Blog blast past: Balsillie boarded; the Phoenix Coyotes story few people read

As you know, the bond sale that would keep a NHL hockey team in Glendale, Ariz., has gone awry. Reading back to July 30, 2009, it's not surprising when you realize whose interests the NHL and most politicians are really representing these days.

The NHL really showed Wednesday how as a business, it is a game of TEGWAR, The Exciting Game Without Any Rules.

Jim Balsillie's camp smartly pointed out minutes after he was denied that this had nothing to do with his fitness to be an owner, and that the judge in Arizona said in June that the league would have to show he didn't have the cash. Of course, the nets had already been moved, like a group of kids moving their ball hockey game down the street (which might cheese the judge off, but that is neither here nor there). Bruce Arthur's National Post column pointed out, well, if it wasn't money, then it had be something else, but this is the league that let future felon Boots Del Biaggio into the fold.

Granted, being the person who waits for Canadians to wake up to what Gary Bettman's NHL stands for is like being sent out on a snipe hunt. Please, though, sometime between now and the next labour stoppage, clue in that denying Balsillie, again, really betrays that the NHL always represents its interests to the bitter end. It's just that those interests have nothing to do with the great game of hockey and everything to do with corporate malfeasance that could launch six Naomi Klein screeds and a couple Bruce Cockburn ditties. They won't care you could have three teams in Southern Ontario which would each draw more than the Phoenix Coyotes (with higher ticket prices) until the day when the U.S. economy is really up a creek.

The Coyotes are just a game piece in a scheme where, to quote an alternative weekly said the week Balsillie's bid for the Coyotes became public, a "broke" city is "also trying to line the pockets of some of the wealthiest investment groups in New York City, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi." (Phoenix New Times, May 14.)

The above link came via Make It Eight, Eh?. From the look of it, a Hamilton, Ont., insurance broker named Craig Ferguson, over the run of this sordid saga, has evolved from a thinking fan's case for the NHL to put more teams into Canada to advocacy for taxpayers in Arizona in the wake of a swindle/boondoggle which is going down in the American southwest. You really should, if you have time, read through it since Ferguson makes it clear why the hell Jerry Reinsdorf wants to own an unprofitable hockey team which has never been about hockey from the day it arrived in the desert.

"The attraction to the Coyotes hockey team has always been an issue of land development opportunites and great deals with government, and the profits that would go along with them. Nobody in their right mind would take this team with the clear math currently in place. As soon as (former owners Jerry) Moyes and (Steve) Ellman broke up the land from the ice, that’s when the 'Coyote' should have chased the Roadrunner out of town.

"Are we to believe, as mentioned by the Reinsdorf camp, and now even by the new Canadian/American mixed coalition represented by Daryl Jones (Research Edge LLC) that trying to share in a little bit of food and parking is going to cut the mustard? 'Little things add up' is the argument? Were we born yesterday? And, if I might add, if Daryl Jones and his group thinks they are going to break into this game with nickel and dime thinking, they had better think again. Like all politics, what would make sense from a genuine, honest angle usually doesn’t win the prize."

In other words: Cha-ching! Ferguson has flipped over a couple other rocks, noting two weeks ago that Jerry Reinsdorf's son is "is a director of a partnering firm, International Facilities Group (IFG), that has a hand in consulting the City of Glendale for the Jobing.com arena, and more."

It is not like this should shock anyone. For the most part this is the way of the world, at least up until Bear Stearns went nips-up last fall. (At this point, one should allow that maybe the NHL would like Balsillie to pay $350-400 million for an expansion team instead of $212.5M for an established team. At some point, though, these guys have to stop playing the Canada card.)

Most sports fans, regardless of background or intelligence, would be like, "Why should I care that the the city of Phoenix is going to hand over $100 million in subsidies in return for 200 public parking spaces at a time when it can't afford to open public pools? I just want to know if the team is going to relocate or not." Thankfully, no one needs a public pool in a desert during a time of high unemployment). That is just the nature of following a sport, nothing wrong or evil about it.

However, it does seem crazy how few in Canada have really gone to lengths to explain how the Duel in the Desert, so-called, was more than Gary Bettman and Bill Daly delivering a big screw-you to Jim Balsillie. In the grand scheme, this only reaffirms Canadians' Pavlovian slavishness to the NHL. Hockey is a wonderful sport, perhaps the best of the team games, and the NHL is more appealing to watch that it has been at pretty much any point in the Bettman era.

At the same time, to repeat Peter Gent's "every time I say it's a business you call it a game and every time I call it a game you say it's a business" corollary, let's have some clear eyes. At the end of the day, this league Canadians hold so near and dear is run by some not-too-nice people who are only to eager to be part of greater outrages. On a macro level, it does affect the competitive product.

It was nice to speculate for a couple days when that one bid group for the Coyotes talked about playing games in Halifax or Saskatoon and having an AHL team in Thunder Bay. Maybe that was akin to The Simpsons episode when Monty Burns ran for governor: "They're like seals. Toss 'em a couple fish and watch 'em jump."

Point being, smarten up. The next person who says Balsillie needs to learn to play by the NHL's rules should get two minutes for bein' stupid. (Outgoing Montreal Canadiens George Gillett actually accuse of him creating a "distraction" that caused the Habs' season to go downhill was a new low. (Mr. Gillett, I have with me a Mr. Jared Allen who has debunked the myth athletes can be distracted, and he's not above using physical force to make a point.)

Rules? The NHL has but one that it honours, realizing its place as a pipsqueak in the lumbering dinosaur of the American economy, 2009. Balsille, to borrow a line from those Ford ads which have been playing all summer, might "pulled off a game-changer" by moving the Coyotes to Southern Ontario, but there were other interests to defend.

Gary Bettman fits right in with the Boomer mentality where old-economy businesses hide that they are just going around in circles, slowly losing ground before realizing time has run out. The commish is a pipsqueak in the grand scheme of bankrupting America, but like any good CEO, he knows who he works for. That's why they pay him the big bucks.

As previously stated, "It would be silly to use the league's idiotic business practices to justify non-interest in what happens on the ice." However, this has been an exercise in the NHL as usual. It has no rules and when you have no rules, you have less of a game.

Related:
Balsillie vows to press on; BlackBerry billionaire given rough ride by NHL's board of governors as bid for troubled Coyotes rejected (Paul Waldie and David Shoalts, Globe & Mail)
NHL: Anybody but you, Balsillie (Bruce Arthur, National Post)

Jusssst a bit outside: the New York Mets preview

Duty calls to preview the MLB season with 30 things somewhat about each of the 30 teams. At bat: the New York Mets.

1. Kicking them while they're down: The Mets play in the world's media capital and its its former financial capital. That built-in economic advantage has given them is a lousy four World Series appearances in almost 50 seasons.
   
   The perpetually cash-poor Oakland Athletics have won six pennants in the same stretch.
   
