AFL: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan reports the AFL recently hired sports investment bank Triton Sports Associates, "which has been engaged in discussions with several financial institutions" about lending the league $15M. The money would be used "to refinance existing debt and to assume balance-sheet liabilities, such as annual payments to the ex-owner of the league's Houston franchise, which the AFL bought back two years ago for $5[M]" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/19 issue).
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| Tradition Among Roadblocks
To Expanded MLB Playoffs |
BUD-DING IDEAS: In USA TODAY, Hal Bodley examines the possibility of MLB expanding its playoffs. Commissioner Bud Selig: "It's time to carefully analyze everything we've done, yet always be careful. We have a very delicate line between the wonderful history and tradition of baseball, like no other sport. Yet we have to be sensitive to the 21st century, to societal changes. On the other hand, we don't want to disturb tradition." Bodley writes that if another round of playoffs is added, "the regular season must be shortened — back to the 154 games." Selig: "That would go hand-in-hand with an additional round." MLBPA Exec Dir Don Fehr: "We'll have those discussions over the next 18 months. We all have expectations on how ideas are going to work out. Sometimes they don't work out the way we want them to" (USA TODAY, 5/20).
NASCAR: In Charlotte, David Poole writes, "If there's still anybody in Charlotte who really believes NASCAR wouldn't dare move The Winston from Lowe's Motor Speedway, they're simply delusional. ... If NASCAR is willing to shun 54 years of tradition and slide the Southern 500 back past Halloween, do you think for a minute it's not willing to turn its back on the success The Winston has enjoyed here 18 times in the event's 19-year history?" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 5/20)....KNIGHT RIDDERS's Jim Utter reports that NASCAR's $10M, 64,000-square-foot R&D center has been open just six months, but "the sport is already reaping the benefits," as NASCAR's "latest safety enhancement — a catalyst to reduce carbon monoxide exposure to drivers — could be in place ... as early as Sunday's Coca-Cola 600." Another project that could be in place soon is "a roof hatch to help drivers exit their cars following accidents" (KNIGHT RIDDER, 5/20).
