Author Archives: John Ryan

My Input to the USOC Survey

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Well, the USOC asked for sport development ideas and suggestions, so I took advantage of the opportunity. Here’s a summary of my suggestions:

– Establish an informal or formal partnership with the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Ireland and India Handball Federations:
— Develop an English-language marketing strategy to make television available to those countries.
— Partner with the English speaking nations to develop a European based sports academy/club.
– Establish a new competition as a bridge between club and national team play:
– Create an All-American Collegiate Team:
– Sell DVD copies of US matches:

More detail is provided in the extended post

[b]Establish an informal or formal partnership with the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Ireland and India Handball Federations[/b]: These nations have many common traits when it comes to Handball. Namely, they have developing programs that are not competitive and they speak English. Additionally, these nations and the US have demographics that present tremendous growth opportunities for Team Handball. Alone these nations may have difficulty in engaging with the EHF and IHF to further develop the sport in their country. Combined as one unified voice they could, however, have a greater impact. Areas that they should work together to commonly address:

– Develop an English-language marketing strategy to make television available to those countries. If video rights are waved for those nations and quality English language production can be made available at nominal cost, these markets would be ripe for increased exposure and growth. Such a strategy should be done in conjunction with the EHF and IHF and involve a concerted effort to get Handball on television. Additionally, someone with marketing expertise from one of the major US sports should be hired to effectively execute this strategy. The USOC alone could not do this, but the nations identified above, along with the EHF and IHF could.
– Partner with the English speaking nations to develop a European based sports academy/club. As the British Handball Association is already establishing a partnership with 2 Danish Sports Academies, I see no reason why such a partnership couldn’t be broadened to include athletes from all of the above nations. Subject to available funding, a limited number of athletes with significant potential should be sent to those Academies. The overall common costs could then be shared by the member nations pooling their resources together.

[b]Establish a new competition as a bridge between club and national team play: [/b] The gap in terms of the level of play between USA club competition and international competition is huge. To help bridge this gap a new competition, similar to the discontinued US Olympic Festival should be established. Club players with the potential to eventually play on the US National Team would be selected to play on regional teams. Teams would practice for one week and then play games for another week. This could be either strictly an American competition or structured as a combined Canadian/American competition, similar to what was developed by USA and Canadian Rugby with support from the International Rugby Board:
Official Site http://www.narugby.com/news.html
Wikipedia short descriptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America_4

[b]Create an All-American Collegiate Team: [/b] Similar to USA Rugby’s All-Americans a college all-star team could be established. This team would train together for a week to 10 days and then travel to Europe for 2 weeks of matches. Ideally, this would be fully funded, but if this is not feasible players would be notified that a portion of the trip would be self-funded. Such a team would provide a realistic goal for college handball athletes and serve as a stepping stone between club and national team play. http://www.usarugby.org/natteams/caa/index.html

[b]Sell DVD copies of US matches: [/b] While there is not a huge market for these DVDs, making these DVDs available for purchase will allow fans to feel more connected to the National Team programs. A simple way to set-up distribution would be to give the rights to sell to a youth program such as the CODP in Atlanta. They could then take responsibility for making copies of the DVD and shipping to interested parties. A nominal fee (perhaps $4) could be charged and proceeds could go to the youth program.

EHF Sues IHF Over New World Championship Qualification Tournaments

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The EHF has taken formal legal action against the IHF over the IHF’s plans to introduce new qualification tournaments for the World Championships under IHF jurisdiction and separate from existing Continental Championships http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idcat=132&idart=383. The specifics of the lawsuit concerns the IHF Council’s ability to supersede IHF Congress decisions and the time associated with formal notification. In particular, the EHF notes that the 1994 IHF Congress unanimously agreed that Continents would be responsible for qualifying teams. The EHF is maintaining that the IHF Council is over-ruling what was earlier agreed to by the higher body IHF Congress and that this issue does not require action by the Council prior to the next Congress.

The EHF’s stated concerns are that the new tournament will add yet another National team event that will conflict with an already full club and national team schedule. As clubs are starting to express more and more reluctance to release players for National Team matches, the addition of a separate round of matches outside the European Championships is not supportable.

