Sunday, April 22, 2007

Steve Bornstein, CEO Of The NFL Network



All a Part of Its Vision

On Thursday night, word will come from a production booth in one of those studios, a signal will be shot to the sky and Bornstein's NFL Network will broadcast the first of eight Thursday-Saturday league games. It's a bold new venture for the league and the network, though not one that is without its tribulations. The NFL Network is not on three of the country's largest cable companies as they resist what they see as the league's heavy-handedness.

"If somebody else had done it, it would be great," Bornstein said. "But no one has done it. Right?"

The world he oversees is changing every day, faster than anyone in sports could have imagined. And a television network is only a small part. While this year the NFL will bring in $3.73 billion in television deals alone, there is another potentially more lucrative universe out there still mostly untapped, and it involves the Internet, cellphones and iPods. For want of a better term, the NFL calls this "new media" and has pinned hopes on its money-making promise.

It is Bornstein who must take his new network, sift through the haze of this wired planet and find a way to intertwine it all.

In 1980, when Bornstein was in his late 20s, he was brought to Bristol, Conn., to help a four-month-old sports network named ESPN grow. For the next two decades, he oversaw much of the station's development, first in the programming department and ultimately as an executive at ESPN and ABC through the 1990s. It was a stunning rise, that in some ways left those around him agape as ESPN blossomed beyond their wildest dreams.

"Clearly, Steve was somebody for whom the status quo was unacceptable," said John Wildhack, ESPN's senior vice president for programming, acquisitions and strategy, who was with Bornstein for much of the company's surge. "He kept asking, 'How do we do this better? How do we take calculated risks? How do we differentiate ourselves?' "

Peace and Prosperity

When the NFL first approached Bornstein in 2002, after a brief run as president of ABC television, there was no network, just a vision of something the league's 32 team owners felt was necessary yet did not know how to do. To build it they wanted someone who had created a network before, someone who would make their place unique. Bornstein was the obvious choice.

He said he sees a lot of similarities between those early days at ESPN and this new venture. Both have that unrestrained feeling, where every idea is wrought with head-tingling excitement. "Everybody has that razor focus," he said.

And yet when you get past the thrill of starting something that has never been done before, this remains a football network. And a professional football network at that. Unlike ESPN, where the borders stretch from Australian rules football to Sunday morning fishing shows, the NFL Network must live in a more confined world. Even as Bornstein constantly tries to point out that they are a "lifestyle network," not a football network, there is only so much football you can show.

Bornstein points to the exorbitant amount of money CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN have paid to televise NFL games, repeats some of the anecdotal evidence of how networks have struggled when they dropped football and promises that no matter what next year's top-rated TV show might be, its ratings won't exceed that of the Super Bowl.

"There's no league that's been more successful in any way you measure that success than the NFL," Wildhack said.

But part of the reason for the NFL's triumph is the fact it has been mostly untroubled by labor strife. While baseball, basketball and hockey have been hit with crippling strikes and lockouts, pro football has sailed along, making billions of dollars. That bliss was tested this past spring when an unusual development occurred in the latest negotiation with the NFL Players Association: the owners bickered more with themselves than they did with the players.

The owners of the smallest-revenue teams felt they had fallen far behind those of the biggest money-makers. And even though all the teams equally share the league's enormous television and licensing contracts in addition to being restrained by a firm cap on player salaries, the disparity was showing itself in other ways. Franchises in bigger markets could generate money from suite sales that smaller-market teams couldn't touch.

Ultimately, they came up with a compromise. The players would receive at least 60 percent of every team's revenue, which created a bigger pool for the salary cap. But it caused a problem for the lower-revenue teams like the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars, which might see 70 percent of their intake going to player salaries while the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins would be spending only 60 percent. So to try and make up the difference, they agreed that the 15 highest-revenue teams would pay equally into a pot totaling $30 million to be redistributed to the 17 poorest clubs.

It only adds up to a couple of million for each small-revenue franchise. But at the same time the owners agreed that the 15 larger teams would also give up their profits from the league's new media ventures and share that money with the smaller-market teams as long as those small-market clubs dedicate at least 65 percent of their revenue to player salaries.

This is a confusing, but potentially significant clause.

