The face of Anaheim's NFL negotiations

He’s not a star athlete with a multi-million dollar contract. He doesn’t hold the deed to the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim. But don’t let that fool you – David M. Carter is an influential figure in Southern California sports. A successful business consultant positioned in the middle of what his firm called an “increasingly volatile” local sports and entertainment industry, Carter was a key recent addition to the team leading Anaheim’s quest for a National Football League franchise.

“It was a natural fit,” Carter said of his association with the city. “I already knew the (Anaheim) people and have studied the market.”

Anaheim hired Carter’s Sports Business Group in late November to assist with their NFL negotiations. Carter was selected because of his reputation as a highly -respected sports consultant, according to city spokesman John Nicoletti.

“His team is dedicated to capturing the most up-to-date dealings in the sports world,” Nicoletti said. “(Anaheim has) a knowledge and relationship base within Sports Business Group that we felt would be beneficial to our in-house team.”

Nicoletti cited Sports Business Group’s prior work for two other proposed Southern California football stadium sites – the Coliseum and the Rose Bowl – as particularly beneficial.

“They have institutional knowledge that other firms do not have,” Nicoletti said.

Carter’s company is working on a “competitive analysis” for the city of Anaheim. This project will help the city better understand the financial complexities behind deals that have recently been made to build and remodel NFL stadiums in other markets, according to Nicoletti.

“We want to make sure we secure the most beneficial deal we can for the residents and businesses of Anaheim while still providing for a profitable and successful NFL franchise,” he said.

Nicoletti said Carter’s involvement will be vital to the city’s NFL franchise efforts and categorized Carter’s work since his hiring as “extremely meaningful.”

Carter and the Sports Business Group communicate regularly with Anaheim and the NFL. Carter called the project as “a mammoth undertaking” because, he said, in order to succeed it must balance complex financial intricacies with the political interests of a variety of local, regional, and national stakeholders.

“By all accounts we are talking about a $500 million undertaking fraught with business and political risk to the parties involved,” Carter said.

He was unable to elaborate on the details of his work, but did acknowledge that it requires a considerable amount of time and analysis on a daily basis.

Carter has always had strong ties to Southern California. He majored in marketing as an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, and returned to USC for an MBA with a concentration in finance. He quickly considered entering the sports industry.

“I was intrigued with sports and equally the business element behind it,” Carter said.

Carter began his career in a time when the sports industry was just beginning to be consumed with ever-increasing athlete contracts. He was fascinated with the intricacies of the sports business, and “wanted to see where it would go.”

It wasn’t long before Carter returned to his alma mater. He originated a course named “The Business of Sports Entertainment” at USC’s Graduate School of Business 10 years ago, and still teaches the class every semester.

He has also written three books, the first of which was published in 1994 and titled “You Can’t Play the Game if You Don’t Know the Rules.” The book, Carter said, was the result of a number of people asking him for advice about careers in the sports industry.

Since then, he has written two more: “Keeping Score,” a book that helps organizations build sports marketing strategies, and “On the Ball,” Carter’s 2003 hardcover he co-authored with ESPN.com sports business journalist Darren Rovell.
Carter said he has been approached about writing another book, but does not have the time nor the energy to pursue the project.

Despite his busy schedule, he enjoys appearing as a regular contributor to the Marketplace Morning Report, a National Public Radio program. Carter’s recent commentaries have focused on topics ranging from Major League Baseball and steroids to the current National Hockey League lockout.

In 1999, Carter founded The Sports Business Group, a Redondo Beach-based firm that provides sports management and marketing consulting. He said he decided to create his own company for a number of reasons, but the most important was his desire to establish a trusted local identity.

“It was important to brand a corporate name in addition to myself,” Carter said, “so that when I bring in new people they will have some name recognition.”

Kobe-rama

I think it’s safe to say the Baltimore Ravens’ star running back Jamal Lewis isn’t looking forward to the off-season. For most players, the break provides a healthy reprieve from the endless bone-crushing contact NFL players endure for sixteen grueling games each season. But for Lewis, who pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge in a federal court a few weeks back, next year can’t come soon enough. His spring down time will instead be replaced by hard time. Specifically, four months in federal prison and two more in a halfway house.

Maybe he’ll phone ahead to shortstop Rafael Furcal of the Atlanta Braves for some pointers about how to pass the time. Furcal is currently in jail for three weeks after a second DUI incident violated his probation.

It seems like it’s becoming harder and harder to distinguish the sports news ticker from the police blotter. But sorting through the proverbial overgrown weeds of recent athlete miscues, assaults, arrests, and probation hearings, one name inevitably stands above the rest. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for Kobe Bryant.

Two years ago the prospect of the Lakers’ star being involved in anything like this seemed unthinkable. But just as fate always seems to deal us a new hand when we least expect it, we learned last summer that reputations can change at the drop of a hat.

