LMU

13 hours ago, the admiral said:

Long Beach, the original intended home of the Angels, intrigues me, but I still don't think there's anywhere to put a stadium -- or, more to the point, there's nowhere to put the amount of surface parking a Los Angeles baseball stadium would demand.

I pointed out way early in the thread that the proposed location, the current site of Long Beach Arena, already has massive parking structures nearby for the Aquarium of the Pacific and the cruise ship terminals. If they can come up with some kind of lease agreement that would solve a lot of the issue.

7 hours ago, sayahh said:

 

It was supposedly a concession to the taxi lobby. (cabbie lobby?) Originally it was supposed to go all the way to the airport, IIRC.   Years later they approved the extension to LAX--for wayyyyy more money than it would had cost had they done that in the first place.

That and they opted to steer it towards the aerospace companies in El Segundo instead so employees could use it to commute but the industry almost entirely packed up and left by the time the train was built.

6 minutes ago, Digby said:

i just begrudgingly said a nice thing about trains in LA, but I’m fortunate to balance that out with the note that this new extension will *still* require a bus to both LAX and the Rams/Clippers stadia. So close!

Yes to SoFi, no to LAX. It will in 2024 be a people mover train from the airport right to a passenger facility that contains a light rail station.

13 minutes ago, DEAD! said:

What it lacks though, is a proper stop at the airport. Yes there is one nearby LAX, but I think you still have to take a shuttle there. Maybe that is asking too much. 

Give it a year or two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAX_Automated_People_Mover

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Line_(Los_Angeles_Metro)

9 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

Yeah you’re definitely right that Chavez Revine is particularly difficult to get to and from. It makes me wonder why the city didn’t do more to build public transportation to and from the area decades ago. The stadium is sort of located in a perfect area in some ways. It’s up above the city away from the crush, which isn’t a bad plan for a stadium, as long as you have the resources to get to and from the area. Dodgers Stadium absolutely does not have that in its current form. 
 

Southern California’s lack of a truly robust train system still baffles me. I get that it’s the very definition of a car city, but how that was ever overlooked is beyond me. I’m sure there are reasons, I’ve just never really heard any good ones. 

Alas, it once did back in the days of yesteryear.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric

On 5/23/2022 at 9:58 PM, JerseyJimmy said:

putting your AHL team in your own city is one of the lamest things ever. watch, they're gonna call them "Calgary Flames II" or something like a USL club.

Clearly the Jets and Sharks missed the memo on that.

39 minutes ago, pmoehrin said:

 

I have no doubt Long Beach would work. You're in a city with just under half a million people and within a half-hour drive of both LA and Anaheim. That's on top of all the pre-existing entertainment-based infrastructure already there. It doesn't get much better than that in terms of location.

 

The issue I see comes down to cost. There's a reason nobody has moved into that area. A stadium there would run well over $1 billion and easily be the most expensive MLB stadium ever built.

 

The Angels have no problem drawing right where they are, and it would be a lot cheaper for them to stay put than to move any way you cut it. Their current ballpark isn't great, but you can work with it, and the Angels have.

 

I don't see them moving outside the LA market because anywhere they moved to would be a downgrade. They're second in the league in attendance, playing in the second-largest media market in the country. Why mess that up?

 

I think they're going to wait for the smoke to clear with whatever is going with the Anaheim city government before doing anything. No mater what happens, they're not in any danger of getting kicked out of their stadium tomorrow.

The problem with that thinking is the Arte Moreno ego wildcard.  He's impulsive to the team's detriment.  When the Dodgers signed Zack Greinke away from him he made the executive decision to overpay for Josh Hamilton.  He personally intervened with the Albert Pujols deal just because it was flashy despite his stats already starting to crater.  This isn't about the ballpark to him.  He's already agreed to pay for a replacement stadium next door out of his own pocket if that's the better move.  This is all about him getting cheap real estate to get his Haloville development built and with Anaheim cancelling the whole thing it's going to be going back to square one with dealing with the State and the obligation to offer sale to housing development before the team gets a whiff which, knowing his ego, he's not going to stand for.  Plus, it would be the ultimate Arte Moreno move to jump at LB just to thumb his nose at Guggenheim that he has oceanfront property.

2 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

Any plan that has the Angels actually leaving greater Orange County isn’t a good one imo. Especially if they move into Los Angeles proper. That’s a great way to set them up as the actual baseball Clippers. It’s like the Chargers moving from San Diego to LA. Yeah I guess it’s technically “more” fans, but, not really with any ounce of enthusiasm. That’s Dodgers territory, has always been, and it isn’t changing because the Angels move up there. 

I could see Long Beach working.  LB has always had an OC-adjacent vibe to it and is close enough to easily draw in fans from Seal Beach/Huntington Beach on a regular basis.

Cue the lawsuits.

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

This is a temporary arrangement though. It's a 3 year lease, with an option for a 4th if they need extra runway to finish a new rink in Tempe. If they can't sort out the new building they'll be gone in 3 years.

