Entries from April 2008
Ricky Santos, the record-setting University of New Hampshire quarterback, who was passed over in this weekend’s NFL Draft, has landed with the Kansas City Chiefs. According to his agent, Brad Blank, Santos received interest from several teams following the conclusion of the draft. Kansas City, with their current quarterback corps (Brodie Croyle, Damon Huard, David Greene and Tyler Thigpen), was identified as a good opportunity for Santos to make a NFL roster.
It is impossible to discern whether Santos’ draft status was affected by his unfair exclusion from Boston College’s Pro Day. What is clear, however, is that Santos will have to rely on an unconventional playing style to stick with the Chiefs:
Blank, as others have done, brought up former Boston College star Doug Flutie’s name when talking about Santos.
“He’s not the 6-5, 240-pound pocket passer everyone is looking for,” Blank said. “There’s a Doug Flutie element to him.
Like Flutie, Santos has also drawn interest from the Canadian Football League. Whether he plays in the NFL or CFL, Santos could do worse than following in the footsteps of Doug Flutie.
Categories: Colleges and Universities · National Football League
Tagged: Brad Blank, Doug Flutie, NFL, NFL Draft, Ricky Santos, UNH
Two UConn Players Drafted, Two Signed as Rookie Free Agents
Greenwich Golden Domer, Another West Haven Native Chosen
Army’s Campbell Drafted by Lions, May Avoid Iraq
- Caleb Campell, a safety from Army, was drafted by the Detriot Lions in the 7th round (218th overall). Campell may be the first Army player to benefit from a new policy allowing cadets with extraordinary talents to serve as recruiters rather than officers in combat.
Categories: Colleges and Universities · National Football League · UConn Sports
Tagged: Dan Davis, Danny Lansanah, Donald Thomas, NFL, NFL Draft, Tyvon Branch, UConn
Apparently Rutgers is not as enamored with playing football against Notre Dame as UConn. Rutgers rejected an agreement to play Notre Dame that required Rutgers to play its “home” games at Giants Stadium, rather than on campus. Rutgers athletic director Bob Mulcahy had a simple explanation:
“We feel Rutgers’ home games should be played on Campus in Rutgers Stadium.”
Rutgers’ position may have been influenced by the fact that the school is renovating their on-campus stadium for the 2009 season. However, Rutgers should have no concern with taxpayer unrest as the renovations are being financed by ticket revenues and outside donors, not the school or taxpayers.
On its face, the proposed Rutgers-Notre Dame games at Giants Stadium makes more sense than UConn playing there or at Gillette Stadium. After all, the games are kept in state and Giants Stadium is only about 40 minutes away, opposed to the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive that UConn fans will make to see “home” games against Notre Dame. It will be interesting to see if other schools stand up to Notre Dame, following Rutgers’ lead. For UConn fans, there should be no buyer’s remorse should the deal be finalized: rather than playing non-conference games against Maine and Rhode Island, UConn will play Notre Dame, one of the most storied programs in football history.
Categories: Uncategorized
Under the gold dome of the state capitol, state legislators and UConn officials announced an agreement that clears the way for UConn to play under the golden dome, at the University of Notre Dame. A contract between Notre Dame and UConn has not been finalized. However, the General Assembly has given its blessing for UConn to enter into a contract under which UConn’s “home” games will not be played at Rentschler Field, but at either the new Giants Stadium or Gillette Stadium.
The agreement between UConn and the General Assembly included shortening the length of the contract with Notre Dame from ten years to seven years. (There will actually be two contracts with Notre Dame: a contract for a single game on November 21, 2009; and a contract for a six-game series between 2011 and 2017). The rationale was that a shorter series would provide the opportunity to renegotiate a second series, during which Notre Dame might agree to play in Connecticut.
“If there’s a 10-game series, the window of opportunity to play at Rentschler is zero. Scaling it back to six years, think it leaves the window open a little bit for a Rentschler game.”
-Rep. Michael Christ, East Hartford
UConn officials have repeatedly stressed that Notre Dame’s refusal to play at Rentschler Field has nothing to do with the capacity of the stadium, and everything to do with the fact that Notre Dame wants to play only in major metropolitian areas. Coach Randy Edsall, however, made some curious comments lobbying to expand Rentschler Field:
“I’d like to see our legislature either do some kind of study to see if they maybe could appropriate some more funds to expand our stadium to 50,000 or 55,000…We could go play a Florida State, Georgia, some top 10-15 team…I’d like to get Penn State on our schedule. I think there comes a point when we need to increase the size of our stadium to be a little more attractive to those teams.”
