Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee wants to repeal the restrictions on online gambling and would like to legalize and then tax it since we all know the government could use all the revenue it could get.  So, far, his efforts have not been fruitful but he has not had the weight of his position behind him chairmanship and a Democratic Congress behind him until now.

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, making it a crime for financial institutions to process transactions used to place bets online.  In other words, no more funding your offshore account by wire transfer from your bank or by using your Visa or MasterCard.  However, following intercession by Rep. Frank and others,  the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve gave financial institutions six months to comply with the new rules.  The delay will give Rep. Frank additional time he needs to attempt to repeal UIGEA and the related underlying prohibition on online gambling itself.  The compliance extension will give legislators time to “undo this ill-advised law,” Frank said in a news release today.

UPDATE:  The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on the effect that the legalization of online gaming could have on various existing US gambling operations and companies lining up for the new opportunities.

Thanksgiving Week traditionally brings the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day and a raft of college football rivalry games on the weekend, usually starting on Thanksgiving with Texas – Texas A&M, as it does this year.  It also marks the first intense week of college basketball with preseason tournaments across the country and then some, from the Virgin Islands and Cancun to Hawai’i and Alaska. Yes, just because you can’t find the Great Alaska Shootout on ESPN doesn’t mean it isn’t being played or isn’t being televised.  Check your local Fox Regional Network, it should be there in the late night listings.

In interviews on the sidelines of the MLS Cup over the weekend, MLS Commissioner Don Garber confirmed what many felt was obvious following the last expansion round: Montreal is the likely destination for the 19th MLS city.  Entry into Montreal isn’t likely until 2012, but Montreal must first get a stadium built.  

It almost took an act of Congress.  The NFL has long ignored the implication of concussions suffered by its players. In addition, the current medical system of the league whereby it is the team doctor who certifies to the coach and GM that a player is ready to play is so filled with obvious conflicts of interest that it’s a wonder that the NFLPA ever agreed to it.

Fast forward to six weeks ago, a study sponsored by the NFL is released which finds that Alzheimer’s and other cognitive disorders occur in former NFL players at a rate of up to 19 times higher than normal for men ages 30-49.  The NFL tried to discredit the study, as it has with most other studies implicating football, concussions and cognitive disorders later in life.
Following the release of the study and the NFL’s apparent refusal to change its policies in response to it, the House Judiciary Committee conducted a hearing on the issue last month.

Last night, Commissioner Roger Goodell indicated that the NFL has finally adopted the rational policy of requiring teams to use an independent neurologist for advice while treating players with brain injuries and hopefully for final medical certification on whether a player is ready to return to contact in practice and then to game action.  While the full details of the
new policy are not yet public, Goodell was in full spin mode on NBC last night:

“As we learn more and more, we want to give players the best medical advice. This is a chance for us to expand that and bring more people into the circle to make sure we’re making the best decisions for our players in the long term.”

The shift in policy, laudatory as it is, will still have to define who is independent in order to minimize conflicts.  The other problem which is harder for any policy to impact is the tendency of players to hide concussion from the team so they can keep playing in a league without guaranteed contracts.  It will require keen observation from vigilant and highly trained medical and training staffs to monitor players, hoping to catch those who may be hiding concussions.  Having independent neurologist available to whom players can report concussions and other brain related injuries without fear of the team immediately learning of them should go a long way towards easing the players fear of reporting injuries that currently exists.

As we all know, sports has been particularly hard hit by the Great Recession as companies slash marketing budgets,  fans are pressed to come up with cash for the ever increasing ticket prices, and TV ratings for most sports are tanking as narrowcasting takes holds.  One of the worst hit sports is the LPGA, which has undergone a player revolt leading to the departure of Carolyn Bivens, and the exodus of sponsors, resulting in singnificant holes in the tour schedule.

The reality of the new marketplace became ever more evident this week with the announcement of the 2010 tour schedule.  The number of tournaments is 24, down from 27 this year and 34 two years ago. Of equal importance,  in 2008, there were 24 LPGA events played in the U.S; next year, only 13.  Today’s Wall Street Journal has a very good overview of the state of the LPGA tour and the challenges it will face with so few tournaments in the US.

