Sports Coverage a Tangled Web

BCS playoff bill the latest in a long line of similar measures

(NEWSER) - A House subcommittee ushered through a bill that would keep the BCS from billing its title game as the “national championship,” unless the NCAA institutes a playoff system. Where does Congress get off telling college administrators what to do? Well, sports are considered interstate commerce, according to the Explainer column in Slate . That gives lawmakers the jurisdiction to look into nearly any sports matter they please. More»

Even LeBron James makes the list—relatively speaking, of course

(NEWSER) - If you set aside the fact that even the minimum-earning NBA player ($457,558) is still in the top 1% of American earners, you can appreciate that some sports standouts are relatively underpaid. Yahoo! Sports lists some of the biggies:

• Tim Lincecum, MLB, San Francisco Giants: Though he’s set to win a second straight Cy Young Award, he makes nearly 20 times less than another pitcher on his team at $695,000.
• LeBron James, NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers: He’s making the maximum possible—nearly $16 million—and he’s still a steal, considering he saved his franchise.

Longtime fan Fleischer brings media know-how to NFL, MLB

(NEWSER) - President Bush’s onetime press secretary has embraced another passion: sports, the Washington Post reports. Helping athletes from the NFL, Major League Baseball, and elsewhere deal with the media blitz was an easy transition, Ari Fleischer says: “The only two institutions in our society that have their events covered live and that have sections of the newspaper dedicated to themselves are America’s premier sports leagues and the White House.” More»

Off the field, most team records aren't promising

(NEWSER) - As investment portfolios dwindle and businesses suffer, more professional sports teams' owners are falling on hard times. League bosses worry that potential buyers, already an endangered breed, won't go for newly available teams because their primary businesses are foundering. Even the Cubs, one of MLB's few profitable franchises, can't find an owner, reports the Wall Street Journal. More»

(NEWSER) - Even the mighty NFL is not safe from the economy's tailspin. The league will eliminate around 14% of its workforce—office workers, not the fellows who wear helmets—and is freezing salaries and hiring until 2009, Bloomberg reports. “I would like to be able to report that we are immune to the troubles around us, but we are not,” the commissioner said. More»