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AEG, the sports and entertainment megafirm, which owns the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Staples Center, among other things, is set to announce a $700 million dollar naming rights deal with Farmers Insurance for a NFL stadium to be built in downtown Los Angeles.  AEG is one of two groups pursuing a NFL team for LA, but this deal certainly pushes it to the forefront.  A deal for a yet to built stadium for a non-existent team has to be the first of a kind, not to mention the largest naming rights deal ever made in North American sports.

I thought I would put up a few links to articles I had been reading lately since it's been a bit hectic around here these last couple of days. Hope you enjoy:

Origin of NFL nicknames (CNN), 
Remember last year's AFL throwback uniforms, you know, the Bronco's vertical stripe brown socks, well here's the story on where they came from (Mental Floss),
Reggie Bush returns Heisman Trophy, now what (LATimes)
Taxpayers still on hook after stadiums abandoned (NYT)
It's matches like last week's Spain v. Argentina that fuels clubs anger with FIFA over calendar (NYT)
NFL's highest paid players: inappropriately skewed towards rookies and unproven players (Forbes)
Did you know that Coach K and Team USA won the World Basketball Championship with the Redeem Team left at home? (SI)

The NFL Players Association is circulating cards among players permitting the union to decertify in the face of a lockout by the owners at the end of the current collective bargaining agreement in 2011.  The NFLPA is not leveling decertification as a threat but wants to maintain the option in order to strengthen its hand in negotiations for a new CBA.

Should the union decertify, it would enable the players to sue the owners for violation of antitrust laws by conducting a group boycott in locking out the players. Maintaining itself as a union would not allow the union to sue because of the labor exemption under the antitrust laws.


The circulation of these cards is just one indication that the new CBA is going to be one difficult negotiation and will take at least as long as there is time remaining on the clock before the current one expires.  As is generally the case with collective bargaining, there is little incentive for the parties to compromise until midnight hour and the option of decertification gives the union an arrow that is at least as dangerous to the owners as a lockout may seem to the players, thus equalizing the playing field and increasing the likelihood of an eventual settlement.

The surest indication of the continuing effects of the Great Recession is that it has even affected the golden league, the NFL.  Up until the Recession first hit in 2008, it was unheard of for the NFL to suffer league-wide drop in ticket sales.  Then came the Recession and ticket sales have dropped in each of the last three years.

The drop-off this year has been so bad that as many as 11 teams may be subject to blackout when their home season opens. To be fair, the economy is no  solely to blame.  The quality of HD broadcasts and home theater AV systems has made the home viewing experience the equal of the stadium experience in many ways - especially for those fans whose seats would have been in the upper reaches of the stadium where they would have been watching the game on the stadium's big screens anyway.  In addition, the troubles of some of the 11 teams on the field surely has contributed to the drop in ticket sales.  Nevertheless, the major reason would still seem to be the economy and unless teams decide to buy up the unsold tickets for distribution to servicemen and women or underprivileged kids, the league will be seeing (or not seeing, to be more accurate) more blackouts in quite some time.

You know you want it.  You know you missed; your Friday nights just haven't been the same.  Well, your wait is finally over.  Friday night lights have gotten brighter as the Lingerie Football League returns to a television near you this Friday, September 10 at 11PM ET on MTV2.  It's full tackle, 7-on-7 football, unlike any other - the LFL, the real fantasy football league. 

In case you have forgotten what it's like (really, how could you?), here's the trailer for the new season:

How bad is the economy? Bad enough for even NFL teams to go down in value (Forbes)

Financial Statements of five major league teams were leaked last week:  Pittsburgh Pirates,
Tampa Bay Rays, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Seattle Mariners,
Texas Rangers (Deadspin)

It takes cojones; Sosa fumes because Cubs haven't retired his number (Hardball Times)

Here's a first, NBC adjust ad breaks to Notre Dame's no-huddle offense (USA Today)

Is live streaming the wave of the future in youth recreational leagues? (NYT)

Will there be NHL players in the 2014 Olympics: players want it but as usual the owners
led by Bettman are reluctant at best. (NYT)

Chris Henry, the Bengals running back who died during a domestic dispute last year, has been  identified as the first player to have trauma-induced brain damage while still active in the NFL


Henry was only 26 and is the youngest player to be diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the progressive brain disease that I wrote about yesterday, which experts have now tied to the effects of playing football.  Since it can only be accurately diagnosed after death, it does not often appear in cases of younger men, which makes Henry's case so important.  It may also provide a partial explanation for the problems Henry got into during the last several years of his life.  It is known that CTE alters the brain functions and may cause changes in behavior as the disease progresses.

When Anheuser-Busch was bought by Brazilian-Belgian giant Inbev last year, there was great concern that Anheuser-Busch's sports advertising and promotion might be in jeopardy as the two companies had had a different philosophy towards advertising and promotion.  At the time of the merger, the two companies had made public assurances that nothing would change, but companies do that routinely at merger time, whether they really mean it is another question.  It's sort of like a coach who tells you that he loves his current job, the city great, the fans are wonderful and he would never consider another job and wham, he becomes Nick Saban and you wake up two days later and he has a new job.


Well, it appears that this time, the companies were telling the truth.  Anheuser-Busch and the NFL are preparing to announce a $1billion (yes, with a "B") deal for Bud Light to replace Coors Light as the official beer sponsor of the NFL.  It will be a six year deal beginning in 2011.  Even though Coors Light has had official sponsorship since 2002, Budweiser has held official sponsorship of the Super Bowl for the last 22 years.  Prior to 2002, Budweiser shared sponsorship of the league with Miller, but that changed in 2002 when sponsorship became an exclusive and Miller won the original exclusive bidding.