Who Cares?!!?

The weekly "Who Cares?!!?" segment is back again to chronicle the least-cared about stories in sports.  So here we go.  As always, please vote at the bottom to tell me which story you care least about this week.

1) Last night, the Canadian women's hockey team defeated the U.S. in the gold medal game by a score of 2-0.  The win gave the Canadians their third gold medal in the event's history, their lone blemish a silver medal in the inaugural women's Olympic hockey tournament in Nagano in 1998 (that year, the US won the gold).

Canada goalie Shannon Szabados posted the shutout.

But the real story is how the Canadian team celebrated their victory.  About a half hour after the fans had exited Canada Hockey Place, the women's team returned to the ice, still in their uniforms and with gold medals draped over their heads, to cavort about with beers, champagne, and cigars in hand.

Later, Szabados helped to break out the Molson, a special edition

super-sized champagne-like bottle of beer from the Canadian brewery.

Poulin, on the left, scored both goals in the gold medal game

but is not of legal Canadian drinking age.

After getting word of this on-ice party, the IOC announced they will now "look into this matter but it is not an investigation....I don't think it's a good promotion of sport values."  Despite the IOC's disappointment, this means there shouldn't be any repercussions, especially after Hockey Canada issued a statement that did not condone the behavior:

"The members of Team Canada apologize if their on-ice celebrations, after fans had left the building, have offended anyone.  In the excitement of the moment, the celebration left the confines of our dressing room and shouldn't have.  The team regrets that its gold medal celebration may have caused the IOC or Canadian Olympic Committee any embarrassment."

The only issue of concern seems to be that at least one player on the team, Marie-Phillip Poulin, who scored both goals in the gold medal game, is under British Columbia's legal drinking age.  She'll be legally allowed to drink next month, when she turns 19.  The Canadian Press seems to be laughing all the way to the medal stand with this one, the National Post has the headline "Canada...celebrate with beer, cigars; IOC gets huffy."  The article continued:

"Members of the team...held a tasteful celebration with a bit of beer and some champagne.  This being an Olympics on home soil, you think the IOC would cut us a little bit of slack.  After all, the City of Vancouver and Canada have rolled out the red carpet for these overpaid Swiss bureaucrats."

Let the kerfuffle begin.

A couple of players attempted to drive the Zamboni.  No one

noticed the keys weren't in it.

2) Announced this week, the Cleveland Cavaliers will attempt a Guinness World Record during a game on March 5th. The team will pass out just over 20,000 Snuggies in an an attempt to set the world record for "the largest gathering of people wearing fleece blankets."  Seriously.

A Guinness World Records adjudicator will be at 

Quicken Loans Arena for verification.  What a job.

The promotion, presented by KeyBank, has the Cavaliers asking their fans to show up early to the game against the Detroit Pistons on Friday, March 5th to wear the Cavs-themed Snuggies for the first few minutes of the game.

3) In another Olympic-hockey related story, NBC commentator Mike Milbury, expressing his dissatisfaction with the effort of team Russia in their 7-3 defeat to Canada, said that he was "shocked...and disappointed that these guys came with their Eurotrash game."  That line comes about one minute into the following clip.  Check out Jeremy Roenick's reaction:

While Milbury, who also works for Boston sports network NESN, and other commentators were right to criticize the Russian team, some have said the word Eurotrash "borders on an ethnic insult and it stokes a negative flame of jingoism."  Several others (here, here, and here) have suggested that Milbury is attempting to channel some of the popularity of hockey commentator and Canadian national firebrand Don Cherry, who often denigrates European-based players in contrast to Canadian players.  He is also famous for wearing ugly suits.

Cherry's suits are almost as loud as his mouth.

Milbury's lame attempt at being controversial has backfired on the Internets, but has not earned him any reprimands from NBC.  He will take part in the NBC broadcast of the men's Olympic hockey semifinal games today.  The US plays Finland at 3pm, a game that, in a change of course by NBC, will be broadcast live in all time zones.  Hosts Canada take on Slovakia at 6.30pm.  No word yet on whether Sunday's final will be broadcast live across all time zones, but it seems all-but-guaranteed if the US and Canada advance, right?





Updates from Who Cares?!!? segments in previous weeks:

• Portsmouth FC, the soccer club in England's Premier League, becomes the first top-flight team to file for bankruptcy.  Interestingly, what got the team in trouble was overspending on players, a trend that Bill Simmons talks about today on ESPN.com in reference to the NBA.
• Dutch speed skater Sven Kramer, the man who asked an NBC reporter if she was stupid, was disqualified in the 10,000 meter race this week for failing to finish in the proper lane.

