I’ve added a Handball Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) to the menu at the top of the page. I’ve started it with a few common questions concerning Handball in the USA.

– Most of the world simply identifies Handball as Handball, so why does the United States call the sport Team Handball?
– What is the popularity of Handball in the United States?
– What percentage of Americans are familiar with the sport of Handball in the US?
– What impact has the name confusion for Handball/Team Handball had on the sports development in the US?

I will gradually populate it with more questions and answers in the coming weeks. If you’ve got a burning question drop me a line at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com. Better yet, answer a FAQ yourself, and I’ll add it to the website.

Earlier this month, I was pleased to note that Handball-World.com www.handball-world.com had restarted the English language content portion of their website. Well, now I am even more pleased to announce that I have accepted the position as Editor in Chief for English Language Content at Handball-World.com.

As visitors to this website know, I’ve been a fan of the Handball-World website for some time. Even though the site had reverted to an all German format it still was an excellent source of information, even if you did have to cut and paste text into an automatic translator. At the World Championships this past January I had the opportunity to meet some members of the Handball-World team. I learned that Handball-World, like Team Handball News is an independent news site devoted to Handball. And as we had a similar mission, albeit in different languages, we started to routinely share information on events happening in the Handball World. With Handball-World now bringing English back to their site it only seemed natural that we further team up in some way. And hence my decision to join their site.

[b]So what does this mean to you, the reader?[/b]

Well, first off, you are now going to have a lot more independent, English language news reporting on handball. And these articles will include more graphics and pictures. Not every German language article at Handball-World will be translated into English, but all of the major stories will be. And, time willing, these stories will also be edited by native language speakers. Additionally, in the coming months we hope to roll out some new features that will make Handball-World.com an even better internet destination for the Handball fan.

Secondly, for the near future anyway, Team Handball News won’t be going anywhere. The site will, however, become a little more North American focused. Many stories with “world” appeal will still be posted to both sites, but stories and commentary with a more narrow focus on Canada or the US will stay on the Team Handball News site. That’s not to say that some North American content won’t find its way to the Handball-World.com site. Events like the PATHF championships have broad appeal and deserve a wider audience. But other events, like details on the USA Handball Federation application process will stay with the Team Handball News site.

As always, I’d like to express my thanks to you, the readers, and your continued support of Team Handball News.com. And I, and the Handball-World team, look forward to your support there as well. If you have any comments/suggestions or would like to volunteer to help with either website, just drop me an email at john.ryan@teamhandballnews.com

Well, OK, it wasn’t on my TV, but the HBL.TV broadcast I watched last night between Flensburg and Hamburg on my computer monitor was indeed of TV quality. HBL.TV www.hbl.tv is the video streaming platform of the German Bundesliga and it’s definitely an improvement over previous video I’ve watched on my computer.

Using my own personal 1-10 scale, with a 1 being a 1970ish over air reception on a small Black and White TV and a 10 being an HDTV transmission on a big screen plasma set, I grade the experience as a 7. The picture was clear with no pixilation- By no means HD quality, but just as good as your standard TV set. The audio was clear, with an occasional dropout that didn’t effect the video. As I don’t know any German, this wasn’t a problem, however. Crowd atmosphere and whistles still could be heard. Bottom line: a “7” score is pretty good and is a significant upgrade from earlier experiences which were closer to a “3” for free EHF video in 2006 and a “5” for the World Championships video this past January.

As for why the quality has improved I would guess that it’s a combination of improved streaming technology as well as my willingness to pay for the maximum high speed line (10MB), which is a little more expensive, but worth it if you think that Internet TV is going to be your only handball viewing option for the near future. A few notes:

[b]How to setup your account[/b]: Well if you know a little German it’s going to be easier for you then it was for me. The site is entirely void of English and you’ll be sure to give the babelfish translator a workout: http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr. You first have to register on the site by entering the standard name, address and date of birth information. One tip on something that stumped me for several minutes: In the country drop down menu the United States is Vereinigte Staaten. Once you have your account registered you then have to purchase credits. You can buy the whole season for 54.99 Euros, but you might want to just purchase 1 game first to see if it works for you. The lowest credit that you can purchase is 5 Euros and a match costs 3 Euros. Another tip: you’ve got to buy the credit before you can actually buy a match.

[b]What to purchase:[/b] I recommend that you look for matches which feature 2 of the following 6 teams: Kiel, Flensburg, Hamburg, Gummersbach, Nordhorn, and Madgeburg. The rosters for these teams are loaded with top international players from around the world. That’s not to say that a team from the bottom half of the league won’t challenge these teams from time to time, but with limited time you might as well see the best teams play each other.

[b]The future: [/b] Well as I cracked open a beer and watched high level handball in the peace and quiet of the computer room I couldn’t help but think how this could be so much better. For starters, it would be nice to watch it on the big TV in the living room. English language commentary would be nice as well. How about a Champions League package for purchase? The good news is all of these things are coming and sooner that we all might think.

[b]Earlier Reviews of Handball Video Streaming:[/b]

EHF Champions League Video Review (March 2006): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?extend.37
World Championship’s VideoSport Broadcast Review (Is it Worth the 19.99 Euros?)(January 2007): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.242
World Championship’s VideoSport Broadcast Review (Part 2): https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.251

From my perspective, the USOC Open Hearing went pretty much as expected. Both sides were given ample opportunity to state their cases and take questions from the USOC and callers. I think it is safe to say that anyone listening in should have a pretty good sense as to each sides general philosophy.

The most revealing exchange to me, were the responses to the USOC’s question as to what happens if your organization is not selected. The UTHF said that they would fold up their tents and go away and the ATHA said that this was their passion and that they weren’t going anywhere. It’s safe to say that anyone who has put in time, money and sweat to try and build handball in the USA is going to be turned off by the UTHF response and sympathetic to the ATHA. I will give credit, however, to the UTHF’s honest answer as they could have sugar coated their response. Perhaps, the calculation though was to make sure the USOC understood that it was “now or never” if they wanted to get their funding and marketing expertise on board.

