IMG-CCTV Ink 20-Year Deal

Global sports entertainment giant IMG and state-controlled China Central Television (CCTV) today announced a 20-year partnership that will feed off China's growing appetite for sports and deliver sport programming to the largest single television market in the world, with an estimated reach of 370 million households. IMG's involvement will fast track the commercialization of sport in China, first by cultivating marketable athletes and creating new sport properties, and then by selling advertising and sponsorships that leverage CCTV's colossal...

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Team Effort

On the eve of our departure, the 13 Western New England College students who comprise "Seminar Abroad '08: Beijing Olympics," the first summer sport-travel course of the Center for International Sport Business, have developed a true esprit de corps, and have come together well as a team. From the beginning, going back to our half dozen or so meetings this past spring, students...

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July 2008 has been a very bad month for the C-bl...

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Fantasy Leagues Now Profiting from the Likenesses of College Athletes

Of course, I couldn't withhold my thoughts on today's press release that CBSSports.com has decided to make millions using the names and performance statistics of college football and basketball players in a fantasy league game without paying for it. There are a couple of points in the press release that I need to address:1. A fantasy college game has never been widely accepted or attempted before because of a reluctance to utilize anything but broad signifiers in identifying college athletes. CBSSports.com had previously developed a game using...

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Tim Donaghy Sentencing

Much has been written about yesterday's sentencing of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison. Here are some stories that may be of interest:* I wrote a piece on SI.com on the sentencing. My thanks to the folks on Celtics Blog for their nice words about it.* Jeffrey Standen of The Sports Law Professor weighs in as well.* And so does Lester Munson...

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Euro 2008 Record Profit

The 2008 European Football Championship -- the quadrennial soccer tournament for European countries -- netted a record $394 million despite poor weather at the start of the three-week tournament, and the cancellation of over 1.7 million ticket applications due to a huge problem over ticket re-selling on the black market. Spain emerged as the Euro 2008 champion on June 29, beating Germany 1-0 in the final of the 16-team competition. Meanwhile, the 14-club, North American MLS, founded in 1993, is still hoping to turn its first net profit . . . by...

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IOC lifts Iraq's Olympic Suspension

Last week, Aaron Zelinsky argued that the IOC should reverse its ban on Iraqi players from the Olympics. Today, the IOC did just that (though only two of the seven banned athletes remain eligible to participate in the Olympics, meaning the other five won't benefit from the IOC's reversa...

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Olympic Pin Trading

One of the longest-standing traditions at the Olympic Games -- for athletes and nonathletes alike -- is pin trading, whereby people swap their lapel pins (also called badges) with other like-minded attendees, and in the process acquire an interesting collection of pins from around the world. I provided an assortment of pins to each of the 13 Western New England College students...

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Duke Lacrosse at SEALS

Tomorrow I will be at SEALS, hosting and moderating a panel titled The Phases and Faces of the Duke Lacrosse Controversy. This will be a moderated conversation about the multiple facets, details, and issues of this still-ongoing legal controversy. Panelists include KC Johnson of Brooklyn College (author of a bestselling book on the case), James Coleman of Duke Law (who chaired a University committee that investigated the case), Michael Gerhardt of UNC Law, Lyrissa Lidsky of Florida Law, and Angela Davis of American/Washington College.I hope to...

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Trailer Loading Part II and Expectant Ladies

Today's blog has a video of Kenzie's second trailer loading lesson and a couple of quick photos of two of our expectant mums, Maude and Sabrina. We only needed to spend 5 minutes with Kenzie again today. She will do absolutely anything for a bit of a scratch and a cuddle and you just have to love working with an attitude like that!Bree - Baby expected around November 18th...

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Identity Card

Someone asked about the identity card seen on the photo of Golden Bear in an earlier post, and what that was all about. You see, these identity cards have been in vogue for many years now at the Olympics (as well as at many other large-scale international gatherings) and serve as an accreditation badge for official delegates to the event. Typically, the cards are embedded with a silicon chip or scannable bar code to permit the bearer entry to certain restricted-access venues. Of course, our Seminar Abroad '08 delegation's identity cards are not...

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A message to Obama knockers

Age doesn't matter, race doesn't matter, religion doesn't matter, cultural background doesn't matter, gender doesn't matter, sexual preference doesn't matter, your middle name doesn't matter, what your pastor doesn't says doesn't matter, what your former high school teacher says doesn't matter, what fox news says doesn't matter, what your wife/husband doesn't matter, your...

