s suggestion might not prevent the continued erosion of sports coverage in newspapers. Cuban’s plan does not factor in the cost of putting a writer on the road which includes travel, hotel-motel, car rentals and eating bills which is a huge expense as two papers in New England have found out.
The Red Sox Nation around New England will not get stories from Boston Red Sox spring training from a beat writer for the Hartford Courant or from the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, but there will be enough coverage to go around New England. Newspapers need to get very local anyway, they need to cover school board meetings and little league baseball and if they do that people will buy the product.
By Evan Weiner
12:00 PM
January 30, 2009
(New York, NY) – A few weeks ago, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban suggested that perhaps it was time for sports leagues like the National Basketball Association and sports teams to serious think about forming what he called a “beatwriter co-operative.” Cuban laid out a premise that “pro sports, every single league from the NFL to NBA to MLB to MLS to NHL need newspapers” because local coverage of teams on the Internet is not as extensive as it would be in a hometown newspaper.
Newspapers in the United States, Spain and France to name three countries are becoming an endangered species. The New York Times is in major financial trouble. The Chicago Tribune newspapers, which include the flagship Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and the Baltimore Sun among others is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U. S. The Minneapolis Tribune is suffering the same financial fate. The Rocky Mountain News is still in business in the Denver, Colorado area but it may join the New York Sun and the Cincinnati Post as recent additions to newspaper heaven. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is on death row and will be put to bed permanently in less than two months unless a buyer emerges. The Tucson Citizen will give up the fight in March. The Baltimore Examiner will vanish in two weeks.
Gannett is ordering workers to take a one-week leave without pay. In Spain, the Metro newspapers have been put out of business. In France, the government is giving 18-year-olds a free newspaper subscription to whatever paper that 18-year-old wants in an effort to get young people interested in reading a newspaper and the country plans to double France’s advertising commitment to county newspapers.
America’s radio and TV industry are also in awful financial shape. Even the World Wide Sports Leader, ESPN, is lopping off workers.
There are numerous reasons for the state of the media industry in the U. S.. Radio was severely hampered by the 1996 Tele Communications Act which allowed companies like Clear Channel and Infinity to became behemoths and own hundreds and thousands of radio stations and the industry consolidated as by 2005 there were six major media companies controlling radio. The model proved unworkable. Clear Channel wants to exit the industry and Infinity would like to follow.
There is too much TV product now with hundreds of cable TV stations competing with the traditional American TV networks, ABC, CBS and NBC along with what really is a syndicator of product, not a network FOX. But the radio and TV discussion should be left for another day. Mark Cuban wants to talk about newspapers.
In Cuban’s Dallas market, the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram plan to share content. Sam Zell’s Chicago Tribune Company’s Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post will be sharing stories. Paradoxically, with the Internet, sports talk radio, cable TV, cell phones and radio there is more information available to the consumer but in sports, the local newspaper and the beat writer are the lifeblood between the fans and the teams.
The dirty secret that is well known in the media industry but not to fans is that sports talk radio could not exist without the beat writer. The beat writer generates the story, which the sports talk radio hosts read and then put his or hers spin on what the beat writer reported. The same holds true with TV sports readers on local news, but that might be a dying business as well as local TV news executives look at the bottom line and look to cut out costly segments of newscasts.
Cuban’s suggestion, made on December 24, 2008, would have been unworkable in the past. Newspapers do accept advertising money from teams and there are stories from the early 1960s about certain baseball writers who would pocket airline fares that were supposed to be given back to teams for flying on charters in exchange for favorable articles. But there was supposed to be a wall between a journalist and a subject that journalist was covering.
But newspapers are looking at various funding methods, including accepting donations and turning themselves into a not for profit venture. Accepting a government bailout like France is offering would have been unthinkable but the United States government has propped up ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, a plethora of regional sports networks, Comedy Central and other cable TV networks through the 1984 Cable TV Act which allowed cable systems operators to take The Weather Channel, CNN, ESPN and bundle them into a basic expanded tier and deny cable subscribers to buy those channels on an a la carte basis. CNN, MSNBC and FOX are taking money from subscribers whether those subscribers want that programming or not. Those are bona fide news organizations that exist because of the way the government allows them to be funded.
CNN, MSNBC, FOX, the New York’s area News1, News 12, the DC area’s NewsChannel 8 and other cable TV news covers the people who help fund them---the US Government.
