May 16, 2008

1. What's in a Name, Part I. Wanted: Sign-Changing Tech. Hourly Position. A stadium, by any other name...is a sign of the bleak economic times.

We know the down economy is making your neighbors more cautious. It's making Corporate America more careful, too. Unlike the past 15 years, when Corporate America spent more than $6.1 billion on naming rights deals, in 2008 naming rights pacts for stadiums and arenas across the U.S. are shorter, padded with guarantees, and easier to break. They've also taken longer to negotiate. Last week, the Charlotte Bobcats finally announced a naming rights partner in Time Warner Cable - two and a half years after the Bobcats' arena opened its doors. Compare that with the golden age of 1999, when it only took Philips eight months to negotiate a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, and American Airlines a scant seven months to grace the Maverick's home in Dallas.

Some deals cause confusion with fans and media alike. In Boston, TD Banknorth changes its name to TD Commerce after that company's $8.5 billion acquisition, but it won't change the Celtics' "Garden" moniker. (The team is no doubt grateful for any stability they can get right about now.) Liberty Mutual acquires Safeco Field, but won't disturb signage on the Mariners' home `til the end of the still-fresh 20-year, $40 million Safeco deal.

In New York, Yankee CEO Lonn Trost, in the American version of "not for all the tea in China," doesn't WANT your money, Corporate Honcho. "We won't rename the White House, Grant's Tomb, or the Grand Canyon," Trost says, "and we won't rename Yankee Stadium."

2. What's In a Name, Part II. AEG Announces In-House Naming Rights Division

Perhaps no one recognizes the potential for naming rights deals more than sports and entertainment venue giant AEG, which has realized lucrative naming rights deals in its Los Angeles backyard in the form of Staples Center, Nokia Theater, and the Home Depot Center. On Monday, the company, owned by billionaire real estate developer Phil Anschutz, announced a new in-house venture to expand its emphasis on sponsorship and naming rights deals.

Sports industry analysts estimate that AEG is valued at more than $6 billion. The new division is projected to generate more than $250 million worth of sponsorship deals this year alone, and will oversee relations with existing sponsors.

AEG is still a pretty new kid on the venue management block - the company was established in 2000 to manage events at Staples Center. Since then, it has expanded into one of the largest sports and entertainment facility managers and event promoters in the world. To help provide entertainment in its venues, AEG last week added a 50 percent stake in Oscar de la Hoya's Golden Boy Promotions to such power partners as Mark Burnett Productions, Walt Disney Co., and 19 Entertainment Inc., creator of "American Idol."

3. EA Busted for Grand Theft

In the week after Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.'s April 29 release of Grand Theft Auto IV, the video game title sold more than six million copies and netted more than $500 million at retail - a record launch for the gaming industry. The Grand Theft Auto series has sold more than 76 million copies to date. Now, Electronic Arts, Inc. wants bragging rights for the Theft - the Redwood City, California company has launched a hostile $2 billion takeover bid for Take-Two and its 800-employee Rockstar Games unit, creator of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. EA has reportedly set Friday as the deadline for Take-Two investors to tender their shares.

Meanwhile, EA last week unveiled two initiatives to jump-start its sports business by making games that are simpler to play and customized for Nintendo's Wii console. Such top-selling games as Madden football, FIFA soccer and NBA Live will come out in customized versions for the Wii. EA anticipates selling about $1.3 billion worth of sports games in its fiscal year that ended in March, accounting for more than one-third of total revenue.

4. ManU Wins Premier League, On to Euro 2008

On Sunday, Manchester United won its 10th Premier League title in 16 years, defeating Wigan 2-0. Second-place Chelsea was held to a 1-1 tie with Bolton, and will face ManU in the May 21 European Champions League final in Moscow. Third-place Arsenal beat Sunderland 1-0, and fourth-place Liverpool won at Tottenham 2-0. Premier League squads Birmingham and Reading were relegated despite winning their matches (think Minnesota Vikings or Seattle Seahawks being kicked down to the AFL).

Liverpool is not only unhappy at coming in fourth - the team and its fans are furious at their American owners. Liverpool fans are blaming owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who paid a reported $435 million for the team, for its on-the-pitch woes, citing poor decisions surrounding the signing of players, a stalled new stadium, and hidden debt (possibly as much as $1.3 billion). Fans have circulated petitions imploring the Americans to sell, and are even mounting a bid, a la Green Bay, to buy the club in a mass-fan formation.

Despite the grandiose assumptions of two Premier League teams meeting in the Champions League final, England and Scotland both failed to qualify for Euro 2008, which kicks off in Basel in less than a month. The estimated blow to the British economy for the soccer shortfall? $3 billion U.S.

5. D.C. United Transported by Volkswagen

Announced on May 6, MLS D.C. United's jersey sponsorship deal with Volkswagen will deliver an estimated $3.1-3.7 million annually to the soccer club for five years, making it the second-largest jersey deal in MLS history. Volkswagen will also become the official automotive partner of the league, filling a gap left by Honda when that company declined to renew its partnership and becoming the second corporation to sign a deal that includes both team and league rights since MLS began selling jersey sponsorships. (ICI Paints, parent company of Glidden, was the first.) The league sponsorship is estimated to be worth $1-2 million annually.

