Dallas Sports Team Owner Folly

Many from North Texas know of Tom Hicks and the Hicks Sports Group. BRUCE SCHOENFELD, has written and excellent article about Mr. Hicks and the ups and downs of his career and his ownership of the Dallas Stars, Texas Rangers, and Liverpool FC in the U.K. The story appears in the Sports Business Journal and paints an interesting picture of the individual who has won a Stanley Cup in 1999 and competed in the MLB playoffs as a Division Winner in 1996 and 1999.
ESPN Dallas writer Richard Durrett writes, "Hicks Sports Group was forced to sell majority stake in the club after defaulting on a $525 million loan early last year. Major League Baseball eventually had to step in and infuse some money into the club."

Schoenfeld writes, "The Rangers are now in limbo as MLB and a potential new ownership group fronted by Chuck Greenberg attempt to convince creditors to allow Hicks to close a sale with a purchaser who may not be the highest bidder. The Stars are also likely to be sold soon, which would please the NHL. “The feeling in the league office is that the problem isn’t the market, it’s Hicks,” said a league insider, who has served as an executive with several teams, of the declining revenue in Dallas. “He needs to be gone.”"

Hicks ownership style and method of purchasing and funding his sports teams has proven to be a joke and the down turn in the economy starting in 2008 has surely contributed to the struggles of the teams. But the struggles are not related to the fans but instead of how the deals were structured using debt. Hicks comments on this in the Sports Business Journal, "By using debt to acquire all three franchises in the manner of a leveraged buyout, Hicks’ exit strategy was always going to be to sell them. Professional sports teams aren’t likely to generate enough profit to even service such debt, let alone pay it down. “This was never going to be a dynastic asset,” Hicks told SportsBusiness Journal last month."

As a huge Rangers fan I hope that the Rangers are sold soon so that the Rangers can be more flexible to make roster changes as needed without as much concern for the ledger. Come on MLB take control of the team and close this deal. Please!

The Game Changer?

To quote Gizmodo writer Brian Barrett, "So what do we have with the HTC Evo 4G? The best hardware. The best Android OS with the best custom UI. The best camera. The fastest download speeds. Bigger, better, faster, more."

That's what he says about the Sprint HTC EVO 4G. What is that you ask?

Is this the device that will help Sprint turn it around? There is finally an iPhone competitor and according to many tech bloggers that have had a hands on experience they say it is the "iPhone killer" that Verizon and Sprint have been in need of. That's just the device. Did I mention this new device is the first 4G phone to be released by Sprint as well? Oh and it works as a hot spot for up-to 8 other devices. What? It's basically a mobile wireless router out of the box. You have to be kidding me. It also has a front facing camera for video chat, a rear 8MegaPixel with dual flash, captures 720p video and has an HDMI out. Who needs a digital camera and video recorder when you have this thing?

Here are the specs:

• 4.3 inch screen
• Android 2.1
• HTC Sense UI
• 1 GHz Snapdragon processor
• 1,500 mAh Battery
• Wi-Fi
• 3G/4G
• Mobile Hotspot
• Dual cameras
• -8.0 megapixel primary on back of device with dual led flash
• -1.3 megapixel front-facing camera (video blog/status/video calling)
• GPS
• Stereo Bluetooth
• microSD Card support up to 32GB
• 3.5mm headset jack
• Micro USB connector
• Proximity and motion sensors
• Digital compass
• HDMI output which supports 720p
• Business email support
• Visual Voicemail

As a sales rep I can see myself carrying one of these bad boys and having it connected to my iPad and walking through proposals with my clients any where in DFW. Do I even need a laptop PC? I am totally stoked.

Here's what my friends at The Boy Genius Report have to say about this device.
"We got some one-on-one time with the HTC EVO 4G today, and let us succinctly sum up our experience for you: wow. We’ll start with the screen… it’s gorgeous. 4.3 inches, enormous, easy to type on, responsive… it’s everything you want out of a touch screen."

Engadget Mobile quote, "...the phone will be dubbed the HTC EVO 4G, will be released this Summer and it's easily the best specced phone we've ever witnessed." They have also created a graph comparing the EVO to the Droid and Nexus One. Check it out.

Sprint HTC Hero Review

I've been reading / watching the reviews of the new HTC Hero for Sprint and I really like the one from mobilitytoday.com by Dave Ciccone. Dave is always fair is not a fanboy for Verizon, Sprint or AT&T. He reviews the devices and provides a high value opinion about each. Take a look at Dave's thoughts on the HTC Hero from Sprint.

Sprint Has Something New Tomorrow

UPDATED

Check out the new plan Sprint has. Very interesting!

Any Mobile, Anytime

For only $69.99 per month, Anytime offers up unlimited minutes to any US-based mobile in addition to unlimited data, SMS, MMS, Sprint TV, GPS navigation and more. The catch? You only get 45o minutes of good old fashioned land line calling.

So I'm reading through all of my usual blogs tonight and see this cool little image.




The comments on the different blogs are very interesting. It appears that some Sprint people have commented on the BGR post. Sprint is very pumped about this and continue to claim it will revolutionize the wireless industry.

From the text I'm guessing it's a new plans with great new features. I bet it has something to do with 4G and some type of plan that will allow users to have unlimited data on either 3G or 4G where available. I also think there will be new hardware to show off. New pricing for the existing everything plans would not surprise me either. Oh and they are sending me my HTC Hero tomorrow also. Just kidding. :)


I guess we'll see in the morning when the new hits the interweb.

