For the past two weeks, we've unveiled our Top 20 sports business stories of 2007. On last week's show, we unveiled stories 20 through 11. This week we marched our way from story number 10 all the way down to our top sports business story of 2007.

For those of you who may have missed our show this weekend, you can listen ON DEMAND via our podcast by clicking here.

Without further adieu, Sports Business Radio's Top 10 sports business stories of 2007:

10. Tiger Woods earns $12.1M in prize money and wins the inaugural Fed-Ex Cup - Tiger made more in one day when he won the Fed Ex Cup than Jack Nicklaus made in his entire career on the course. Endorsement-wise Tiger signed a 5-year, $100M deal with Gatorade this year after parting ways with long time partner American Express. We found out when I interviewed Nike Golf Global  Sports Marketing Director Kel Devlin in August, that Tiger's new deal with Nike Golf extends beyond 2011 - so when he signed his latest deal in 2006 (a story we broke here on this blog), it was likely a 10-year deal. He won the season ending Target World Challenge after a 10-week layoff and donated his $1.3M paycheck to the Tiger Woods Learning Center - the 4th time he's won and donated his winnings after winning the Target World Challenge. Tiger made nearly $100M in 2007 from his prize money and endorsements and continues to earn more money annually than any other athlete on the planet.

9. Boston Red Sox win 2nd World Series since 2004 - After an 86-year drought, the Red Sox have now won their second championship in 4 years. They do so with the 2nd biggest payroll in MLB ($143M) - A ticket to Fenway Park has become the toughest in MLB. Seating capacity is 39,600. Red Sox organization is amongst most diverse in sports. The ownership group is stellar. The baseball operations staff led by Theo Epstein pushes all the right buttons with free agent signings, trades and developing players through their farm system. They signed Dice-K Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima and are making inroads for the Red Sox brand in Japan (they will open the 2008 season in Japan). The Red Sox are the second most valuable team in MLB behind the Yankees according to Forbes - $617M. Because they play in the smallest ballpark they have to be creative as they don't have many of the revenue streams that other teams with more modern ballparks have. So they do things like buy a NASCAR team to generate other revenue and cross promote the Red Sox brand with NASCAR fans - now that's innovative thinking.

8. Seattle Sonics application to move to Oklahoma City - Clay Bennett's group purchased the Sonics in 2006 for $350M. Bennett has applied to relocate the Sonics to Oklahoma City, where most of the ownership group is located. This is bad for the business of the NBA as the Sonics would be moving from the 14th biggest media market (Seattle) to the 45th biggest media market (Oklahoma City) and the league would lose a city that is its gateway to the ever important Pacific Rim region. The Sonics have been in Seattle since 1967. Bennett wants to break his lease at Key Arena after this season, but the team has lease doesn't expire until 2010. Bennett has also rejected overtures from ownership groups in the Pacific NW who have offered to buy the team from him and keep it in Washington state. As I've said many times in 2007, I think the Sonics are doomed in Seattle.

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaves DEI for Hendrick Motorsports - This drama played out after Dale Jr.'s relationship with his stepmother Teresa hit rock bottom (Teresa runs DEI and was unwilling to give Junior an acceptable ownership stake in the company his late father founded). Junior signed new sponsor deals with Mountain Dew's Amp Energy Drink and the Army National Guard starting in 2008. He is parting ways with long time sponsor Budweiser and will switch from #8 to #88. Although Dale Jr. remains NASCAR's most popular driver, he has won only 2 of his last 114 races. Watch the merchandise sales for Junior go through the roof in 2008. Just like when Kevin Garnett gets traded and sales for his new Celtics jersey lead the league, Junior's new merchandise will be hot in 2008. Dale Sr. is rolling over in his grave knowing that his son won't be racing for the company he founded. Meanwhile Teresa Earnhardt has pinned her DEI hopes to Martin Truax and nobody named "Earnhardt" will be racing for DEI for the first time since the company was founded. Good luck Teresa.

6. David Beckham comes to the MLS' LA Galaxy and changes the face of the U.S. soccer league - The Galaxy signed Beckham to a 5-year, $250M deal in July and in the process helped to shine the spotlight on American soccer. Beckham's first season with the LA Galaxy was limited to a total of eight matches played (5 MLS games), one goal scored, and three total assists. Not exactly the return on investment you're looking for if you've invested $250M in someone. Yes Beckham made the MLS relevant with the U.S. media, sponsors and casual fans. But only for a short time. Sponsors who paid big bucks to be associated with Beckham (like Herbalife who is paying $4M annually to be the sponsor on the front of the Galaxy jerseys) will be re-thinking their investment if Beckham continues to wear Armnani suits on the sidelines. And the fans who plunked down a chunk of change to see Beckham play, only to see him sitting on the sidelines injured aren't happy. As I said when Beckham signed, this deal will work out terrific for Beckham - he's in LA, he'll do some acting and modeling and he'll become a media darling for his post-soccer career. But the Galaxy shouldn't expect to see Beckham playing a lot of soccer on the field over the next 4 years. And soccer in the United States will continue to have a tough time drawing the attention of the mainstream sports media and casual fan. (SIDENOTE: I am getting TONS of emails from angry soccer fans telling me I'm just another ignorant, angry media member who is bashing their sport. Listen, I like soccer. I hope the world's #1 sport succeeds in the United States and I think it would be terrific if David Beckham were the person to help make soccer one of the most profitable, visible sports in North America. As I said above, Beckham has definitely helped make MLS relevant with media, sponsors and casual fans. But if you look at Beckham's stats over the past few years, he's playing in less games and has more problems with injuries as he's gotten older. If Beckham can't find a way to stay on the field and continue to shine the spotlight on soccer here in the U.S., it will be tough for the MLS to surpass leagues like the NFL, MLB, NBA and NASCAR in popularity with American fans. Again, I know full well that soccer is the world's sport. It just hasn't caught on with spectators in the Unites States like it has in other countries around the world. I'd love to that change, but don't have a lot of hope that it will any time in the next 4-5 years.)

