Dilbert

The saga of the Oakland Roots venue continues.  The Roots home opener had to be postponed and subsequent home games at Laney College were moved to Cal State East Bay in Hayward, due to Laney College laying new turf at their stadium. The Roots play on their own turf which sits on top of the Laney College field and track. When Laney College laid new turf it caused the Roots turf to not sit properly on the new turf. Now the club has announced that the entire home slate has been moved to Cal State East Bay as they have found that their turf and Laneys turf are incompatible and thus not meet USSF standards. The Roots have recently submitted a bid to build a temporary stadium in the Malibu lot at the Oakland Coliseum complex, to serve them for the next decade.

Since MLS has now distanced themselves from USL, Id say they'd go straight to NWSL.

Unless City Football Group buys Gotham, then they will probably stay put in New Jersey. City already operates womens teams in Manchester and Melbourne, so once the stadium at Willets Point is ready, then they could focus on starting up a womens team in New York.

1 hour ago, DCarp1231 said:

They have roughly a months worth of games before they get their official name.

and then they move to Hagerstown next season.

Im not sure if Cincy is a hockey town. Its more of a "Hey the arena has a dollar beer night" or "its Nickelodeon night, lets take the kids to meet the Ninja Turtles". While there are fans of hockey at the Cyclones games, I think its become more of promotional crowd. I still hear people wanting the NBA and the Royals back more than anything. Hockey here is generally at the bottom of the sports totem pole with the Bengals, FC Cincinnati, UC/XU/high school football all above hockey.

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Kansas City intrigues me, but I'm not all the way there yet. It's with Milwaukee and Cincinnati on my "midwestern cities that would have occurred to me before Columbus" list. I guess when it comes to hockey, KC feels more like the easternmost western city than the westernmost eastern city, and I get cold feet, if that makes any sense.

Cincinnati wouldnt have had a chance over Columbus, nor would they now. At the time Columbus was awarded, Cincinnati was going through a stadium/arena rebirth. The citizens of Cincinnati and Hamilton County got screwed over on the funding and building of Paycor Stadium and Great American Ball Park at that time. At the same time Heritage Bank Center (then Riverfront Coliseum) was purchased and renovated, its first since opening in 1975.  While the renovations helped for what the arena hosted at that time, it wouldnt have been adequate for the NHL. Today, the arena needs to be replaced as it has barely been touched since that renovation. However, after taxpayers were screwed over on the ballpark and stadium, a new arena would have to be privately financed and have no taxpayer money go toward it.  The city and county arent going to let it happen again. Its the reason why TQL was privately financed. The problem here is the arena owner doesnt want to entirely pay for it, and no one wants to step up to privately finance it. So while nothing gets done, we now miss out on big concerts, NCAA tournaments, political national conventions, and other events as they all go to Columbus, Cleveland, Indy,  and Louisville instead because they all have newer arenas. Cincinnati had its chance to get into the NHL with the Stingers in the WHA merger, but the NHL only wanted the Canadian clubs and Hartford.

One long curse down, one to go.

22 hours ago, MJWalker45 said:

The fact that they would almost be hemmed in to playing night games for 3/4 of the season should be enough to stay away. 

With Apples broadcast scheduling, most games are already at night anyway.

I was right. Very underwhelming

27 minutes ago, the admiral said:

They'll play in Summerlin after this year at this point.

I mean they have several options.

- move all games to Summerlin until new ballpark is ready

- move all or some games to San Francisco (I doubt the Giants would allow it)

- renew the Coliseum Visitors television booth opossums backyard contract and continue to play some or games until new ballpark in Las Vegas is ready.

-Play games at the minor league or spring training ballparks.

- Play in a cow field in Peculiar Missouri.

-Send the team back to Kansas City or Philadelphia.

9 minutes ago, goalieboy82 said:

how long until someone says, if you are putting a team in Las Vegas, Pete Rose should be unbanned from MLB.

I mean when sports betting became legal in Ohio on January 1 this year, Pete made the first bet at Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati. To no surprise, he bet on the Reds winning the World Series this year. At this point his ban is pretty pointless.

Why do I have a feeling that after all this hype, we are going to be extremely let down? I mean it is the Cardinals so I wouldnt be shocked.

While this may not be big for the rest of the league, this is huge for Bengals Nation.  After 21 years the Bengals have switched chili partners from Gold Star to Skyline.  All of the local sports venues (Reds, FCC, UC, XU, NKU, Cyclones) all serve Skyline. The Bengals were the only one with Gold Star. Whats more ironic is whenever the networks would show the clips coming back from commercial break of the chili parlor, ladling chili, the clip was usually always of Skyline, and not Gold Star.

