Dilbert

FC Cincinnati apparently has now leaked on EA FC

Groups have been announced for this years Leagues Cup.

1 hour ago, The_Admiral said:

There was no reason to scrap a heritage brand, absent licensing issues, I suppose.

Part of the stipulation for the team being sold was that the Majors name was to be returned to St Michaels. Mississauga had no choice but to rebrand.

15 minutes ago, The_Admiral said:

 

The OHL's strength has always been away from Toronto, but the GTA grew so much in the '90s that it was fool's gold to the OHL the way Phoenix and Raleigh were to the NHL. Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Kitchener, and Guelph all together with Hamilton in the AHL and eventually the Marlies just put too much strain on Toronto and points west for sub-NHL hockey.

Kitchener, Guelph, Hamilton are not part of the GTA. They are part of the Golden Horseshoe. GTA consists of Toronto, Durham Region (Oshawa), Halton Region, Peel Region (Brampton and Mississauga), York Region,  and parts of Dufferin County, and Simcoe County.

Hamilton, Barrie, St Catharines, Kitchener are not a part of the GTA or Toronto census metro area. They have their own CMAs. They are a part of an urban agglomeration called the Golden Horseshoe. This consists of the GTA plus Hamilton, Guelph, Brantford, Kitchener, Peterborough, and Barrie.

Its like the Greater Boston area. It consists of Boston, Worcester, Providence, Cambridge, Manchester, Lowell, Brockton, Quincy, Lynn and New Bedford. But if you add Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport, Danbury, Burlington, Portland, and Bangor you get the Golden Horseshoe equivalent of  New England.

1 hour ago, The_Admiral said:

That's not really the issue so much as the OHL's overexpansion into the GTA never making sense in the first place. Why should the team even be in a position to relocate down the street from Mississauga to Brampton?

Seeing as the team is already established in the GTA and moving to another area of the GTA, I dont see this as an issue. Its not like the area is gaining another team or losing a team. The GTA only has 2 clubs in the OHL in Oshawa and with the Steelheads so while the market isnt crowded at an OHL standpoint it is for hockey overall if you add in the Leafs, Marlies and the PWHL club

I mean its a 10-15 minute, 11.5km (7 mi) relocation. Thats less than what the Cincinnati Cyclones did in 1997 when they moved from the Cincinnati Gardens to the Coliseum downtown. If the fans truly love the team they will follow

1 hour ago, The_Admiral said:

That's Illinois, now get it right or pay the price

The ECHLs newest club is the Bloomington Bison

We have the second California team to join the Oakland B's in the Pioneer League. Its the Yolo High Wheelers, playing out of UC Davis in Davis California. Yolo is for Yolo County

14 hours ago, McCall said:

The A's playing in Salt Lake is not the equivalent of Nashville playing in Memphis. Those two cities have a bitter rivalry and Memphis rejected the "little brother" sentiment of being only a temporary NFL city instead of a full-time one.

The team expected its fans to travel from Nashville to Memphis, plus get the locals in Memphis at games. Fans didnt  want to drive 3 hours back and forth and only got the little Memphis support they had plus road fans. The other issue compared to the A's in Salt Lake is the Oilers only had 8 games in Memphis (10 if you count preseason), once a week. The A's in Salt Lake would have 81 games for 3 years. Similar to when the Hornets were in OKC, you have more games.  Memphis had also just been rejected once again for NFL expansion, so when they finally got a team, it was only gonna be temporary, and that pissed off the fans in Memphis.

59 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

As much as I'd hate to see the Athletics name go away, there's a certain symmetry to the idea of them going from the A's to the Bees.  

They can use the new Oakland B's logo and call them the Salt Lake B's

The A's arent just looking at Sacramento, Las Vegas, Oakland, and San Francisco for temporary sites. Salt Lake City appears to be in play.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/as-considering-triple-a-stadiums-in-sacramento-and-salt-lake-city-for-temporary-2025-27-home-per-report/

Salt Lake  might make more sense than you think. Smith's Ballpark is currently home of the Angels AAA club Salt Lake Bees. The Bees are building a new ballpark scheduled to open in 2025. University of Utah also uses Smiths Ballpark but they are looking into building a new on campus ballpark as well. With the Bees and possibly Utah out of the picture,  the A's would have the ballpark to themselves. Upgrade the park to major league standards, like they did for the Jays in Buffalo and they got a ballpark until they get Las Vegas built. Salt Lake sits about 500 more than Sacramento.  Las Vegas currently sits  nearly 4,500 less than Salt Lake.

