California Business Minute™

Hi, I am Tim Johnson and welcome to the California Business Minute.

Football is big business in the Golden State with three NFL franchises and multiple
universities from the Pac 10, WAC and Mountain West conferences.

To illustrate the impact, according to an annual review by Forbes magazine, out of the
32 teams in the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers were ranked 22nd at $925 million, up
from $875 million last year and the highest amongst the California contingent.  The San
Diego Chargers were ranked 24th valued at $907 million down from $917 last year and
the Oakland Raiders were ranked 31st valued at $758 million down from $797 million.

However, the average team value of an NFL franchise has dropped for the first time
in 12 years, according to Forbes magazine’s annual review. The average worth of NFL
teams fell 2% to $1.02 billion in 2010 from $1.04 billion last year. That's the
first drop since the magazine began tracking team values in 1998. But an NFL franchise
still remains the most valued of all professional sports.

And at the end of the season, the state periodically is the backdrop to a Super Bowl or
one of California’s pro teams appear in the game.   In fact, nearly 25 percent of the time,
a team from California has been in the Super Bowl (add in the LA Rams appearance,
49ers 4 times and Raiders 3 times and a once in a blue moon long shot that both
the 49ers and Charges played against one another in the 1997 Super Bowl in Miami).

At the college level, some of the state’s teams generate revenues comparable to
professional sports teams. USC’s Athletic Department budget is over $100 million.
They have practice and playing facilities that rival those found in professional
sports and they pay their top coaches comparable to the pros.   In an economic
report for USC, the Trojans football team brings annually over 550,000 people to
the Memorial Stadium.

California’s college athletes are coveted with lavish stadiums, training fields
and locker room amenities.  Customers are wooed with branded apparel, videos,
logos and advertisement.  Business interests are captured on stadium scoreboards,
billboards and logos on uniforms.  UC Berkeley is planning a $140 million
renovation of its stadium.

And on the college scene, the state is the backdrop to four college bowl games, 
including  the grand daddy of them all, the Rose Bowl along with the Holiday and
Poinsettia Bowls and the former Emerald now aka as the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

In 2008, The USC Marshall School of Business conducted an economic impact study
of Tournament of Roses events. The study concluded that $181 million in direct
spending produced a total economic impact of $178 million for the Tournament
of Roses events. This value is down from a study by UCLA's Anderson School of Management 
on the 2005 Tournament of Roses.  It found the events produced $208.1 million in
direct expenditures and a total economic impact of $370.3 million on Southern California
illustrating the impact from the downturn in the economy. Meanwhile, San Diego’s two post-
season college football games, the Holiday Bowl and the Poinsettia Bowl combined to produce
an economic impact of $51.3 million for the San Diego region in 2009 according to a study
conducted by the San Diego State University Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research.
And representatives in San Francisco identify that their bowl since its inception in 2002 has
had an $100 million impact.

Football, it’s American, just like apple pie and the girl next door, and no place
is it more evident than in the Golden State.  So let’s kick off the season!

I am Tim Johnson and this has been the California Business Minute.