Jersey sponsorships among the eight MLS teams that have secured them total $20 million this season.

The Volkswagen deal has admittedly created some obstacles for MLS teams in their local markets. Earlier this year, MLS relinquished exclusivity in the auto category, allowing its clubs to sell locally in that category for the first time. Now, local automotive sponsors in such markets as Houston will have to watch their on-field signage be replaced by Volkswagen during nationally-televised games.

6. Jiminy Cricket! Stodgy Sport Gets Racy

Backed by nearly a billion dollars, cheerleaders trained by the Washington Redskins' squad, and sky-high salaries for stars, India's Twenty20 cricket league began its first season three weeks ago among widespread criticism from cricket purists and cultural influencers alike.

The league consists of eight teams based in cities throughout India competing in 59 games over six weeks. When 80 of the world's best cricket players were auctioned off to the teams in February, Indian Mahendra Singh Dhoni garnered the highest bid -- $1.5 million a year for three years.

Texan billionaire Allen Stanford has poured millions into the Twenty20 game in the Caribbean and negotiated, last week, a $21.31 million Twenty20 winner-takes-all game between England and a West Indian all-stars team during England's tour early next year. Stanford has already bankrolled a Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies, and is interested in developing an English version of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

Yet India dominates the game financially, representing about 70 percent of global revenues for the sport. The stern-sounding Board of Control for Cricket in India, the game's national governing body, reported revenues of close to $160 million in its fiscal year ending in 2007. India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, paid $111.9 million for the Mumbai Indians - and "the privilege" of living over the top.

7. In College Sports, There's No Such Thing as an Off Season

Even though the semester has yet to end for most universities around the U.S, the NCAA's Academic Progress Rates, or APRs, are in. Of the 700 programs cited in their most recent survey, 218 teams were published for failing to maintain adequate academic standards, including BCS bowl contenders Kansas and Hawaii. Washington State, Idaho, and the University of Alabama Birmingham will all lose scholarships, with bowl eligibility stricken at the next misstep. Throughout the off-season and the summer break, the hunt for new revenues drills on. While BCS conference officials once again vetoed the idea of a full-fledged college football playoff, two new bowl games have been added to the interminable existing roster of games, for a new horizons of mediocrity total of 34. (Looks like UAB might be the ONLY American college football team to not go bowling.) At Oklahoma, a $4.5 million video board at Gaylord Family Stadium (Owen Field to old-timers) will add 3,689 new square feet of sponsorship opportunities. Florida is forking over $511,855 for a new partnership with Ticketmaster, and in Los Angeles, USC is finalizing its long-term lease agreement with the Coliseum - with a yet-to-be-named major naming rights deal on the horizon. Football isn't the only fiscal winner - in the wake of march Madness, the NCAA distributed $154 million to its member schools, an eight percent gain over last year. Take that, OJ Mayo and co.

8. UPS on the Preakness Track with Big Brown

You knew it was coming the minute a horse named "Big Brown" won the Kentucky Derby. On Monday, just in time for Saturday's Preakness Stakes, UPS announced a sponsorship deal with Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown amidst his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. The deal between UPS, IEAH Stables, and jockey Kent Desormeaux, reportedly calls for Desormeaux to wear the UPS logo on pants and under silks during the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, as well as a UPS cap after the races.

Meanwhile, sponsorship for Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course is down about ten percent, and ticket sales are about 1.5 percent lower than last year, according to the Maryland Jockey Club. Additionally, corporate tents, at an average cost of $35,000, number only 29, down from 45 tents in 2001.

9. Dateline China: Aftermath of the Earthquake

As the death toll mounts in China from the estimated 7.9 earthquake - close to 10,000 deaths have been reported so far - the word from Beijing is that all Olympic venues in that city remain unscathed.

The earthquake shook buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles to the north of its epicenter, less than three months before the Chinese capital and its 91,000-seat "Bird's Nest" stadium are expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics. Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for Olympics organizers. Officials reported no damage to any Olympic venues - most of which are well ahead of schedule less than 100 days before the Opening Ceremonies - after a cursory inspection Monday. Meanwhile, the USOC is parceling out information about its U.S. Olympic Network cable venture, which reportedly won't go live until after the Beijing Games. The channel, touted as similar to the NFL Network and NBA TV, will likely be offered to viewers as part of a sports tier package.

10. Not on the Mound, You We Will Hound

Finally, this literary bit courtesy of the Los Angeles Times: In the California League, the Lake Elsinore Storm, the "high A" class farm team of the San Diego Padres, planned a special "Dr. Seuss Night" - complete with green eggs and ham at the concession stands, players wearing socks with red and white stripes, and silly top hats galore. The promotion would never have gained attention outside of Riverside County had the "corporate grinches" not demanded a royalty payment, prompting this classic response from the Storm:

Dr. Seuss Enterprises didn't see it as funny They said we could do it, but we didn't have the money They didn't appreciate our publicity ploys So we have to inform all the sad girls and boys Through the face of it all we thought we'd persist Until we were served with a cease and desist The theme has been canceled, but the game will go on Perhaps it wouldn't matter if we were in Taiwan.