Last night Rays-Reds game in Cincinnati brought out the smallest attendance in Great American Ball Park history. The 7,375 who did show up saw the punching bag of MLB, the Reds, beat the top team in baseball 8-1, giving the Rays there first loss on US soil this season. Yes it was a chilly night, and a school night, but when the ownership has alienated fans this much, somethings gotta give.

Atlanta is a big sprawling market. Forsyth is pretty much Macon. However that area of  Georgia has grown. From the 2020 census (compared to 2010), Atlantas population is up 18.7%. Forsyth is up 15.7%. Nearby, Warner Robbins is up 20.6%, Perry is up 49% and Macon is up 72.2%.

Atlanta/Macon is simmilar to what is happening in Cincinnati/Dayton. The population between them have grown to the point that the markets are starting to merge together. Here in Ohio, the Mason and West Chester areas are viewed as both suburbs of Cincinnati and Dayton. I imagine the same thing is happening between Atlanta, and Macon.

Now while an arena could work there, you have to look at targeted demographic it is to serve. Years ago in MLS they started building stadiums in the suburbs (Frisco, Commerce City, Carson, Bridgeview) to market soccer to families with young kids (aka the Millennial and Gen Z crowd, who have been the demographics who support MLS the most. This move has since fallen apart as these generations have moved away from the suburbs to the more urban neighborhoods. Its why you see new stadiums (TQL, Citypark, Lower.com Field) in the urban areas.

Now look at the demographic for hockey. While the demographic has grown in the sport to where it is watched by younger generations and people of color, its still followed more by the older demographics of white, Gen X, Boomers. These generations tend to live more outside the city and have little desire to go downtown.

7 minutes ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

Why give Quebec City a team when you can give Phoenix a second team! It's the better business decision, it just is!

Sure, why not? They already have an arena ready to go in Glendale. Hell, lets put a third team in Phoenix proper down at Footprint Center.

13 minutes ago, TruColor said:

Again I was told today, but I’m getting nervous if it is actually happening today or not.

 

I accept responsibility if it doesn’t happen today…

If the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles taught me anything, its this. "Forgiveness is divine but never pay full price for a late uniform reveal."

4 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:

DC has had a great showing all through this and the last XFL. I don't know if this is how it works anymore, but you'd think with this strength of fan support, the market would have to be on the radar to land an NFL franchise one of these days.

Lets get the NFL to DC and St Louis.

Last night was rough for FC Cincinnati. A few weeks ago I said that the match with St Louis was the one I was worried about the most. Its hard enough to win or draw on the road, especially against a team that started so hot. Then when we lost Acosta, that pretty much sealed the loss for me.  The long weather delay didnt help either. For some reason, when we are without Acosta we revert back to our 2019-21 form.

1 hour ago, Digby said:

. Instead I’m seeing 5 minutes of ads, 30 seconds of random stadium crowd shots and the announcer repeating the score and to stay tuned, then we do it all again.

Gotta pay the bills somehow.

Hearing more rumors of the ACC falling apart now.  North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia Tech and Miami to the Big Ten. North Carolina State, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Louisville to the Big 12. Florida State and Clemson to the SEC. I can see a few of these happening but not all.  Its hard to get out of the ACC but If I heard correctly if 8 or more schools bolt that ACC deal becomes null and void. These realignment rumors are getting crazier.

13 hours ago, maz said:

 

Remind me again where all of this outspoken vitriol against Pittsburgh came from? I just have never been able to understand it.

 

Im sure @Sport would agree with me, but as someone from Cincinnati, most people in Ohio hate Pittsburgh when it comes to just about everything.

5 hours ago, MiK said:

 

That's... huh?

 

ASU and Arizona are very similar in terms of endowment, stadiums, even athletic performance. Academics is where they differ the most; ASU not being an AAU member. However, ASU out earns UA (all three of them actually) from athletic revenue so this is just odd.

I agree. I would think they would want both UA and ASU, not to mention the fifth largest market in the US. Both schools have been in the same conference together since 1931. I cant see them splitting up now.

Red Bulls supporters group is walking out after the anthem

One of the latest Pac12-Big 12 rumors Ive heard is that the Big 12 is only interested in Colorado and Arizona and not Utah or Arizona State.