Golfing fashionistas

July 14, 2009

I’m probably the last person who needs to be told sporting events today are about WAY more than what’s happening on the field.

Tiger Woods at Congressional Golf Course in Bethesda, Md.I never thought I would see this phrase in an article about Tiger Woods and other top golfers: “...he will undoubtedly wear white pants and a blue shirt with a white piping stripe, according to the clothing script provided to him...”

Ugh. I expect this from tennis. But golf? It’s pants and a polo, for crying out loud!

Fashion’s not my thing — but can I appreciate marketers seizing an opportunity and milking it for all it’s worth? Absolutely. And apparently, that is what’s going on with the PGA Tour and golfers Woods, Sergio Garcia, Lucas Glover and Kenny Perry.

With these guys on television for hours, their apparel sponsors have started telling them what to wear and coordinating the timing with new clothing releases in their retail stores.

“What Woods wears each day at every major championship this year has been scripted for him by his sponsor Nike since last summer,” wrote the New York Times. “To ensure that retailers have a new design or color modeled by Woods on their shelves this weekend, Nike had its first meetings about Woods’s 2009 British Open wardrobe 17 months ago.”

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NBA cinching the belt -- but who's going to give in?

NBA Commissioner David Stern said Tuesday the league is running at a deficit and less than half the teams are profitable -- but he's a man with a plan. 

NBA Commish says most teams are in the red.Stern and the Board of Governor's have appointed the 10-member labor relations committee that will be charged with negotiating the next collective-bargaining agreement with the players’ association. The group will meet for the first time on Aug. 4 to begin talking about a new deal that will include discussions on the league's plans for a lower salary cap. (The current deal runs through the 2010-11 season.)

“The losses that are being shown by the league and the decrease in business, although our decreases are less than many other businesses, are going to be delivered in some detail to the players with an understanding that whatever further details they need they’ll have,” Stern told the Associated Press.

Here's another humdinger: while these guys are talking about how to balance budgets and possibly lower player salaries, the free agent class for 2010 includes guys like LeBron James, Chris Bosh, Dwayne Wade and Dirk Nowitzki.

These guys don't come cheap.

So what's a league -- and teams, for that matter -- to do? On the one hand, this is a business and we're in a recession. It's not unusual for pay cuts or salary freezes in any other business so you might say these guys should just suck it up and play. And it's also not out of the world for CEOs and other company heads to take a pay cut (like Under Armour's Kevin Plank) so the business can keep growing.

On the other hand, the NBAPA has every right to insist on the best pay opportunities for its players and, might I emphasize, it should. Otherwise those guys aren't doing their jobs.

But as the talks progress this year, where will the line be drawn and will they find a compromise? Could we be looking at a player strike if an agreement can't be reached?

Orioles attendance picking up

July 13, 2009

Well, we’re at the All Star break and it’s time for another Orioles attendance update. And this time — are you sitting down? — it’s good news!

If you’ll remember, back in early June I predicted we’d start seeing a boost in our beloved O’s attendance rate because the Birds were hosting a string of high-drawing teams, Matt Wieters had arrived and school was out.

I love being right.

After the June 9-11 series against Seattle, Oriole Park’s total attendance for the year was 692,891 — a whopping 21 percent down from its corresponding 32nd game at home last year. Since then, the O’s have hosted Atlanta, the New York Mets, Boston, Washington and Toronto and picked up 15 points in the meantime.

The team is still down from last year, but only by 5.2 percent. And that’s pretty much in line with the rest of Major League Baseball attendance, which is down between 4 and 5 percent, according to the Sports Business Journal.

Meanwhile, since Wieters joined the club on May 29, more than 600,400 people have passed through the gates at Oriole Park in 21 games. During the previous 26 games, attendance totaled about 541,000.

Now, not all is well — I attended Sunday’s matchup against Toronto (which drew about 21,600) as a plain old fan and the atmosphere was almost sleepy in the upper reserves. And this was despite the fact....