Newspapers should not be slammed if Cuban’s idea gains traction. After all, CNN has lived that way for 25 years; they have been funded by people who are buying a basic expanded tier. Without that law, CNN, MSNBC and FOX would be scrambling to make ends meet. It is so funny that people on FOX like Sean Hannity scream about government involvement in too many programs and how a gadfly like Grover Norquist goes on cable TV shows screaming about the need for smaller government in the U. S. without acknowledging that cable TV funding method that was mandated by Congress and President Ronald Reagan, a small government advocate and someone who was for media deregulation. Hannity would not be making a living without government assistance both on Cable TV and radio.
So there is a precedent for Cuban’s newspaper bailout plan.
For what it is worth, here is the Cuban “beatwriters co-operative.” Cuban wrote, “we need to create a company that funds, depending on the size of the market and the number of teams, 2 or more writers per market, to cover our teams in depth. The writers would cover multiple teams and multiple sports. They will report to the newspapers where the articles will be placed, who will have complete editorial control. In exchange, the newspapers will provide a minimum of a full page on a daily basis in season, and some lesser amount out of season. That the coverage will include game reporting that is of far more depth than is currently in place, along with a minimum number of feature articles each week in and out of season. And most importantly, these articles will be exclusive to print subscribers”
Cuban even is suggesting a pay scale for those writers, $65,000 annually with $10,000 worth of health benefits and that big markets pay more into the “beatwriter co-operative” than small markets for the 100 writers that are needed.
Cuban did not include golf, tennis, boxing writers in his plan nor did he discuss Olympics coverage. His plan is as he pointed out, a starting point.
Whether the leagues and teams will say yes is another story. The NBA and NFL have laid off employees, individual teams have cut back employees including the Washington Redskins. Even Cuban realizes that having leagues pay for sportswriters is a “violation of editorial church and state.” But Cuban rationalized his idea by writing “watching papers going out of business and not even being able to give themselves away means its time to start a new branch of that church.”
Newspapers owners arrogance is a big part of the newspaper problem. Newspapers were slow to react to the changing world. Newspapers did survive radio, which delivered news faster than a paper in the 1920s, 30s and 40s and in World War II. They survived TV, which televised events, but newspapers didn’t know how to use new technology and have failed to become multi-media properties. Craig Newmark’s Craig’s List destroyed the help wanted, things for sale sections of newspapers and deprived papers of a major source of income. The newspapers didn’t see that coming. Nor did they see a recession coming and the tightening of credit lines.
Cuban’s suggestion might not prevent the continued erosion of sports coverage in newspapers. Cuban’s plan does not factor in the cost of putting a writer on the road which includes travel, hotel-motel, car rentals and eating bills which is a huge expense as two papers in New England have found out.
The Red Sox Nation around New England will not get stories from Boston Red Sox spring training from a beat writer for the Hartford Courant or from the Portland (Maine) Press Herald, but there will be enough coverage to go around New England. Newspapers need to get very local anyway, they need to cover school board meetings and little league baseball and if they do that people will buy the product.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Is December the Crulest Month?
Is December the Cruelest Month?
By Evan Weiner
December 29, 2008
1:30 PM EDST
(New York, NY) --- A few weeks ago I asked T. Boone Pickens about his thoughts on the economy. Pickens was not particularly optimistic that things would turn around soon, but he was hopeful that the economy would begin to recover in the third quarter (July, August and September) of 2009. The third quarter cannot come soon enough for most people including sports owners. While Steinbrenner family conducted a spending orgy for players including C. C. Sabathia, Mark Texeria and A. J. Burnett, Yankees officials, presumably led by former New York City Deputy Mayor Randy Levine, requested some $259 million for addition tax-free bonds so the team can finish off paying for the new Yankee Stadium which opens in April. The Steinbrenners spent an estimated $161 million for Sabathia, another $82 million for Burnett and $180 million for Texeria or an estimated $420 million on three players yet need tax-free bonds from financially strapped New York City for the new stadium.
During Hank and Hal Steinbrenner’s wild spending spree, other franchises and sports related entities began looking for line lines. There will be no Tour de Georgia bike race in 2009 nor will there be an Arena Football League season. Both plan to operate in 2010 if they can find sponsors and backers. Hockey’s Double A ECHL has lost two teams as owners threw in the towel in Augusta, Ga. And Fresno, Ca. The LPGA is reducing the number of tournaments it will hold in 2009. While there will be a bailout or loans to the Big 3 automakers from both the United States and Canadian governments, it is very likely that GM, Chrysler and Ford will be pulling money out of sports. GM ended its estimated annual seven million dollar Buick marketing agreement with golfer Tiger Woods and dropped partnerships with the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates. NASCAR was very interested in the bailouts because they rely on the Big 3. Chrysler sponsors three teams, Gillett Evernham, Penske Racing and Petty Enterprises. In the past, the Big 3 have poured more than $300 million into NASCAR, that is going to change drastically though going ahead. NASCAR put out a statement on December 10 suggesting that attendance will drop in 2009. NASCAR officials expect a drop in sports sponsorship revenues. The International Olympic Committee has decided to wait a year and will put the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games up for bid for American TV rights after the groups awards the 2016 Games in October. The American TV networks provide the IOC with its biggest revenue source.
