Interactive holiday e-cards seem to get better and better each year. Here are a few I’ve received from local sports teams and entities:

Florida Marlins: No matter how you feel about public financing of the Marlins’ new ballpark, it’s being built. This card shows you construction in time-lapse – Have a Constructive New Year, indeed.

Florida Panthers: This simple interactive card covers the full gamut of business at BankAtlantic Center.

UM: This one isn’t from Hurricane Athletics, but there’s plenty of ‘Canes and The U cheer in this card from the University of Miami’s media relations department.

Orange Bowl: This one has a Corona ad feel, but is all South Florida. Enjoy this card from the Orange Bowl.

FAU Athletics: I’m not supposed to play favorites, but check out this card from the FAU Owls, complete with Athletic Director Craig Angelos showing off the under-construction football stadium and legendary football coach Howard Schnellenberger saying "Kwanzaa" is priceless.

Meanwhile, from outside Florida, this one from the Arizona Diamondbacks looks to have been shot in one take… Impressive work.

When No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Texas face off in tonight’s BCS National Championship in the Rose Bowl, Daniel Schapiro and Nathan Feldman will be watching with interest in both teams.

After all, Schapiro’s and Feldman’s EB Performance LLC of Deerfield Beach, which makes bite size protein cookies and bars, has supplied their PB & Whey Protein Bites to Alabama and Texas for the past two years.

“We hope it’s a great game and ends in a tie,” Feldman said with a chuckle. “We’re going to be watching with one side of our bodies dressed in the Crimson Tide of Alabama and the other side in the burnt orange of the Texas Longhorns.”

The workout buddies formed their company after not being able to find a tasty protein bar. Read my colleague Cindy Kent’s March 2008 small business profile about the company here.

EB’s peanut butter snack bar was also used by the LSU baseball and North Carolina men’s basketball teams, both of which won championships last year. Other colleges using EB’s snacks include Florida, FAU, Michigan, Nebraska, and Auburn.

The end of the decade also corresponds with my first decade as the Sun Sentinel’s sports business writer. When I first got the job in September 1999, people would congratulate me and then ask: “What are you going to do with the rest of your time?” As if this somehow wasn’t a full-time job!?

Just in case those people are still wondering what I do with my time, here’s my $2 added to the end of the decade lists with a by the numbers sampling of South Florida sports business stories. (Disclaimer -- this does not purport to be a full or complete list):

5 NEW TEAM OWNERS: Alan P. Cohen and his group bought the Panthers from H. Wayne Huizenga in 2001. Jeffrey Loria took ownership of the Marlins from John W. Henry (by way of Major League Baseball) in 2002. Steve Ross completed his purchase of the Dolphins from Huizenga in 2009. And Cohen’s partners Cliff Viner and Stu Siegel (I’m counting them as two) took over majority ownership of the Panthers this fall.

5 (at least) TEAM MOVES: The Heat moved to AmericanAirlines Arena in 2000. Hurricanes football moved to Dolphin Stadium in 2008. FAU moved from Dolphin Stadium to Lockhart Stadium. FIU football moved into a new stadium. The Baltimore Orioles ended their spring training run at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and are moving to Sarasota next year.

10 (and counting...) TEAMS LOST: Miami Fusion (Major League Soccer); Miami Sol (WNBA); Miami Tropics (Spring Football League); Miami Manatees (minor league hockey); Florida Bobcats (AFL); Florida Pitbulls (ABA); Miami Morays, Palm Beach Phantoms and Florida Frenzy (all of the National Indoor Football League); Miami Diamantes (baseball); and others too numerous to count…

2 VENUES BUILT: UM opened BankUnited Center in 2003; FIU opened its new football stadium in 2008.

2 TORN DOWN: Both the Orange Bowl and Miami Arena came down in 2008.

4 TEAMS STARTED (and still exist in some form): Miami FC (soccer), Miami Caliente (Lingerie Football League); Miami Fury and Palm Beach Punishers of the Independent Women’s Football League.

NAME CHANGES get their own section: In 2001, Sports & Sponsorships President Scott Becher was more prophetic than he might have imagined when he told me this for a story about the golf tournament at Doral changing its name to Genuity:

"You're going to start to see names change for a second and a third time," Becher said. "I think by and large, fans get it, but from the sponsor's standpoint, it's like buying a used car. The car is never going to smell like new. The value of the sponsorship is diminished when you have to untrain fans to think of it as one name and reteach them a new name."

