Weblog of Justin

Mar 31, 2005 at 03:51 o\clock

College Sports not gone after all

by: juddyT

I always worried about the future of college sports student athletes leaving early for the big bucks.  So many student athletes have left college after their freshman, sophomore, or junior year to pursue a professional athletic career.  Recently, many young athletes have skipped college all together to go play professionally.  I always figured that college sports would eventually become less important and exciting to fans across the United States.  Less and less games would sell out, and less and less television sponsors would even bother with the games.  However, the recent NCAA tournament has certainly changed my opinion.  The players are bringing all the excitment back to college sports.  The games are being played with more excitment, intesity, and heart than I have ever seen.  Three out of the four 'elite eight' games went into overtime.  We have had more upsets this tournament than any other tournament.  There should not be any concern about losing college sports after a showing such as this one.  I am a firm believer that student athletes can continue to leave early, yet the excitment of college sports with never leave.  

Mar 28, 2005 at 09:55 o\clock

No Super Bowl in LA has hurt city

by: juddyT

Twelve years without a Super Bowl has hit L.A. where it hurts, in the pocketbook.  I personally miss Super Bowls in L.A. because they are such a big event.  It is more than just the game, it is a week event filled with concerts and entertainment.  Yet with the departure of the Rams and Raiders after the 1994 season, the Super Bowl has not returned.  This has cost the city an estimated $300 million.  If the Super Bowl were to come back to Los Angeles, major hotels, such as the Ritz would fill up, and tourism would be flourishing in the great city.  If the Super Bowl comes back to L.A. it would remind tens of milions just how nice this part of the world is.  It would affirm that L.A. is a very great place to visit.  I wish that Los Angeles could get a team so we can host another Super Bowl.

Mar 26, 2005 at 09:51 o\clock

New ads for Super Bowl are Super clean

by: juddyT

Networks make an incredible amount of money from advertisments during the Super Bowl.  In fact, this years Super Bowl averaged $2.4 million per 30-second ad.  However, due to last years episode with Janet Jackson, ads were "squeky clean" this year.  They did not want to risk the fact of paying that much money and having the FCC look down on them and ostracize the ad.  All the ads were very clean and did not try to cross any line that would be controversial.

Mar 24, 2005 at 09:47 o\clock

Ballparks find other profits

by: juddyT

Baseball teams play 81 home games which means their stadiums are not being used 284 times a year.  They lose money each of those 284 times.  Therefore, baseball ballparks have relied on other sources of revenues.  They sponsor concerts, motocross events, and even fraternity formals and business outings.  As a result, they make money even when their team is not playing at home.  You can read this article at, www.sportsjournal.com

Mar 22, 2005 at 09:39 o\clock

How to win fans and run a succesful sports business

by: juddyT

I always wondered why it would be so hard to run a sports team and make money.  However, it is very hard to do and you can very easily lose money.  There is a recent article I read about the Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban.  He bought the Dallas Mavericks a few years ago and has run a great business.  He personally did not want to sell the teams success, because at the time they were not very good.  He planned to "sell fun".  He didn't want the staff to talk about how badly the team was, in turn, he wanted to show how much fun fans can have at the game.  He had all his staff make 100 cold calls a day, including him, until they sold out.  He had special promotional events during throughout the game, so all fans were enjoying their time.  He said that, "We've become very good at providing a great in-arena experience because we work so hard at it."  He basically went after customer satisfaction and made sure there was not one fan that was upset.  Recently, the Dallas Mavericks have compiled winning season and have been contendors for the championship.

Mar 20, 2005 at 08:49 o\clock

NHL finally cancels the season

by: juddyT

I have talked before about how the NHL has a conflict with its players and owners.  Well, negotiations finally came to a standstill a few weeks ago, and they have cancelled the season.  I always say that sports is such a huge industry and so profitble, well the NHL is an exception.  They have small TV revenues and limited fan appeal, therefore they cannot pay their players enough.  The players want more and the owners want less.  The NHL is the first North American sport to cancel an entire season.  Therefore, although I have been so confident about the success of sports, I stand corrected with the NHL.   They need a new system of revenue sharing to fuel some type of organization and fluidity.  The NBA, NFL, and Major League Baseball have wider audiences and have lucrative televison deals.  However, the NHL struggles and needs to find a new system.

Mar 18, 2005 at 08:44 o\clock

Insurance Policies for College Athletes

by: juddyT

Sometimes you wonder when there is so much money to be made in professional sports, why would college athletes stay in college?  Well, in a recent article, labeled "Premium Players", I found that when a player is highly sought after and tempted with the big bucks, he/she can buy an insurance policy.  The insurance policies allow athletes to buy a policy if the wish to stay one more year and play their designatged sport.  In fact, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush both bought insurance policies to stay another year.  Last year, Leinart bought a $1 million insurance policy for $20,000.  Obviously, players can pay more, for a higher insurance policy of up to $10 million.  Now, if they were to get seriously injured, they could still have a lot of money.  The business of sports is sure getting crazier by the day isn't it?

