Media & Entertainment Law

Mazel Tov Yuri, Israel's First World Champion

Posted on November 15, 2009
Last night's Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao title match was being hailed as the return of boxing for the press attention it drew and the number of celebrities who attended the fight.  The early rounds didn't disappoint but after Pacquiao dropped Cotto in the fourth round, Cotto was never the same and Pacquaio hammered him relentlessly until the fight was stopped at 55 seconds of the 12th round...

5 Clubs Beakaway from USL-1 and Form New League

Posted on November 13, 2009
The current situation in professional soccer in the US and Canada at the level below MLS can charitably be described as chaotic.  Earlier this year, Nike sold USL-1, the recognized, and despite its name, Division II soccer league in the US and Canada...

Leafs Prove Losing Can Pay in the NHL

Posted on November 12, 2009
Forbes is out with its annual look at the business of the NHL and its valuation of NHL clubs.  A number of things are striking at first glance of the valuation of the franchises.  The first is that it is clear that in Toronto, you can put six junior league players on the ice and you'll pack the Air Canada Centre...

Interesting Reading

Posted on November 11, 2009
Below is a collection of links to articles I have read lately that I think you may find interesting:BARTICLEURLCo-owner of Boston Celtics running for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat (Bloomberg)BARTICLEURLBattle of the Blades, Canada's answer to Dancing with the Stars naturally takes place on ice (NYT)BARTICLEURLTwenty-Five most valuable blogs, and no SportsBiz was not among them (24/7)BARTICLEURLNike extends its sponsorship of USABasketball for 4 years at $4 million per year (Sportspromedia)BARTICLEURLAt least 25 college football coaches make more than $2 million a year, up from 12 in 2007, and a mere 9 in the dark old days of 2006 (USA Today)BARTICLEURLShould football be played without helmet to cut down on head injuries ( I think no pads or helmets a la Aussie Rules Football may significantly cut down on all injuries)(WSJ)BARTICLEURL

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2020 Olympics

Posted on November 11, 2009
Now that the 2016 Summer Olympics have been awarded to Rio, campaigning has begun for the 2020 Games.  Candidate cities are starting to express their interest or at least begin a whisper campaign of their candidacy.  In addition, applications for the 2018 Winter Games have been received by the IOC from three cities, with cities lining up to bid for the 2022 Games...

Where's the Outrage: Clips Owner Pays Millions to Settle Racial Discrimination Charges

Posted on November 07, 2009
Donald Sterling is the not only the extraordinarily cheap owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, but a Southern California real estate developer with hundred of apartments throughout the Southland.  Three years ago the Justice Department sued him alleging that he favored Korean tenants and  systematically discriminated against blacks, Hispanics and familirs with children in renting apartments...

Adidas Ends Relationship With UCF Over Jordan Wearing Nike

Posted on November 05, 2009
The UCF Knights basketball had an exhibition game against St. Leo Wednesday night and every player but one wore adidas shoes as is required by the school's contract with the shoe and apparel contract.  The exception, as we would expect, was Marcus Jordan, Michael's youngest son...

Adidas Plans Huge Push Behind World Cup and New Zidane Boot

Posted on November 05, 2009
Athletic wear sales tend to run in cycles.  Interest often peaks around major sporting events and companies assoicated with star athletes see their sales rise as the athletes medals move up the metal scale.  With 2010 approaching, adidas sees its biggest marketing event of every four year cycle ahead and is now taking steps to position itself for maximum advantage...

Election Results; The Day After

Posted on November 04, 2009
Yesterday's elections produced a few surprises and a couple of results with significant impact in the world of sports.  First, the upset victory of Chris Christie in New Jersey, where he knocked off incumbent governor Jon Corzine puts the renovation of the Izod Center, the current home of the New Jersey Nets in doubt as well as any funds needed to complete the nearby Xanadu project...

Rondo Signs for $55 Million; Did Celtics Overpay?

Posted on November 04, 2009
It's been reported last night and today that the Celtics have signed point guard Rajon Rondo to a five year contract, worth at least $55 million.  He would have been a restricted free agent at the end of the season, and likely the best point guard on the market, but he was comfortable in Boston and wanted to stay...

BetonsSports.com Founder Gets More than Four Years in Jail

Posted on November 03, 2009
Concluding a more than four year investigation, BetonSports.com founder Gary Kaplan pleaded guilty yesterday to several felony counts and was sentenced to more than four years in jail.  Kaplan, jailed since his arrest more than two years ago, had been charged by the US Attorney in St...

Newstex Interview

Posted on October 30, 2009
An interview I did with Newstex,  the excelllent content syndicator, can be found here.  If you're not familiar with Newstex, they syndicate content to a variety of outlets including Reuters and Lexis-Nexis.  You can find out more about what they do here...

North American Sports Day

Posted on October 29, 2009
Sunday will be a groundbreaking day in the annals of North American sports  As far as I've been able to determine, Sunday will be the first day on which all four/five major professional sports leagues have played regular season or playoff games on the same day...

McCourts Battle Each Other Tougher Than Dodgers Fought Phils

Posted on October 29, 2009
The McCourt divorce is going to be the gift that keeps on giving this season.  Already, 700 pages of documents have been dumped on Los Angeles Superior Court, and the fight is just beginning.  We're talking about preliminary motions here; we haven't even gotten to any of the really good stuff...

Coyotes Sold to the NHL

Posted on October 27, 2009
Phoneix, your long nightmare appears to be over.  Jerry Moyes has agreed to sell the Coyotes to the NHL.  While the deal must still be approved by the bankruptcy court judge, that would seem to be mostly formality at this point since the deal was struck under his guidance, or shall we say stern warnings and nasty stares and other signs of what exactly he wanted to have happen...