Also of note, I was somewhat surprised with the USOC’s assertion towards the end of the meeting that the ATHA staff management was not in place, implying that the UTHF management was well organized. While the UTHF has someone identified (Amir Haskic), I think that the ATHA could also find someone as capable to run day to day handball operations. Additionally, while a strong case can be made that Mr Krassner and Mr Esch could very well be a tremendous boon to USA Handball with their willingness to self-finance and use their existing business connections to find sponsors, I’m not sold at all on their expertise to run a non-profit sports federation. Business is business to a certain extent, but running Wilhemina modeling is one thing and being involved with team selections, anti-doping issues and organizing competitions is another thing entirely. And, in their own words, these guys are busy people doing a lot of different things. That being said, while I think the ATHA has made a strong case that they are ready to develop a strong grass roots program, I’m less convinced in their ability to step right in and run national team programs. In other words, either side will have a steep learning curve in that part of operations.

[b]What will the USOC decide? [/b]

The questions the USOC asked and their final closing remarks gives some hints. It’s pretty clear to me that the USOC sees complimentary strengths and weaknesses in both proposals and is practically telling both sides that they need to work together. Heck, they even forced them into a “Let’s Do Lunch” date at the USOC Training Center Cafeteria. What they would like to see is the potential marketing skill and financing of the UTHF proposal combined with the more coherent grassroots plan of the ATHA.

One compromise would be to adopt most of the better thought out ATHA plan and turn over the entire grassroots development (with the necessary funding fenced off) to the ATHA contingent. The badly needed marketing efforts would then be principally led by the UTHF contingent. The board structure would be comprised of the UTHF ($50,000) club plus some at-large members (ATHA Grassroots). National Team operations would need engagement from both contingents and some agreement would need to be brokered in this area. Of course, some will argue that this is simply heading down the road that been traveled before: trying to do to many things with limited resources. When push comes to shove a BoD is going to have decide where the money gets spent. And whoever’s in control will make that decision. Maybe the fundamental differences are too great and the desire for a controlling stake too strong for these sides to compromise and work together. Who knows? But a good faith effort should be made. Why, because as I see it, the USOC might select one of the two proposals, but only with a lot of hesitation. If the two proposals were somehow to merge, however, they would endorse that merged effort with enthusiasm.

Side point: Incidentally, there’s been some speculation that the USOC is biased towards the UTHF proposal. (And with the DITC deal already being signed and the DITC on board with the UTHF proposal there’s some legitimacy to that speculation.) While, I’m sure the USOC sees the dollar signs, many of the folks who work at the USOC are former athletes, some of them from lower profile sports. They know that the work that goes on at the grassroots level is vitally important and they also know how hard that work is. As such, when they see the UTHF proposal they undoubtedly remember the dedicated coach who taught them in some nondescript gym many years ago. Also, while they pay decent wages at the USOC, they don’t likely have $50K to throw around. So, bottom line: don’t necessarily infer which way the bias factor might play out.

Hungarian Champion Veszprem beat Danish side Viborg 31-26 in London on Saturday night. This was the first time that two top European Clubs have played an exhibition match in a non-traditional handball nation and it is reminiscent of NBA matches staged in Europe, Japan and Australia that helped pave the way for basketball’s unprecedented growth worldwide. Let’s give credit to worldhandball.com, Veszprem, Viborg and the British Federation for staging this groundbreaking event and let’s hope that this is the first of many more matches to come.

British Federation Article: http://britishhandball.worldhandball.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?menuid=1093&itemid=1625
Pictures from Veszprem Website: http://www.veszpremkfc.hu/?page=hirek&hir=825&from=0

Living in Europe for five years broadened my horizons in many ways and one of those ways was my sports viewing habits. Through the wonders of satellite TV I still had ready access to American Football, NCAA and NBA basketball, and baseball, but I couldn’t help but also sample the offerings on French TV. There was no doubt that I was going to watch Handball, but what surprised me is how I became a fan of a “beautiful” game.

Oh, the crisp passing, the non-stop action, the intense fans, the national pride. And, if you think I’m talking about soccer then you obviously don’t know much about American sports fans. Like most of my fellow countrymen it is beyond my comprehension why this mind numbingly, boring game is the world’s favorite. Don’t get me wrong. I tried to watch. Even made my way out to the Parc des Princes to see Rolandinho when he played for Paris Saint Germain. And while the World Cup and the European Championships are worthy as grand spectacles you are never going to teach this old dog to like soccer. But Rugby, well that’s a different story.

It wasn’t like I was predisposed to become a fan of rugby. In fact, when I was first exposed to the sport at the Air Force Academy, I was anti-rugby because I was envious of the rugby club and the level of support it got compared to the Handball club. I also thought Rugby was crazy. American football without pads and only an excuse to party. On more than one occasion I harassed a friend who played rugby with lines like, “There’s a reason why we Americans modified the sport– Ever thought of adding the forward pass? It’s quite a concept- you guys should look into it.” And while I‘m still partial to American Football, seeing rugby played at a high level on TV was a revelation and pure entertainment.

I started out at first as a casual fan in 2003. While channel flipping I came across a rugby match. Not bad. I thought. This is certainly different than the rugby I had seen before in the U.S. And then because it was the Rugby World Cup and there was a match on TV every night for a whole month, I was hooked. Of course, I could understand the very basic strategy of the game, move the ball to the goal line or kick it through the uprights, but with limited French skills I had no clue as to what the announcers were saying and was really going on. Every morning, I’d spend 15 minutes peppering my British and French colleagues with questions on line outs, kicking into touch, etc.

Over the next four years, my level of interest continued to grow and I started to follow the club teams as well as the European 6 Nations tourney. I made my way to the Stade de France to see France-New Zealand in person and several trips to see the local club Stade Francais play. And if anybody had told me five years ago that I’d be flipping back and forth between rugby on French TV and American football on my satellite and finding myself watching the rugby more than the American football I would have thought that they were crazy.

