APSE Commissioners Meetings: Day 1 roundup

Thursday's opening round of the APSE Commissioners Meetings is in the books, and discussions with the top bosses of NASCAR, Major League Soccer, the NBA and Major League Baseball produced some interesting story lines.

The sessions continue Friday with visits with the NCAA, NHL and NFL.

 

 

Leading off Thursday's four sessions in New York, NASCAR chairman Brian France told attending editors that "a snapshot of us is pretty good," with attendance and viewership both "flat to up."

 

"People love our product," he said. "We're never satisfied, but given the economy, a lot of people would love to have our problems."

 

France shared details of the new Sprint Cup cars that are set to debut in 2013, stressed his organization's environmentally minded initiatives and recycling efforts, and cited up-and-coming driver Darrell Wallace Jr. and Danica Patrick, who's racing on the Nationwide Series, as examples of NASCAR's emphasis on diversity.

 

"We're close on a breakthrough there," he said. "And when it happens, it'll be a great thing for us."

 

 

Commissioner Don Garber spoke of an increasingly opportunistic but also more complicated landscape for soccer.

 

He expressed disappointment in the outcome of the World Cup bidding process for 2022, with the U.S. snubbed in favor of Qatar, and the U.S. national team's failure to qualify for the Olympics. But he is pleased to see his league averaging 20,000 fans per game so far this season.

 

"We think in the years to come that will continue to grow," he said.

 

Garber believes one key to ensuring that growth is increasing the quality of play. He wants MLS to eventually be viewed as on par with the Premier League, Serie A or La Liga.

 

"With us, it's about trying to improve the level of play," he said. "The NFL doesn't have to think about that; the NBA doesn't have to think about that. We're competing against global soccer leagues here."

 

Near-term league goals include expanding to 20 teams, with another likely destined for the New York area as a rival to the Red Bulls. Other possibilities, Garber said, include south Florida, Orlando, Atlanta and the Southwest. He mentioned Seattle and Portland as success stories in terms of fan base, but said Chivas USA underperforms in the L.A. market.

 

Overall, last year was the best in the league's history, Garber said, in such metrics as attendance growth and television-ratings growth. With the opening of Houston's new stadium this spring, 15 of 19 MLS teams will be playing in soccer-specific stadiums.

"We do continue to call ourselves the league for a new America, a young and ethnically diverse globally connected consumer base," Garber said.

 

 

Winding down a regular season shortened to 66 games by a labor dispute that stretched into late December, commissioner David Stern sees brighter days ahead.

 

He called 2012 a positive time for the NBA, with attendance and ratings both up over last season.

 

"We'll lose a little money this season," he said. "Next season, we're going to be profitable as a league."

 

An enhanced luxury tax and revenue sharing should foster fiscal accountability and economic parity among teams, he said.

 

"How well you do both on the business side and the basketball side is going to depend upon your management decisions," he said.

With the Nets about to move into a new facility in Brooklyn and Madison Square Garden getting an overhaul, New York City is about to have two $1 billion basketball arenas.

 

Saints owner Tom Benson's purchase of the New Orleans Hornets keeps the team in Louisiana and relieves the league of stewardship duties, which Stern likes, but the Maloof brothers' standoff with the city of Sacramento could send the Kings packing, a situation Stern termed "interesting." The league's preference, he said, is to have teams stay put, provided they're adequately supported by the community. Any talk of expansion remains tabled.

 

Stern reserved his sharpest comments for what he called "erroneous" media coverage of the one-and-done debate.

"The quality of reporting on this issue is both poor," he said, "and willfully blind."

 

Asked about Duke coach Mike Kryzciewski's recent statement that the NBA is hindering the college game, Stern bristled, indicating the debate has been "reduced to sound bites" in recent stories.

 

Stern also chided editors for marginalizing the WNBA through what he described as an unfair "allocation of space based upon interest" in a league that's finally turning a profit.

 

"How you give space … the short end of that stick invariably is given to women's sports," he said.

 

 

The headline at the final session of the day mirrored those in recent sports sections across the country: Dodgers sold for $2.15 billion.

 

Commissioner Bud Selig called the figure remarkable.

 

"We bought the Seattle Pilots in 1970 for $10.8 million, which was the highest price paid at that time for a franchise," Selig said. "And I remember talking to my father the next day, and he wanted to know, 'What'd you get for it?' I told him, '150 player contracts, a whole bunch of paper clips and a lot of rubber bands.' And he looked at me and said, 'You must be insane.'

 

"That was the end of the conversation. And I thought to myself, 'I wonder what he'd think now if he heard this price?' "

 

Selig believes the price tags MLB teams command today reflect the popularity on the whole. Baseball will see profits "well in excess of $7 billion" this year; attendance is up about 4 percent so far this season, and last year's gate was the fifth-best ever.

 

"I'll be disappointed if we don't do better," Selig said. "The question is how much better are we going to do?"

 

With Tony La Russa in attendance, Selig talked about Miami's successes (the Marlins' sparkling new ballpark) and failures (manager Ozzie Guillen's comments on Fidel Castro), the Mets' challenges under Fred Wilpon, and territorial friction in the Bay Area between the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants.

 

He said the A's simply can't be competitive in their current stadium because it's incapable of providing the kind of revenue stream needed to operate a successful franchise.

 

"The last time I was there, and I probably shouldn't say this, but it reminded me of County Stadium and Shea Stadium," Selig said. "And that's not a compliment."

 

Of Guillen, Selig said, "I expect people in the sport to act responsibly. As I said that day and I'll say again today: Miami … the history of Fidel Castro, the history of what's happened there… I was disappointed."

 

The 2012 All-Star Game will be played in Kansas City this July, but sites for the 2013 and 2014 are still unknown. Selig said he intends to make those announcements soon. Today, Selig will be in Boston for Fenway Park's 100th anniversary ceremony.

Diversity remains a high priority for MLB, as does growth into overseas markets. Toward that end, the World Baseball Classic will return next spring with a 28-team field.

 

In the nearer term, this fall's postseason will include two more teams, a total of 10. Some have criticized the format, a one-game wild-card playoff between the teams in each league who are not division winners.

 

La Russa's isn't among the detractors.

 

"I think it's going to be really exciting," the retired manager said. "And I think anyone that complains, you say, 'OK, would you rather not be in?' I'll take my chances."