Stern: "I did it my way!"

David Stern with the Rookies of 2012

David Stern served the NBA at the very highest level over nearly 30 years as Commissioner and some 48 years of association with league.  His ability to impact the NBA had never been contemplated before in the realm of professional sports. Without a doubt, he will retire as the greatest commissioner in league history and, I believe, the best leader and commissioner in the history of any sport at any level on any continent.  Simply put, Stern is a visionary.  He fully recognized the potential and future growth of cable TV, long before any other executive - sans Ted Turner - even thought about it.  Stern had the foresight to see where the rights fees for the league would increase under deals cultivated over decades with Turner and ESPN. He also had the vision to bring the NBA to a global audience through live NBA events and via every communications medium and that paid off in spades after '92 when the game impacted a truly global talent pool of players. 

Stern saw labor relations as an opportunity to mold the league and partner with the players to share in the future prosperity of businesses revolving around the game. All the while, Stern had the vision and the collective bargaining acumen to make the league as attractive in Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio and Utah as it was in LA, Boston, New York or Chicago. As the league became more and more competitive, the labor deal was tweaked to take the NBA to an even better place for incoming rookies and proven veteran players who wanted to sign them in true free agency.

Labor - check.

International growth - check.

Player programs - check

Building assets, protecting intellectual property, researching and acting on all forms of new technology, nurturing and developing the women's game, then even further development of the NBA talent pool - check, check and check.

From there, the canvas was only half completed, as Stern focused mightily on player relations, player programs, grassroots programs, community relations initiatives that attacked the issues everyone else was afraid to even speak of. A league , supposedly, "too" black and "too" driven by players who were experimenting with illegal substances (a.k.a. the "recreational" drugs such as cocaine and marijuana became the league with the first anti-drug program and real player development program. The HIV/AIDS epidemic? Earvin "Magic" Johnson had the confidence to walk up to a podium in 1991 and Stern was at his side right up to this very day when he supports the "right" things and helps provide a lofty pulpit to fight the HIV virus, or the SARS epidemic; the trials of education and high school drop-out rates; and a whole slew of community relations programs, many put together to counter a natural disaster (Katrina; Earthquake in Haiti; or whatever the cause of the day might've been). It was truly amazing to see him, willing to turn an entire organization on a dime and lead a league right into a controversial issue that no sports league would even touch.

Community Relations - check.

The NBA's darkest days were when Stern stood up and faced the music and the critics, with that criticism sometimes coming from the very teams he was leading towards financial stability, prosperity and, ultimately, solid ground. Tough decisions, like terminating the player contract for Michael Ray Richardson might've actually saved the man's life. Whether it was an amped up drug scandal in Phoenix, a 'third strike and you're out' anti-drug suspension of John Lucas or - the unfathomable, the Tim Donaghy criminal activity of a ref, Stern stood up and guided the league through rough waters. He even reversed courses at a 180-degree turn, when necessary such as when the rules and three-point line took steps in equally opposite directions or, god forbid, when the NBA experimented with a brand new synthetic basketball that just didn't cut it on the court as it cut the finger tips of every point guard in the league.

Confronting crisis - check

Willingness to correct course and say, "we screwed up." - check.

David Stern demands the very best from those who report to him and he expects the highest levels of performance wrought by hard work, long hours and attention to detail.  All the while, he wanted the NBA to have the touch of a family affair where those who sought the coolness, the hipness of the game were welcomed with open arms. Stern didn't have to say it, because he lived it and he did it - everyday. 

David's total dedication to the NBA and his job, his willingness to face the music and confront the unfathomable challenges or news; that was when he served the league at his best and he did it every time - he shot .999%.  Now, David isn't perfect, and God knows, he could light you up in a manner second to none, but, put simply, the guy is damn good. He demands the very best and he gave his very best each and every day.  I still can't figure out where he got the energy while we were all touring the world and spreading the NBA basketball gospel. We'd be dead tired, but he would lead the charge!  You just couldn't out-work David.

I wish Commissioner David Stern a very enjoyable and productive transition time to fully pass the torch to Adam Silver. Adam will do very, very well.  David will demand it of him.

