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10 Disasters in Stadium Naming Rights

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:30:19 EDT

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Facility naming rights are a great idea, at least until the company in big bright letters is as broke as the fan who just paid $8 for a beer inside its building.

The folks at Eastman Kodak didn't mind having their name on Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre while stars were lining its red carpet for the Oscars and tomorrow's one-hit wonders were belting out stale pop songs from its American Idol stage. When Kodak went bankrupt this year, the $75 million it dropped on the theater's naming rights in 2001 seemed as bad as an investment as a 35mm camera in an all-digital world. Bye-bye Kodak, hello Dolby Theatre.

Bankruptcies and scandals are particularly painful to the sports world, where every multimillion-dollar stadium is practically built with a "This Space For Rent" sign on its facade. Citigroup stayed on the New York Mets' Citi Field after the company took $45 billion in bailouts. Air Canada and United Airlines' names stayed on arenas in Toronto and Chicago, respectively, as those companies battled bankruptcy and shed jobs. ...

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Billy Beane: Baseball's Wall Street Super Draft

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:58:48 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The worlds of Wall Street and baseball are coming together, according to Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, with the sport's front offices increasingly looking for the same business and leadership skills prized in the financial sector.

"Running a baseball team right now looks a lot like Wall Street," he said, during a keynote presentation that kicked off New York's Internet Week on Monday. "In 10 years I won't be able to apply for this job because the guys who run baseball teams now are the guys that 10 years ago used to come to Wall Street and work." The worlds of baseball and Wall Street are combining, according to Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane.

Beane cited Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer of the Chicago Cubs, as well as Andrew Friedman, executive vice president of baseball operations for the Tampa Bay Rays, as examples of the new breed of baseball executives. ...

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10 Apps and Gadgets to Take Out to the Ballgame

Wed, 09 May 2012 08:30:00 EDT

NEW YORK MainStreet -- The 2012 Major League Baseball season is costing fans a bundle in ticket and beer money, but smartphones and tablets are two places where fans can slide under the tag a bit.

Teams have a hand in fans' wallets the minute they step to the ticket counter, but free and low-cost apps for stat geeks, fantasy baseball freaks and fickle game watchers make it a bit easier to enjoy the game without dumping a truckload of money onto the field. It's also an incredibly long season that has almost five full months left to go, which makes an app purchase a huge value.

We went flipping through the various app stores and found the 10 most essential baseball apps of the 2012 season. These apps are all top contenders for your time and money this season, even if your team isn't: ...

10 Best Summer Travel Options on Two Wheels

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:30:00 EDT

NEW YORK MainStreet -- Hear that roaring and buzzing outside your window? That's every scooter and motorcycle in a five-mile radius telling you summer's here.

Gas prices have dropped below $3.90 a gallon and are down from this time last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Even if you could get a gallon of gas with pocket change, though, rising temperatures would put two-wheelers on the road.

That said, there are some cycles and scooters out there that are clearly ahead of the pack. We took a look at the best the market has to offer and found 10 motorcycles and scooters that cut through beach and mountain traffic more capably than the competition. What we didn't find, however, was a Harley Davidson or Vespa that could make the cut: ...

10 Most Expensive Trips to the Ballgames in 2012

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:30:00 EDT

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- Major League Baseball season is in full swing, but some fans' wallets are already in late-season form.

The price of the average ticket to a Major League Baseball game hasn't changed since last season, holding at $26.98. It's a somewhat different story when it comes to the price of taking a family of four to a game and paying for parking, a program, a cap, a hot dog, a soft drink and a beer. The cost of the whole package is up 2.5% to $207.80, according to Team Marketing Report's Fan Cost Index.

Even early in the season, there are some fans taking a bigger loss on the cost of a ticket than others. We looked over the standings and found 10 teams whose ticket prices are hitting well above the league average: ...

10 Most Expensive Beers in Baseball

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:30:12 EDT

Correction: Due to inaccurate information from Team Marketing Report, the price of a small beer at the Detroit Tigers' Comerica Park and Texas Rangers' Rangers Ballpark was misreported in an earlier version of this story. The smallest beer at both facilities is $5.

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- We're roughly a month into the Major League Baseball season and baseball's beer drinking fans are already behind in the standings.

Major League Baseball's average price for a small beer rose from $5.81 last year to $6.16 this year. At this time last year, the highest price for a small beer was the $7.25 the Boston Red Sox were charging at Fenway Park. This year three teams have exceeded that price, with one team breaking the $8 barrier for the first time ever. ...

Behind the Scenes at Michael Jordan's Celebrity Golf Tournament

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EDT

LAS VEGAS (TheStreet) -- The biggest names in the worlds of sports and entertainment gathered for four days of competitive golf and exclusive events March 29-April 1 when ARIA Resort & Casino at CityCenter hosted the 11th Annual Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational. The invitational returned to the exclusive Shadow Creek Golf Course, which opened to spectators for only the second time in its history.

Normally reserved solely for guests of MGM Resorts International, the experience includes a limousine that transports you to and from the Tom Fazio-designed course and upon arrival, your personal caddie greets and guides you through a golfing experience you will never forget.

Proceeds from the charitable tournament benefited the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Univerity of California-San Diego Nevada Cancer Institute, James R. Jordan Foundation, Opportunity Village and Cats Care, the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats charity arm. Since its inception, MJCI has raised more than $6 million for charity. TravelsinTastebrings you the scoop in what went down during the four day event. Ashton Kutcher and Michael Jordan took to the links recently during Jordan's celebrity golf invitational at the exclusive Shadow Creek Golf Course. ...