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MacKenzie and the big blue box

So today Miss MacKenzie was introduced to Mr Reid (the horse trailer). It took about 2 minutes for her to decide that it looked like an interesting place to visit, lol! Tomorrow (weather willing) we will continue her lesson by repeating today's lesson and then closing the centre partition to make a single bay. If that all goes well, we will also shut the back bar but we may just focus on getting her to load and unload quietly with a few pats and rubs on her bottom to get her used to having something behind her. It sounds like her new mum will be...

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Wow - Photoshop!

I have discovered the amazing photoshop and had a play - results below. I need a lot more practice but really stoked with what I can now do!...

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DVD-American Psycho

I debated putting up a movie review or a book review. Either way, American Psycho sucks.I remember reading this book back when it first came out in 1991. It was then I realized that Bret Easton Ellis was an overrated hack. The book sucked fiercely with its graphic senseless violence and endless reviews of toiletry products and pop music. Every bit of the book was senseless....

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Russian Sport on the Rise

Not since the glory days of the old Soviet Union have sport fans in the Russian Federation had much to celebrate. But now, thanks to economic reforms and significant investment by both the government and private sector, Russian athletes and teams are regaining some of the luster that they enjoyed during the period of the Cold War. Perhaps irrationally optimistic, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee yesterday predicted that Russia would finish atop the medal board . . . and one gold medal ahead of China. Top Russian soccer clubs' budgets now...

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Last Call on Olympic Tix

Yesterday's chaotic sell off in Beijing of the remaining 820,000 tickets to events at next month's Olympic Games demonstrated the frenzied interest of Chinese people to witness history-in-the-making over China's first hosting of this international multi-sport extravaganza. An estimated 500,000 Chinese, joined by another half million foreigners, are expected to fill the Olympic...

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Minor League Pitcher Charged With Felonious Assault in Brawl

The AP reports that Peoria Chiefs pitcher Julio Castillo will be charged with felonious assault in the aftermath of a brawl between the Chiefs and the Dayton Dragons. Castillo has been arraigned and ordered to give up his passport.During a bench-clearing brawl (which you can view in its lengthy entirety here or here, Castillo seems to have thrown a baseball towards a member...

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Strawberry comes to stay

Our latest guest pony is Strawberry. A very cute little Section B Welsh mare from the Llandovery line. Her owner is currently living in the UK and we are caring for two of her big horses and now a little one too. She's pretty darned cute! Spent the first 5 minutes running around chasing Portia (what IS that?!) the donkey with Maxi in hot pursuit but soon the attraction of...

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Pre-Departure Recap

In two weeks, 13 Western New England College students, fellow sport management professor Dan Covell, and I will depart for Beijing and the Olympic Games, which will mark the inaugural program of the "Seminar Abroad" series of the Center for International Sport Business (next up: World Cup 2010).Since we will be traveling on August 8, we will miss the Opening Ceremonies (spectacular...

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Testimony of Expert Witness for Hamburg Almost Leads to a Mistrial

SportsBusiness Journal's Daniel Kaplan reports that during the ATP-Hamburg trial yesterday, one of Hamburg's expert witnesses, sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, took with him to the witness stand a 17-page document on which he apparently based his testimony, even though witnesses are not allowed to bring notes up to the stand (Zimbalist Testimony Almost Results in Mistrial in ATP-Hamburg Trial, 7/24/08, subscription only). His appearance was halted once it was noticed, after 90 minutes of testimony. According to Kaplan, a transcript indicates...

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YES!!!!! I Got Billy Joel Tickets!!!!!

YES, I Got Billy Joel Tickets!!!!!!!!! December 14th, here in New Zealand!...

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Aaron Zelinsky's "Let Iraq Play"

We received an excellent submission from Aaron Zelinsky, a rising 2L at Yale Law School, concerning today's IOC decision to ban Iraq from Olympic participation.* * *Let Iraq Play After months of public outcry, with the Olympics mere weeks away, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) took dramatic action. Its principled stand: banning seven Iraqi athletes from the 2008...

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IASL Congress on Sports Law

On November 28th and 29th, the International Association of Sports Law (IASL) will be hosting its 14th International Congress on Sports Law in Athens, Greece. Papers on various international sports law topics may be submitted, and selected papers will be announced at the Congress. Some selected papers will be published in the International Sports Law Review. The main theme of this year's Congress is "Sports Law: An Emerging Legal Order; Human Rights of Athlete...

