Big Spending Spree Almost Can Be a Bust for Jets

After a dismal 4-12 season last year, the Jets immediately dove right into free agency and looked at every way possible to improve their team. It started with signing Left Guard, Alan Faneca, and proceeded all the way through August when they pulled off an unlikely trade of obtaining future Hall of Famer, Brett Favre. Favre had the Jets fan base believing because it had the most preseason buzz since Bill Parcells became head coach in 1997. Immediately, Favre made the Jets instant contenders and combined with all of the other off-season upgrades it looked like the Jets would be in good shape. The amount of Jets jerseys, including Favre's, were bought and sold out in a hurry. From a marketing standpoint, this put the Jets back on the map. The 8-3 start definitely helped because every one was talking about a possible Jets-Giants Superbowl in Tampa this February. After the last two weeks the Jets have been brought back down to earth and there are grumblings as people think Favre is washed up. If the Jets don't advance to the playoffs this whole season can be labeled a bust and all the money that was well spent, well wouldn't be really at all. The season is coming down to the wire and plenty of eyes will be scrutinizing how the Jets will handle them selves in this stretch run. If only the preseason marketing tactics can pay off for the high expectation for the hopefully not "same old Jets."

Tiger Woods' Deal Is At An End

Despite the fact that Tiger Woods has one year left on his contract with GM, they are cutting him loose after nine years. This move was made in order to cut cash and survive in this bad economy so GM can still have a future. After seeing Woods have the Buick logo on his bag, it will have to be something else in the future as his sponsor. In a way this comes at a good time because Woods was looking into spending time with his second child on the way so GM is going to be hurt that much without him. The endorsement deal was believed to be worth about $7 million dollars per year. The awareness of their product, especially Buick, can be attributed to Woods. He was supposed to bring a youthful enthusiasm to a car generally older people drive. This in turn drove up revenue for their sales but for now GM will be looking within in order to get by in one of its worst quarters ever. Even thought it was almost the right time to cut Tiger loose, especially with him away from the course, GM must figure out a way to break even instead of going under because they have bigger decisions up ahead of them.

British Government Bails Out Olympic Sport

About a week and a half ago, the British government decided to cover more than a third of funding that fell short for their country's Olympic sports for the 2012 games that happen to be in London. Olympic officials say that the global financial crisis is the reason for the government to cover them. The sports that will be affected by this are basketball, volleyball and handball which might be in trouble come 2012. Private business' were supposed to front $150 million but fell short due to the economic downturn. People are also pointing to the fact that since the Olympic games in Beijing this past the summer, economics have gone down the drain since then tremendously. Now the Olympic Committee in London has to take a detailed look into which sports they're better off without because it looks like they might have to trim some sports from their teams. The players who belong to teams that aren't as good or that do not get as much acclaim, will suffer greatly and won't have anything to do in the 2012 Olympics.

Honda Withdraws Sponsorship

Last week, Honda had announced that they wouldn't be a sponsor for Formula 1 racing in 2009. This might cause a ripple effect through Formula 1 because they are losing one of their big sponsors. Honda is trying to focus more on making and selling cars instead of racing them. This also reflects the downturn and struggling auto companies such as G.M which is seeking a bailout from the government. This isn't only the big change the Honda is going through. Honda is also cutting 760 temporary workers from four plants because of similiar situations in the United States. Across the board different sponsors are pulling out from their respective sports, hopefully the economy will turn around so different leagues won't take drastic measures.

NFL headquarters laying off employees

This past week, NFL Comissioner, Roger Goodell, released a statement that the NFL will be cutting about 10 percent of its staff because of economic downturn. Even though the league makes billions off of sellout crowds, merchandise, etc. Goodell feels as if this is the path that the league must follow. The places that employees will lose their jobs from will be in New York City, New Jersey, And Los Angeles. The NFL is called the richest sport but, it is follwing other leagues by having layoffs thinking that this is for the best. In relation to this, the NFL has announced that they are reducing playoff tickets by about 10 percent lower than it was last year. This move for the fan whose team makes the playoffs is great because then he can save a few bucks. For me, a season ticket holder for the New York Jets, would be great if they hold a game because tickets are exorbitant as it is and the lower prices would be welcomed. The league is looking to lower costs while making themselves as a whole, more efficient. The New England Patriots were orginially supposed to play a preseason game in China, where they have an on-site operation but, decided to close up shop. Since that occured they cancelled the game because of belt tightening due to the economy. This only seems to be the beginning of the scaling back of the teams and the leagues throughout the country while the economy is low.