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Stocks to Watch: Nike, Delta, Costco

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:41:51 EDT

NEW YORK -- Nike scored when a judge rejected Reebok's bid to overturn his ban on Reebok's sale of New York Jets' Tim Tebow jerseys.

The federal judge in New York on Wednesday permanently halted Reebok, a unit of Germany's Adidas, from selling Tebow's No. 15.

Nike sued Reebok on March 27, saying it was authorized and licensed to use Tebow's name on football apparel and merchandise. ...

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5 Things You Should Know Before the Stock Market Opens

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:36:54 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock futures suggested Wall Street would open higher Wednesday ahead of a report on durable goods for February.

European shares were mostly lower while stocks in Asia declined after consumer confidence in the U.S. slipped slightly in March. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to finish at 10,182.57, a day after the index hit a one-year high. ...

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Is Wheaties Dying a Slow Death?

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:36:33 EDT

By Darren Rovell, CNBC Sports Business Reporter

NEW YORK (CNBC) -- After nearly a nine-decade run, the "Breakfast of Champions" is on the ropes.

Sales of Wheaties are down double digits for another year and the tailspin shows no signs of stopping. A brand that, in the 1960s, accounted for 6.5 percent of all of the cereal sold in the United States, now only has slightly more than 0.5% of the market. ...

What Golf and Trading Have in Common

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:05:31 EDT

By Michael Sedacca NEW YORK (Minyanville) -- I've been playing golf ever since I could walk, and I've been in situations so intense -- say, on the ultimate hole of a junior or amateur golf tournament -- that I literally could not take the club back. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking.

I've also grown up around trading and markets. From the time I could begin to understand systems and math, my dad began teaching me about investor psychology, bonds, stocks, and leverage. I didn't begin trading my own money until college -- buying IBM when I was 12 doesn't count -- and by that time, analyzing many of the things that move markets almost felt like second nature to me.

As a trader, I've had times when I've been as scared to move as I was on the golf course. I've had that same sinking feeling watching a trade go in the completely wrong direction as I have watching a ball make its way to a lake. I've felt that gut-wrenching feeling in my chest as I watched the value of a trade or investment tick away by the minute. We've all been there; nobody is perfect and bad trades happen, the key is to not be frozen in fear and let instincts and discipline take over. ...

The Beer Dance: The Final Four Of Our Craft Beer March Madness Bracket

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:25:29 EDT

NEW YORK -- (MainStreet) -- Craft beer is a fickle mistress, and nowhere is that more evident than among our Beer Dance beer bracket's Final Four.

It's an industry where favored beer styles change with season and whim. Where a long-established brewery can be immediately challenged by a fresh-faced upstart, but can turn the tables with one small batch of the right brew. It's a world where, as Boston Beer founder Jim Koch has said on several occasions, the favorite beer of a large subset of the consumer base is the beer it had last. ...

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March Madness Is a Suite Deal For Corporate Clients

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EDT

NEW ORLEANS (MainStreet) -- The Final Four is presumably about the NCAA men's basketball championship, but some of the best games in New Orleans are being played on smartphones, in luxury suites and behind the flaps of corporate hospitality tents.

The Final Four is one of little more than a handful of in-demand events routinely circled on the corporate calendar, as regional vice presidents and chief executives all too familiar with the Pareto Principle (80% of sales come from 20% of your clients) try to impress their most valuable vendors. Jacob Turnage, co-founder and vice president of marketing for Atlanta-based organizer of high-end sports hospitality EB Corporate routinely counts the Final Four among the "Big Six" corporate hospitality events that include the Super Bowl, the Masters Tournament, tennis' U.S. Open, the Kentucky Derby and, this year, the Ryder Cup. The action on the court is great, but the NCAA tournament's biggest plays are made in corporate suites and at celebrity meet and greets.

Back in 2003, when the Final Four was last in New Orleans, city native Turnage sold a client from Kellogg's a package so he could entertain one of his top clients, an executive from Kroger. The supermarket bigwig was a Syracuse University alumnus and wanted to see his Orange and star freshman Carmelo Anthony make a run for the national title. ...

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Real Madrid Announces $1B Luxury Resort Island

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:00:00 EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Real Madrid soccer team plans to build a $1 billion luxury resort complex in the United Arab Emirates that will include condos, a theme park, a museum and a stadium open to the sea on one side, its president, Florentino Perez, announced Thursday.

Planned to open its gilded gates in January 2015 on more than 123 acres on the tiny emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, the complex will "seduce millions of people in search of quality leisurely activities," Perez said. The tiny emirate of Ras al-Khaimah is expected to get a $1 billion luxury resort complex featuring the Real Madrid soccer team. ...

3 Leadership Lessons from Tim Tebow

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 09:00:00 EDT

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- When you're a Jet, you're a Jet all the way.

Tim Tebow isn't officially a New York Jet as this goes online, due to some quirk in his contract that required the Denver Broncos to hold onto him until late Saturday afternoon. But it's safe to say Tebowmania is coming to the Empire State.

It's also safe to say the New York City media is going to have a field day with the rookie quarterback. Tebow will have to stick to his values if he is going to gain accolades from this town. But with so much talk of Tebow this year, are there lessons to be learned from Tebow's time as the Broncos quarterback? ...