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Tebow on the clock considering whether to accept draft invite LABOR & AGENTS LI Z MUL LEN lor ida quarterback Tim Tebow expects to mak e a decision this week on whether to accept th e NFL's invitaork tion to attend the draft in New Y next month, h is agent, Jimmy Sexton, said last week. Invitation s are tr ad itionally extended to top draft pro spects, who a re shown waiting in the green room for their nam es to be called. Tebow is an unusual case , though . He's the most fam ous and most decorated college footba ll player of his era but no shoo-in to be taken in the first round. Top NFL agen ts typically advise their clients not to attend in person if they think th e player won't be drafted quickly and will be for ced to sit and wa it for wha t may seem like an eternity - something th at is great for television ra tings but a not-so-great exper ience for the player. Gil Brandt. th e former head of personn el for th e Dallas Cowboys who advises the NFL on invitations. sa id he called Tebow about th ree weeks ago. "I said, 'Tim. if you were invit ed. would you like to come to the dr aft?" Brandt sa id last F ~ Tim Tebow is projected to be drafted anvwhe re from the fi rst round to the th ird. ~ week. "He was home in J acksonville and he sa id, 'Let me th ink about it ." ' Meanwh ile. sources sa id. the NFL has als o invited Oklah oma quarterback Sam Bradford. Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, Oklahoma defens ive tackle Gerald McCo y. Oklahoma Stat e offens ive tackle Russell Okung, Iowa otfens ive lineman Bryan Bulaga, Tennessee defensive back Eric Ber ry. Tennessee defensive tackle Dan Williams. Oklahoma offen sive tackle Trent Williams . Georg ia Tech defen sive linema n Der rick Morgan and Penn State defensive tackle Jared Odrick. Brandt wou ld neith er confir m nor den y that the NFL had invited th ose players , all of whom were ranked as firstround picks by at least one if not all four mock drafts at draft site NFLDraftScout. com . Tebow was not ranked as a firstround p ick in any of the fou r mock drafts last week. Asked whether he viewed Tebow as a first-round draft pick. Brandt said. "I do," but added, "I seem to be in the minori ty." Th e first round of th e NFL draft moves to Th ursday night thi s year and will be held April 22. The second and thi rd roun ds will be Apr il 23. a nd the fou rth th rough seventh rounds th e day after. Because of the change. Bran dt sa id, the NFL will invite players expected to be drafted in the second round to attend Fr iday night. He sa id he would probably begin invitin g th ose players th is week. > BEST SIG NS COACHE S, BROADCASTERS: Blue Entertainment Sports Te levision has signed Memphis Gr izzlies ass istan t coach Damon Stoudamire and for mer NBA player J eff Horna cek for coach ing representation. BEST also signed former MLB player Kenny Lofton for broadcast work. BEST agents Lon Rosen. Brooks Downing and Jason Charney will represent the clients. > ANDREA KREMER TO OCTAGON: Octagon sig ned NBC Sports and "Sunday Night Football " sideline re por ter An drea Kremer for representa tion. "We look forward to helpi ng her accomplish all her media-related goals while als o broadening her profile with opportun ities in new and complemen tary areas, " sa id Phil de Pi ccrotto, president of Octagon Athletes & Personaliti es. in a sta temen t. Kre mer was re presented by IMG. > CAA ADDS BROADCAST ERS: n CAA Sports has sig ed NFL analyst Ti m Ryan and ESPN college football ana lyst! in sider Joe Sch ad for representation. A team of CAA agents, led by Trace Armstrong and Andy Elkin, will represen t Ryan an d Schad. Ryan, who co-host s the Sirius/XM Radio show "Moving the Cha ins ." was represen ted by Game Plan. Schad was unrepresent ed. • Liz Mullen can be reached at lm ullen@ sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow her on $ Twitter (w BJ LizMullen. Bunker busters: Air Canada Centre combining suites into club BREAKING GROUND CON MURET A. ir Canada Centre offi cia ls are adjusting th e ~ena's premi um-seat mix in Toronto for the first ~ tim e in the building's It-year histor y. expa nding the list of venues