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Dallas Cowboys fans are facing sticker shock at the record-setting prices for season tickets at the new stadium. Jerry Jones is working on a creative solution, Andrea Ahles and Charean Williams report.
 Are the Dallas Cowboys considering a time share-type ticket at the team’s new $1 billion stadium in Arlington?
According to a blog item on the Dallas Observer, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said that a group of friends could purchase a single ticket to a game at the new stadium and then take turns going inside to watch the action while the rest enjoyed the game atmosphere outside. Jones described this ticket-sharing scenario at a meet-and-greet event last week, according to an item posted Monday.
Cowboys spokesman Brett Daniels said he could not confirm Jones’ comments, adding, “This is not a program we have in place at this time.”
However, in its Super Bowl pitch to the NFL, the Cowboys and the North Texas bid committee said that 20,000 fans will be able to buy tickets to standing-room-only party plazas outside each end zone, where the game will be shown on digital screens.
Earlier Monday at the NFL owners meeting in Palm Beach, Fla., the Star-Telegram spoke with Jones about his stadium, where he alluded to “different ways to watch and be a part of the game.”
Considering how expensive tickets are, this may be the only way for most fans to be able to afford a live game experience. That’s not a criticism — Jones has every right to charge what the market will bear and he’s got a very desirable product with very limited availability. That he’s figuring out a way to make maximum profit and still do something for “the little guy” is both commendable and smart business.
The money was supposedly going to charity. From TC Palm-
PORT ST. LUCIE — The New York Mets have turned their mandatory charge to attend spring training practice into a donation.
To raise money for local charities, the team on Thursday began charging fans age 15 and older $2 to watch team workouts.
But after fielding angry calls from fans Friday morning, the team reversed its policy. Team officials said they no longer will charge fans, beginning immediately, although donations still can be made with all money going to local charities.
“We got some negative feedback,” St. Lucie Mets general manager Paul Taglieri said. “I think it’s still a good opportunity for us to be able to do something like this.”
Admissions from Thursday’s workout totaled $1,800, which will go to the Boys and Girls Club of St. Lucie County. Friday’s donations were set for the American Cancer Society, and today’s will go to the Exchange Club Castle program.
Being a cynic, I wonder how much of the money pre-protest would have gone to any charities. Fans get shaken down enough by sports franchises, the outrageous sums asked for food and drink, to parking, to almost anything. I give money to charity, volutarily. Given a choice of attending a practice or donating $2 I’d stay home. It is the principle, no one can require me to give to their chairty.
Update- I just remembered another S. Florida sports facility that wanted to collect money from fans supposedly to give to charity. The home to the Florida Panthers, the Bank Atlantic Center. The BAC wanted to charge fans $5 if they parked anywhere but on the grounds of the arena. It was bullshit then and it is bullshit now.
It took an uproar from Congress for the football league to change course.
The NFL, which found itself on the receiving end of protests and controversy after it objected to churches showing the Super Bowl on big-screen televisions, has reversed course and will now permit the viewings.
In a letter to Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would not object to “live showings — regardless of screen size — of the Super Bowl” by religious organizations.
In response to questions from Hatch, Goodell said in the letter, dated Feb. 19, the NFL will implement the policy starting with next year’s Super Bowl.
A story in The Washington Post about churches — most of them evangelical — canceling their Super Bowl parties because they were afraid of lawsuits from the NFL if they showed the game on their jumbo screens kicked up a storm of protest on Capitol Hill and among some conservative leaders.
The NFL sent two churches a letter last year saying they violated the league’s policy. I don’t know what the law says, but to me if someone isn’t charging admittance to view the sporting event, the church should be allowed to do so.
San Diego will travel 5,478 miles to play New Orleans.
PHOENIX (Reuters) - The National Football League is returning to London next season for another regular season game with the San Diego Chargers playing the New Orleans Saints, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Friday.
The Saints will host the Chargers at Wembley Stadium on October 26, Goodell said.
In another international development, the commissioner said the Buffalo Bills would cross the border into Canada to play a regular season game every year in Toronto over the next five years starting this season.
Goodell, who did not specify the Bills’ opponent in this year’s game in Toronto, also said Buffalo would play a pre-season game every other year there.
Last season saw the NFL’s boldest international move to date when the New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 at Wembley in October in the league’s first ever regular season game held outside North America.
NFL Europe went bust in 2007. There was a team in London, but the Monarachs eventually moved to Berlin due to lack of fan support. Then why does the NFL feel the need to play regular season games in this city?