As it stands now, the owners may take an option that allows them to blow up this latest labor deal in 2009, in part because some of the small-market teams still feel left out in the new contract, unsure how a trickle of money from the richer clubs is going to help them catch up. A potential solution -- and it could be a bit of a long shot -- is if there were a sudden flood of money from new media.

"It could be if new media was something substantial," said Bill Prescott, the Jaguars' chief financial officer.

Yet how much is substantial? No one really knows because no one has a grasp on exactly what new media are going to bring in, partially because the league is only starting to cut deals in this world, signing contracts for podcasts and cellphone telecasts. Just last month, the owners voted to operate the league's Web site, NFL.com, themselves. Previously CBS SportsLine held the contract.

"We hope that that [new media] will be a real contributor and hopefully it will ameliorate some of that" big-market/small-market tension, Jeff Pash, the NFL's executive vice president, said recently after testifying before a congressional antitrust hearing. "And also by bringing it in house we can keep that revenue as a league asset and share it equally among the 32 teams as opposed to having yet another revenue source that exacerbates revenue disparities between teams."

Or as Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said, "If [the media money] is coming from a league-owned asset, then it will be easier to cut it up and give it to the smaller market teams rather than to just take it from the higher-revenue teams."

The burden of this hope falls on Bornstein. He scowls at the suggestion of new media as a solution for the league's future labor woes, partially because he is dealing so much with the unknown. He is fond of saying "my crystal ball is no better than anyone else's," but his expertise is in running networks, not solving league labor disputes. Maybe using cellphones as a way to broadcast games or deliver breaking NFL news is a great idea. Maybe it isn't. Time will tell.

Still he feels it's important to slowly collect these technologies, hire people to develop them and see what they have.

"The league has always been really prescient about getting this stuff right and not be the first one in," Bornstein said. "I think they got it right."

It's a delicate balance. The NFL needs its revenue quickly to try and fill some of the gulf between big- and small-market owners, yet its instincts say not to grab too fast.

"There's going to be peaks and valleys and some acceleration and deceleration [in new media]," said David Katz, the head of sports and studios at Yahoo!, which currently streams NFL games on the Internet overseas. "The NFL has proven to be the best at exploitation and management of their assets. I have no doubt they will continue to be good at what they do."

League Leverage

In a way, Bornstein and the NFL are perfect for each other. Both are audacious, assured and accustomed to getting their way. "With Steve you always knew where he stood," Wildhack said.

So it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise that in the last television deal, Bornstein and the NFL pulled eight games from the Sunday afternoon lineup and said they were going to place them on Thursday or Saturday and put them up for bid. The Outdoor Life Network (now called Versus) reportedly offered $400 million for those rights. An outlandish sum, if you think about it. But rather than take the easy money, Bornstein and the league decided to put them on the NFL Network, a move that league officials believe drove up the price of the other network's bids.

By putting its own games on TV, the league has leverage, something it has never been shy about using. A few months ago, with the games in hand, it turned to the cable companies and reportedly said the price per customer for the network would rise from 20 cents to 70 cents. The cable companies balked and a fight ensued that has left the NFL Network off three of the country's major cable systems -- Time Warner, Cablevision and Charter, meaning almost all of New York City will not get Thursday night's Denver-Kansas City game, barring a last-minute deal. Bornstein said such a development is unlikely.

The dispute with Time Warner surrounds the company's insistence that it put the network and the games on an expensive sports tier of service that would cost extra for subscribers. The NFL wants to be on the standard tier.

"We would certainly like to carry the network, we have a number of football fans," said Time Warner spokesman Mike Harrad. "But because of the price it's a niche-type service."

What Bornstein won't say, but some league officials will confide, is that the NFL is sure it can win a stare-down with the cable companies. When Thursday night comes and New York can't get the game, the NFL figures enough fans will be so outraged that Time Warner will come crawling to the bargaining table.

Likewise, the two bowl games the NFL Network is showing (the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28 and the Insight Bowl on Dec. 29) are not part of a strategic plan to show college football in the future, a league source said. Rather, the hope is a school from one of the markets served by a holdout cable company will be in the game. And when fans find out they can't watch their beloved State U in its bowl game, the cable operator will be besieged with angry calls.