For more coverage tonight and all day on Friday, be sure to visit: http://www.digitalsportsdesk.com/New/nba.html

DigitalSportsDesk.com on the (Near) Perfect NBA Playoff Game

NBA Refs and Rajon Rondo Redeemed Themselves

BOSTON - MAY 6, 2012 -  A funny thing happened at an NBA Playoff game this weekend and it wasn't even noticed.  No, it wasn't Oklahoma City's impressive sweep over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks or the San Antonio Spurs handling of the formidable Utah Jazz in four straight games. It wasn't accounting firm Ernst & Young screwing up the ballot count for the NBA's Most Improved Player award nor the impressive play of David West for the Indiana Pacers. What happened this weekend went unreported, un-posted, un-blogged, un-tweeted.  One of the greatest feats in NBA Playoff history and the story never even made the ESPN highlight reel.

So what the hell happened?

On Friday night at the TD Boston Garden in front of a sellout crowd of 18,624 which included a heavy dose of NBA brass, the officiating crew of #10 Ron Garretson, #13 Monty McCutchen and #33 Zach Zarba called a (near) perfect game.  

Every referee worth his whistle swears the perfect game in an unattainable goal.  At the highest level of basketball, an official doesn't stand a chance of getting them all right because the players are just too big, too quick, too strong.  They are so talented and athletic, they're just too everything.  They play so far above the rim and they can contort their bodies in midair to avoid contact or collision that the naked eyes can't compute the optical illusion occurring before them.  The NBA game cannot be compared to hoops at any other level.  It's even more impossible to compare officiating.  To the novice fans, comparing NBA ball to college basketball or, even Euroleague Basketball, is worse than trying to compare apples and oranges or The Rolling Stones to The Who to The Beatles.  It just can't be done. 

As the red carpet was rolled out on Friday, plush with NBA Commissioner David Stern seated near his trusty deputy, Adam Silver, they both witnessed the feat alongside a bonafide CNN anchorman, John King, who could've broke into programming to report the news.  However, not a single news bulletin, nor a word of congratulations was spoken to the men ultimately responsible for how their game is called.  In the post-game press conferences, nobody brought up the subject of officiating. There were no kind words. No headlines written.  World Series perfectionist Don Larson's name never came up when the Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 90-84, in overtime, and the NBA registered the best officiated game of the year.  It might've been the best officiated game of the the century.

An unofficial review of the game brought about four or five "possible" missed calls or miscues, none of them even close to being significant.  The only blip on the screen was a moment when Boston Coach Doc Rivers sauntered way out onto the court but he wasn't arguing a call and the referring crew let it go, as they should. Rivers was trying to get the attention of his point guard Rajon Rondo who was not on the same page as his coach's playbook required when he returned to play in Game 3 after being suspended for a single playoff date for bumping NBA ref Marc Davis in Game 1 of the series.  After that contest, there was quite a bit of focus on the officiating and, after the game, there was a constant banter on the steps the NBA would take to discipline Rondo for his obvious disregard of the sacred personal space around an official.

Rightfully so, the NBA suspended Rondo a single game for his indiscretion but Avery Bradley, Sasha Pavlovic, Keyon Dooling and Marquis Daniels all stepped up quite nicely for the Celtics as they tied the series 1-1 with an 87-80 win over the Hawks at Atlanta. The Celtics' win brought the series to Boston for the "so-called" pivotal Game 3 where the stakes were raised so high, the people of Kentucky would start singing "My Old Kentucky Home." The game was important and the players delivered a hard-fought, entertaining, defensive chess match that saw Boston hold Atlanta to 38-percent shooting from the field and 20-percent from three-point land. Much of that defensive intensity is credited to the amazing play of Kevin Garnett who has played with the youthful exuberance of the high schooler who entered the league in 1995. While Garnett, switched to center after teammate Jermaine O'Neal went down to injury and had season-ending surgery on his left wrist in March.

Out on Daniels the perimeter where real defense happens in game of basketball, Bradley has become the stopper.  Complemented by the speedy Rondo, the consistent Paul Pierce, the hard-working and the deep bench of, Dooling, Mickael Pietrus and important minutes being played by Ray Allen, now as a reserve the past two games, Bradley has become the difference maker for the Boston Celtics as they plot their way through the 2012 NBA Playoffs with the window of opportunity showing a shade pulled three-quarters of the way down.  This might be it for this era of Celtics basketball and the NBA's cut-down season provides an opportunity to hang banner No. 18 in the rafters of TD Boston Garden.