STAY TUNED

The Next Palm WebOS Device

Palm released information today about their second WebOS device the Pixie. This looks like a Pre without the slider. The QWERTY keyboard is on the front of the device thus reducing the screen size. This device is being compared by some to the Palm Centro. It is a more mainstream device vs a business device. I read a few comments on some of the other blogs and many people are saying they would consider this device over a Blackberry so maybe this device will be a cross over device and be used by both business and non-business users. I really like the look of the device and look forward to seeing one live. Hey Palm send me a tester. :)

Here are the tech specs:
Operating system: Palm webOS™ platform
Network: Sprint Dual-band CDMA2000 3G: EvDO Rev A
Display: 2.63-inch touch screen with a vibrant 18-bit color 320x400 screen resolution Sub-HVGA display
Email: Microsoft® Exchange email with Microsoft Direct Push Technology POP3/IMAP (Yahoo! Mail, Gmail™, AOL, Hotmail®, etc)
Messaging: Integrated IM, SMS, and MMS
GPS: Built-in GPS
Digital camera: 2 megapixel camera with LED flash
Sensors: Ambient light, accelerometer, and proximity
Media formats supported:
Audio Formats: MP3, AAC, AAC+, AMR, QCELP, WAV
Video Formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264
Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth® wireless technology 2.1 + EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
Memory: 8GB (~7GB user available)4
Connector: MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
Headphone jack: 3.5mm stereo
Palm Synergy™: Includes aggregation for Facebook®, Google™, Microsoft® Office Outlook®, Yahoo! Mail, Google Talk™, AIM Instant Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger.5
Universal search: Searches user's applications, contacts, dialing information, and web.
Activity cards: Third party7 and ROM applications accessible as movable, multi-view cards.
Palm Services: Includes over-the-air backup, restore, remote erase, and software updates.
Palm Touchstone™ Charging Dock Compatible
Dimensions:
Width: 55.0mm (2.17 inches)
Height: 111.0mm (4.37 inches)
Thickness: 10.85mm (0.43 inches)
Weight: 99.5 grams (3.51 ounces)

Sprint's Latest and Greatest

UPDATE

engadget has a nice little review of this new device.

Here's another review, this one has more details and for the first time ever Gizmodo gives a Sprint device high praise.

Sprint and HTC today officially announce the Hero! This will be my next phone. I was really intrigued by the Palm Pre but decided to wait for the Hero. Here are more details about this new smart phone.

• Access to Outlook email with Microsoft Direct Push Technology
• Ability to easily view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF documents
• Google Search, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Talk
• WiFi
• Sprint Navigation
• Multi-touch screen
• 5 MP camera/camcorder
• Expandable Memory
• 3.2 inch HVGA TFT screen
• Visual Voicemail

These are a couple of other unique featurea that I can't wait to try out.

"HTC Hero users can easily create and switch between Scenes to reflect different moments or roles in their lives, such as work, social, travel and play. For example, a work Scene can be easily set up to include stock updates, work email and calendar, a play Scene could have music, weather, and a Twitter feed or a travel Scene could offer instant access to the local time, weather and maps.

HTC Hero is the first U.S. device to feature HTC Sense, an intuitive experience that was built with a guiding philosophy to put people at the center and allows the device to be completely customized to the wants and needs of the user. The device’s seven-panel wide home screen can be populated with customizable widgets that bring information to the surface."

Excerpt from the Sprint/HTC press release.

Check out the Competitive and Value Matrix

Here are a couple more pictures.

Amazon Kindle for Education

This time of year I hear a lot about collecting and counting text books from my wife whose responsibilities at her elementary school require her to do this every year. I really think the days of text books are numbered, but only if a manufacturer creates a device that will meet the needs of schools. Amazon has a great product with the Kindle and it would make sense to me that Amazon should build an education device.
The new Amazon Kindle Ed. (as I'll call it) will need to be a ruggedized device capable of sustaining drops of up to 4 feet, because students will drop the device. It will also need to have a GPS capability so that if the device is lost it can be found. There will also have to be away for schools to limit what is loaded to the device. Bluetooth would be a nice touch also so that students can connect to other educational devices like SMART boards. It should also have a standard hard cover to help protect the device. Not only will this new device need to created school districts will need to have an incentive to migrate to an eReader.

Schools around the nation are facing the problem about how they need to proceed with ebooks, and in the end either states or the federal government will need to fund the purchase of these devices, but before schools can begin the purchase process the unique and special device will need to be created, tested, and presented to the states and fed so that the solution is accepted at a national level. The use of the device may even need to be mandated, so that all schools around the country adopted this type of device. But let me be clear, schools districts will not purchase these devices unless they cost less than existing text books. What about the publishers?

Publishers will also have to adapt their business models to excel at the electronic publishing business. The days of printed materials are numbered, so these businesses will need to work hard to develop a way to stay relevant in the future. Maybe the publishers should get together and create a Kindle Ed type device and then they can maintain their revenue streams. Text book publishers can not afford to wait around or they will feel the same impact that newspapers are experiencing. More and more readers will be online/electronic so I say be part of the solution and benefit, don't be left behind.

Technology utilization in public schools is very interesting and challenging issue. In my opinion more companies should be developing new tools to be used in the class room. Of course R&D costs money but it would be money well spent because school districts will be moving to electronic text books the question is when not if. The technology issue also will need to be addressed in the state and federal legislatures so that funds are identified to help fund this move away from traditional paper text books to new electronic books.

So who will be the players in this business? I'd love to read some of your comments.