DaytonBlue

19 hours ago, Bradbury said:

Memphis absolutely nailed it. Literally the only critique I have is that gorgeous "Redbirds" script, with the feathery detail on the 's' tail, is only featured in the primary logo. That beaut deserves to be on the front of a jersey by itself.

I feel like they are trying to emphasize the "authentically Memphis" image by putting Memphis on the home jersey.  Hope the rebrand helps with attendance.  As a former Memphian now in St. Louis, I didn't realize how much I'd miss the Redbirds until I moved.  

When I saw that the Redbirds weren't changing their name to the Memphis Dryrub Ribs or something crazy I was relieved.  But I still think this rebrand is fantastic.  

5 hours ago, johnnysama said:

 

The only time the current Jags getup (shown here in its first season in 2013) ever saw action at the now "Dome at America's Center".

I hate that name so much.  I have some alternatives.

Missouri Dome (state gets some advertising for the money it puts in, could even slap the state tourism logo on the roof, see mockup below)

Dirt Cheap Dome (named after a local liquor store and a nod to the fact that if they hadn't built the place on spec St. Louis very well may still have a team; I don't think they give the Rams such a dumb lease otherwise.)

National Car Rental Dome (maybe Enterprise would be in the mood to be generous, doubt it)

Also in rare team match ups, the Los Angeles Rams have never played the Tennessee Titans or the Houston Texans.  

So is what's on the mothership the whole package? I'd like to think they'd quite while they're ahead but surely there is a goat swinging a baseball bat logo to be revealed later.

My Facebook feed had this article right under the Las Vegas report, when Bettman denied Thrashers relocation. But it is the New York Post.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=6536272

The other thing that leads me to be skeptical is the moving in 2016-17. I would think the MGM Grand Garden Arena, leftover dates at Thomas and Mack, or even playing at multiple venues in Vegas until new arena is done would be better than a full lame duck season in Arizona. I can't remember a 100% lame duck season in any major league level sport besides the NFL (Houston Oilers twice: last year in Houston and year in Memphis). I looked up several team relocations and all of them except Houston seemed to gave some hope to staying in the old city during the last season. Seattle Sonics seemed to be the closest but they still had the lawsuit to make them stay and hope to somehow get a new arena in that time.

This is getting to be almost as good as the Lake County Fielders saga. Anybody remember that one? (If you don't: Long story short as I remember: A group tried to put a minor league team in the far Chicago suburbs. They had no money, played for 2 years out of 2 temporary stadiums on the same site, had 20-30 game road trips as far as Hawaii where managers had to pay out of pocket for luggage fees and food money, and the PBP guy quit on the air after a game. Kevin Costner was supposed to be part of ownership group but was not.)

To address the specter of a new arena shared by the Coyotes and the Suns, I'm going to raise one question BTW:

Is it actually in the Suns' (or ASU's, if they get involved) financial interest to bring in the Coyotes? Assuming they're running the arena, they might be leaving money on the table by having a hockey team chew up 40+ nights that could be used for more lucrative concerts and other events. I mean, the Kansas City and Houston experiences might be relevant here.

Exactly. Plus, an arena can than host both sports properly will have inferior seats on the baselines for basketball.

I still don't see what's wrong with Talking Stick Arena that it can't last 15-20 more years with upgrades. It was designed much better than the late 80s arenas like Bradley Center.

Talking Stick has the same problem Barclays in Brooklyn will - lots of seats that should be in your priciest level from which you can't see the full ice surface.

And Bradley Center was designed as a hockey-first arena, so, bad example.

There has been chatter to build a new Suns arena. Clearly the Coyotes couldn't play at Talking Stick except temporarily if they were to go in on a new building with Phoenix and the Suns. But for just the Suns, Talking Stick should be fine for awhile.

The chatter is starting to bring Coyotes back to Phoenix:

"#Phoenix Councilman @MRNowakowski says he's pushing to bring @ArizonaCoyotes hockey team to downtown. Wants team 2 share new arena w/ @Suns."

To address the specter of a new arena shared by the Coyotes and the Suns, I'm going to raise one question BTW:

Is it actually in the Suns' (or ASU's, if they get involved) financial interest to bring in the Coyotes? Assuming they're running the arena, they might be leaving money on the table by having a hockey team chew up 40+ nights that could be used for more lucrative concerts and other events. I mean, the Kansas City and Houston experiences might be relevant here.

Exactly. Plus, an arena can than host both sports properly will have inferior seats on the baselines for basketball.

I still don't see what's wrong with Talking Stick Arena that it can't last 15-20 more years with upgrades. It was designed much better than the late 80s arenas like Bradley Center.

I posted this comment earlier today on an article about St. Louis' new soccer team. Wish I had heard about Yard Goats first because it's a more ridiculous example.

"I would much rather be FC and let a nickname develop organically than to have a "name the team" contest and end up with some crazy minor league name like the Akron Rubber Ducks (that's a real baseball team)."

There was rumors of MLS shortening its schedue. Qatar World Cup year would be a great time to try that out, if it actually happens.

panthers home opener: 11,419

wow

I like how the Cavs banners look consistent while still having era specific logos.

