|
MLB News
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Monday, 18 March 2013 16:05 |
|
 It has long been sought by the league, has had fits and starts, and will have large impacts if it does, or doesn’t happen. The topic is an International Draft in Major League Baseball, and according to a report in today’s SportsBusiness Journal, talks are intensifying on the subject. The reason for the focus on it is a June 1 deadline within the labor agreement reached between the MLBPA and MLB last year. Within the CBA, details of the worldwide draft spell out what occurs with, or without an international draft by the June 1 deadline.
As the CBA outlines, here’s what would happen if no joint agreement on an international draft were to happen by June 1
If a draft (or drafts) covering international amateur players does not commence in the 2013 season, and irrespective of whether the conditions set forth in I.E have been satisfied, the Office of the Commissioner may provide notice to the MLBPA that it intends to commence operation of a draft (or drafts) covering international amateur players for the 2014 season and subsequent seasons. Written notice of such intent must be provided to the MLBPA by no later than June 1, 2013, and such notice must include a detailed explanation of the rules and procedures that the Office of the Commissioner intends to use for the draft. The MLBPA may veto the commencement of a draft (or drafts) covering international amateur players for the 2014 season and subsequent seasons by providing written notice of its objection to the Office of the Commissioner by June 15, 2013.
But in speaking with MLBPA Executive Director, Michael Weiner in 2012, well in advance of the latest CBA being reached, he voiced that the union was for making it happen, but that there were difficulties in its implementation. Those difficulties are sizeable. As defined in the CBA, the following has to be addressed before an international draft can occur:
The Committee will be charged with advising the MLBPA and the Office of the Commissioner on the following matters:
1. If there is an international draft, whether international players should be part of a single worldwide draft (including players currently covered by the Rule 4 Draft) or a separate draft (or drafts).
2. The appropriate age at which international amateur players should be signed to professional contracts.
3. If there are to be multiple drafts, whether players from Puerto Rico should remain in the Rule 4 Draft or instead be part of an international draft.
4. The development of appropriate country-by-country plans for playing and development opportunities for players prior to draft eligibility, including expansion of the El Torneo Supremo.
5. The development of appropriate plans to provide undrafted or unsigned players (including players age 18 to 21) from Latin America with an opportunity to continue their development, including the creation of a new league or leagues, or the addition of centrally-operated Clubs in the Dominican Summer League (“DSL”).
6. Whether and how regulations should be put in place regarding representation of international amateur players (e.g., “independent trainers” and agents).
7. Improving the education and acculturation programs of Clubs at their international academies.
8. What safeguards should be established in relation to any signing bonus payments made to international amateur players.
9. The laws of the countries from which international players are signed and how those laws should affect the actions of the parties.
10. What actions are necessary in order to achieve the negotiation of a revised agreement between MLB and the Mexican League that allows players greater choice of where to play and promotes a fair and open system of player movement.
11. What actions are necessary in order to achieve the negotiation of revisions to the protocol agreements with the Korean Professional Baseball League, the Japanese Professional Baseball League, and the Taiwan R.O.C. League to accommodate a draft.
12. How Cuban players should be treated under an amateur talent system in light of the legal and political factors that affect their signability.
Those items are becoming more important as the season and the June 1 deadline near.
“There are plans to sit down and get serious about the negotiations this spring,” said David Prouty, MLBPA general counsel to Liz Mullen of the SBJ. “We are up against a deadline. If we don’t come up to an agreement, there will be more serious restrictions.”
As to those restrictions, as further reported by the SportsBusiness Jounal:
Without a draft deal, teams next year overspending their international signing caps by 15 percent or more will be subject to a 100 percent tax and a two-year restriction from signing any foreign amateur player to a bonus of more than $300,000. Even a 5 percent overspending by a club would limit an individual signing bonus to $500,000. Current international signing regulations assess only a 75 percent tax for less than a 5 percent overspend, building to a one-year prohibition on bonuses above $250,000 for overspending the pool by at least 15 percent.
 Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter 
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Television
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Tuesday, 12 March 2013 11:20 |
|
Every few years, the debate arises over the popularity of the World Baseball Classic. “It’s a marketing tool to grow the game globally”… “Fans outside of the U.S.A. are more passionate and that’s because in the U.S., we simply want Major League Baseball’s regular season to start so we can catch all the stars of the game”…
And while MLB Network has a large subscriber base, a large swatch of the US still doesn’t have access to it to watch. So it’s somewhat surprising that the league-owned network got a decent ratings win this past weekend.
Team USA’s win over Canada on Sunday in the Pool D elimination game of the 2013 World Baseball Classic was the most-watched non-Postseason game ever on MLB Network, averaging 760,000 viewers, up 26% from the previous high, a New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox game on October 2, 2012. The USA vs. Canada game peaked with 1.25 million viewers during the final innings, from 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. ET, which included the USA’s four-run rally in the ninth inning.
The strength of 15 World Baseball Classic game telecasts helped MLB Network to its most-watched weekend ever, drawing an average of 252,000 viewers* from Friday, March 8 through Sunday, March 10.
MLB Network’s two other 2013 World Baseball Classic game telecasts featuring Team USA are among the top five most-watched non-Postseason game telecasts in the network’s history. Friday’s Mexico vs. USA matchup averaged 673,000 viewers, the network’s second-most viewed non-Postseason game telecast, while Saturday’s USA vs. Italy game drew an average of 576,000 viewers. The Dominican Republic’s defeat of Puerto Rico on Sunday averaged 513,000 viewers, the most-viewed non-USA game telecast of the 2013 World Baseball Classic.
So, it will be interesting to see what the ratings do if Team USA makes it to the finals. After all, they’ve done no better than fourth (that was 2006). America loves a winner. If they do pull it off, it could be a game changer for not only the WBC, but MLB Network.
* All figures per Nielsen; weekend viewership includes Friday-Saturday from 6a-6a and Sunday from 6a-3a
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Sponsorships, Promotions
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Thursday, 07 March 2013 16:23 |
|
Unlike other sports, Opening Day in Major League Baseball is one of—if not the—most highly attended game for each club in the league. Hope springs eternal for all teams, and fans that have pent up energy over the long, cold winter are ready to begin thinking about the warming days of summer.
So, it’s no surprise that the one game of the year that nearly every club has little problems selling out is Opening Day. Or, that seems to be, unless you’re named the Miami Marlins.
Yes, after the massive unloading of players this past off-season, and the PR debacle that owner Jeffrey Loria unleashed, getting fans to purchase tickets hasn’t been easy. Few lined up for single-game tickets, and now, the Marlins are working a ticket promotion to at least get some fans into the new stadium, that is just coming up on its second year.
Yes, sales are so bad that the Marlins are running a promo that if you buy a ticket to Opening Day, they’ll give you complimentary ticket for any home game in April or May. So, not only are they trying to get people in the gate on Opening Day, they’re looking to get fannies in the seats during what is historically the most difficult two months of the season to make sales.
So, remember, when you see a bunch of empty seats in April and May at Marlins Stadium, it speaks to the fact that not only is the club having a hard time selling tickets, they can’t give them away at a rate that fills the seats, as well.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Maury Brown Article Archive
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Tuesday, 05 March 2013 18:27 |
Which way is Nolan leaning? |
Whether it happens, or not, the fact that there’s conversation about Nolan Ryan leaving the Texas Rangers is big news. It is, after all, Nolan Ryan, a figure that looms large in the history of baseball as a Hall of Fame pitcher, and a man that’s carved out a place as a front office man either through ownership in the minor leagues, or now as part of the Rangers. Whether the title has been President or CEO, the point is, he’s got clout, and then some.
The reason the story that broke Sunday night has more than a whiff of some far flung rumor has been that Ryan hasn’t responded. No denials. No confirmation. It’s as if he’s standing on the mound shaking off signs, and you don’t really know what page he’s on. It’s clear that ownership wants him to stay, and that the man just promoted wants him to, as well.
“First of all, I don’t want him to leave,” new President of Baseball Operations, Jon Daniels told ESPN Dallas 103.3′s Fitzsimmons and Durrett Show. “I don’t think anybody wants him to leave, and I know I’ve expressed that to him. In my mind, (that pushing Ryan out) would not be the case.”
