It’s New Years Day and here in the River City, dawn is breaking cold and grey but thankfully free of snow.  I’m sitting at my computer trying to while away the hours until kickoff of the Outback Bowl to watch the Cats return to a New Years Day bowl for the first time since the 1997 Citrus Bowl (now known as the Capital One Bowl for who knows how much longer given Capital One’s financial condition).  I thought it might be a good time to revisit the 2009 sports business stories that were worth discussing.

Fortunately for us, the folks at Bloombeg’s Business Week did that for us, with their list of the ten most important sports business moments of 2009.  We could argue about the order of events all day and over the inclusion of some of them, but I suspect there is little disagreement or doubt about the number one story on Business Week’s list: the self-generated implosion of Tiger Woods’ public image and with it his endorsement career, at least for the moment.  This is, as we all know, an ongoing story, as was confirmed yet again on Thursday with the announcement by AT&T that it was ending its sponsorship of him which included its name on his golf bag.  That leaves Nike as the only major sponsor which has not indicated that it is either dropping Woods, reevaluating its relationship or putting its Woods ads on hiatus.  But then, Nike has a history with athletes in similar situations and in at least the case of Kobe it has worked out well for Nike to stick around.

There were several events or stories that deserved to be on the list that Business Week omitted.  The inclusion of new Cowboys Stadium was appropriate, if perhaps a bit too high, but it was not the only new stadium that debuted in 2009.  Now, you can treat new Yankees Stadium and CitiField in the story about the Yankees World Series or you can discuss them here but I think both deserve mention as their potential impact will be nearly as great as Cowboys Stadium.  For one, CitiField may be the last major naming rights deal we’ll see for quite some time – certainly at the $40 million level.

The fabulous fillies, Zenyatta and my pick for Horse of the Year, Rachel Alexandra, deserve mention as they not only each achieved milestone and unprecedented victories, but brought new interest to a sport in desperate need of new fans.  Let’s hope that both will continue racing in 2010.

As we look forward to 2010, there are a few trends we can see developing.  Labor unrest is due in the major professional sports league which could lead to dreaded work stoppages.  The NFL collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of next season and talks to date have been unproductive.  MLB talks between owners and the MLBPA have been similarly non-productive.  The issues in both cases involve revenue sharing and the owners are rebelling against what they deem to be existing CBAs that favor the players.  It will be a long year of hearing about mediation, arbitration and lawyer speak.

2010 is both an Olympic and World Cup year so we will be treated to world sports on a global scale.  The Vancouver Olympics begin on February 12 with the World Cup following in South Africa this summer.  Both will showcase sports that are not in the mainstream of the American sporting consciousness; both will kickstart interest in those sports, including a boost to MLS, which will continue to grow and show the other major professional leagues the way to integrate corporate sponsors onto jerseys, facilities and gear that fans will buy in ways that not only will not offend the fans but may actually encourage them to patronize the sponsor.

You just have to love the Dodgers; they’re just a fountain of stories this year.  It will be almost a shame to see the McCourts divorce ever get settled.  Now, the amazingly bizarre stories have spread to the dugout.  Former Dodger pitcher Chan Ho Park has sued his former batterymate, claiming that catcher Chad Krueter stiffed him on a $460,000 loan. 

Park, now pitching for the Phillies, loaned the money to Krueter in 2005.  Krueter signed a promissory note but according to Park’s complaint, made only one payment of $290,000.  Park wants the balance together with unpaid interest and fees totaling $226,358.76.

I wonder if the Dodgers can negotiated a bulk rate on court costs with the LA County Superior Court.

I’ll be traveling with my family between now and New Year’s so expect posting to be sporadic if at all.  In the meantime, gorge yourself on eggnog and bowl games and I’ll be back with you in full force come the new year.

Best wishes to all of you for a belated Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas and for all of you my hope that you have a safe, happy, prosperous and above all, healthy new year to you and your family.

Finally, I can’t wait to see Fitz lead the Cats win their first bowl since 1949, on New Years Day no less, when the War Eagles go down in flames.

Reality, this is the NFL; NFL, this is Reality, now shake hands and come out with real plans to deal with concussions.  After years of studies that were performed in a manner similar to those conducted by cigarette manufacturers into the safety of long-term tobacco use, the NFL has finally acknowledged that concussions can lead to long-term problems in the brain. 
 
In a telephone interview on Sunday, league spokesman Greg Aiello said, “It’s quite obvious from the medical research that’s been done that concussions can lead to long-term problems.”  Of course, he wasn’t referring to the league’s own studies which have been so badly mismanaged and biased that the league has been forced to suspend them and receive the resignations of the co-chairmen of its concussion committee.