   
2. All part of the plan: Tom Seaver won two of his three Cy Young Awards on 82-win Mets teams in the 1970s. The idea must be to make the National League's best left-hander, Johan Santana, really earn it.
   
   
3. Over-under on wins: 80½
   
   
4. Take the ... Under, on general principle.
   
   
5. Wright can't stay wrong: Every projection has third baseman David Wright finding his old form after a nightmarish 2009.
   
   
6. In a sentence: The main question coming into the season is whether GM Omar Minaya or field manager Jerry Manuel gets fired first. It's that grim.
   
   
7. Santana spelled with a K: The difference between Johan Santana being his old Cy Young self and a JAGOV (Just Another Guy of Value) is his strikeout rate, which has been 7.9 the past two seasons after six years in a row of 9-plus.
   
   
8. One cool part about the Mets: Left-hander Hisanori Takahaski throws six pitches since he came over from Japan, where having only 12 major-league teams means pitchers need a deeper catalog. Just to spoil it for us, the Mets likely will make him a reliever, so he won't be able to run through his full repertoire in one- or two-inning relief stints. Why can't mediocre teams just make moves in the interest of obsessive fans?
   
   
9. Worth repeating without commentary: From The New York Times last week: "Minaya said the Mets should slug better this season after signing Jason Bay. He also said Bay would help the defense in left field, and Daniel Murphy would improve at first base." It's long been known the key to winning is always fielding and that two spots on the low end of the defensive spectrum.
   
   
10. You can freak out a Mets fan just saying "injuries": Their run production will rise on fall of how quick leadoff man José Reyes and centrefielder Carlos Beltrán, whose awesomeness is masking by park factors, make it back into the lineup.
    
    
11. Kept at Bay: Citi Field surrendered the fifth-fewest homers in the majors, which raises the question why Jason Bay (pictured) and his bad knees signed up for 81 games a season there in a league with no DH.
    
    
12. Isn't that the definition of irony: GM Omar Minaya's big off-season move was to sign Bay, who he traded away several years ago when he mortgaging the Expos/Nationals' future to make himself look good for a new job.
    
    
13. This was Lee Mazzilli's number. And Dave Magadan's.
    
    
14. The next ones: Credit where credit is due, outfielder Fernando Martinez, shortstop Wilmer Flores, first baseman Ike Davis and righty starter Jenrry Mejia are in the pipeline for a franchise which isn't exactly famous for homegrown talent. Some want Mejia in the majors now since hey, the 20-year-old's career well-being pales next to fans' impulsiveness.
    
    Why should the Mets worry about the future when theirs is so murky and uncertain?
    
    
15. Kid, because you love: You would think the Mets would get a sympathetic treatment, on account of their owner getting ripped off by Bernie Madoff and, on a bajillion-times-smaller scale, this site riffing on Gary Carter several times.
    
    
16. When in doubt: Blame the Mets' decline on former assistant GM Tony Bernazard, the big brain who was behind developing a lineup of push hitters, which is basically what he was during a pretty ennnnh career.
    
    
17. Better know a prospect: They wouldn't do something stupid and trade away one of their young hopes such as Mejia or Flores?
    
    
18. That's why there's a paywall: Competing headlines on the same day from The Times and Newsday, which charges for content: Reyes Feels Ready to Play, but Mets Are in No Rush (Times) and Reyes' target is Opening Day, but Mets won't rush him (Newsday).
    
    
19. This almost makes up for missing the playoffs on the last day of the season ... twice: The iconic home run apple has been moved to a more prominent position, outside of Citi Field.
    
    
20. No Mets preview is complete without ... digging up Steve Rushin's poem about Mets third basemen:

    Sandy Alomar
    Made like Alydar
    And sired a couple of studs
    But he was more awful
    Than day-old falafel
    Before long the job was Joel Youngblood's.

21. Auspicious debut: Never forget that the first batter in the first game at Citi Field, Jody Gerut, hit a home run. Bring that up every time you're lashing out at this franchise, just because.
    
    
22. The Ex-Jay Factor: Frank Catalanotto earning a roster spot would make for a trio of ex-Torontonians, along with catcher Rod Barajas and injured pitcher Kelvim Escobar. Let's be totally axiomatic and say having three former Jays will prevent any serious run. It wouldn't have anything to do with having Fernando Tatis batting in the middle of the order.
    
    
23. Amazingly true stat: Tatis actually played two games at shortstop last season, a position he hadn't played in the majors in 11 years.
    
    
24. Fun bet: Pretty please with sugar on top, may Jeff Francoeur join the exclusive "more home runs than walks" club? He almost did it last year (10 homers, 11 bases on balls).
    
    
25. The original Hot Tub Time Machine: Their 2009 home run totals -- hitting just 95, with Daniel Murphy leading the team with 12 -- were straight out of 1986.
    
    That's what happens when you deprive players of their pregame uppers. Thanks a lot, Bud Selig.
    
    
26. Future Hall of Very Gooder: Erstwhile first baseman Carlos Delgado, 27 homers short of the once-magic 500, wasn't retained by the Mets. His biggest comp during his last three seasons with the Mets was another former Blue Jays first baseman, Fred McGriff, who also has a very long road to Cooperstown.
    
    
27. A PhD thesis to be named later: Some pop culture nerd could write about American sitcom characters' baseball allegiances, positing that the best ones gravitate toward the Yankees and recoil from the Mets.
    
    Seinfeld was filled with Mets references in its critically acclaimed but less watched early seasons, but aligned itself with the 1990s Yankees as the series progressed. The episode where the gang gets kicked out of Yankee Stadium after Elaine refuses to take off her Orioles cap even predated the Keith Hernandez "second spitter" episode.
    
    How I Met Your Mother has worked in the Yankees at myriad times through the years, but the series' only Mets reference ever was a portent of doom. In the show's fourth season, it becomes clear Ted Mosby's latest relationship was doomed when it's pointed out, "Stella's a Mets fan."
    
    King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond professed a clear Mets rooting interest, but both of those shows sucked.
    
    
28. Yep, they're radioactive: Keith Olbermann said once, "Revoke the Mets franchise before it achieves nuclear capability."
    
    
29. PECOTA says: 78-84, fourth NL East, 743 runs scored, 781 against.
    
    
30. In English, please: Paraphrasing Mexism No. 224, it's going to "HORRIBLY exciting."
    

Senators attendance drop should raise red flags

... but have you seen many displayed on cars lately?

The Sens Army is lying pretty low.

There's a malaise in Hockey Country, no question. Ottawa Senators attendance is down more than 1,100 fans per game compared to the same point last season. (The average is 1,191 after Tuesday's game vs. Edmonton.) Take a look around the next time you're out, in a non-sports context. You could shoot a cannon through a Tim Hortons during the noon rush and not hit anyone wearing a Sens hat or hoodie in some parts of town.

(Update: Forbes magazine NHL valuations are out: Note which team lost money.)