Universities Celebrate Jordan-Nike Anniversary?

Three college basketball teams are wearing special silver uniforms and shoes this week to commemorate the 25 years of the Air Jordan franchise from sportswear behemoth Nike.

Silver uniforms for the Cal Bears and Georgetown Hoyas.

Why basketball shoes need windows is beyond me.

Unsurprisingly, Michael Jordan's alma mater, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, was the first of the three - California-Berkeley and Georgetown are the two others - to wear the outfit in game competition.  In the case of UNC, the introduction of the silver outfit kept one of college basketball's best uniforms (and uniform colors) in the locker room.  It's not called "Carolina Blue" by accident.

In any case, the Tar Heels debuted the silver uniforms last night against Florida State.  And like most games UNC has featured in this year, the Tar Heels lost to Florida State by a score of 77-67, dropping their record to 14-14 on the season.

Let the 25-year countdown to the gold jerseys begin.

And while this is just another case of an apparel company or corporate brand controlling athletics - and amateur athletics at that - it's not even close to the title for the ugliest uniform for the sake of advertising.  That distinction is held by the IHL's Kalamazoo K-Wings in a McDonald's-themed game from a couple of years ago.  And, not only were the uniforms yellow, but so was the ice.

Um.  Yeah.

Nothing pretty about yellow ice.

So, there is clearly no line that isn't able to be crossed.  I suppose that it just seems a bit more uncomfortable when that line is so easily crossed in college athletics.  It also seems that people care less and less.

Occasionally, however, there are people who fight back.  A recent example - which went down in late January - was the movement to stop Nike's redesign of the Michigan State University Spartan logo.  When news broke that Nike and the University were moving to rollout a new brand identity campaign, the public got hold of the potential logo change below and made their voices heard.

The old logo on the left, the proposed logo on the right.

Students mobilized on Facebook and created groups designed to reach the administration and stop the new logo rollout.  Almost 20,000 fans on Facebook joined the group, which mass e-mailed University coaches and administrators.  And even though head basketball coach Tom Izzo was in favor of the proposed logo changes, the fans eventually got their way.  MSU Athletic Director Mark Ellis, in a statement from earlier this month:

"The recent disclosure of an updated Spartan logo...has resulted in a flurry of concern and discontent among some of our students, alumni, and fans...After careful consideration, we will use the current Spartan logo design, first used in the late 1970s, to build our visual brand identity."

Good to know that opposition still exists out there and that people still think that some things, like Spartan helmets, are perfect just the way they are.

NBC Olympic coverage delays and Danica Patrick

The NBC Olympic coverage issues continue.  Here's a piece from Sports Illustrated that chronicles NBC's defense from the vitriol of not broadcasting events live: bottom line their strategy is working.  Ratings for the primetime coverage are up 27% over the Turin Games.  Check and mate.  Should be interesting to see if the strategy will carry over to the 2014 Games in Sochi.  In case you were wondering, Sochi is 8 hours ahead of EST.

Furthermore, even though I noted the complaints about pushing the USA-Canada hockey game to cable yesterday, today's quarterfinal matchup for the USA (against the Swiss) will be televised live on NBC at 3pm Eastern.  Sounds great.  Except, there's a catch: if you live on the West Coast, the game will also be televised at 3pm Pacific Standard Time - three hours after the game will have already taken place.  So, if you live in Oregon, don't check ESPN or Twitter or basically any other website that could spoil the three hours you have to wait to watch the tape-delayed game on your local NBC affiliate.

The Swiss team played the US tough in the preliminary rounds, losing 3-1.  

With NHL goaltender Jonas Hiller, the Swiss could test the Americans again.

The good news?  If you do happen to reside on the West Coast, you'll be treated to three hours worth of Ellen DeGeneres, Days of Our Lives, and the Martha Stewart Show.  And oh, the gold medal game on Sunday, for you West Coasters, that will be tape delayed too.

Stuck in Oregon watching Martha?  At least you weren't one of these unfortunate 

Canadian fans who witnessed the US victory first-hand on Sunday.

In other news, two weeks worth of Danica Patrick in the NASCAR Nationwide series has brought record ratings to the season's first two races.  Reports from her first race at Daytona revealed that the "Drive 4 COPD 300" was the most watched Nationwide race on cable ever - even though Patrick didn't finish the race.  Ratings have yet to be posted from the race last weekend at Fontana, where Patrick finished 31st.