In this year when NCAA officiating was a downright disgrace to the game and when NBA bad boy Metta World Peace earned a seven-game suspension for nearly decapitating Oklahoma's James Harden, the whistle blowers are always the visiting team. It was once said that officiating is the only profession in the world where the ultimate compliment is silence. That is certainly true. No news is good news when the refs are escorted off the court by a security detail that rivals the US Secret Service presence in a Colombian strip joint. The attention brought upon NBA referees in the past five or six years largely revolved around the criminal activities of one Tim Donoghy and the sniping by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and his "couldn't run a Dairy Queen viewpoint of the dedicated group of professional refs who call the game at the very highest level.  They run, they pivot, they get screened by giants on the court, they peek around bodies, scramble for better position, work their rotations all in an attempt to "just get it right."  Then, they have their judgements reviewed by partisan television commentators who make their references from observing 12 high-definition television cameras situated so far away from the court, they create bad angles and optical illusions which often prompt erroneous reporting or legions of fans scowling when the replays are shown on jumbo in-arena screens.

On Friday night, the crew of Garretson, McCutcheon and Zarba, a young rising superstar official, got it right.  No one noticed, but that's alright.  They reviewed the game themselves and probably second-guessed a judgement call or two.  They showered, dressed, then left the building without so much as a pat on the back or a single cheer from the fans.

Only the funeral directors, morticians and undertakers could relate.

Terry Lyons does The Blog at TerryLyons.com and is editor in chief of DigitalSportsDesk.com (@DigSportsDesk).  His work is also featured in the Huffington Post collection of sports columns.

Digital Sports Desk

Check out the latest column by TERRY LYONS @DigSportsDesk (follow on Twitter) --

It's October 4th: Do you know where your NBA is?

NBA Commissioner David Stern

OCTOBER 4 - Visit DigitalSportsDesk.com - There is something deep inside the psyche of the human mind that likes, or more exactly, wants to tie things up into nice packages.  That attribute is more often affiliated with "Type A" personalities than with the masses, but maybe most reporters and their tv editors or headline writers are, indeed, "Type A's" themselves.  Such is the case when media reports flow from the on-going NBA labor negotiations, now in the 96th day of lockout mode but years into the process of dividing billions of dollars between NBA players and team owners in a system long out of whack and even longer Gerry-rigged for the deal of the day.

Quite simply, it is always overlooked that the problem still remains that the deal of the day in 2005 or 1998 became the deal for the decade and the delivery system itself has become the real problem.

All day long media reports will flame the fires of a negotiating session to take place today at high Noon, not long after the NBA Commissioner, David Stern, his outside counsel and legal staff meet with a group of team owners who are trying to negotiate their way to a 50-50 split of the revenue generated by the sport of pro basketball.  The NBA Players Association, headed by executive director Billy Hunter, his outside counsel and legal staff, along with dozens of professional basketball players will get together around 10:30am to prepare for that Noon meeting at the O.K. Corral luxury hotel that has been reserved, along with coffee, tea and cases of Diet Coke to allow the commissioner and his fellow negotiators enough caffeine to ingest until night falls and they disembark from the meetings, without real progress, sour-faced again and again.

The media feed the frenzy.  They try to transcribe the confusing legalese and new-fangled labor relations descriptions for maximum salary levels clamped on teams, superstar players, veteran free agent players, in-coming rookie players and everyone in between. Terms like "hard" cap or "soft" cap or "Flex" cap, "Base year compensation" (and even once, the translation of "Basure") get volleyed around as though they have some significant meaning in the world of sports finance.  But, at the end of the day, there is a very large number that is actually the only number that matters.  It is the number of dollars to be paid by NBA team owners to the entire group of players.  The owners only wish they could write one check and dump it on Hunter's doorstep to leave him with the problem of how to divide the purse.

Somehow, that fact -- the very root of the issue -- is not often surfaced because the smaller pieces of the puzzle and the delivery mechanism have long become the sticking point for the negotiation.  Just how will the money be divided? How can the 30 NBA clubs remain competitive within the system? How will the agents react to the finer points of the negotiations? Everyone manipulates the discussion to try to gain an advantage, and not always for their cause or in the best interest of their clients, but rather, for themselves.