Imagine if all these teams were in one league: Rubber Ducks, Chihuahuas, RailRiders, Ironpigs, Fightin Phils, Storm Chasers, Blue Wahoos, Flying Squirrels (the only one I like, probably since it was among the first of this style of identity)

I like the Rubber Ducks name. They could have had a simple/clean yet fun logo that looked like an actual rubber duck.

And this only stops if teams choose a different designer:

“Are we in the baseball business or in the circus business? We’re in the circus business” #bnconf #quips

— Brand New Conference (@bnconf) September 13, 2013

The ECHL makes some sense in that these mid-sized arenas need anchor tenants and hey why not minor-league hockey. I can't explain the SPHL. No one can.

I don't think the Panthers are moving, though from what I've gleaned, this seems to break up the all-important cross-ownership between the hockey team and Sunrise Sports & Entertainment.

The SPHL survives because it pays the players so low. The Mississippi Riverkings (Memphis suburbs) moved from the CHL to SPHL two years ago to lower player costs. They average 2500 a game and somehow manage to survive.

The Astros situation was because the team was being sold. I don't think the sale would have been approved without them agreeing to go to the AL.

If any teams on the east/west border are sold in the next few years, I bet the NHL would do the same thing to them or insert some clause allowing the league to put them wherever the needed them to be.

If I owned the Coyotes and were moving them to Seattle, I'd keep the Coyotes name until the new arena was built, kind of how the Titans played as the Oilers in TN for two years while LP Field was built. I'd especially do it if the alternative was rushing to create a OKC Thunder quality logo.

I guess Charlotte Bobcats vs. New Orleans Pelicans will be rare, NBA vote pending.

Also, Tennessee Oilers vs. anyone.

The only thread I've found more mind-boggling was the one about the Lake County Fielders, and it wasn't nearly this long.

To refresh your memory, the Fielders played in a temporary stadium for two years, drew peanuts, refused to complete road trips to Hawaii, coaches had to pay baggage fees for players, and they ended with a 15 or so game series against another team called the Fielders.

I was trying to think of a way to keep all the teams in their own time zone as much as possible, especially DET and CBJ.

It was inspired from the way the ECHL used to do playoffs where the different conferences had different bracket setups to minimize excessive travel.

Here's a nuttier NHL realignment idea I came up with tonight (based on 32 teams, yes I know):

Campbell Conference

Pacific: SEA Coyotes, LA, SJ, ANA, CAL, EDM, VAN,

Central: STL, CHI, MIN, WPG, DAL, NAS, COL

Wales Conference

Atlantic: NYR, NYI, NJ, PIT, PHI, CAR, WAS, CLB, DET

Eastern: TB, FL, BOS, BUF, TOR, Markham Not the Leafs, OTT, QUE, MTL

Season format: out of division 2x, all other games in division (4 or 5 meetings in the Wales, 5 or 6 in the Campbell)

Campbell Conference Playoffs:

Pacific Champion vs. Wild Card

Central Runner-Up vs. Pacific 3

Pacific Runner-Up vs. Central 3

Central Champion vs. Wild Card

Reseed based on record for 2nd round.

Wales Conference Playoffs:

4 wild cards instead of 2, wild cards play one game to determine who advances, then playoffs run like Western Conference

Campbell teams have a 57% chance of making playoffs. (8 of 14)

Wales teams have a 56% chance of making playoffs, including the play-in games (10 of 18)

Everyone except Colorado, Calgary, and Edmonton is in a division of teams in the same time zone. Colorado is behind the rest of their division so games starting at 6 p.m. MT is not as big of a deal.

I stopped believing the B1G cared about "cultural fit" once they added MD and Rutgers. It's all about BTN now.

Flyers have the "PECO Powerplay", which makes at least a little sense since PECO (Philadelphia Electric COmpany) is a power company.

Don't 100% remember if they're doing it still this year, but the Blues have done similarly with Ameren UE power company sponsoring their power play, I believe.

Yes they do. I still don't get why a monopoly needs to advertise.

The craziest sponsorship I've seen was at a Blues game during intermission. They bring the house lights, scoreboard, LED screens, and sound down to make it seem like a power outage. Then they start playing "I've got the power" by Snap and then everything comes back up and there is a commercial for Peabody Energy (a coal company). Scared the crap out of me first time I was there for it. Sometimes I am convinced the Scottrade Center only has music from the day it opened in 1994. (90s Jock Jams songs).

I think the winter sports double, outside of the biggest cities, only works if both teams are owned by the same entity in one building. Can't see the Portland Pioneers doing well as Paul Allen's tenant, but hopefully the NHL gets a presence in the Pacific Northwest soon.

If it's this hard to move the Coyotes, I think the Jackets, Panthers, and Preds are safe for awhile:

Jackets: county bought building, team has new lease, now they just need to have a little success

Preds: the "Hamilton Predators" debacle from 2007 lit a fire under their fanbase, 97% capacity last year

Panthers: Everyone knows their "loss leader" status

Odd thought about the Coyotes: A big complaint about their attendance is location of the Jobberdome. Since the Islanders have decided that having all seats with decent views is not the end of the world, would the Coyotes and Suns entertain becoming housemates again? Far fetched idea I know.

I think the Sonics guy is much worse than the Nordiques guy because the Kings are on the verge of moving.

This is a shame because many (but not all) Sonics fans are understanding of the suffering of losing a team and are trying to be sensitive about the situation.