So what’s the point of the story? The point of the story is that you can teach an old dog a new trick. But, it’s got to be a entertaining trick that the dog can relate to and you’re not going to “teach” that dog overnight. Or ditching the metaphors, altogether, I became a fan of the sport of rugby for the following reasons:

1) I was first exposed to the sport on [i]free television[/i].
2) I saw the sport being played at the [i]highest level[/i].
3) While it was a sport that I didn’t know much about and one that I had never played, I could relate to it since it was similar to a sport that I was [i]familiar[/i] with.
4) I had [i]repeated exposure [/i]to the sport which allowed me over time to develop a greater appreciation and understanding of the sport.

So what’s the point? Well, the point is I’m convinced that the same thing could happen for Handball in the United States and other countries. Handball will never approach the popularity of basketball or football, but it can and should be more than the near zero it is now. If you were to put a weekly EHF Champions League match on ESPN or any basic cable sports network on a Saturday morning, before the first NCAA basketball game tipped off on the East Coast people would watch. And a good portion of them would have the following conversation with themselves:

“Hey what‘s this? O.K. this sort of like basketball or soccer. Damn, that guy drilled the ball past that goalie. Where is this being played? Does anyone in the U.S. play this game? Damn, this game is almost over. When did this game start? When is it going to be on TV again?”

And slowly, but surely, you build a fan base. And some of those fans will become hooked enough that they end up buying merchandise and television subscription packages. Well, how do I know? I know because this one time rugby neophyte still wears his Stade Francais triple lightning bolt hat and purchased Direct TV satellite, solely for Setanta Sports and its Rugby package. The 2007 World Cup starts on Friday, 8 September and I will most definitely will be watching again.

(Disclaimer: Bogdan Pasat is one of the other editors for this website and a key member of the ATHA bid. You’ll have to judge for yourself as to whether this has added some unfair positive bias into my review. Although, if you’ve been following our running dialogue in the comments section under my earlier blog post on “A professional League in the US?” https://teamhandballnews.com/comment-n368.html you might even think that I’m inclined to a negative bias.)

Well, I’ve reviewed both applications. I see elements in both proposals that I like and elements that I don’t like. And then there are some sections that simply have me saying, “Huh?” Here’s my analysis and some questions I hope that are asked at the Open Hearing on 30 August.

[b]Organizations That Applied[/b]

American Team Handball Association (ATHA) http://www.usolympicteam.com/ATHA_Application0001.pdf
Utah Team Handball Foundation (UTHF) http://www.usolympicteam.com/UTHF_Application.pdf

I find it somewhat confusing that a Utah organization is applying to be the NGB for an American sport. Additionally, the UTHF proposal repeatedly refers to “USA Team Handball” the name of the former decertified federation. Maybe this confusion can be resolved at the Open Hearing.

[b]Board of Directors Scheme (Long Term): [/b]

ATHA: 10 members (4 elected by regions, 2 elected by athletes, 3 appointed independents, and 1 appointed by affiliated organizations)
UTHF: 9 members (5 appointed independents, 2 appointed at-large, 2 elected by athletes/approved by the nominating committee)

The key words here are “appoint” and “elect.” The UTHF Board will be a majority “appointed” board selected by the Nominating and Governance Committee and with 5 independents it will likely be strongly influenced if not controlled by the businessmen that are selected. The ATHA bid is a majority “elected” board with only 3 independents. This means that the independent board members will have a voice, but Handball people (the 4 elected regional and 2 athletes) will likely have a greater say. How you view these schemes depends upon your perspective. I, for one, prefer a BoD with Handball people on it. I think there are enough capable Handball people out there, that with some good independent voices added to the BoD, they can get the job done. The appointment system also rubs me the wrong way because quite simply, I prefer voting as opposed to some wise governing committee dictating who will be in charge. The folks at the USOC, however, might feel somewhat differently: “After all, those Handball Federation members elected a clown like Mike Hurdle, what’s going to prevent them from doing that again in the future?” In other words, the handball faithful in the eyes of the USOC, have demonstrated that they are not ready for democracy.

[b]BoD Qualifications: [/b]

The most eye-popping element of either proposal is easily the UTHF’s requirement for 7 of the 9 Board members to donate $50,000. On top of that, Dieter Esch has guaranteed to front the $350,000 until those 6 other members are found. That’s an impressive commitment and it’s pretty hard to have a problem with that. (Makes the $3,000 funding issue that the early board had look rather petty.) But while I like commitment, I have got a couple of issues with this aspect of the UTHF’s proposal. First, philosophically, this is a price which excludes the vast majority of Americans. Do we really want to make substantial personal wealth the key requirement for Board of Director membership? My gut reaction is no, but hey, if it’s going to give Handball in the US some much needed revenue, why not? But this is where my 2nd problem comes in. Just where are they going to find 7 people in the United States to altruistically plunk down $50,000 to sit on this Board of Directors? $25,000/head for the regional boards? I’m skeptical and what do you do when all those Handball Sugar Daddies don’t materialize? (In other words, is the UTHF over promising to simply win the bid? Granted, the $350,000 is guaranteed, but one of the appeals of the proposal is bringing in a constant stream of membership funding. When those funds never actually materialize, will they just say, “Oh well, Sorry. Thanks for making us the NGB though.”

The second notable issue concerns US citizenship. The ATHA requires directors to be citizens, while the UTHF also allows Permanent Resident Aliens to be directors. Personally, I think American citizens should sit on the Board. While this might eliminate some good candidates, this is a BoD for an American Handball Federation and it shouldn’t be too big of hurdle to find qualified Americans.

[b]Board of Directors (Interim):[/b]

Before the new boards are selected/elected each bid identifies an interim Board of Directors which will guide the new NGB until the new BoD is seated. The composition of these boards is pretty important as these individuals will not only run the show during the interim period, they will also play a pivotal role in the election/selection of the new Board. And in the case of the UTHF proposal they will essentially decide who 7 of those 9 Board members are. Additionally, these boards will decide who gets hired as the CEO to manage day to day operations.

