Game On!
The worldwide presence of the MLB almost came to a grinding halt this week as the Boston Red Sox threatened to boycott their season opener against Oakland in Japan due to a pay dispute. But this wasn’t any old pay dispute. The players weren’t interested in an increase on their $40,000 appearance fee, but rather they wanted an increase in the amount paid to their support staff who were traveling with them. The Red Sox prevailed, with their staff receiving the exact same amount as the players for the trip. [Red Sox call of Japan no-show]
Punter paying off
It’s well known that Ricky Ponting makes quite a nice living off his chosen sport of cricket. But now details have emerged about how much he actually makes off the field.The aforementioned article highlights just how marketable Australia’s captain is. As I reported last year, Ponting was recognized as the most marketable Australian in the Sweeney Sports Survey.
Brands would be jumping over backwards to get Ponting to represent their brand. Just some of the sponsors that he has includes (dollar figure in brackets):
Adidas, who have their own line of Ricky sunglasses ($150,000).
HarperCollins, who publish his ‘Captain Diaries’ each year ($100,000-$150,000).
Kookaburra Bats, who is his bat sponsor ($350,000).
It’s good news to both current and future Cricket agents that Cricket Australia is quite relaxed on allowing several individual sponsors, unlike in England where most of the image rights are retained by both the National and County Associations.
Lampard not happy at Chelsea
Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s attacking midfielder is not happy with Chelsea at the moment. The England player has under 18 months left to run on his contract, and has expressed interest in extending his stay. [Lampard frustrated about contract]
But despite the club telling him everything is going along smoothly, they are yet to get back to him, and Frank is not happy.
As Frank told the London Evening Standard:
“I’ve been approached a few times by the club saying they are going to come to me with something and they haven’t, hat means they’re saying they will have to wait until the summer and I don’t really know what that means. I said at the beginning of the season I didn’t want to talk about my contract because I wanted to concentrate on my football.”
It would be frustrating for someone in Frank’s position, who would expect to be given a new contract as he is the current captain of the club.
March Madness
As March Madness sweeps all over the US, it’s not just the players that are showcasing if they can make it in the big time- but also the coaches. As this Sports Illustrated article suggests, there are some teams who are headed for the Sweet 16 who may be suited by bigger teams they knocked out to get there. Speaking a little bit out of my depth here, and a bit gutted over USC’s first round loss, I ask you the readers to suggest who you can see being suited during the other ‘March Madness’?