As the global economy begins its recovery, it is incumbent upon new LPGA commissioner Michael Whan to integrate international events with the LPGA to attempt to get a unified tour which would be better able to not only coordinate scheduling but approaches to sponsors.  The membership of the tour is increasing international but the importance of the US fixtures cannot be overstated.  The 10 year contract with the golf channel means the tour now has a regular television outlet but without broadcast TV exposure, it may only reach hardcore fans.  Those are not sufficient for the long-term viability of the tour.  A way has to be found to better market the tour’s best players and personalities to the public, even if not especially, away from the course.  Whan’s consumer marketing background, not his sports business background, may prove to be his most valuable asset.

In the high stakes world of European club soccer, nowhere does the battle takes place for higher stakes than for the name on the front of the jersey.  Leading the pack is Real Madrid, the Nuevo Galacticos ribery.jpgrecently renewed its deal with online gaming site Bwin, extending it for three years.  Following Real Madrid’s summer shopping spree, the price was undoubtedly and although it hasn’t been publicly released, Real Madrid is almost universally believed to have the highest priced jersey sponsorship in Europe.

What do you think it would take to be among the highest paid coaches in the world?  Wouldn’t you imagine that you should be at the very pinnacle of your game, having won mutliple championships either for one team. or perhaps, if you’re a bit peripatetic, for multiple clubs?  As this list makes clear, the expectation of winning is often sufficient to obtain the elusive lucrative contract, especially at the lower end of this extraordinary list of overpaid managers.  See, for example, entrants 25, 24 and 20.  The entire list can be found here.

The list is headed by Luis Felipe Scolari, the former coach of a legendary Brazilian World Cup winning team, hired and sacked at Chelsea in less than a year and currently coaching a club in Uzbekistan but enjoying Roman Abromavich’s millions nonetheless.  Bringing up the rear, so to speak, are those two championship coaches Charlie Weiss and John Calipari.  Weiss got that now infamous 10 year, $30-40 million contract extension barely halfway through his first season and seems well on his way out of a job at season’s end. 

Calipari, who was deemed “too hot to handle” when Kentucky went looking for a coach three years ago, but two less successful seasons than Big Blue fans were accustomed to made Cal look more appealing.  Of course, making it to one of the two Final Fours he has managed to take a team to didn’t hurt.  UK of course, just ignored the fact that both of those Final Fours have been vacated by the NCAA, making Cal the only coach to ever have that happen.

After a tortuous 20 year legal battle, the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court’s ruling that activists had waited too long to bring a case asserting that the Redskins name was so offensive that it did not deserve to receive trademark protection.  The refusal of the Supremes to hear the appeal effectively ends this case, leaving Dan Snyder in possession of the Redskins name and logo, which he has steadfastly refused to alter.

However, it should be noted that this case was dismissed on technical grounds and not on the merits of the original complaint.  A second suit has been filed which apparently should meet any objection on the basis of laches due to the plaintiffs different circumstances and thus should place the merits of the issue squarely in front of the federal courts.  Of course, given the track record of this litigation, I may not be around to see the final resolution.

Who says all banks are pulling in their spending.  Tennis great Roger Federer has landed a ten year deal, which should take him right into retirement, with Credit Suisse.  The deal thought to be worth in the neighborhood of $2,000,000 per year, which puts it in line without with Federer’s other endorsement deals.  The twist here is that Credit Suisse’s payments will be made diretly to the Roger Federer Foundation, the charity he established which primarily provides aid and promotes education and sport to disadvantaged children in Africa.

Federer also recently signed an endorsement deal with Lindt, the Swiss chocolatier, for five years at $1,500,000.  Lindt joins his other blue chip sponsors including Nike, Rolex, Gillete and Merecedes Benz.  Great company Roger keeps, isn’t.  Must be nice to be the best in the world at what you do.

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.  Pacquaio cemented his reputation as pound for pound the best boxer in the world and captured his seventh title in seven weight classes.

The undercard featured a WBA super-welterweight bout between Daniel Santos and Yuri Foreman, an Orthdox rabbinical student, who came into the fight with an unblemished record of 28-0, with 8 knockouts.  Foreman won a one-sided, unanimous decision becoming the first Israeli to hold a world championship in any boxing weight class and undoubtedly the first rabbi or rabbinical student to hold a belt.  Foreman led by at least six points on all three judge’s cards, two had it 117-109, one had it 116-110.  In last week’s run-up to the fight, the New York Times did a nice feature piece on Foreman, which you can read here.