Could the Jets really be blacked out this season?

I've had a busy week away from TES, but I couldn't help taking note of the following bombshell dropped on Jets fans this week.  If the more than 10,000 PSLs for Jets seats in the new Meadowlands Stadium aren't sold by the first week of the 2010 NFL season, there could be Jets blackouts in the New York metro area.  Many of the unsold seats are located in the non-club seat sections of the stadium's lower bowl, with PSL prices between $4,000 and $20,000.

Plenty of ugly gray seats still available

But can you believe it!??! Blackouts!  In New York!  For a team that made it to the conference championship game last season.  For what it's worth, Jets owner Woody Johnson insists that the blackouts won't happen...but there is a slight chance that Johnson could wind up paying for a few of the remaining PSLs himself, in order to ensure the team makes it onto television.

So, just how desperate is Johnson to get these seats sold?  Check out the latest incredible offer from Jets brass sent to season ticket holders who have not yet purchased a PSL: no money down on a new PSL, free parking, and - get this - the pièce de résistance...a free DVD of the 2009 Jets season.  That Woody Johnson, a real closer.

When I said that Microsoft owns Seattle...

...I meant it.  The following photo is from a press conference where Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll's announced the team's draft picks (Russell Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, etc).  I feel like this goes without mentioning, but you do remember that the Seahawks are owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, right?

Carroll's forehead, not yet available.

Apparently, according to Darren Rovell, the microphone flag is the new frontier for media partnerships (about two-thirds of NFL teams already have practice jersey sponsorship deals in place.  The Seahawks' practice jersey sponsor?  C'mon, guess).  Even crazier?  The PR-speak from the respective parties involved.  First, the Seahawks' CEO Tod Leiweke:

"We rely on partnerships with companies like Bing to make our business work.  The mic flag seemed to be a rational thing to offer as part of our bigger relationship with the Bing brand."

And second, Bing's director of marketing and public relations Lisa Gurry:

"We're interested in building this brand in unique, unconventional ways and the mic flag is an example of that.  By putting our brand on the mic flag, we're putting our brand front and center of the most important dialogue that takes place."

This whole thing seems silly for a number of reasons.  Isn't Bing part of Microsoft?  Who are the Seahawks and Microsoft fooling acting as if Bing is some separate entity?  And, perhaps more importantly, all this for a microphone flag?

Sigh.  I guess when Gurry says that the brand will be at the center of dialogue, I can only hope she means that Bing, Microsoft, Windows 7, and Paul Allen hope Pete Carroll will say something ridiculous enough this season to be featured in a Coors Light commercial or something.

Good luck with that, Coach Carroll.

Another new stadium project in Los Angeles

For the past several years, California real estate mogul Ed Roski has held the keys to a highly-developed stadium concept in the city of Industry, CA - just twenty or so miles east of downtown Los Angeles.  Keen to build the $800 million stadium - without guarantees of an NFL team even moving there - Roski's plan has hovered above those NFL teams with ideas of relocation or, at least, leveraging the possibility of relocation into new taxpayer-funded facilities (see: Buffalo, Minnesota, Jacksonville, St. Louis).

The sprawling Industry, CA stadium plan is already popular.

In just the past few days, however, Roski's monopoly on a Los Angeles-area football stadium plan has dissolved.  Although Roski possesses the only "cleared to build" stadium permit for the LA area, there are now rumors that the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is looking to build a billion-dollar retractible roof stadium in downtown Los Angeles.  Led by LA businessmen Casey Wasserman and AEG CEO - and Roski's former business partner - Tim Leiweke, the new facility would be built directly adjacent to the Staples Center, in the heart of AEG's redeveloped sports entertainment district, LA Live.

Since there is only room for one LA-area stadium project, these two bids could go up against each other mighty soon.  Even though Roski is much farther ahead in terms of a time frame, the downtown project could get the upper-hand because, with a roof, it could host Final Fours, Super Bowls, Pro Bowls, the NFL Draft, the NFL scouting combine, boxing matches, potential World Cup games in 2022, and a host of other high-profile events.  And, all things being equal, according to industry insiders, the NFL would prefer the downtown option.

LA Live, pictured above, could play host to four major franchises

if a new NFL stadium is built adjacent to the Staples Center.

So, which team is most likely to consider the LA option?  According to SportsByBrooks, that team is the San Diego Chargers.  With Qualcomm Stadium aging (and - according to some - in a state of obsolescence given contemporary NFL stadiums) and a battle to procure public funding for a new stadium looming, could the Chargers be that desperate?  Or is this just another means of providing leverage for owner Alex Spanos?

One other significant connection to the potential downtown stadium includes Stan Kroenke, a member of the Los Angeles Stadium Working Group committee, and current owner of 40% of the St. Louis Rams.  Kroenke, who is privy to all the details of building a stadium in the Los Angeles area, is also trying to obtain full ownership rights to the St. Louis Rams (after he exercised his right-for-refusal over an outside bid to buy the Rams.  An outside bid, mind you, that Kroenke demanded pay him a fee of between $50-$100 million to, simply, get out of the way).

