Countdown of 10 Top Sports Business Issues

March 31 - April 6, 2008

 

1.       MLB Opening Week
We're only 2-3 days into Major League Baseball's opening week, and the league is already smashing attendance records.  In Los Angeles, that is, where a record 115,300 people - the most ever to assemble to watch a baseball game - squeezed into the Coliseum on Saturday for the much-anticipated throwback match-up between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox.   With a left field fence so close in that USC football coach Pete Carroll was able to hit dingers over it earlier in the week, the game was more community celebration than true to the sport - quite appropriate for the kickoff of a season ushering in the Dodgers 50th year in Los Angeles, the 100th anniversary of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," and at more than $6.1 billion in revenue, baseball's best year ever.

 

Not only are the financials good for the league - fans appear eager to put the Steroids Era and Mitchell Report fallout behind them once and for all.  While 2008 will undoubtedly produce more courtroom baseball drama and controversy in the form of a blood test for HGH, for now, fans just want to sit back and enjoy the games.

 

Since they're often doing that sitting back in front of their computers these days, MLB Advanced Media has in turn stepped up to the plate and delivered an extensive set of content additions to MLB.TV.  New to the site this year are redesigns of all 30 team pages, enhanced graphic capabilities that create a near high-def feed for online video, an increase in the top prize for MLB's "Beat the Streak" fantasy game (sponsored by Mitchum) to $1 million, and MLB.com "Whiparound," a live daily news show that will air before each evening's games.  MLB Advanced Media recorded 400,000 subscribers for MLB.TV last year, and projects another 20 percent increase in 2008.

 

Speaking of sponsors, the 2008 season will likely see a $5 million per year naming-rights deal done for the new Minnesota Twins ballpark, scheduled to open next season.  It may also see a presenting or other sponsorship deal done at Wrigley Field - naming that icon would likely be closer to the $20 million, 20 year deal Citigroup signed with the Mets.  For now, however, it's put the pens down and play ball!

 

2.  MLB Facilities - Anatomy of a New Ballpark
While it seems like we're in an era in which a new MLB ballpark is opening every season, the last park to open before Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. debuted on Sunday was the $346 million Busch Stadium in St. Louis...which opened a whole two years ago.

This season, the $611 million, 41,222-seat Nationals Park has the baseball stadium stage all to itself, and on Sunday, it certainly lived up to the spotlight.  The state-of-the-art venue is future-oriented, boasting a sleek stone and glass modern design by HOK, the league's largest high def video board, computerized kiosk ticket sales, and a remodeled subway stop nearby.  The building is also rife with political references, including an oval [Office]-shaped clubhouse and a "President's Club" gallery featuring portraits of past presidents throwing out first pitches dating back to William Howard Taft in 1910. (We assume the current President Bush, who threw out Sunday's first pitch, a high ball, will find his place there as well.)

But "Washington's Newest Monument" is not without controversy.  The lack of available parking nearby remains a logistical concern, and the team drew only 1.94 million fans at RFK Stadium last year.  The loudest dissents, however, come from local politicians and taxpayers who say that the District's 97 percent share of stadium construction costs (which some claim are truly at $674 million and growing) is far too high for a city with a high school graduation rate of only 59 percent, only 9 percent of public high school students who graduate from college, and four recently closed public library branches - including the one closest to the new stadium.

 

3.  Butts in Seats and Buckets -- March Madness Heads to San Antonio
Even though the Final Four is headed to the Alamodome in San Antonio this year - the cavernous building is not exactly prime basketball viewing - surprisingly enough, the trend toward playing hoops in a football megadome has not overtaken the entire tournament.  Ten of the 13 regional sites are traditional basketball venues.  Attendance at the Final Four, however, will continue to climb - the NCAA has decreed that beginning in 2009, the men's semifinals and championship game will only be played in domed stadiums that hold 60,000+ people.  San Antonio officials are expecting 40,000+ for both nights of this year's Final Four, and are expanding the Alamodome's capacity for basketball to 70,000 to remain eligible for future Final Four events.  To assist other venues in reaching the 60,000 minimum, the NCAA is also building a portable 13,000-seat configuration that can be moved to the Final Four location each year.  The 2009 event will be held in Detroit, followed by Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis in 2010 and Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2011.  Ten cities have thrown their names in the basket for the 2012 Final Four and beyond.

