Category Archives: Uncategorized

The book Fair Pay, Fair Play: Getting the Pro Team Sports We Want at Prices We Can Afford focuses on a few of the abuses of the pro-team sports monopolists. There are many others in pro-team sports like high online ticket purchase fees and cable TV blackouts. (In some larger communities, the cable TV marketContinue reading “Other Issues—College”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play, pages 27 and 44-47. “Sports are foolproof when it comes to ratings,” said Charles Bergmann, associate director of Mindshare, an advertising buying firm. “Sports fans can’t wait to watch a game; they want to know the outcome.” Actually, it’s more than wanting to know the outcome. We watch our MyContinue reading “Cable TV Bills—College”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 27 and 47-49. “It (sport) almost invariably has the final control on scheduling, start times, how many games constitute a playoff, on whether a game is going to be in prime time. What television does is tell a league or a team, ‘If you play at 4 o’clock, weContinue reading “Commercial Interruptions—College”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play, pages 34-36. In 1999, the Green Bay Packers were looking at instituting a personal seat license (PSL) program as one of the funding sources for a major stadium renovation. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports writer Don Walker said the PSL “seems like the ultimate rip- off. The beleaguered sports fan, disgustedContinue reading ““Donations” Required to Purchase College Season Tickets”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 21-23. The Detroit Lions have been a terrible football team for decades. In 2016 they announced higher prices for the upcoming season and a month later warned more increases were coming. Why? Because, the team president said, the Lions need the more money to catch up with teams withContinue reading “High Cost of Attendance—College”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 75 and 121-123. In Fair Pay, Fair Play: Getting the Pro-Team Sports We Want at Prices We Can Afford, pro-teams sports and leagues are described as monopolies (monopoly My Teams operating within a cartel league). This level of attachment is just as strong, and for many stronger, when itContinue reading “They Are a Monopoly (The College Team Is My College Team)”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 27-29 and 169-173. The Detroit Lions have been a terrible football team for decades. In 2016 they announced higher prices for the upcoming season and a month later warned more increases were coming: “I would like to get to the point where we’re at least average, because unless we’reContinue reading “Price Increases without End”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 94-98. When Bud Selig announced MLB’s plan to contract two teams in 2001 there was understandable concern in Minnesota about the future of its My Team, the Minnesota Twins. Former Governor Arne Carlson told the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) “If you were to make a list of 10 or 15Continue reading “Team Relocation”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 87-94. In 2005, San Antonio hosted the New Orleans Saints for three games as their stadium was being repaired after Hurricane Katrina. The city had been trying since 1993 to get an NFL franchise and there was some talk the Saints could move there. NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue wavedContinue reading “Expansion”

From Fair Pay, Fair Play pages 75-86. In April 2016, the NBA announced teams could add a corporate logo to the front of their jerseys beginning with the 2017-18 season. As the 2015-16 season came to a close, the Philadelphia 76ers were completing an intentional three-year losing streak. They were “tanking”—losing big today in hopesContinue reading “Jersey Logos”