There was "grumbling" (Ottawa Citizen) about the $14 cost for the tickets to the game the club's American Hockey League farm team played at Scotiabank Place last weekend. Two seasons ago, after the run to the Stanley Cup final, parents would have paid twice that to give their kids a Bag O' Glass if it had the Senators logo.

At the very least, though, the Senators' fall from grace is an issue. Will anyone write about it in this town? In Ottawa, make the barest inference the hockey team's doing poorly and you'll taste hemlock in your chicken shawarma. You're either a naysayer, a hater or a Leafs fan — theres always a label small minds fall back on. Plausible deniability, don't you know.

The media here is understandably in the tank for the organization. It's the city's only claim on major-league status. Pointing out anything negative is a sure ticket to the shit list. So, no one is going to suggest that the Senators can only be profitable and fill the arena when they're winning even though that's a bad business model in a salary capped-league. They only will if the Senators end up cap-in-hand again like they were in 1999 and 2003 and, personally, let us hope that does not recur.

People who are not beholden to the Senators for access are starting to ask these questions about owner Eugene Melnyk's plaything. Some mental red flags went off in October when there were 2,000 empty seats for a home game vs. the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Around the same time, James Mirtle made a parenthetical comment the Sennies "could lose millions this year if they miss the playoffs."

All told, the Sennies are down an average of 1,141 fans from the same point as last season (from 19,484 to 18,343 after nine home dates). Late last night, you could have gone on the team's website and reserved four 100-level tickets for Tuesday's home game vs. Edmonton without having to sit behind the net, even with the game a little more than 36 hours away. FOTB Jean-Pierre Allard reports, "The Orleans SENS Store has closed its doors with Christmas just around the corner."

It would be glib to say this points to a downward spiral that will end with the franchise becoming the Mississauga Senators between now and the next time the Leafs make the playoffs. To be clear, it's nowhere near that point. (Granted, that might explain why the Eunibomber lashed out at Jim Balsillie back in the summer when he was trying to move a team into Southern Ontario.)

There are outside influences weighing on the franchise. The NHL is a mess. Gary Bettman's NHL is designed to make all 30 teams semi-watchable about half the time. That has hurt the Senators, who had a stacked team from 2003 through '06, more than some franchises.

Many passive sports consumers who got on the Senators bandwagon might be backing another team. Most sports consumers in any city are fluid in their tastes. It's the nature of the beast, not matter how it angers the diehards who are there for all 82 games, since getting a life is not an option (GAC).

What's happened?

It's a combo of discontent with how the team has fallen (7-7 this season vs. a suspiciously spongy schedule), the economy, Ottawa's demographics and the city's cultural paternalism.

Ottawa is not a town of front-runners. You typically hear, "this city loves winners," when someone is trying to make an argument about bringing a CFL team back to town (and I do hope it works). That's off.

It is a town of followers which loves whatever maintains the status quo. People claim the CFL teams died because of poor on-field performance. However, the Rough Riders had decent support throughout the 1980s, when they didn't have a single winning season. It took a solid decade of losing, a league-wide crisis in the CFL and owners from (affects scary voice) out of town before people started staying away.

Institutions govern so much of life in Ottawa that people fall into herd mentalities. It happens to the best of us and most of us are nowhere near the best, present company included. Those government-town stereotypes are true to some extent. This is one of the few places where a team could even use a slogan as militaristic as "Sens Army" and "A Force United" (which some culture-jamming bloggers altered to "A Farce United" last season) without getting some media outcry.

Ottawa is like a city composed of insecure teenage girls. The analogy fits Toronto, too, except in T.O. the creature has sharper claws. If Toronto is the character Rachel McAdams played in Mean Girls, Ottawa is the one played by Lacey Chabert. Fitting in and doing whatever is popular at that moment is everything, because they know they can be cast out and won't be missed.

That seeps into sports. "Hey, let's get the CFL back! ... "Hey, Toronto has a World Series baseball team, so let's get a Triple-A club one year before a strike devastates the professional baseball industry and accelerates the death knell of the closest MLB team, the Montreal Expos." They were late to the party.

When the CFL comes back, people will attend because Roger Greenberg, Bill Shenkman, John Ruddy, Jeff Hunt and whoever becomes mayor after Legal Suit Larry O'Brien say they should. The culture is that top-down.

The Senators are not as much of a thing to do among people who only get into sports when it's part of a socially approved mass movement, the ones who are needed to sell out the building and make impulse buys. It's of a piece with having a well-educated populace which has spent a tremendous amount of time in institutions like universities, which are paternalism in a can.

Never mind that mindset has actually put the team behind the 8-ball since the early days and that they've managed to make it work as much as they can. Institutionalized NIMBYism (in the form of the National Capital Commission) eventually led to the Senators building an arena way out yonder in Kanata in the mid-1990s, far from the city's population core. In Toronto, the teams might (might?!) suck and blow, but at least you're downtown once the Blue Jays, Raptors, or TFC are through indulging their flair for mediocre public display.

In Ottawa, you're stuck waiting a half-hour to get out of the parking lot before driving home. People in the public sector were willing to trade sleep for seeing enthralling, winning hockey, as opposed to what they're getting.

That should hopefully help explain there are somee small warning signs are there. It's certainly fair game at a time whe the Canadian hockey mafia start speculating whenever any U.S.-based team has a small crowd (granted, we're talking less than 10,000 in some places), but oh no, you couldn't possibly suggest Bettman's idiotic-times-eight business practices will impact a small-market franchise in Canada playing in a poorly located arena.

As for the Senators organization, as someone who's interested in successful group dynamics and leaderships — call it compensation for some career-related issues — one does wonder who keeps Melnyk in line. (This is speculative, to be sure.) Former GM John Muckler and former president Roy Mlakar were old-time hockey guys. One can imagine them telling Melnyk to shut up and that the only thing he knows about ice is that it's needed to make diaquiris. You wonder who's there to tell Melnyk he's not going to recover that $4-million bonus he had to pay Dany Heatley since it was a binding contract, or that suggesting fans and critics should "get a bomb and blow themselves up" is unbecoming.

Deny, deny, deny, all you want, but the Senators have some issues off the ice (as for on the ice, let's leave that to the professional sportswriters). The easy way out is to say it's the economy, calibre of opponents or people staying home to save local television by making sure they watch all 3 CSIs on CTV.

It will get harder to ignore if the Senators keep sliding. No one can stand here in 2009 and tell you where the NHL will have teams in 2019. Just don't be too smug.

(For anyone doubting the 1,191 figure, I counted. Bear in mind it's a small sample size and there are variables such as day of the week and opponent. For instance, last season's 10th home game was on Saturday afternoon, this season it was Tuesday:)

Opponent '08-09 '09-10 Total
Det/NYI 20,182 18,075 -2,107
Phx/Atl 20,179 19,360 -819
Bos/Pit 19,318 17,014 -2,304
Fla/TB 18,952 17,732 -1,220
Ana/Nsh 19,762 18,970 -792
Wsh/Bos 18,485 20,154 +1,669
Phi/Atl 18,938 17,297 -1,641
NY/TB 19,061 17,511 -1,550
Mtl/NJ 20,475 18,971 -1,504
NYR/Edm 19,619 17,977 -1,642

Avg. 19,497 18,306 -1,191

Bring back the Jets: Taking the high road!

