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Familiar plots driving sports business script

I couldn’t believe it when I read that Michael Mann’s classic crime drama “Heat” was released 20 years ago. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I sat in a Washington, D.C., theater on a quiet midweek night, taking in the nearly three-hour thriller with my girlfriend at the time. I couldn’t wait for the on-screen encounter between two of my favorite actors, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and was eager to see what Mann, the creator of “Miami Vice,” could do with such talent. It is one of my favorite movies, and I have continued to admire Mann’s work, while Pacino and De Niro unfortunately have had few roles since then that matched their work in “Heat.”

I kept coming back to the time passages of 20 years ago and reflected on what was happening in our professional world at the time. So as we start a new year, I thought it would be fun to take a look back and see what the headlines were in SportsBusiness Daily 20 years ago this very week.

The stories reflect a dynamic period, with franchise and facility uncertainty, the NCAA at a crossroads and big personalities shaping the industry. Wait. That all sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

So, here goes, the headlines of SBD from 20 years ago this week, starting with Jan. 3, 1996.

IN THE NEWS: Massachusetts leaders examined a funding gap in Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s proposal to build a new 70,000-seat South Boston football stadium. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers contacted Hartford, Conn., officials to see if there was an interest in luring the team. This came after a report that the Patriots contacted Hartford officials to gauge any interest in building a new stadium.

WHAT WENT DOWN: The idea of a South Boston stadium faded quickly due to strong neighborhood opposition, leading Kraft far down a road with Hartford officials before forgoing a lucrative Connecticut offer in 1999. Kraft eventually built a $325 million privately financed stadium in Foxborough that opened in 2002 and where the Patriots have gone 108-20 since. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers’ future was stabilized with the development of the $168.5 million Raymond James Stadium, which opened in 1998. The city of Hartford remains without an NFL franchise.

IN THE NEWS: Accompanied by Cleveland business leaders, Cleveland Mayor Michael White arrived in Atlanta to make a case before NFL owners on the city’s proposed renovations for Cleveland Stadium.

WHAT WENT DOWN: White’s lobbying was eventually successful, as one month later, in February 1996, the NFL voted 25-2 with three abstentions to allow Art Modell to move the Browns to Baltimore and put a team in a new Cleveland Stadium partially funded by the NFL by 1999. The first regular-season game at the new Cleveland Stadium was played Sept. 12, 1999, against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

IN THE NEWS: A group led by St. Louis attorney Fred Hanser, former Rangers and Orioles part-owner William DeWitt Jr. and Southwest Bank Chair Andrew Baur reached agreement with Anheuser-Busch Cos. to purchase the Cardinals. The price for the team, Busch Stadium and several nearby parking garages was listed at $150 million, including stadium naming rights.

WHAT WENT DOWN: What a deal this turned out to be, as the DeWitt-led group has been the most successful ownership group in Major League Baseball over the last 20 years, with 12 playoff appearances, four World Series appearances, two World Series titles and a new Busch Stadium. Forbes now values the team at $1.4 billion.

IN THE NEWS: The annual NCAA convention opened in Dallas, which was expected to be “one of the most pivotal in history.” USA Today’s Steve Wieberg wrote the meetings could “dramatically reshape” the NCAA’s governing structure, shifting power to “90-some schools with the nations’s biggest, most powerful athletic programs.” The new system would put presidents and chancellors more “firmly in control,” with “almost all policy making” coming from boards where the biggest schools “would be best-represented.”

WHAT WENT DOWN: The power of the haves has continued to increase. Nearly 20 years after that convention in Dallas, new legislation created autonomy among the nation’s biggest conferences, the power five, representing 65 schools. Presidents and chancellors still have control but athletic directors now have a bigger role in policy making. Meanwhile, Wieberg, who was one of the top college sportswriters in the country at USA Today, retired from the paper in 2012 but remains engaged in college sports as a member of the College Football Playoff committee.

IN THE NEWS: Atlanta Committee of the Olympic Games CEO Billy Payne was the cover story of Sports Illustrated just six months out from the Summer Games. When asked how he would get major companies to contribute sponsorship dollars for just the domestic rights, Payne replied, “Well, sir, we’re going to talk ’em into it.”

WHAT WENT DOWN: Payne oversaw one of the most controversial Olympics ever — the IOC accused ACOG of defiling the Olympic image with “junk merchandising,” while the foreign press stated the city wasn’t ready for the world spotlight. Payne is now chair of Augusta National Golf Club, where he has been since 2006.

IN THE NEWS: Newsweek profiled Nanci Donnellan, aka “The Fabulous Sports Babe,” who in “only” her second year of national syndication, “has become the hottest new voice in the airstream.”

WHAT WENT DOWN: Just over a year later, “The Babe” was moved off ESPN Radio for ABC Radio, which let her go in August 1999. In January 2012, she had a stroke but returned to the air in the Tampa market briefly in 2013.

IN THE NEWS: Ohio State signed a deal estimated at $9.25 million to outfit its athletes and coaches exclusively in Nike apparel and shoes for the next five years.

WHAT WENT DOWN: Nike remains a partner with Ohio State, and its current deal is a boon for the Oregon company and easily below market value for the school. Nike was scheduled to provide $4.3 million in cash and equipment in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Perks and incentives increase the total value, but it drastically pales in comparison to Nike’s new deal with rival Michigan, valued at $169 million from 2016 to 2027.

IN THE NEWS: The Sporting News released its “100 Most Powerful in Sports” list and the top five were:

And don’t forget the last two slots:

WHAT WENT DOWN: This was the list to be on for years, and the names remain familiar today. Rupert Murdoch was dramatically changing sports television and Ebersol was heading into a key Olympic year. But my colleagues and I didn’t focus on the top of the list. At the home office of SportsBusiness Daily in Virginia, we were thrilled our founding publisher, Jeffrey Pollack, got us some love, even if it was narrowly beating out “The Fly,” Sporting News’ anonymous column mixing humor and wise-guy cracks with mixed success. Hey, we didn’t care that we topped a faceless, unbylined character named after an insect. We just wanted on the list!

It was 20 years ago today … the beat remains and many of the songs remain the same.

Abraham D. Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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