 

The NCAA's 13,000 seat booster is far from a philanthropic gesture.  While its March Madness deal with CBS guarantees the association $3.8 billion over the next five years, the NCAA has also struck a deal with online ticket resellers in an attempt to share the wealth when Final Four tickets change hands on the secondary market.  The push into the ticket resale market makes sense for student athletes and fans, according to Greg Shaheen, the NCAA's SVP for basketball and business strategies.  About 94 percent of the NCAA's revenue flows through to member institutions, Shaheen says.  To put that in perspective, experts guesstimate that 300,000 fans seek Final Four tickets via an annual lottery.  For these, the NCAA could collect $1.5 million in $5 ticket service fees.  The NCAA has issued 44,500 Final Four ticket strips, which guarantee access to all three games, at a face value of $140-$220.  On the secondary market this week, tickets for the Alamodome event are ranging from $813 to $6,471, with and average price of $813.  Even a student athlete with only one year of college under his belt can do that math and realize the NCAA can't afford to stay out of that market!

 

4.  March Madness - The Women's Bracket

North Carolina has been dominating hoops headlines in the women's bracket much as the school has done in the men's.  While the women's tournament doesn't have the same huge following that the men's does, the tournament and its teams have come a long way since its creation in 1982.  That year, 9,500 people viewed the women's Final Four, paying $5-$7 for a ticket.  This year, every single game of the women's tournament is being broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2, or ESPNU.  And at the 21,000-seat St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida, officials are expecting capacity crowds of more than 20,000, and the top ticket price is $160.  Moreover, the tournament is expected to bring more than $20 million in economic impact to the Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater Florida region.

 

Texas A&M, which beat Duke on Sunday to advance to the women's Elite Eight and has won 16 of its last 17 games, views the rise of women's basketball as a prime example of a "profound cultural shift" at that university.  The women's basketball budget at the previously all-men's school was $2.8 million this year out of a $25.2 million budget for 11 women's sports and a $70 million total athletic department budget.  To increase the basketball profile at the admittedly football-centric school, the university is building $26 million, 68,000 square-foot practice facility with equal amenities for men and women alike.  A trip to Tampa will likely boost regular attendance as well.

5.       Sports and Politics, Ads and Otherwise
The blending of sports and politics, obviously, is not limited to the Nationals' new ballpark.  According to a reporter from the Baltimore Sun on the scene in Latrobe, Pennsylvania last Friday, presidential hopeful Barack Obama's NCAA bracket has taken as much of a beating as any of ours.  Obama, it was revealed, had picked UCLA, North Carolina, and Kansas as part of his Elite Eight, but gotten wiped out on Tennessee, Georgetown, Stanford, Duke...and Pittsburgh, where he was politicking hard.

 

Obama certainly isn't the only politician to be engaged in bracketeering this March Madness season - the picks of John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton, courtesy of husband Bill, have been widely analyzed.  Media experts are mining the blend of sports and politics as well - a new XM Radio ad campaign revolves around a XM Baseball presidential mock election, complete with a bobblehead Derek Jeter intoning, "Ask not what the team can do for you but what you can do for the team."

 

Regardless of whom is elected president in November, it's unlikely that Obama, McCain, or Clinton will prove to be the sports-friendly president that George W. Bush has turned out to be.  In 2007, the "fan in chief" invited more than 1,000 college athletes, coaches, and officials to the White House, including female bowlers from Vanderbilt, champion shooters from the University of Alaska, and UC Santa Barbara soccer players among the more expected mix of BCS and March Madness champions.  The latest athletes to visit the Oval Office?  The winners of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic and the Women's Bassmaster Tour.

6.  MLS Opens Season, Premier League Beckons (or, Beckhams, as the case may be)

 

On Saturday, Major League Soccer began its 13th season.  The league now fields 14 teams, an all-time high, and a record average player salary of $115,000.  In contrast, the UK Premier League fields 20 teams, with an average player salary of $1.35 million - and that in 2006, the last full league salary survey.

