Sports Biz Roundup

Sports Biz Roundup

I've been so engrossed in the Minor League Baseball logo contest that I haven't filled you in on everything else that's going on in the sports business world. Here are a couple of notes worthy of mentioning.

- The Gateway Grizzlies, one of my favorite minor league teams, are selling sponsorships on their staff shirts. G2, the low-calorie electrolyte beverage from Gatorade, has already purchased the sleeve of the shirts.

The Grizzlies previously made news when they announced that they were selling sponsorships to the players for $500. The sponsorship included name recognition on the scoreboard during the player's at-bats, the sponsor's name on the player's page on the team's Web site, and the player's jersey at the end of the year.  Barry Bonds' home run No. 762 has been found. After searching for it for months, SCP Auctions, which has auctioned many home-run balls, says it will reveal the owner of the ball at a press conference tomorrow at the ESPNZone in Denver.

- Tony Stewart's tremendous rant against Goodyear was probably the most negative PR I've ever seen an official sponsor of a brand ever receive. Stewart didn't back down the next day on his Sirius radio show. Funny thing was, right after the race, Fortune named Goodyear the world's most admired motor-vehicle parts company. Goodyear stock is actually up fractionally since Stewart's rant.

- For those looking for a way to laugh at the Eliot Spitzer fiasco and give it a little sports twist, a group of entrepreneurs at Trader Shirts have turned Manchester United into "Emperor's United" and have given the now famous Client #9, the jersey No. 9. Take a look here.

- On Monday, shares of Adidas spiked as much as 3 percent after rumors of Nike takeover talk. I can't tell you how many times this rumor has come up over the last two years. It ain't happening, folks. The folks in Germany and Oregon laugh every time it comes up -- some might even be laughing to the bank.

- Challenger, Gray & Christmas came out with their annual lost-productivity survey, claiming that March Madness office pools costs businesses "as much as $1.7 billion in wasted work time over the 16 business days of the tournament." There's no study I had to refer to besides this one. You can't do this report without putting it in context. So I ask this question: How much does everyday Web surfing by working employees, over 16 average business days, cost businesses?

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