The Arizona Cardinals facing weak sales in this soft economy are set to require fans wanting tickets to October 12th game versus the Dallas Cowboys to also purchase tickets to the August 7th exhibition game against the New Orleans Saints.

Not only does this further gouge their fans, who are probably already on the fence about buying tickets in the first place, but it goes against the idea of capitalism itself. I think that the general rule first come first serve for sports tickets should always apply.

Of course the Cardinals are worried that many Dallas residents are going to buy up all the tickets and the home team will face a hostile home crowd. Try living in Detroit where each and every season at the old Pontiac Silverdome we Lions fans were faced with section upon section of rowdy Green Bay fans, or Chicago Fans, or Minnesota fans, or Cleveland fans, or Cincinnati fans. When teams aren’t all that good that is the price you face.

This practice should be outlawed by the NFL, why further gouge your own fans in the hopes of keeping other fans away. It this business and in this economy a pack house is a packed house count your money you jackals and run your football team better!!

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Brett Farve pay attention because you may not be worth what you think.

This past week the New York Giants traded away TE Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints for a 2nd and 5th round draft pick. Also the Miami Dolphins traded away DE Jason Taylor to the Washington Redskins for a 2nd round pick and a 6th round pick.

So what does Packers GM Tom Thompson think he can get for Farve, it looks like the market has been established that the most he could get for a player who doesn’t want to be there anymore is a 2nd round pick.

It will be up to Thompson to deicide if that is enough or not

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The Chicago Tribune Company is getting ready to sell the Cubs, Wrigley Field, and their stake in a Sports Channel. Currently they are taking bids on any combination of the three and many are already lining up.

The Company would like to net around a billion dollars for the three assets as they work to reduce their debt from taking the tribune Company private.

Among those rumored to be interested are Marc Cuban, one of the founders of Yahoo and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

Also Andrew Murstein, a NYC taxi mogul who is heading up a group including Hank Aaron and Former GOP VP candidate Jack Kemp.

John Canning Jr. who heads up a private equity firm

Joe Richards from Ameritrade

Don Lewis Owner of the minor league Hockey club Chicago Wolves

Rocco Landsman who owns several Broadway theaters

Leo Hinday a private equity firm head and the former head of the YES! Network

There are also several other private firms interested in the purchase. I had heard that one Donald Trump would be interested in the team but there is no word yet if he has made a bid.

It is expected that 4 or 5 of these groups will make it to the next stage of the sale.

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Ashley Harkleroad, America’s new sweetheart sports superstar 23 year old tennis player, had her playboy pictorial come out at the end of last week (the pictures are obviously NSFW).  And while there seemed to be much fan-fare in the sports blogging world about her pictorial, mainstream media and mainstream sports media didn’t really pay that much attention.

As a matter of fact, if you google “Ashley Harkleroad” these are the news results that you receive, only one article, by The Sporting News, that even mentions Ms. Harkleroad after word of the story initally broke in May.  So what can be gleaned from this situation?  The initial purpose of this whole photoshoot (besides money and whatever self-empowerment it gave to Harkleroad) was publicity; putting the #72 ranked women’s tennis player in the national spotlight.  Sure, it wasn’t going to increase her tennis abilities, but it could always lead to endorsements or sponsorship…Hell, Anna Kournikova wasn’t good at tennis and she had a K-Swiss commercial years after she retired.  Amanda Beard posed for playboy last year, and she turned it into an FHM shoot and a deal with Go Daddy.  Maybe Harkleroad does need to go to the Olympics after all, to garner some exposure for herself.

From a sports agency/representation and marketing stand point, this seems to be a very interesting case study.  Athlete uses the oldest trick in the book; namely, taking her clothes off, to garner some attention (like I said before, all self-empowerment issues aside), and by the time we get from the announcement to the actual pictures…no one cares.  So, what went wrong?  She’s certainly attractive enough, she managed to be mentioned in every major media outlet back in May, she’s arguably the biggest sports star to ever pose nude while still playing her sport…What gives?

Marketing majors, sports agents, and general geniuses…Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Sports Business Digest:  Ashley Harkleroad, first Tennis Star in Playboy…Good or Bad?