It's a gamble, but one the NFL is willing to take, figuring fans will have to take sides. Either they choose the league with the highest ratings or the local cable company that is often a monopoly. The NFL thinks it can win that fight every time.

Even if the crapshoot doesn't pay off, the NFL Network has already won. It has managed to take a piece of the lucrative market that its games produce, it has already forced itself onto many of the country's cable systems as well as both its top satellite providers and it has subtly forced football further into the American consciousness.

Rich Eisen, the NFL Network's main anchor who worked seven years at ESPN, knew the NFL Network had changed ESPN when he turned on his old station on the night of the NBA draft in June and ESPN was doing a program ranking the NFL's pass defenses -- just minutes before the NBA's draft.

"I had to look at the bottom of the screen to be sure it was ESPN," Eisen says. "When I was at ESPN, I would say in April, 'We should be doing something on the NFL,' and they laughed at me. Now on the night of the NBA draft, they were doing the best pass defenses in the NFL. We have definitely challenged them, no question."

In his office, Bornstein talks about the station he has built from nothing and about how it will help feed the Internet, cellphones, iPods and whatever else has yet to be invented. He calls these connections "pipes." And he knows these pipes, when filled, and under the NFL's control, have the real potential of making his bosses in the NFL very, very happy.

"I'm a guy that likes winning, right?" he said. "One way you can measure this is: can you make money? I've found personally that's where I can excel."

Friday, April 20, 2007

Eric Steinbach has abdominal surgery

Browns' Steinbach Has Appendectomy
By JOE MILICIA
Associated Press Writer

CLEVELAND -- For the second straight year, the Browns' top free-agent acquisition has undergone surgery before playing one snap.

Offensive lineman Eric Steinbach underwent an appendectomy Wednesday at the Cleveland Clinic and was released from the hospital Thursday. The Browns say he will make a full recovery and be ready for June minicamp.


Dr. Anthony Miniaci, the team's head physician, said Steinbach will be limited in the Browns' offseason strength and conditioning program for the next three to six weeks.

Steinbach, who spent his first four seasons with Cincinnati, signed a seven-year, $49.5 million contract with Cleveland in early March.

The Browns, needing to repair an ineffective and unstable offensive line, have spent big money in free agency the last two seasons, signing the top free-agent lineman available.

Cleveland signed Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley to a six-year, $36 million contract last season. While blocking on a running play in summer training camp, Bentley tore a tendon in his knee when planting his foot. Following surgery, he got a staph infection, which caused further damage to the tendon.

Bentley needed a second operation just one month after the first to clean out the infection and fix the damage it caused to his tendon. He was hospitalized for more than one month at the Cleveland Clinic.

Bentley's status is unclear for the upcoming season and his injury is possibly career-threatening.

The Browns on Thursday also signed restricted free agent nose tackle Ethan Kelley to a one-year contract. Kelley played 11 games, including one start at left defensive end, and had 22 tackles.

Mike Vick Gives $10,000 for Va. Tech Families

Vick Gives $10,000 for Va. Tech Families
By Associated Press
April 18, 2007, 11:03 PM EDT

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has teamed up with the United Way to donate $10,000 to assist families affected by the massacre at Virginia Tech, his former school.

"When tragic things like this happen, families have enough to deal with, and if I can help in some small way, that's the least I can do," said Vick, who played for the Hokies before being drafted No. 1 overall by the Falcons in 2001.


The Vick Foundation is collecting donations from local communities in both Atlanta and Virginia that will be placed in the United In Caring Fund for Victims of the VA Tech Tragedy and the special fund at the United Way of Montgomery, Radford and Floyd counties, which serves the Virginia Tech area.

Vick's foundation said the money will be used to provide help with funeral expenses, transportation for family members and other support services.

Todd Sauerbrun wins contract Grievance against Patriots

Sauerbrun Wins Grievance Against Pats
By Associated Press

BOSTON -- Punter Todd Sauerbrun won his grievance against the New England Patriots on Wednesday and is now a free agent.

The 13-year veteran is expected to join the Denver Broncos. He agreed to a one-year deal with them earlier this month, but the Patriots matched it through a clause in his contract with New England. Sauerbrun had signed with the Patriots last December and punted in the playoffs.

