Have you heard from any of the other 29 teams, or the NBA about this? I could see somebody making an argument that you’re devaluing the brand a bit. Ten-dollar lower bowl seats could theoretically make $100 lower bowl seats a tougher sell in another market.
The pricing of the very best seats are hardly ten dollars. There’s some prime beachfront real estate, and the pricing is still quite expensive by anybody’s standards. But the analogy that I’ve used is to think of the iPhone. Check me on this but I believe when it first came out, it was priced at $399. It came back a year later for $199 and with a better phone. I don’t think anybody thought the iPhone had become devalued. It was just a way for it to broaden its usage, and it became even more iconic.
I see this as being a very similar product. Are tickets are being reduced in price in many cases, but I still believe there’s enormous value, and hopefully this will mean there are more users.
Whaa? Did he just compare NBA tickets to the iPhone?
I actually agree with most of what Kahn says in the interview, but this comparison is a head-scratcher. Most electronics improve and fall in price as second or third generations are released. How does this relate to basketball tickets, which are either sold or left unsold depending on the supply and demand of each individual market. This depends on the size of the market, the quality of the team and the location of the seats.
I do think that slashing ticket prices can devalue the product, but in most cases it doesn’t matter. If an arena has a bunch of empty seats, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the tickets aren’t worth what they’re being sold for. The value of the ticket is already devalued — slashing prices simply acknowledges that new value. The quality of the team is the root cause of the devaluation.
Kahn is right that filling up the arena should be the most important thing. Increase attendance adds to revenue from parking and concessions, not to mention selling a seat that would have otherwise gone unsold. And, of course, a capacity crowd has the potential to swing the momentum (and outcome) of a game. This theoretically makes the team better and will drive up demand for tickets.
One interesting point that Henry Abbott makes at the beginning of the post is how the NBA crowd is very business-oriented. One way to increase the excitement at NBA venues is to eliminate the tax write-off for sports tickets. Then, those seats will actually be filled by fans of the team instead of a sales guy taking a prospective client out for a night on the town. Since the write-off is essentially paid for by the government, our nation’s tax laws are partly to blame for bloated NBA ticket prices.
If I were VP of Marketing for an NBA team struggling to fill the arena, I’d use the law of supply and demand to sell out the arena for virtually every game. A week before each game, I’d hold an two-day, online auction for all the unsold seats. Fans could then place a bid for the remaining seats. The highest bids get the best seats, and the worst seats could go for as little as $2 or $5 each. Whatever the price, those fans would have gone through the trouble of bidding in the auction, so they’ll probably end up going to the game. Just like that — a full arena…increased revenue from parking and concessions, and an all-around better atmosphere in which to play.
According to beat writer Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Bengals had a positive meeting with free agent receiver Antonio Bryant today and even went as far as to push Terrell Owens’ visit back to Wednesday.
“Why wouldn’t there be? I think this is the year of no salary cap, if I’m correct. Hey, why wouldn’t there be?,” said Ochocinco, who was also talking about his upcoming appearance on Dancing With The Stars. “Let’s load it up, you know! We can get back to that firepower offense we were back in ‘05 and ‘06, when we were throwing it all over the place. Even though that’s not the makeup of our team right now, I think it can help. Period.”
However when asked if he had to choose which one, Ochocinco said: “I mean, it’s whatever. Both of them can help us.”
Neither player was very productive in 2009, although at least Bryant has an excuse because he battled injuries for most of the year. He’s also seven years younger, can still stretch a defense and is still efficient when healthy. It’s no wonder why the Bengals prefer him over T.O.
Joe Johnson was asked about his free agent plans after the Hawks’ game against the Knicks, and here’s what he had to say…
The inquisition of Joe Johnson began at about 6:20 p.m. ET, lasted approximately 10 minutes and yielded the following nugget:
If a certain someone, like maybe this certain guy in Cleveland, accepted a max offer from the Knicks and wanted Johnson as a sidekick, Johnson would be willing to sign for less than the maximum.
“I’ll sacrifice,” Johnson said.
Those words will carry some weight as we head toward July 1, 2010, because there aren’t a whole lot of max-level free agents out there who are willing to go on the record saying they’ll sacrifice money if it translates into success on the court.
But Johnson went ahead and said it Monday, and given the fact that he turned down a five-year max contract extension from the Atlanta Hawks last summer, that statement ranks as an eyebrow-raiser.
Chris Sheridan goes on to speculate about what the Knicks might do if Plan A (LeBron) and Plan B (D-Wade) both fail. How about a Bosh/Johnson or a Stoudemire/Johnson combo in NYC?
While LeBron, Wade and Bosh are all playing coy about their free agency plans, Johnson is refreshingly honest about all the possibilities. Considering that he’s playing for one of the top teams in the East, it’s an interesting way to go.
