Tribune and Rcketss Family Reach Deal on Cubs

The Tribune Company and the Ricketts family have signed a term sheet on the sale of the Cubs to the Ricketts and forwarded it to the Commissioner's office for approval by the owners. This will end, for now, the Tribune Company's flirtations with other buyers as the deal hit a snag over the last couple of months. The deal is not closed however and requires more than just MLB approval. Details between the parties remain and a definitive agreement has yet to be hammered out. The deal will also require the approval of the bankruptcy court as the Tribune Company is in Chapter 11. Given the tortuous course that negotiations have taken so far, I would not be willing to say that this deal is a sure thing yet. In fact, with this cast of characters, it won't be a sure thing until it closes and the keys to Wrigley are handed over to the Ricketts.

College Football Players Sue NCAA, EA Sports for Royalties

The NCAA, which proclaims itself the guardian of amateur athletics in this country and the protector of the rights of the student athlete, has been called to account once again. This time by student athletes, several of whom have filed class action lawsuits against the NCAA and Electronic Arts for appropriating their likenesses for commercial use without their consent and without compensation. Two of the more popular video games produced by EA Sports are NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball (along with its spinoff, March Madness). Both games use characters that so closely resemble their live counterparts as to be virtually indistinguishable despite the lack of names used in the games.

While it's true that NCAA athletes sign a waiver as freshmen stating that they will not benefit from their names or their athletic success, all that does is prevent the athletes from competing with the NCAA and its member schools, which don't want any competition in the market for licensed apparel, games or other items. The field is too valuable to the schools, which make a considerable amount of money selling jerseys and other items featuring the jersey numbers (but not the names) of their most popular athletes.

So, what are the plaintiffs chances here? I would think the NCAA and EA Sports have a real problem on their hands. For one thing, as pointed out in the New York Times article, the NFL players association recently settled for $26.25 million, a similar case with its retired players, following a US District Court Judge's award of $28.1 million following the trial of the retired players' claim that the NFLPA failed to include the retired players in its licensing agreement with EA Sports for the Madden NFL Football franchise. While this case is somewhat different, it is, if anything, even more egregious. Not only is it a blatant appropriation of the student athletes likenesses without compensation, but it violates the NCAA's own rules and regulations. NCAA Bylaw 12.5 specifically prohibits the commercial licensing of a student athlete's "name, picture and likeness."

A loss by the NCAA in this case will have reverberations throughout the entire commercial licensing scheme currently employed by the NCAA. A win will certainly mean that in addition to determining the value of damages to student athletes from EA Sports, the court should also be involved in calculating the damages the student athletes have suffered from the sale of the licensed merchandise carrying the jersey number or other identifying characteristics of a student athlete. After that comes the nightmarish problem of determining who, and for how much, student athletes are entitled to receive under a judgement or settlement. If I were representing the NCAA, based on what I know now, I would not want to see this case go to trial and would actively pursue a settlement. You don't want to see an adverse judgement entered - it would be just too expensive.

Tacos Replace the Big Mac at NBA Games

Twenty year sponsor McDonalds is out at the NBA and Taco Bell is in as the league's fast food partner. The amount of the deal has not been announced but the deal has been confirmed by several sources and first reported by Sports Business Journal. It's a four year, all inclusive deal, containing ads on ABC, ESPN, TNT and title sponsorship to the All Star Saturday Night Skill Challenge and store promotions. It is a wider ranging package than McDonalds had and is likely to involve a significantly higher dollar value. Assuming that is the case, the NBA is to be congratulated on pulling that off in today's economy - any sponsorship increase is rare indeed.

End of An Era for the Big East and Pac-10

I shouldn't let today go by without noting the retirement of the commissioners of the Big East and Pac-10 conferences. Both men have been in their jobs for what seems like an eternity and I guess in the college athletics world, it probably is. Michael Tranghese has been commissioner of the Big East for 18 years, following Dave Gavitt, its first commissioner and Tranghese's boss at both the Big East and Providence College from where Gavitt brought Tranghese in to be the Big East's second employee. Tom Hansen has been commissioner of the Pac-10 for 26 years, dating back to to the time in which the conference was the Pac-8.