I said it when Daniels was given the promotion of President of Baseball Operations/General Manager, but no one really caught the importance of it. That in moving Daniels up the chain, it assists in insulating him from being fired—that the promotion was by design and a means of setting direction for years to come. Daniels still would report to Ryan, but the move to President puts Daniels in a position where canning him isn’t something that Ryan could easily push for—for one reason or another—as ownership made a statement that they like the direction that JD has in place, and plan to build around that long-term. Ask yourself when the last time a President of Baseball Operations was fired? With the exception of Tal Smith of the Astros (which was about a new owner coming in and putting his stamp on the club), you just don’t see it.
So, this is about Ryan. About how he is feeling diminished. After all, this is the man largely responsible for pushing former owner Chuck Greenburg out the door. If it was going to come down to Greenburg or Ryan, it was obvious it was going to be Ryan. How ironic would it be for Ryan to depart just after the end of Spring Training, just as Greenburg did?
So, what if he leaves? What are the impacts?
First off, this notion that Ryan is just some figurehead is a bit overstated. I’m not saying that he’s solely the one responsible for making the Rangers the success they are today on the field, but he’s not just shaking hands and kissing babies, either. He’s a great scouting mind, so you lose that. But, the reality is, if you lost Daniels, and not Ryan, it would be a harder hit. It’s why majority owners Bob Simpson and Ray Davis gave Daniels the promotion in the first place, even if they didn’t anticipate that Ryan might potentially walk.
So, would this be, as Randy Galloway put it in the story on Sunday, a “PR disaster?” Only if it’s about not seeing what the impacts to Ryan would be before the promotion. Clearly, they should have gone to him and said, “If we do this, is going to madden you enough to walk?” No, if it’s about Ryan leaving, I’m not sure “disaster” is the right word.
First off, while Ryan is an owner of the club, he's a minority owner, with aforementioned Simpson and Davis being the real money men that made the ability of Greenburg and Ryan to win the bankruptcy auction purchase of the club to begin with. They'd pay Ryan off if he wanted to sell, or Ryan could still retain ownership if he didn't sign on with someone else.
There will certainly be fans that will be upset to see him go. But then again, these are mostly the same people that see him as an iconic figurehead, and not the reality that the Rangers don’t rise and fall by his decisions. That’s been in Jon Daniels court, and as we’ve seen, JD has done more than any GM with the club prior to get them to rise in the standings.
Would it impact attendance? Marginally. Ryan leaving would be forgotten as soon as the team wound up at the top of the AL West. If they’re sitting in as low as third come mid-June, then certainly the stories will start to surface that somehow letting Ryan walk had some kind of impact, but anyone worth their salt would poo-poo that as you’re made or broken largely by what happens in the off-season and Ryan walking after the end of Spring Training would make him associated with that.
And while we’re at this point talking about Ryan walking (and for the record, the silence right now could be as much about ensuring he doesn’t walk just as much as him contemplating heading out), let’s talk whether he’d be hired elsewhere.
For one, Ryan doesn’t strike me as a man looking to retire, but lest you think that means he’s headed over to the Houston Astros, I’m not so sure. I’m sure that Jim Crane would about froth at the mouth over the PR win bringing Ryan in would be, but about the second the press conference would be over, reality would set in. After all the whole direction of baseball ops right now is as sabermetrically inclined as any front office done before. General Manager Jeff Luhnow has offered up the “Google rule”, hired Kevin Goldstein and Mike Fast away from Baseball Prospectus, stripped the roster down to its axels in a rebuild, and with it, the direction is anything but “Nolan Ryan.” To hire him and fire current president George Postolos would be to say that the entire direction of the club would change. In other words, it doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense.
No, if Ryan doesn’t stay with the Rangers, here’s the possible next place of employment: Major League Baseball. Yes, like Joe Torre, or Frank Robinson, Ryan would fit in near perfect with the league. He has all the pedigree to make the jump and would add to helping get things done on the business side of the league.
But, then again, this is all about Nolan at this moment. He’s holding the cards. He’s the one to decide. He may want to be the one making the trades, running the Draft board, and making recommendations on who the club should sign. One thing is certain, he’s not going to be the key man doing that work, if he ever was. The regular season is right around the corner. We’ll all see which side of the rubber Ryan is on, soon enough.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
|
World Baseball Classic
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Friday, 01 March 2013 22:50 |
|
You knew it was coming. No, it’s not an infographic created by some media outlet, but rather by Major League Baseball itself. Since they say pictures speak louder than words, here it is. The infographic includes:
- An overview of the teams, pools, venues and dates (beginning with Australia @ Chinese Taipei tonight at 11:30pm ET).