ATHA:
1) Mariusz Wartalowicz, Chair
2) Bogdan Pasat, Secretary
3) Mark Ortega, Athlete
4) Tomuke Ebuwei-Holmes, Athlete
5) Christain Zaharia
6) Christopher Springer
7) Alex Vaida
8 ) Silvian Vlad Grama
9) Reddy Gustine
10) Affiliated Organization (Vacant)

This is a cross section of representatives from some of the more active clubs (Chicago, Miami, Houston Stars, West Point, Salt Lake Stars) in the US. I’m not so sure about Real United HC (Indiana) and Corona THC (California), but I’ve been living overseas for five years too. Also, several members have lived overseas and are familiar with the European way of things. This European perspective can be a good thing, but it could also lead to group think. This concern is somewhat alleviated by a West Point representative, but as Air Force Academy grad you might want to chalk that up to my military bias. Several of these individuals have also shown that they are committed to the sport with their efforts to build clubs in their local area. They’ve gotten their hands dirty with the difficult grunt work that involves and it gives them an appreciation for grass roots development that you can only get by having experienced.

UTHF
Dieter Esch, Chairman
Amir Haskic, President
Other members ??

Probably, the most important question that has to be answered with either proposal is: Just who is Dieter Esch? As the de facto Chair of the Board of Directors and interim Chief Operating Officer he would wield all the power. Should the keys be turned over to him? More specifically
– Why is he willing to front $350,000 to develop Team Handball in the USA
– Has he ever been involved with the sport in the USA? If not, why not? (Hey, that funding could have come in handy a long time OK!)
– Does he have too many other interests to adequately run USA Team Handball?
– What’s the deal with the fraud charges against him in his native Germany?

I know Amir Haskic has been a referee for several years, but that’s about it. The proposal also doesn’t list anyone else. I’m guessing that Dennis Berkholtz is involved, but this information should have been in the proposal.

[b]Day to Day Management Structure:[/b]

Both sides indicate that a CEO/COO will be selected by their BoD . This position, is essentially, the one Mike Cavanaugh has held for most of the past 20 years. Additionally, both proposals outline hiring a designated marketing person on the staff. The ATHA also identifies 3 positions (Marketing & Communications Director, Finance & Administration, and a Professional Fundraising Manager). The ATHA proposal calls for hiring a CEO by 1 Jan 09, with the possibility of an interim CEO in 2008. A professional fundraising firm would be hired in 2008 and the marketing and finance positions would be hired in 2009-10

The UTHF proposal also identifies a Chief Financial Officer, Program Director and Regional Development Managers. According to Page 41, Section 14.1 of their proposal their COO was to be hired by 1 Jul 07 and the CFO is to be hired by 31 Dec 07. In the interim, until these positions are hire, Chairman of the BoD, Dieter Esch, would fulfill both of these roles without compensation.

[b]Budget Numbers:[/b]

I’m pretty skeptical of the projected numbers in both proposals. Generally, the expenses appear reasonable, but the revenues are overly optimistic. Both bids overestimate sponsorship and the UTHF bid greatly overestimates membership generosity. (Hey, it can be tough to get handball players to buy a round of beer, good luck getting them to buy even a Level 4 Membership: $500/year). The reality for the near term is that the only likely funding stream (aside from the UTHF $350K from Dieter Esch) will be from the USOC. Hopefully, the marketing representative will turn that around, but it’s going to take awhile. Also of note, the USOC will surely like the UTHF’s request for only $125K, $150K, $200K, and $300K for 2007-10) Very self-sufficient of the UTHF, but why not ask for at least the same level of funding as before?

[b]Strategic Plans:[/b]

The ATHA has outlined a fairly comprehensive Strategic Development Plan which emphasizes developing a strong grass roots program as the foundation for a stronger National Team Program. It first lays out the “why” for the plan and then details the who, what, where, when and how. There are clearly defined goals, objectives and key performance areas outlined with sufficient detail so that the reader can see that there is a path to get from here to there. This all being said I don’t agree with a lot of what’s in the plan. I’m skeptical that the goals laid out can be achieved in the time frames indicated and I don’t think they are going to have the resources to accomplish much of what is outlined. In short, I could dissect a lot of what’s in their plan, but for space and time I will just point out one area that is radical in terms of a “change in philosophy:” This is the concept of no resident programs for the National Teams. While the resident programs used in the past had only marginal success, I think that the gap between the US club system and International competition is simply to great to be rectified by periodic National Team training programs. (outlined on page 17 of the ATHA Strategic plan). I may not agree with this and other aspects of the proposal, but credit the ATHA for outlining a plan.

The same can not be said for the UTHF. Essentially, their 1 page plan is Attachment HH on page 65. And this one page simply outlines goals and the staff they would hire with no real “how.” While, I could poke plenty of holes in the ATHA plan, they actually have a plan. With no real plan or strategy identified, the UTHF is essentially saying, “We’ve got some money to get started and you can trust us.”

[b]Dekalb International Training Center (DITC):[/b]

The Atlanta Condors website has posted an email chain http://condorhandball.com/news302.html that Peter Siskind, a former BoD which raised the issue of the DITC contract with the USOC for a National Team Training Center. The concern being raised is that this contract provides the UTHF proposal with an unfair advantage in its bid to become the NGB. The USOC has given assurance that the contract does not give the UTHF an unfair advantage, but has not provided the contract for review. At the Open Meeting on the 30th of August I hope the USOC further clarifies the nature of this contract and whether the ATHA could also count on DITC support for Nation Team Training Programs.

[b]Dates of Proposal Submittals:[/b]

I found it interesting that the UTHF proposal has a submittal date of 27 December 2006, well before any call for proposals was submitted by the USOC. Whereas, the ATHA proposal was submitted on 20 July 2007, shortly before the deadline. The ATHA proposal’s strategic plan highlights that they had to hastily put together a proposal after a “very surprising announcement from the USOC about accepting application for recognition as the NGB.” The sequence of events suggests that UTHF was privy to inside information, but credit the USOC for formally announcing applications, even if it was a tight timeline.

[b]How will the USOC Decide? What‘s the Criteria?: [/b]

I asked Eric Parthen, the USOC’s Director of NGB development, this question via email and got the following response:

“The USOC Board ultimately approves NGB recognition following a recommendation from USOC staff
(USOC CEO Jim Scherr and the Membership Working Group). The criteria that will be used will be our confidence in the organization's ability to fulfill the roles, responsibilities and requirements of NGBs as laid
out in the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act and the USOC Bylaws. This particular process is somewhat more difficult with respect to team handball because there aren't existing organizations that we can evaluate so our evaluation has to be based more on our confidence in the organization's leadership and ability to deliver on its plan.”