On 1/11/2024 at 3:51 PM, Digby said:

Gavin Wilkinson, last seen being run out of Portland due to his complicity in one coach's sexual abuse and his conveniently accidental cover-up of a player's wifebeating, is the newly hired sporting director at Sporting Kansas City. 

 

https://www.sportingkc.com/news/peter-vermes-named-sporting-kc-chief-soccer-officer-and-manager-gavin-wilkinson-  

And he's gone

https://www.sportingkc.com/news/statement-from-principal-owner-michael-illig

2 hours ago, Digby said:

Orlando's stadium is being renamed to Inter&Co Stadium. I am losing my mind at how dumb this is. What a time to be alive.

 

https://www.orlandocitysc.com/news/inter-co-naming-rights-orlando-soccer-specific-stadium 

I get its business but partnering with a company for stadium naming rights that has the same name as your rival is just bad promotion.

8 hours ago, Burmy said:

We have our first name...say hello to the Mankato Habaneros!

 

 

Love how the name is unique, but not Brandiose goofy.  Especially enjoy how the logo is currently green, but will evolve and ripen throughout the season just as the pepper does.

Hot!

Bloomington, IL has been awarded an expansion franchise in the ECHL for 2024-25. No name or branding announced yet but a Twitter/X suggests they will be the Bloomington Bison

I feel kinda jipped that we dont have snow or freezing cold in the PHI-TB game. Three outdoor games this weekend, and its not bad at all with this one . I mean I guess the upper 60s are cold for Tampa but still...

 Hopefully its just a new logo. I think NWSL has already been around long enough that its made a name for itself and is recognizable by many.

5 hours ago, infrared41 said:

More "football weather."

 

 

 

Bengals and Chargers laugh at your measly -30 windchill. Compared to the Freezer Bowl at -59 windchill, -30 is a heatwave.

In October FC Cincinnatis Matt Miazga had his referee incident and MLS still has yet to release the security tape footage despite public outcry for it. Now in a tape we dont want to see, Aaron Boupendza is now wanted in his native Gabon and could face a fine and 5 years in prison for being in a sex tape (apparently thats illegal there).

Ive never been impressed with Boupendza. He has a hard time controlling the ball when its passed to him. Plus his issues of not reporting on time multiple time to both FCC and the Gabon national team. While he has scored goals, he has been a major distraction to the team.

7 hours ago, TBGKon said:

This move kinda surprised me, but when the opportunity in Columbus GA opened up, it made sense.

 

I wonder if there's a chance we see an existing Southern League team relocate there, or on an off chance Texas League team, if the existing team cannot get the MLB mandated upgrades in time.  Mississippi hugs that line between the leagues.  

I mean San Antonio has been trying for years to get a new ballpark and dont seem to be going anywhere with that. It would suck to lose a market as big as San Antonio but they could be an option to move to Mississippi. But at the same time I feel like they would need a team in Louisiana to bridge the gap between Texas and Mississippi

Lake Erie (Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit) are in the playoffs together for the first time.

I may have been the cause of the Eagles implosion. For the past six weeks Ive been taunting my friend who is an Eagles fan by saying "Go Cowboys" and "Cry Eagles Cry". They have now gone on to lose 5 of their last 6 and he absolutely hates me

13 hours ago, Needschat said:

 

They also played games at Icahn Stadium in NYC. That's what precipitated the name change. 

The name change wasnt just because they played games outside of Long Island. They wanted to expand their regional footprint to include NYC, Westchester, Southern Connecticut and New Jersey. They only played 2 games at Icahn. the rest were on Long Island

PRO  CBA expires on January 15 and apparently negotiations with PSRA are not going well with a work stoppage imminent.  This could mean we could possibly have replacement referees to start the season. May I suggest Matt Miazga offering to mediate negotiations by bringing pizza to the table?