Vikings owners pass on meeting with Roski

by | Aug 29, 2008 | Business of Football

The owners of the Minnesota Vikings have been invited to meet with real estate developer Ed Roski Jr. to discuss moving the team to Los Angeles but to this point they’ve passed.

Lester Bagley, Vikings vice president of public affairs, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the team’s intention “is to resolve the [stadium] issue in Minnesota.”

Roski in April announced plans to build an $800 million, 75,000-seat stadium in Los Angeles with the goal of luring a team to the area. Roski’s business partner reportedly told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that seven franchises have expressed interest in Roski’s stadium but wouldn’t list them. Roski in April apparently named seven: the Vikings, New Orleans, Buffalo, Jacksonville, San Diego, Oakland and San Francisco that would be targeted for his 600-acre plot, which would host a stadium and entertainment complex.

The Vikings have a lease at the Metrodome in Minneapolis that runs through the 2011 season. The team has been floating a $954 million stadium project that would include other pieces as well but to this point has been unable to get support from the state Legislature.

Another plan recently announced by the Metropolitan Sports Facillities Commission would re-use certain parts of the Metrodome and cut about $!00 million off of the cost of a new facility.

NCAA bristles at CBS Sports college fantasy plans

by | Aug 26, 2008 | Business of Football, College Football, Fantasy Football, NFL Media

CBSSports.com last month announced that it has launched an all-new version of its College Fantasy Football game, “continuing to be the only major fantasy sports service provider with a collegiate fantasy football game.”

CBSSports.com originally released the game in 2005. But the controversy this year is that for the first time, it will use real, individual player names rather than listing school and position, such as “FLORIDA QB” or “MICHIGAN RB”.

“As the leader in the fantasy sports business, we’re constantly looking for ways to distinguish our service from the competition,” said Jason Kint, senior vice president and general manager, in a statement. “We believe combining fantasy sports and college football will give fans and alumni yet another reason to get involved in the sport, increasing the popularity of college football much in the same way fantasy sports has affected professional football.”

(more…)

Goodell Rules: Vikings Didn’t Tamper

by | Aug 4, 2008 | Business of Football

Der Kommissar Roger Goodell has handed down his verdict on the tampering charges filed against the Minnesota Vikings by the Green Bay Packers–and that verdict is not guilty.  The Vikings, whom the Packers claimed encouraged Brett Favre to return, sparking this whole fugly mess of a situation that we all can’t escape, admitted that coaches Darrell Bevell and Brad Childress spoke to Favre, but claimed they were ‘run-of-the-mill, innocent exchanges.’

So, now our question is–are the Packers, who supposedly had some phone records proving the contact(despite never issuing a team cell phone to Brett Favre), guilty of tampering (to obtain those phone records) and/or some other rule that probably isn’t but should be in place to prevent teams from launching distracting tampering investigations against division opponents?

Otherwise, add it to the list of tactics we can expect Jerry Jones to employ in 2009 to try to finally prove that Jimmy Johnson wasn’t the only reason he won some Super Bowls in the 1990’s.

Goodell Wants Favre Situation Finished

by | Aug 3, 2008 | Business of Football, Contract Squabbles, NFL ... something

Favre Fiasco. Favre Fatigue. Favre F-k Up (of Off).  Whatever you want to call it, Roger Goodell wants the Favre situation done.  By Monday.

But why is it any of his business to make such a declaration?  And why hasn’t he approved a players request for re-instatement for almost a full week?

We were all impressed when Goodell stepped in as commissioner, and started to try to crack down on possibly the only blemish that Paul Tagliabue left him with–the “degradation of the NFL society” we could call it, as several bad boy incidents started to paint the NFL in a bad light.

And I’ve been impressed by his willingness to come out against the ridiculous NFL Rookie pay scale that exists.

But I think by not acting on a players request to be reinstated within a reasonable time frame, and now declaring that he wants the situation resolved by Monday, he’s heading down a slippery path.  If the delay wasn’t in the Packers favor (any delay to the situation hurts whoever ends up with Favre), I would suggest that they file tamporing charges against him.  Of course, since he is the judge, jury and executioner, that wouldn’t get very far.

As to the Favre fiasco, rumors are that the $20-million, 10 year “marketing agreement” offer to Favre may be pushed to an even higher amount through negotiations this weekend. 

Frankly, I still can’t believe that the NFL will allow this type of a deal to happen, without some sort of salary cap implications.  I realize he’s a “retired” player, but as commenter Sir Whoopass pointed out last week, what’s to prevent Jerry Jones from starting to pay players from other teams to not play if the Packers are allowed to pay their own player not to?

Like the Poison Pill negotiating tactic (which to my knowledge wasn’t ever officially banned, but hasn’t been used since the Vikings nabbed Steve Hutchinson, and the Seahawks “retaliated” by signing Nate Burleson), this needs to be nipped in the bud early.

Too bad the NFL doesn’t have a commissioner who is willing to step in on situations like these…

Limbaugh wants to own an NFL team

by | Jul 31, 2008 | Business of Football

In a move that might make NFL executives queezy (but might give the patriarch of the Zoneblitz family a reason to watch the NFL again) Rush Limbaugh has expressed interest in buying the St. Louis Rams or another franchise.

The Huffington Post cites a Fox News St. Louis report in which Limbaugh said “It’s a dream to own part or all of a National Football League team.”

We’ve always thought Limbaugh was a blowhard who really enjoys listening to his own voice. And his Monday Night Football experience ended in controversy five years ago after just a few months. Not sure where we’d fall on that one. But he’d definitely make things interesting. Like Mark Cuban in the NBA or Al Davis in the NFL, who knows what he’d do or say to shake things up.

Thomas Jones launches record label

by | Jul 30, 2008 | Business of Football, Fantasy Football

New York Jets running back Thomas Jones has launched a new, independent record label called Outta Pocket Entertainment.

Jones, who told, well, he told someone that he listens to all different varieties of music, wants the label to tackle all the genres as well. The company has signed its first act, pop/R&B singer Myko.

“We met three years ago in Miami and I knew instantly that I wanted to invest time and finances into his singing career,” Jones told AllHeadlineNews.com. “He has great charisma, personality, and is a natural singer and songwriter.”

AllHeadlineNews.com cites an interview with Jones in Allhiphop.com where the back says, “I want to put out classic music that individuals will appreciate for years to come.”

Good for Jones. After his career got off to a slow start he kept his mouth shut, worked hard and managed to make good out of his career, and is now amidst a three-year run of 1,100-plus yard rushing seasons.

I don’t have the foggiest idea what Jones’ music tastes are or whether or not I’ll ever buy an album put out under his label. But it’s nice to hear stories of athletes with plans for their lives beyond their sport of choice. Don’t count Jones out on the field this year either.

The Jets overspent on some free agents this offseason, but in doing so they added aging-but-still-good guard Alan Faneca and tackle Damien Woody to an offensive line that was, well, fairly offensive at times last season. They also added fullback Tony Richardson who is close to done, but still should be able to open a hole or two for Jones.

Jones still managed 1,119 yards behind that group last year. He should put up at least similar yardage this year and improve greatly on his single touchdown effort. He may not have sleeper written all over him, but it scribbled in erasable ink somewhere.