Sauerbrun, with the help of the NFL Players Association, contended that the clause was inappropriate because it was not written separately from the contract itself, a requirement for right-to-match deals. A special master in Boston ruled Wednesday that the Patriots erred, thus freeing Sauerbrun.

His deal with Denver was worth more than the $1.395 million he was scheduled to make with the Broncos last year. Sauerbrun started the 2006 season with Denver, but lost his job while serving a four-game suspension for using the banned dietary supplement ephedra.

Sauerbrun has a career punting average of 44 yards, with a net average of 36. He made the Pro Bowl three straight times, between 2001 and 2003, when he was with the Carolina Panthers.

Sauerbrun said he knowingly took an over-the-counter weight loss product last summer that he strongly suspected contained ephedra, which the NFL banned after the death of Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Korey Stringer during training camp in 2001. Players are randomly tested and can be suspended after the first violation.

That drew the ire of Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, who said the punter is the only player on the team who can be fat as far as he was concerned.

Sauerbrun, who packs 215 pounds on his beefy 5-foot-10 frame and who was fined by the Panthers for eating too much, said at the time he worries about his weight all the time.

He also said he especially regretted letting down Shanahan, who gave him a fresh start after a trouble-filled stint in Carolina, and that he hoped he could make it up to him someday. He might get that chance soon.

Virginia Tech - Asian Men Ignored In News Coverage?

I found this interesting post on a forum called Asians, Inc. that speaks for itself. It's a demonstration of why it's good to have different racial and ethnic points of view, something all but forgotten by the mainstream news media.

Hey all. I'm usually posting about positive stuff but I just felt compelled to write about the Va Tech shooting from the perspective of an asian male.

First thing I like to say is that I feel for the victims and their families and I've posted my condolences on other sites. That was my first reaction.
My second reaction was that guns should not be in the hands of lunatics leading to the deaths of great people. Which led to my third reaction was how great these people are and that they deserved better.

Then as I continued to watch and learn more about the madman I kept seeing his picture. I don't get on the media for covering this madman for however long they want to. I just get the feeling that subliminally the viewers will have a link between this madman's profile and other asian men. I was kind of hoping that the reporters would interview a few asian men who attend Va Tech just to show that we are not like this madman in any way shape or form.

I also watched 360 on CNN when they interview his roommates. They talked about his unusual behavior and how they tried to get him to be more social. I thought those were good roommates since they were very patient with him. They also described him as being shy and quiet. When they said that, an alarm went off in my head as a natural reaction. I too am shy and quiet but in no way as sick as that madman. They also mentioned that he was a loner and didn't talk to many people. That also describes me but that's only because I feel more at peace not always being around people all the time.

I also listened on WWOR, a radio station in NYC, the Joey Reynolds show. He had on a Korean comedian who is running for councilwoman in New Jersey I believe. When the Rabbi who was also a guest on the show mentioned that the Va Tech shooting happens partly due to the madman not being able to get out his frustration in a positive way the Korean lady said that all Korean men are like that. Then the Rabbi totally shot down her prejudice about Korean men by saying that men of all backgrounds are usually non communicative. I'm Vietnamese but I know plenty of Korean guys who are very communicative and as pleasant as can be.

In conclusion(not that this is some college essay), I feel the media should give more positive news not just about asian men but in general. I know I'm going to continue to be myself and not change too much about how I behave.

Please feel free to comment on what I wrote and keep it intellectual.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Video Of Cho Seung-Hui's Rant Before The Second Virginia Tech Shootings

This is the video that was sent to NBC News by wacko killer Cho Seung-Hui before his second killing spree in Virginia Tech.

Bill O'Reilly Is A Sick Man - Ok's Tommy Thompson's Anti-Semetic Remark

Tommy Thompson made a dumb comment. So why is Fox's Bill O'Reilly protecting him?

This is sick! O'Reilly defends this politician because he's White and Catholic. And he does this in the face of the Virgina Tech murders, where it's clear that the killer has problems that were brought to the surface by racial isolation.

I dream of the day O'Reilly's taken off the air. He spreads hate amoung those who are White who can be swayed by him.


Thompson says making money 'part of Jewish tradition'
Republican presidential candidate later apologizes

WASHINGTON — Republican presidential candidate Tommy Thompson told a Jewish group Monday that earning money is "part of the Jewish tradition," a remark for which he later apologized.