[b]Who wins?[/b] Well, if the principal criteria was each side’s overall plan, I’d have to go with the ATHA proposal. While, I don’t like everything they have in their plan, they have a plan. The UTHF proposal is simply a list of goals with no path identified on how to get there. Really makes you wonder which was the bid put together hastily and which one was submitted early. But…. $350,000 gets my attention and will get the USOC’s attention. Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy equipment, pay for salaries, etc. But even more important than money or a plan, will be the people behind the proposals. The USOC will be evaluating the respective boards and assessing whether each group is someone they can work with. As such, the presentations and the personal interaction that will take place on the 30th of August could be the most important factor.

Recently Dennis Berkholtz briefed to the PATHF Executive Committee his plans for a professional handball league in the United States.  As much as I might fantasize about a Professional Handball league in the United States with the Las Vegas Rattlers a charter member franchise the reality is that it simply currently is not practical for a number of reasons. Herewith are some of those reasons:

1) It is extremely difficult to start a professional league for an established sport, let alone one for a virtually unknown sport. One just has to look at the graveyard of defunct leagues to recognize this. Does anyone remember the USFL, WFL, USBL, WPSL, NASL, WABA, etc, etc. The failures dramatically outnumber the successes. And even the success stories are marginal at best. The new soccer league, the MLS, has gotten a boost from David Beckham, but has yet to turn a profit. The WNBA only survives due to its support from the NBA. Which leads to the 2nd point…

2) A professional handball league in the USA would need unprecedented and substantial financial backing. And I don’t see anyone or any organization with sufficient financial resources willing to lay out the kind of capital that would be necessary to create a legitimate professional league. Theoretically, the European leagues could support a developmental league in the U.S., akin to the NFL Europe that would mimic the NFL’s dual goals of player development and increasing the sport’s popularity. But, the European handball leagues don’t have near the resources that the NFL has and even the NFL, with its massive resources recently decided to pull the plug recently on the NFL Europe. Which leads to the third point…

3) It would take years, more likely decades for investors to see return on their investment. Why? The amount of advertisement and promotion it would take to get Americans to go pay money to see a sport most have never seen before would be substantial. My goodness, under ideal circumstances, it would be very difficult to fill an arena for even 1 game. Let’s put this in perspective. If the EHF Champions league decided to play their final championship match in any city in the USA and heavily promoted it, they would be lucky to get 2,000 fans. Perhaps, if they scheduled it the same weekend and in the same city as the USA club national championship tournament, they might bump up the attendance by an extra 500 people. And this would be the two best teams in the world playing in the penultimate event of the year.

Bottom Line: Professional leagues, with few exceptions, are by design intended to turn a profit. A U.S. League could not be realistically expected to turn a profit for several years, if ever. Maybe there are several more Dieter Esch’s (see the UTHF proposal) out there with money to invest that I don’t know about, but I doubt it.

Now all this being said, I can foresee Professional Clubs touring the US. First, however, the sport will need to get some decent television exposure in the US. Once a decent fan base is established some club teams could come to the US and play an exhibition game like the one scheduled in London between Veszprem and Viborg. Heck, with support from a US TV network and some clever promotion such a one-off event could even turn a profit. This is a realistic goal and one that should be looked into.

And finally, if I’m wrong about all this, I will gladly eat these words and purchase season tickets. Go Rattlers!

Following the twin disappointments this year of failing to qualify for the Pan Am Games and the 2007 World Championships the USA Women’s National Team is at a crossroads. What happened and what’s next?

I hope to interview the current (Dawn Lewis) and former coach (Christian Latulippe), as well as Mike Cavanaugh, the USOC High Performance Handball Director once I get settled back in the US. In the interim I’ll pose a few questions and possible answers from my perspective.

[b]Did the US Women have a realistic chance to qualify for the Pan Am Games or the World Championships?[/b]

Answer: Yes. Looking at the scores and the write-ups of the matches that were played one can conclude that they had a legitimate shot at qualifying for both tournaments. For the Pan Am Games beating Canada 2 out of 3 was unlikely, but they are a better team than Mexico. They certainly proved that they could beat Mexico in a neutral setting in the Dominican Republic. I can only speculate as to whether the coaching change prior to the 2nd chance tournament in Mexico impacted the outcome of that tournament. In terms of qualifying for the World Championships it has been noted in the comments section of one of our write-ups that the US Women’s team was leading Paraguay by 4 in the 2nd half. If they had held on to that lead they would have qualified.

[b]Did the US Women have a realistic chance to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games?[/b]

Answer: No. The gap in terms of both raw athletic talent and experience between the US and Brazil was simply too great. And the same can be said for the rest of the PATHF. Nobody is going to beat Brazil in Rio this summer at the Pan Am Games and no team will likely lose by less than double digits. The 2nd place and possibly the 3rd place team will have a chance in an Olympic qualification tournament, but they will likely face the difficult task of having to beat a European team in Europe. It is also extremely unlikely that a PATHF nation, other than Brazil, will place in 7th or higher at the World Championships. Bottom line: Barring some bizarre disqualification, the sole PATHF rep at the Olympics will be Brazil.

[b]What are the chances for the US Women to qualify for the 2012 Olympics?[/b]

Answer: There’s always a chance, but there are simply too many unknowns to accurately predict the likelihood of qualifying. In simple terms a combination of either the US fielding a better team and/or Brazil and other PATHF foes dropping down a bit will be needed.

[b]What are the prospects of Brazil and other PATHF foes fielding weaker teams?[/b]

Answer: It’s possible, but I wouldn’t count on it. The quality of national teams often runs in cycles, but Brazil appears to have developed a national program which is developing quality youth athletes that feed into their national program. Additionally, many of their players will continue to likely gain valuable experience overseas. To a lesser extent other nations like Argentina have followed Brazil’s example, but are more within reach of the US program.