- Broadcast information (MLB Network and ESPN Deportes airing all 39 games in the U.S. along with 36 international broadcasters televising games in 13 languages in more than 200 countries. Click here for a full list of all international broadcasters).
- Top players participating (43 former All-Stars, including eight different MVP or Cy Young Award winners).
- Social media facts and figures, including the ten participating players with the most Twitter followers (led by Team USA’s Brandon Phillips with more than 950,000). Official World Baseball Classic social media channels: Twitter (@WBCBaseball), Facebook.
- An overview of the tournament rules and regulations, including pitch counts, tiebreaker scenarios and early termination rules.
- A summary of top sponsors for the tournament (60 in all, more than double the inaugural tournament, led by global sponsors Delta, Konami, MetLife and Brand USA).
- Important examples of how the World Baseball Classic is impacting the growth of baseball around the world.
Source: Major League Baseball |
|
Facility News
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Friday, 01 March 2013 13:36 |
Click to see in high-resolution |
If you’ve been following MLB in recent years, you may have noticed that there’s a bit of an arms race go9ing on, and we’re not talking pitchers. Each year, it seems, a ballpark touts that they now have the largest video screen, and with it, we all begin to wonder when we have to say that size doesn’t always matter, a case of video displays becoming more of a distraction than a luxury.
For those clubs that are in historic ballparks, there’s always treading a fine line between technological advances, like video boards, and them eroding the qualities of these older facilities. With “history” playing such a large part in them, upgrading to massive video boards is, rightfully so, frowned upon.
So, what’s a club to do that wants to upgrade video displays, and yet claim some form of “the best” without being the largest? The Los Angeles Dodgers and ANC Sports Enterprises may have the answer.
The two will unveil this season, not the largest video displays, but those featuring the highest pixel densities in Major League Baseball. ANC Sports will debut the first 10mm 1080p surface mount light emitting diode (LED) displays in baseball at Dodger Stadium this spring. According to ANC Sports Enterprises, the boards will feature physical pixels which are closer together than any other large display in MLB and driven by a 1080p high-definition feed, the Dodger Stadium video screens’ will feature some of the clearest images around the League.
To retain the historical elements on Dodger Stadium (it is, after all, MLB’s third-oldest behind only Wrigley Field and Fenway Park), ANC Sports will be upgrading the right and left field displays that are the trademark hexagonal shape of the stadium’s original scoreboard and will feature a total active viewing area of approximately 2488 square feet. The new hexagonal shaped displays measure 77.69 feet wide with varying degrees of height. In the center, the video screens are approximately 38 feet high while the ends of the screens measure approximately 24 feet high.
On the technical side, the new scoreboard structures will also feature a 10mm LED strip measuring approximately 6’ high by 69’ wide beneath each video screen. And while the upgrades are being made to the historical diamond-shaped displays that Dodger Stadium is famous for, there will be some new added. According to ANC and the Dodgers they are integrating two outfield video wall displays, each measuring approximately 6 feet high by 61 feet wide and an LED ribbon system along the club fascia that runs for 1121 feet. The entire display system will be capable of seamlessly transitioning between statistics, animated content, sponsor engagement and fan interaction.
Whether this high-density video display will be so bright as to distract, we’ll have to see when the season starts.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Mobile Devices
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Thursday, 28 February 2013 13:14 |
|
 You had to wonder if it was coming. With the popularity of MLB.com’s At Bat application for mobile and the World Baseball Classic returning, the logic of creating a branded mobile app for the WBC made sense.
Today, that came to fruition as MLB Advanced Media, the digital rights arm of Major League Baseball released 2013 World Baseball Classic was released. There’s good news and bad news about the release. The bad news, sorry Android, Kindle, and Blackberry users, the app is only available Apple iPhone and iPad. You’ll also have to be someone that gets MLB Network already. More on that in a second. The good news is, it’s free. It will deliver live coverage of every game in the tournament with Gameday pitch-by-pitch tracking as well as mobile access to scores, schedules, statistics, video highlights, news and analysis from MLB.com reporters.
