ESPN and FOX Join Forces

The sports television rivalry between ESPN and FOX network came to an end when both of the networks decided to join forces and go against Comcast for the bid on the PAC-10 college football broadcast rights. Comcast thought they had a lock on the rights with a $225 million bid until ESPN and FOX joined forces to outbid Comcast with a $250 million dollar bid that couldn’t be matched. I feel that this is important because it shows America that big companies are able to put aside egos and greed to get something bigger accomplished. According to the PAC-10 commissioner Larry Scott, "I think it became clear that they weren't going to be able to prevail separately, so they came up with the idea of going it together," Scott said. "Normally, if you're a content owner, you'd be opposed to reducing the field of competitive bidders. But knowing the strength of this opportunity, we embraced it. We thought it could be the best of all worlds."

ESPN and Fox used an excellent strategy to land this deal. By the two networks joining forces they will be able to alternate showing PAC-10 games, and share the revenue equally. This deal is also good for the PAC-10 conference since the conference only made $60 million in media rights this past season. With the new deal the conference is looking to more than double their profits from last season. According to the NY Times, “it is the richest conference deal. The Pac-10, which is expected to announce the agreements Wednesday, is following the media model of the Big Ten Conference, which in 2007 created its own network and negotiated a 10-year, $1 billion deal with ESPN.” I feel that in the future we will see more networks joining forces to land large broadcasting rights.

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/05/09/Media/Pac-10.aspx

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=6471380

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/sports/04sandomir.html

2004-2005 NHL LOCKOUT

The 2004-2005 NHL lockout was a lockout that resulted in the cancellation of what would have been the NHL’s 88^th season.  It was the first time since 1919 that the Stanley Cup was not awarded in a season. This was the first lockout that canceled an entire season due to labor disputes in major professional sports American history. This lockout is similar to what the NFL is going through now. In the 2002-03 NHL season the NHL owners lost $273 million dollars due to player salaries. NHL owners spent about 76 percent of their gross revenues on players’ salaries.

I feel when a league goes through situations like lockouts it affects the way the fans look at the game. Me being a NFL and NBA fan if either league decided to go into a lockout it is going to sway my judgment on spending $90 for a ticket.  Many experts say that the NHL lockout hurt the sports popularity in the United States.  According to Couch, “I don’t think the sport has ever recovered from that, ” said Boland. “While the sport has made the revenue back, I would argue it’s a regional sport."

The only point that these owners have is that the players are making larger salaries than they should be making. I feel that a slight rollback on the player’s salaries is needed, but only a slight rollback, nothing over 20 percent. Another solution to these labors disputes could be having the minimum salary for rookies to be lowered. If an owner is spending millions on a rookie contract this doesn’t allow him to have the flexibility to compensate the veterans of the team.

I feel the NHL handled the lockout in a good manner, and by doing this it helped their league in the long run. The league was able to make some rule changes and present the league as if it was a new sport. The rule changes made the sport faster and higher in scoring, and fans rushed to the arenas to support their favorite sport. Another positive that came out of the lockout is that the NHL was able to sign a lucrative broadcast agreement with a major television network. Overall, I think other leagues can learn from the NHL and try and turn their crises into a good situation.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2011/0311/Five-worst-labor-disputes-in-sports/2004-2005-NHL-lockout-Sept.-16-2004-July-19-2005

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/indepth/cba/

Golf Ball Patent Dispute Acushnet Golf vs. Callaway

            In this blog I will be discussing the patent dispute between Acushnet Company and Callaway golf. Callaway golf filed a lawsuit asserting that Acushnet’s Titleist Pro V1 golf balls infringed on four Callaway patents. This lawsuit has been going on for more than five years and finally the U.S District Court provided its final decision in favor of Acushnet Company. But originally the courts decided in Callaway’s favor in December of 2007. The Pro V1 golf ball is the most recognized golf ball in the golf industry and I feel that it will always be some kind of dispute over a company taking another company’s patent on a golf design because there is only so much you can do with golf equipment. So even if it is not the exact same design the human eye cannot tell the difference between the two.

            The Pro V1 golf ball has generated over $1 billion in sales and I could see why there would be a dispute over the patent. I believe this is a rare situation where both companies were developing the same product at the same time. Once both companies figured out one another were creating the next big thing in golf technology they both rushed to get a patent done and Acushnet beat Callaway to the punch. According to Golfdigest.com, “Acushnet said it received its first patent covering this technology on March 3, 1999 while the oldest of the four Callaway patents at issue was not filed until December 12, 1999 and issued on March 15, 2001.” Since the court has made its final decision on this dispute I feel that Callaway will now file some sort of civil dispute and a monetary settlement will be made between the two companies.

Anderson, Charis (2011) http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110422/NEWS/110429973/-1/NEWS10

Johnson, Michael Stachura, Mike (2007) http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2007-12/20071214callawaylawsuit

Golf.com (2011). http://blogs.golf.com/equipment/2011/04/acushnet-says-pro-v1-patent-dispute-with-callaway-closed.html