[b]What are the prospects for the US to field a team that can qualify for 2012?[/b]

Answer: Unknown. Four years provides some time to put together a credible program, but the current picture looks bleak. USOC management at the 2006 National Championships Town Hall meeting indicated that following USA Team Handball’s decertification they had actually considered dropping the Women’s program. In the end, they decided to continue to fund the program with limited resources. Now that the program has definitively failed to qualify for the 2008 Olympics continued funding is in question. Also based on recent performance it is highly doubtful that a more competitive program could be created anyway at the current level of funding. Adding even more uncertainty are the USOC plans to turn over control of day to day handball operations to a new organization later this year. Perhaps this new organization will quickly and innovatively develop a competitive national team, but this remains to be seen.

[b]What is the tournament schedule for the Women leading up to the 2012 Olympics?[/b]

Answer: Assuming the calendar follows past precedent, the following tournaments will be staged prior to the 2012 Olympics

2008 Pan American Div 2 Championships (Winter?)
2009 Pan American Championships (May?) (Qualification for Dec 2009 WC)
2009 World Championships (December) China
2010 Pan Am Games Qualification (Winter?)
2011 Pan American Championships (May?) Qualification for Dec 2011 WC)
2011 Pan Am Games (Summer) in Guadalajara, Mexico (Qualification for 2012 Olympics)
2011 World Championships (December) Location TBD
2012 Olympics (August) London

Some question marks in terms of timing, as well as whether there would be a Division 2 tournament for the Pan American Championships. According to the old newsletters of the PATHF the plan was that the bottom 2 teams from the Pan American Championships would have to participate in a Div 2 tournament, in which the top 2 team would qualify for the Pan American Championships. As only 8 teams wanted to participate at the last championships it’s quite possible that there won’t be a Division 2 tournament.

This schedule adds further uncertainty as the next meaningful tournament is likely two years away. In light of this dry spell, one could argue that perhaps this is an opportune time to change management and implement changes to the current program. In terms of Olympic qualification the Pan Am Game in Mexico in 2011 will be the most important test.

[b]What does the US [i][u]need[/u][/i] to do in order to field a better team?[/b]

Answer: The US needs better athletes, more experienced athletes, top level coaching and top level competition on a regular basis.

[b][i][u]How[/u][/i] does the US field a better team?[/b]

Answer: There are a number of different models and strategies that could be employed and several have been tried in the past with varying degrees of success. As answering this question would take awhile, I’ll save an extended discourse on this question for a future post. In short, however, no matter what model and strategy you choose, it will need funding in order to be executed properly.

This questioned can best be answered by going to the sports section in the newspaper “Europe Today” Similar to the “USA Today” salaries database  which lists the salary of every professional player in the 4 major US spots, Europe Today also has the salary listed for every Team Handball player in each National League, thus providing an interesting and handy guide to compare and contrast player value.

Oh, if it were only that simple! Such a list doesn’t exist as far as I know. And prior to moving to France I’d never read anything, anywhere which discussed compensation, even in broad, general terms. I had heard, word of mouth, anecdotal information about the great salaries that players had in Europe, but was always skeptical. Now using some data from the French HandAction Magazine and L’Equipe (Lance Armstong’s and my favorite sports newspaper) here’s my analysis of handball salaries along with a few choice questions that can help put things in perspective.

Question #1a: Which is greater, French NBA Basketball player Tony Parker’s 2006 salary or the entire operating budget for Montpellier Handball, the top club program in France?
Answer: Tony Parker. Tony Parker made 9.8M Euros in 2006, and Montpellier’s entire budget is 3.5M Euros. In fact, Tony Parker also could fund the next 3 teams in the French league. And when Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns signs a new contract, together, they could probably fund the entire league.

Question #1b: Which is greater, German NBA player, Dirk Nowitzki’s salary or the entire operating budget for Kiel, the Champion’s League winner.
Answer: Dirk Nowitzki. The top German clubs have budgets of 5 to 6 Million Euros. With $13.8M this year the NBA MVP, could also handle the budget for their Champions League opponent Flensburg.

Question #1c: Which is greater, Spanish NBA player, Pau Gasol Salary or Ciudad Real’s entire operating budget
Answer: Paul Gasol. The top Spanish clubs also have a budget of 5 to 6 Million Euros. Paul Gasol with $10.9M this year, however couldn’t fund two top teams like Dirk.

The point of these 3 questions is to once and for all highlight while European Club Handball is the best in the world it is financially small time compared to the major professional sports in the United States.  In fact, it could probably be argued that minor sports like Arena Football and Major League Lacrosse are comparable to the European Handball Leagues. This can also be said, however, for just about every sport in Europe except soccer.

Question #2: What’s the average salary for a player in the French 1st Division?
Answer: According to UFF Sport Conseil: 27,000 Euros/year.

While this is the average salary, I think it’s also important to look further behind these numbers. For instance, it’s possible to guesstimate what the athletes make at the top end by looking at L’Equipe’s annual listing of the top 5 salaries for French athletes in each sport. In particular, it’s worth noting that all of the athletes listed are playing in either Spain or Germany and that the 5th place athlete, Barcelona Backcourt player Jerome Fernandez compensation in 2004 was listed at 140,000 Euros. So, it’s safe to say that no one playing in France, with the possible exception of Jackson Richardson is making 140,000 Euros.

Based on the fact that the French League is keeping a few of their top native players home and was able to sign Tunisian standout Wissem Hmam, I’m guessing that there are probably 15 top players making 50-100,000 Euros. This guess is based on the logic that these players need compensation in that range in order to keep them from signing with German and Spanish league teams. Below this top tier there is probably a middle tier of 45 players making 15,000-50,000 Euros/year. These players are not a threat to jump to a foreign league, but they need this compensation to make a decent living in Europe. Rounding out the league, I’m guessing there is a 3rd tier of about 100 players receiving under 15,000 Euros a year. These players are typically the youngest players and are often University students. The composition of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd tier players varies from club to club. I would speculate that Montpellier is composed entirely of 1st and 2nd tier players, while the teams at the bottom of the standings are composed entirely of 2nd and 3rd tier players.

