Media & Entertainment Law

Cubs Bids Are In?

Posted on July 19, 2008
The deadline for bids for the purchase of the Chicago Cubs was yesterday and seven bids were submitted for the package of the team, Wrigley Field and the team's 25% in ComcastSportsnet Chicago. Unexpectedly, one bid was also received for Wrigley Field alone, which the Tribune Company had been exploring as a standalone sale...

Win a Day With Natalie Gulbis

Posted on July 19, 2008
You know you want it. You know you just couldn't pass it up. All you have to do is write a convincing essay. Now, what you did on your summer vacation just won't cut it. You have to be more creative than that. You need to write 200 words on the secret behind your success, be it your wife/husband/partner, your mentor, your team, your assistant or your children...

Minor League Promotion of the Week

Posted on July 18, 2008
You have to hand it to minor league baseballs - those teams can dream really up some creative promotions. The recent promotion held by the Grand Prairie AirHogs (don't you just love the name) , was perhaps inevitable given recent publicity concerning a certain baseball star's love life...

MLB Holds Out Hope for Inclusion in 2016 Olympics

Posted on July 17, 2008
As you probably know, baseball is scheduled to be bounced from the Olympics following the close of the Beijing Games. The reasons are many, but two stand out as at the top of the IOC list: drug testing and the lack of participation by major league players...

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What Are Three National Championships Worth?

Posted on July 15, 2008
There are various measures to value sports enterprises but none can effectively be applied to collegiate programs no matter how Forbes may try. Nevertheless, we have been given a rather picture of the relative worth of winning national championships in football and basketball...

10 Worst Sports Announcers

Posted on July 11, 2008
Maxim is out with a list of the 10 worst sports announcers on television. First, who knew Maxim actually had articles, but, of course, this is really just a list with pictures and small paragraphs that are little more than a couple of sentences so I guess that doesn't really qualify as an article...

Rodriguez Settles With WVU for $4Mil

Posted on July 09, 2008
The long Michigan nightmare is over. New UM football coach Rich Rodriguez has agreed to settle with his former employer West Virginia University, although cave is probably the more accurate term, by agreeing to pay the entire $4 million buyout fee at issue in the suit between them...

Steve and Barry's Update - Bankruptcy Filed

Posted on July 09, 2008
Updating my post of last week about Steve and Barry's dire financial straights, the retailer filed for bankruptcy protection today in New York. The company listed $693.5 million in assets and debt of $638 million as of May 31. As often happens when a company gets into financial difficulties, media coverage becomes part of the problem...

Vote for Sale

Posted on July 08, 2008
Okay, it's not sports, but it's too funny not to pass along. Apparently, a 19 year old Minnesota boy slept through high school civics class or he would have learned that selling your vote on eBay is not the best way to participate in the civic endeavor we call democracy...

Steelers on the Block?

Posted on July 08, 2008
According to an article in this morning's Wall Street Journal, Pittsburgh Steelers CEO Dan Rooney is in talks with his brothers to buy out their interest in the club so that he will become the principal owner. Rooney wants to preserve the family's 75 year ownership of the club and his four brothers do not have the same interest in maintaining ownership of the team as he does...

More Than Just Basketball Shoes

Posted on July 05, 2008
When you think of great rivalries, you generally think of sports first: Ohio State - Michigan, Army - Navy, Auburn - Alabama, USC - Notre Dame, Yankees - Red Sox and many others.  However, the corporate world has more than its share: Coke - Pepsi, UPS - Fed-Ex, Apple - Microsoft, Visa - Mastercard, well, you get the picture...

Money Flowing in Big Orange Country

Posted on July 03, 2008
There must be a money tree somewhere in Mike Hamilton's backyard or maybe he discovered a wreck of a pirate ship laden with gold at the bottom of the Tennessee River just outside Neyland Stadium. How else can you explain the raises he passed out yesterday...

British Horse Racing to Adopt Year Long Series

Posted on July 02, 2008
The popularity of season long series like NASCAR's Sprint Cup and the PGA's new Fed-Ex Cup seems to be growing, both among fans and the participants. It is now spreading across the pond based on yesterday's announcement by the British horse racing industry of its new Sovereign Series...

Sonics Now Officially Moving to OKC

Posted on July 02, 2008
What's the price of freedom in the NBA? Apparently, the price tag is $75 million, at least if you're a bunch of cowboys. The Clay Bennett ownership group has reached a settlement agreement with the City of Seattle clearing the way for the Sonics move to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season...

Starbury Not Enough; Steve and Barry's Contemplates Liquidation

Posted on July 01, 2008
With its reliance on low cost shoes and clothing, often attached to prominent figures in sports and entertainment, you would think that retailer Steve and Barry's would be perfectly suited for the current economic times. The empire built on cheap tee shirts, Stephon Marbury's Starbury shoes and clothing lines endorsed by the likes of Venus Williams and Sarah Jessica Parker (with nothing costing more than $20) this is a retailer that hit the sweet spot of name brands and low prices...

