By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
November 19, 2012
“Bust”: Top Five Reasons the Armageddon is Near
1. Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton is threatening to reverse the Vikings’ stadium deal if the team uses PSLs to partially finance its $477 million contribution. Dayton also expressed his displeasure with the Vikings’ plan to play at least one home game in London over the next 15 years.
2. State Farm has decided not to renew its Major League Baseball corporate sponsorship or its Home Run Derby title sponsorship, according to Terry Lefton of SportsBusiness Journal. The decision leaves MLB scrambling to find a new sponsor to cover State Farm’s estimated $10 million annual commitment.
3. Two of the three Veteran’s Day weekend men’s college basketball games scheduled to be played on aircraft carriers were canceled because of weather issues. Cold weather in Charleston and Jacksonville resulted in too much condensation on the courts, which made playing the games unsafe.
4. The Portland Trail Blazers’ 195-game sellout streak at the Rose Garden is officially over. Though the streak dated back to December 2007, fans last season questioned its authenticity when the arena had dozens of empty seats. The Blazers hold the pro sports sellout record at 814 games from 1977-1995.
5. NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski was fined $25,000 for tweeting from his car during a red flag at Phoenix International Raceway. Keselowski previously received a lot of attention for tweeting during a delay in this year’s Daytona 500, but NASCAR says it changed its social media policy after that race.
“Boom”: Top Five Reasons that Prosperity is Right Around the Corner
1. ESPN is closing in on a 12-year, $6 billion deal to televise the entire college football playoff system, according to John Ourand & Michael Smith of SportsBusiness Journal. With the money ESPN has already committed to the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Sugar Bowl, the company’s total postseason rights deals are worth $7.3 billion over 12 years.
2. MLB owners officially ratified the league’s new TV contracts, which are worth a total of $12.4 billion from 2014-2021. Combined, the new contracts with Fox, ESPN and Turner, will more than double MLB’s current annual TV rights fees.
3. The NBA projects 22 of the league’s 30 teams will make money this season, an increase from the 18 teams that turned a profit last year, according to John Lombard of SportsBusiness Journal. The league also expects total revenue for 2012-13 to reach a record $5 billion, up from $4.2 billion last season.
4. The Arena Football League has signed a one-year title sponsorship deal with prepaid cell phone company Net10 Wireless. The deal marks the AFL’s first title sponsorship. The league also signed a two-year TV rights agreement with the CBS Sports Network. Terms of both deals weren’t disclosed.
5. Despite rumors to the contrary, NASCAR driver Danica Patrick will appear in both of Go Daddy’s Super Bowl commercials. Patrick has been featured in all of Go Daddy’s Super Bowl ads since partnering with the company in 2007, and her 10 appearances over that time is the most of any athlete.
“Hope”: Top Five Reasons That Creativity is the Key to Economic Survival
1. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is courting the Carolina Panthers for relocation because the team owns its own stadium and wouldn’t have to break a lease to move. Panthers owner Jerry Richardson reportedly would only be interested in Los Angeles if Charlotte doesn’t help him pay for renovations to Bank of America Stadium.
2. Texas A&M QB Johnny Manziel and his family are working with the school to trademark the phrase “Johnny Football.” Neither the school nor his family can sell “Johnny Football” merchandise without affecting Manziel’s eligibility, but Texas A&M is expected to go after vendors selling illegal products.
3. F1 is considering creating an “Americas Series” that would feature races in Brazil, Canada, and the United States in order to grow the popularity of the sport on this side of the world. F1 this past weekend held its first race in Austin, Texas.
4. Having gone through the process before with Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets are leveraging the offseason addition of Jeremy Lin to sign sponsors in Asia. The Rockets this season have five sponsors that do business in China, with three more sponsorship deals pending.
5. Having signed Cuban OF Yasiel Puig in June, and recently winning the rights to negotiate with Taiwanese P Ryu-Hyun Jin, it’s clear the Los Angeles Dodgers’ new ownership group is putting an emphasis on finding international players. The Dodgers last week hired six new scouts for the team’s international scouting department.