The EHF also indicates that they will try to resolve this issue with the IHF through internal legal mechanisms and that the lawsuit is only a precautionary move.
Primary source: http://www.handball-world.com/o.red.c/news.php?gender=m&auswahl=5250 (in German)
EHF Official Statement: http://home.eurohandball.com/ehf_files/ehf_news/sr_officialIHFstatement/default.htm

USA Team Handball National Assessment Survey

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In August the USOC sent out a survey to gather input from anyone in the United States involved or interested in Team Handball. The survey consist of 3 parts:

1) A description concerning any existing or planned Team Handball programs
2) Sports development ideas and suggestions
3) E-mail addresses that you would like added to a list to receive further information from the USOC

Stakeholder Survey Memo from USOC: https://teamhandballnews.com/request.php?19
Team Handball: National Assessment Survey: https://teamhandballnews.com/request.php?20

The survey indicates a due date of 30 August 2006. However, since an email glitch resulted in the survey not reaching some interested parties in a timely manner, the USOC has indicated that they will still review and consider your completed surveys. Please send your surveys in as soon as possible to either jay.warwick@usoc.org or mike.Cavanaugh@usoc.org.

Podcast Interview with USOC's Mike Cavanaugh

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John Ryan interviews Mike Cavanaugh, the United States Olympic Committee’s Manager of High Performance for Team Handball. Topics covered:

– Mike’s appointment to the IHF’s Commission for Coaching and Methods
– U.S Women’s National Team
– U.S. Men’s National Team Status (Starts at 21:57)
– The USOC’s Team Handball National Assessment Survey (Starts at 49:09)

Podcast length: 1 hour, 4 minutes

https://teamhandballnews.com/request.php?18 (Right Click on your mouse to save)

Is it Better to Get Blown Out or to Just Stay Home?

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Within the past year there have been a number of lopsided scores in International Team Handball competitions. The English Men’s Junior team got pasted 67-3 https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.71 by Sweden and the Canadian Men’s and Women’s Teams were blitzed by Brazil and Argentina just this past week at the PATHF Junior Championships. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.141
Such lopsided matches are nothing new and certainly are not restricted to Junior Teams. The Australian Senior Women’s and Men’s programs took a beating at the last World Championships (57-9: Women vs Hungary; 49-16: Men vs Sweden) And just to make sure that no one thinks that I’m neglecting to mention any US embarrassments I will point out a few scores from at the 2001 Men’s World Championships. (41-12 vs Croatia; 45-18 vs Spain) And on an even more personal note, when I played at the 1993 World Championships we played and lost all 6 of our matches by an average of 15 goals.

So, the question that is often asked is, “What’s the point of these massacres?” And the summary judgment is usually along the lines of, “These pathetic teams have no business even being on the same floor as the best in the world.” Or “Too bad, I’m not an American. If I were I could be playing in the World Championships.” Beyond the negative rhetoric, here’s the standard for and against arguments that I have heard:

Arguments against playing these matches:
– The inexperienced team is going to injure the experienced players with some risky play
– The games are not entertaining for spectators
– The difference in skill level is so great that the inexperienced team is going to learn nothing from these encounters

Arguments for playing these matches:
– The inexperienced team is going to learn how to better play the game (i.e. seeing somebody execute a perfect swim move and drop-off pass to the circle is one thing, having it done 1 on 1 against you at full speed is another thing entirely)
– The inexperienced team is going to find out exactly how far behind the more skilled teams they are by virtue of the final score. And they are going to see if they are improving or getting worse from year to year.
– These matches are inclusive in that they make a World Championship something more than a European Championship (with a few extras, like South Korea and Tunisia)