Reports leak from within the negotiating room, most regularly from someone backstabbing Stern through Yahoo Sports.  Apparently a few of the NBA's newest team owners are pushing for better returns of their $400-million plus investments. They feel more of a sense of urgency than their more established peers who got in with ground-floor franchise investments to see their values soar to unimaginable heights. They paid Muggsy Bogues money and, years later, it was Yao Ming money.  They celebrated with the commissioner and they all rejoiced. But, that was once upon a time.

Along came Mark Cuban and he dared question the authority.

Before Cuban struck internet gold with broadcast.com being gobbled-up by some Yahoo who paid billions for something that had the shelf-life of a Poloroid camera, there were whacky team owners, for sure.  Donald Sterling of the San Diego/LA Clippers, Cleveland's Ted Stepien, and Charlotte/New Orleans' George Shinn to name a few.  They were mocked and chastised by media, team executives and their co-owners if they dared to question the system or speak a word of negativity.  But as the older generation of NBA team owners passed the torch (Cleveland's Gund brothers, Phoenix's Jerry Colangelo) or passed away (Washington's Abe Pollin, Detroit's Bill Davidson, Utah's Larry Miller), the vibe began to change within the ranks of ownership and scrutiny fell upon the Commissioner and NBA league office like never before.

The sweetheart deal of 2005 that media once reported as a Stern TKO on Hunter had become a one-sided 57-percent of revenue debacle for the NBA owners of the year 2011.  Six years and a worldwide financial meltdown will do that, you know?

The new investors within the NBA ownership ranks, mostly all of them listed on the Forbes 400, want a system that provides their basketball LLCs with a profit or at least the chance of making one if they don't screw up and guarantee 10 or, God forbid, 17-millions of dollars to a Stephon Marbury, Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Eddy Curry, Michael Redd or Andrei Kirilenko, all guaranteed, of course, under the collective bargaining agreement they attempt to alter.  But, to date, there have not been reports or proclamations to blow-up the entire system and start over.  Maybe the maximum team salary system, and all of the thousands of Bird-brained exceptions needs to fly to coop.  Once they seemed like a good idea, a suggestion that was made in a meeting held in 1980-something. Maybe the free agent spending by Stepien that provoked such a system can some way be regulated to allow for free agent movement without dire consequences for small market teams or clubs whose players suffer major injuries?

What would that new system look like?  Maybe Mark Cuban or Robert Sarver have the answer and they haven't spoken up.  They have the answers to everything else, so let's hear it, eh?  Or maybe, the ultra-silent Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats can share some insight from labor negotiations of the past where Jordan's agent, David Falk, had the union by its coat tails.

Maybe they can create 12 salary slots per team, 11 at different pay scales and one that covers the 12th-to-14th/15th man?  On the LA Lakers, Kobe would get the top slot, Pau would get #2, and so on.  If you change teams, you accept a slot - either higher, equal or lower than the slot you have?  Trades would have to be for even money and even slots.  Plain and simple.  And, yes, that would go down as a "hard cap" and a "blood issue" in the negotiating room, so it wouldn't fly for Hunter, his players or their agents.

Maybe "max" contracts can only be provided to players who have at least two championship rings?  Maybe a player contract is guaranteed for a year or two, but it is converted to a front office/player development job if the player is injured and can no longer perform?  How about starting all over with a 60-game season, and everyone's contract cut by a third?  Every suggestion would get laughed out of the room, yet every suggestion addresses the major issues that face the league today; Ticket prices too high, too many games for ticket buyers to attend/too long a season and so on.

So, the big meeting of October 4th, a day after training camps were scheduled to begin, becomes the new focal point.  The "smaller" meeting yesterday was to "set the table" for the meeting du jour. The commissioner noted the exact times, 10:30am and Noon "sharp," he said. If they break early, "it will be bad."  If it breaks later in the day "not as bad."  Why?

"It can't end tomorrow.  There is a long negotiation ahead of us because there are, literally, hundreds of other issues that haven't been addressed yet, the so-called B-level issues," said Adam Silver, Stern's deputy commissioner.

The Davos of the Sports World ...

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts -- In the 1970s and ‘80s, an investment firm named “E.F. Hutton” used a catchy ad slogan to blanket the television airwaves and promote their stock brokerage house.

