Hottest tickets

Top-purchased events, ranked by total dollar volume transacted on StubHub.com’s secondary ticket market:

Event name

Average ticket price

Super Bowl XLIV: Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints

$2,386

World Series: San Francisco Giants at Texas Rangers (Game 3)

$798

World Series: Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants (Game 1)

$850

World Series: San Francisco Giants at Texas Rangers (Game 4)

$641

World Series: Texas Rangers at San Francisco Giants (Game 2)

$738

Highest average ticket prices, based on sales on StubHub:

Event name

Per ticket cost

Super Bowl XLIV (Indianapolis Colts vs. New Orleans Saints)

$2,386

NBA Finals: Boston Celtics at Los Angeles Lakers (Game 4)

$1,314

MLB All-Star Strip (Includes All-Star Sunday,

Workout Day and the All-Star Game)

$1,262

North Carolina at Duke basketball

$1,174

NHL Stanley Cup Final: Philadelphia Flyers at Chicago Blackhawks

$950

Source: StubHub

Q: What was the most memorable championship event of 2010?

New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts - Super Bowl

30%

Canada vs. U.S.A. - Olympics Hockey Final

25%

Duke vs. Butler - NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship

20%

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics - NBA Finals

7%

Spain vs. Netherlands - FIFA World Cup Final

6%

Chicago Blackhawks vs. Philadelphia Flyers - Stanley Cup Final

5%

Alabama vs. Texas - BCS Title Game

4%

San Francisco Giants vs. Texas Rangers - World Series

2%

Other

0%

Not sure/No response

1%

Which brand had the most successful year in sports?
(Only top responses shown)

Under Armour

17%

Budweiser/Bud Light

14%

Verizon

12%

Nike

9%

Subway

8%

Coca-Cola

7%

Adidas

5%

Miller Lite

4%

Top sports websites

An average of 58 percent of all unique visitors to the Internet from December 2009 through November 2010 came from sports site traffic.

The following are the top sports sites, based on average monthly unique visitors (in millions) during that time frame.

Yahoo! Sports

40,809

ESPN

30,610

FOXSports.com on MSN

24,085

CBS Sports

20,698

NFL Internet Group

16,667

The top sports websites during that time, based on average monthly minutes visitors spent on the sites:

ESPN

76 min.

Yahoo! Sports

48 min.

NFL Internet Group

37 min.

CBS Sports

30 min.

FOXSports.com on MSN

23 min.

Source: comScore

MOST-VIEWED BROADCAST TV SPORTS TELECASTS (THROUGH DEC. 12)

RANK

DATE

NET

TELECAST

U.S. RATING

VIEWERS (000s)

1

2/7

CBS

Super Bowl XLIV: Colts-Saints

45.0

106,476

2

1/24

Fox

NFC Championship: Saints-Vikings

30.6

57,933

3

1/24

CBS

AFC Championship: Colts-Jets

26.3

46,917

4

1/17

Fox

NFC Divisional Playoff: Vikings-Cowboys

22.0

37,669

5

1/17

CBS

AFC Divisional Playoff: Jets-Chargers

20.1

35,627

MOST-VIEWED CABLE TV SPORTS TELECASTS (THROUGH DEC. 12)

RANK

DATE

NET

TELECAST

U.S. RATING

VIEWERS (000s)

1

10/25

ESPN

Giants-Cowboys

11.2

17,953

2

9/27

ESPN

Packers-Bears

10.8

17,454

3

10/11

ESPN

Vikings-Jets

10.7

17,313

4

12/6

ESPN

Jets-Patriots

10.0

16,533

5

9/20

ESPN

Saints-49ers

9.4

15,120

Note: Each cable game listed was a “Monday Night Football” telecast.
Source: The Nielsen Co.

Top player salaries

MLB 2010

Rank

Player

Salary

Team

Agent

1

Alex Rodriguez

$33 million

New York Yankees

Scott Boras*

2

CC Sabathia

$24.3 million

New York Yankees

Greg Genske

3

Derek Jeter

$22.6 million

New York Yankees

Casey Close

4

Mark Teixeira

$20.6 million

New York Yankees

Scott Boras

5

Johan Santana

$20.1 million

New York Mets

Peter Greenberg

* Reportedly parted ways in 2010, but was the agent who negotiated current contract

NHL 2010-11

Rank

Player

Salary

Team

Agent

1 (tie)

Vincent Lecavalier

$10.0 million

Tampa Bay Lightning

Kent Hughes

1 (tie)

Roberto Luongo

$10.0 million

Vancouver Canucks

Gilles Lupien

3 (tie)

Sidney Crosby

$9.0 million

Pittsburgh Penguins

Pat Brisson

3 (tie)

Evgeni Malkin

$9.0 million

Pittsburgh Penguins

J.P. Barry, Pat Brisson

3 (tie)

Alex Ovechkin

$9.0 million

Washington Capitals

David Abrutyn, Brad Pelletier

NFL 2009-10

Rank

Player

Salary

Team

Agent

1

Philip Rivers

$25.6 million

San Diego Chargers

Jimmy Sexton

2

Jay Cutler

$22.0 million

Chicago Bears

James “Bus” Cook

3

Eli Manning

$20.5 million

New York Giants

Tom Condon

4

Kurt Warner

$19.0 million

Arizona Cardinals

Mark Bartelstein

5

Kelvin Hayden

$17.5 million

Indianapolis Colts

Fletcher Smith

NBA 2010-11

Rank

Player

Salary

Team

Agent

1

Kobe Bryant

$24.8 million

Los Angeles Lakers

Rob Pelinka

2

Rashard Lewis

$20.5 million

Orlando Magic

Tony Dutt

3

Kevin Garnett

$18.8 million

Boston Celtics

Andy Miller

4

Tim Duncan

$18.7 million

San Antonio Spurs

Jim Tanner

5

Michael Redd

$18.3 million

Milwaukee Bucks

Kevin Poston

Source: USA Today salary database, NHLPA.com, published reports

Most-read stories*

SportsBusiness Journal

SportsBusinessDaily.com

1 — Offseason frenzy drives NBA box office (Sept. 27)

1 — Heat Fire Season-Ticket Sales Staff (Aug. 2)

2 — Jersey Share (Sept. 20)

3 — For NFL sponsors, a pregame pep talk (Sept. 13)

3 — Jay Mariotti Arrested On Suspicion Of Felony (Aug. 23)

4 — Everything's up to date in Kansas City stadium (Oct. 4)

4 — Ohlmeyer Critical Of ESPN's "The Decision" (July 21)

5 — Penguin palace (Oct. 18)

5 — Columnist Suggests Changes To ESPN (July 16)

* Through Dec. 13

IN MEMORY

Doug Brown, principal and architectural director at Aecom Ellerbe Becket

Jeff Byrd, Bristol Motor Speedway and Dragway president and general manager

Tim Davey, NFL director of football operations

Linda Dozoretz, longtime spokeswoman and crisis public relations expert for IMG Ernie Harwell, Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster

Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president of corporate communications

Rick Isaacson, longtime IMG executive

Jay Larkin, former Showtime senior executive producer

Keli McGregor, president of the Colorado Rockies

Franklin Mieuli, former Golden State Warriors owner

Merlin Olsen, Pro Football Hall of Famer

Patricia Rico, former USATF president

Juan Antonio Samaranch, former IOC president

Ron Santo, Chicago Cubs broadcaster and former player

Chet Simmons, former ESPN president and COO

George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees owner

John Wooden, basketball Hall of Famer

Robert Wussler, former CBS Sports president and CNN co-founder