The 2013 World Baseball Classic app will also make live and on-demand telecasts of all 39 games available on an authenticated basis to Bright House Networks, DirecTV and Time Warner Cable subscribers who receive MLB Network as part of their TV subscription.
Here’s images of the app, courtesy of MLB.com
Download 2013 World Baseball Classic on iTunes
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Maury Brown Article Archive
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Wednesday, 27 February 2013 14:18 |
|
Contrary to popular belief, most writers covering sports do not enjoy writing articles month after month, year after year, in which they report nothing but negativity around this facet or that. In all honesty, it’s tiresome.
At the same time, those of us that spend a great deal of time watching over teams, clubs, and leagues, are passionate and actively engaged in wanting to see actions done in the best interest of the fans. When there are owners that have a consistent track record of being poor stewards of a club, it makes not only them look bad, but the game.
So, with it, that thread-worn story of current Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria turned another page. Once again, we heave a sigh, shake our heads, plug our noses, and breath in deep the stench. He’s been silent since the massive payroll dump to the Blue Jays (Loria likes to call this a “reset”), but after hiring a new PR firm for the club (why would you need a PR firm unless you’re in need of damage control?), he spent the better part of three days addressing the media in one form or another. I’m not sure who the new PR firm is, but giving Loria that much press time may go down as one of the biggest PR blunders in MLB history. You get the sense that even Marge Schott is shaking her head in the afterlife.
Instead of being able to focus on Spring Training, Loria served up tripe as if it were a fine dish on one of his Paris jaunts he name dropped in the midst of his rambling answers to the media.
At the heart of the massive trade to the Blue Jays, and other players such as Hanley Ramirez during the course of the 2012 season, was this repeated line:
“It didn’t work.”
Then, if the free agency signings were a mistake, it begs the question, why did the club go down the 2011 Winter Meetings path of signing Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Heath Bell in the first place? If the problem is bad foresight with free agents, and the need to develop “fresh, exciting young talent”, why have they stunk up the NL East for the better part of eight years, not wrapped up the good talent that they have had at their disposal, and how did, as Loria say it, did the minor league system become one of the worst in the league?
The answer is simple: it was the man holding the press conferences.
The one nugget of truth that Loria did say was that the buck stopped with him (although, he tried to back out of that when the media cornered him saying that he didn’t hit, pitch, and field). In that, Loria really said as much about the failures of the club as anything else. That at the heart of it all is ineptitude. At the heart of the matter is lack of vision. At the heart of it all are excuses rather than accountability. We all sit back and ask, if the Rays can be smart, why can't the Marlins?
Loria doesn’t seem to care much about those things. He’s too busy pawning snake oil to be concerned about all that. He’s too busy saying that the Marlins will never have a $100 million payroll again until their television deal comes up for renewal, even though some of free agent contracts (most notably Reyes’) signed in December of 2011 were back-loaded. So, by extension, if the TV deal was not suitable enough to support the player payroll load, then all those signings were smoke and mirrors designed to sucker the Miami-area baseball fans into season tickets and suite purchases. When some have tried to back out, the front office has told them it’s too late. So, what is it, Jeffrey? Did you lose your mind when you signed the free agents, or when you traded them all away nearly as fast as you signed them? Either way, it shows a reactive, knee-jerk reaction that flies in the face of how well-organized clubs conduct baseball business.
Loria went on to say that until revenues were balanced, player payroll would slide downward. So, let’s put him on the spot and ask; when the new national television contracts start in 2014, does that mean that when those revenues double you’ll use them to develop a team properly? You can see him crossing his fingers behind his back as he says, “We’ll see.”
The worst thing about this behavior is that it’s poisoning the market. The Marlins don’t have much history to lean upon. This is still the first generation of baseball for the Marlins. This isn’t the Yankees or Red Sox, or even the Brewers. What Loria and Co. are offering is a sports fan’s version of battered-spouse syndrome. You get a few glimpses of happiness and a lot of abuse. Along the way, he’s saying it will all be better. Just stick with him and in a few years, it will all be sunshine. And, each year, it’s something new. Each year, it’s a new excuse. Each year you don’t really see any actions that speak louder than words. No developed talent is given extensions (unless they are forced to, as was the case in 2010 when the MLBPA nearly filed a grievance with the league over them, and with it, they decided then would be a good time to give Josh Johnson an extension. Where exactly is he now?), no-trade clauses are about being able to jerk the wheel of the Titanic called the Marlins this way and that rather than about long-terms flexibility that makes sense. It’s all making it up as they go.