Question #3: What’s the average salary for a player in Germany and Spain’s 1st Division Leagues?

Answer: Greater than 27,000 Euros/year. How much greater, though, I’m not sure. I’m less intimately familiar with the Spanish and German leagues, but I think it’s safe to say that the same three tiers of players apply in these leagues as well, with one significant difference: the compensation for 1st tier players is significantly higher. As France has one of the best National Teams in the world right now, the compensation that Top French players are paid in Germany/Spain is indicative as to what is being paid at the high end in those leagues. Jackson Richardson’s compensation for Spanish Club, Portland San Antonio in 2004 was 530,000 Euros and in 2005 was 425,000 Euros. As an iconic figure in Handball, I would argue that a good portion of his 2004 contract was probably more related to his ability to fill seats, as while he was still a great player, he was on the tail end of his career. Didier Dinart is paid 217,000 Euros for Ciudad Real as a defensive specialist and Jerome Fernandez is paid probably around 170,000 Euros (based on his 140,000 Euros in 2004) So for the top clubs in Spain, the top players are making 150,000-500,000 Euros/year.

In Germany, the Gilles brothers (Guillame and Bertrand) both make roughly 220,000 Euros/year playing for Hamburg. Nikola Karbatic, is making around 229,000 Euros. So for Germany, I would guess that the top players are making 180,000 to 300,000 Euros.

Spain’s top teams, Ciudad Real, Portland San Antonio and Barcelona have been known to outbid German clubs for their star players, but they were recently unsuccessful in luring Karabatic away from Kiel. My guess is that the top players for those 3 Spanish sides are paid more than the Bundesliga stars, but that the Bundesliga has a larger cluster of players being paid around 200,000 Euros. Another factor, however, that would have to be considered is the lower cost of living in Spain that would also translate into a higher salary in real terms.

In terms of salaries in Germany and Spain for the middle tier and lower tier of players, I’m guessing that the overall compensation is higher, but not that much higher than France. The logic being that there are not a lot of 2nd tier players jumping over from foreign countries for a better salary. The big difference is at the top end for the star players at the key positions.

Which player positions get paid more? 

Answer: Typically the highest paid players are backcourt players with a proven ability to put the ball in the back of the net from 9 meters. The logic being that you can always find somebody to play circle and wing, but you can’t always find a good scoring backcourt. When a new player starts playing, this is also typically where he’s placed on the court. There is certainly a lot of logic to this and I would bet that this is true for the preponderance of Professional Teams. The very top teams with more of a budget, however, can afford to also pay top dollar for wings, circles, and goalkeepers.

Foreign Player Assumption: I’m guessing that 8 times out of 10 the most compensated player on a team is a foreign player. The logic being that the only reason a club is going to be willing to have a non-native player, who may not speak the language, and will need extra attention to adjust to an unfamiliar environment, is because he’s a really good player. And really good players are usually paid more than just good players.

Final Thoughts:  Admittedly there’s a lot of guesswork with these numbers. If anybody has better numbers that can be documented please let me know.

L’Equipe’s Annual Top 5 Salary List for French Handball Players

Calendar Year 2004
1) Jackson Richardson, Portland San Antonio (ESP), 530,000 Euros
2) Bertrand Gille, Hamburg (GER), 225,000 Euros
3) Guillaume Gille, Hamburg (GER), 220,000 Euros
4) Didier Dinart, Montpellier (FRA)/Ciudad Real (ESP), 164,000 Euros
5) Jerome Fernandez, Barcelona (ESP), 140,000 Euros

Calendar Year 2005
1) Jackson Richardson, Portland San Antonio (ESP)/ Chambery (FRA), 425,000 Euros
2) Guillaume Gille, Hamburg (GER), 230,000 Euros
3) Bertrand Gille, Hamburg (GER), 215,000 Euros
4) Nikola Karabatic, Montpellier (FRA)/ Kiel (GER), 197,000 Euros
5) Didier Dinart, Ciudad Real (ESP), 187,000 Euros

Calendar Year 2006
1) Bertrand Gille, Hamburg (GER), 255,000 Euros
2) Nikola Karabatic, Kiel (GER), 229,000 Euros
3) Guillaume Gille, Hamburg (GER), 219,000 Euros
4) Didier Dinart, Ciudad Real (ESP), 217,000 Euros
5) Daniel Narcisse, Gummersbach (GER), 209,000 Euros

At the last International Handball Federation (IHF) Congress, the European Handball Federation (EHF) proposal to switch from having the World Championships every 2 years to every 4 years was soundly defeated. https://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.318 This sparked some comments concerning whether the EHF proposal was a good idea and whether Handball should follow the lead of other sports. Herewith is my analysis and why the analogies with other sports are only partially valid.

Championship Cycles in Other Sports: Part of the EHF reasoning to change the format is indeed likely spurred by other sports. Here’s a short summary of how it’s done for some other team sports

Soccer:
2004: European Championships (June); Olympics (August)
2006: World Cup (June)
2008: European Championships (June); Olympics (August)
2010: World Cup (summer)

The World Cup, depending on your metrics, is either the #1 or #2 sporting event in the world. And as the Olympics is a multi-sport event, the World Cup is unquestionably the #1 single sport event. The World cup is held only once every 4 years and most of the Continental Federations also hold tournaments on a once every four years timetable 2 years after the World Cup. Some of these Continental tournaments are minor affairs, but the European Championships is a huge event. By contrast, the Olympic Soccer tournament is a minor affair with age restrictions on the players basically turning it into a Junior Championship. There’s been some noise made that the odd years should also have a meaningful summer time tournament, but with European clubs exercising more and more power it is unlikely that they would acquiesce to more national team competitions.

Basketball:
2004: Olympics (August)
2005: Continental Championships (summer)
2006: World Championships (September)
2007: Continental Championships (summer)
2008: Olympics (August)

The World Championships for Basketball is a significant event in Europe and other parts of the world, but in the US it is a minor event behind the start of football season and the baseball playoffs. And for all nations, it’s pretty safe to say that an Olympic Basketball Gold Medal is considered the top prize for national teams. The basketball model is essentially what the EHF was proposing for Handball, but with one important timing complication– The World/European Championships are played in Dec/Jan, vice the summer.

