Available canvases include the bullpens, dugouts, base lines, outfield pavilions, parking gates, press box, Stadium Club, luxury suites and clubhouse. The team's newly adopted spring training facilities in Arizona are also up for grabs.That brings us to this little piece on stadium naming rights. It's very interesting, especially if you've ever tuned into a broadcast and wondered why you always thought Bank of America stadium was actually called Ericsson Stadium. It was.
The Dodgers said Monday that they had formed a partnership with the William Morris Agency of Beverly Hills to identify opportunities to rename parts of the stadium and its planned $500-million addition. The expansion is intended to transform the ballpark into a year-round destination for dining, shopping and recreation -- and could also serve up numerous branding opportunities.
This massive hypothetical inconvenience to the world of baseball fans is notable for a few reasons. First, this would be the first time a network has moved the start time for an event back due to political advertising. Second, the World Series will likely involve the Phillies (already in) and the Tampa Bay Rays, both of whom sit in key swing states in this election; whether the Obama campaign will be willing to take the marginal risk of offending the public of either state in exchange for "roadblock" coverage on all four major networks for their ad is a legitimate question. ("Roadblock" meaning on all four majors at once, meaning you'll have to flip to the Food Network for a few minutes to get away from it.)I have to say, this is probably a good move on Obama's part, especially considering that a very small segment of the audience will be upset by a later start time. Game six is no guarantee, however, so John McCain should work on snapping up games one through five, asap.
Major League Baseball: Attendance fell this season after four straight record years, proving commissioner Bud Selig was wrong when he estimated the sport could break 80 million in attendance for the first time. But the economic slowdown is felt beyond the turnstiles: Team coverage in many newspapers has been cut back, leading to a decreased presence in print for teams. And MLB expects a decrease in car ads - long a major sponsor - forcing clubs and networks to search for other advertisers.Imagine that, Bud Selig was wrong. Never!
Sales of licensed goods - such as jerseys and caps - is flat when compared with last year. It would be down factoring out the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium, which produced extra revenue.
“I don’t know if I will ever say no. I would have to know that I could perform at a high level and that my body would be able to hold up.”There's some poetic justice in that first statement. You know, the part about having to perform at a high level and a body breaking down. Clemens seemed to find the fountain of youth as an older player, and now with his name forever attached to steroids the comments contain an ironic twist.
Clemens, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time Cy Young award winner, said he did not feel he could play any longer.
“I think I said a long time ago that I’m not a quitter,” Clemens said. “I’m never going to quit. I think I’m just going to walk away. I think I will never be too far from the game.”
I imagine the Yankees will scrap the plan to sign two of C.C. Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, and Derek Lowe if both Mussina and Pettitte return. Or perhaps they'd turn Pettitte away?Funny, but it was my expectation that the Yankees only bring back Pettitte or Mussina and not both. Things haven't worked out well in the Bronx in recent seasons, and an aging pitching staff can't be counted on to continue to produce at a high level. The Yankees need to get a bit younger with their veteran pitchers, because their young pitchers (Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, etc.) are still works in progress.
"There's no question," Dr. Tim Kremchek said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "It affected that push-off leg. How much I don't know. But he was dealing with it all year. There's not much you can do early in the season."Griffey looked washed up this past season, and although the knee surgery might help get his production up, he's certainly on the down slide. Where he ends up is anybody's guess, and if he can't put up better numbers it won't be as a DH.
Griffey will be a free agent this offseason, if as expected, the White Sox decline his $16 million option for the 2009 season. He has said he would like to continue playing next season.
Mazzone says the three-year, $450,000 contract he was offered by the Orioles was "very generous," but he now admits: "It was not a real good experience. I tried to get people to take more responsibility and be accountable to create a winning atmosphere. That wasn't very well received.That says everything you need to know about why the Orioles have struggled for so long.
"I'd been with an [Atlanta] organization that was top-shelf, so I was in culture shock."
The upper-deck seats were covered in part because they're not exactly the best seats in the house. Tropicana Field's infamous catwalks block the view of the field for a number of those seats.That's got to be the worst ballpark in baseball, but hopefully this means the Rays are gaining some long-term support in Florida.
"Some are obstructed-view, some don't have seatbacks, and they're pretty high up," Silverman said, according to the Tribune. "But you're in the ballpark and you're there making a difference to the team."
The decision comes after Chatham, one of 10 teams in the Cape Cod Baseball League and one of six sharing a nickname with a Major League Baseball franchise, decided not to sign an annual contract that would allow them to keep the A’s as their name but require them to purchase all uniforms and souvenir merchandise from MLB-licensed vendors.As I always say, I understand that baseball wants to protect its product, but how far is too far?
It has not yet been established what the other five CCBL franchises using MLB nicknames – the Bourne Braves, Hyannis Mets, Orleans Cardinals, Y-D Red Sox and Harwich Mariners – are planning to do, but Bourne and Orleans are strongly considering a name change as well, according to Cape Cod Baseball League Commissioner Paul Galop. All teams must make their intentions known to the Cape League by Oct. 25.
The six CCBL clubs sharing nicknames with major league teams signed an abbreviated contract with MLB Properties this past summer (covering the 2008 season), but have until Nov. 1 to opt of the contract, which covers the 2009 season.
Major League Baseball threatened to withhold its annual $100,000 grant last year until a temporary contract with the six targeted CCBL teams was signed. The Cape League is not in jeopardy of losing that funding next year, Galop said, now that they’ve cooperated with MLB, either by signing the licensing agreement or changing their name altogether.
Over on Fox the NLCS game scored a 5.1/8 between 8pm-10pm. Kinda eh for the playoffs and though MLB is touting that the combined playoff ratings for this round are up, but that’s not doing Fox any good since the growth is all being driven by huge growth over last year on TBS (last year it had the Diamonbacks/Rockies NLCS, this year TBS has the Red Sox).I'm thinking that all playoff games will move to cable outlets in the coming years, kind of like the NBA format with the finals on network TV.
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