This season’s opener was played in London. On Saturday, the NHL announced its intention to play two games in Europe to open the 2008-09 season. From AP-
ATLANTA - Basking in the spotlight of its All-Star game, the NHL decided Saturday was the perfect time to unveil a big announcement for the start of next season: Four teams will get the honor of opening in Europe.
Maybe the league should have made sure the players were on board.
Saying there were still details to be worked out, the leader of the NHL Players’ Association objected to the league announcing two games would be played in both Prague and Stockholm to start the 2008-09 season.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said the New York Rangers are scheduled to meet the Tampa Bay Lightning at Sazka Arena in the Czech Republic, while the Ottawa Senators would face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Globe Arena in Sweden’s capital city.
The games would be played Oct. 4 and 5 — assuming the Players’ Association signs off on the plans.
That might be a problem. Paul Kelly, the NHLPA’s executive director, said he was aware of the European games but warned the league not to make a firm announcement until the two sides worked out all details.
“If they want the Players’ Association to be a true business partner, then they have to include us in discussions about these matters at the earliest stages,” Kelly said. “We shouldn’t read about it in the press and we shouldn’t find about it after the fact.”
Kelly said he was approached by league officials Friday night and asked to sign off on the European games, which would mark the second straight year the NHL has opened its season on the other side of the Atlantic.
His response: “Look guys, you know we have a lot of details to work out. Travel, promotional issues, NHLPA involvement, accommodations, the schedule, etc. So there’s still lots of details to work out, but if you want to announce it generally, that’s fine.’
From Kelly’s statements, it appears the NHLPA is unhappy because they weren’t included in the decision making process. They should have been, but that’s water under the bridge now.
As to playing games in Europe, I don’t like it from the point of view of the Sports US fans. Both Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay will be losing one home game. If you’re a season ticket holder of either team, you have a right to complain. Why should your team have to play a home gain 1/3rd the way around the world? I didn’t like it when the Miami Dolphins agreed to play The New York Giants in London last year. Dolphin fans had more reason to be upset, considering they only get 8 home games a year, and the Giants were making a rare appearance in South Florida.
US football in Europe if it wasn’t a financial bust, was hardly a success either. As to hockey, most countries have their own hockey leagues. How many Czechs and Swedes are playing in the NHL now? Quite a few. I think local fans prefer to watch their own teams. Not ones brought in from another continent. Even if interest is generated, I’d bet it is only temporary.
It will be the second year in a row a regular season game was played there. From AP-
The league, which held its first regular season game outside North America in London last October, said Thursday it would come back again in 2008.
The teams, date and venue will be announced during Super Bowl week late this month or in early February.
The New York Giants beat the Miami Dolphins 13-10 in front of 81,176 fans at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28.
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In 2006, NFL owners agreed to play one or two regular-season games outside the United States for the following five years. The Dolphins and Giants essentially volunteered for the 2007 game and are not expected to be asked to return in the near future.
You mean the Dolphins volunteered for this? If they did, management deserves one of my Knucklehead awards. The team’s fans in Florida deserved the home game, particularly those of us with New York ties. See the New York Giants never played a game at Miami till 1993. In 1970, the NFC and AFC began playing against each other’s teams. Through the quirks of the scheduling process and the 1987 strike, the Dolphins and Giants met only twice between 1970 and 1992(72 and 90) and both games were in New York. Only twice have the Giants played in Miami, 93 and 1996. The next time the teams will be slated to play in Miami is 2012 or 2016!
All NHL teams will meet again once every season. From AP-
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - The NHL’s board of governors approved the sale of the Nashville Predators and changed the league’s scheduling format Thursday night to allow every team to face each other at least once every season.
Paul Kelly, the new executive director of the NHL Players Association, also addressed the league’s owners during a late-afternoon session to open the board’s two-day meeting at an elite resort on the Northern California coast.
After a three-year experiment in developing rivalries in hockey’s far-flung outposts, the NHL voted to go back to the scheduling format used before the 2004-05 lockout, most notably decreasing the current eight games against every team’s divisional opponents to six.
Starting next season, teams will play just 24 total games against their four divisional foes, 40 against the rest of the conference and 18 against the other conference — one game against all 15 foes, and three home-and-home series against wild-card opponents.
First let me state, my interest in hockey was only rekindled in the last year. Otherwise I had watched little of the sport since the end of the NY Islanders Dynasty in the early to mid eighties.
The arrangement where teams didn’t all meet seemed dumb to me. Fans in the west miss out on seeing players like Sidney Crosby and fans in the east miss getting to see……. well see what problem I have. LOL, make that former Florida Panther and ace goaltender Roberto Luongo. Now I can learn about the LA Kings, San Jose Sharks etc. To be honest I’m sick of Atlanta. You would be too if you had to see the Thrashers and Panthers cross sticks eight times a year.