Handball:
Note: I’ve broken this out for the Men and Women as the schedule impact is different. I’ve also focused on the European Championships as it is the only Continental Championship with significant attendance and TV coverage.

Men
2004: European Championships (January)
2004: Olympics (August)
2005: World Championships (January)
2006: European Championships (January)
2007: World Championships (January)
2008: European Championships (January)
2008: Olympics (August)

Women
2004: Olympics (August)
2004: European Championships (December)
2005: World Championships (December)
2006: European Championships (December)
2007: World Championships (December)
2008: Olympics (August)
2008: European Championships (December)

As you can see by these schedules, Olympic years result in 3 major tournaments within a 13 month period. Add a long club season into this 13 month window and you have the reason why the EHF proposed a change that would help limit the number of games played by the top players. Removing a World Championship, however would create a feast and famine cycle in which you would have 2 major events in roughly a 6 month span, then nothing for a year and a half. And which World Championship would you remove? The one just before the Olympics or the one just after. And would you do the same thing for the Women and the Men.

Both the soccer and basketball models are good for their sports, but for Handball to adopt either it would have to fully adopt them. If handball were to adopt the basketball model it would need to move the World Championships to the summer. If handball were to adopt the soccer model it could keep its January/December schedule, but it would need to deemphasize the Olympics. But as the Olympics are Handball’s best opportunity to showcase the sport to the world this is not going to happen.

Follow the Money: Something that hasn’t been mentioned with the EHF’s proposed change is that another solution to decrease the number of games played could be easily self-implemented by the EHF. Namely, the EHF could decide to only hold their full-fledged European Championship once every four years. This would also decrease the number of games played, but ….. it would also result in the EHF only having this profit making event once every four years. Not surprisingly, the EHF would prefer that the IHF take the financial hit. And, of course, the IHF has no interest whatsoever in having a big payday only once every four years.

The Solution: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. The current cycle is just fine as far as I’m concerned and why would you want to eliminate an event that everyone wants to see. If the EHF really is concerned about the number of games they can fix that problem by canceling one of their own tournaments or shortening their club seasons. That being said, the underlying issue is money. As long as the World Championships continue to be primarily a European show, the IHF might be wise to consider some level of revenue sharing with the EHF and the top European clubs. This would make everyone happy and could avoid a sequence of events that one day might result in the top European players sitting out the World Championships.

Well, Team Handball fans if you’ve watched Poker or the World’s Strongest Man competition on TV in the United States and thought surely the next sport that will get air time is Handball, you thought wrong. As reported in the International Herald Tribune and other news outlets, Rock, Paper, Scissors is finding its way on to ESPN this July. Adding further insult to injury, the US national championships took place this past weekend in my new home of Las Vegas. Jamie Langridge of Odessa, Texas took home the $50,000 grand prize.

EHF, Liga ASOBAL, HBL are you reading this? Will you please do something, anything to get your sport on TV in the United States.

Variety:: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961028.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/14/news/rock.php
Official American Rock Paper Scissors League site: http://www.usarps.com/news/articles/view/jamie-langridge-takes-the-2007-usarps-world-championship/14/

OK, you will have to indulge me today, as I’m going a little off topic.

Well today, as I passed through the wrought iron gate of Parc Monceau http://www.visualtravelguide.org/medium/France-Paris-8eme-Arrondissement-Parc-Monceau.html with my two girls, Carole, age 5 and Evelyn, age 2, for the last time, I’m not ashamed to say that I teared up. It’s amazing how time flies. When I arrived in Paris almost 5 years ago Carole was all of 3 months old. Now she’s a little bilingual girl running around with her little French friends while her little sister tags along trying to keep up. My wife and I even have to remind our daughters that they’re Americans. A small problem that doesn’t overly concern me and should be fixed soon. Needless to say, even if it was not the most beautiful city in the world I will always have fond memories of Paris, because in my mind it will forever be the place where my daughters are under 6 years old.

Handball and sports wise it has also been a quite a journey. When I arrived my knowledge of French and European Handball was pretty much limited to Jackson Richardson and other aging stars that I had seen play back at the World Championships in 1993. I had no clue as to the organization of club handball, let alone what the top clubs were. What an education, as I slowly, but surely, developed new favorite teams http://teamhandball.blogspot.com/search?q=montpellier to replace the Yankees and the Lakers. Not to mention the experience of seeing the World Championships in person in Germany. And it’s been more then a viewing experience as I played 1 year of handball http://www.lsc-handball.com/ and 4 years of basketball http://www.levallois-basket.com/asp/zon_html/htm_vie.asp?htmid=3369 . Quite simply these well structured and organized leagues put adult recreational sports in the US to shame.

But, all good things must come to an end. La famille Ryan will take a long pause for one last grand European vacation through Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Corsica and the south of France, but then we’re getting on a jet plane for a new life in Las Vegas. I can already hear Carole, saying “C’est trop chaud” (It’s too hot) and “this bread isn’t any good.” Sorry, Carole there’s not a bakery on every street corner in Vegas. Convenience stores and slot machines maybe, but finding a fresh baguette will be a challenge.

And what about me? I’m going from the heart of the Handball World to a Handball Desert. To the best of my knowledge the sport has never even been played in Las Vegas. It’s safe to say that I won’t be subscribing to Eurosport and Sport Plus with my cable company there. Will I even care 6 months from now if Ivry can beat Montpellier for the title in France? Will I care if Kiel can repeat their Champions League title? Will I care whether the Spanish clubs get their revenge next year? The answer of course is HELL YES. And god willing, expanded TV viewing options in the US will soon make it possible for a growing base of fans to do the same.

So, what can be learned from this little homage to France? Well, for young players out there who are contemplating the pros and cons of playing in a foreign country, all I can say is that you’d be foolish to pass up the opportunity. Not only will you become a better player, you will be exposed to a different culture and the inevitable learning and enriching experience it will be. Pack your bags and spread your wings. Trust me; you’ll be glad you did.

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