 

This is unprecedented in modern sports in that the team got evicted from its current arena and has no approved plan, let alone one with a reasonable chance for approval with FAA regulations and financing weighing it down. This isn’t the Chargers playing at a soccer stadium. This is sleeping on a friend’s couch.
 

 

 

So, the Chargers broke ground on their new HQ today.  Fittingly, they're moving to a city whose name translates to "The Second."

 

And, someone apparently suggested more than a decade too late that the team needed an exorcism.  @IceCap would probably agree on that point.

 

 

2 hours ago, TalktoChuck said:

 

Yeah, but your original post made it seemed like you were shocked that ASU was top priority in their own arena. I was merely pointing out that the NHL isn't the top priority in most of their arenas, so this shouldn't be seen as a shock.

The absolute comedy here is that this would be the only case in the league where a team not only isn't the top priority of their arena, but isn't even the top billing of the freaking sheet of ice.

 

At least the Cardinals can claim that ASU let them decorate the playing surface while paying rent.

One of the OITGDNHL highlights - ASU controls the look of the ice so the ‘Yotes are forced to play with a pitchfork at the face off circle.

 

 

Kings currently:

1 hour ago, IceCap said:

I'm going to be an annoying history teacher and go "you can elect kings. It was very common in the medieval period. And happened as late as the late 19th century when the present Belgian and Norwegian monarchies were established via elections and referendums." 

 

I'm truly sorry I ruined the joke but I hope this was at least educational 🫠

As a 37-year old named Dennis, how dare you.

 

 

22 minutes ago, IceCap said:

There's also the fact that the Coyotes have always had trouble drawing. Factor in the team sucking... and these prices are a lot. 

 

You look at your average Coyotes game and maybe 5,000 is about right in terms of what they can sell out, but asking those diehards to pay these prices is a tricky proposition. 

No doubt they'll do whatever they can to pack the place at the start of the season so the first impression isn't an empty rink...but we'll see where the team's at attendance wise in December. 

Consider that the team's 30/32 in attendance already and is going to drop the capacity to roughly a third of what it currently is at that lowly number.  Plus next year they'll be even further in tank mode with the free agency albatross of playing in shoehorned college facilities.

 

Also, let's all recall that 5,000 was the planned capacity for ASU.  They're losing another 1,500 with the duct taped-together NHL amenities.

 

Really, they'd be no worse playing in this venue at this point.

1 hour ago, DEAD! said:

Junior hockey arena seems more appropriate 

Except... 

 

Scotiabank Saddledome (Calgary) - 19,289

Rogers Place (Edmonton) - 18,347

Centre Videotron (Quebec) - 18,259

FirstOntario Centre (Hamilton) - 17,383

SaskTel Centre (Saskatoon) - 15,100

Memorial Coliseum (Portland) - 12,888

Scotiabank Centre (Halifax) - 10,595

Spokane Arena (Spokane) - 10,366

TD Place Arena (Ottawa) - 9,500

Budweiser Gardens (London) - 9,036

Avenir Centre (Moncton) - 8,800

Angel of the Winds Arena (Everett) - 8,149

ShoWare Center (Seattle) - 7,141

Kitchener Memorial Auditorium (Kitchener) - 7,131

Peavey Mart Centrium (Red Deer) - 7,111

Co-op Place (Medicine Hat) - 7,100

Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (Victoria) - 7,006

Erie Insurance Arena (Erie) - 6,716

Brandt Centre (Regina) - 6,484

WFCU Centre (Windsor) - 6,450

TD Station (Saint John) - 6,308

Toyota Center (Tri-Cities) - 5,694

Leon's Centre (Kingston) - 5,614

Paramount Fine Foods Centre (Mississauga) - 5,612

CN Centre (Prince George) - 5,582

Dow Event Center (Saginaw) - 5,527

Prospera Place (Kelowna) - 5,507

ENMAX Centre (Lethbridge) - 5,479

Sandman Centre (Kamloops) - 5,464

Meridian Centre (Niagara) - 5,300

Langley Events Centre (Vancouver) - 5,276

Centre Gervais Auto (Shawinigan) - 5,195

Tribute Communities Centre (Oshawa) - 5,180

Keystone Centre (Brandon) - 5,102

Centre 200 (Cape Breton) - 5,000

 

And this doesn't factor in standing room capacity.

20 hours ago, IceCap said:

They have the gall to ask for $89, at minimum, for people to see the Arizona Coyotes?

 

 

Sure, let's move the Coyotes into an arena that seats 5,100 people- after threatening Winnipeg with relocation on day one for having an arena that seats 15,000- and charge luxury lifestyle brand prices for tickets for a team that both sucks and has historically had a hard time drawing. That'll do it! 

 

So much better then just letting them play in a modern NHL-calibre arena in Quebec City. 

Well, firstly, it's not so much $89 a game but $3,649 minimum as that's the full season package price.  There'll probably be a significant markup for single game seats if they even sell those.

 

Also, imagine the prices for a team not in complete tank mode.