One prevailing thought whenever Bring Back the Jets talk flares up is that Winnipeg is a "warehouse town."

No offence — that phrase was furnished by a Westerner who was born in the 'Peg, honest — but a piece from canadianbusiness.com hit upon that point. The high road to take is when/if the NHL faces up to economic reality, then Winnipeg becomes more than workable.

"(T)he league would have to dramatically contract, which is a possibility considering how many American teams are in financial trouble. 'The NHL has to shrink,' says (Rob) Warren (executive director of the Winnipeg-based Asper Centre for Entrepreneurship). "A source of mine in the league has said that anything south of New York you want to get out of because those aren't good hockey markets. You might find a pocket here or there, but places like Carolina and Florida, those are not traditional hockey markets."

"If the NHL becomes smaller, player salaries will come down, and then Winnipeg might be able to afford a team. Author Jim Silver explains that salaries 'aren't consistent with anything in the real world' and that while players should be well paid, they don't need $1 million a year.

"Warren adds that while contraction won't stop the superstars from getting the big bucks, everyone else's salaries will come down. Then it will be less expensive to purchase, and run, a franchise. 'And, when that happens, Winnipeg becomes a much better prospect for NHL hockey.' "

It is important to keep the horse and cart in the correct order, now that it is open season and on struggling Sun Belt hockey teams.

Most of you know, even if the media does not properly acknowledge it when they're covering those Make It Seven rallies, that raw attendance totals are not a good tell-all baseline. Average ticket price has to be factored in (which is part of why the Phoenix Coyotes with their $9 tickets are beyond saying). Secondary ticketing (which can get pretty greasy) also counts. Is there a resale demand when people or corporations who have tickets opt not to use them? Last, but by no means least, in the NHL you have to sell the luxury boxes, which brings it back to Winnipeg being a warehouse town. It is not a town of big spenders, not that there's anything wrong with that. As the writer from canadianbusiness.com put it:

"The only way the Winnipeg Jets will succeed is if they sell all 50 of their corporate boxes, and at a much higher price than they do now. Currently, a suite at the MTS Centre, for Manitoba Moose games, costs between $43,500 to $67,500. At Rexall Place, where the Oilers play, boxes run from $49,200 to $410,000 a year, while luxury suites at the Air Canada Centre cost $500,000. In order to make money, arena owner True North Entertainment would likely have to significantly increase its annual corporate box costs. The problem, however, is that it might not find any buyers.

"Warren says that so far, no one that he knows is willing to purchase a suite at NHL prices. 'I haven't seen the corporate community step up,' he says.

"Warren knows because he's already asked. 'I spoke to one senior executive with a Winnipeg-based insurance firm point blank whether his company would buy a luxury box. He said no. Another fellow in town, Doug Harvey from Maxim Truck & Trailer — he's a huge hockey fan — also said no. Unless you get a guy like Harvey on board it's tough in this market to make those revenue targets.

" 'It's the cost,' he adds. 'They just don't see the benefit. They don't run enough clients in from out of town to make it worthwhile.' "

It is something to keep in mind, since Winnipeg talk flared up two weeks ago in connection with the Atlanta Thrashers (Scott Burnside at ESPN.com said June 8 the Thrashers are unlikely to relocate, but that does not mean Winnipeg is not in the game). As much as we would all like to Make It Eight for chauvinistic and patriotic reasons, you got to keep your eyes peeled to the economics. That's not a business guy talking, that's a sports guy talking (sad but true, maybe).

Related:
Sports: The return of the Jets?; Winnipeggers would love to have NHL hockey back in their city, but it's going to take more than nostalgia to fuel a successful franchise (Bryan Borzykowski, canadianbusiness.com)

Mr. Canoehead ...

It's all raisins off an Oldsmobile, friends ... raisins off an Oldsmobile ...

NBA commissioner David Stern insisting players have to spend a year in college when six of the 10 starters in his league's championship series did not. Derrick Rose's obligatory season in the NCAA did wonders for the reputation of the University of Memphis, since he apparently wasn't eligible when he led them to the Final Four in 2008.

Sports media folk who still use "Motor City" in place of Detroit. That nickname should be retired on compassionate grounds.

The logic of typing, "there are children in Hamilton who will begin kindergarten this fall without ever having seen the local CFL team qualify for post-season play." It's hard to believe there are five-year-olds, even in the Hammer, who are that into the CFL.

Being able to respect the WNBA while still finding Family Guy funny. Seth MacFarlane is showing one can still be brilliant, even if he's threatened by tall women. We get it.

Baseball in Ottawa: Hope fades

To quote what The Tao of Stieb said when the Ottawa Voyageurs folded, "The latticework of circumstance continues to break our baseball-loving heart."

The news is not encouraging for those hoping to see pro baseball again in 2010, or ever. Independent baseball is taking some serious hits amid the global credit crunch, which means a few leagues could disappear.

"It's serious enough that some independent league officials expect that not all of the current leagues will still be around when 2010 arrives.

" 'I think this in many ways could be the toughest year for independent baseball," Can-Am League and American Association commissioner Miles Wolff said. 'In the early years there was all this excitement that this is something new. There was St. Paul and Long Island, where baseball was back. Now all those cities have matured. Now it's a mode where we have to continue. There are not a lot of new things happening to make people say, Wow.' "

"The crazy promotions that seemed fresh and new in the 1990s are now a regular part of the minor league experience. And where in the '90s there always seemed to be a new market to move to if a team should start to falter, the building boom is largely over these days." — Baseball America

Wolff hit the nail on the head. Indy ball has been a victim of its own success, since it shook up the minors and forced them to change the way they do busness. It went from being a dead industry with games played only in front of diehards to family entertainment. Ballpark Digest also noted the Can-Am League is teetering:

"The independent Can-Am Association is down to six teams this season; you have two extremely strong franchises (Brockton and Quebec), one OK franchise (New Jersey), one struggling franchise (Sussex), and one interesting experiment that could go either way (American Defenders of New Hamphire). We don't hear any prospects for new teams for 2010 or beyond, either ..."

This is going to factor into Ottawa's endless stadium debate. Knowing how it works in Ottawa, you can't imagine this will do much to disabuse city councillors who want to tear down the Coventry Rd. ballpark.

Ultimately, it should not be forgotten Miles Wolff did believe in this city and its ball fans, and city officials did come around during the past two winters. That should be a pleasant memory even if there's never another professional baseball game in Ottawa again. (Then again, I'm just one guy.)

