L.A. NFL Stadium Could Look Like Futuristic Lightbulb

Forget that we're still waiting to see if the NFL will even play next year. Or the longer-term issue of if an NFL team is available and willing to move to Los Angeles. Nonetheless, AEG and the people who brought you the L.A. Live entertainment center in downtown are moving full steam ahead on development of a $1 billion football stadium.

Los Angeles based architecture and design firm Gensler has been tapped to lead the way on the construction of the project despite never having designed a football stadium. And they already have an inspiration - the 66,000 seat Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, which was the main venue for the 2006 World Cup and currently is home to the Bayern Munich soccer team.

Even though they've never built a football stadium, Gensler is not totally unqualified for the job. They were heavily involved in the development of the very flashy L.A. Live area adjacent to the Staples Center, having built the 54-story hotel and residence tower that's part of the district. That gave them a leg up in the selection process.

Tim Romani, president and chief executive of ICON Venue Group, which is overseeing the proposed project, said the important aspect of Gensler "is the people, not the practice." 

Romani said Gensler's extensive experience in helping design the L.A. Live campus will help expedite the environmental impact report, a necessary step toward getting clearance for a stadium.

"They understand how this site works," he said. "They understand all of the infrastructure, and that saves two to three months if not more of the EIR process."

And it's not as though Gensler is unfamiliar with building sporting venues. According to their website, the firm is currently at work on the renovations on Roland Garros tennis stadium, the Moscow Sports and Entertainment Complex and the Detroit Lions training facility.

Yet there are several issues remaining...

1. The city must be convinced to tear down and relocate the West Hall of its convention center which will cost a pretty penny. It's hard to imagine local taxpayers will want to foot the bill for that considering the local uproar that ensued when L.A. officials thought about using taxpayer dollars for other sports and entertainment events like the Lakers' recent championship parade or Michael Jackson's memorial at the Staples Center.
   
2. There is competing site in the City of Industry led by developer Ed Roski, which is already completely set for construction of a venue - unlike the downtown site which still has to conduct an environmental impact report.
   
3. Whether or not people want another major sports and entertainment venue in downtown Los Angeles isn't certain. In my extremely unscientific polling, I have yet to talk to someone who thinks it's a good idea to put another major traffic suck to an area that is already over-saturated. Rare is the night when there isn't an event at the Staples Center - especially in the fall and winter when the Lakers, Clippers and Kings are in season. Less than five miles to the north is Dodger Stadium and just about the same distance south is the L.A. Coliseum where USC plays football six Saturdays a year. In a different city with better public transportation, it likely wouldn't be an issue. But in car-crazed Los Angeles it's one more thing to tie up freeway traffic.

Oh...and then there's that little issue of NFL owners crying poverty. The money that a new stadium and a team in the country's second largest market would bring make it hard for the league to complain about how hard it is to turn a profit. Of course Roger Goodell and company can't really stop AEG or anyone else from making an announcement like this. But I'm sure they would have preferred to keep the lid on it for a little while.

David Stern Knows Where "The Bodies Are Buried"

Last week, Yahoo! Sports columnist Adrian Wojnarowski wrote a scathing critique of NBA commissioner David Stern, painting him as a bully who is beginning to lose support amongst a new crop of league owners.

On Monday, Wojnarowski gave readers an even more chilling vision of Stern by reporting on a pair of speeches given to players during All-Star Weekend by union chief Billy Hunter and the commish himself. After Hunter reportedly used his address to the players as a chance to prepare his most high-profile constituents for the expected lockout to come, the normally unflappable Stern responded a little like Lee J. Cobb at the end of "On The Waterfront".

Via Yahoo! Sports:

Stern told the room he knows where “the bodies are buried” in the NBA, witnesses recounted, because he had buried some of them himself.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Say what you want about how Roger Goodell has handled his league's labor struggle, he's at least publicly shown respect to the men he's dealing with. If Stern is already turning to threats and intimidation, it doesn't bode well for the negotiations, the league or his tenure as the commissioner.

By contrast, Hunter's words resonated with the players and combined with the obviously rattled Stern's retort it could be the first real shot across the bow in a labor battle that is likely to be even uglier than what we've seen so far from the NFL.

Allstate's Stand? It's Making Fun of LeBron James

Even though we're more than halfway through the season, people still continue to take shots at LeBron James. Then again when you set yourself up for public scorn the way James did during "The Decision", you're going to take some shots for awhile.

Now we have insurance companies jumping into the fray. Chicagoland radio stations have been playing Allstate insurance ads featuring spokesman Dennis "President David Palmer" Haysbert taking a shot at competitor State Farm via James, who is the company's pitchman.

