Neil deMause

Like the headline says, I’m scheduled to be on ESPN Radio’s Brian Kenny Show on Monday, starting at about 8:27 pm Eastern time. The topic: “how the economy is affecting sports,” including naming rights deals and player salaries. If you don’t know how to use a radio, just click on the web stream here.

Ever since news broke that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly tried to trade Wrigley Field stadium subsidies for getting Chicago Tribune editorial board writers fired, I’ve been getting lots of calls from radio stations on the topic. So far the list includes:

• Culture Shocks with Barry Lynn (listen to archive here) yesterday.
• Seattle’s KOMO last night.
• WCCO in Minneapolis today at 12:40 pm Central time.

I’ll also be on New York’s WBAI tomorrow morning at 6:45 am Eastern, discussing the latest in the Mets and Yanks stadium deals. If my voice hasn’t given out by then.

(UPDATE: I also just found the archive of my appearance yesterday on The Roth Show, which was, um, interesting…)

I may have been cut from “E:60,” but my yammerings about the Yankees stadium controversy turned up this morning on ESPN’s other newsmagazine show, “Outside the Lines,” in a segment on Friday’s Congressional hearings on the subject. You can catch repeats every day this week at 3 pm Eastern (2:30 pm on Monday for some reason), or watch streaming video on the Outside the Lines website, where the choppy video makes my squinting into the camera lights look especially doofy.

(UPDATE: It turns out that the weekday “Outside the Lines” don’t repeat Sunday’s episode, so the streaming web video is your only option.)

Two brushes with media greatness for me today:

• I’m quoted in today’s New York Times, on page B5, in an article on the luxury suite that New York City officials are getting for their own use at the new Yankees stadium. The article is online here, but for some reason the section I’m quoted in doesn’t appear online; for those not in reach of a New York newsstand, my deathless words are: “Is [city council speaker] Chris Quinn going to be able to hand out tickets to people who vote the way she likes?”
• ESPN’s “E:60″ is scheduled to run a segment tonight (7 pm Eastern) about the Yanks’ stadium controversy, for which I was interviewed. If I end up on the cutting-room floor for that one as well, I’ll, um, post a YouTube clip of me talking about stadiums or something.

UPDATE: I was indeed cut from the “E:60″ segment. I’ll get working on my lip-syncing to Rick Astley.

Kansas City Star columnist Hearne Christopher Jr. today ran a long interview with me on that city’s new subsidized arena (which still lacks a sports tenant) and subsidized renovations to the stadiums of the Chiefs and Royals. Key quote:

“I think there are things that can be done to slow it, but I’ve been predicting the tide will turn for 10 years and it hasn’t. Until local officials start saying no and they cut off the money supply, teams are always going to do this because the rewards for the teams are so great that they’ll wait out recessions. They’ll even wait out Barack Obama.”

Thanks to Hearne for giving me the space to pontificate at length, though his head is still bigger than mine.

A flurry of recent media appearances for me, none of it, oddly, connected with this past week’s Yankee Stadium All-Star Game media frenzy:

• Mark Yost, author of the NFL business history Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps, quotes me on the impact (or lack thereof) of sports facilities on neighborhood development in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, in a long article on the new Washington Nationals stadium. And there’s a bit more on the story at the Market Power blog.
• Norman Oder of the blog Atlantic Yards Report has been doling out a long interview he did with me about the proposed Brooklyn Nets arena project in small bits; he’s currently up to segment #4. (You can find #1, #2, and #3 as well, or read them all in one place.)
• I’ll be on KFAQ in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday at around 3 pm Central time, discussing that city’s pricey new minor-league arena. If you can listen online, I haven’t been able to figure out how.

I weigh in on stadium financing in two far-flung corners of the nation today: In the Whittier Daily News I analyze a report by Los Angeles sports promoters on the economic impact of sports in Southern California (key quote: “I could teach my 5-year-old to make that calculation”); in the St. Petersburg Times, I’m one of four stadium experts giving their take on the Tampa Bay Rays’ latest stadium finance plan (key quote: “It’s not a financing plan. Rather, it’s a PR document that leaves out most of the important details”). You can read my even longer critique of the Rays plan at fieldofschemes.com.

The Brian Lehrer Show has archived my appearance yesterday, debating deputy mayor Linda Gibbs on New York’s poverty policies; you can listen to the mp3 here. They’ve even helpfully broken up the archive into segments, so you can hear my interview without having to fast-forward through the preceding news item on the oral rape of children by bishops. (That oughta do wonders for my Google hits…)

I’ll be on the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC in New York at 10 am on Friday, talking about my investigation of Mayor Bloomberg’s poverty initiatives in the soon-to-be-released Spring issue of City Limits Investigates. Tune in on 93.9 FM, 820 AM, or via the web stream to hear me answer the musical question: Two years ago Mayor Michael Bloomberg vowed “a major reduction” in New York City poverty. Does his plan match his promise?

I neglected to mention that I was going to be on Sports Byline USA‘s overnight program on Friday, talking about the new edition of Field of Schemes, whether the Sonics will move to Oklahoma, and other sundry topics. As penance, I now offer up links not only to an mp3 of that interview, but of one I did for the same sports talk network last month.

And if you would have wanted to call in but couldn’t because you didn’t know about, all I can suggest is you try using Google Custom Time.