3 (Three-way tie) – Dolphins’ home stadium: Started the decade as Pro Player, then Dolphins Stadium, followed by Dolphin (no s) Stadium, and Land Shark Stadium. It’s set to become Dolphin Stadium again in January.

-- Key Biscayne tennis tournament: Lipton became Ericsson Open then Nasdaq-100 Open. Now it’s Sony Ericsson Open.

-- Golf tournament at Doral: Doral Ryder Open became Genuity Championship, then Ford Championship, and now it’s CA Championship.

2 (two-way tie) – Panthers home arena: National Car Rental Center became Office Depot Center and is now BankAtlantic Center.
--
FIU’s basketball arena: Golden Panther Arena started the decade as Golden Panther Arena, became Pharmed and is now U.S. Century Bank.

1 ZILLION Marlins ballpark plans: But the ballpark is under construction and scheduled to open in 2012.

University of Florida athletics generate more revenue than any other college sports program in the state. By far.

It’s certainly helped that the Gators have won four national championships – two each in football and men’s basketball – in the past four years. Read my story that ran today about the seven Florida schools with football programs.

Florida does so well that Forbes has it ranked 6th in its list of most valuable college football teams. No. 2 Texas is 1, followed by Notre Dame, Penn State, Nebraska and No. 1 Alabama, which plays Texas for the national championship on Jan. 7. Check out Forbes’ top 20 most valuable college football programs here.

Texas also ranks first in royalty revenues it generates from selling licensed merchandise, according to rankings by the Collegiate Licensing Co. CLC handles licensing for some 200 colleges, conferences and bowl games, but not every school uses the company’s services. So the top 10 royalty generators last year that follow, for example, do not include Ohio State:

1. Texas
2. UF
3. Georgia
4. LSU
5. Alabama
6. North Carolina
7. Michigan
8. Penn State
9. Notre Dame
10. Oklahoma

At the other end of the spectrum is FAU, which started its football program nine years ago. Last year, the school's football program cost $4.5 million to operate, but brought in only $2.7 million in revenue. The school raised $8 million in student fees for athletics to help cover expenses.

Here’s a comparison of some UF and FAU expenses and revenues in 2008, according to documents filed with the NCAA:

UF

FOOTBALL
Expenses: $19 million
Revenues: $66.3 million
Ticket sales: $17.3 million

ALL SPORTS
Expenses: $98.8 million
Revenues: $106.6 million
Ticket sales: $21.1 million
Student fees: $2.6 million
Sales of programs, concessions, parking: $4 million
Royalites, licensing, advertising, sponsorship: $10.2 million
Coaching salaries: $13.6 million
Broadcast TV, Radio, Internet rights: $3.9 million

FAU

FOOTBALL
Expenses: $4.5 million
Revenues: $2.7 million
Ticket sales: $618,362

ALL SPORTS
Expenses: $16.3 million
Revenues: $16.6 million
Ticket sales: $703,809
Student fees: $8 million
Sales of programs, concessions, parking: $88,324
Royalties, licensing, advertising, sponsorship: $403,914
Coaching salaries: $3 million

Better late than never…. I was again part of the sports business panel on sports consultant Rick Horrow’s local show, Beyond the Game, on WPEC Ch. 12 in West Palm Beach on Saturday. (The show airs at 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays). Former Miami Dolphin Troy Stradford and Horrow Sports Ventures creative director Brian Finkel and I covered the Dolphins Monday Night home opener; games we were watching in Week 2; so-called “body bag games” in which lower level college programs travel to big-time programs for the cash payouts; and the Miami Heat’s staff pay cuts. Watch here.

FAU Coach Howard Schnellenberger put the school’s money where his mouth is. Sort of.

After teeth whitening dental spa, SmileXpress, pledged $1.25 million to FAU’s athletic department over the next 10 years, Schnellenberger agreed to be the inaugural patron at the company’s East Boca Raton location Monday.

See his new radiant smile in this photo by Caroline Schmitz Williams.

SmileXpress’ donation announced in March includes $500,000 for naming rights to one of the entrances of FAU’s planned on-campus football stadium and $250,000 for a memoriabl at the stadium to honor Schnellenberger’s son, Stephen, who died of cancer last month.

For more on FAU sports, visit Ted Hutton’s blog here.