Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-20
2001-05-29
Choules, Jack (Department: 2177)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C707S793000, C707S793000, C707S793000, C705S017000, C705S039000, C709S201000, C709S207000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240415
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a management system. In particular, the invention is concerned with a system, apparatus and method for managing businesses, participants, directors and actions of a remote entity using a computer network. More particularly, the invention is directed to improving accountability in managing and operating enterprises.
Currently in the entertainment business of professional sports there are significant problems: players salaries in the big leagues have skyrocketed to the point where many teams have a hard time breaking even each year; cities that are considered small markets have a difficult time competing financially for good enough players to have a reasonable chance of making the playoffs in the big leagues; owners have no effective way to deter their players from behaving unprofessionally or even breaking the law routinely; and teams do not have sufficient loyalty to their city where they currently reside to cause them to plan on staying.
On Sep. 28, 1999, Canada's four Major League hockey teams announced that if they did not receive governmental assistance in one way or another, like many teams in the United States have with publicly financed for such things as stadiums, that they would have to sell their teams to the United States.
Star players contracts are written heavily in the players' favor and the stars are treated with immunity from the normal societal rules and the law that some players no longer find it important to follow the coaches directions or to act minimally professional. Many star players have little fear of hurting their livelihood if they publicly break the law by using drugs, abetting prostitution, and even physically striking or choking their head coach as occurred in the National Basketball Association. The young fans, children, rarely watch their favorite athletes behaving as decent role models, contributors to society, and upstanding law abiding citizens. Many of the teams and leagues do not enforce their own rules on morals clauses—players fail drug tests repeatedly with little significant deterrence. Star players often do not show up to work for practice as required by their high paying contract. Fans are often disgruntled about the lack of professionalism.
Much of this is caused by the players being unaccountable to the fans. In the past there has been no way for the fan to reward or punish the player, team or league directly other than to not watch a game. Currently, if a major league team with no leverage over its players does not punish its players for committing crimes or for not showing up to work on time then individual fans have no way to affect any real leverage of their own. Currently, National Football League teams owners and their management offices are so powerless with their players that they are hoping that the league's central organizing office under the NFL commissioner will fine the players to deter continued taunting with gestures of extreme violence, such as making a throat cutting gesture towards opposing players and opposing fans after a big play, as was reported in many newspapers on Nov. 23, 1999.
Similarly, team owners do not feel the leverage of individual fans in their big decisions. Cities are driven to making unwise financial decisions that give financial incentives to teams to dump their old city and move to theirs. Cities are often so desperate to get a team in their area that some teams sneak out in the middle of the night and leave for a different city. The city that was unceremoniously dumped may be stuck with the bill for a new stadium that it financed with the hope of encouraging the team not to leave their city. Many owners simply cannot afford the high salaries needed to compete successfully in some leagues, and the owners often do not have any hope of having leverage with a player over the life of the player's contract to induce the player to perform in a professional manner.
This invention is directed to a solution to allow the fan's input help solve the current problems with professional sports and thereby change the imbalance in leverage in the negotiations between the player and the team and between the city and the team.
With the use of this invention, players could make the same amounts of money, but it would be less likely that they would be able to just sign big guaranteed contracts with big signing bonuses and then never have to perform.
The invention seeks to overcome difficulties in the management and performance of entities which have previously operated without the normal controls and checks and balances that are required for the professional organization of a business with accountability.
The invention seeks to bring a greater degree of control and responsiveness between customers of an organization and the organization and members of the organization, by the members' employees, directors, shareholders or other supporters.
The invention is directed to the employment of a computer network for facilitating increased responsibility between two entities, essentially customers or consumers on the one hand, and the corporate or business entity on the other hand.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This invention involves the use of an apparatus, the internet, along with data files interacting according to the method and system of this invention.
A software program and a logic architecture enables people from any location in the world with access to the Internet or other computer communication network to receive and transmit information from a database on which to determine their decisions in relation to a company such as a sports entertainment company that owns a professional sports team. The decisions that can be made by the remote consumer/sports fan or shareholder include, among others: decisions on the compensatory bonuses, salaries and other awards to professional athletes/coaches/executives in direct response to their actual performance, or lack thereof, during an ongoing event and available for the participating members to decide by vote in real time or near real time; decisions to purchase or sell shares of a publicly traded company which owns, for example, a sports team where the shareholder or, in appropriate situations, the fan has an ability through the use of the invention to actively participate by voting in management decisions, board of director decisions and owner decisions; decisions on tie points awarded to the contestants for each round of boxing match and taking into account the effectiveness of a punch as measured by a boxing glove sensor among others that allows the remote voter to consider data regarding the measure of the impact, or lack thereof, for each of the boxers' most significant punches.
Additionally, in relation to management, ownership and control and play of an entity, for instance in sports management, the system permits fan and/or shareholder interaction in relation to management, personnel, player or employee hiring and firing decisions. Additionally, there is the ability to have input on the compensation of players, coaches or management, a bonus for a specific play or for a specific quarter's performance or total salary. Moreover, in a sports entertainment company, a fan can have input on the key players' roles such as whether or not to be on the first team; and, more specifically, individual play calling with real time remote input from shareholders or fans. This can be effected in substantially real time or near real time, namely a participant can receive information by a communication link, for instance, watching a sports event on TV, and then respond by inputting information, a decision or data through a computer communication network. This allows the remote participant, fan, member or shareholder to interact with the players, actors, coaches, directors, and others to such a degree, so instantaneously during a live event that they actually cause drastic changes in the ongoing performance. Thus the participant is intimately involved to the point of potentially becoming eng
Choules Jack
Lewis Cheryl R.
Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly LLP
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