Strange Court Theories

Posted on June 30, 2008
We all know that lawyers can be creative, which can be both positive for their clients and sometimes negative for society. There has been no shortage of shall we say unique theories offered lately in courtrooms around the country. In cases involving sports, we have seen a judge in Kentucky hand down an opinion that there is no college football team in the country worse than the Duke Blue Devils...

As the NHL Turns

Posted on June 23, 2008
In the latest installment of the continuing soap opera that is the relationship between Jimmy Dolan and Gary Bettman, the NHL has significantly upped the ante in the antitrust suit filed by Madison Square Garden and the Rangers against the NHL. In a counter-claim filed last week, the NHL seeks the approval of the Court to strip Madison Square Garden of the Rangers, asking the Court to approve internal league disciplinary measures that would lead to a forced sale of the Rangers...

NFL Network and ESPN in Talks

Posted on June 21, 2008
In the same week in which Comcast conquered the Big Ten, it appears that it is claiming another trophy, only this one is much bigger by far. In a recognition that the premier professional sports league in the world has been unable to force its way onto cable systems in the US, the NFL Network is currently in talks with ESPN/ABC to form a joint venture to rescue the channel...

This Bud's for the Giants and Jets

Posted on June 19, 2008
The new stadium rising up next to Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands doesn't yet have a name, because the Giants and the Jets, who will be the sharing haven't found the title sponsor. However, the two teams have come up with a stadium sponsorship program unique in the NFL and probably in arenas and stadiums in the US...

The Tiger Shutdown and the Tour

Posted on June 19, 2008
As most everyone knows by now, Tiger Woods will be having surgery soon to repair his knee and will miss the rest of the current golf season, including the remaining majors, the Fed-Ex Championship and the Ryder Cup. Here in Louisville, where the Ryder Cup will be played this fall, Tiger's absence is being acutely felt...

NBC and Notre Dame Reup Through 2015

Posted on June 19, 2008
Anybody who thought that Notre Dame's troubles over the last few years would give NBC pause when it came time to renew the peacock's contract to broadcast the Irish can rest easy now. NBC and Notre Dame announced today that their exclusive contract has been extended through the 2015 season despite the Irish having the lowest ratings since the contract began in 1991...

Michigan Claims Northwestern Stole Signs to Win

Posted on June 18, 2008
This story in the Detroit Free Press relates the tale of two student managers/ball boys at the University of Michigan who discovered that Northwestern was "stealing" signs during the Northwestern-Michigan game in 1997. After relaying the information to Lloyd Carr on the sidelines in the third quarter, the Wolverines were able to regroup, and beat Northwestern 26-6 ending a two year losing streak against the Cats...

Big Ten Network and Comcast Call Truce

Posted on June 17, 2008
According to the Chicago Tribune, the two year long trench war between Comcast and the Big Ten is about to end. The deal should be announced this week, putting the Big Ten Network into about 55 million homes and doubling the homes within the Big Ten Conference's footprint to 13 million...

If Bud Goes Will the Clydesdales Follow?

Posted on June 14, 2008
The King of Beers is apparently subject to the same rules of tribal warfare as other monarchs. InBev, a weirdly named, patched together Belgian/Brazilian beer conglomerate has announced a $46 billion offer to purchase Anheuser-Busch, the parent of Budweiser, Bud Light and, yes, those famous Clydesdales...

Ten Most Powerdul Celebrity Athletes

Posted on June 13, 2008
Thanks to Forbes and its penchant for lists, we now have a list of the ten most powerful celebrity athletes. Actually, we have a list of the top 100 most powerful celebrities, but in the interest of time and in keeping with the theme of this blog, I have edited it down to the top ten athletes...

Horse Racing's Latest Hedge Fund

Posted on June 09, 2008
The results from thoroughbred racing's most recent highly publicized attempt at a hedge fund has apparently whetted the appetite of investors for a shot at the gold ring or the Triple Crown or just some of that alleged $50 million that is going to be paid for syndication of Big Brown...

Racing's Loss If Big Brown Wins

Posted on June 07, 2008
I have never forgotten the thrill of watching Secretariat fly down the home stretch of Belmont Park so far in front of the rest of the field that he was the only horse the TV cameras could include in their wide angle shots of the field. The epic adventures of Affirmed and Alydar are constantly replayed every year that any horse has the opportunity to win the Triple Crown...

How Elections Should Be Settled

Posted on June 04, 2008
Since election season is now ready to kick into high gear with the historic nomination of Barack Obama now secured, I thought it is a good time to steer away from sports (sort of) for just a minute to bring you news of the way elections ought to be determined...

Duke Steals Notre Dame's AD

Posted on June 02, 2008
Earlier this spring, Duke suddenly found itself, thankfully, in the need of a new athletic director. Joe Alleva, who had presided over the debacle that was the Duke lacrosse case had skipped town to become the new AD at LSU. He's now Les Miles' problem and good riddance...

NFL Arms Race Pressures Smaller Markets

Posted on June 01, 2008
We have discussed the arms race in collegiate athletics many times here over the last couple of years, but college is not the only place that the race is taking place. The NFL, the world's most successful professional sports league, is engaged in an arms race of its own and the timing couldn't be worse for some cities...

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