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Olympic Mascots' Fate

It is an interesting phenomenon, but Olympic mascots rarely, if ever, receive the popular embrace that their sports-team cousins seem to enjoy. More often, Olympic mascots are forgotten and nevermore invoked once the flame of an Olympic Games is extinguished. So here's the question: Does it have more to do with the power of institutional affinity, where mascots have come to...

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Two Good Links

Eric McErlain of The Sporting News has an extensive article on Russia's nascent Kontinental Hockey League, which may soon rival the NHL in attracting top players, including those from Canada and the United States. Eric considers, among other points, the legal and economic significance of the lack of player transfer agreement between the NHL and the KHL.JB of Celtics Blog and Celtics Stuff Live has a thoughtful article entitled "Zebraphobia Pt. II" on the NBA referee scandal. JB includes new empirical research on Scott Foster, the NBA referee...

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Athletes as Citizen Free Agents

While an athlete's change in nationality has long permitted a citizen of one country to subsequently represent another in international competition, two recent cases have heightened the dialogue about citizen-based eligibility. Earlier this year, American-born soccer player Edgar Castillo decided to play for the Mexican national team, and this past spring San Antonio Silver Stars standout and WNBA most-valuable player runner up, Becky Hammon -- who holds a Russian passport and plays for CSKA Moscow in the off season -- announced that she will play...

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Where's the Harm to the Consumer?

This week the ATP Tour is in court defending its recently-adopted scheduling format against Hamburg. A jury, who reportedly appears to possess very little knowledge of professional tennis, will soon determine whether the anticompetitive effects of the ATP's scheduling changes for 2009 outweigh its procompetitive effects. I have maintained the position that it is pretty much a given that the decisions of sport governing bodies, such as the ATP, PGA and LPGA, regarding scheduling of events, format of play and player ranking systems are necessarily...

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Top Twenty

Paul Caron of TaxProf released his ranking of the Top 35 law-prof-edited blogs, by visitors and page views. Sports Law Blog was number 20, with more than 304,000 visitors and more than 512,000 page views from June 2007 until June 2008.Thanks to all of you for helping to make this site successful and f...

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NY Times Story on ATP Antitrust Lawsuit

Michael Brick of the New York Times interviews Geoff for a story today on the ATP lawsuit. The story is excerpted below.* * *The antitrust lawsuit in United States District Court promises to reveal financial arrangements of a plan known as Brave New World, an effort by the ATP Tour to reinvigorate the sport.The jurors, selected from a group of three dozen candidates who displayed...

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Catching Up with Some Links

I've been meaning to post on these stories, hope you have a chance to check them out:~ USA Today's Douglas Robson interviews Rick and me for his story on the ATP antitrust lawsuit, the trial for which began today in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware.~ The Tennessean's John Glennon examines the legal issues surrounding Nashville Predators' forward Alexander Radulov,...

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Megan and MacKenzie - Branding Day

Today was branding day in preparation for finally getting around to registering our two Clydesdale fillies with the Clydesdale Society. Nick had very cleverly made the brand some time ago but this is the first time we have actually got around to using it. Very pleased with the results but especially pleased with how well the two girls stood for the whole procedure. No harm...

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It is very hard to blog daily when you are tired as teetotal fu...

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Third Circuit Vacates 'Wardrobe Malfunction' Fine

In a long-awaited and hardly surprising ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit threw out the Federal Communication Commission's $550,000 fine against CBS for the now-infamous Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake breast-bearing (all 9/16 of a second) 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. In language echoing a Second Circuit ruling in FCC v. Fox over one year...

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Jail Time for Scalpers?

While ticket scalping -- the practice of re-selling tickets to in-demand events at a premium -- is not uncommon, laws regulating this practice seldom amount to much beyond a cease-and-desist order, seizure, and perhaps a fine. Today, Chinese authorities have issued a warning that scalpers who re-sell tickets to the Beijing Olympics for profit would be subject to jail terms...

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Debi and Robbie - Midwinter pork chops!

I went over the road with my grooming gear and camera thinking I would give the two heffalumps a good groom and take some pix but when I got there the task was too daunting so, I just took the photos! Deb is due to foal in early/mid October. Not sure when Robbie's foal is due, haha! What a tum he has! Still, he will need the extra kgs once breeding season starts so, I will...