The ad cuts deeper and deeper, adding more references along the way. Things like:

"Should you go where you get the most for your money? Or go with your hometown organization? Or maybe you should just team up with one of the best in the business."

And just in case you weren't totally sure if this was a shot at You Know Who, Haysbert hits you with...

"Are you ready to take your talents to Allstate?"

Hear the full commercial here...

I'm waiting for the television version when Mayhem rushes the floor in Miami, places his foot down for LeBron to awkwardly land on top of it, then yells "Karma!" as James writhes in pain on the hardwood.

(H/T to Darren Rovell and Dig Communications)

Will Terrell Owens' Milkshake Bring All the Boys (and Girls) to the Yard?

Terrell Owens is cashing in on NBA All-Star weekend. While it doesn't have the same marketing cache as Radio Row during Super Bowl week, it's not uncommon to see stars from other sports trying to promote during the NBA's mid-season showcase.

T.O.'s been a reality TV star and a talk show host and says he plans on becoming a movie star. But before he takes his turn on the big screen, Owens apparently wants to try his hand as a soda jerk (insert your own joke here).

A YouTube video of T.O. dressed in a Cincinnati Bengals-themed Cosby sweater and promoting his appearance at a West Los Angeles milkshake shop made its way around the Internet on Wednesday morning.

It's certainly not the first time an athlete or celebrity has lent their fame to a food menu item. But it got us wondering what exactly you'd call it? Here are a few things we came up with:

• I Love Me Some Chocolate
• Get Your Peanut Butter Ready
• If It Looks Like Strawberry & Smells Like Strawberry, By Golly, It Is Strawberry
• That's My Butterscotch!

Post your ideas in the comments section.

Lakers, Time Warner Agree to 20-Year Cable Deal

The Los Angeles Lakers have announced a 20-year deal with Time Warner Cable for local distribution of all pre-season, regular season and post-season games via a pair of new regional sports television networks beginning with the 2012-13 season. One of the networks will be produced entirely in Spanish - a first for regional sports networks (as opposed to the national ESPN Deportes or just having SAP feeds).

The immediate impact is that Laker road games will no longer be seen on local KCAL 9. But the new channels' carriage throughout the Lakers' territories in Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii should help make up for the households lost with the lack of local television. For the Lakers it's an obvious win, especially with the addition of the Spanish language network in a market with a large Spanish-speaking population that loves the team.

On the surface it would seem to be distressing that a team with a $91 million payroll is on the verge of reaping an even greater windfall with a huge new TV deal. While the league does allow teams to keep all of the revenue it makes from it television contracts, the NBA's salary cap should prevent the league from running into Major League Baseball's problem of the Yankees versus everybody else.

For Time Warner, it appears to be a win on many different levels. First, the Lakers get great ratings, meaning the network will have no trouble generating ad revenue. Second, as Kurt Helin points out at Pro Basketball Talk, it gives all of the other teams in the market leverage. The Lakers, Clippers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings, Ducks, USC and UCLA have all been fighting for space on L.A.'s two sports cable networks - Fox Sports West and Fox Sports Prime Ticket. With pro and college basketball and hockey all going at the same time, it can get crowded. Suddenly the other entities have a lot more leverage when it comes time to re-up.

But it also means Time Warner will have negotiating leverage of their own when it comes to having the networks picked up by other distributors like Charter, DirecTV and Dish Network. Reminiscent of 1997 when then-Dodgers owner Rupert Murdoch moved the team's Opening Day game to Fox Sports Net West 2 (now FS Prime Ticket) in a successful effort to strongarm cable operators who had balked at carrying the network. Similarly other carriers will be more willing to get a deal done if it prevents Laker fans from switching services to see their team.

However it could mean Time Warner subscribers may have to keep waiting for the NFL Network. The operator has been loathe to work out a deal with the league and the revenue that could be earned from this Laker deal means that (in L.A. at least), TWC won't be in any hurry to bend to Roger Goodell's demands. Although with the way things are going, NFL Network may not have too much new programming to show anytime soon.

The NFLPA Just Wants Some Love

With just over two weeks until the NFL's collective bargaining agreement expires, both the league and the player's union have been in a fight to win over the public's trust (even if at times it seems like the NFLPA has been fighting amongst itself).

As the deadline approaches, the rhetoric ramps up leaving most of us to wonder just how far apart the two sides are when it comes to making a deal. But as we all know, there's a thin line between love and hate, so the union has decided via Twitter and its NFLLockout.com website to spread the love on Valentine's day.

I wonder if this came in a box of 33, with an especially big one for the teacher (Roger Goodell). 