Well, as you can probably tell by how I’ve framed these arguments, I am definitely in the “For Playing” camp. In particular, I think I can build a case against each of the “Against playing” arguments. While they are legitimate arguments they can and are being mitigated.
– Inexperience play leading to injury: A definite concern but this can easily be rectified by a minimal amount of coaching to teach players that they can’t do dangerous things like grabbing a shooting arm from behind. Good players will still risk injury, but every time a player steps on the court they risk injury. Additionally, a game against a weak opponent is often one that won’t count in the standings and allows some top players to not play or see only limited action.
– Games not entertaining: There’s no way around this fact. I know I prefer to see two evenly matched top caliber teams. However, the IHF has done a good job of scheduling and seeding World Championship matches. Yes, there will be some non-entertaining matches, but usually those matches are paired with a good match in a double-header format.
– Difference in skill level is too great: When I played at the World Championships, we took a beating in almost every match. There were, however, stretches when we held our own against the top teams, including only being down by 4 at halftime against Sweden in front of their home crowd. The difference was huge, but we were close enough athletic wise to learn a lot from the experience. But what about teams that are getting blitzed by 40, 50, even 60 goals? Can those players really learn anything from that sort of experience? The answer is still yes, but I would agree that there are diminishing returns as the difference in the teams becomes more pronounced. Still, despite total annihilation, you can’t help but learn something and I bet if you were to ask almost any player who has experienced such a defeat whether they gained anything you are going to get a positive response.

In fact, if the raw athletic ability is there it’s only a matter of time and experience until those teams can close the gap. A case in point is the Swedish women’s hockey team upset of the highly favored USA Women’s team at the Torino Olympics. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.32 The Swedish players and coaches made the point repeatedly that they never would have been able to improve without the Canadians and Americans being willing to play them when they were not a competitive team. If some of the less experienced teams can keep their teams together long enough (and add some European club experiences for their top players) you’ll eventually see the same thing happen in Handball. Of course, one could argue that it’s already happened in the case of the Tunisia Men and Brazilian Women. The jury is still out and we will see what happens in 2007

Argentina and Brazil Dominate PATHF Junior and Youth Championships

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Argentina and Brazil split the four titles up for grab at the recently completed PATHF Junior and Youth Championships. All 4 championships featured a Brazil vs Argentina Gold medal game. Brazil won the Men’s Junior and Women’s Youth titles, while Argentina won the Women’s Junior and Men’s Youth titles. Uruguay had the next best performance with three 3rd places. The Canadian Junior teams participating had a rough time, losing every match including some by some pretty lopsided margins (73-12 and 47-3).

Complete Results: http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/compet/2006/pan-blumenau/index.asp

IHF Website Updates Competition Archive

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The IHF website has updated the competition archive at their website to include results and some statistics. If you look at World Championships sections you can see how some nations that didn’t fare as well in the past (Danish Women, French Men) have improved over the years.

Women: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=443
Men: http://www.ihf.info/front_content.php?idart=440

One interesting tidbit that I learned was that American Steve Goss was the 4th leading scorer at the 1985 B World Championships in Norway. Steve is one of the few Americans to ever play professionally overseas and I would expect that a performance like this helped make that happen.

Why isn’t the USA Participating in Junior and Youth Competitions?

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The USA is not participating in any of the four ongoing PATHF Junior and Youth competitions. The rhetorical question is, “Why not?”

Well, with the USOC‘s decertification of USA Team Handball, there isn’t a functioning National Governing Body (NGB) to organize and send teams to this competition. The USOC could theoretically field teams, but this would be extremely challenging with the current state of affairs. I know that the US has sent teams to Junior competitions in the past and hopefully they will be able to participate in future events.

Participating in these age based championships, however, is challenging for the US for a number of reasons.

The most glaring reason, of course, is the relatively late age that players have traditionally picked up the sport in the US. For many, myself included, the first exposure to the sport was in college after their career playing one or more of the traditional American sports has ended. If an athlete is only beginning the sport at age 19 it is unrealistic to expect that he will be competitive against athletes that have been playing the sport for years. There are and have been some youth programs in the United States, (notably the Rock Handball program http://www.rockteamhandball.org/ and the Community Olympic Development Program in Atlanta http://www.communityteamhandball.com/ ) but this is still a pretty thin talent pool to work with.

Another challenge for US teams is the scheduling of the Pan Am Championships. Often this tournament has taken place while schools are in session. As the tournaments are currently ongoing it might not have interfered with some school schedules, but it would have interfered with classes at West Point and the Air Force Academy- two programs that have contributed several players to previous championships.

