Franchise Notes

SI.com's Peter King wrote there "currently is no impetus" for an NFL franchise to move to L.A. King's "guess is it won't happen for at least five years, and when it does, the best candidates are San Diego (totally stalled on getting a new stadium built), Buffalo (which will be in play at some point, but probably will split games between Buffalo and Toronto), St. Louis (the Rams CAN go home again) and Jacksonville." King added, "Some football benefactor is going to have [to] come up with $1[B] to even get a stadium project mostly done." And "we haven't even talked about the cost of a franchise yet" (SI.com, 7/15).

Attanasio Says Brewers Would Likely Need To Win World Series To Break Even

TOUGH BREW: Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio said, "If we win the World Series, we may break even." SI.com's Jon Heyman wrote, "Tricky bookkeeping may allow some owners to claim bottom-line losses, but considering Milwaukee ranks 30th out of 30 franchises as a media market, Attanasio's claim is more than believable" (SI.com, 7/14)."

BEAR OF A PROBLEM: In Chicago, Toni Ginnetti reported the Cubs are testing a new ticket policy for day-of-game sales of standing-room-only (SRO) tickets "aimed at stopping the reselling of those tickets." Fans purchasing SRO tickets for the Saturday and Sunday Giants-Cubs games at Wrigley Field were "required to enter the park immediately." Posted signs "advised fans of the policy, and crowd control officers directed early buyers to a waiting area before the gates opened" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/14).

NOTES: English Premier League (EPL) club Arsenal have increased the cost of their cheapest season ticket from US$1,769 to US$1,849 for the '08-09 season "after a four-year freeze." The 4.5% increase makes Arsenal's cheapest season ticket US$550 more expensive than the next highest EPL club, Liverpool (London TELEGRAPH, 7/15)....Double-A Eastern League New Hampshire Fisher Cats Majority Owner & Managing Partner Art Solomon is "building another" MiLB franchise, which will play in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in the Single-A South Atlantic League beginning next year. Solomon Saturday also announced his purchase of the remaining interest of the Fisher Cats from Fisher Cats Minority Owner Drew Weber (New Hampshire UNION LEADER, 7/13).