Economy Affecting the AFL

The economy may be hurting many people throughout the country, but in this case an entire league may be in trouble due to the recession. The Arena Football League is looking towards cancelling their 2009 season in order to become more efficient. Even though the decision is not official yet, he told the LA Times that he was pretty optimistic about the vote to cancel the upcoming season would be approved. One of the efforts the union is trying to make in order to save their season is cutting the leagues salary cap from $ 2 million to $1.4 million. If this is the case and the players are willing to do this in order to keep playing then by all means they should consider this option. One of the more higher paid players, Ahmad Hawkins, has said that he was one of the players who backed the idea of a league wide pay cut in order to keep playing the season. "I'm one of the top-paid guys and I was the first one to say I'd take a pay cut, e agreed to take the salary cap lower. The players want to do anything we can to play this season " Hawkins said. If this is the route that they want to take and they want to keep playing then they must all come to agreement and vote as soon as possible. If a pay cut is the only way to go, then they must bite the bullet for this season and do what's best for them and the league.

Knicks Playing Out Economy

The New York Knicks by no means are in an economic crunch or crises. Their owners who also own Cablevision have no worries about losing money because they will continue to collect monthly cable bills as well as their "Optimium Triple Play" bills from their many customers. It's interesting to note the fact that the Knicks are trying to shed a lot of their salary and get under the cap by the 2010 season. The players who are considered "dead weight" are all but almost gone and they're looking towards the future right now. Ironically while the economy is in the trash they are getting rid of bad contracts and they are willing to add contracts in a few years when the economy will possibly be back to normal again. By then the Knicks will have saved plenty of money and will be looking to spend more at the right time. This also seems to be the route most people are taking now by hording money and wait out the recession until better says are upon us. This subtle idea caught me by surprise one time when I was flipping through the channels and I saw some of their game. This might not be the real reason for the Knicks to be getting rid of their long term contracts, but it's just a thought.

Yank's Dive Right into Sabathia Pool

The New York Yankees have finally reached an agreement with CC Sabathia, after weeks of speculation and waiting to see if he'd accept the offer. The Yankees missed the playoffs this past season for the first time in 15 years and they needed some new faces to make fans forget those eroding pieces who failed to deliver this past year. The Yankees standpoint this year has been completely different then from that in years past. They had to show CC that they are ready to move on and start pulling in World Series especially with the plenty of offers that Sabathia was receiving from other teams. The economy is not affecting the Yankees spending especially with them looking to add more free agents which will cost a lot more dollars. The Yankees figure to be players for a first baseman, and the are in the hunt for Mark Texiera. He will most likely cost over $100 million further explaining that the Yankees have no limit. Being part of the big market and on the back cover of all the sports papers will make a team like this spend the big bucks.

The Dawn of Free Agency

Free agency has just begun and both New York teams figure to be big players especially being from the big market. With the Mets signing of Fransisco Rodriguez, they're trying to show the fans that they are still in win-now mode and that they're looking to rebuild the bullpen on the fly. Omar Minaya did a good job and waiting patiently while no other team made an offer to Rodriguez. By doing this, Minaya didn't have to spend as much as the Wilpon's money as originally thought which for him is definitely a plus in this economic crunch. Rodriguez's original price was going to be around the 5 year $75 million range but was obviously brought down to a more attainable level. The Mets marketed their pitch to Rodriguez in a decent manner because both sides seemed to be fit for each other once they lost Billy Wagner for the season. The fact that the Mets were able to save a lot of money by holding off on a deal with Rodriguez enables them to search for another bona fide closer as a setup man or perhaps another starter. The Mets also marketed to Rodriguez that they have a good chance of winning with him despite the last two collapses. Rodriguez is coming off one of the best seasons a closer has ever had so only time will tell if they made the right move.

Thanksgiving Day Blunder

I'm sure most football fans in the country, if not all, know that are at least always two games on Thanksgiving. Both Detroit and Dallas host their annual games but more recently there has been an addition of a third game. This game hasn't gotten much publicity especially since it's played on the NFL network. Yes, that NFL network which has been blacked out to subscribers of Cablevision, Time Warner and Comcast. The game that was on this year, Cardinals vs. Eagles, doesn't really matter a whole lot to me, but it's entertainment when the family is over and I would have like to have seen some of the game. Unfortunately, we are Cablevision subscribers and are not able to view the game unless we all go out to a bar or something along those lines. The fact that one of the big events on Thanksgiving is sitting around watching football, but at the same time we're not able to see one of the games because of cable disputes. For the sake of the NFL Network as well as the cable companies, they need to try to resolve this issue because there is a lot of revenue being lost here.