None of this gets into bamboozling the public out of the stadium that will be mostly empty in its second season in the league. I believe that not only will the Marlins not sellout a single game this season, but they will see the largest drop in second year attendance for a new ballpark since Bud Selig’s tenure began.
Speaking of Bud, he’s grabbing the antacid today. You see, Loria isn’t Frank McCourt. He’s sneakier than that. The former Dodger owner ran the club into bankruptcy, and that was the ammo he and the owners needed to leverage him out of the game. For Loria, his actions are enough to make everyone’s blood boil, but he stands at the very edge of the dogs on their leashes, snubbing his nose as they bark just out of reach. As one high-revenue club said, “We don’t like them (the Marlins) very much.”
So, the blight on the league continues. At some point, Loria will no longer own the club, and as was the case with Tom Hicks, and Frank McCourt, fans will rejoice. The question will be, has he so derailed the market as to have it rebound in his wake? In some senses, you wonder whether he would relish in that. “Look at all I’ve done,” he might say… as he snubs his nose, yet again.
In the meantime, the press dusts themselves off and gets ready for the inevitable next round with the club. I’ll be on 790AM/104.3FM The Ticket in Miami at 7:30AM ET and the segment will replay at 11:30AM ET on Thursday to talk about this more.
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
Mobile Devices
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Friday, 22 February 2013 00:20 |
|
 The NFL may rule television ratings, but when it comes to digital media and sports, Major League Baseball is king. MLB Advanced Media has become a gold-standard that other leagues try and emulate, and the digital-rights arm of baseball has ruled the mobile app world.
So, when the latest version of Apple’s highest-grossing app, MLB.com’s At Bat 13 is released, fans take notice. It’s out, and with it, Spring Training is not far behind.
The latest offering released on Thursday sports new functionality, is cross-platform, and hosts a new mobile platform.
As was the case last year, you can download it for free if you are a MLB.TV Premium subscriber. Unlocking all the features requires an MLB.TV Premium subscription which runs $129.99 for the season, or you can get it for $24.99 a month. Fans also may subscribe to MLB.com At Bat 13 for the one-time annual fee of $19.99, covering the entire season through the World Series. iOS users may pay $2.99/month with the recurring billing offer. A nice touch this year is that those that had At Bat last season will not need to download a whole new version if on Apple platforms, as in years past. A push update was released, and users that upgrade simply need to provide MLB.TV Premium subscription details or opt for the “Lite” version.
As mentioned, it’s an MLB.TV sub, so you’ll be able to watch on your computer, or other supported devices such as Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 system, Apple TV, WD TV, Roku, internet connected Panasonic, Samsung and LG TVs and Blue-Ray players, as well as Boxee (see the full list of MLB.TV Premium supported devices).
New for this year is a new platform that will be available and was announced in January in the form of BlackBerry Z10. Those users will have to wait until Opening Day, rather than iOS mobile platforms such as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android phones and tablets, and Kindle Fire getting updates for Spring Training.
It took some time, but live streaming video is across all the supported platforms, although MLB.com states that details on the BlackBerry Z10 will be forthcoming by the start of the regular season.