Kobe Bryant’s criminal case never officially went to trial. The only court in Bryant’s future is of the basketball variety. The accuser’s legal team is regrouping by planning a civil suit for an unknown sum of money. After draining local legal and law enforcement resources, taxpayers have been unceremoniously stuck with the bill.

Despite attempts to respect America’s “innocent until proven guilty” mindset for Bryant and conversely protect the accuser’s identity from the public, the media coverage failed in other areas. Since the case has been under intense public scrutiny, we’ve seen transcripts of Bryant’s interview with law officials right after the incident and know his infidelity was probably not an isolated incident. We also know details about the accuser’s emotionally turbulent past. But we don’t know much more about what happened in that Eagle County hotel room that night than we did the day after it happened. Thanks to an overabundance of daily print, broadcast, and online coverage, we know far too much about far too little.

The initial challenge of covering the case centered on the sensitive yet sensational nature of a high profile celebrity sexual assault story. The situation was destined to test the media’s ability to balance the flow of viable public information with the temptation to furnish unnecessary amounts of mindless speculation and gossip. The first (predicable) course of action the media took was to turn Bryant’s arrest into Page One news. But as day after day of in-depth print, television and online coverage continued to spew from the Rocky Mountains, it seemed as if the media had confused a big story with an important story.

John Temple was certainly justified when he defended his paper’s decision to provide detailed coverage of the Kobe Bryant incident in the July 26, 2003 edition of the Rocky Mountain News. “I heard complaints that we made too big a deal out of the charges against Bryant,” Temple wrote. “I disagree. It's a big story.”
Certainly the Kobe Bryant case a big story – the massive media convergence in Colorado cemented it as such. Since Bryant is indisputably one of the best basketball players of our era and a celebrity, it was no surprise that his off-the-court deeds were of interest to basketball fans and celebrity gawkers alike.

But public interest alone should not dictate a story’s importance. Kobe Bryant’s situation doesn’t affect national politics or play a part in determining foreign policy. It’s not about widespread healthcare reform. These subject areas spawn important stories because they have the potential to affect our everyday lives. In the grand scheme of things, there is nothing meaningful or vital about Bryant’s legal issues.

In fact, they are chronically insignificant to 99.9 percent of us.
Since the district attorney dropped all charges against Kobe Bryant, we can only assume that he is not guilty of the initial charges. But despite the end result, both parties’ reputations have been equally tarnished. So now the question is: who exactly is the victim here? Kobe Bryant lost lucrative endorsement contracts and respect from fans and peers. While the mainstream media upheld its decision to protect the accuser’s name, tabloids like Globe and personal Web sites made the accuser’s name and other private information readily available. Seems like a lose-lose situation if I’ve ever seen one.

But the greatest crime of all was perpetrated upon the public. Our insatiable thirst for the Bryant saga fed the sensational aura of the story and distracted us from other, more significant news events.

Not Just Another Halo Victory...

You can kiss him goodbye

Jose Guillen got kicked off the Anaheim Angels for the rest of the year. No minor suspension, no proverbial slap on the wrist, no meaningless fine and stern talking-to. Dude is gone and not coming back. Sure he's under contract for one more season but do you really think all will be forgotten come Spring Training? I don't either. The team's second biggest run producing bat is going to be AWOL for the rest of the regular season and if good fortune smiles and the Halos reach the postseason, he's still a no-go.

Why? Because he threw a hissy fit after Angels Manager Mike Scioscia decided in Saturday's game to take him out in favor of a pinch runner after he had been plunked.

No. I don't buy it. Don't get me wrong here -- I've been to a bunch of Angels game this season and seen enough on television to pretend like I know what I'm talking about here and I've seen No. 6 in action.

Bottom line, Jose swings a good bat and has an arm like a freaking cannon. But look closer and it's hard to miss Guillen's permanent scowl. Remember how he called out his teammates a while ago when he felt they didn't take the necessary retaliatory action against Toronto after he was hit by a pitch?

Isolated incident my eye. This was a long time coming. You can't be a bad teammate with a "me first" attitude on a Mike Scioscia-coached ballclub and expect to last.

A baseball player -- even one as good as Guillen -- can't completely get away with pulling the Ty Cobb "I hate everyone equally" syndrome unless you happen to be one of the greatest players of all time. Guillen is a good major leaguer, but Hall of Famer he's not. At least not at this point in his career.

All things considered, it's a miracle Guillen lasted this long. He's a solid player, but not quite Angel material. Remember Raul Mondesi? Me neither. Repression works in beautiful ways.

There's such a thing as "team chemistry." The Angels didn't have it last week. They looked like they were pressing. They weren't having fun. They didn't look like playoff contenders.

But they're in the midst of a 4-game winning streak and have moved into sole possession of first place for the first time since June.

Addition by subtraction. A "me" in the clubhouse have been replaced with emphatic "we"'s like Curtis Pride, guys who don't mind getting down and dirty as long as it translates into a win. Subtle change, but hey -- it's the little things that count. See you in October.