“When E.F. Hutton talks,” said the advertisement, “People listen.” The campaign was tremendous, always depict two well-dressed, wealthy and successful businessmen whispering privately in a public setting. When the catch phrase was delivered, the world around them would stop, and everyone would lean in to hear the financial advice.

Well, in 2009, I can say: “When Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey talks, people in the sports world listen; When NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver talks, people in the sports world listen; When Toronto Maple Leafs President and GM Brian Burke talks, people in the sports world listen; When Dallas Mavericks team owner and co-founder of HDNet Mark Cuban talks, people in the sports world better listen very closely.

And, to describe the many other highlights of the day, I have to paraphrase a well-known line, courtesy of Louisville Coach Rick Pitino when he lamented about his tenure with the Boston Celtics: “Jonathan Kraft just walked through the door and spoke about his experiences running the New England Patriots and wonderful Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place, Sonny Vaccaro walked through the door and shared his experiences in college athletics, John Walsh, the EVP and Executive editor of ESPN and the ESPN Internet Group walked through the door and provided insight into the evolving value of ‘new’ media in the sports world, Turner Sports President and President of Turner Broadcasting Sales David Levy walked through the door and shared his viewpoint on the multi-media empire being built by Turner Broadcasting on the omni-present Peachtree Lanes, Avenues, Streets via the halls of TNT, CNN, CNN International, Headline News, NBA TV, PGATour.com and TBS, among many others.”

Media members such as ESPN’s Mark Stein, Ric Bucher and Henry Abbott provided their excellent skills as panel moderators. Bob Ryan and Shira Springer of the Boston Globe complemented them nicely. (Springer was simply marvelous in her role of moderating the most interesting panel of the day with Silver, Levy, Walsh and NHL Chief Operating Officer John Collins.)

Comcast SportsNet play-by-play man Mike Gorman moderated a discussion on the globalization of sports, during which Tim Romani, the President and CEO of ICON Venue Group spoke of the many opportunities ahead in the growing global world of new sports venues (see 02 Arenas in London and Berlin and a host of new buildings being designed in China). They were joined by adidas sports licensing President David Baxter.

Like Stephen Bishop wrote and sang in 1977, “I could go on and on.”

The agenda for the 2009 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was jam-packed and right on target. This third annual symposium was held March 7 at MIT’s amazing Stata Center on the campus of one of the world’s greatest institutes of higher learning. Over 450 people attended, and that didn’t include some 50 media members and a host of panelists and business school organizers, who all deserve credit for staging a modern day “think-a-thon” for sports executives.

Now for the fun part. As serious as the agenda topics and state of affairs in the world economy indicate to one, the sports symposium was a downright hysterical blast. It’s “Dork-a-Palooza,” coined the legend of all sports bloggers Bill Simmons, who was once just “the Boston Sports Guy” on a pioneering Internet site called Digital City Boston. Simmons is now the “one and only “Sports Guy” on ESPN’s entertaining Page 2, but I prefer to call Simmons “the Sugerhill Gang of sports bloggers.”

Simmons participated in one of the first panel discussions of the day, entitled “Evolution of the Fan Experience.” His viewpoint was right on the money, as usual, when he said, “The biggest issue facing sports is ticket prices. Now, with a 55-inch SONY Plasma and High Def, I can stay at home and have a better experience.”

Burke, the venerable NHL sage, opened up the session stating, “I’m not in the hockey business, I’m in the entertainment business. Once the ticket taker tears the fan’s ticket, my job is to deliver. I know I can’t always base my franchise on winning, because over 30 years, I’m going to go .500. But we’re going to have a G_d -D_ mn entertaining product. We fight. We lead the league in fighting, except we came in second once in Anaheim.

“I believe in stars,” Burke continued. “I want the best players, the names to use in our marketing. We drive content and we assault the consumers on the airwaves with features and news for talk radio. It’s all about providing good content and news for the media. All kinds of media, especially on-line.”

Sean O’Brien, the lead producer of the NBA LIVE line from EA Sports, topped-off the panel with his savvy vision and creative direction behind the wildly popular video game and its role with fans and sports.