Great Recession Hits Horse Sales

Posted on September 30, 2009
The Keeneland September Yearling Sale is the largest and usually most expensive sale of thoroughbred yearlings in the world. It recently concluded its annual 14 day run while posting the largest declines in its history, as the full weight of the global economic crisis and the difficulties faced by horse racing in states that have not adopted some form of casino gambling or video poker, primarily Kentucky and Maryland...

Why Rent Your Stadium Seat When You Can Own It?

Posted on September 30, 2009
The introduction of personal seat licenses about 20 years ago revolutionized the financing of stadium and arena construction around the country. By asking fans to pony up a lump sum merely for the right to buy tickets, team owners and colleges and universities created a revenue stream basically out of thin air...

NFL Study Finds LInk to Dementia

Posted on September 30, 2009
The defending Heisman Trophy winner, heart and soul of the number one college football team in the country and the man crush of half the state of Florida, Tim Tebow, suffered a concussion in Florida's destruction of Kentucky last Saturday. Tebow's injury was significant enough to warrant his spending the night in the hospital in Lexington before returning to Gainesville on Sunday...

Yankee (or Gotham Redux) Bowl Slated for 2010

Posted on September 30, 2009
The Big East, Big XII and the New York Yankees will announce tomorrow the creation of a new bowl game to be played in new Yankee Stadium. The game will pit the fourth place finisher from the Big East against the seventh place finisher from the Big XII, with the inaugural game taking place following this season, assuming NCAA certification can be obtained in time...

2016 Olympics Winner's Stock Market May Get Boost

Posted on September 30, 2009
Seemingly counter-intuitive, at least to me, a study reported by Bloomberg claims that in the five days following the award of the hosting of an Olympics the stock market of the new host gains an average of 2%. I say counter-intuitive because with the exception of the recent games staged in America, almost every Olympics in the last 30 years or more has lost money, often considerable money...

Tuesday Tidbits and More

Posted on September 29, 2009
Sorry for the absence of posts the last several days. I've had family in town and with Yom Kippur, I've been away from my computer, so I'll try to catch up by throwing up a few links I had been collecting without too much commentary. There may be another post or two today that will be more of the regular pearls of wisdom you've grown accustomed to reading...

Coyotes Will Stay in Phoenix For Upcoming Season

Posted on September 24, 2009
While Coyotes' fans, Jim Balsillie and the NHL await a bankruptcy judge's ruling on who will be the next owner of the team, Balsillie, who intends to move the club to Hamilton, Ontario if he is the winner, committed to keep the team in Phoenix for the upcoming season...

Adidas, Puma to Patch 60 Year Feud

Posted on September 21, 2009
The sports shoe giant Adidas and smaller rival Puma were born of a feud between brothers in a small German town more than 60 years ago. The two companies were formed in 1948 when Adolf and Rudolf Dass had a falling out during World War II and split up their growing athletic shoe business...

Thoroughbred Yearling Sale Prices Fall for Third Year

Posted on September 21, 2009
It's the perfect storm of financial disaster for the thoroughbred breeding business. In 2007, when the current crop of yearlings which are now going through the sales ring were conceived, stud fees were at their recent peak. As those yearlings now come to market, breeders are faced with the Great Recession, an oversupply of foals as a result of the breeding boom in the high times of 2007 and shrinking demand for horses as a result of the difficulties race tracks face...

Nets New Owner to Be a Russian?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Now that the Nets owner Bruce Ratner has secured all the approvals necessary to build his proposed new Barclays Arena in Brooklyn, the final search for the needed $700 million to fund construction is underway. In addition, or as part and parcel of the arena funding depending on which story you believe, he is negotiating a sale of a substantial and controlling (or managing) interest in the team itself...

How the Forbes 50 Live

Posted on September 18, 2009
If you have ever wondered how the Forbes top 50 (well, 51 to be exact) lived, the Wall Street Journal today gave us a picture of the lifestyle of at least one member. Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is a Russian oligarch, that fast fading breed of natural resource plundering friends of the Kremlin who made billions in the transformation of the old Soviet empire into the free-wheeling capitalist wild west of the late 90s...

The CEO of the WWE Wants to Be Your US Senator

Posted on September 17, 2009
if you live in Connecticut, that is. Of course, the question is, wasn't one former WWE character in politics enough for this country? Apparently not, as Jesse Ventura's former boss, Linda McMahon, CEO of the WWE and the wife of WWE chairman and impressario Vince McMahon has announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination to the US Senate in 2010...

Premier League and UEFA Propose New Spending Requirements

Posted on September 15, 2009
It seems to be soccer week here at SportsBiz and we're back in Europe today. Both the English Premier League and UEFA have proposed new financial rules in response to the flood of money that has been flowing into the game over the last few years. Let's look at the EPL first, as the reaction of the Premier League's clubs will impact the ability of UEFA head, Michael Platini's ability to get his proposals adopted...

Liverpool Signs New Jersey Sposnor

Posted on September 14, 2009
Liverpool's search for a jersey sponsor to replace Carlsberg, its sponsor for the past 18 years is over. The club has signed a new five year deal with London based bank, Standard Chartered, for four years, for what is believed to be 80 million pounds a year, equal to the deal Manchester United has had with AIG, the recognized highest jersey deal in soccer...

Coyotes Auction Ends With No Decision

Posted on September 12, 2009
Friday's auction hearing in the Coyotes' bankruptcy ended with Judge Baum requesting lawyers for the NHL and Jim Balsillie, the two bidders for the club, to file written versions of their revised bids by Tuesday and he will review them and then render a decision...

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