A drop in attendance and sponsorship put the Fresno Falcons out of business.
Although the NFL is still swimming in money and has been recession proof, the league is laying off people, following the NBA’s cut of nine percent of staff. But the one of the NFL’s television partners, NBCUniversal is having problems selling commercials for February’s Super Bowl. NBC has rejected Cesario Migliozzi plan for eight companies to come together and pay for a $3 million spot. The recession has even hit the Super Bowl.
The recession has not really hit the NFL, the NBA or the NHL yet, although the NFL kept its playoff ticket package prices at 2007-08 levels. The leagues will feel the pinch beginning in 2009. The first North American “Major” league that will feel the full fury of the economic slowdown will be Major League Baseball. The Yankees and to some extent, the Wilpon family New York Mets have spent some money but there have been very few players who have benefited from free agency this winter. Wilpon has had an interesting off-season. His team has been defending itself for taking money from the cash strapped Citibank, an institution that has been given money by the American government to continue operations after it cut an estimated 50,000 employees and Wilpon apparently was involved in the Bernard Madoff ‘s $50 billion ponzi scheme. The Citibank agreement that provides Wilpon with about $400 million for 20 years for naming rights at the Mets new Queens stadium is a public relations nightmare. There will be jokes about the Mets late season collapses in 2007 and 2008 and Wilpon’s business partners, the collapsed Citibank and Madoff, Citibank is the major problem for the Wilpon’s most public business, the Mets. Wilpon’s request for additional tax-free bonds has been flying under the radar because of the Yankees spending, the Citibank bailout and Madoff. But to be far to Wilpon, he signed the Citibank agreement long before the bank’s failure and a deal is a deal, no matter how unpalatable it might be to US Congressman or to the man/woman in the street.
The other baseball franchises are not sure of their ticket sales yet for 2009 or how many fewer marketing dollars will be coming into their coffers. Advertiser dollars will be scarcer in 2009. Arizona and Toronto have fired staff and MLB has implemented a hiring freeze. MLB has launched a baseball network in the United States in partnership with cable companies. MLB still is moving ahead with this year’s World Baseball Classic, recession or no recession, MLB has to maintain a global presence. So does the NFL and despite the global economic crisis, the league will play another regular season agme in London, UK in 2009.
The NBA and NHL will see just how much the economy has hurt them come playoff time in April when new ticket packages have to be bought. The NFL is preparing for a turndown in 2009. Detroit has to be a significant concern for MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. Windsor, Ontario is a major part of the Detroit market place, the US dollar costs Canadians about a $1.22 these days, which makes it more expensive to attend Detroit sporting events. Chrysler has shut down production for a month, even with the bailouts, the Big 3 will be leaner and trimmer and monies that might have gone into Tigers, Lions, Pistons and Red Wing games from the automakers and their employees may not be available at former levels. That will hurt the Detroit teams, on top of that, Mike Ilitch has raised 2009 Tigers ticket prices. The other border city that might have some concerns is Buffalo, New York. The Sabres and Bills have Canadian backers and Seattle is close enough to the Canadian border and that could impact some Mariners or Seahawks fans who travel from British Columbia to see a game.
There are additional worries. All the major sports leagues have deals with SiriusXM Radio, the satellite company which has some very major financial problems. The NFL is looking for a new American radio deal and its long time radio partner, Westwood One, has been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange and even though the network is trying to add content, like former US Senator Fred Thompson’s new daily show that will replace Bill O’Reilly, some soon to be laid off Westwood One employees may not be getting severance packages, that is how dire the situation is over at Westwood One. The NFL isn’t looking for billions from radio, maybe $20 million a year will get the contract.
Then there is the most tradition stream of getting the word out for sports teams. Newspapers. It has been a bad year for newspapers, one paper, the New York Sun folded, one chain, the Tribune Company is in bankruptcy, the New York Times is hemorrhaging money and may sell off its stake in the Boston Red Sox/New England Sports Network/Fenway Sports Group. Other newspapers have cut back; Newsday has decided to lop off three sports columnists among the group of employees that will be let go. The Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun have combined some operations and papers are not sending reporters out on the road to cover games as frequently as in the days gone by. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks leagues should work with newspapers and form a “beatwriter cooperative” which would be funded by the leagues, who would hire reporters who would write exclusively for newspapers in sports markets and their work would be placed in newspapers sports sections.