UConn Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway denied any intention to expand Rentschler Field. Possibly, Hathaway was aware of a recent article in the Hartford Business Journal, which reported that UConn football had its lowest attendance since its inaugural season, despite a very successful season on the field.
Although it is premature to talk about expanding Rentschler Field, a competitive series with Notre Dame will go a long way to increasing interest in the program. In addition, Edsall’s talk about scheduling top teams is encouraging and exciting. Perhaps the Hartford Courant’s Jeff Jacobs said it best: “Playing for real is better than playing Rhode Island.”
Categories: Colleges and Universities · UConn Sports
Tagged: Golden Dome, Hartford Courant, Jeff Hathaway, Notre Dame, Randy Edsall, Rentschler Field, UConn Football
House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, surprisingly announced his plans to retire from the legislature and run for Governor in 2008. While commentators have been busy analyzing the effect on the political landscape, Speaker Amann’s resignation may also significantly impact the sports landscape.
Speaker Amann was the driving force behind the state’s tax incentive program to attract filmmakers to Connecticut and the “Hollywood East” task force, which provided recommendations to build and sustain an infrastructure to support the film industry.
Most recently, Speaker Amann has taken a leading role in the movement to replace the Hartford Civic Center (now the “XL Center”) with a new downtown arena. Whether Speaker Amann will continue his involvement in these efforts to build a new arena is unknown. Perhaps more important, is the question of whether he will have the political clout to push the construction of arena forward without the title of “Speaker.” Considering the state of the economy and the fact that a new arena will rely heavily on public financing, the General Assembly may not feel compelled to continue to support the arena project without the leadership of Speaker Amann. Of course, should Speaker Amann be elected Governor in 2010, an increased emphasis on the sports industry may result.
Categories: Uncategorized
The Hartford Courant’s Jeff Jacobs discussed the dilemma of UConn’s proposed series with Notre Dame in a recent column. Connecticut Sports Law first discussed this issue in the article UConn-Notre Dame: How Far Should UConn Go to Play in the House that Rockne Built, and Jacobs offers some new insights:
- Despite the wishes of fans and notions of fundamental fairness, Notre Dame will not consider playing a game in Connecticut, at Rentschler Field. The issue is not so much about the capacity of Rentschler Field - Boston College’s Alumni Stadium only holds 4,000 more spectators and Notre Dame plays away games there. The issue is that Notre Dame wants to play in major metropolitan areas, and East Hartford fails to pass muster.
- The proposed UConn-Notre Dame series is best characterized as an offer, not a negotiation. Notre Dame has made it clear to UConn that the deal will be on Notre Dame’s terms, or another Big East team will be scheduled. The only negotiable issue is the length of the contract.
- UConn Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway and Coach Randy Edsall believe that a series with Notre Dame will (1) help expand UConn’s recruiting base; (2) assist with fundraising and alumni development, as Boston and New York house large alumni bases; and (3) place UConn on a national stage considering Notre Dame’s NBC contract.
UConn’s rationale is difficult to dispute. Sure, everyone prefers that Notre Dame play at The Rent at least once. But scheduling Notre Dame, even if every game was to take place in South Bend, is a solid move for UConn. And if UConn doesn’t like being treated like a second rate football program? Sign up to play Notre Dame and beat them, on national television.
The Connecticut General Assembly, which has introduced legislation to prevent UConn from playing home games out of state, should also get on board. The legislation, as described by Senator Gary Lebeau, was designed to force Hathaway to defend and explain this situation to the public. Now that Hathaway has provided compelling reasons, the General Assembly has achieved its stated goal. It is time to close the deal and add Notre Dame to UConn’s schedule.
Categories: Uncategorized
The lost concept of contract in college coaching, especially in high-profile Division I sports, has been bemoaned by many a sports commentator. It seems that each year a prominent coach signs a lucrative multi-year contract and pledges eternal allegiance to that school. A year to two later, that same coach leaves for an even higher paying job. While a student-athlete must gain the consent of his coach and school to transfer elsewhere, a coach is seemingly a free agent every year.
Why don’t schools sue these mercenary coaches for breach of contract? After all, many coaching contracts contain buyout clauses. The rational is often simple - the school does not want an unhappy, disinterested coach running a revenue-producing sports team. However, West Virginia University (WVU) has recently provided some interesting news on this front. First, WVU demanded that its former basketball coach, John Beilein, pay $1.5 million to the WVU Foundation (his buyout clause called for a $2.5 million payment) when Beilein left WVU to become head coach at Michigan. Now, in a nasty, well-publicized dispute, West Virginia is seeking to enforce a $4 million buyout clause against former football coach Rich Rodriguez, who also left for greener pastures at Michigan. This case is so rife with legal issues it has spawned its own blog, West Virginia University v. Richard Rodriguez, The Legal Perspective.