"I'm in the private sector and for the first time in my life I'm earning money," Thompson told the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. "You know that's sort of part of the Jewish tradition. ... "

Later, he added: "I didn't (by) any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances. ... What I was referring to ... is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion. You've been outstanding business people and I compliment you for that."

Thompson spokesman Tony Jewell said the former Wisconsin governor, who is Catholic, was sorry.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Virginia Tech: Lets take a breath

It has a little over thirty-six hours since the first shot was fired on the Virginia Tech campus. The horrors that will hopefully always remain unfathomable to me littered websites with bold headlines.

As I try to keep up with the details through work and conversation, it becomes painful to see the media torrent that has already surrounded the tragedy. For all of us glued to the television and computer screen, in anticipation and hope for reason or excuse, let us just morn the loss of life.

It is becoming far too apparent that blame is being placed as quickly as news vans are being scattered across Virginia Tech's campus. There is ample time to find motives and debate gun control. We will seek out the tragedies heroes, those who selflessly gave their lives for others, and those who could have saved lives by quick action. But lets save all that for next week or at least tomorrow. For now, lets forget about the news cycles and developments and just light a candle for those lost.

Virginia Tech - Cho Seung-hui - 23-year-old VaTech Student, English major Is Shooter



• Police ID shooter as 23-year-old resident alien, English major
• Police say one of the guns recovered was used in both shooting incidents
• At least two professors among the dead in Virginia Tech massacre
• Officials: 33 dead, including gunman, in Norris Hall and dormitory shootings
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BLACKSBURG, Virginia (CNN) -- The gunman who killed 30 people at Virginia Tech's Norris Hall before turning the gun on himself was student Cho Seung-hui, university police Chief Wendell Flinchum said Tuesday.

University officials said they were still trying to determine whether Cho was responsible for an earlier shooting at a dormitory that left two dead.

However, Flinchum said ballistics tests show that one of the two guns recovered at Norris Hall was used at Norris and at the dorm, both located on the 26,000-student campus. (Watch police disclose new information about the shooter )

Authorities are still investigating whether Cho had any accomplices in planning or executing Monday's rampage, Col. Steven Flaherty of the Virginia State Police said.

"It certainly is reasonable for us to assume that Cho was the shooter in both places, but we don't have the evidence to take us there at this particular point in time," Flaherty said.

Cho, a 23-year-old South Korean and resident alien, lived at the university's Harper Hall, Flinchum said. He was an English major, the chief said.

Cho was a loner and authorities are having a hard time finding information about him, said Larry Hincker, associate vice president for university relations.

A department of Homeland Security official said Cho came to the United States in 1992, through Detroit, Michigan. He had lawful permanent residence, via his parents, and renewed his green card in October 2003, the official said.

His residence was listed as Centreville, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

The university and police are still in the process of releasing the names of the 32 people killed in Monday's shootings. (Watch how some are asking why warnings weren't issued sooner )

"What went on during that incident certainly caused tremendous chaos and panic in Norris Hall," Flaherty said, describing how victims were found in four classrooms and in the stairwell of the school's engineering science and mechanics building.

Virginia Tech Shooting Murder - Photo Timeline

This is from USA Today. Click right on the photo to enlarge it.

Virginia Tech Shooting Murder - Web 2.0 Gives Us A Unique View

The Washington Post covers the role of cell phones and other video recorders in the coverage of the Virginia Tech Shooting Murder as well as the ability to upload the digital information to a website for view by many people.

Perhaps one day the technology and use of it will become so widespread that a crime will be thwarted because of their use. I certainly wish that were true in this case.

Dana Perino's Mistake - President Bush's Position On Gun Control Not Relevant To Virginia Tech


White House Press Secretary Dana Perino made an enormous mistake in going into detail regarding President Bush's position on gun control in light of the Virginia Tech Shooting Murder .

Perino went on to quote the President's position as stated in Texas. Well, things do change and I think in this case, she should have engineered an "out" position for him.

I think she should have explained that "Now is not the appropriate time to discuss the President's position on gun control." But what she said made him and the administration sound careless and not caring about the victims of this horrible nightmare.