Cuban admits that this could be construed as conflict of interest but he argues that if it can help newspapers, it should be considered.
The sports landscape is changing rapidly. The heady days of just four months ago when global expansion, which all of the North American leagues were pushing, was in full speed mode, where the rising value of the Euro was being bandied about by European basketball powers as a way to attract Kobe Bryant or Lebron James and the Kontinental Hockey League, backed by oil money and $147 a barrel oil prices was ready to challenge the NHL for players. There seems to be a market contraction going on that was unimagined a year ago. The causalities are beginning to add up. Two ECHL teams are gone, a number of LPGA events have been canceled, the Arena Football League has suspended operations, there are questions about the stability of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Tampa Bay Lightning and the viability of the proposed Brooklyn Arena for the New Jersey Nets and there is still a lack of new NFL facilities in San Diego, Santa Clara and Los Angeles in financially strapped California. T. Boone Pickens better be right that the economy will start showing signs of life in the third quarter, if it doesn’t happen, cities holding notes on publicly built arenas may default, some sports teams will move or fold and an unwelcomed market correction, unwelcomed by players, will impose a Darwinism in sports that has not be seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
By Evan Weiner
December 29, 2008
1:30 PM EDST
(New York, NY) --- A few weeks ago I asked T. Boone Pickens about his thoughts on the economy. Pickens was not particularly optimistic that things would turn around soon, but he was hopeful that the economy would begin to recover in the third quarter (July, August and September) of 2009. The third quarter cannot come soon enough for most people including sports owners. While Steinbrenner family conducted a spending orgy for players including C. C. Sabathia, Mark Texeria and A. J. Burnett, Yankees officials, presumably led by former New York City Deputy Mayor Randy Levine, requested some $259 million for addition tax-free bonds so the team can finish off paying for the new Yankee Stadium which opens in April. The Steinbrenners spent an estimated $161 million for Sabathia, another $82 million for Burnett and $180 million for Texeria or an estimated $420 million on three players yet need tax-free bonds from financially strapped New York City for the new stadium.
During Hank and Hal Steinbrenner’s wild spending spree, other franchises and sports related entities began looking for line lines. There will be no Tour de Georgia bike race in 2009 nor will there be an Arena Football League season. Both plan to operate in 2010 if they can find sponsors and backers. Hockey’s Double A ECHL has lost two teams as owners threw in the towel in Augusta, Ga. And Fresno, Ca. The LPGA is reducing the number of tournaments it will hold in 2009. While there will be a bailout or loans to the Big 3 automakers from both the United States and Canadian governments, it is very likely that GM, Chrysler and Ford will be pulling money out of sports. GM ended its estimated annual seven million dollar Buick marketing agreement with golfer Tiger Woods and dropped partnerships with the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates. NASCAR was very interested in the bailouts because they rely on the Big 3. Chrysler sponsors three teams, Gillett Evernham, Penske Racing and Petty Enterprises. In the past, the Big 3 have poured more than $300 million into NASCAR, that is going to change drastically though going ahead. NASCAR put out a statement on December 10 suggesting that attendance will drop in 2009. NASCAR officials expect a drop in sports sponsorship revenues. The International Olympic Committee has decided to wait a year and will put the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and the 2016 Summer Games up for bid for American TV rights after the groups awards the 2016 Games in October. The American TV networks provide the IOC with its biggest revenue source.
A drop in attendance and sponsorship put the Fresno Falcons out of business.
Although the NFL is still swimming in money and has been recession proof, the league is laying off people, following the NBA’s cut of nine percent of staff. But the one of the NFL’s television partners, NBCUniversal is having problems selling commercials for February’s Super Bowl. NBC has rejected Cesario Migliozzi plan for eight companies to come together and pay for a $3 million spot. The recession has even hit the Super Bowl.