The challenging future for traditional media was the topic for a panel entitled, “Media and the Fanatic: The Evolving Value of New Media in Sports. The NBA’s Adam Silver spoke eloquently on the challenges facing all sports. TV ratings can be up and more people watching, but the very nature of sports has changed and the days of fans tuning in for a full two-or-three hour game broadcast might be over, indicated Silver. “What we haven’t done well is master the interactive technology of the screen, he said, noting that there are huge opportunities ahead for the right blend of TV, Internet, stats and interactive devices. “We have to go way beyond text messaging.”

When the agenda turned into the homestretch, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban stepped up to the stage and enjoyed a great give and take with ESPN’s resident stat geek John Hollinger, the two arguing over who got the best of the Jason Kidd-Devin Harris trade. Cuban was candid as always and spoke of the many basketball analytic tools his club utilizes.

“They’re all tools, like any other tools,” said Cuban. “And, the goal is to use every tool to build a team to win the championship. Now we have eight years of data.”

Asked what he found to be the most difficult task of his ownership history with the Mavericks, Cuban replied without hesitation, “The hardest part of owning a franchise is hiring a coach. Period -- end of story. “

Cuban added that he tried to utilize analytics in his vetting of coaching candidates but found the process “all qualitative” while noting that current Mavs Coach Rick Carlisle did rise to the “top of the list” when the Mavericks stat crunchers analyzed the percentage of time Carlisle used the ‘best lineup.”

Mike Zarren, the Boston Celtics’ Assistant Executive Director of Basketball Operations and Associate Counsel, added some great insight on the game that flowed freely and quickly after we wrote down his lengthy title. “Communication skills are more important than the stats. The coaches are pretty competitive and they look for any advantages,” said Zarren.

Explaining how it might work, the panel agreed that there might be 20 ideas to track statistically. Then, maybe 12 of those turn out to be good or great ideas. The coaches incorporate eight into a practice session (and during the NBA season, there are a limited number of in-depth practice sessions). The players might be able to absorb four of the eight things that were put into practice and maybe two of those four actually make it to a game.

Morey, the dean of the NBA basketball analytic tribe, cracked up the audience when he quipped, “Well, I’m trying not to say anything.” Morey’s joke underlined the fact that the ultra-competitive world of the NBA made each club keep its basketball analytic success stories very close to the vest. “Everyone is looking for the secret sauce,” was the catch phrase of the day as Cuban aptly put it.

Cuban finished with a great point for the MIT Sloan School of management students to ponder when he asked, “What’s next? That’s the important thing to focus on. Alternative sports might provide opportunity. Maybe event recognition in video? We’re all looking for the new idea.”

Other quick hits included:

• “The least valuable data in basketball is the boxscore,” said Cuban.
• “I code a lot in “R,” said Zarren (http://www.r-project.org/)
• “The wages of wins was the dumbest data,” added Cuban.
• “Dork-a-palooza, baby,” exclaimed Cuban to an appreciative crowd of MIT business degree candidates.

The day concluded with ESPN the Magazine’s Ric Bucher moderating a panel discussion on the “Value of Icon Players.” Boston Celtics All-Star Ray Allen stole the show as he joined the NHL’s Executive VP of Marketing Brian Jennings, WNBA Los Angeles Sparks co-owner Carla Christofferson and Greg Via, the Global Director of Sports Marketing for the Gillette Company.

Allen openly auditioned for a future role alongside the prestigious stable of endorsees for Gillette company, hoping to join golfer Tiger Woods, European football star Thierry Henry and tennis icon Roger Federer. Allen coyly stroked his clean-shaven face and shiny clean-shaven head as he shook hands with Via.

The day was done. A+ all around. And may I suggest that each and every panelist earned an all-expenses paid trip to Davos for next year’s World Economic Forum, courtesy of Mark Cuban.


For additional information on the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, staged by the MIT Sloan School of Management, please visit:
http://www.sloansportsconference.com/2009

Some additional media reports on the conference can be found at:

Ken Berger, CBS Sports.com
http://www.cbssports.com/nba/story/11471280/2

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain Dealer & Cleveland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/03/nba_insider_going_way_beyond_t.html

Sal Baxamusa, The Hardball Times
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/dorkapalooza-2009-the-sports-analytics-conference-at-mit/

Brittany Sauser, MIT Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/23084/?a=f

Henry Abbott, ESPN.com – TrueHoop
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-289/Trickle-Down-Enthusiasm-.html

Matt Sisson, Baseball Daily Digest
http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/blogs/category/matt-sisson/


NOTE: Special thanks go out to Jessica Gelman, the co-organizer of the seminar along with Daryl Morey. Also, a high five to Patricia Favreau of the MIT communications, media relations and public relations staff, along with her colleagues and the MIT staff volunteers and student organizers who did a hell of job and staged a first class event

In Daryl We Trust ...