 

While it's arguably the most popular pro sports league across the globe, the Premier League is the fourth-rated pro sports league in the world in terms of financial success, behind the American NFL, MLB, and NBA.  The global depth of talent, however, is the factor that MLS executives are most bent on emulating.  Quality of play is MLS' top focus this year.

 

For new talent, MLS looks more often to Latin America, however, than across the pond to the Premier League.  Out of the 21 foreign-born players added to MLS teams this year, 18 are from Latin America.  Many industry experts argued last year that the arrival of such players as Luciano Emilio from Brazil and Cuauhtemoc Blanco from Mexico had more of an impact on the league overall than the much-ballyhooed acquisition of David Beckham by the MLS Galaxy. 

 

While a much healthier Beckham will continue to serve as a soccer ambassador this year, the league's focus will be spread more evenly to other players - including established and developing American players, who, after all, have already been able to qualify for the Olympic Games in Beijing.

7.  Economy Takes Bite out of NASCAR Core Fan Base
In mid-March, Speedway Motorsports Inc., operator of six NASCAR tracks including Lowe's Motor Speedway, reported much lower than expected fourth quarter results.  The publicly-traded company also warned investors that the declining economy will almost certainly cause a parallel decline in NASCAR ticket sales, particularly among NASCAR's core working-class fan base.  Ticket sales comprised 32 percent of SMI revenues last year.

 

According to NASCAR-provided data, fans who attend races have annual incomes $2,300 below the national median income of $46,300.  Sky-high gasoline and grocery prices diminish this group's disposable income for such things as sporting event tickets - even for NASCAR's most devoted fans.  What's more, escalating ticket prices, such as those priced from $39-$100 at the 167,000 seat Concord track, have already priced out many working-class fans, even before the economic downturn. 

 

As the U.S. government considers bailing out subprime mortgage afflicted homeowners, so is SMI President Humpy Wheeler considering helping out NASCAR fans.  Last week, Wheeler proposed lowering ticket prices in areas where the recession has hit hardest to the $25-$80 range, and working with local hotels to reduce the minimum number of nights required to book a room.  To compensate for the lower revenue, Wheeler suggested, track operators could reduce the purses awarded to drivers - a prospect, as the Charlotte Business Journal put it, "as likely as a Toyota Prius winning the Daytona 500."

 

8.  "Leatherheads" Premier Lines Up across from NFL Meetings
"Leatherheads," a slapstick look at the fledgling days of the National Football League in the roaring 20's starring George Clooney and Renee Zellweger is the latest on-screen merger of sports and entertainment.  The movie, which premiers this Friday, was shot in the Carolinas and will open not in Hollywood but in Greenville.

 

"Leatherheads" centers on early NFL star John "Blood" McNally, who played for the Duluth Eskimos.  Played by Clooney, McNally, a future Hall of Famer, was celebrated for his rough-and-tumble off-the-field exploits as much as for his standout play.

 

A few hours down the coast from Greenville, NFL owners, team officials, and coaches are in conclave this week at the Breakers in Palm Beach, NFL player exploits and image issues will once again be on the meeting agenda, but not nearly to the degree they were a year ago.  As reported last week, player off-field conduct issues were down 20 percent in 2007-2008.  These issues have been replaced by two broader ones - the NFL's overall image as a league as the Spygate scandal continues to percolate, and more critical, economic issues surrounding a possible labor stoppage at the end of next season.  Central to the concerns is what will happen if the owners decide to opt out of their current collective bargaining agreement with the NFLPA when it expires in November.  If the owners decide to opt out, the stage could be set for a strike.

 

In the meantime, the people of Greenville, many of whom served as extras, will enjoy the celebration after the "Leatherheads" sets were struck, far from the glare of Hollywood and from the media cameras on the owners.

9.  Another NFL Owner's Economic Concern:  Subprime Market Ripples Rock New Cowboys Stadium
Now that the subprime housing loan bubble has burst, wavelets are rocking commercial building projects all over America - including the Dallas Cowboys' $1-plus billion new stadium in Arlington.

 

According to a report in the Dallas Business Journal, financial aftershocks have already cost the city of Arlington an additional $80,000 in construction costs since February.  The municipality ($297 million underwritten) and the Cowboys ($475 million underwritten) had hired MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group respectively to insure their stadium-related debt, apparently unaware that the two companies were "heavily exposed to subprime debt."  Now, Ambac has been downgraded from an AAA rating to an AA by a respected New York-based independent rating company, which in turn affects the stadium's debt rating in the marketplace.

