Neil deMause: The Website

The sports industry is getting hit hard by the sinking economy, and you know what that means:

While most people’s attention focused on the Big Three auto execs’ hybrid-car rally from Detroit to Washington, another prominent American industry was starting to look green around the gills. This month has not been a happy one for pro sports teams: The Houston Comets, winners of the WNBA’s first four titles, shut down when the league couldn’t find a buyer; the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes were reported hemorrhaging cash and headed for bankruptcy; and the Arena Football League assured fans that, just because it doesn’t have a commissioner or a schedule for next season, doesn’t mean that it’s folding … yet… [read more]

UPDATE: Mere hours after this article appeared, the Arena Football League announced that it was canceling its 2009 season to work on “developing a long-term plan to improve its economic model.” One hopes that bailouts won’t be involved.

Is the sports bubble about to pop? It’s probably too soon to tell, but that won’t stop me from reading the tea leaves.

Sports are all about omens. All it takes is for a baseball player to get called out a few times in a row and sportscasters will declare him to be “slumping” and that his team has “lost momentum.” (Either that or he’s “due.” Omens are funny that way.)

In recent weeks, the portents that many sports-watchers have been keeping an eye out for are predictions of how one of our other national obsessions — the spectator sport that is the roller-coaster economy — will affect teams’ bottom lines… [read more]