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Today we take a look at the cost per win through the first half of the 2008 MLB season

National League East

New York Mets- 1,135,915.45 dollars per win

Atlanta Braves- 1,137,396.48

Philadelphia Philles- 949,902.69

Washington Nationals- 763,347

Florida Marlins- 218,115

National League East Average- 840,935.32 dollars per win

National League Central

Chicago Cubs- 1,038,121.34 dollars per win

St. Louis Cardinals- 939,853

Houston Astros- 1,010,372.88

Milwaukee Brewers- 778,245

Cincinnati Reds- 805,622

Pittsburgh Pirates- 553,292

National League Central average- 946,466.37 dollars per win

National League West

Los Angeles Dodgers- 1,289,005.82

San Francisco Giants- 957,431.25

San Diego Padres- 995,643.46

Colorado Rockies- 880,198.72

Arizona Diamondbacks- 704,284.17

National League West average- 965,312.68

National League Average= 917,571.46

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This is a pretty simple equation. I took half of team’s 2008 salaries and divided them by number of first half wins to see what each team’s cost per win is.

We will start in the American League East

New York Yankees- 2,090,815.80 dollars per win

Boston Red Sox- 1,170, 088

Toronto Blue Jays- 1,040,360.64

Baltimore Orioles- 746,625

Tampa Bay Rays- 397,687.25

American League east Average- 1,089,115.34 dollars per win

American League Central

Detroit Tigers- 1,469,736.15 Dollars per Win

Chicago White Sox- 1,122,123.45

Cleveland Indians- 963,049

Kansas City Royals- 677,273

Minnesota Twins- 537,101

American League Central Average- 953,856.52 dollars per win

American League West

Los Angeles Angels- 1,045,757.3 dollars per win

Seattle Mariners- 1,590,087.60

Texas Rangers- 677,123

Oakland Athletics- 470,265

American League West Average- 945,808.15 dollars per win

Overall American League Average- 996,260 dollars per win

So we now know that an American League win cost’s a team owner about a million dollars. We can also use these numbers later to make other accurate guesses about the financial health of these teams, and the overall health of the sport. That in the weeks to come.

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You know what? check that. Let me add this disclaimer. I like Brett Favre. A lot actually. He is a legendary QB, who has earned the respect of everyone he’s played against.

That being said…he’s being an ass right now.

In today’s interview with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, Favre was quoted as saying that he’s only guilty of retiring too early. From ESPN,

“I am guilty of retiring early and there is a reason for that,” Favre said, according to an excerpt provided to The Associated Press before the Monday night broadcast. “And the major issue is ‘Why did he retire?,’ and ‘He asked for a release because he doesn’t want to play in Green Bay.’ That’s not true. And I hope people are hearing this and saying ‘OK, that clears it up.’ “

Retiring too early…That’d actually be believable if the Packers and sports fans everywhere didn’t go through the same thing every year. You know what else makes the whole “they forced me out” story so hard to believe? Favre already knew, in 2006, that the Packers couldn’t wait around for him to make a decision regarding his future,

In the interview at his home in Mississippi, Favre told Mortensen he would like more time to decide whether to return for another NFL season. But he understands the Packers need to know soon to properly prepare for the NFL draft and other offseason personnel matters.

“I’d like to wait till training camp,” Favre said with a laugh. “But I know I have to make the decision in the next month for their sake.”

Favre said he’s told Packers general manager Ted Thompson recently that if the team doesn’t want to wait for him to commit to either playing the 2006 season or retiring, then he should be “cut loose.”

So, to recap, the 2006 version of Brett Favre knew he had to make quick decisions regarding his future so as not to screw the Packers. The 2008 version feels he was pressured to make a decision and was forced into retirement. Maybe Favre is losing his memory in his old age?

This whole situation has really created a no-win situation for the Packers management, who couldn’t wait around on Favre…like they have for the last 2 years, and who will now be despised by some Packers fans for not bringing Favre back to Green Bay. I’ve failed to even mention the team itself, which will probably consist of players that are backing Favre, and those that see his Mariah Carey-like attitude (read as: Diva) as completely unwarranted and unwanted.