A slideshow of coverage for Danica Patrick on ESPN the past two weeks.
Two speeding tickets on pit lane in Saturday's race pushed Patrick to the back of the pack.

With her third race in the NASCAR series coming up this weekend - after which she'll take a 4 month break to race in IndyCar - some of the media are suggesting that, with poor results in the first two races, the shimmer on this story is fading quickly.  Others have noted that it doesn't matter where Patrick finishes the race, just that she finishes it.  And Tony Stewart, well, he's just tired of answering the same questions every week:

"It's just that you guys pestering us about her gets to be too much.  After a while, you wonder how much you can talk about the same topic and we haven't even gotten her to her first regular (NASCAR Sprint Cup Series) and we're still talking about the same stuff.  Our opinion about her hasn't changed."

When the media finally leaves her alone, Stewart added, "she'll be fine."  No word from Stewart on when, or if, that could actually happen.

NBC Olympic Broadcasting Fail?

Last week, I noted some objections to the handling of Olympic broadcasting duties by NBC, the country's fourth-placed national broadcaster.

Not mentioned in that critique was the placement of Sunday night's eventual "tremendously tremendous" hockey game between the USA and their rivals and hosts, Canada, on cable outlet MSNBC.  What did the mother network show instead?  The original dance portion of the ice dancing competition.

To its' credit, the ice dancing compulsories did 

produce some interesting costume choices.

The action at Pacific Coliseum could not match the electric atmosphere in Canada Hockey Place, where over 19,000 watched the US take down Canada by a score of 5-3.  The win was the first Olympic Games victory for the US over their northern neighbors in 50 years (highlights).  The historic quality of the event was matched by the incredible intensity of the game, the pressure on the Canadians to defend home ice, and the prevalence of skill among the two rosters full of top-level NHL talent.

Canadian fans were looking forward to a celebration.

Instead, as the Americans celebrated the goal that sealed the game,  

Canada went catatonic.

ESPN hockey analyst Barry Melrose, after the game, "I hope no one has to call Canada for anything tomorrow.  There ain't gonna be anyone working."

The result of the dramatic victory, which was backstopped by a 42-save effort from goaltender Ryan Miller, put the US team at the top of the tournament's preliminary round.  Not only will the US get an extra day's rest - and a bye to the quarterfinals - they will avoid a potential meeting with tournament favorites Sweden or Russia.

And yet, despite its placement on cable - and not national network - broadcasting, the game was the premier event of the Olympics' first week.  Certainly, NBC and other members of the media took notice:

Sunday night's New York Times home page.

On NBC's Olympic home page.

ESPN.  When's the last time hockey made the front page on the WWL?

The political consequences of a US win?  

Good luck importing Canadian bacon.  Or maple syrup.

"US Canada hockey" was the top Google US search term on Sunday night.

This all returns us back to the title of the blog post: why was the game on cable?  The answer points to Sut Jhally's concept of the sports/media complex, where (among other things) sport is only as valuable for a network like NBC for its ability to deliver audiences to advertisers.  This "complex" is fairly well-understood at this point, but was most recently made patently obvious by this month's Super Bowl (the highest-watched ever) and a Wall Street Journal report the previous week that showed an NFL broadcast contains just 11 minutes of action.

So, where does that leave the Olympics? Just today, the Wall Street Journal provided a follow-up to the analysis of football broadcasts and found the following comprised the 3.5 hours of NBC's Olympic programming last Friday evening:

Unfortunately for ice hockey, its games do not fit this model, especially in the Olympics when there are no TV timeouts - and no time for commercials - during the game.  If you've been watching, you've noticed that when the whistle blows in an Olympic hockey game, there is no more than 15-20 seconds until play resumes (oftentimes after showing a brief commercial, MSNBC returns to game action that has already started).  Therefore, it was clear that ice hockey games would not provide enough time for commercials and Bob Costas, apparently, to warrant NBC placing even such a "tremendously tremendous" sporting event on its national network (side note: NBC's opening segment on Monday night's Olympic coverage featured a live shot of Bob Costas landing in a seaplane.  With Al Michaels narrating.  Scintillating).

NBC president Jeff Zucker: Re-thinking the decision to put hockey on cable,

or simply puzzled by the ice dancing scoring system?

