Odds & Ends: Dollars & Cents

It's belated, but a tip of the hat to the Glazer family for embracing the NFL's new 85% blackout threshhold. As I wrote before, it was hardly a concession to the fans from the league, but the Glazers made the right choice in making it as easy as possible for their games to be televised, instead of opting for a higher threshhold that might have encouraged a few more fans to buy tickets.

Meanwhile, the family's other team, Manchester United, remains the world's most valuable franchise at $2.23 billion, according to Forbes. Ho-hum. It makes the Bucs' sinking value (now $981 million) an easy pill to swallow.

As for the $12 million Hillsborough County wants back from the Bucs, you won't find any Glazer sympathizers in Daniel Ruth's family.

In baseball-land, the Yankees are the sport's most valuable team ($1.85 billion) and Derek Jeter is one of its richest stars. Which produces little surprise when his new Tampa home is valued at $12.3 million, nearly twice as much as any other home in the city.

Finally, one addition to the Stadium Subsidy post from Tuesday: the Cubbies are getting closer and closer to a little action too. Here's an update, free of opinion (well, my opinion at least).

Hank Steinbrenner Calls Out Jeter Mansion

Continuing in his father's footsteps of criticizing his team, Hank Steinbrenner suggested Monday that some of the Yankees players "celebrated too much last year" and they were "too busy building mansions and doing other things and not concentrating on winning."

Although he denied the slight was aimed at Derek Jeter, the team captain dominated headlines in both New York and Tampa when he built his 30,000-square-foot home on Davis Islands (with fence).

Great Wall (and House) of Jeter is Complete!

The Tampa Tribune reports Derek Jeter's slightly-controversial waterfront mansion is done:

"After more than a year in the making, the House That Derek Jeter Built, the biggest home in the county, is finished. On Wednesday, Tampa's building department issued a certificate of occupancy for the famed Yankee shortstop who calls Tampa his permanent home."

The best line of the story is, "Jeter is in town this week for his charity golf tournament, but it was unknown if he's staying at the new waterfront home or if he's staying in his quaint $1 million home in Avila."

Social Media Becoming Important Negotiating Tool

If one needs any evidence of how social media can spread rumors of imminent signings, look no further than the Jon Gruden-to-University of Miami incident from Sunday night. It's broken down well here by Sports by Brooks.

Teams, players, coaches, and agents have always negotiated through the media. (See Yankees vs. Jeter) And none of those parties is afraid to drop a bad tip, either, to create leverage.

But now, with the growth of social media, the significance of these tactics have grown exponentially. The second a middling reporter (myself included) posts something remotely controversial or surprising, Pandora's Box has been opened and there's no turning back.

It goes to show that nowadays, when there is smoke, there may not necessarily be fire.

A Few Can't-Miss Links

I'm on the road this week, so passing along some can't-miss links from the sports vs. news world:

Didn't need to tell Rays or Red Sox fans this, but apparently, criminals like to wear Yankees hats. In the words of Rays fan and 10 News Producer Matt Sinn after Derek Jeter's phantom hit-by-pitch Wednesday night, "cheaters and steroid users wear them." ZING!

And an aspiring Ph.D. candidate in New York penned a paper that indicates crowded stadiums help a team score more, and thus win more. I don't think I believe it, but the author said a 48 percent increase in attendance means an extra run per game for the home team. So an entire season of sellouts would have helped the Rays win an extra four games. Discuss amongst yourselves.

And I've said before the Bucs wouldn't have attendance problems if their fans cared as much as fans of Manchester United, the Glazer family's other team. Here's a view of the Bucs situation from across the pond (hint: it's pessimistic).

Bucs Blackout Confirmed; Other Thursday Tidbits

Just got a press release from the Bucs regarding their first regular season blackout of the season:

In accordance with NFL guidelines, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers home game against the Cleveland Browns this Sunday, September 12, will not be televised in a 75-mile radius of the Tampa metropolitan area. NFL rules require host teams to declare their sellout status no later than 72 hours prior to kickoff, at which time the public is notified that a television blackout will occur if remaining tickets have not been sold.

This will be the third blackout of the season if you include the team's two preseason games, but indications are its next game - at home against Pittsburgh on Sept. 25 - is selling better.

In other news, Tim Tebow's first 24 hours on Twitter netted more than 22 thousand new followers. For those of you who don't tweet, that's an astonishing amount (especially for a third-string QB). It's also an astonishing amount of marketing value.

And since George Steinbrenner's passing, Derek Jeter remains the most influencial member of the Yankees residing in Tampa. Now, it seems he's ready to move full-time. His NYC bachelor pad is on the market for a whopping $20 million. That should help pay for the Great Wall of Jeter going up on Tampa's Davis Islands.

Pitchman Wants "Great Wall of Jeter" Too

He wanted a six-foot privacy wall like his Davis Islands neighbor, Derek Jeter, so badly, Anthony Sullivan copied his request for a code variance word-for-word. Unfortunately for Billy Mays' former partner on the TV show "Pitchmen," the city's Variance Review Board may not see him in the same light.

For more, continue reading here.

Derek Jeter can go ahead with plans to build a six-foot concrete and wrought-iron wall around his Davis Islands mansion after a City of Tampa board unanimously voted (7-0) to provide him an exception to city code, which limits solid structures to just three feet.

The home has drawn the ire of his future neighbors, many of whom spoke out against the exemption request.

For more, continue here: http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111361

Yankees Star Wants to Build "Great Wall of Jeter"

Derek Jeter's attempt to build an outfield-sized wall around his new 30,000-plus-sq. ft. Davis Islands home has, well, run into a bit of a wall.

The Yankees star is looking for an exception to the city's three-foot-tall limit on solid walls, citing privacy and security issues at the waterfront mansion. His request for a six-foot-tall concrete and wrought-iron fence will go before Tampa's Variance Review Board on Tuesday, August 11.

For more, continue here: http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=111092