Related:
Bad Time For Indy Ball; Recession will be felt throughout '09 season (J.J. Cooper, Baseball America)
Debt, turnover put future of Tornadoes in doubt (Ballpark Digest)

Fewer, but better Jays fans; or, you're missing some pretty good games

It's glib to say only in Toronto could the baseball team have the best record in the American League and still see sliding attendance.

The Toronto Star's gamer noted the Jays' crowd (15,295) on Monday vs. Cleveland was 5,000 off their average attendance. Another report suggested last season's average of 29,627 was inflated by "ticket giveaways to businesses." One point is that raw attendance totals really reflect when people who don't care decide to temporarily take interest. When it comes to baseball, that's just not happening on the fifth of May.

For what it's worth, attendance is down almost 14 per cent if you control for one big variable, visits by the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Today's game vs. the Clevelands, where lithe lefty Brett Cecil threw six solid innings in his major league debut, was the Jays' 15th home date. How does the attendance so far this season compare with the first 15 home games last season against non-Evil Empire teams:

2008: 347,583 (23,172 avg.)
2009: 300,217 (20,014 avg.)

There are probably as many explanations as there are empty seats. Most of you probably don't need it pointed out that it is off-base to base everything on raw attendance figures, just as TV ratings are an outdated tracking method.

It doesn't tell the whole story when it comes to reflecting a team's fanbase. The Jays have good fans and, although this is preaching to the choir, a very knowledgeable following. (This obviously does not include the douche who, after catching the ball that Cleveland phenom Matt LaPorta hit for his first major-league homer on Monday, thought he'd be all cool and throw the ball on to the field. He could have shaken down LaPorta for all sorts of schwag with good resale value.)

Point being, 30,000 people at Rogers Centre these days are often more animated than 50,000-plus were during the era of "Winfield Wants Noise!", the Jays' 1989-93 salad days. Kinger did an interview with The FAN 590's Mike Wilner two weeks ago. Asked if the packed house for the U.S.-Canada game at the World Baseball Classic in March reminded him of the old days, Wilner said it didn't, because the crowd was actually noisy and into the game.

"It used to be packed every day, but until you got to the playoffs or to the games when you'd clinch the division, they would sit on their hands. That's what Toronto crowds do. They're kind of averse to cheering and yelling. They need to be led by the scoreboard or at least back then they did. This was way more ... everyone who watched, everyone listened, is going to remember, we can do it. We just need some games that really, really matter."

That pretty much nails it. Obviously, it would be more reassuring the announced attendance was 32,005 today instead of 22,005 for today's 10-6 win over Cleveland. Honestly, it's reductive to just go by how many people are at the park, especially if they have to watch baseball indoors.

Major League Baseball, as a business, seems to get it pretty well when it comes to understanding how the economic model has shifted for its product. It's a mainstream sport, but it serves niches very well (fantasy baseball, statheads, et al.). In a fragmented market and 81 home dates, you just can't expect sold-out stadiums, unless you have a new park or play in a market like Boston, Chicago or New York. Anyone who frames it otherwise is whistling past the graveyard, or is nostalgic for an era that only gets better in their imagination as time goes by.

Batter up: Arizona Diamondbacks

It's that mystical, wonderful time of year where you commit to a team who you know fully well won't win. This season, in honour of an popular Internet meme, we'll present 25 things tangentially about each Major League Baseball team. At bat: The Arizona Diamondbacks.

1. The recession has hit Arizona hard with close to 200,000 jobs lost and housing prices predicted to fall another 10-15%, according to Sunday's Republic (there are already 60,000 homes up for sale) The state is kind of a poster child for the easy-money excess of the last decade in the U.S. Baseball is more dependent on local revenues than the NFL. The Diamondbacks spring training attendance was down 9% from last season.
   
   
2. Their payroll is in the $70 million US range, so the upshot is they have stayed fairly lean and mean.
   
   
3. Check at the end of year to see how 21-year-old rightfielder Justin Upton did in the second half opposed to the first half. He's steadily improving, so don't sweat him not starting Opening Day.
   
   
4. Lefty-hitting shortstop Stephen Drew and free-swinging centrefielder Chris Young each came on after the all-star break last season. Drew is the best shortstop who doesn't play in the NL East, although he will never have the intangibles of a certain Captain who plays in the Bronx.
   
   
5. Brandon Webb is Arizona's ace unless his heavy workload catches up to him. Since it's human nature to have eyes for another, Dan Haren might be a more viable Cy Young Award candidate.
   
   
6. The common refrain is they don't have much pitching outside the Big Two, but somehow they had the NL's best strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.73) and gave up just 147 homers despite playing in a hitter's park.
   
   
7. Closer Chad Qualls was nails for three seasons as the eighth-inning man out of the bullpen. Their bullpen has been stable through two seasons, but it's hard to stay clear-eyed when a team blows a 4½-game lead in the final month. a href="http://www.azsnakepit.com/">AZ Snakepit notes it's time for the "gurgling vortex of bullpen suckage to be turned off."
   
   
8. There is a ripple in the water over Webb saying the Dodgers' Manny Ramirez isn't "going to be doing the same thing he did last year." That was a ridiculous thing to say. People hit .396 all the time (what do you mean, not since 1941?).
   
   
9. Webb winning his first nine starts in 2008 was a bit of a surprises, but it was a total stunner that the last pitcher to do it was Andy Hawkins (career record: 84-91).
   
   
10. Their Triple-A team is in Reno, Nevada, not far from the Jays' farm club in Las Vegas, so there's a natural rivalry. Really? OK, not really.
    
    
11. Qualls attended the University of Nevada, which is in Reno. You just know it's in the back of his mind that if he ever goes down on a rehab assignment, he can hit all his old college hangouts, see if he's still got the high score on Golden Tee.
    
    (Demetri Martin does a bit that you should be able to look the names of the peoples with the high scores on a video game and add "is lonely." You can do the same with anyone living outside the United States who knows that the University of Nevada football team runs the Pistol offence.)
    
    
12. Not naming name on this site, but whoever wrote the Diamondbacks began last season like they would win 100 games should have his hands cut off. Their best 30-game stretch (21-9) simply happened to come in the first 30 games before their peaks-and-valleys offence caught up to them.
    
    
13. Relievers Billy Buckner and Tony Peña are not related to 1980s players Bill Buckner and Tony Peña.
    
    It would be a lot cooler for the D-Backs if Billy Buckner has an outlier year as an innings-eating reliever.
    
    
14. One hopes Felipe López has a big year at second base, one season after being released by the Washington Nationals. He's good extra part.
    
    
15. More great moments in digital democracy: A MLB.com reader says if the D-Backs win the division, "they will do it with pitching and small ball." This was said about a team which had only 58 stolen bases and 1,287 strikeouts last season.
    
    Playing small ball with that group would be like taking a football team with a great passing game and expecting them to run the wishbone.
    