Are you going to honestly tell me that Brett Favre couldn’t see this situation when he retired in March? That he may want to come back, that the Packers may not want him to come back, and that the fans he has played for for the last 16 seasons might go “60’s Sit-In” if the Packers didn’t want to bring him back?

And finally…I know that Favre has played for forever, I know he’s the heart and soul of Green Bay…but why in the world would the Packers grant him an unconditional release?  Who, with any sort of business sense, would release a hall of fame QB who still has 3 years left on his contract…and is more than likely going to a division rival?  Does that make sense to anyone not named Brett Favre?

In the end, it really comes down to disrespecting the Packers and their management.  He already knew that they had a decision to make and couldn’t wait around for Favre to make up his mind…so he chose to retire, but then changed his mind after already knowing the Packers had no choice but to move on without him (i.e. the Draft).  Then, because he’s Brett Favre, I guess, he feels that he’s owed an unconditional release, taking the time to create a divide between the Packers and some of their fans in the process.  All because it takes him too long (every year) to decide whether or not he wants to play football.

Favre is known for his gunslinger mentality on the field; throwing the ball with reckless abandon into tight spots, and usually having no regrets about his decisions later.  When dealing with his career?  Looks like he only got the first half right.

So…can anyone figure out how this adds to the Madden Curse Legacy?

ESPN: Favre to Fox News: Packers should let me play elsewhere

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C- Jorge Posada 13.1 Million New York Yankees

1B- Jason Giambi 23.4 million New York Yankees

2B- Jeff Kent 9 million Los Angeles Dodgers

SS- Derek Jeter 21.6 Million Dollars New York Yankees

3B- Alex Rodriguez 28 Million Dollars New York Yankees

LF- Manny Ramirez 18.9 Million Dollars Boston Red Sox

CF- Carlos Beltran 18.6 Million Dollars New York Mets

RF- Bobby Abreau 16 Million Dollars New York Yankees

DH- Jim Thome 15.7 Million Dollars Chicago White Sox

SP- Johan Santana 17 Million Dollars New York Mets

RP- Mariano Rivera 15 million Dollars New York Yankees

Let us now take a look at some stats and figure what the actual on the field cost’s for these teams are.

Collectively the hitters on this list will make 164.3 Million dollars this season. Since we are at the half way point we will take half of that number 82.15 million bucks.

Collectively these players have averaged 82 hits, 13 Home Runs, and 50 RBI’s.

That means Baseball fans are paying around 1 Million dollars for each hit, 6.3 Million dollars per Home Run, and 16 million dollars per RBI on average.

For me these numbers seem way out of whack.

Check back here in the next few days as we analyze more MLB numbers and their cost to team owners and their respective fans.

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So I have spent the last two days on a train and a bus traveling to a very hot and then very wet racetrack. All along that way I kept going back over the Forbes list of the most valuable NASCAR Sprint Cup teams and I cannot help thinking that they got this one wrong.

First and foremost is nearly impossible to get accurate numbers from Cup owners who for the most part own privately held business. On top of that the media likes to speculate on the amount and length of sponsorship deals and they have been wrong often in the past.

Furthermore this Forbes list did not take into account race teams that also own truck series teams. With those teams comes additional sponsor dollars and should somehow affect their worth. Only teams with cars in the cup and nationwide series were considered.

To them Hendrick Motorsports is the most valuable cup team worth around 335 million dollars, and with revenue of 179 million dollars. This is a team that has won 7 cup titles in the last 15 years, countless races, and 4 Daytona 500’s the most prestigious and highest paying race win. They have also won four Brickyard 400’s the second highest paying race.

The other thing they have going for them is cost certainty. We here a lot of professional sports team owners talk about this especially in the wake of the NHL strike. They have what amounts to lifetime contracts for Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. They also have what amounts to lifetime contracts with their two sponsors DuPont, and Lowe’s home Improvement. This insures they do not have to constantly search for more funding as many other teams do.