The whole affair is especially unfortunate considering that NBC currently has a broadcasting rights contract with the NHL and the Olympic Games would be a great way to market NHL talent.  Ultimately, NBC rationalized their decision to put the hockey game on cable because ice dancing on the major network would have the ability to attract the coveted female viewer demographic.  Relatedly, I find it equally reasonable that the network assumed they could not get the same amount of advertising revenue from hockey as compared to ice dancing.

After the fact, the only question that remains is should the game have been on cable?  We don't have the national numbers for NBC just yet, but MSNBC reported today that the hockey game delivered its second highest number of average viewers ever.  With an 8.2 million average viewership, the game provided an audience number that was higher than all but John McCain's concession speech during MSNBC's coverage of Election Night 2008.  Wow.

The team celebrates a hard-earned win.  Is there a win in the national ratings as well?

Furthermore, reports from the local TV market in Buffalo, NY - albeit a devoted hockey town - showed that ratings for the game outdrew the ice dancing ratings.  This happening is so rare - MSNBC beating NBC in evening ratings - that the Buffalo News mused, "Do you believe in miracles?"

I'll update the national ratings as they come in.

UPDATE: Sunday night, NBC averaged an national audience of 23.3 million, down 3 million from the ten day average of 26 million per night, but still good enough to dominate the other networks' offerings.

A Student-Athlete Taj Mahal at Oregon

Last year, the University of Oregon's football team enjoyed one of their most successful seasons in recent history.  The team won the Pac-10 and finished at 10-3 after losing to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.  However, recently, the team has found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons (ESPN: Another day, another Oregon problem).

The off-the-field issues complicate things for one of the foremost athletic departments in college sports.  With the support of alumnus Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, the University of Oregon has established itself as a leader in the development of collegiate sportswear - the football team had the option to wear 80 different uniform combinations during 2009 season.  Beginning in January, the school put itself on the map with the most ostentatious of student-athlete development centers, designed - in part - to help resuscitate the football team's woeful 49 percent graduation rate.

Feel free to count for yourself.

Opened on January 6, 2010, the University's John E. Jacqua Academic Center for Student Athletes has been dubbed "the Taj Mahal of academic services."  Stretching out over three floors, the 40,000 square foot structure, whose cost has been kept under wraps but was financed with a gift from Knight, features white oak floors and trim, an auditorium paid for by former Oregon and NFL QB Joey Harrington, stylish furniture, an open-air gas fireplace, "acres of iMacs," and a host of other features reminiscent of a modern art museum.

In case you're wondering, Jaqua, who helped found Nike, 

has his name on a campus concert hall and the law library.

The building facade is made of glass, as studies show that

access to sunlight can aid learning.

Three-story atrium inside the JEJACSA.

This light sculpture of Phil Knight sits in the ladies restroom.

Don't act like you're not impressed.

Anyone else see Beaker the Muppet in this photo?

Where's the NCAA-required three-story Einstein collage, you ask?

UO's is comprised of photos of the school's athletes.

Joey Harrington's auditorium.  Not sure what will happen when it turns pro.

Custom engraved computers.

Quite simply, the pictures speak for themselves.  The building, for all its splendor (that's the right word, don't you think?) has angered some students and faculty members.  For many, there is a concern that the Jacqua Center is too exclusive.  The only spaces that non-student-athletes or professors can take advantage of are some first floor tutoring areas and a coffee shop.

For others, the concerns are far more substantive.  Geography professor Peter Walker has referred to the center as "a symbol of this University's wrong priorities."  Furthermore, in an article for the school's independent newspaper, Walker is quoted as saying:

"This University has the lowest faculty salaries of any comparable university in the country, and the highest-per-student-athlete expenditures.  That is more than a coincidence - it speaks to our University's priorities, which have become backwards from what a quality university should be.  Top-quality professors have been leaving this University for years because of the bad salaries.  That hurts the quality of the education available to student-athletes and non-student-athletes alike.  The irony is that we're headed toward a five-star 'Academic Center' at Jaqua with a two-star academic program.  That doesn't benefit anyone, including the student-athletes."

A summary of this post leaves a host of questions.  First, is the Jaqua Center evidence of the University of Oregon placing athletics over academics?  If it is, what is the long-term effect of such an arrangement?  Is it right for centers of education to place such a high priority on athletics?  Or, is this just a development of the relationship between sports and media?  Given the incredible amount of money for appearing on television (see ESPN's recent SEC football contract) or in bowl games, can universities be faulted for their "wrong priorities"?

Second, does a university have the right to do whatever they want with money from incredibly-rich donors like Knight and Jaqua?  Should professors and students be prohibited from taking advantage of the University's most advanced academic facilities?