    
16. Randy Johnson left for the Giants, but they signed 6-foot-11 reliever Jon Rauch, the tallest player in baseball history. One hopes the Big Unit left behind his custom-made wingback chair.
    
    
17. There's something annoying about seeing a Triple-A team's press release that notes it has a pitcher who "made nine appearances as a rookie for the World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001." Do you think he likes being reminded that he was a heartbeat away?
    
    
18. Were ours a just God, they would pay dearly for not re-signing Tim Raines Jr. after his big summer in Triple-A. The chip off the old Rock (so, so sorry) hit .311/.346/.530 with 61 extra-base hits, just like his old man, without the walks, which was why it was in Triple-A.
    
    Both Tim Raineses are now with the Newark Bears in the Atlantic League.
    
    
19. One name in the system that jumps out is Daniel Stange, a minor-league reliever who's apparently considered the "best sleeper" in Arizona's system.
    
    As an added bonus, he has the same last name as Lee Stange, who pitched for the 1967 Impossible Dream Red Sox.
    
    
20. First-round draft pick Daniel Schereth (throws lefty, throws very hard), who's being groomed as a closer, is the son of three-time Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman Mark Schereth, who famously had 29 operations during his playing career (and as the NFL's first Alaskan, was good fodder for quirky Sports Illustrated features). The younger Schelereth has only had Tommy John surgery once.
    
    
21. You rarely see a lefty-hitting shortstop, except on the Canadian national team. Drew, though, is one of the few. Meantime, what would cause someone to think the Brewers' J.J. Hardy hits left-handed? That's a mystery for the ages.
    
    
22. Prospective No. 5 starter Max Scherzer is beginning the season on the disabled list.
    
    
23. Outsports is taking them to win the NL West.
    
    
24. Superannuated Tom Gordon is also on the DL. There's no truth that he's in Arizona since it's never too early to shop for a retirement home, cheap.
    
    
25. Former Jay Ryan Roberts gets the 25th spot in this preview, since he got the 25th spot on Arizona's roster. His only career homer was at Yankee Stadium.
    

Something cooking with Sheff...

Let's be thankful Gary Sheffield got released when there was still a daily newspaper to report it in Detroit.

The simplest explanation is the Tigers dumped Sheff, Mr. 499, for mostly economic reasons. The franchise was staring at $99.6 million US committed to nine players for 2010 before clipping the $14 million due to its 40-year-old DH who was below the Mendoza line (.178 average) in spring training. You could go way out on a limb and wonder if this is part of some purge of veteran players named in the Mitchell Report. Brendan Donnelly, another player named, just got cut by the Texas Rangers and has not been picked up. Thing is, the media and the public would not mind so much; onward and upward, wipe the slate clean.

Anyway, that's just a crackpot theory of the day. There are plenty of players who were named who are back in MLB and the media's good graces, such as Jason Giambi with the Oakland Athletics or Rick Ankiel with the St. Louis Cardinals. There is not going to be any symphony of small violins for Sheffield, nor should there be. He was actually the first player to make more than $10 million in a season, so he's had the chance to sock away a lot of cash. His eyes and bat speed likely are not what they were just a few short years ago. It happens to every power hitter. It could be that simple

He probably does have enough left for some team to take a low-risk flier on him and let him sock that 500th homer. One joke making the rounds is that the San Francisco Giants should be the team to pick him up, since they already added Randy Johnson to give him a chance to a 300 career wins.

Related:
Sheffield Released By Tigers, Eyes Rays (The Tampa Tribune)
Tigers release DH Gary Sheffield (Detroit Free Press)

Ottawa Can-Ams: The last spike

Today is not a day to lash out and make it about what's wrong with Ottawa.

The demise of the Ottawa Voyageurs was beyond everyone's control, locally. The Atlantic City Surf folded over the weekend. That was that. Once that domino toppled, it left the league with seven teams, one of which was a ward of the league. A baseball league cannot run with an odd number of teams, since everyone plays almost every day.

Today, if you're so inclined to see history as a straight line, is the end of a long slide down that probably began in the mid-'90s when Major League Baseball set out to destroy the Expos. The trickle-down was felt by the Lynx, just two hours away in Ottawa. The record should show there were people who raged against the dying of the light.

This is not directly tied to the Zipperheads' lawsuit against the City of Ottawa and Can-Am commish Miles Wolff. The league, as best is my understanding, could not afford to have two franchises under league control.

It sounds like the other Can-Am owners basically said no to a league-controlled team in Ottawa. If that's the case, it's a final irony that former MLB executive Dan Duquette, who has a stake in the American Defenders of New Hampshire, was party to driving the final nail into the coffin of pro ball in Ottawa (no matter what true believers say). Duquette was GM of the Montreal Expos when the Triple-A Lynx came into being as its top farm club in 1993.

It probably was a bit inevitable, but people like friends Carl Kiiffner and Bruce Murdock went the extra mile for this nevertheless. Their voices probably won't be heard. Save for Don Campbell at the Ottawa Citizen, whose baseball bona fides are beyond reproach, and for Chris Stevenson noting this is the loss a cheap night out for families during the summer months, the knee-jerkers in the local media probably won't have much of a heart for those who cared. It's another story about a sports team in Ottawa going under, which usually means the opportunity for drive-by journalism.

Please know this has little to do with the litany of failed franchises, pending litigation, or whatever there is in the Canadian sports psyche which makes us reject so-called American sports like a bad transplant. It was the economy, stupid.

In the long run, it speaks to not having a summer team in Ottawa as an alternative to all-hockey, all-the-time sportsgeist. It speaks to what was lost for ball fans east of Toronto once MLB put the screws to the 'Spos 15 years ago. It speaks to the changing nature of following baseball as a Canadian. The self-described dinosaur with his newspaper might have hearing this from an "Internet geek," but there have never been more Canadians playing at a high level of baseball, and following them has never been more accessible. There's a trade-off, but all it takes is a high-speed connection to keep up with Canadian ballplayers such as Jason Bay, Rich Harden, Phillippe Aumont, Brett Lawrie, Joey Votto, Russell Martin and Alex Périard as opposed to watching half-talented imports ply their dubious craft on a local diamond.

Most of all, it speaks to the economic realities that all of us are facing across North America. Hockey lost two ECHL teams this winter, it's naive to think this could not happen in minor-league baseball, especially indy ball.

Please know that Wolff and many others went all out for ball fans in Ottawa. Please know there are ball fans in Ottawa. The bat was taken out of their hands.

Related:
Voyageurs strike out? (Chris Stevenson, Sun Media)
Ball team striking out in Ottawa; Can-Am league expected to shut down Voyageurs (Derek Puddicombe, Sun Media)
Pro baseball may have struck out again in Ottawa (Krystle Chow, Ottawa Business Journal)
Atlantic City Surf ceases operations (ballparkdigest.com; fist bump to Pete Toms for the link)

Down, set, shovel ...

The Ottawa stadium debate isn't happening in a vacuum.