Since Forbes is using 2007 figures for this article, and Hendrick recently added NASCAR’s most popular driver to his stable, the team is worth at least 35 million dollars more this season. While Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not be the most talented driver, he sells the most merchandise and for Hendrick that means more revenue. In this case a lot of more revenue since Dale came with new sponsorship from the National Guard and Amp Energy drink. I myself have already spent another 100 dollars or so on new Dale Jr. gear for my son.

Now many business experts have declared that NASCAR teams are the most valuable professional sports endeavor one can own. The estimate is around 16% of revenue is profit. With those figures in mind we could speculate that Hendrick made 28 million dollars in profit last year. A year where is race teams won half the races and the championship.

I don’t have such a problem with those numbers but two on Forbes list of the top 15 really seem troubling to me. They have Haas CNC Racing worth 41 million dollars, with revenues of 32 million. If that is true Haas just gave Tony Stewart a 20 million dollar present to come and drive for them. I don’t see that happening even for a guy in the Federal pen for tax invasion. This team also had little to no sponsor support last season or this one. I have a hard time believing that a team in this sorry of shape is the 13^th most valuable franchise.

This is where business and sports considerations come into play. Business has no way to measure the worth of a team when the rules of their sport are taking into consideration. For NASCAR teams a big part of their worth is tied up in the Top 35 rule. Each week the top 35 teams in owner’s points are guaranteed a spot in that week’s race. Owner’s points are much like drivers points but I can explain the bigger differences at a later date. The only exception to this rule is the first five races of each season. Then the top 35 in owner’s points from the season before are locked into those first five races.

Since there are more then 43 full time teams, these teams face the hardship of not qualifying for the race. The only way around this rule is a past champions exemption. Each former Champion is given 6 of these per season and they go to the most recent champion each week.

Haas CNC’s value is going to go down since both of their cars are outside the top 35 and neither of their current driver are past champions. Due to a rules infraction the #70 team has no chance of getting back into the top 35. The #66 car does, and is the team’s only hope of landing a top driver and sponsor.

No matter what the number is Tony will be taking over what is now the #70 car and will be using his 6 past champion provisional to make the first five races in 2009, hopefully securing a top 35 spot for the car for the remainder of the season. Whoever his teammate turns out to be they will be forced to make the first five races based on their cars speed. This is something that the Haas cars have not been so good at so far.

My other big problem here is Bill Davis Racing being ranked #14. This is a cup team with only one entry and most of their revenue comes from their highly successful truck racing operation. Since I find no evidence that Forbes took this into consideration these numbers are flawed.

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This is a game that is really supposed to be a treat for the fans. I am lucky enough to have gotten the opportunity to go to two different MLB All Star Games. Once in the late 1980’s in Chicago and again in 2005 right in my home town of Detroit.

 Those two experiences rank at the very top of awesome sporting events I got to witness in person, but these days the All Star Game has become a tool of agents to milk more and more money out of baseball owners.

 Now I am not against people making money but these salaries are already out of control, and the All Star bonuses take away from the spirit of a very special game.

For Toronto’s Roy Halladay is going to get a 125k bump on top of his 10 million dollar salary. The funny thin is that he didn’t even know that clause was in his contract. Chipper Jones will get a extra two million dollars towards his 2010 salary, and Grady Sizemore’s club option just grew by half a million bucks for the Indians next season.

 I guess for me it is not really the money, but the bad feeling I get when players refuse to come and play the game, or decide to sit out one of the skills competitions. For this kind of jack the players should do what ever they can do make us fans feel like we got our monies worth.

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Currently there are 4 Rooney family members with ownerships stakes in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Three of those brothers also won several race tracks in both New York and Florida.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell now wants this ownership group to fully comply with the rules regarding NFL owners not own gambling ventures. Since the economics of Horse racing tracks have changed in recent years, these facilities now offer slot machines and other light gambling machines as another source of revenue. This practice has forced the NFL to get the Steelers ownership group to shift.

As it stands right now, three of the brothers will sell off their stake in the Steelers to focus on their track racing business. Another related family the McGinleys stand to profit as they buy a bigger share in the team.