 

As of March 25, the Cowboys had sold $125 million in auction-rate securities to fund their stadium construction, according to the report, while Arlington's adjustable-rate loan (offset by variable-rate bonds) went from 1.5 percent to seven percent in February.

 

Other sports entities are also watching Ambac closely, if not nervously - the company has also insured $613 million in financing for the New York Mets' new ballpark, and stadiums for the New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, St. Louis Cardinals, and Premier League club Arsenal.

10. Aussie Sport to Suffer if Alcohol Advertising Stops
Sporting groups claim the cost of participating in grassroots sport will rise if proposed laws to limit alcohol advertising on television and radio are passed in Australia.  But in response to a recent Senate inquiry into liquor marketing, welfare groups have called for an outright ban on alcohol advertising. The Northern Territory Police called for prohibiting the use of sports stars to promote alcohol brands, and for proposed restrictions for television and radio to be extended to other media, including magazines and the internet. The welfare lobby, including the Association of Children's Welfare Agencies, also calls for health labels to be put on alcohol products and ban tv and radio alcohol advertising between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.

Australia's sporting bodies, broadcasters and advertisers argued strongly against the proposed laws. The Coalition of Major Professional Sports, which represents seven key sporting bodies, predicted the bill could drive up the cost of grassroots sports by reducing the advertising revenue broadcasters could attract and therefore the broadcast rights fees that sports could demand. COMPS, which represents all four football codes as well as golf, tennis and cricket, estimates that five to 23 percent of sports' revenue comes directly from alcohol sponsorship, thereby severely compromising the primary commercial driver in pro sports business models. In all, 65 submissions to the Senate inquiry on alcohol advertising sparked by Stephen Fielding's Alcohol Toll Reduction Bill were published. The Senate is due to report back by June 18.

Countdown of 12 Top Super Bowl Business Issues, March 3-9, 2008

1.  The Government, Steroids, and You

If you thought that Roger Clemens' and Brian McNamee's recent appearance on Capitol Hill was the last you'd see of sports figures parked in front of a congressional microphone, think again.  That hearing three weeks ago was only prelude to last week's appearance by all four commissioners of America's major sports leagues (and their players' union chiefs).  And if the U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection has anything to say about it, we'll be seeing the quartet of Bettman, Goodell, Selig and Stern on more Washington tour dates throughout the year.  With, perhaps, a racehorse or two.

According to Committee Chair Robert Rush, the purpose of the hearings was "to restart and perhaps finish the legislative process that we started in the 109th Congress. The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is not a trivial matter. This is a serious public health problem that is worthy of Congressional scrutiny."   For several hours, Rush and colleagues took the Commissioners Four through the performance-enhancing drug recommendations by the Mitchell Report, and how the leagues should (or should not) under government watch implement those recommendations and/or the provisions of the World Anti-Doping Agency Code.  Added Vice Chair Jan Schakowsky, "Frankly, I wish we didn't have to hold this hearing at all but after years of stories of professional athletes testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs, I'm afraid that this committee and this Congress is left with little choice."  And, added U.S. Representative Cliff Stearns, "Congress may need to create a federal standard to compel their compliances," if the sports leagues refused to adopt stronger drug-testing standards.

Where does this leave the leagues?  While NBA Commissioner David Stern was the most vocal in the group in expressing his outrage at the government intervention, all of the commissioners and union representatives made it clear that they think no federal legislation is needed.  Rush said after the hearing, as quoted by the Associated Press, that it "might take months for the legislation to move through Congress -- perhaps until a new presidential administration takes over in January."

2.  MLB, PED and Image

Clearly, Major League Baseball has taken the hardest hit to its brand from the Congressional hearings and performance-enhancing drug issues. For the fourth consecutive year, talk surrounding spring training games in Florida and Arizona has focused on flying accusations rather than fly balls.

Even though the steroid issue has been front-page news off and on since March 2005, when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero were the names behind the microphones, it doesn't appear that baseball has made any progress overcoming and moving past the steroid issue.  While the game has not taken much of a financial hit thus far - only a handful of fans nationwide have dropped their season tickets due to player drug use - it's only a matter of time before sponsors begin to seriously question their association with the sport. 