This move to purchase the Rams outright is currently being blocked by the NFL, who prohibits their owners from owning teams - albeit in different leagues - in competing markets.  In addition to his 40% stake in the NFL's Rams, Kroenke owns principal stakes in the Colorado Avalanche (NHL), the Denver Nuggets (NBA), and the Colorado Rapids (MLS).  All reports suggest that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will eventually prohibit Kroenke from 100% ownership of the Rams.

This man, and his mustache, could be moving the Rams back to Los Angeles.

An interesting connection especially given the upcoming NFL draft, where the St. Louis Rams have the first pick.  Could Kroenke be setting the stage for a move to Los Angeles in the near future?  Probably won't get mentioned on the ESPN telecast, as the network looks to add some glitz and glamor to the event, broadcasting it in prime time on Thursday night for the first time ever.

In fact, the NFL and ESPN have put in extra work to ensure that this Thursday's event is the most glamourous in the entire 30-year televised history of the NFL draft.  Not only will both networks televise red-carpet pre-shows outside of Radio City Music Hall, but as ESPN producer Jay Rothman states, "there's a strong effort by the league to have more glam."  The sentiment was echoed by NFL network producer Eric Weinberger, who said "It's up to the NFL, NFLN, and ESPN to make it more of an awards show, a huge entertainment atmosphere."  According to one NFL executive, "We started meeting earlier than ever before...to try and build the biggest draft of all time."

First, what does that mean and second, do we really need more "glam" in the NFL draft?  To answer the former, there will be more celebrities on the show (Whoopi, Alyssa Milano), former NFL players announcing late-round picks (featuring the Jaguars' Tony Boselli and the Giants' Mark Bavaro), a more "conscious effort to concentrate on that moment when [draftees] are picked, and crying and hugging their families," cameras in prospects' homes and NFL "war rooms," etc.

As for the latter, I can't make much sense out of piling more "glam" into such an anti-climactic event.  But with all the emphasis on spectacle and star power, perhaps it's just the latest example of the NFL's increasing attempts to create "event television" (see: Miami Pro Bowl before the Super Bowl, the last five years of the NFL combine).  Which, to me, makes it only a matter of time before an NFL team returns to the ultimate home of glitz and glam - the nexus of celebrity and spectacle -  Los Angeles, California.  The only question left: which team will it be?

Sports leagues tap into Apple's latest gadget

An incredible sports Monday.  Considering that yesterday marked baseball's opening day, Tiger Woods' press conference at Augusta National, and the thrilling NCAA men's championship game, it's an incredible amount of sports fodder for consideration.

However, I cannot help thinking about the big news from this past Saturday, namely, the release of the Apple iPad.  Make whatever joke you please about the latest Apple gadget (and its' name), but I'm hard pressed not to consider mass media theorist Marshall McLuhan's famous adage: the medium is the message.  And, in concert with the recent influx of sports in 3-D, it's hard not to notice all the new and different ways that media are changing the way we watch sports.

People wait in line Saturday morning at the NYC Apple Store on 5th Avenue.

Where is Triumph the Insult Comic Dog when you need him?

Keeping that idea in mind, I look forward to seeing how the coverage of sports evolves to fit the iPad (to be fair, several other companies are initiating tablet PCs as well). While most leagues have already unveiled websites that are "optimized" for the iPad, some are developing more advanced applications for watching and keeping track of games.

It appears that Major League Baseball is the first to launch a video-capable application that is available for subscribers to MLB.tv.  Here's a look at a couple screenshots for a game between the Mets and Nationals.

These screenshots assume that you would actually 

want to watch the Mets and the Nationals.

Other leagues seem more focused on providing applications or web sites that enable a more in-depth experience for watching games by utilizing the iPad as a "second screen."  As a result, you'll notice that the MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLS (Major League Soccer - a stretch, I know) web sites are now organized to fit the screen dimensions of iPads.

Many of those league web sites have recently been re-designed, specifically for the launch of technologies such as the iPad.  Taking it one step further, however, the NBA has created the following application to lure in fans to that "second screen" experience:

I have a hard time seeing why the video asserts "you can see who's on the court and on the bench," when, presumptively, if you're watching the game you will know that information.  But, then again, maybe you won't?  I don't know.

In all, if we have learned anything about Apple and innovation, then tablet computing is apparently here to stay.  And so, the ways in which it will change how we watch sports will likely evolve over time as further iterations of tablets are produced.  But, for now, it appears that when it comes to watching sports, the various leagues are looking to provide you with as much information - and as many distractions - as possible.

To see who's on the court.  Really?

A couple questions that I'm not sure how to answer: first, is that good for sports?  And second, irrespective of the first question, does technology like iPhones and iPad lend themselves to the statistical overload that has engulfed sports fandom since the dawn of fantasy sports leagues?

And while it's hard not to believe that all of this is great for sports somehow, I am more intrigued by technologies that demonstrate how our media continues to define the message.