Let us be clear that the team is not really for sale, it is just reorganization so that the family stays within the rules of NFL owners, Art Rooney II will continue to run the team, and increase is financial stake in it.

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In a few weeks the biggest move of this NASCAR season will be announced. Tony Stewart will be into what was known as Haas CNC racing and come along with fellow driver Ryan Newman and be the new face of a company in bad need of a rebranding.

Over the last two years this Haas team has struggled, under funded and with less then top tier talent, and their owner was recently sentenced to federal prison. They have languished at the rear of the NASCAR Sprint Cup pack.

That is not to say that they do not have any up side. The company recently purchased an 8 post shaker rig. This is a very expensive piece of equipment that can be set up to mimic any track surface so that engineers can test their cars at the shop rather then at a track. It is fastly becoming an essential part of a top tier cup racing shop.

This company was also said to be building their own wind tunnel, there in no word if that is still a viable option or not. What is viable is the sponsorship dollars that Stewart and Newman will bring to the team. Stewart will be running two primary sponsors with Office Depot and Old Spice with an associate sponsor from Subway. These deal together should fetch at least 30 million sponsor dollars.

Newman will be sponsored by Jack Daniels. This company has been in the sport the last few years at Richard Childress racing and driver Clint Bowyer. That team went with big money Sponsor UPS who were looking for a younger driver to partner with. The Jack Daniels sponsorship will be a little bit less probably around the 15-20 million dollar range.

However for a team who has had trouble sponsoring race cars. Both their #66 and #70 cars have often carried HAAS CNC colors 50 million bucks is a huge shot in the arm, on top of that they arguably got two of the best drivers available.

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The new owners of the Seattle Sonics, Professional Basketball LLC, have reached an agreement with the City of Seattle, lease holders for the Key arena, to move the team to Oklahoma City.

The deal requires an upfront payment from the team’s new Chairman Clay Bennet of 45 million dollars. An additional 30 million dollar payment must be made if the Washington State legislator approves 75 million dollars in funding to either upgrade Key arena or build a new stadium. This money must also be paid if Seattle cannot secure another NBA franchise within 5 years.

Under terms of the deal the lease for Key Arena is terminated but the Seattle team name and colors will be staying put. The Oklahoma team will be named something else, and Seattle hopes that it can get another team.

NBA Commissioner said Seattle is a great NBA town but needs a State of the Art arena if they want a franchise in the future. This is a great deal for the NBA which gets a foothold in OKC after the New Orleans Hornets played some home games there a few seasons ago.

It is also another example of the public having a vested interest in helping to fund sport arenas. If the good citizens of Seattle want another NBA team, they are going to have to pony up some tax dollars to help in that venture.

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As we prepare to analyze the coming professional sports seasons, analyze free agent signings and all the rest we need to take a closer look at the individuals leagues salary caps.

For the upcoming NFL Season the cap will be somewhere north of 109 million dollars per team. The minimum a team can spend on payroll will be right around 83 million dollars.

In the coming days we will take a look at different NFL teams in good or bad salary cap positions.

Since NHL free agency started yesterday the new NHL salary cap for 2008-09 will be 56.7 million dollars. There is a salary floor in the NHL of 40.3 million. It makes me wonder why all of these teams have already signed guys to big deals.

In the NHL it is of the up most importance to have cap flexibility built into the payroll system. Without this the cap can help destroy teams.

For the coming NBA season the cap will be around 57 million dollars. This isn’t such a big deal since the NBA has a soft cap. There are exceptions to resigning you own players and most NBA teams constantly find themselves far over this cap.

Major League Baseball has no cap, but they do have a luxury tax. When teams spend more then around 130 million then they are taxed 10% per season that they are offer the cap.

For big market team like the New York Yankees this is no big deal and they will pay around a 40% tax on their payroll over the 130 million soft cap. These taxes are split up and divided among the other teams.

The reason the gulf between big market and small market teams is so wide in MLB is that thee is no salary floor. While teams like the Yankees, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, and Detroit Tigers all spend north of 150 million dollars. The Florida Marlins are spending around 20 million on payroll.

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