5. Alex Rodriguez signs most lucrative contract in team sports history - The most talented offensive player in baseball signs a 10-year deal with the New York Yankees that could reach $314M if A-Rod reaches his incentives. A-Rod's agent Scott Boras made as much news as A-Rod did during these negotiations for his series of blunders. Boras' cardinal sin was announcing that A-Rod is opting out of his Yankees contract during Game 4 of the Red Sox - Rockies World Series. Boras and A-Rod have since had a falling out and Rodriguez has signed a management deal with Guy Oseary, a former record company exec who manages musicians such as Madonna and Lenny Kravitz, as well as magician David Blaine. Oseary said his partnership with Rodriguez "is to help him have more control of his image and brand." When is the last time you saw A-Rod in a national TV commercial? Since he'll now be in New York for a while, that needs to change - both for A-Rod's image but also for MLB who does such a poor job of marketing its star players.

4. Tim Donaghy gambling scandal rocks the NBA - This scandal which broke in July made people pause and question the integrity and authenticity of the league and its games. It put the NBA and Commissioner David Stern in crisis mode. It gave everyone who has ever questioned a call from an official reason to sit and scream, "I told you that official was crooked!". Commissioner Stern did a great job dealing with the Donaghy crisis and with the press conference he had to discuss this scandal. He admitted the league's security measures failed against a "rogue" referee. Now we'll see if this was indeed an isolated incident or if the league has a bigger problem on their hands. One thing we learned this year with this scandal and with the Michael Vick scandal, is that the security departments at the North American sports leagues may need to rethink how they gather their "intelligence" because the NBA and NFL were caught totally offguard with both of these scandals.

Its also worth noting that the NBA took its share of lumps in 2007. From the failed game ball experiment to the controversial suspensions of Suns players Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw during the playoffs to the record low TV ratings for the Spurs - Cavs NBA Finals, it was a tough year for the league.

3. Barry Bonds becomes MLB's all-time HR King passing and is indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice - What a year for Barry Lamar Bonds. On August 7, 2007, Bonds hit home run number 756 breaking at AT&T Park in SF, breaking Hank Aaron's all-time HR record. The record setting ball sold for $752K to fashion designer Mark Ecko who had a contest to decide what to do with the ball. One of the options was to blast it in to outer space with an asterik branded on the ball. On September 21st, the Giants announced that they would not re-sign Bonds. Bonds played with the Giants since 1993. Then on December 7th, Bonds found himself in a San Francisco courtroom facing perjury and obstruction of justice charges. His trainer Greg Anderson spent most of this year in jail because he wouldn't testify against Bonds (Sidenote: if I could interview one person in sports, I'd interview Anderson and ask him why he's been so loyal to Bonds - is he being paid a hefty sum of money for his silence?). 2008 will be a very interesting year for Bonds. Will anyone take a chance on signing him or is his career over with 762 HR's? Will Bonds, who has millions of dollars at his disposal, assemble a tough legal team to keep him out of jail? If convicted, he faces 2 years in prison.

2. The Mitchell Report - This is a story that just broke this month and is bound to be a huge story into 2008. After 20 months, the Mitchell Report was finally released. The report is 409 pages long and the cost of the report is estimated at anywhere from $25M - $60M. The investigation has had its share of challenges from the beginning. Mitchell and his group didn’t have the power of the subpoena and the player’s union and union leader Donald Fehr wouldn’t cooperate. The only people who could be forced in to cooperating with this investigation were team trainers and strength coaches. According to ESPN.com they faced a $100,000 fine or termination if they did not talk to Mitchell’s investigators. Much of the report is based on evidence obtained from former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, former Yankees trainer Brian McNamee and from information gleaned from the Albany district attorney's investigation into illegal drug distribution that focused on Signature Pharmacy of Orlando. Roger Clemens stands to be the biggest loser as his reputation as a Hall of Fame pitcher is on the line after graphic details of PED use surfaced in this report. The onus is now on Clemens to prove that he has not used PED's and win back the court of public opinion. How Clemens fights this battle and the relationship between MLB and its players union will be interesting stories to watch in 2008.

1. Michael Vick dogfighting indictment by the Feds - On December 10th, Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for his role in a dogfighting conspiracy that involved gambling and killing pit bulls. Vick, who also received three years probation, “must serve at least” 85% of the sentence, meaning the earliest he could be released from prison would be May ’09, when he is 29 years old. Vick could also face a suspension from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell upon his release from prison. Vick will also face serious debt when he gets out of prison. The Falcons are asking him for the repayment of $20M of his signing bonus (On Oct. 10, an arbitrator ruled Vick owes the Falcons $19.9 million for not fulfilling his contract. Most of that money is from the signing bonus proration), he reportedly owes another $6M in bank loans and he’s being required to pay nearly $1M for the medical care and placement of 47 dogs that were part of his Bad Newz Kennel operation. The Atlanta Journal Constitution estimated Vick lost about $145 million in salary, future salary and endorsements from this scandal.

Because this story transcended the sports pages for several months (mostly due to the graphic details that emerged about Vick's killing and torture of pit bulls) and because it is likely the greatest fall from grace for any athlete in the history of North American sports (has any other athlete - besides boxer Mike Tyson - lost $145M and gone from being one of the faces of their sport to prison?), it is our top sports business story of 2007.

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