The NFL has finally begun to revamp its rules regarding concussions.  Players now must be cleared by brain-injury experts unaffiliated with the team, and cannot return to a game or practice in which they have shown any significant sign of concussion.  Hopefully, these rule changes will be implemented at all levels of football and other contact sports including hockey and maybe even lacrosse, although the incidents of concussion in lacrosse are certainly not as frequent.  The long-term cost of concussion is present no matter what, the severity of the brain damage is usually determined by the frequency of the concussions or the closeness in time between multiple concussions.  Any rules and practices that can minimize those factors should be welcome by all sports administrators for the benefit of the sports and all those who play them.

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Since Christmas is fast approaching, and you may be running out of ideas for gifts, I thought I would share a list of some of the sports and sports business related books from 2009 that I have enjoyed this year and found worthy of recommending.  There are in no particular order and in the case of The Blind Side, was just reissued in 2009 to tie-in with the movie (which you should go see if you haven’t).

If you have any other suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird, Earvin “Magic” Johnson with Jackie MacMullan

Bottom of the Ninth: Branch Rickey, Casey Stengel, and the Daring Scheme to Save Baseball from Itselff, by Michael Shapiro

Never Make the First Offer: (Except When You Should) Wisdom from a Master Dealmaker (Portfolio), by Donald Dell with John Boswell

What Were They Thinking?: The Brainless Blunders That Changed Sports History, by Kyle Garlett

The Blind Side , by Michael Lewis

Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey–and Even Iraq–Are Destined to Become the Kings of the Worlds Most Popular Sport by Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski

The Beckham Experiment by Grant Wahl

The NBA should soon have its second major international owner, as Chinese investor Albert Hung has finalized a deal to purchase a fifteen percent in the Cleveland Cavaliers, which would make him the team’s second largest owner behind the club’s principal owner Dan Gilbert.  The sale needs to be approved by the league’s Board of Governors.

The sale to Hung is likely to accelerate the expansion of NBA activity in China, especially that of the Cavaliers and LeBron James.  It may well become a factor in the free agent wooing of James at the end of the season.  James has extensive endorsement activities in China which would undoubtedly could be enhanced through the connections possessed by Mr. Hung.  Since LeBron is on a quest to become a billionaire, that endorsement edge in the Chinese market combined with the Cavs ability to pay more than any other team and the Cavs hometown appeal may all combine to keep LeBron in Cleveland.  At least Dan Gilbert hopes so.

With this Tiger story it doesn’t seem to matter when you decide to write a story, pen a post or whatever, it will be out of date almost as soon as it is released.  No sooner had I posted yesterday’s post on the impact of Tiger’s behavior on his endorsement empire, then Accenture announced it was terminating its relationship with him.  Of course, this had been foreshadowed by his disappearance from the company’s website as I reported yesterday, but Accenture’s announcement marks the first company to publicly break with Tiger.

Accenture found itself in a no-win situation.  It had built its entire marketing campaign around Tiger, with its ads carrying the tag line “Go, Be a Tiger” for the last six years.  It has been a highly successful campaign according to the company and the company is now forced into a high stakes rush to find a new marketing campaign.  In the meantime, I would assume that airport billboards around the world will be changed to remove Tiger and replace that picture with something carrying just the company logo.

I’ve refrained from commenting on the ongoing Tiger affairs, since so long as they were nothing but tabloid  fodder, I felt no reason to add anything to a story that I felt, and still feel, is mostly personal and not worthy of the attention it is receiving.  Now, that Tiger has announced his temporary suspension of play on the Tour, and it appears that his centi-million endorsement empire is beginning to implode, it becomes a story worthy of our attention.  I hope that Tiger and Elin find a solution that works for them away from the prying eyes of the public; I’m somewhat doubtful that will be the case.

Manny Pacquaio and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have purportedly agreed to all of the major terms of a deal to fight each other on March 13, with an announcement coming as soon as Tuesday.  Top Rank is promoting the fight which may turn out to be one of the highest grossing fights on record.  For Bob Arum and Top Rank’s sake, it better be.

Each fighter will earn $20 million for the fight, with the possibility of earning as much as $40 million, depending on the pay-per-view returns.  Interest in staging the fight has come from  Las Vegas, Dallas and New Orleans.  Las Vegas was originally thought to be the site, as the MGM Grand has hosted several fights for both fighters, but there has been interest in placing the fight in new Cowboys Stadium, which I’m sure intrigues Arum. 

This could be Paquaio’s last fight for some time as he will be returning to the Phillipines following the fight to run for Congress.  That race, if successful, is preparatory, many believe, to a run for the President.  With his popularity and charisma, he will make a formidable politician.