Wall Street Hits Main Street at the Football Stadium

We have heard all the stories about how problems on Wall Street is having a negative effect on the neighborhoods we live in. Just today, that story hit a little close to home. There has been a great deal of local excitement about Team Texas of the All American Football League. Recently, I interviewed several of its players and it appeared they had developed a substantive league that could become quite successful.

It was going to have decent (but not outrageous) salaries (up to $100,000 a year). It included players you could be proud of -- you had to be a college graduate to play on a team. In many respects, it was like "graduate school" for college football. You know how successful college football has been.

On March 13th, the league released the following statement:

The All American Football League (AAFL) announced today the postponement of its inaugural season until 2009. The League will continue to build upon the foundation that has been established, and will continue to discuss opportunities with potential investors.

AAFL sponsors have committed to remain on board for the 2009 season. Currently, the League has corporate partnerships with New Balance, Baden Sports and Rogers Athletic. Also still in place for the 2009 season are a national radio partnership with Touchdown Radio & SportsDay Productions, and an Internet broadcast partnership with PlayOn! Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting.

"We are so very fortunate to have built partnerships with companies who are partners in the truest sense of the word," said Keenan Davis, AAFL VP of League Operations and COO. "We sincerely appreciate their support as we progress toward our new goal of a 2009 inaugural season."

This story came from the Canadian Press:

The league's chief executive officer, Marcus Katz, said economic conditions forced the decision to scrap plans for this year.

"I invested 29 million dollars in cash to roll out the operations of the league," Katz said, adding he was owed "a lot more money" by a student loan company.

"When I told the board I would subsidize the league, that was before the bond market collapsed," Katz said.

Wall Street has not hit our neighborhoods and Main Street, but even our local football stadium.

I liked the concept and hope it is able to make a come back.

Here is a recent interview I had with Mike Pede of the league.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Not All Sports Business is Big

When most people think of sports business they think of the athletes who make tens of millions (and with multi-year contracts, hundreds of millions) of dollars, massive stadium deals, and billionaire owners. All of these things are true, but sports business doesn't end here. Underneath these obvious benchmarks of an industry are thousands of other businesses of various sizes that make up sports business.

There is the huge infrastructure of businesses that support professional athletes:

* Sports medicine. Helping athletes over come injury or even learn how to prevent many of them.

* Transportation. Airlines, buses, limos and more.

* Catering and event. Professional sports means events and there is a huge infrastructure businesses that support such.

In addition to those who support professional athletes, there are numerous companies that help those who want to reach the major leagues that depend heavily on sports dreams.

* Your local sporting goods stores.

* Clothing companies that supply uniforms.

* Numerous businesses that depend on the goodwill created by supporting a local team.

Today Allen Robinson and myself had the opportunity to interview Danny Arnold of Plex, a local company with three facilities that help in sports training and medicine. Danny's clients include professional athletes, such as Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros, Charles Woodson of the Greenbay Packers, and Shaun Rogers of the Detroit Lions. But they also include 11 and 12 year olds who dream of being great athletes or the adults in their 40s who want to live longer and better than previous generations. Each of these are a significant part of what makes up "sports business."

So the next time you want to disparage sports business as merely big business without regard to others, think about the many businesses that make a living on the quality of life hopes and big league dreams of others.

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