Commissioner Selig and MLBPA chief Donald Fehr need only to look at the wreckage of professional cycling - its evaporated endorsement deals and television contracts and stripped titles - to see what their worst nightmare might look like.  But they also can learn from cycling's slow rise from the PED ashes to see what path they might want to follow.  Two weeks ago, at the cycling-season opening Tour de California, riders submitted to the most stringent anti-doping program ever seen in the sport.  The fan goodwill, overwhelmingly positive media coverage, and new sponsor response showed that sport that fans and Corporate America are willing to forgive...if real progress, steps to recovery and total commitment to the brand are evident.

3. Sports and Super Tuesday II

While the most significant sports issue on nationwide ballots this week is the $121 million sales tax extension in Oklahoma City designed to seal the SuperSonics deal, as the New York Times' George Vecsey pointed out on Sunday, the political primary season is embracing sports images in a big way. In Oklahoma City, the proposed 15-month extension of a one-cent sales tax would raise $97 million to upgrade that city's Ford Center to NBA specifications, as well as provide $24.6 million to build a NBA-caliber practice facility.  While the upgrades don't guarantee the Sonics' relocation, they'll certainly make a "yes" vote easier for NBA relocation committee members set to visit the city later this month.  Back in Seattle, a group of investors are mounting a last-ditch effort to buy the Sonics, or another NBA team, to play in a refurbished KeyArena, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  The investment group would reportedly contribute $150 million toward a $300 million total overhaul of the facility, as well as renovate Memorial Stadium at Seattle Center.  Sources site the rest of the needed funding as coming from existing stadium taxes, which would raise $75 million, and city bonds, which would contribute the final $75 million.  Since the Washington state legislature is scheduled to adjourn in two weeks, however, it would take a near miracle for these measures to pass this year. On the national political stage, Vecsey speculates that white male voter familiarity with African-American sports stars, and Senator Barack Obama's basketball background, have contributed to Obama's support among white male voters growing to 61 percent last week from 23 percent in early January.  Vecsey sites political scientists who see Obama in much the same vein as Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, superstars who have unshakeable self-images and whose abilities have helped them transcend race.  That theory, clearly, will be tested this week.

4.   Tiffany Takes on Tito Ortiz

No, it's not a remake of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."  In a bold move to move its core demographic from "geezer central" to highly desirable 18-34 year-old males, CBS, otherwise known as the Tiffany Network, will over the next year air on Saturday night prime time four two-hour Mixed Martial Arts fight cards to be produced by Elite Xtreme Combat, currently producing MMA programs for CBS property Showtime. While Elite XC doesn't in fact promote Tito Ortiz, who, along with superstar Chuck Liddell, fights under the Ultimate Fighting Championship banner, MMA in general has grown quickly from pay-per-view to cable now to network television.  Ultimate Fighting generated more than $200 million in 2006 from 10 pay-per-view fight cards, and its "Ultimate Fighter" show on Spike TV drew more viewers than four ESPN "Monday Night Football" games last season.  Fox, heavily boosted by its sports programming, including its record-breaking Super Bowl broadcast, college BCS games, the World Series, and NASCAR, is now tv's ratings king for the first time in its 30 year history.  Sports and "American Idol" have helped it cement the 18-49 demo.  If you eliminate all sports from the ratings, however, CBS on average would come out on top, beating runner-up ABC 10.6 million viewers to 9.7 million, according to industry projections.  Through MMA, CBS, which relies heavily on scripted programming and was hard-hit by the Hollywood writer's strike, is looking to balance out their programming with more non-scripted alternatives.  But...gee whiz...what will 90-year old Andy Rooney say?

5.  NFL Comcast

In less welcome television news (at least to the NFL), last Tuesday,  a New York appeals court reversed the May 2007 ruling that allowed Comcast to move the NFL Network to a sports tier with roughly 750,000 viewers from its broader digital cable platform and seven million-plus subscribers. The Appellate Division's unanimous 4-0 decision said the contractual terms that led to the 2007 ruling were too ambiguous, and will require a jury trial to identify how Comcast will distribute the NFL Network.  For now, Comcast will continue to carry the NFL Net on its sports tier. The May 2007 ruling has likely cost the NFL tens of millions per month in lost income.  The league, accustomed to battling cable operators, also filed suit last week in New York State Supreme Court to prevent Dish Network from downgrading the NFL Network from a 12 million subscriber general tier to an eight million subscriber sports tier.   Stay tuned - unless you don't subscribe to a sports tier.