Almost half the cities in the CFL have irons in the fire when it comes to new stadiums. Regina is toying with the notion of building a dome; Hamilton's seeking one as part of the drive to bring the 2015 Pan-Am Games to Southern Ontario (everyone is just clamouring for that) and Winnipeg will soon have a new stadium.

Yours truly has no special insight into how it all might shake out in each case. The movers-and-shakers in Ottawa, who have dithered over what to do here for some time, give or take 25 years, are not alone. The real question, as Cam Cole noted, is if the R-word is D-word and if there really is a historical precedent for the economic circumstances which are about to be visited upon the world of fun and games.

There are the standard arguments over whether it's the best use of taxpayers' money to invest in a stadium and that the income generated is really just money moving from one area of the economy to another. At the end of the day, having stadiums and sports teams does tend to make people feel better about the place they live. Never say never, but that doesn't seem likely to change soon.

Related:
R-word spells building-boom times for CFL (Vancouver Sun)
Regina needs partners for a new stadium (Regina Leader-Post

Snark break...

As you were trying to talk Shaq down from his asking price of $25 million for a house ...

The Leafs added veteran tough guy Brad May. This cuts the number of teams he has never played for to six.

Kids having trouble getting to sleep? Read them the shift-by-shift account of Mats Sundin's Vancouver Canucks debut.

Kingston-born Mike Smith has nailed down the No. 1 goalie job with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Talk about a double-edged reward.

Yannick Weber might make his NHL debut for the Canadiens tonight vs. the Leafs. As if Kingston Frontenacs fans need any more reminders about the team's management. GM-for-life Larry Mavety traded for Weber's rights at the start of the season to complete an earlier deal, when everyone including the cat knew Weber was gone from the OHL.

(An all-hockey Snark Break? You would swear it's January.)

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

Related:

• Belleville Bulls star Eric Tangradi got some attention from his hometown paper in Philadelphia.

Zen Dayley: Rumblings in the Bronx

The omnipresent MLB Trade Rumors figures Impactico Deportivo has been batting about .500 with its scoops, so you can take the Manny Ramirez-to-the-Yankees rumours however you will.

Their conclusion is the timing and the numbers aren't right. Honestly though, when Scott Boras represents both Ramirez and Mark Teixeira, the two biggest bats available, you almost have to assume there's a lot of BS to anything you read. There's also the matter of the Angels and Red Sox refusing to meet Boras' price for Teixeira, so you'd have a hard time arguing against the belief this is a smokescreen. Teixeira, by virtue of being younger than Ramirez and having the cheese still firmly on his cracker, is the probably the bigger fish of the two.

It could also be that Scott Boras is that nuts. That possiblity bears fleshing out, he typed, tongue-in-cheek.

Ryan Express, right to Dr. James Andrews' office

Nolan Ryan is sounding like he should be running his boss Tom Hicks' hockey team, the Dallas Stars, instead of the Texas Rangers.

" ... pitchers feel pain sometimes and think they're hurt. A lot of times they're not.

"They have to learn to pitch through it. " -- Gannett News Service

Not to argue with Nolan Ryan about what's best for a pitcher, lest it play out the same way it did for Robin Ventura back in 1993. Rangers fans, who have some hope on the horizon, must be wondering if this a sure-fire ticket to a lot of sore arms. There's enough anecdotal evidence that suggests the teams that keep telling their pitchers to work through it end up seeing them leave or wind up injured -- not that the post-John Gibbons Blue Jays are a readily available example

This an outsider opinion, but teaching and correcting pitchers' mechanics to they don't end up breaking down would seem to be a lot more important than imparting the importance of being able to "go nine." How many complete games did Tim Lincecum throw last season? (Two.)

WB-zzzzzzzz

Jeff Passan's Yahoo! Sports column this morning does raise the question of who the hell is going to pitch for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. Adam Loewen pitched for Canada at the 2006 event -- he was the winning pitcher vs. the Americans -- and now he's not even a pitcher anymore.

This that, and the other

• Being a baseball fan is as much about collecting names as it is cheering for a particular team, so remember this name: Clay Zavada. The piece on him in Saturday's Times did bring home what it's like to be a ballplayer who's good enough to dream in a sport where, what, 10% of the players make 95% of the salaries? Being on a team's 40-man roster is a big, big deal for a lot of these guys.
  

  "As much as baseball is Zavada's dream, it is also a paycheck. Being on the 40-man roster will quadruple his salary, at the very least. If he is selected for the major league team, he will earn the rookie minimum, $400,000.

• Google's cache now includes scanned issues of Baseball Digest. There's a rabbit-hole you could lose yourself in for a week.
  
• Last but not least, long-ago shortstop Jose Valdivielso shares his two cents about that ballpark in the Bronx:

  "Yankee Stadium is something that nobody should have touched," he said. "Everything happened at Yankee Stadium. Not just baseball. That is sacred ground."

  Would that someone would have listened, eh.

Related:
Clay Zavada: A Lunch-Pail Prospect for the Diamondbacks (Katie Thomas, New York Times)

The NHL's economic mess somehow links to Kevin Bacon

Google "Gary Bettman" and "Chip Diller" and you only get one match. That has to change.

The NHL commissioner really is the Omega House pledge from National Lampoon's Animal House, 30 years older, screaming "Remain calm! All is well!" as everything degenerates into a gong show.

Bettman as Diller has to stick. Doug Farraway on The FAN 590 had a guest this afternoon, a writer from Forbes magazine this afternoon, say flat-out that hockey is the sport that stands to be hit the hardest by the global economic slowdown. Bettman, as one writer surmised yesterday, is basically carrying on like all the sponsors have paid up for this season, so there's no problem.

None of you need any reminder what pro sports is in for now that the golden age is over.

Sorry for not getting the Forbes writer's name. He was on just before Farraway interviewed a gentleman who just published a children's book about Wendel Clark, and frankly, that was more within my range of understanding.

Seriously, Bettman is Chip Diller.

Related:
The Financial Golden Age of Sports 1996 – 2008 (David Houle, Evolution Shift)

Snark break...

As you were wondering what happened to 10 years' worth of issues of Word Up magazine....

Construction is being delayed on a NFL stadium in the Los Angeles area, which might help Rogers Communications' chances of stealing liberating the Buffalo Bills. Or not.

In case you weren't feeling old enough already, there is talk of the Boston Red Sox drafting Carl Yastrzemski's grandson. Mike Yastrzemski is an outfielder, too.

Shame on Citigroup -- they keep their name on the New York Mets' stadium, but can't come with the $240,000 to sponsor a holiday toy train exhibit. Today's youth need to learn about riding the rails.

And you wonder why Canadians are smug toward the U.S. ... it's a little hard not to be when someone who's a "Philadelphia lawyer" believes that winning "143 seats in Canada's 278-seat Parliament" does not make a majority (it would, if not for those 30 additional seats) and that there's a province of Ottawa.