A LeBron/JJ combo in New York probably isn’t going to happen. I have a feeling that LeBron will only go to the Knicks if he knows he’s going to play with Wade or Bosh. Usually championships are built around one excellent perimeter player and one excellent big man — think Kobe-Shaq, Parker-Duncan, Wade-Shaq — but Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen did make the 2/3 combo work very well in Chicago, though MJ made a living in the post. LeBron doesn’t like to play with his back to the basket.
Don Banks of SI.com put together a well-written article on Ben Roethlisberger’s decision-making in light of the most recent allegations that he sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman in Georgia last weekend.
But with that out of the way, here’s what I think we do know about Roethlisberger at this point: At the very least, he’s starting to look very guilty of serial bad judgment. He doesn’t seem to know what’s good for him, and he clearly doesn’t respect the notion that there are boundaries of where he should be, when he should be there, and who he should be with.
If I’m Roethlisberger, who’s still facing last year’s civil suit alleging he sexually assaulted a Lake Tahoe, Nev., casino hostess in the summer of 2008, that means I’m swearing off hanging out in college-town bars until 2 a.m., making the frat-boy rounds with my entourage. Engaging groups of college-age women while out partying isn’t helpful either. Quite a sacrifice, I know, but, hey, there is a pretty fair career to think of in this case. Not to mention a reputation that is rapidly approaching the state of being irreparably damaged.
I don’t know exactly when a pattern of behavior shows itself to the point of becoming obvious, but I think by now it’s safe to say Roethlisberger either doesn’t get it or doesn’t care. You think it can’t all go away pretty quickly in a hail of bad decision-making, Ben? Talk to Michael Vick about that one. One day he was practically the young and fresh face of the NFL, and the next time we looked, he was the poster child for wasted opportunity.
When you add Roethlisberger’s 2006 helmet-less motorcycle accident into the mix of questionable decision-making, this is the third offseason in five years the Pittsburgh quarterback has made the wrong kind of headlines and given us reason to question his thinking, his actions, or both. That’s at least twice too many for any player, but particularly for one who carries the mantle of franchise quarterback for one of the most successful and beloved organizations in the NFL.
You’ll have to read the entire article in order to grasp Banks’ full take on the subject, but the above four paragraphs summed up his basic premise.
I’m always torn on a subject like this. If Big Ben is guilty of wrongdoing, then let the legal system punish him and then the media can take its turn in frying him as well. But if all he’s done is go out to a bar, drink and then tried to get busy with a woman in a bathroom, then he’s hardly out of line. We don’t know what happened that night and whether or not this girl is trying to get a free ride. Were they flirting together? Did she invite him into the bathroom? Who knows. This same situation probably happens nightly but because it’s Roethlisberger, his life is being plastered all over the Internet. (Again though, if he was being a creep bag and did sexually assault her, then I hope he’s punished.)
That said, athletes live in a different world because of their money and stature. I realize this might not be fair, but not all of us have the ability or opportunity to make $50 million over our lifetimes either. So I agree with Banks when he writes that Big Ben needs to make better decisions in order to protect his reputation while he’s still playing in the NFL – especially considering this is the second time he’s been accused of sexual assault. I’m not suggesting that he doesn’t go out and have a good time (and neither is Banks), but he needs to realize that because of who he is, he runs the risk of having his actions made public. That’s just the way it is nowadays.
If Nathan opts to go with the surgery, he would miss the entire 2010 season and leave the Twins without a closer. Nathan says that he will do whatever he can to give himself the “best chance to go out there and help” the Twins, but also realizes that he has to decide soon whether or not to have surgery because the club needs to figure out its closer situation.
Jon Rauch was added to Minnesota’s bullpen in August, so he may be asked to close for the Twins at the start of the season, or at least until the club finds a more suitable option. Matt Guerrier is also a candidate after pitching extremely well (2.36 ERA, 33 holds, 0.97 WHIP) in 2009.
Hopefully Nathan won’t need surgery but at this point, it’s probably wise to count him out for the 2010 season. Fantasy owners should take note.
Yes, at least according to Peter Keating, who wrote a piece entitled “Why Dwight Howard is overrated,” which outlines the recent research presented by John Huizinga and Charles “Sandy” Weil at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Insider subscription required, so I’ll be brief in my excerpt…
Over the entire stretch of data that Huizinga and Weil examined, Tim Duncan didn’t goaltend once, while 24 percent of Dwight Howard’s blocks resulted in free points for the other team.