Tranghese may well be remembered as the man who saved the Big East. More than anyone else, he is responsible for holding the conference together following the ACC raid on the conference and the defection of three key football playing schools. He went out and found new members Lousiville, Cincinnati and South Florida and has been able to balance the interests of the eight, mostly public (all except Syracuse) football playing schools against the eight (including Notre Dame) private, Catholic non-football playing, basketball dominant schools. It has not been an easy task but the conferenc is far stronger now than it was before the raid, as evidenced by on field and court results and its new contract with ESPN, which Tranghese often refers to as the Big East Network. It is a level of prosperity that no one in the league takes for granted and no one would have thought possible in the wake of the ACC raid. However, Tranghese leaves his successor, his right hand man, senior associate commissioner John Marinatto (another former Providence guy) a major football task and that is to upgrade the conference's bowl games. The last time that bowl contracts were signed was right after the ACC raid, and bowls were skeptical of the New Big East. As a result, outside of the BCS slot, the league's bowls really don't measure up to the caliber of either the members of the conference or their fan support and it will be Marinatto's first job to upgrade those significantly.

Tom Hansen leaves behind a legacy of overall athletic excellence unequalled anywhere else in college sports. As usual, Pac-10 schools dominated this year's Directors Cup, placing eight schools in the top 25 (where are you Wazoo and OSU?) topped by Stanford in its customary spot at number one. In addition, Pac-10 schools won 11 national titles, more than any two other conferences combined. The Big Ten and ACC were next with five each. The Pac-10 also had nine runner-up finishes. However, there is still a major challenge Hansen leaves for his successor, Larry Scott, former CEO of the WTA. The Pac-10 has to improve its television contracts or strongly consider the formation of its network. It longstanding relationship with Fox has simply not been sufficient to place it before a national audience. It may do well in its natural market, although I'm not really convinced of that, but outside of the West, the conference lacks visibility.

Supreme Court Grants Cert in American Needle

Yesterday, was the last day of the Supreme Court's term, and Justice David Souter's career on the Court before he rides off into the New Hampshire hills, and the Court handed down a number of orders including a notice that it had decided to grant cert in American Needle v. the NFL. The Seventh Circuit had ruled that the NFL can have single entity status, and enjoy immunity from antitrust claims, for a limited purpose, (here, apparel licensing). Until American Needle, the prevailing law of the land was that the NFL acted as a joint venture or partnership of individual clubs, thus subject to Section I of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

The decision in American Needle could have far reaching consequences for not only the NFL but for all major leagues. Both the NFL and American Needle asked for a review of the Seventh Circuit's ruling. American Needle for the most obvious reason that the Circuit Court ruled against it and would like the Supreme Court to find that there is no single entity for any purpose. The NFL has asked the Supreme Court to broaden the Seventh Circuit's ruling to find that the league operates as a single entity for all purposes.

The NFL has little to lose before the Supreme Court. Should the Court hold against the league, life as the NFL knows it will return to the reality as it existed before the case began. American Needle will still have to prove a violation of the Section I of the Sherman Act, and the court will analyze the exclusive licensing agreement that is at the core of the dispute under the rule of reason. Do the pro-competitve benefits of the exclusive licensing agreement outweigh its anti-competitive effects?

However, the benefits to the NFL and the other professional sports leagues of a victory at the Supreme Court, and the adoption by the Court of the position urged by the NFL that the league operates as a single entity for all purposes, is hard to overstate. Not only will the leagues be freed from litigation over exclusive licensing agreements, but the leagues will gain unquestioned control over franchise relocations and ownership transfers. For a look at how important that may be to a league, one need only visit the bankruptcy court in Phoenix and peruse the Coyotes file on the fight between Jim Basillie and the NHL. The NFL had its own problems some time ago with the on again, off again Oakland, Los Angeles, Oakland Raiders and the league's favorite litigation partner Al Davis.