Finally, and most importantly, why is there a light statue of a grinning Phil Knight in the ladies bathroom?

Who Cares?!!?

The weekly "Who Cares?!!?"segment is back again to chronicle the least-cared about stories in sports.  So here we go.  As always, please vote at the bottom to tell me which story you care least about this week.

1) On tap first, apparently there is more to curling than simply ice, rocks, brooms, and ferocious screaming.  The Norwegian mens team has created a stir in Vancouver this week at one of the most popular local events, by wearing matching plaid pants from Sonoma, CA outfitter Loudmouth Golf.

During NBC coverage (below), Meredith Viera called them "the pants heard 'round the world." Hyperbole aside, people have been taken by surprise because curling pants are traditionally black, by rule of the World Curling Federation.  As a result, the pants have garnered such a ridiculous amount of buzz that they have been featured on NBC, USA Today, and NPR, as well as several social networking sites.  Is this the sign of a very slow week at the Winter Games?

Nothing like staring at Al Roker's pants.

The extra attention for such a staid sport has served the team well.  The pants are 2-1 through three games in the opening round-robin of the men's tournament.  Norway's curling team won the gold in Salt Lake City in 2002 and placed fourth in the Turin Games in 2006.

2) No stranger to plaid pants himself, PGA Tour golfer Henrik Stenson earned $45,000 yesterday for playing one hole at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.  The Swede, who is currently ranked 10th in the world, was beset by flulike symptoms before the start of his opening round match against American Ben Crane.

Stenson was feeling chipper in plaid in Dubai a couple weeks ago,

on his way to an 8th place finish.

According to the rules, if Stenson had withdrawn from the tournament, he would have not received any prize money.  By competing for one hole and then conceding, however, he was able to walk away with a nice check for 33rd place and a cool 45k.

Although one of Stenson's most famous shots was played

sans pants, at a tournament in 2009.

Interesting side note to this story: the PGA Tour's press release regarding the incident makes no mention of Stenson's claim to the prize money.  Instead, the release states, "There was no way [Stenson] was going to be able to play...but Stenson didn't want to withdraw since [playing in] the tournament would count toward fulfilling his [PGA Tour] membership requirement of 15 starts on the PGA Tour and 11 on the European Tour."  The release also notes (the strange coincidence?) that his wife is about to give birth to their second child in Orlando, FL.  For all intents and purposes, Stenson is legitimately sick and I think it is utterly important for him to be there to support his wife, but I do find it curious that the PGA Tour narrative - "Ailing Stenson concedes, heads home to Orlando for baby's birth" - stands in stark contrast to the Golf Channel's "Stenson walks because money talks."  Because no one can fault an ailing man for returning home to his pregnant wife, but walking away with $45,000 for roughly ten minutes of work doesn't quite sit as well.

3) Finally, when Olympic speed skater Sven Kramer won his first gold medal this week in the men's 5000 meters the 23 year-old Dutchman, and world record holder in the event, was ecstatic.  The gold medal had been elusive for Kramer, with a number of miscues - a fall and a skate malfunction - costing him a place atop the medal stand in Turin in 2006.

The Flying Dutchman, a national hero, delivered in the 5000 meters.

Considering the rock star status for speed skaters in the Netherlands, where speed skating is life and Kramer is a god, the post-race interview with NBC left him a bit incredulous when the interviewer made the following bizarre request: "I need you to say your name and your country and the medal you just won here."

Kramer, who had to wait for results, was emotional after his victory and 

raced into the stands to celebrate with his family and friends.

Kramer's response: "Are you stupid?  Hell no."  The incident is discussed in this video from Dutch television:

Turns out Kramer is not the only Olympic athlete upset with the job NBC is doing covering the Olympics.  US skier Jake Zamansky posted the following Tweet, "Can't wait to see how bad NBC covers ski racing today," which was then reverberated on the NBC Olympics home page.

Guess how long it took for NBC to ban Jake Zamansky Tweets.

The backlash over NBC's Olympic coverage - which is tape delaying events from 3 and up to 12 hours after they've occurred - has enraged viewers and media personnel alike.  From the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, to The Atlantic, the Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, Sports Illustrated, and Deadspin, media sites are weighing in on the issue - especially those on the Northwest Coast, whose feeds are tape delayed longer than the rest of the country.  And it's tough not to side with Zamansky, when events like downhill skiing - one of the Olympics more thrilling events - is tape delayed up to eight hours after it occurs.