The Rodriguez case is interesting due to the fact that Rodriguez accepted the Michigan position without a resolution as to his buyout clause, apparently failing to recall the Beilein case. One would think a coach, or his agent, would seek private financing of such a buyout, similar to the golden parachute provided to Kelvin Sampson by Indiana University boosters. The Rodriguez case is also intriguing, as should the case proceed to trial and verdict, the balance of power between coaches and universities may be significantly altered.
This issue should be a concern to UConn football fans. Despite signing a new contract in February, Randy Edsall is on many schools’ short lists, and was even mentioned in conenction with the Michigan job. Edsall’s contract contains the following buyout provisions, triggered if Edsall accepts a position during the term of this agreement as a head coach at a NCAA Division I institution, or as a head coach in any professional league:
- $1.5 million if Edsall leaves in 2008;
- $1.25 million in 2009;
- $500,000 in 2010;
- $400,000 in 2011; and
- $250,000 in 2012.
Whether UConn could, or would actually enforce this buyout clause in the event Edsall left UConn for a better job is impossible to predict. However, the actual dollar figures do not appear to provide a great disincentive for Edsall leaving UConn.
Categories: Colleges and Universities · UConn Sports
Tagged: Coaching Contracts, College and University Contracts, Edsall Contract, Randy Edsall, Rich Rodriguez, UConn, UConn Football
UConn’s Tyvon Branch and Donald Thomas have been ranked in the top 10 draft-eligible players at their respective positions by Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News. Branch is listed as the fourth best safety prospect in the draft, while Thomas is listed as the tenth best offensive guard prospect.
Without taking any credit away from Branch and Thomas, who are excellent players in their own right, the fickleness of NFL scouts is exemplified by the lack of interest in Danny Lansanah. Over the last three years, UConn fans could not help but notice Lansanah’s play at linebacker. Even if you spent most of the game time at the concession stands, Lansanah’s name was a constant over the public address system. Nevertheless, it appears that the the Huskies leading tackler for the last three seasons will likely be a late-round choice if drafted at all. With his considerable grit it would be no surprise to see Lansanah make an NFL team as a special teams player and backup linebacker.
Categories: Colleges and Universities · National Football League · UConn Sports
Tagged: Danny Lansanah, Donald Thomas, NFL, NFL Draft, Tyvon Branch, UConn, UConn Football
The New York Yankees are apparently considering legal action against the Red Sox-rooting construction worker who buried a David Ortiz jersey in the concrete of the Yankees’ new stadium. It would appear that both criminal and civil charges could be filed against Gino Castignoli, who turned his one day of work on the new Yankees’ stadium into a national news story.
Geoffrey Rapp of the Sports Law Blog has provided an analysis of the trespass issue, and opines that it is an open and shut case against Castignoli:
Any person who commits an act of entry with intent to the land of another without permission is liable to the other for trespass. Leaving a thing on land without permission can constitute the “act of entry” needed for the trespass claim. And trespass, like other intentional torts, doesn’t have much of a sense of humor - as long as there was intent, that the effort may have been a good-natured practical joke would not provide a defense.
A more interesting argument might be whether the Yankees removal of the jersey - which took a reported five hours of drilling - was necessary. Did the Yankees mitigate their damages?
These legal issues may very well go unresolved. The Yankees will take the classy step of donating the jersey to the Jimmy Fund, the longtime preferred charity of the Red Sox. On the heels of this public relations victory, the decision to prosecute or litigate may not be wise for the Yankees.
Categories: Major League Baseball · Red Sox · Yankees
Tagged: ConstructionWorker, Jimmy Fund, Red Sox, sports law, sports law blog, trespass, Yankees
It seems that ever since the City of Hartford lost the NHL’s Whalers, stories have circulated about Hartford making a play for another NHL team. Most recently, real estate developer Lawrence Gottesdiener attempted to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins and move them to Hartford. The NHL did not appear too excited about the prospects of bringing professional hockey back to Hartford, and the Penguins ultimately stayed put. One of the key issues to bringing the Penguins, or any other team to Hartford, is the viability of the Civic Center. The Civic Center, or XL Center as it is currently named, is outdated and nearing the end of its useful life. Although there has not been much talk about bringing another NHL team to Hartford, a new Civic Center is once again a topic of serious discussion. Below are a few articles and items of interest on this topic:
Stay tuned for more discussion on a new Hartford arena and the viability of professional sports in the state’s capital.
Categories: New Hartford Civic Center · Professional Sports in Hartford
Tagged: Arena, Gottesdiener, Hartford Civic Center, Sports Advisory Board, Task Force