Finally, there is the issue of cost. Funding a trip down to South America isn’t cheap. With limited resources sometimes choices have to be made concerning which tournaments and programs will be supported. It would be nice if there was enough money to fund everything, but unfortunately that is not the current state of affairs.

Participating in Youth and Junior competitions should become an integral part of the US program as these players could then become the core of the Senior Programs. Additionally, if talented athletes were to participate in these World Championships they could also parlay strong individual performances into contracts with European Clubs. The American athletes playing overseas could then become the stars that US teams could be built around (like Bruno Souza for Brazil and Eric Gull for Argentina).

Pan American Federation Junior and Youth Competitions Underway

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4 simultaneous Handball competitions (Men’s and Women Championships for both the Youth and Junior categories) start today in Bluemenau-BC, Brazil and will conclude on 2 September. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay will be fielding teams in all four tournaments, while teams from Canada, Mexico, the Dominican Republic will be participating in some of the championships.

The Men’s youth competition will qualify the top two teams for the 2007 World’s Youth Championship in Bahrain. I also think 2 spots will be awarded for the 2007 Junior Men’s World Championships in Macedonia, but the Brazilian website does not specifically mention that. http://www.brasilhandebol.com.br/compet/2006/pan-blumenau/index.asp

Handball Junior and Youth Competitions (Basic Organization)

It can be confusing to sort out all the different age-based competitions that Team Handball has on a world-wide and continental level. Here’s a basic primer:

The IHF now organizes 4 age based World Championships (2 for Men and 2 for Women)

Men
Youth World Championships (ages 19 and under) (takes place in odd years 2005, 2007, etc)
Junior World Championships (ages 21 and under) (takes place in odd years 2005, 2007, etc)

Women
Youth World Championships (ages 18 and under) (takes place in even years 2006, 2008, etc)
Junior World Championships (ages 20 and under) (takes place in odd years 2008, 2010, etc)

The age requirement works off the calendar year, so for the upcoming tournaments these are the age restrictions:

2007 Men’s Youth World Championships (Born in 1988 or later)
2007 Men’s Junior World Championships (Born in 1986 or later)
2008 Women’s Youth World Championships (Born in 1990 or later)
2008 Women’s Junior World Championships (Born in 1988 or later)

The different continent federations usually have qualifying competition to determine representatives to the IHF Championships. Often the qualification competition takes place in the year prior to the IHF competition. To keep the same age based team together for the following year’s world championships, the age requirement is one year lower than the IHF requirement. For example, the EHF recently completed a 20 and under Men’s Championships. The teams from Europe that qualified will then compete in the Junior World Championships (21 and under) in 2007.

USA Boxing Avoids Being Team Handballed

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Yet another USA amateur sport Board has looked over the abyss and decided to vote themselves out of office. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-0608250129aug25,1,5081617.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
http://www.usaboxing.org/default.asp

Commentary: I wonder how in the world they used to function with a 200+ member Board of Governors? It’s also surprising to see that a substantially higher profile sport (compared to Team Handball) has significant difficulty fundraising

Side note: Ed Weichers, the interim CEO of USA boxing, was my instructor for boxing class at the Air Force Academy 23 years ago. Talk about a recruiting tool for a club sport. Every single male Freshman at the military service academies is required to take 10 lessons in boxing their Freshman year. If you expose 900 people to a sport, with even a 1% interest rate to join the club program you’re doing great. This is why the service academies do so well in College Boxing.

Australian and British Programs Turn to Danish Connection

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In a bid to improve their National Handball teams both Australia and Britain are turning to Denmark for coaching and playing opportunities. Australia’s Men’s National Team Coach is Dane Morten Fjeldstad and his in-country connections are being used to facilitate competition and training this August in Denmark. The team is playing in several tournaments and is being hosted by Fjeldstad’s club team, Ribe HK, which plays in the Danish First Division (one level down from the top Danish league). Further to this tour, 3 National Team players (Josh Parmenter, Bevan Calvert and Michael Thomas) will play this upcoming season for Ribe HK and two others (Anthony Deane and Ogi Latinovic) will play for another First Division club, IKAST. The Australian Federation website also highlights two Women’s Team players who will be playing for club teams in Sweden (Katia Boyd) and Denmark (Caitlin Wynne).
Source: http://www.handballaustralia.org.au/