Sunday Reading: Breaking Down the NFL Labor Situation

Now that the NFL season is over just about every piece of news about the league has something to do with the continuing labor negotiations and the threatened lockout. There are plenty of great insiders on the Internet with plenty of great insight on what's going on with the negotiations and predictions on what could happen next.

But the most thorough analysis of the root causes that have led us to where we are may be on a blog hosted by a group promoting Austrian School ideals.

(Don't worry, I had to look it up myself. Click here.)

In a two-part blog post, the author comments on everything from the rookie wage scale and public stadium financing to the league's stance on gambling and Roger Goodell's demagoguery. Through it all, the owners are roasted for being a staid, ineffectual billionaire boys' club riding a wave of unprecedented success created by the players, television networks and the public at large.

Via Mises Economic Blog:

The NFL produces three things: stadium debt, intellectual property, and bureaucracy. None of these things should be confused with “free market” values. The league is a prime example of what happens when you mix politically influential egos with easy credit and a media environment that largely promotes economic ignorance. You have the perfect boom business. 

But all booms eventually end. NFL acolytes — and they are presently the majority — will insist, as Homer Simpson once did, that “everything lasts forever.” One media writer I correspond with insisted to me recently the NFL will be even more popular in 20 years then it is today. Go back to 1991 and think about all of the businesses you could have said that about, incorrectly, at that time.

There was a time not long ago when sports was a separate entity from politics and economics. As the NFL and other leagues have continued to expand in both size and monetarily, they have started to intertwine with policy and finance. This is a fascinating read showing how all sides interconnect.

Behind the Lockout, Part I
Behind the Lockout, Part II

Turns out this could be as good an argument as the NFLPA could have hoped for. Maybe it can stop its members from taking shots at one another.

Cal To Reinstate Five Sports

It appears that a handful of sports at the University of California are safe for now. According to a report from CSNBayArea.com, an official announcement regarding the future of Cal's baseball, rugby, men's & women's gymnastics and women's lacrosse teams could come as soon as Thursday or Friday at the latest.

The university had decided to end four of the programs at the end of this athletic year in an effort to save more than $4 million from the annual budget. The perennially successful rugby team was going to be reclassified as a club sport.

Cal's longterm goal is to cut their overall athletic budget by more than half, going from their current $12 million a year to $5 million annually.

A group called "Save Cal Sports" has been working to raise money to keep the programs going. Former Cal and Major League Baseball player Doug Nickle says the group has raised approximately $15 million - enough to continue the programs through the careers of all the current players. That should buy all of the involved parties enough time to work out a more permanent solution.

It's hard not to think of this as a bittersweet moment for the players and coaches who will surely be thrilled see the programs they love continue on. As the university looks for cost-cutting measures, it's hard not to cast a side-eye glance over to the football program where (as of 2009) Jeff Tedford was the state of California's highest-paid employee at $2.3 million. Meanwhile in early 2010, the UC Board of Regents approved at $321 million renovation of Memorial Stadium.

It's an established fact that football pays the bills in a lot of athletic departments. But if Cal's football program isn't bringing enough revenue to cover all necessary spending, how do you continue throwing big dollars at it to the detriment of other programs?

Smell Like Kevin Love!

So far in his young NBA career, Kevin Love has made cameo appearances on Entourage and The Suite Life on Deck and gone ESPN (30-for-30) on the New York Knicks. But what hasn't Minnesota's newest superstar done? Well he hasn't played in an All-Star Game and he hasn't pimped his own fragrance.

Now he's trying to kill both birds with one stone. Behold the promo for Numb#rs by Kevin Love...

The 612 All-Star Collection that promotes and distributes Love's line of men's grooming products put together a pretty sharp looking website, complete with a dapper looking Love perfecting his vacant fashion model stare. But keep scrolling down and it turns into a promotional campaign for Love's All-Star candidacy. 

The timing for the fragrance is pretty good. With Valentine's Day just a couple of weeks away fellas, there's plenty of time for your lady to pick up a bottle or two. As for the All-Star timing...not so much. Despite a late swell of support from fans and writers, Love is still ninth amongst Western Conference forwards - a loaded position to be sure. But even if he can't be an All-Star, he'll at least smell like one.

Antonio Cromartie Threatens to Smash Matt Hasselbeck's Face In

UPDATE: Hasselbeck says his (now deleted) original tweet was merely a joke. He apologized to Cromartie and added "DB's and QB's have a hard time getting along I guess, sometimes. lol"

Certainly a diplomatic way to keep the peace during this time of much-needed player unity, but it's hard to believe that Hasselbeck didn't mean at least a portion of what he initially said. It would be nice to see him stand by it. Cromartie threatening violence only gave credence to Hasselbeck's original statement. Now he's just been bullied into silence. All the while, the owners are sitting back like Montgomery Burns watching as their employees fight over scraps.