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Rosecroft Raceway files financial statement

July 12, 2009

The owners of Rosecroft Raceway filed their financial statement of affairs in bankruptcy court this week and it’s a 127-page doozy.

I won’t bore you with the details (most of it is a long list of creditors, ranging from standardbred horse owners to financial institutions) but here’s the meat of it:

  • Rosecroft Raceway is valued at $9.9 million. If you remember, Mark Vogel just bought the property for a total “in excess of $10 million” so I’m guessing about $1 million or so from that deal will go toward subsidizing live racing.
  • Wells Fargo (the only secured creditor) is owed: $6.8 million
  • Total amount owed to all creditors: $8 million
  • Total assets: $12.3 million

Here are a couple other tidbits I found worth noting.

  • On May 3 at 3:30 a.m., more than $79,000 was stolen from Rosecroft when two men pried loose an ATM machine and took it. Rosecroft has a claim pending with Travelers Insurance. This was days after its simulcast signal was shut off by the Maryland Racing Commission. Talk about salt in the open wound...

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>4,000 tickets left for AC Milan-Chelsea game

July 10, 2009

With about two weeks to go, the anticipated World Football Challenge match pitting Italy’s AC Milan against England’s Chelsea Football Club is nearly sold out at M&T Bank Stadium.

As of Thursday afternoon, 67,047 tickets had been sold, according to Baker Koppelman, the Ravens’ vice president of ticket sales and operations. The stadium’s capacity is 71,008.

If you’re a procrastinator, don’t worry: a quick search on Ticketmaster Thursday showed there are still available seats at the club level (albeit in the corner) for $125, the lower midfield (that’s front and center) for $125 and for nosebleed seats (end zone and sideline) for $35.

The tickets for this match have been on sale since it was announced in late March. On June 16, the Ravens announced more than 60,000 tickets had been sold. That’s a rate of about 5,000 tickets sold per week. Since that announcement two weeks ago, fewer than 7,000 tickets have been sold.

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Vogel reaches agreement to buy Rosecroft

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 9, 2009 12:48 PM

Mark Vogel and Rosecroft Raceway have agreed that the Greenbelt-based developer will buy the harness racing track for more than $10 million.

The board of directors for Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., which owns the Prince George’s County track, approved the sale Wednesday night in a unanimous vote, according to Cloverleaf President Kelley Rogers.

“We are thrilled,” said Rogers. “It’s going to allow for a long-term future here at Rosecroft. I think Mark’s going to be a good owner with great ideas.”

Vogel said Thursday he was not ready to reveal more specifics, including the exact price for the track, because he was still ironing out an agreement with a lender. But he said a portion of the deal included money for subsidizing live racing.

Although Vogel, who has been in talks with Cloverleaf for months, said he was excited to move forward, he also said he is anxious to reach an agreement with Maryland’s thoroughbred industry on Rosecroft’s right to simulcast and take bets on thoroughbred races.

“The truth is none of that really matters until we have a simulcast agreement,” Vogel said. “And without simulcast, Rosecroft goes nowhere.”

Much work before a green flag drops in Baltimore

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 7, 2009 8:15 PM

City and state officials are behind it. The economic impact study estimates $100 million could be in store for Baltimore.

With the office buildings as a backdrop, safety workers untangle cars during April’s Grand Prix of Long Beach, which features the same type of cars that organizers want to bring to Baltimore in 2011.But bringing an IndyCar Series street race to the Inner Harbor also represents a massive logistical responsibility and is far from a sure thing in 2011.

From repaving streets to rerouting traffic and public transportation routes to installing sound barriers to keep out noise pollution in surrounding neighborhoods, a lot of elements need to be assessed before bringing the race here is a done deal.

“It’s an enormous, enormous undertaking,” said Terry Hasseltine, director of sports marketing for the state.

But Hasseltine and other city and state officials seem poised to do what they can to bring the event, and its estimated spending impact of $70 million to $100 million, here in two years.

Cloverleaf files $20M suit against MD Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Assn.

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 6, 2009 8:04 PM

The bankrupt owner of Rosecroft Raceway filed a $20 million suit Monday against the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, the Maryland Jockey Club and 15 other defendants, and is promising more suits to come against others in the industry.

“Somebody finally had to stand up to these people,” said Kelley Rogers, president of Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc. He added there will be “many more still to come in the days ahead,” including an antitrust action and a possible suit against the Maryland Racing Commission.

Monday’s complaint claims that defendant TrackNet Media Group LLC, co-owned by Churchill Downs Inc. and jockey club parent Magna Entertainment Corp., is interfering with Rosecroft’s simulcast agreement with tracks owned and operated by Churchill and Magna.

Rosecroft, a harness racing track in Prince George’s County, stopped live racing last year, and simulcast betting is its only form of gambling revenue.

A retrospective: Peter Angelos at 80

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 2, 2009 4:06 PM

What the Peter G. Angelos name means in Baltimore depends on whom you ask.

Angelos, who turns 80 on Saturday, is a legal giant — a civic white knight who became the “king of asbestos” in the 1980s, securing $1 billion in settlements for tens of thousands of union workers he has represented for nearly 50 years and identified with his entire life.

He’s also the businessman who some say is suffocating the very baseball team he set out to restore as a source of pride for his adopted city.

A multimillionaire, Angelos could be living in the lap of luxury and enjoying retirement. Instead, the son of Greek immigrants spends six days a week in the office and is just as hands-on with his business ventures as he was decades ago.

Angelos, the authoritative O's owner

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
July 2, 2009 4:15 PM

Looking around Peter G. Angelos’ office on the 22nd floor of One Charles Center, you’d never guess he had anything to do with the Baltimore Orioles.

The tiny clues are practically drowned out by the brilliantly distracting view of the Inner Harbor, the artwork on the walls and the display shelves that house statues and honors from legal and horsemen’s associations.

If you’re looking for something to tell you he’s the owner of Baltimore’s oldest franchise, there’s a notepad with a Major League Baseball logo on his desk and a couple of baseball-related books stacked behind his desk. That’s it.

“I’d insist [people] refer to me as a competent lawyer first,” he said when asked how he wanted to be remembered. “The Orioles are strictly secondary. Or maybe third or fourth.”

But like it or not, that’s not how Baltimore’s baseball fans see it. Angelos says he and his ownership group bought the team to ensure it would remain controlled by Baltimoreans, but many say his micromanaging style has turned a perennial winner into a perennial disappointment.

Former owner says he has tentative Rosecroft deal

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
June 24, 2009 2:55 PM

The former owner of Rosecroft Raceway says he has reached a deal to buy back the bankrupt harness racing track in Prince George’s County — but the Greenbelt developer is still far from clearing another hurdle in bringing live racing back to the track.

Mark R. Vogel, who owned the track in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said Rosecroft parent Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc. has agreed to a deal to sell the track. Vogel declined to reveal the terms and referred all questions to Cloverleaf President Kelley Rogers, who did not return calls Wednesday.

The sale would need to be approved by the Cloverleaf board of directors, which Vogel expects, and the judge overseeing Cloverleaf’s bankruptcy case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland in Greenbelt. Vogel’s race track license would also have to be approved by the Maryland Racing Commission.

Vogel to push for ‘alternative gaming’ at Rosecroft Raceway

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
June 22, 2009 7:03 PM

Greenbelt developer Mark R. Vogel would reinstate live racing at Rosecroft Raceway and plans to push for alternative gaming there if he succeeds in buying the bankrupt harness racing track.

“We’re working to get a deal structured where I’m putting up enough money so we can start live racing next year,” Vogel said Monday.

He added he is also hoping for revenue from slots to start coming in next year to boost the track’s purses.

“So the goal is to show Rosecroft can be a prominent live racing venue again,” he said.

Vogel, who owned Rosecroft in the late 1980s and early 1990s, would not elaborate on what alternative gaming he was considering except to say he was meeting with community members on the topic and looking beyond slot machines.

Vogel in talks for Rosecroft Raceway

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
June 19, 2009 8:41 PM

A Greenbelt-area developer with a mottled past as the former owner of the now-bankrupt Rosecroft Raceway is in talks to again purchase the Prince George’s County harness racing track.

But the move could hinge on whether the thoroughbred industry will reauthorize the track’s right to broadcast and take bets on their races.

Mark R. Vogel, president of Mark Vogel Cos. LLC, has been meeting with representatives of the raceway and the thoroughbred industry for about two months to discuss a sale, said Gerald E. Evans, an attorney who is advising Vogel in the negotiations.

“We are trying to settle the long-simmering dispute between Rosecroft and the thoroughbred industry about the simulcast agreement,” Evans said. “If Mark can pull it off I think he’ll start live racing again ... and I think he’d be a terrific owner.”

Buzz over O's prospect Wieters has entrepreneurs hopeful

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 28, 2009 8:21 PM

It’s Matt Wieters time, Hon.

Friday night’s anticipated debut of baseball’s top prospect in a Baltimore Orioles jersey has elicited a frenzy of chatter and excitement among fans and media — and it’s a buzz the team and quick-thinking entrepreneurs are hoping to cash in on.

Ian Oland, left, and Daniel Moroz, co-founders of mattwietersfacts.com, a blog dedicated to Baltimore Orioles newest catcher Matt Wieters.“Clearly for someone who’s yet to have an at-bat in the major leagues, the hype is enormous,” said Orioles spokesman Greg Bader.

One Web site, MattWietersFacts.com, run by Daniel Moroz and Ian Oland, has been averaging 3,500 hits a day and 1,400 unique visitors since the Orioles President of Baseball Operations Andy MacPhail announced Wieters’ call-up during the Tuesday night game’s broadcast.

“It’s been really, really nuts,” said Oland, 24, a graphic designer in Columbia and author of the I Never Stop Designing blog. “I think the better he plays the better our traffic is going to be.”

Average bet amount at Pimlico up nearly 9 percent

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 27, 2009 7:49 PM

Thanks to heavy betting on the Preakness Stakes, the average amount wagered this spring at Pimlico Race Course jumped nearly 9 percent despite declines in attendance and total handle for the track.

Total wagering fell $4.1 million or 2.5 percent over 20 live racing days — 11 fewer than last year — to $159.5 million. Attendance fell 17.8 percent to 271,031 for the spring meet, held April 18 to May 23.

The average daily handle, however, rose from $6.3 million to $6.9 million over 20 days of racing and 21 days of simulcast racing.

The Maryland Jockey Club credited Preakness, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, for the upswing.

“The buildup to the Preakness was nothing short of spectacular and the race lived up to the hype,” Tom Chuckas, president and chief operating officer of the jockey club, said in a statement.

Colts history on block again with Club 4100 auction

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 26, 2009 8:07 PM

On Friday, the future of an aging Baltimore sports institution gets left up to fate — or, more accurately, the highest bidder.

Owners Meenawatie (left) and Rajcoomar Harkie with just some of the memorabilia at Club 4100 in Brooklyn. The old Colts hangout will be sold at auction Friday.Club 4100 dates to 1958 when its original owner George Coutros, Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas’ godfather, opened a bar underneath a house he bought in Brooklyn. Up until the Colts left Baltimore in 1984, the club served as a pre- and post-game hangout for fans and players, and the establishment’s walls are littered with photographs and signed memorabilia to prove it.

Its current owners, Rajcoomar and Meenawatie Harkie, who bought it in November 2007 for $950,000 from Manny and Dino Spanomanolis, don’t want to sell to just anybody. But that’s what they’ll face this Friday at the landmark’s auction.

“If they can treasure it and continue the club the way it’s been here for the last 50 to 60 years, that’s what I would hope for the new owners,” said Rajcoomar Harkie. “That’s what we’ve tried to do.”

Charter operators fishing for customers this season

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 21, 2009 7:26 PM

OCEAN CITY — The problems may be different this summer for Ocean City’s charter boat operators, but the worries are the same.

Shepherd University student Anthony Pino spends his summers as a first mate on the Marlin Magic, but he doesn’t see a future for himself in the industry.After their worst season in decades — thanks to high fuel prices and a poor tuna fishing season — this year the boat captains will have to deal with the recession.

Although last year’s season was described with words like “horrible” and “devastating,” most operators in one of the resort town’s largest industries, who are hired for offshore fishing day trips, say matching 2008’s numbers will be good enough this year.

“We’re optimistic,” said Ron Callis, captain of the Shelly II. “The fuel’s less than half what it was last summer, so that alone will save us some money.”

Added Brian Tinkler, general manager at the Sunset Marina: “Last year the boats didn’t move. It’s still anybody’s guess for this year with the economy, but we’re encouraged by the fuel prices.”

The long road to uncertainty

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 14, 2009 6:57 PM

On a typical Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, longtime Maryland horse racing reporter Dale Austin could walk into the racetrack’s press box and find it flooded with at least 25 or 30 reporters.

“Pimlico was a red-hot place, the hottest in the East,” said Austin, who covered racing for The Baltimore Sun for 29 years. “You could go up to a window in Washington to get a ticket the day of a Redskins game, and, except for Opening Day, you couldn’t fill up the ballpark for baseball games. But there’d be 20,000 people at the racetrack in Maryland.”

But that was in 1962.

And since that time, perhaps the only thing that the horse racing industry nationwide and in Maryland has done is consistently miss the boat, falling further into obscurity and an uncertain future.

Maryland launches online sports venue directory

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 8, 2009 9:04 PM

With the launch of a new online directory detailing the state’s more than 600 sports facilities, officials Left to right, Cal Ripken, Jr., President and CEO of Ripken Baseball; Christian Johansson, Secretary of DBED; Terrance Hasseltine, Director of the Maryland Office of Sports Marketing and John Morton III, Chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority, announce new state online sports venue directory.say Maryland is finally “ready to play” as a destination for world-class sporting events.

“This is a $182 billion industry and is growing annually,” Terrance Hasseltine, the state’s sports marketing director, said at a press conference Friday at Camden Yards. “It’s time we go out for a bigger piece of that proverbial pie.”

Hasseltine was joined in the announcement by Cal Ripken Jr., whose Ripken Baseball operates the largest youth baseball complex in the state, and representatives from the Department of Business and Economic Development and the Maryland Stadium Authority.

Pimlico, Laurel, Preakness out of auction, but not off the block

LIZ FARMER
Daily Record Business Writer
May 4, 2009 1:56 PM

WILMINGTON, Del. – Although Maryland’s thoroughbred racetracks and the Preakness Stakes have been scratched from the auction block, the tracks’ bankrupt owner and its creditors would still entertain bids for the properties, their attorneys told a Delaware bankruptcy judge Monday.

Maga Entertainment attorney Brian S. Rosen (left) and Kenneth H. Eckstein, who represents the company’s unsecured creditors, after Monday’s bankruptcy hearing.“By no means are we abandoning the possibility that we can sell those assets in the future,” said Magna Entertainment Corp. attorney Brian S. Rosen of New York-based Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. “We are going to permit parties to do due diligence, and in the extent that a bid comes in that is attractive, the debtors will consider it.”

Kenneth H. Eckstein, who represents the unsecured creditors committee, said that although Magna was withdrawing some highly prized assets from its auction plan — namely, Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park and the Preakness — the group approved of streamlining the process for now.