First the Miami Dolphins play a home game out of town, next up could be the Marlins.
Major League Baseball and Puerto Rican officials are working toward bringing the Marlins back to San Juan.
El Nuevo Dia reported discussions were underway to have the Marlins and Mets play a three-game series at Hiram Bithorn Stadium sometime next season. With Puerto Rican stars Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, the Mets would be an attractive opponent for the Marlins, who would be the home team.
Yet the Marlins could end up playing another opponent on the Caribbean island if the numbers aren’t right. The Marlins are prepared to give up three home games only if it’s financially worthwhile. Mets-Marlins games generally are among the best attended Dolphin Stadium.
What’s next? The Florida Panthers playing playing the New York Rangers in Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, or Gaborone?(Capital of Botswana)
Moving a New York series to another location is a kick in the balls to those Marlins fans who attend these games. The money matters more than the team’s fans. Then that has been the Marlins’ history for ten years at least.
The last Hurricane game will be played there on Saturday night. From the Miami Herald-
Yes, Hurricane fans, we know you love the Orange Bowl — and you will miss it. But you can’t take it with you. Not even one fistful of sod.
So said University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon and university President Donna Shalala on Monday in a jointly issued plea for decorum. They asked that fans please not storm the field and grab things — be they hunks of grass or chunks of goalpost — after Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. game against the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Virginia game will be the last played by the Hurricanes at their home for the past 70 years.
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In case some fans disregard their plea, Shalala and Shannon warned that there will be 300 Miami police officers on the field at the end of the game to ensure that no one tries to snatch a memento.
In addition to arrest, students would also face sanctions from the unversity, they said.
While the Hurricanes will be done with the OB, the stadium isn’t closing yet. So the seats will be needed for other events, including maybe high school football games. I know as recent as two years ago a State Championship HS game was played at the Bowl.
What a waste of manpower if 300 police have to be on duty at the game. Don’t police in Florida have something else to do? Like shooting out innocent people’s car tires or sue a family for a slip and fall after responding to call where a child almost drowned? Criminals can pretty much expect a free hand on Saturday to do their mischief.
A classic movie line informs us there’s no crying in baseball. As Tim Tucker reminds us, there’s no loyalty, either.
Only two players in Atlanta Braves history have played more games for the team than Andruw Jones. Only two have more hits, more home runs or more RBIs. And none, of course, have made more game-saving defensive plays. Yet, when the Braves said an abrupt goodbye to Jones this past week, their fan base hardly revolted.
[...]
“In the 1970s and ’80s, even through the ’90s, it was upsetting to people when a player left,” said Dale Murphy, the Braves’ two-time National League MVP of the ’80s. “Now it’s part of the game. It’s more acceptable, more understandable, and fans move on a lot easier.”
[...]
Baseball players began moving on with the advent of free agency 30 years ago, and the pace has accelerated with the soaring salaries of the past decade. Most teams annually juggle their rosters to balance their budgets. Players move around so much that it has become a laughing matter. A current television commercial for delivery company DHL has fun with the career of vagabond outfielder Kenny Lofton, who has been with 11 teams in 17 years, including the Braves.
In the past five years, Braves fans have said goodbye to a parade of entrenched stars — Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Javy Lopez, Rafael Furcal. Now, Andruw Jones.
[...]
Only seven other active players have been with their original big-league team longer than the 11-plus years Jones had been with the Braves. And with the retirement last weekend of Houston’s Craig Biggio, the major leaguer with the longest tenure with his team is Braves pitcher John Smoltz (19-plus years).
To stay with a team for an entire career often requires concessions by the player, said Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who played all of his 20 big-league seasons with San Diego. “I made a point of never getting to free agency, because if you get to free agency you’re not sure how your team is going to handle it,” Gwynn said. “I always tried to get an extension two years before. You’re usually not going to max out on the dollars that way, but in San Diego, if you made it appealing for them to keep you, they jumped at it.” He wonders if a similar approach might have worked for Jones here. “With the agent he’s got, I don’t know if that was an option,” said Gwynn, referring to the hard-driving Scott Boras.
It’s a shame to see Andruw go. The bottom line, though, is that there are only so many people teams not named the Yankees, Red Sox, Mets, or Cubs can afford to hand $20 million a year to.
Fans expect “loyalty” from their teams and players but it’s simply not realistic. The Braves can’t justify paying Jones the money he’s demanding and Jones can’t be expected to sacrifice $10 million a year or more to stay with the team if someone else out there is willing to give it to him.
Certainly, none of us would stay with our current employer if a similar firm was offering to double our salaries; it’s not fair to ask athletes to do that either.
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