*******************************************************************

Earlier today, Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk reported on a deleted Tweet sent by Matt Hasselbeck in which the Seattle Seahawks' quarterback took a shot a Jets' cornerback Antonio Cromartie, asking if the latter "knows what CBA stands for".

Hasselbeck's comment was likely in response to a profanity-laced tirade Cromartie made in regards to the pace of labor negotiations. From ESPN:

"To me, you need to stop bitching about it," the New York Jets cornerback said. "And if you wanna say you're gonna get into a room and meet and greet, and say you're gonna do what you need to do, then do it. Don't just talk about it."

Despite the tweet being deleted not long after it was spent, word of Hasselbeck's comment apparently made its way to Cromartie who took to Twitter to elevate the rhetoric a tad. Via Twitter:

@Hasselbeck hey Matt if u have something to then say it be a man about it. Don't erase it. I will smash ur face in.

The angry response only seems to reinforce what Hasselbeck's deleted tweet was implying. After Cromartie's interview made its way around, a large number of NFL players used nearly any media platform they could find - social or otherwise - to profess their faith in NFLPA leader DeMaurice Smith, knowing that any signs of a splintering union could give the owners even more leverage in the intensifying battle.

That was probably the biggest reason Hasselbeck immediately withdrew the comment. It's also the reason that Cromartie should be smart enough to know that he can't start a flame war on the Internet over something as meaningful to his professional future. Both Cromartie and Hasselbeck are free agents but can't begin discussing new contracts as long as the labor situation is unsettled, something that is undoubtedly frustrating for someone with a long list of financial obligations.

Clay Matthews Is Suave...And So Is His New Endorsement Deal

Is this hair better than...

First it was Bud Bowl. Then the Puppy Bowl and the Lingerie Bowl. Could we now be set up for the Hair Bowl, featuring Troy Polamalu and Clay Matthews?

According to CNBC's Darren Rovell, the Packers' stud linebacker with the flowing, blond locks has signed a one-year deal with Unilever to market a newly-formulated men's shampoo under the Suave brand. The contract includes appearances before and after the Super Bowl as well as a production day that could include filming a commercial. The deal allows Matthews to have his hair trimmed a bit, but he isn't allowed to shave it off for at least a year.

...this hair?

It's somewhat surprising that it took this long for someone to ink Matthews to a deal considering he may have the second most recognizable hair in the NFL combined with his rapid rise to stardom. And it's not like Matthews hasn't been trying to snag an endorsement deal.

From CNBC:

"I've been throwing it out there and just getting shunned," Matthews said on Monday. "I don't know what it is...America, I'm looking for a hair deal."

Well, Clay...congratulations. You've got it. Although he may want to walk across the way and shake hands with Polamalu. This all comes after the Steelers' safety had his hair insured for $1 million by Head and Shoulders back in August. It's hard to imagine that this would have been in the works without Matthews' team getting set to line it up against Polamalu's team in the Super Bowl. Nonetheless, kudos to Suave for making it happen.

Could the Longhorn Network's deal with Time Warner Cable Hurt UT's Non-Profit Status?

Mack Brown may hook a few more recruits

Right on the heels of Comcast's recent purchase of NBC Universal, the as-yet-unnamed Texas Longhorns television network may end up with some cable operator parentage of its own.

Sports Business Journal reported on Monday that Time Warner Cable is in talks to purchase as much as a 20 percent ownership stake in the new channel, set to launch in September. ESPN, which agreed to a 20-year, $300 million agreement with university will produce programming for the channel.

The announcement spurred huge reaction across the country with commentators wondering if this meant the beginning of the end of conference football as we know it or whether the school was running the risk of committing any number of potential recruting violations.

But a statement in the SBJ story may have an unintended impact on any similar deals going forward:

A deal with Time Warner Cable is essential for the unnamed channel’s distribution because TWC is the state’s dominant cable operator, with close to 2 million subscribers, according to Media Business Corp. In addition to being a UT corporate sponsor, TWC has wired the university for cable and broadband services, and it has a system that covers the state capital, Austin.

The immediate arguments are the complaints regarding lack of programming competition that many critics of the Comcast deal initially raised. Certainly with Time Warner Cable controlling such a large market share in the state of Texas and potentially having a vested interest in the success and visibility of Longhorn sports, there is reason for Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor to be a touch worried about how much airtime they'll get.