The GLOBALIZATION of Sports, the Evolution of the Fan Experience, Basketball Analytics, Careers in Sports, Talent Identification, The Business of College Sports... oh my. What an agenda!

This weekend, March 7 to be exact, the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference will take place in Boston. The third annual event promises to be the best ever. Stay tuned for an update on The Blog @ TerryLyons.com.


See the official press release:

Cambridge, Mass., February 11, 2009 – As sports leagues and franchises face pressure to drive and sustain profitability during the economic downturn, industry leaders are increasingly turning to techniques from the corporate business world such as statistics, analytics, and modeling techniques. On March 7, 2009, the Third Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference will bring together executives from major U.S. professional leagues, academics, researchers and MBA students to discuss evolving analytic trends in sports management. Organized by the MIT Sloan Entertainment, Media & Sports Club, the conference will be held at the Stata Center on the MIT campus from 8am to 6:30pm.

Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, and Jessica Gelman, the Kraft Sports Group and New England Patriots director of New Business Development and Operational Initiatives, are co-chairing the conference. Speakers will include:

* Ray Allen, Boston Celtics All-Star guard
* Mark Cuban, Dallas Mavericks owner
* Adam Silver, NBA deputy commissioner
* Brian Burke, president & general manager, Toronto Maple Leafs
* Mark Waller, SVP sales & marketing, NFL
* Casey Wasserman, chairman & CEO, Wasserman Media Group
* Steve Pagliuca, managing partner, Boston Celtics and Bain Capital
* Bill Simmons, columnist, ESPN
* Jeff Van Gundy, NBA analyst, ESPN

“As a leader in analysis, technology, and business innovation, MIT is ideal to host the event each year,” says Morey, who is also an alumnus of and has taught sports analytics at MIT Sloan. “With the support of MIT administration and student leadership, the conference has become the leading venue to discuss this important trend in sports.”

Conference panels will tackle timely topics. Executives will discuss what steps and strategies they are taking to adjust to the current economic downturn in, among other areas, ticketing, salaries and advertising.

A globalization panel will look at the business opportunities that international markets offer to the sports industry in areas such as merchandising, media, and partnership/sponsorship.

“Evolution of the Fan Experience” will look at how new technology, game innovations, and customer initiatives are taking the fan experience to the next level.

And, while Boston has emerged as a championship town with the “team-first” Patriots, a Celtics team with three hall of fame hopefuls, and a Red Sox team whose biggest bat overstayed his welcome, it begs the question as to how much is team chemistry worth and can it be taught or even measured? A “Team Chemistry” panel will offer perspectives from professionals who deal with these issues every day.

Last year’s sold-out conference was attended by more than 350 industry leaders and students. Past speakers have included Wyc Grousbeck, CEO and managing partner of the Boston Celtics; Bill James, senior advisor to the Boston Red Sox; Bill Polian, president, Indianapolis Colts; and sportswriter Peter Gammons.

“In the current economic climate, where spending by fans and sponsors is increasingly discretionary, an even higher premium is placed on winning on the field and on the quality of the fan experience. Innovation and differentiation are imperative,” explains Gelman. “On March 7, the people driving change in sports will be at MIT Sloan to share their perspectives.”

This year’s sponsors are:

* The Parthenon Group, a boutique provider of sports industry management consulting: www.parthenon.com
* yOOnew, the world’s first futures exchange for event tickets – designed to help consumers save money and time when buying and selling tickets: www.yoonew.com
* SPARQ, whose mission is to enable every athlete to reach his or her potential using natural and analytically-driven training methods: www.sparqtraining.com
* Adidas, the global leader in the sporting goods industry with sports brands built on a passion for sports and a sporting lifestyle: www.adidas.com
* ESPN, the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring a broad portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities: espn.go.com