6.  Red Sox Nation Set to Invade Coliseum

With or without its newest member Hank Steinbrenner, it looks like Red Sox Nation is set to invade the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in an even bigger wave than anticipated on March 29. Faced with unprecedented demand for tickets to the Dodgers-Red Sox exhibition game to be played in the Coliseum on that date, the Dodgers have put an additional 25,000 tickets on sale, increasing the stadium's capacity for the game to 115,000 (from the originally-planned 90,000) and, if the game sells out, breaking a 49- year-old record for baseball game attendance.  West Coast Red Sox fans always seem to come out in droves, so there's a good chance Boston crimson will equal Dodger blue in the stands. In May 1959, 93,103 turned out to watch the Dodgers play the New York Yankees in a benefit game for Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, who had been paralyzed in a car accident the year before.  This year, proceeds from the Dodgers-Red Sox game will benefit ThinkCure, the Dodgers cancer research foundation established in conjunction with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and City of Hope.  Foundation officials are hopeful that over $1 million will be raised from the game - the latest batch of tickets have been scaled from $25 to $15, with standing room only spaces under the Coliseum's landmark peristyle arches going for $10.

7.  Is a Candlestick a Candlestick by Any Other Name?

While naming rights to the Coliseum, under the new deal between the Coliseum Commission and USC, are expected to bring in $5 million or more per year, upstate from LA, the San Francisco 49ers and SF city officials have announced that the aging stadium formerly known as Candlestick Park would once again carry that memorable moniker.  Recent naming rights deals for the close to 50-year-old stadium have been highly criticized by fans, most of whom have refused to acknowledge the titles of 3Com Park, first bestowed in 1996, and later (and scarier) Monster Park, so named after Monster Cable bought naming rights in 2004 for an estimated $1.5 million annually.  In 2005, San Francisco voters passed a proposition forbidding the city and the team from reselling the naming rights when the Monster Cable deal expired.  Since the 49ers are doing their best to move down the Bay to Santa Clara, the name on the SF stadium may soon be Moot Point Park.  Which, when you think about it, is better than some of the possible names that Silicon Valley might slap on the new building:  Yahoo Yard, Nvidia Endzone, or Google Gate.

8.  Winging It Without Cash in Wichita

If you're planning on catching a Wichita Wingnuts game this baseball season, don't bother taking your wallet to 74- year-old, 6,100-seat Lawrence-Dumont Stadium.  They don't want your money.

In an effort to speed concession and merchandise lines and reduce employee theft, the Wingnuts, a first-year independent American Association baseball team, will this season become the first U.S. sports team ever to operate a cashless facility.  Fans will be able to buy food, drink and merchandise, and access kiddie zone attractions with credit cards or team stored-value cards in $5-$100 increments they can buy at the ballpark.  Cold hard cash will never pass through the hands of Game Time Food and Beverage, the team's Chicago-based concessionaire.

Wichita Pro Sports, the group that owns the team, has signed a five-year contract with smart-card marketer Total Venue Control (TVC) to activate the new point-of-sale system.  At no cost to the team, TVC is investing about $50,000 upfront to install the equipment.  In its deal with the Wingnuts, TVC makes its money by signing up card sponsors, taking a percentage of per capita spending, and collecting "breakage," or unspent card balances, according to company executives. Labor savings are projected to be $18,000 this season, which begins May 7 for the first of 48 home games.  No doubt MLB will be watching closely - the White Sox attempted using smart-cards in the last decade, but abandoned them due to a lack of fan interest (the NFL Panthers and Jaguars did the same).

9.   Puma, Umbro and Hombre

Largely thanks to its central presence at the recently-completed Africa Cup of Nations and its marketing and branded-store push in the Middle East and Europe, Puma AG has announced a 17 percent rise in fourth-quarter profits.  Now owned by French luxury-goods company PPR SA, Puma earned