Sports Business

With three newly inked endorsement deals, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is scoring faster and more often with corporate America than any other National Football League player, according to his handlers at Cleveland-based IMG Worldwide. But Manning’s endorsement success hasn’t played out as fast as one of his famous twominute drills. Since entering the league sevenplus years ago, Manning and IMG have followed a carefully diagrammed blueprint to build first a local platform through deals with St. Vincent Health and…

The 2006 Indy Racing League schedule-which is two months shorter and has three fewer races than 2005-has teams considering either cutting staff or expanding into other race series to fill the void. “You hate to make any staff cuts, but that’s one question facing all the [IRL] teams,” said Doug Boles, chief operating officer for locally based Panther Racing. “This is a very competitive industry and to keep your good people, you want to keep them employed year-round.” But with…

Despite the meteoric rise of the Indianapolis Indians’ stock price, some industry analysts think the minor-league baseball franchise is still undervalued. In August, three shares of the thinly traded public company sold for $21,000 each and another share sold for $19,500. The $21,000 share price-with 800 shares outstanding-puts a $16.8 million value on the AAA team. That’s leagues ahead of the $8.3 million it was valued at during a stock buyback initiated by the franchise in 2002. “A value for…

Basketball fans hoping to catch the action at next spring’s NCAA men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are more likely to score decent tickets than they are a downtown hotel room, though neither will come cheap. As the event has moved from fan-centric to corporate, the demand and price for hotel rooms has reached new highs. And the hotel room supply for Final Fours held locally is likely to tighten as NCAA officials push for larger Final Four venues-such as the…

A handful of noisy chickens and a small herd of goats meander around two neatly kept barns that house about a dozen horses, their stalls overlooking the 10-acre field that’s 300 yards long and 160 yards wide. As horses emerge from their stalls with the help of the Chandlers’ assistant, it becomes clear these are no common steeds. Their deep chests heave with each breath, their nostrils sucking in air like a Hoover, ribs lightly protruding through their lean physiques….