Haveil Havalim is Now Up

Haveil Havalim, the weekly carnival of Jewish Blogs is now up and you can and should go visit it here. While this is clearly not a Jewish focused blog, last week's post on Omri Casspi and the NBA draft was picked up. There is a great collection of a wide range of post on various topics and you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy them.

Reinsdorf Submits Bid for Coyotes

I guess there was a real bidder for the Coyotes besides Jim Balsillie after all. Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf yesterday submitted to the bankruptcy court an outline of his offer to buy the Coyotes at the auction which the bankruptcy judge has scheduled for August 5. The bid will be for $148 million substantially below Balsillie $212.5 million, but Reinsdorf is promising to keep the team in Arizona, which is apparently worth $64.5 million.

Why and how that is, I've yet to figure out, but, hey I'm not the NHL expert who put a team in the middle of the desert in the first place, much less put the team on a cable network nobody can find, so what do I know?

Please note in the article that the August 5 auction is only for bidders who will keep the club in Phoenix, leaving Balsillie out once again. That presumably assures Reinsdorf as the winner and we can expect the Board of Governors to rubber stamp it. One interesting sidelight, Reissdrof's group includes Tony Tavares, an experience executive who is likely to run the team if the group ends up buying it. Tavares is also a part of the group now negotiating to buy the Florida Panthers, so presumably he would drop out of that group if this one is successful. The man must really want to run an failing hockey team.

Omri Casspi Makes History

Many of you might know that basketball is the second most popular sport in Israel and that Israeli basketball has long been competitive in Europe. In fact Maccabi Tel Aviv , the New York Yankees of Israel, was the Euroleague champion in 2004 and 2005 and the runner-up in 2006 and 2008. However, despite that success no Israeli has ever played in the NBA, until now.

Last night in the first round of the NBA draft, the Sacramento kings selected Omri Casspi, a 6'-8" forward from Maccabi Tel Aviv with the 23rd pick in the draft. As a first round selection, Casspi gets a guaranteed three year contract, which would make him the first Israeli to play in the NBA. He is the first Israeli ever chosen in the first round of the draft. Assuming, of course, that he signs a contract with the Kings. As a European player under contract with Maccabi, he has the option of staying in Israel and continuing to play for Maccabi if he decides he doesn't like the situation at the Kings. There have been some hints from his camp that he might do that. I think that is more likely to be negotiating talk than anything else. He certainly sounded like he was coming when he discussed the draft last night:

"I can't speak," Casspi said, tears pouring down his face. "I've been waiting for this moment all my life ... I'm as happy as can be. We made history. I feel like I am in a dream."

He went on to say:

"Anytime you fulfill a dream a new one arises," he said, as friends poured champagne on his head. "I'm in a great place now and the goal is to become a legitimate NBA player."

Cross-posted to SportsYids

Deal Reached to Save Unified F1 Racing

1Remember those dire predictions of the last few weeks that Formula One racing was never to be the same again as eight of the ten teams that make up the sport were leaving to form a breakaway tour, and taking many of the sponsors with them? Well, it's not going to happen. A deal has been reached to keep the breakaway teams in the fold. The major fallout is the deal is going to cost F1 President Max Mosley, he of the orgy with five prostitutes in a "torture dungeon". He probably could have called Dick Cheney and had the party a lot cheaper.

Mosley has agreed to not stand for reelection for another term as FIA president in October, but he has also been effectively stripped of all his duties and responsibilities effective immediately, even if he gets to keep his title, and, presumably, his salary. Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire marketer who holds the marketing rights to Formula One, was the one who negotiated the deal and fired Mosley. In the end, it was the only course to take to keep Formula One racing viable.

Griffin Schools Jared (Yes, That Jared)

What do you do when you're the number one pick in the NBA draft and you're in NYC with a couple of days to kill? Well, you do what your sponsors suggest and one of Blake Griffin's, formerly of Oklahoma and soon to be a Los Angeles Clipper, suggested a game of S-U-B-W-A-Y (H-O-R-S-E) between Griffin and Jared. So the two of them head out to the legendary courts at "The Cage" for a game and a photo shoot. You can see the results below: