Red Sox seek MLB’s largest radio rights deal

The Boston Red Sox are seeking a new $12 million to $15 million per year radio rights deal that would be the most lucrative radio deal in MLB. If this deal cannot happen as demanded, they have hinted at joining other clubs who have bought their own radio station. Currently, St. Louis Cardinals have bought a piece of a radio station as the Los Angeles Angels have straight out bought their own station. The current radio rights deal, which expires at the end of this season, is held with Entercom’s WEEI-AM. WEEI has vaulted to the top of the local ratings since it was acquired by the Boston Red Sox in 1999. The Sox are looking to close the new deal or start shopping for their own station by the end of March.

The Red Sox currently are the majority owners of NESN, the team’s regional cable network, which gives them experience in the broadcasting field. Many factors are influencing their decision such as signal strength, financial condition, and local commitment with the Boston community will affect their decision.

The Sox are roughly on par with the $51 million, five-year deal that the New York Yankees have with WCBS-Am in New York, which is also set to expire after this season. Sources say that the Yankees also might be interested in owning their own station.

"Don't let insane idea of referee conspiracy tarnish March Madness" Dan Benjamin, Vol. 8 Issue 44 pg. 25

Before I get into my opinion about this article let me say that I like Len Elmore as a basketball analysts and respect his basketball knowledge. In addition, I agree with 90% of his column. However, as a former aspiring professional/college basketball official there are a few comments that are off base.

According to Elmore, "good officials should be invisible to the game." This is a false statemen, good officials should be in the background (speaking in terms of the outcome of the game), however officials need to make their presence known for the good of the game (i.e. controlling the game)no matter whether this control is in the first few seconds or last few seconds of the game. What I mean by controlling the game is calling the game the way it is being played (i.e. the officials adjust to the players rather than the players adjust to officials) however, as an official you must be sure that things don't get out of control (examples hard fouls, intentional fouls, fights or injuries). An example of officials adjusting to the players would be the different way an official would call a game between two Big East teams and a game between two SEC teams. The Big East is known for their physical, half-court style of play while the SEC is known for their athleticsm and playing an up-tempo type style. So, the officiating motto of the two respective conferences is probably "let them play" in the Big East and "protect the shooter" in the SEC.
Elmore added that "if we can't reco the refs were or if they were even in the game, then they did a terrific job." Not only is that statement ridiculous it demeans the officiating profession and essentially says the officials are irrelevant which is hardly the case. There are four things that are need for an official basketball game to occur 10 players (five on each side), two head coaches, a basketball and officials (three for college and professional).

Another issue of contention that I have with what Elmore said was "less experience or less secure officials can be swayed by the simple but forceful and constant working over they recieve from coaches." Elmore continued (although he should of stopped), "It would be intellectual dishonesty for a coach to deny that an official can't be swayed or worked by coaches. If the referees weren't swayable, then why do coaches continue to work them." First, this dissertation that Elmore gave just made everyone that read the article dumber. Secondly, coaches "work on officials" because they believe that officials are swayable (at least the bad coaches believe this; the good coaches don't "work officials" they will say something to an official either because they are frustrated because the official made a bad call (or a perceived bad call) or because they are fighting for their player.

Obviously, officials do make mistakes and will always make mistakes just as players and coaches will. But as Elmore correctly stated "referes are not cheaters. They are not "fixers" consciously attempting to effect the outcome." I will concede that there are some bad officials (especially at the high school and some at the college level although more so at DII and DII then DI)but what makes a bad official is not always the calls they make or don't make. Besides, the scrutiny officials receive from players, coaches, fans and TV personalities
they are held accountable for their actions by the conference they work in (at the pro and college level officials are evaluated every game by a conference representative who files a report to the conference commishioner/basketball assignor after every game). For example, as Elmore pointed out in his column, the three officials working the Duke-Florida St. game at FSU (this year) were suspended by the ACC for giving an ill-advised technical (I agree 100% that a technical shouldn't have been called) to a FSU player.

"MLB's DuPuy turns to blogging for the WBC" Jen Duhnke. Volume 8, issue 44, page 7

I have not watched any of the games from the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but I have heard a lot of disliking about this classic. With all of the negative surrounding the event, MLB and the player's union have made several attempts to put a positive face to the WBC. What actually seems to be working is the blogging by MLB President, Bob DuPuy. Bob Bowman, president of MLB Advanced Media, came up with the idea. It took a lot of convincing by Bowman to get the very busy DuPuy to agree to do the blogging.

DuPuy's daily blogging has offered a behind-the-scenes at putting MLB's global baseball tournament. He blogs 900 words on average and gives the reasoning behind the scheduling and organization and his own reflections on the crowds's reactions after each game. It is not often a high-level exective such as DuPuy would do such a thing.

DuPuy's blogs have drawn more than 550,000 page reviews. Fans initial blog comments were about settling the stadium deal in Washington, DC, that of which DuPuy described as "hard not to deal...personally". Apparently, he handled the matter and fans blogging comments turned to be more positive toward the WBC.

DuPuy said from Tokyo, "I would never have done it, but it has been fun so far," after the first-round of games. "Eventually, it will turn to work." Bowman said that he was sure that DuPuy doesn't want to keep doing these blogs after the end of the tournament, but it has been a tremendous assest for MLB because fans love to get that inside news.

I believe this was really a great idea. DuPuy listened to the concerns of MLB fans and took care of the stadium situation in Washington, DC right away. That is huge on building trust and loyalty with fans. And once he did that, fans started to see the WBC in a positive light probably because they were happy that they got what they wanted. At any rate, I don't know if DuPuy is going to be able to completely stop blogging all together. Now that his has started, I feel that fans are going to demand it because they already got some positive out of it. Maybe DuPuy will not have to keep doing the blogs, but I think that it should be in MLB's interest to keep something on these lines going.

MLB’s DuPuy turns to blogging for the WBC- Sarah Galiotto. Vol 8, Issue 44, Pg 7

MLB President Bob DuPuy is writing blogs for the World Baseball Classic, giving the audience an insider’s look at the behind the scenes aspects of the WBC. This is a different take for the MLB, but it seems to be putting a positive spin on the much-debated WBC. This idea was spruced up by MLB Advanced Media president Bob Bowman, and it wasn’t an easy task for him to get DuPuy to agree to blog. It took Bowman 4 times to talk DuPuy to agree to the writing.
I found myself intrigued by the fact that such an important person in the MLB was blogging on the internet. Though he is getting paid for it, he is a very important person and I just find it amazing that he has found the time to do this. I think it was a wonderful idea to give viewers an insider’s look. Many people wonder what it’s like to be the president of the MLB and this is a way for them to find it out.
I decided to visit DuPuy’s weblog site. There are several blogs done that covered games, and in one of the blogs I visited DuPuy was answering comments of ESPN shifting around games. He takes into every aspect of the question and lets the readers know that they got every available time slot they could with ESPN’s already busy schedule. However, he did say that with these comments he is able to take them into consideration for later times. I find this weblog fascinating and think that it was beneficial for the MLB and the WBC.

“Road Trip! Fans look for unique experiences” Tera Bisceglia,Vol 8, Issue 44, Page 23

This particular article focuses on the wide, open market opportunity that exists for travel companies and agents to provide sporting event packages to the public. These packages range in price to make them available to everyone, including typical middle-class fans or corporate America. The top of the line packages include; hotel accommodations, event tickets, transportation, and behind the scenes passes to attend the most “talked about” parties. This is a great opportunity for corporate America to increase clientele or provide incentives for employees for a job well done. These packages provide fans with an intimate, unique, once in a lifetime chance to see their favorite sports heroes in action.

These all-inclusive travel packages are great! They provide fans with the convenience of enjoying their time rather than worrying about how they are going to get there, where they will stay, and where they will sit during the event. I think that there is a huge market out there for this venture and many people of all class brackets will be more likely to take advantage of this great service. The only thing that I would suggest to someone interested in purchasing one of these packages is to do their research before booking. You never know just how much people could take advantage of you.

Don't let insane idea of referee conspiracy tarnish March Madness Brad Potts. Volume 8, Issue 44, page 25

This article was one of the most interesting ones I have read this year. I can really relate to some of the issues covered in this article. In this aricle the comments made by Len Elmore that I beleive to be accurate for the most part made this a very interesting article. Being in the coaching profession and involved in sports both as a player and as an offical I can relate to this article and the comments made by Len Elmore directly.

First off let me say that officals are human and I beleive that they try to make the right call during game play but due to the fast speed of todays game they are bound to make mistakes. Mr. Elmores comments in this article were fairly accurate in my eyes. I have seen offical turn plays over due to coaches arguments for example in the world baseball series USA vs. Japan the player was called out after an extensive arguement between the coach and umpire, the arguement was about the player leaving the base early. There was not a video review and no call was made during play but through the argument of the coach the call was overturned. Like the old saying goes in baseball "your really arguing the next call" which means that if the call in close argue it "work the offical" as it was stated in the article make them second guess the call, like I said they are human and they can be worked I don't care how good they are or how much experience they have.

I beleive as the article states that the officals do not try to intentially cheat, but human error will occur. This should not tarnish the game people have to understand sometimes you get teh call sometimes you don't and it will most likely even out in the end.

“MLB’s DuPuy turns to blogging for the WBC” by Katie Bell. vol. 8, iss. 44, pg. 7

After three unsuccessful attempts, president of MLB Advanced Media, Bob Bowman, finally convinced MLB President Bob DuPuy to create a blog for the World Baseball Classic. Bowman thought the blogs might help put a positive face on the much-debated WBC after numerous unsuccessful attempts by both MLB and the players’ union. The blogs will provide a behind-the-scenes look at baseball’s debut attempt at staging a global championship tournament. DuPuy also talks about MLB’s reasoning behind the schedule and organization of the event as well as reflections on crowd reactions at each game. I think this is a very good idea. Every other attempt has failed so far, so it couldn’t hurt to try blogging. Fans can simply get on the Internet and read what the president of MLB has to say. If they are unsure of the reasoning for something, whether it’d be a team’s schedule or a stadium lease, they can read what DuPuy has to say and they are able to respond to it. Not surprisingly, his blogs have been very popular already. After just a short time, his blogs have drawn more than 550,000 page views. Some of the initial fan reactions have been negative, such as the issue involving the stadium lease debate in Washington, D.C., but once the Nationals’ stadium matter was settled, the fan comments became more positive. As of now, there are no plans to continue the blogs after the end of the tournament, but I think it is something they should consider. As Bowman said, it is an incredible asset for them, getting that inside look at the Classic. Fans love getting that inside view of things. I understand DuPuy is a busy man and it is probably hard for him to find time to keep up with the blogs, but it has been very popular with MLB fans. Even if DuPuy does not want to continue the blogs after the tournament, I think they should consider finding someone else to do similar blogs in the future.

"Cingular taking Madness mobile" Corey Smith, v8, issue 44

Cingular is definately making an effort to corner the market on cellular coverage of the final 64 tournament. They are one of the only phones to offer full coverage of the tournament, but have not decicded to offer video clips with this coverage. Although sprint offers small clips near the basket they do not offer any type of full tournament coverage.

Every game I have watched during the tournament I have seen commercials for Cingular and that definately has to boost the sales of their coverage package. Although I have a different phone provider I would definatelty be interested in a coverage package like that. Especially if the proce is right. Anyone who works and misses many og the games would find the coverage great and be interested in something like that.

I think Cingulars coverage of the tournament will only spark other companies to do the same and eventually bring us to being able to watch actual games through a persons cell phone.