Mar 16, 2005 at 08:37 o\clock

College sports crack down on academics

by: juddyT

I was very pleased to come accross an article recently about how college sports are cracking down on academics.  They are raising the bar for college athletes in the classroom.  The business of sports is not just about being a great athlete.  You also need to be able to make rational decisions.  So I am very pleased to read that college athletes have tougher demands in the classroom.  For the first time, athletes will have an "academic progress rate" report.  This is an annual survey that rates every major college team in the nation, from the largest football squad to the smallest rowing crew.  This is very good, because of the eight teams this past year in the prestigous bowl championship series, only three, USC, Michigan, and Virginia Tech had a graduation rate of 50% or higher.  This is shocking to me, and it is about time they make a policy to make sure college athletes are finishing their work, not only on the field, but in the classroom.

Mar 14, 2005 at 08:29 o\clock

Title IX is still a work in progress for college sports

by: juddyT

I have always wondered how colleges deal with keeping both men and women happy with equal opportunity in college sports.  Well, in a recent article, I discovered that back in 1972, Richard Nixon signed a law name "Title IX".  This law prohibits discrimination in educational opportunities on the basis of sex.  As a result, every college must have the same number of sports for both men and women.  College football feels they should not be included on this, since it is predominantly male.  However, if there is football, there has to be a sport for women to make the number equal.  I personally agree with this, because this is what our country was founded on.  We are giving equal opportunity to both male and female athletes.  Now, when female athletes get out in the real world, they will be able to have had a equal opportunity in college to display their abilities.  Please feel free to read the article in College sports magazine, by Keith Dunnavant.

Mar 12, 2005 at 08:17 o\clock

Baseball can't lose its edge

by: juddyT

Through all the controversy of the steroids, baseball has another smaller controversy.  I recently read an article titled, "Baseball guards its home field edge".  Basically, baseball has been very succesful with its anti-trust exemption laws.  As you know, anti-trust laws were created to deal with monopolies.  As a result of the anti-trust laws, the National Baseball League is the "only national pastime as the only industry in America with permission to engage in anticompetitive behavior with impunity."  This means that baseball would suffer in two places.  First of all, baseball would not be able to prevent teams from moving without league approval.  And secondlyu, baseball would lose control of approving new owners.  Baseball cannot lose this control because the business thrives with more control.  Baseball could be highly effected if it lost this control.  Giving owners more lee-way to move would cause much controversy in baseball.

Mar 10, 2005 at 08:12 o\clock

Steroid hearings

by: juddyT

Baseball cannot ignores the signs of the recent Congressional hearings.  Mark McGwire repeatedly copped out under quesioning by Congressional lawmakers, saying he wasn't there to "talk about the past".  I think this is a clear hint that steroids helped him hit 70 home runs in 1998.  Baseball has been embarressed by this, because they continue to turn their heads to these obvious hints.  Baseball cannot continue to recognize its problems until they are embarrassed by them.  The sport will take a detrimental hit, if they fall into this trap.  I just want them to punish everyone for their wrongdoings, and make the players come to grips with their mistakes and apologize for them. 

Mar 8, 2005 at 10:01 o\clock

Steroids problem really heating up

by: juddyT

Baseball has recently done so well recently due to the impact of the home run.  People watch baseball because of guys like Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire.  They watch Barry Bonds especially because he is on track to beat the home run record.  However, since the recent steroid issue has heated up, Bonds credibility is at stake.  In fact, he stated that "You wanted me to jump off the bridge, I finally have jumped.  You wanted to bring me down, you've finally brought me and my family down."  Bonds is criticized for using steroids which completely ruins his credibility for the home run record.  Bonds is definitely upset about the media, but I don't blame the media.  They have every right to get mad at him because he did not obey the law.  In my mind, the steroid users are cheaters and they should not be able to break records or even play.

Mar 6, 2005 at 07:36 o\clock

Timeline continued.

by: juddyT

One of the most critical moments in Sports Business came from the network of ABC.  As I mentioned previously in my last blog, back in 1920 the first game was broadcasted on national television.  Well, in 1961 a pivotal moment happened to the business of sports.  ABC started the Wide World of Sports.  This changed not only what we saw, but how we saw it.  The Wide World of Sports let two different events covered by the same station air at the same time in different parts of the United States.  Now, we could watch a west coast team play, and the east coasters could watch an east coast game.  More people tuned into to these games because they felt more attacthment to the teams they watched.  Today, networks profit so much more from being able to air different games to different people. 

Mar 3, 2005 at 01:36 o\clock

Continuing on with Sports business Timeline

by: juddyT

The main problem with sports for most of the 1800's is the fact that it couldn't get you to the game as it was happening.  Sports fanatics would have to buy the newspapers and read about it after they happened.  Well, in 1920, a college football game between the University of Texas Longhorns and the Texas A & M Aggies was broadcast on November 25 1920.  During the next year, other sports hit the airwaves, and started the importance of sports on television.  Many television revenues went up as a result to this new concept.  The sports business was growing by coming straight into the homes of families across the United States. 

Mar 1, 2005 at 07:08 o\clock

Sports Millennial Timeline

by: juddyT

I think it is really important to see the changes in the sports industry and what events have changed the course of the sports industry.  How do you tell story of a millennial of sports business in just a few pages.  Well, I think I will start at the beginning.  Well, I researched all the way back to 1826 as a very important event in sports business.  The ever popular Sporting News magazine or newspaper as it started was launced in 1886.  This sparked the first relationship between sports and the media.  This started the first media coverage of sporting events.  The magazine sold many copies and began to make profits and spread the popularity of various sports.