So the Sens gave up the lead three times last night against a Florida Panthers team which was missing five regulars to injury? That's a shame (really).

From the National Lampoon Sports Minute: "The chairman of the Chicago Cubs said he expects the team to be sold by spring training. And that will fix everything."

This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:

• It probably has no chance of succeeding, but a fan group is planning to sue the Bowl Championship Series.
  
• The Kurtenblog guys pretty well nailed it in regard to Boots Del Biaggio and Gary Bettman. Hockey's a great sport to survive the people who are supposedly in charge.
  
• People in Chicago ain't happy about Ron Santo not getting into the Hall of Fame.
  
• You really should read this interview with Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell. (Seriously, though, do Americans not know about hockey players having early birthdays? The assumption here was everyone knew.)
• Erik Bedard is likely safe with the Seattle Mariners, as much as that's possible.
  

How the CFL might cash in on the recession...

One positive development for the CFL on the weekend the Bills come into downtown Toronto.

The Arena Football League is in some deep doo-doo financially, according to a PFT report from Mike Florio. Speculative posts about the global credit crunch's impact on the sports industry are already causing reader fatigue, I know. Oddly enough, in one of those Canadian conundrums, the CFL probably featured the most exciting, wide-open play it's ever had in the late '80s and early '90s, during the last big global economic slowdown.

Whatever the cause and effect, in those days days, the CFL didn't have a big competitor for talent, in the wake of the USFL folding. When the New England Patriots cut Doug Flutie in 1990, the CFL was his best, if only option.

The Arena league's growth has siphoned off a lot of the quarterbacks and wide receivers who are needed to sell the game. It is something to consider. The PFT report notes that the Arena league was depending on a big cash infusion that might not be coming, that "(s)ome team employees have been advised to find other work," and that the league gets no money from its U.S. television deal (hey, just like the NHL).

Greater minds such as Stephen Brunt have noted that the CFL under Tom Wright and his successer Mark Cohon has done well making itself financially stable. Teams have relatively low overhead. The salary cap is a joke but there aren't any Larry Ryckman types among the owners.

Scoring was up in the regular season this past year, but it had seemed like that until John Hufnagel took over as coach in Calgary, there hadn't a new play in the CFL since the late '90s. No one can predict what having a wider range of coaches and players would bring to the league, but it's something to keep in mind.

Related:
AFL in a death spiral? (Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk.com)

Scary times, indeed

Another canary in the economic mineshaft: The Oakland Athletics, having dropped their grandiose plan of a ballpark village, are talking about a smaller stadium, right on a transit line.

Even Fremont Mayor and ballpark booster Bob Wasserman says he and his City Council colleagues "definitely" have to look at the idea, now that the tanking economy has forced the A's to put the rest of their "ballpark village" plan for 3,000 apartment and townhouses on ice.

Speaking as a layperson (oh, grow up), it seems like this is going to become more and more of a common thing, although it's hardly a ripple of evil since new stadiums don't necessarily enhance the fan experience, except for separating her or him from his money.

Over in England, Everton is going through a huge public inquiry over a stadium and retail project. This morning's Globe & Mail details how Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett just took out a huge personal loan, because he's hip-deep in red ink between owning Liverpool (Everton's rival), a string of auto dealerships and "up-market ski resorts."

Gillett evidently can do the debtor's dance better than a lot of businesspeople. It's going to make for a different sports landscape in a few years, but those who are thinking that pro sports are getting too big might not mind too much.

Related:
Oakland A's talk of new stadium closer to BART (San Francisco Chronicle)

Was Montreal's bid axed by MLS?

Yes, the Grey Cup's set to kick off in a few hours (and I'll have a full preview up shortly), but that's not the only subject making news in Montreal. On Friday night, Duane and I both wrote here about how Montreal had seemingly dropped its bid for an MLS franchise, which seemed curious to say the least. New information has now arisen that muddies the situation further. Ben Knight of the excellent On Soccer blog over at The Globe and Mail has dug up a really interesting press release, presumably from the Montreal Impact, which suggests that they wanted to keep the bid alive but it was axed by MLS commissioner Don Garber. The release is after the jump.


Here's the release:

"RECTIFICATION REGARDING MONTREAL'S BID FOR MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER

Following MLS Commissioner Don Garber's statements regarding Montreal's bid, the Montreal partnership group would like to bring one important rectification:

Montreal did not withdrew its bid from Major League Soccer but was informed that the league did not retain its bid. Out of respect for the Grey Cup festivities, the partnership group will not make any additional statements over the weekend. However, the President of the Montreal Impact [and] Saputo Stadium, Mr. Joey Saputo, who is spearheading Montreal's MLS bid, will meet the media: Monday, November 24, 2008, 10:30 am, Saputo Stadium, 4750 Sherbrooke Street, Montreal."

That's fascinating. According to this release, it wasn't that Montreal backed out; MLS decided not to consider their application. It's hard to imagine why at first, especially considering that most observers thought Montreal had the strongest bid of any city and was pretty much a lock. However, there could be concerns with the financial health of George Gillett's sporting empire, especially considering Liverpool's troubles [Ian Herbert and Andrew Warshaw, The Independent]. Joey Saputo, the owner of the Impact and Gillett's partner in the MLS bid, has also brought up the notion of staying in the USL, so perhaps Garber was concerned about Montreal's commitment to MLS.

We have conflicting statements, though. From the AP story with Garber's comments:

"Garber said that Montreal's delegation — led by Joey Saputo and George Gillett, who owns Liverpool FC in England's Premier League and the NHL's Montreal Canadiens — had informed him within the past week of possible trouble.

'Montreal has had to evaluate what kinds of private capital they needed to refinance their stadium to fund the expansion fee, and what kind of public support would be available,' Garber said. 'I'm not sure they were able to come to terms in this economic environment.'"

Garber doesn't directly say that Montreal withdrew their bid on their own, but that's certainly the logical inference, and it's the one the unnamed AP writer drew; his lede reads "Montreal withdrew its bid for a Major League Soccer expansion team, commissioner Don Garber said Friday in his state-of-the-league address."

Garber and Saputo (or whoever wrote the Impact's press release) could both telling the truth, though. Garber never said that Montreal abandoned their bid, even though he implied it. It's possible Saputo and Gillett wanted to keep the bid alive despite financial trouble, but Garber canned it after seeing the numbers.

Still, kicking Montreal of the bid process seems rather unusual, especially given the strength of their bid. Even if the league had already decided to go with a different franchises, retaining Montreal as an option would force the other markets to up the ante of their bids in an attempt to compete. If the press release is accurate, this decision doesn't seem to make business sense for MLS on the surface; less markets under consideration means less competition for the limited expansion slots, and more complaining about and reluctance to pay the sky-high expansion fees sure to be required. You have to wonder if there's more going on here. Monday's press conference will surely be illuminating.

(Cross-posted to Sporting Madness.)