NEW FOR 2013 (Spring Training update only; Opening Day update coming soon)
- Multi-platform live audio access for At Bat 13 subscribers, offering account portability to listen to live games on Mac/PC desktops and laptops
- Universal iOS and Android support for At Bat 13 subscribers, full feature accessibility across all supported smartphones and tablets
- Sortable batting, pitching and fielding statistics (iPad and Android tablets)
- Re-designed individual team pages (iPhone and Android phones)
- Updated news section interface (iPhone and Android phones)
- Expanded video highlight integration (iPhone and Android phones)
- Classic games video library archive (all devices)
- Re-architected app navigation (all devices)
- Additional push notification options (iPhone)
- Favorite team enhancements (iPad and Android tablets)
- Searchable video highlight library expansion to include access to complete video archives (all devices)
- In-app annual subscription purchase (Google Play)
SPRING TRAINING FEATURES
- Watch live streaming of more than 200 available Spring Training games with a subscription to MLB.TV Premium (iPhone, iPad, select Android phones & tablets)
- Listen live to available Spring Training radio broadcasts (all)
- Track league-wide scoreboards and batter-by-batter action for every game (all)
- Breaking news, schedules and interactive rosters and players stats for every team (all)
- Full-season schedule calendars (all)
iPad Images
iPhone/iPod Touch images
Android Tablet
Android Phone
Download At Bat 13 for Apple devices on iTunes
Download At Bat 13 for Android phones on Google Play
Download for Android tablets on Google Play
Download At Bat 13 for Kindle Fire on Amazon
Source: MLB.com
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
MLB News
|
|
Written by Maury Brown
|
|
Thursday, 21 February 2013 14:28 |
The Rawlings S100 Pro Comp batting helmet can sustain pitches of 100mph and
reduces the risk of concussion. All players will now be using it as part of latest labor
agreement between MLB and the players. |
While the NFL has grabbed the headlines on the topic, the issue of concussions in Major League Baseball is being taken seriously. The concussion policy that was implemented prior to the 2011 season was improved as part of the latest CBA. As an example, all players undergo neuro-cognitive baseline testing during Spring Training or when they join a club each season. There are various assessment tools—both on the field and off—that trainers use to determine the level of a concussion, and based on that assessment, a player goes on the DL for varying lengths of time, to as little as 7 days or longer.
To try and address the matter further, the league has been working with Rawlings on a new helmet that can reduce the risk of concussions from pitches to the head area at speeds of 100 mph. As part of the new labor agreement, the sides agreed that the new helmet would be in place for the upcoming season, and be an upgrade of the bulkier ones first developed and tested by the likes of David Wright and were given the nickname “Great Gazoo” after the Flinstones character when they were initially tested in 2009 (see details and image, here) because of the bulkiness.
Now, the design has been improved and per the labor agreement, will begin seeing use with the start of this week's Spring Training exhibition games. The new S100 Pro Comp batting helmet will become the standard throughout Major League Baseball.
Approximately 200 MLB players elected to wear the Rawlings S100 Pro Comp last year before the league-wide rule went into effect, including National League batting champion Buster Posey of the World Series champion San Francisco Giants.
"Collectively with MLB and the MLB Players Association, we developed the Rawlings S100 Pro Comp batting helmet to provide increased protection for the world's best baseball players, while meeting their specific functional and performance demands," said Art Chou, senior vice president of product for St. Louis-based Rawlings. "The evolution of the Rawlings S100 product line clearly illustrates how we can deliver innovative protective solutions at the very highest level of the sport while still delivering high-performing equipment so these players can continue to play at their peak levels."
According to Rawlings the helmets are constructed of aerospace-grade carbon fiber composite, the new Rawlings S100 Pro Comp batting helmet provides technologically-enhanced protection for ball strikes up to 100 miles per hour. Earlier this week, the innovative Rawlings S100 Pro Comp helmet design was named a finalist for the Edison Awards in the category of material science-composites. The Edison Awards honors excellence in new product development and innovation.
The next-generation S100 Pro Comp is 300-percent stiffer and 130 times stronger than the traditional ABS plastic helmet that was the previous standard in Major League Baseball, yet features a significantly lighter and smaller design than previous S100 models that have been tested in recent years. The similarities in weight and size to the traditional helmet allow for a seamless transition to the Rawlings S100 Pro Comp for all MLB players.
"Protecting our players with the latest innovations in protection equipment is a top priority of Major League Baseball," said Dan Halem, Senior Vice President, Labor Relations, Major League Baseball. "Last year the Rawlings S100 Pro Comp received a great reception from the MLB players that chose to wear it, and we're pleased to take the next step and roll it out league-wide."
Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and is a contributor to Forbes. He is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network (select his name in the dropdown provided).
Follow Maury Brown on Twitter
Follow The Biz of Baseball on Twitter |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Page 3 of 529 |
|
|
|