The recession has not really hit the NFL, the NBA or the NHL yet, although the NFL kept its playoff ticket package prices at 2007-08 levels. The leagues will feel the pinch beginning in 2009. The first North American “Major” league that will feel the full fury of the economic slowdown will be Major League Baseball. The Yankees and to some extent, the Wilpon family New York Mets have spent some money but there have been very few players who have benefited from free agency this winter. Wilpon has had an interesting off-season. His team has been defending itself for taking money from the cash strapped Citibank, an institution that has been given money by the American government to continue operations after it cut an estimated 50,000 employees and Wilpon apparently was involved in the Bernard Madoff ‘s $50 billion ponzi scheme. The Citibank agreement that provides Wilpon with about $400 million for 20 years for naming rights at the Mets new Queens stadium is a public relations nightmare. There will be jokes about the Mets late season collapses in 2007 and 2008 and Wilpon’s business partners, the collapsed Citibank and Madoff, Citibank is the major problem for the Wilpon’s most public business, the Mets. Wilpon’s request for additional tax-free bonds has been flying under the radar because of the Yankees spending, the Citibank bailout and Madoff. But to be far to Wilpon, he signed the Citibank agreement long before the bank’s failure and a deal is a deal, no matter how unpalatable it might be to US Congressman or to the man/woman in the street.
The other baseball franchises are not sure of their ticket sales yet for 2009 or how many fewer marketing dollars will be coming into their coffers. Advertiser dollars will be scarcer in 2009. Arizona and Toronto have fired staff and MLB has implemented a hiring freeze. MLB has launched a baseball network in the United States in partnership with cable companies. MLB still is moving ahead with this year’s World Baseball Classic, recession or no recession, MLB has to maintain a global presence. So does the NFL and despite the global economic crisis, the league will play another regular season agme in London, UK in 2009.
The NBA and NHL will see just how much the economy has hurt them come playoff time in April when new ticket packages have to be bought. The NFL is preparing for a turndown in 2009. Detroit has to be a significant concern for MLB, the NFL, the NBA and the NHL. Windsor, Ontario is a major part of the Detroit market place, the US dollar costs Canadians about a $1.22 these days, which makes it more expensive to attend Detroit sporting events. Chrysler has shut down production for a month, even with the bailouts, the Big 3 will be leaner and trimmer and monies that might have gone into Tigers, Lions, Pistons and Red Wing games from the automakers and their employees may not be available at former levels. That will hurt the Detroit teams, on top of that, Mike Ilitch has raised 2009 Tigers ticket prices. The other border city that might have some concerns is Buffalo, New York. The Sabres and Bills have Canadian backers and Seattle is close enough to the Canadian border and that could impact some Mariners or Seahawks fans who travel from British Columbia to see a game.
There are additional worries. All the major sports leagues have deals with SiriusXM Radio, the satellite company which has some very major financial problems. The NFL is looking for a new American radio deal and its long time radio partner, Westwood One, has been delisted by the New York Stock Exchange and even though the network is trying to add content, like former US Senator Fred Thompson’s new daily show that will replace Bill O’Reilly, some soon to be laid off Westwood One employees may not be getting severance packages, that is how dire the situation is over at Westwood One. The NFL isn’t looking for billions from radio, maybe $20 million a year will get the contract.
Then there is the most tradition stream of getting the word out for sports teams. Newspapers. It has been a bad year for newspapers, one paper, the New York Sun folded, one chain, the Tribune Company is in bankruptcy, the New York Times is hemorrhaging money and may sell off its stake in the Boston Red Sox/New England Sports Network/Fenway Sports Group. Other newspapers have cut back; Newsday has decided to lop off three sports columnists among the group of employees that will be let go. The Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun have combined some operations and papers are not sending reporters out on the road to cover games as frequently as in the days gone by. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban thinks leagues should work with newspapers and form a “beatwriter cooperative” which would be funded by the leagues, who would hire reporters who would write exclusively for newspapers in sports markets and their work would be placed in newspapers sports sections.
Cuban admits that this could be construed as conflict of interest but he argues that if it can help newspapers, it should be considered.
The sports landscape is changing rapidly. The heady days of just four months ago when global expansion, which all of the North American leagues were pushing, was in full speed mode, where the rising value of the Euro was being bandied about by European basketball powers as a way to attract Kobe Bryant or Lebron James and the Kontinental Hockey League, backed by oil money and $147 a barrel oil prices was ready to challenge the NHL for players. There seems to be a market contraction going on that was unimagined a year ago. The causalities are beginning to add up. Two ECHL teams are gone, a number of LPGA events have been canceled, the Arena Football League has suspended operations, there are questions about the stability of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Tampa Bay Lightning and the viability of the proposed Brooklyn Arena for the New Jersey Nets and there is still a lack of new NFL facilities in San Diego, Santa Clara and Los Angeles in financially strapped California. T. Boone Pickens better be right that the economy will start showing signs of life in the third quarter, if it doesn’t happen, cities holding notes on publicly built arenas may default, some sports teams will move or fold and an unwelcomed market correction, unwelcomed by players, will impose a Darwinism in sports that has not be seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
evanjweiner@yahoo.com
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