The data yields all kinds of instructive contrasts, most clearly between Duncan and Howard (hence the name of Huizinga and Weil’s paper). In 2008, Howard had 232 blocked shots, but he either saved or created just 124 points; Duncan had 149 blocks, but generated 167 points. On a points-per-block basis, Duncan has four of the top 10 seasons, according to Huizinga and Weil. Howard has three of the bottom 10.
If anything, Howard should look at this report and draw two conclusions: 1) he needs to stop goaltending, and 2) he needs to try to direct his blocks better. Either block it to himself or to a teammate to start a fast break opportunity. He often tosses the ball out of bounds, which only serves to give possession back to the other team.
On the final Laker possession in Sunday’s tilt in Orlando, Howard picked up Kobe off of a screen and roll and forced him into a very tough fadeaway jumper. His defense on that play was excellent and I think he is a very good defender. Could he be better? This research says he can.
Fujita has decided to donate half of his $82,000 in NFL playoff earnings to two causes, one of which is coastal restoration.
His reasons?
“The people of this city and region have been so good to me and my family that we just felt strongly about doing something to protect the city we have come to love so much, ” Fujita said. “And helping on the coastal issue has been on the back of my mind since I first got here.”
“You always hear about southern hospitality, but I experienced it from my first days here, ” Fujita recalled. “I was living in a residence hotel for the first few weeks while we looked for a place in town, and spent that time just walking around the city and bar hopping, getting to know the place.
“Well, when people found out I was moving here from another city, I couldn’t pay for a drink. They didn’t know I was an NFL player. They just knew I was a guy who had come to join them, and that was it – I was a hero. I don’t think I paid for a drink for the first three or four weeks.”
“Jaclyn and I were looking not just for a cause to donate to, but more importantly something we believe in, something we think we could actually make a difference in by using the visibility of the New Orleans Saints, ” he said. “And the coastal issue had been in the back of my mind almost since I got here.”
Keep in mind that this is the same Scott Fujita that won’t be playing in New Orleans anymore after signing a free agent contract with the Browns over the weekend. Outside of playing for the Saints, he has no ties to New Orleans (he grew up in California), yet he still recognized what the city did for him and wanted to help out in any way he could.
I’m never one to suggest that athletes have to donate because it’s their money – they can do whatever they want with it. But for a player like Fujita to donate all of his playoff earnings the way he did just shows what a class act he is.
In the California Division 1AA Southern Section championship, Mater Dei led by three with seconds to play when Etiwanda’s Evan Jenkins attempted a three-point shot. Mater Dei’s Eli Stalzer clearly raked him across the arm.
Jenkins would have had to hit three free throws to tie the game, but still, what a shame. The refs really blew that one.
What this trade means for the Browns is pretty simple: they get a veteran quarterback who is familiar with Mike Holmgren’s offense and who could pave the way for the release of Derek Anderson. Wallace has little upside at this point, but he’s a stable backup that can keep the team competitive if he’s forced into action.
For the Seahawks, this trade potentially means much more. There has been plenty of speculation that the Hawks will draft a quarterback at some point during April’s draft and this trade may open the door wider for that possibility. Given Matt Hasselbeck’s age (34), it would make sense that Seattle would draft their franchise quarterback this year and have him learn under Hasselbeck for a season or two until he’s ready to take over the reins.
Now, this doesn’t mean that the Seahawks will target a QB at No. 6, although that’s certainly a possibility. If they wait, they could still target a signal caller like Colt McCoy (assuming he’s available of course) with their second round pick (No. 40 overall). One would think that if they were to draft a quarterback this April, it would be with one of their first two picks.
What’s great about the outfield position in fantasy baseball is that it’s like Wal Mart: you can get whatever you need and you’ll always be greeted with a friendly smile and a hello.
All right, so you won’t be greeted with a smile when you select outfielders in your draft. In fact, that doesn’t even make any sense so just forget we wrote it. The point we’re trying to make is that whatever you wind up needing for your team on draft day, you can usually find it in the outfield section. Need speed? The outfield has you covered. Need power? It has that too.
Below are a group of players that fit into certain categories based on need. You know that a guy like Ryan Braun is going to get you production across the board, same with Matt Kemp, Matt Holliday, Grady Sizemore and Carl Crawford. But the guys we’ve outlined below are players you can target in the middle to late rounds that will give you a boost in certain areas. You’re not going to get production in every category if you draft these players, but hopefully you’ll be satisfied in the specific categories we’ve highlighted.
Power Boosters:
Adam Lind, Blue Jays
Perhaps the most encouraging thing for fantasy owners about Lind’s breakout 2009 campaign, was that he was consistent throughout the entire season and hit right-handed pitching as well as he hit lefties. After hitting 35 home runs and driving in 114 RBI last season, we think Lind will be more apt to match those numbers (or even improve on them) this season than he will be to crash and burn.