The British Handball Federation has also become closely connected to Denmark. Both the Men’s and Women’s team spent a week recently training at the Aarhus and Oure Sports Academies. Britain intends to relocate up to 25 men and 25 women at the Danish Academies as part of their long term planning to field a competitive Handball Team at the London Olympics in 2012.
http://britishhandball.worldhandball.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?menuid=1093&itemid=875
http://britishhandball.worldhandball.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?menuid=1093&itemid=802

USA – Canada Pan Am Games Qualification (Canada Wins Coinflip)

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As a result of a coin flip toss between Dawn Lewis (USA) and
Ward Hrabi (CAN) the USA will host game 1 and Canada will host game 2 and, if necessary, game 3. The winner of this best of 3 competition (for both the Men and the Women) will directly qualify for the PANAM Games. The loser will still have another chance to qualify in a 2nd chance tournament later in 2007,
Schedule

Thursday, 4 January 2007 (Lake Placid, NY- Olympic Training Center)
5:00 PM Canada Men vs USA Men
7:30 PM Canada Women vs USA Women

Saturday, 6 January 2007 (Montreal, Canada- Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard)
1:00 PM Canada Women vs USA Women
3:30 PM Canada Men vs USA Men

Sunday, 7 January 2007 (Canada- Likely, Claude Robillard)
Canada Women vs USA Women (if necessary)
Canada Men vs USA Men (if necessary)

Source: Matt Van Houten Myspace: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=73440975&blogID=158449893&MyToken=0acdddc9-51c8-4aa2-8d81-433d25a9affe

What’s Wrong with European Club Handball? (Part 1) The Disparity from Top to Bottom

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Without question Club Team Handball in Europe is the best in the world in terms of quality of play and organization. To even begin to compare it with the handball club system in the United States would be ridiculous. But, if you compare European Club Handball with flourishing amateur and professional leagues in other American Sports it’s Handball that clearly has a lot to improve upon.

Case in point is the overwhelming disparity between the top and bottom clubs in the Champions League.

The Champions League tournament is modeled after the European Soccer equivalent and includes every national club champion from the previous season, plus extra top teams from Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, Hungary, and Slovenia. In total, this competition includes 39 teams and is a combination of group play and two game aggregate knock out competition. But how many of these 39 teams have a realistic shot at the title? If you believe the oddsmakers, the answer is that only 5 teams have a better than 11-1 shot of winning (Ciudad Real, Barcelona, Porland San Antonio, Kiel, and Flensburg), while 8 other teams are given an outside shot (17-1 to 66-1) (Valladolid, Celje, Veszprem, Chambery, Montpellier, Zagreb, Gummersbach, and Chehovskie Medvedi). This leaves 26 other teams with odds no better than 100-1 and in many cases much worse. These teams have no chance of winning the tournament and just advancing out of the group stage would be major upset. The reality for these teams is that just being in the Champions League and having the opportunity to get a lucrative home date with Ciudad Real or Kiel is their victory.

Well, you might say this is to be expected. It’s not really very realistic to think that the top team from Luxembourg, Iceland or Poland can compete against the big money salaries provided to players in the German and Spanish leagues. Fair enough, but why have this system in place? Wouldn’t it be much better to take the top 16 teams and set up 4 very competitive groups from top to bottom. I know that Portland San Antonio- Kiel would have much greater appeal to me than say Portland San Antonio vs Sarajevo. And this is precisely why the German and Spanish Leagues want to move the Champions League matches from weekend nights to midweek. Quite simply they feel that they are losing money at the turnstiles when they have to switch their more marquee national league matches to mid-week to make room for less than stellar Champion League matches on the weekend.