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Garth and Billy at Shea

Surly this would of had to be the concert of the year, Not only did Billy Joel do his farewell concert at Shea (Billy is due to play NZ in December) but Billy was also joined by Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Roger Daltrey, Steven Tyler and the great Garth Brooks!!!I wish I was there...

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Trading in Brazilian Soccer

A Brazilian investment company that trades in that country's soccer-rich talent -- appropriately called Traffic -- signs players to its stable and then loans them out to Brazilian clubs that pay their salaries and exhibit their skills. The payoff comes when the players are recruited by European clubs, which could pay millions -- and even tens of millions -- of dollars in transfer fees. The problem with this model is roster instability because the Brazilian clubs cannot control the players' longevity with their teams, and also creates the potential...

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Olympic Baseball

Two quintessential American sports -- baseball and softball -- will be dropped from the Olympic Games after 2008 for different and various reasons, and will not be contested at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. It is possible, however, that one or both sports could win reinstatement in a vote of IOC members in 2009, and be played at the 2016 Olympic Games. In the case of baseball, the strikes against continued inclusion were over its chronic doping problem and the lack of participation by the sport's top players, owing to the refusal of MLB to...

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New Sports Law Scholarship

Recently published scholarship:Robert Ambrose, Note, The NFL makes it rain: through strict enforcement of its conduct policy, the NFL protects its integrity, wealth, and popularity, 34 WILLIAM MITCHELL LAW REVIEW 1069 (2008) Robert M. Bernhard, Comment, MLS’ designated player rule: has David Beckham single-handedly destroyed Major League Soccer’s single-entity antitrust defense?, 18 MARQUETTE SPORTS LAW REVIEW 413 (2008)Michael E. Buchwald, Comment, Sexual harassment in education and student athletics: a case for why Title IX sexual harassment...

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Max Mosley's S&M Escape Leads to Privacy Lawsuit

You have to give Max Mosley, the President of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), credit for fighting back. After secretly-recorded videos revealed him in a sado-masochistic role-play with five women (paid about $5,000 in cash for a five-hour session), he has decided to sue and hold on to his position at the helm of the organization. The tape was given to...

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I hate cheez-its. People should stop offering them to ...

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MESSAGE OF THE DAY-- Dont lose the clen...

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Sporting Davos

Years from now, when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad are long in the books, and whatever may have been written about the watershed moment in China's history, the visitors from every corner of the world and locals alike who attended the Olympic Games in Beijing can say that they were there, alongside the rich, powerful, and famous. Thirteen students from Western New England College can lay claim to the fact that they, too, were at the "Sporting Davos."Article-->http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121615369621055709.html?mod=spo...

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MacKenzie has a run around for the camera - Now she is sold!

Got Kenzles in for a trim today and popped her in the 'arena' paddock with a couple of 'helpers' for a bit of a run around. She thought it was fun, even if the Wascally Welshie and Dinky Donk insisted on 'assisting'! The video was made for a long time friend of mine, dressage rider Kim Schwass, who has long harboured a not so secret desire to compete a purebred Clydesdale in registered dressage. With Nick and my current health and financial issues, it has become apparent to me that I really need to de-stock and, with this in mind, I have started...

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Dominican Nectar?

The Domincan Republic is so rich in baseball talent that every MLB club has a presence there to keep lookout for the next young prodigy, such as 16-year-old Michael Inoa, signed last week by the Oakland A's for $4.25 million. Outside the US, no other country has supplied the Major Leagues with as many players over the past half century as has the DR, including tonight's starting NL pitcher in the All-Star Game, Edinson Volquez of the Cincinnati Reds. While historical and sociological factors may explain this phenomenon, has anyone checked the Domincan...

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Retarded

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Love comes and goes. Lust is forev...

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Conflict of Interest or Corporate Screw Up?

Today's Wall Street Journal (see article, below) reported that a global advertising firm's handiwork has been found on both sides of the Olympic fence for the upcoming games in Beijing. TBWA Worldwide's China office produced an ad campaign for Olympic sponsor Adidas, which gloriously portrays Chinese people in support of its athletes in an unambiguous show of national unity. At the same time, its Paris office created an ad for Amnesty International depicting a person in front of an archery target with the caption: "After the Olympic Games, the...

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We are talking DOWNTOWN

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