UT AD Deloss Dodds is a game-changer

But a longer-term issue could be how the revenue gained by UT may be classified and whether it affects the school's nonprofit status. A May 2009 report by the Congressional Budget Office studied revenues earned by Division I universities - broken down in terms of commercial and non-commercial revenue and whether it came from inside or outside the athletic department - and aimed to determine whether the tax breaks many colleges received gave them an unfair advantage to pursue commercial interests.

The study concluded that at the Division I-A level, a number of athletic departments were closer to commercial enterprises than non-profit institutions of higher learning. However the CBO also stated that even though the continuation of such tax exemptions amount to a federal subsidy and could "encourage an 'arms race' between schools", most universities would be able to find loopholes that would enable them to avoid any real taxation through athletic department earnings.

Yet the CBO makes an evaluation that that might give pause to some ardent Bevo backers:

When athletic departments function primarily as a part of the educa­tional experience for students, they participate in that nonprofit market. However, highly competitive college sports teams with large-capacity stadiums and prime-time television events with advertising are more reasonably considered participants in the market for entertainment. They compete for entertainment spending with many other recreational options, but their most direct competi­tors are professional sports leagues.

UT has said its channel will feature non-sporting events like coverage of lectures and visiting speakers as well as commencement ceremonies. The same will likely apply to BYU's forthcoming network. While those academic appetizers provide some cover from critics, the main course that has networks and some cable operators salivating is football with men's basketball for dessert.

ESPN has already heard its share of criticism about becoming such a prominent partner with one school - a refrain the network has dealt with more often in recent years with their controversial coverage of supposedly "favored" athletes like LeBron James and Ben Roethlisberger. But with a cable distributor in the mix, the situation gets even stickier.

The Big 12 conference still has another year left on its deal with Fox Sports Net, meaning there will likely still be some even distribution amongst coverage of the competing schools. However, the ABC/ESPN contract runs through 2015-16. With ESPN and Time Warner being so closely tied to Texas, will fans of the rest of the conference see just enough of their teams to keep them from jumping to satellite?

If so, does that put Texas in direct competition with other university athletic departments? It's also a question that may be asked to a lesser degree of Notre Dame. Currently the Irish's deal with Comcast-NBC is for home football games only, but if the Longhorns' network proves to be profitable, you can bet Fighting Irish TV is sure to follow.

Here's the rub: Major League Baseball was granted an antitrust exemption allowing it to be a monopoly. The NFL enjoys a partial antitrust exemption. Still franchises in both of those leagues must still pay taxes. If a university is allowed to keep it tax exempt, non-profit status yet run its athletic department as a business it creates a competitive imbalance not just for the other schools in its respective conference or region, but for other entities competing for the same entertainment dollar.

If Texas, Notre Dame, BYU or potentially Oklahoma (which is reportedly pursuing its own TV deal) can claim much of the same advertising, ticket and merchandising revenue as the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys, should they also be able to solicit donations from boosters with the added incentive of making those donations tax-deductible?

I'm in no way advocating for Congress to get involved with legislating television contracts for college sports. Goodness knows they have far more important things they need to spend their time on. But with fans clamoring for the NCAA to take a closer look at its model of big revenue schools making billions off amateur athletes and consumers concerned about media consolidation narrowing wide market access, this could be a story to keep an eye on.

Sacramento Kings' Arena To Be Named After Scam Product

Power Balance apparently can't brighten DeMarcus Cousins' disposition

For years now, the Sacramento Kings have been looking for a new arena to replace their current 23-year old venue, even exploring at times the possibility of a move to Las Vegas.

Instead, they have tried the next best thing - change the name and hope everyone thinks you've moved. After playing in two different buildings known as Arco Arena since their move from Kansas City in 1985, the Kings will now welcome fans and opponents to the new Power Balance Pavilion.

That's right, the Kings have signed a naming-rights deal with the nifty little bracelets that claim to prevent you from tipping over when you're pretending you're little teapot. Perhaps it's to stop Sacramento from being pushed around by just about every team in the league.

The deal comes in the wake of a class-action lawsuit being filed against the makers of Power Balance after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission raised some doubts about the validity of the product's claims. Power Balance hasn't been helped by reports that the company itself admitted that the product was a scam. However, on its website, Power Balance stands by its initial claims that its products are effective.

Regardless of the lawsuit's outcome, I'm sure this will be a long, profitable partnership for both sides. Look at some of the other epic stadium naming rights deals. Who could imagine the Astros playing anywhere but Enron Field? Or the Titans outside of Adelphia Coliseum? And certainly no one walks into Land Shark Stadium expecting to beat the Dolphins. There's no way this can backfire, right?

(H/T: Gawker)