The 2010 Olympic Games.  Brought to you by the same man 

responsible for the Conan/Leno fiasco.

Unfortunately for devotees of live sport, the strategy is working well for NBC, with improved ratings over the Turin games thus far, including a Wednesday night telecast that beat out ratings behemoth American Idol by over 12 million viewers (30 million to 18 million).  On that day, what NBC called "the greatest single day in Winter Olympics history," the United States captured six medals - including golds from media darlings Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Shani Davis.  It was the first time in six years that American Idol had lost out in TV ratings.

So, which is the sports story that you care least about this week?

The Bakersfield Jam: Empty and elitist?

The original idea for the name of this blog begins with the French philosopher and sociologist, Jean Baudrillard.  Besides his many seminal works regarding postmodernity and/or post-structuralism, Baudrillard spent a bit of time theorizing sports, stadiums, and TV.

The man had many leather-bound books, not pictured.

In particular, he noted the powerful effect of removing fans from a stadium and broadcasting the event through TV, a process that displaces the real game for a media representation (he was taking stock of a 1987 European Cup soccer match played in an empty stadium in Madrid between Real Madrid and Napoli).  For Baudrillard, then, the real game - if it's not being played in front of anyone - doesn't even have to take place as long as it is broadcasted: "No one will have directly experience the actual course of such happenings, but everyone will have received an image of them." It is ideas like this that continue to fuel my attention to stadiums and sports around the world.

With that said, I'd like to point to an interesting experiment by the NBDL's Bakersfield (CA) Jam.  Granted, the situation is not exactly the same as what Baudrillard references above - but it is interesting.  After just three seasons in existence as an NBDL franchise, the Jam decided to cease operations after their playoff exit following the 2008-2009 season.  According to owner Stan Ellis, even with the franchise posting its first winning season, the team could no longer afford to continue because attendance figures were abysmally low.

A public vote rejected a host of other nicknames, 

including the Bakersfield Fundamental Bounce Pass.

While the goal was to draw about 3,500 fans per game, the Jam regularly mustered less than half of that figure and averaged just about 2,000 fans per game for the season.  Contrast these figures with the 7,000 per game average for the Bakersfield Condors - the minor league hockey affiliate for the Anaheim Ducks - and you can imagine that a Jam game would have seemed pretty empty inside the 10,000 seat Rabobank Arena.

The Jam had a hard time stuffing 

the Rabobank Arena.  Or this layup.

Then, just a couple months later - in June - Ellis announced the team would not go under and "armed with a new business model" would play in the 2009-2010 season.  What this new business model would entail, Jam fans would later find out, would be staging games in the recently-constructed Jam practice facility - known as the Jam Events Center.  Essentially, the Center is every bit a practice gym with a few small seating areas surrounding the court and a couple of skyboxes in place above the court at either end.

White linens courtside?  You got it.

The court is part of a larger convention hall that comprises the Jam Events Center.

According to a report from the D-League Digest, this setup allows for just over 400 tickets to be sold for each of the Jam's 21 home games.  Those season ticket packages - which include parking, catered dinner, open bar, and access to a cigar room - range from $3,000-$4,000 per seat.  The skyboxes located at the Jam Events Center, while pushing capacity to 550 fans, are for sale at $40,000 a year.  Because of these ticketing arrangements, there are no upfront ticket sales for any Jam games at the JEC this season (the team will play one game in March at the Rabobank Arena).  Ellis, responding to criticism last summer, said he realized "the flak I'll take for making this elitist.  I don't want to do that.  That's not the goal...We do want to serve the public to some extent.  The first objective, it's sad to say, but we've got to make profit."

The team has struggled this season, with a home record of 4-9 (8-23 overall).

Perhaps if someone courtside would pass them some brie.

Sounds bizarre, but apparently this new business model seems to be working for Ellis - in part, because the Jam have catered mostly to area businesses, encouraging a networking-like atmosphere before, after, and during the game.  More importantly, other NBDL franchises are now monitoring the situation to see if this kind of business model is viable for the long term.

The minor league sports system has seen its share of peculiar ideas.  This example reinforces the business element that is inherently connected to professional sports today.  In Bakersfield, CA, if you're willing to accept that and can afford it, you can eat and drink all you want while NBA-castaways toil within smelling-distance.  And while it's not exactly Baudrillard's empty stadium (the Jam don't have a TV broadcasting contract), it is another interesting case of sport and commercialization in our society.