But the problem of disparity is not just a cross-border competition phenonmenon. It is also a very stark problem in the national leagues as well. According to the oddsmakers the Spanish, German, French and Danish leagues also are case of the have’s and have not’s. Here are the odds for these 3 leagues

Spanish League (odds to win)
CIUDAD REAL (1 to 1)
FC BARCELONA (2.15 to 1)
PORTLAND SAN ANTONIO (4 to 1)
VALLADOLID (17 to 1)
ADEMAR LEON (17 to 1)
CAI ARAGON (80 to 1)
ANTEQUERA (100 to 1)
DARIEN LOGRONO (100 to 1)
GRANOLLERS (150 to 1)
ALGECIRAS (500 to 1)
ALTEA (500 to 1)
ARRATE (500 to 1)
BIDASOA (500 to 1)
CANTABRIA (500 to 1)
KEYMARE ALMERIA (500 to 1)
TORREVIEJA (500 to 1)

German League
THW Kiel (-133) (Bet 133 to win 100)
SG Flensburg-Handewitt (1.7 to 1)
SC Magdeburg (8 to 1)
VfL Gummers Bach (13 to 1)
HSV Hamburg (19 to 1)
TBV Lemgo (19 to 1)
FA Göppingen (79 to 1)
HSG Nordhorn (79 to 1)
SG Kronau-Östringen (79 to 1)
TV Großwallstadt (79-1)
MT Messenger (349 to 1)
Wilhelmshavener HV (349 to 1)
HBW Balingen-Weilstetten (349 to 1)
Eintracht Hildesheim (349 to 1)
GWD Minden (349 to 1)
TuS N-Lübbecke (349 to 1)
HSG Wetzlar (349 to 1)
HSG Düsseldorf (349 to 1)

Danish League
GOG Svendborg TGI (1.35 to 1)
KIF Kolding (1.65 to 1)
FCK Håndbold (6.5 to 1)
Viborg HK (11 to 1)
Århus GF (16 to 1)
Skjern Håndbold (16 to 1)
Team TVIS Holstebro (74 to 1)
AAB Håndbold (80 to 1)
Bjerringbro-Silkeborg (100 to 1)
TMS Ringsted (1000 to 1)
Elite 3000 Helsingor (1000 to 1)
Ajax Heroes (1000 to 1)
Lemvig Håndbold (1000 to 1)
Fredericia HK (1000 to 1)
Elite 3000 Helsingor 1001.00
Lemvig Haandbold 1001.00

French League
Montpellier (-400) (Bet 400 to win 100)
Chambery (6.5 to 1)
Paris (6.5 to 1)
Ivry (14 to 1)
Dunkerque (20 to 1)
Creteil (28 to 1)
USAM Nimes (80 to 1)
Porte-Normande (100 to 1)
Istres (400 to 1)
Pontault-Combault (400 to 1)
Toulouse (400 to 1)
Selestat (500 to 1)
Tremblay (500 to 1)
Villeurbanne HA (500 to 1)

Once again, the disparity between the top and bottom is striking. The Spanish league has Ciudad Real at even money to win and only 4 other teams have a realistic shot. In Germany, Kiel is better than even money, Flensburg is not far behind and only 4 other team are even within striking distance. In Denmark, Svendborg and Kolding are huge favorites and 4 others follow close behind. The French League situation is the most split, with my “favorite team” http://teamhandball.blogspot.com/2005/10/top-10-reasons-why-i-love-to-hate.html
an overwhelming 1 to 4 favorite, a cluster of 5 teams between 6.5 to 1 and 28-1 and the rest of the league at 80-1 or higher. Big deal, you might say, all leagues consists of favorites and longshots. True, but the difference here is simply too great. Compare and contrast for instance the odds to win with the upcoming NFL, NBA, and the NHL titles in North America:

National Football League
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (6 to 1)
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (9 to 1)
CAROLINA PANTHERS (12 to 1)
DALLAS COWBOYS (12 to 1)
PITTSBURGH STEELERS (12 to 1)
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (12 to 1)
CHICAGO BEARS (16 to 1)
DENVER BRONCOS (16 to 1)
WASHINGTON REDSKINS (16 to 1)
CINCINNATI BENGALS (20 to 1)
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (20 to 1)
MIAMI DOLPHINS (20 to 1)
NEW YORK GIANTS (20 to 1)
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (25 to 1)
SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (25 to 1)
ATLANTA FALCONS (27 to 1)
BALTIMORE RAVENS (27 to 1)
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (30 to 1)
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (33 to 1)
ARIZONA CARDINALS (40 to 1)
CLEVELAND BROWNS (60 to 1)
MINNESOTA VIKINGS (60 to 1)
GREEN BAY PACKERS (66 to 1)
ST LOUIS RAMS (66 to 1)
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (80 to 1)
BUFFALO BILLS (100 to 1)
DETROIT LIONS (100 to 1)
NEW YORK JETS (100 to 1)
OAKLAND RAIDERS (100 to 1)
TENNESSEE TITANS (125 to 1)
HOUSTON TEXANS (160 to 1)
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (200 to 1)

NBA
SA Spurs (4.5 to 1)
DAL Mavericks (5.5 to 1)
DET Pistons (5.5 to 1)
MIA Heat (4.5 to 1)
PHX Suns 7/1
NJ Nets 14/1
DEN Nuggets 16/1
CLE Cavaliers 16/1
LA Clippers 20/1
IND Pacers 22/1
HOU Rockets 25/1
LA Lakers 28/1
MEM Grizzlies 28/1
SAC Kings 28/1
CHI Bulls 33/1
WAS Wizards 33/1
MIL Bucks 40/1
ORL Magic 40/1
PHI 76ers 40/1
UTA Jazz 40/1
BOS Celtics 50/1
NO Hornets 50/1
GS Warriors 66/1
MIN Timberwolves 66/1
SEA Supersonics 66/1
TOR Raptors 80/1
CHA Bobcats 100/1
NY Knicks 125/1
ATL Hawks 150/1
POR Trailblazers 150/1

NHL
Detroit Red Wings 6-1
Ottawa Senators 7-1
New Jersey Devils 12-1
Calgary Flames 12-1
Buffalo Sabres 12-1
Philadelphia Flyers 12-1
Carolina Hurricanes 10-1
Dallas Stars 15-1
San Jose Sharks 15-1
Anaheim Mighty Ducks 12-1
Nashville Predators 20-1
Edmonton Oilers 25-1
Colorado Avalanche 20-1
New York Rangers 18-1
Vancouver Canucks 20-1
Tampa Bay Lightning 25-1
Montreal Canadiens 30-1
Atlanta Thrashers 30-1
Florida Panthers 30-1
Toronto Maple Leafs 40-1
Columbus Blue Jackets 40-1
Minnesota Wild 40-1
Los Angeles Kings 50-1
New York Islanders 50-1
Boston Bruins 48-1
Phoenix Coyotes 50-1
Washington Capitals 100-1
Chicago Blackhawks 100-1
St Louis Blues 100-1
Pittsburgh Penguins 90-1

Yes, there are favorites and longshots here, but there are also two key differences. First, the favorites are not overwhelming favorites. The top favorite is certainly not even money and is no better than 4.5 to 1 for the NBA co-favorites San Antonio and Miami. Additionally, there is a grouping of teams all within the neighborhood of the top favorite. In the NFL and NHL, in particular, there are a lot of teams that can realistically start the year and think they can win the championship. The second major point is that the longshots are not out of this world longshots. Teams have come out of nowhere to win titles in these leagues or at least have given the bookies a tremendous scare with a totally unexpected successful season. This is why you won’t see 500-1 or 1000-1 very often in professional US sports. The NFL concept of “on any given Sunday any team, can beat another team” is very true.

There are several reasons behind this parity, but the principal reasons are franchise stability, revenue sharing, player drafts and salary caps. Franchise stability is a result of American teams not having to worry about relegation to the lower league. Revenue sharing, is the concept by which league money (principally TV money) is shared equally between all the teams. Player drafts are a means to allow the worst teams from the previous season to have exclusive rights to sign new talent. Salary caps are a league provision that limits the overall total of money each team can spend on players. To my knowledge, revenue sharing is the only element of these four parity measures that are used by any of these leagues.

If European Handball Leagues were to institute some of these provisions the result would be more evenly matched teams and more compelling competition. But this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what could be improved upon. In part 2, I’ll discuss the presentation of the games, scheduling and marketing.