It's the Game, Stupid.
Where does sponsorship stop? This "Bud's" for you...

Opinion

In another year of blurred college bowl games, ESPN made sure that they included all of the sponsor's names in their coverage. Why? Would we not know the Rose Bowl or the Orange Bowl if we didn't know by whom they were presented? Remember when the Fiesta Bowl wasn't the Tostitos Bowl?

It's the money, of course, that turns decades and centuries-old traditions into Madison Avenue billboards.

Why should ESPN, or any other news organization, including this one, dignify the practice by using the sponsor's name? Where is it written that we must aid the bowl, arena, or team in their corporate sponsorship efforts?

ABC gets money from the bowl sponsor to advertise products. Where ABC's revenues go, so goes the thinking of the parent company, Walt Disney, also parent of the cash cow at ESPN.

Fans tolerate it. After a while, you become a bit numb to it. It does nothing for the fans or the game. Bowl game tickets get no cheaper. Nor do pro team ducats. You could watch a month of great T-Yanks baseball for one trip to the major league retirement home at Tropicana Field in Tampa.

The only thing that gets cheaper is the reputation of the particular event, or of the sport.

When someone tells me "It's the money, stupid," I remind them "It's the game, stupid."

It seems, as every year passes, that we become that much more numb to crass corporate sponsorship.  What the forefathers of the Rose Bowl would have found utterly shocking, the idea of a corporate sponsor sharing the venerable game's headline, today's more morally-flexible stewards of sporting events find acceptable.

That's college ball. So what does that have to do with the minors?

While the minor league stadia are admittedly sponsoring up, the minors remain one of the few places where cups, and championship trophies have been Tostito and FedEx-free.

It is a sign of respect for the growing fan power of the minors that this year's hockey all-stars are receiving sponsor attention. At the same time, the AHL, ECHL, CHL, and anyone else vending their showcase games should take note that the same fan disaffection that brings Chicagoans to Wolves games rather than Blackhawks games comes from disgust with the grab at that same easy money.

Don't get me wrong. Sponsorship is a very important thing in sports. It helps pay the bills.There is a line between the sidelines, or the outfield wall, and the field.

When the advertising dominates the event, it makes money and all of the trappings the focus, and makes the game seem almost incidental.

The game is the thing, Shakespeare. Championship games, in particular, are levels of achievement. The whole point of having an ECHL all-star game is to showcase the great talent of the league, not the "name" sponsor.

These games are showcases of excellence in sport, not fast food, shipping and glibly-named munchies.

What's next? The Kool Aid Calder Cup? The Bean-Os Cy Young Award? 

In a time where the fans already believe that most professional sports are more about the money than the game this further confirms that our pastimes are no more than other methods of advertising.

Is a world where the two hours of commercials broken up by eight minutes of football far behind? How about paying for star contracts with specific sponsorships? Jerry Rice, paid in this quarter by Depends. This speech from Baseball Commissioner Selig brought to you by Budwiser. When you hear Bud, this Bud's for you.

Listen to any nightly news cast or our friends at ESPN. On the news side there is the old adage "If it bleeds, it leads." In sports it should be "If it's greed, it leads."

Except at MinorLeagueNews.com. Our New Year's Resolution: Game first, money second. I've told our editors to keep money and corporate sponsorship of awards and trophies off our pages as much as possible.

Of course, that's a lot easier to say in leagues where the average salary is low to mid five-figures. Still, we see the large signing bonuses in baseball, or the occasional over-the-top salary in basketball, hockey or football. That's not our lead. The player of the week, the big local game, and the rising star are what you will see here.

For there is no rule, major or minor, that the needs of corporate sponsors of contests must be our focus. Events like this year's World Series remind us that no player or sponsor is bigger than the game.

In 2003, raise a glass to the game and boycott a brand that crosses on to the field. It's high time that we take our pastime, and our sports, back.