repositi on ing their top-end inventory. For next season, Maple Leaf Spor ts & Enterta inm ent . the owner of the arena, the Maple Leafs and th e Raptors, will redu ce its number of event-level platinu m loun ges from 40 to 28, sa id Bob Hunter , the arena's executive vice pres ident and general man ager. Those spaces, commonly called bunker suites , have no views of game action but are each tied to 10 of th e best seats in th e house for basketball and hockey. an d include tickets to a ll events. This year, a few platinum lou nges were not renewed for the first time since Air Can ada Cen tre opened in Febr uary 1999, Hunter said. They range in price fro m $442,000 to $467 .000 annually and carry multi year commitments. By knocking down the walls of 12 units, Maple Leaf Sports is creating the Chairma n 's Club, wh ich will have 120 seats ava ilable. Th e price point has not been set. but the revamped area will provide th e flexibility for compa nies and individ uals to buy seats at a fra ction of the cost to buy a plat inum loun ge, Hun ter sa id. Food an d drink will be an additional fee, as was the case with the platinum loun ges. In th e upper deck on the arena 's west side. Maple Leaf Sports is converting eight of 24 loge su ites, pr iced at ~ Street & Smith's SportsBusiness.JOURNAL ~ s ~ The number of platinum lounges w ill drop fro m 40 to 28. $79 ,000 to $86,000, into regular seats. Th e group is pi tch- ing the revamped area to one of its existing sponso rs to use for its clients. If a deal is not done, the alt ernative is to make those 124 seats. an increase over th e current 64, ava ilable for s ingle-game sales and crea te afford able ticket prices of $15 to $18 for the Raptor s an d $25 to $30 for the Maple Leafs, Hun ter sai d. The capital investment is $2.26 million for both projects. > CHANGING OF THE GUARD: There's been cons iderable movemen t with in the ra nks of vetera n big leag e facility managers the past six weeks, including u changes at two of Florida's three NFL stadiums . The most recent departure is Pat Fitzgerald, vice president of facility operations at Quicken Loans Aren a in Cleveland. Fitzgerald opened th e former Gu nd Arena in 1994 , one year after he was hired . As of March I, he was no longer employed by th e Cavs, a team spokesman confir med. www .s ports busine s s jour nal.com Th e club is sea rch ing for Fitzgerald's re placement, according to online job listings. The Cavs are not releasing any further infor mation about his exit. an d Fitzgerald did not respond to an e-ma il for comment. In Miam i, Bruce Schulze, former president of Sun Life Stadium. is gone afte r th e Dolphins. th e facility's owner, elim inated his posit ion, team spokesman George Torres said. Todd Boyan. the stadium's vice presiden t and gener al man ager, is now in charge. The team declin ed fur ther comment. Schulze had been wit h the stadium since 1992. when he was nam ed the Florida Marlin s' director of operations and adm inistra tion. Sch ulze rose th rough the ranks of facility admin istration to become president in October 1999. By cutting admin istr ative payroll, the Dolphins could be reallocat ing funds to help pay for a $189 mill ion sta di um renovation to rem ain in the Super Bowl rotation. sa id Jim Riordan, di re ctor of th e MBA in Sport Manageme nt progr am at Florida Atlantic Univers ity an d a for mer SMG arena man ager. "The Dolphins are doing a th orough analysis of their perso nnel," he sa id. "We have a few alums and students working there who a re waiting to hear what th eir future with th e organization will be." In J acksonville. Lar ry Wilson has replaced Bob Downey as SMG's general man ager of Jacksonville Mu nicipal Stadium, home of the J agu ar s. Downey resign ed hi s position in mid-Febru ary after 15 years on the job , according to local reports. Downey returned a call for comment too late for inclusion in th is story. SMG executive Hank Aba te did not return an e-ma il for commen t. Wilson comes from the • University of Virgin ia 's John Paul J ones Arena. Don Muret can be reached at dmuretcispo rtsbusiness jou rna l.com. Follow him on Tw itter @breakground. MA RCH 29 -APRIL 4. 2 0 10 I II