NEW STUDY: The BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE's Erik
Spanberg reports that "it will be a long time before any
[MLB] team" calls Charlotte home, if MLB "follows the logic"
of a new study on potential relocation cities for
"struggling" franchises. The study, which calculates total
income, the amount needed to support existing pro teams and
the remaining income for supporting a new franchise, was
conducted by Demographics Daily, a research division of
American City Business Journals. The study shows that
Charlotte ranks 264th of 276 metro areas. Univ. of NC-
Charlotte economist John Connaughton noted the study and
said, "Anybody who thinks baseball can work here is an
idiot. ... Small markets like ours can work for football --
witness Green Bay -- but baseball is at the opposite end of
the spectrum" (BUSINESS JOURNAL OF CHARLOTTE, 8/25 issue).
NOTES: ESPN.com's Marc Stein wrote that SFX Sports
Group Chair David Falk, "like so many" NBA team execs and
players, "has seen his powers neutralized and ego endangered
by the twin kryptonites everyone faces" -- the league's '99
CBA and the "forthcoming" luxury tax. Stein, on Falk:
"Superagent? Not after watching every move he attempts to
orchestrate come unstuck. ... In the new NBA, teams seem
quite willing to put their own interests ahead of Falk's
threats" (ESPN.com, 8/30)....Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer
said that the city's bid to host Super Bowl XL in 2006 at
Ford Field is "moving rather rapidly" and that he is
"confident the city would make an impressive presentation"
at the NFL's owners meeting November 1 in Atlanta. Detroit
is the only city bidding for the game, but still "must be
approved" by all 31 NFL owners (DETROIT NEWS, 8/31).
