bosrs1

So a 34 team NHL, assuming the Coyotes and Panthers survive beyond 2019. Jesus 34 teams? How about they start weeding out the markets that have been struggling all these years and do some relocation. I mean right off the bat they have 2 teams that NEED to move.

It's been a while... http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2015/05/26/glendale-arizona-coyotes-attendance-revenue-dips-arena/27792029/ But the losses suffered by the city of Glendale and the ole Jobberdome have increased. Shocker.

The San Diego Gulls had their season ticket selection weekend last weekend. According to the ticket reps they have somewhere north of 3,500 season ticket holders already for the new AHL team. Don't know how that compares to the rest of the AHL or the Pacific Division, but it seemed pretty high to me for a minor league team.

Which is ok I guess as long as the divisions are self contained in who they play.

Unless it's the first step in the western teams eventually being spun off into a separate league not unlike how baseball has the International League and PCL geographically east and west who then come together to play a AAA championship game between their respective winners. Not unlike how the NL and AL used to do it in bygone days. Obviously though that's an ideal solution that may or may not ever happen. Long term though they probably do need to increase the number of games the west teams play. Maybe after Vancouver moves their AHL team west.

Not sure on how many games they'll be playing, but glad they lumped the Texas teams in with the California ones. Makes sense to have the Cali teams travel east since they're all NHL funded more so than it did having any of the independent eastern teams travel down to Texas.

It looks like moose froze to death. Well he was kicked out of his house for a number of years.

As expected. Kind of a downgrade from the old one.

The League is already looking into moving their offices. The last time there was a possibility that Springfield might be without an AHL team they put down payments on space in Hartford and Hershey. Luckily they were able to convince the Oilers to affiliate with Springfield for 3 years and they didn't have to move. I've heard that the League is already looking at space in Hartford again. Surprised they don't just move to Hartford. God knows the league will be in Hartford long term if the NHL doesn't come back.

Norfolk's AHL squad wasn't for sale but once the possibility of a Pacific division came about, $$$ talked and BS walked. Anything is possible. Actually the explicit threat was that the NorAds would find themselves sans NHL parent if they didn't sell. Money wasn't really a factor here, except in the sense that being an independent team in the AHL is suffering both in terms of performance and cost. Yep. They didn't want to sell... they just had no choice. If they didn't they'd have had no players and not enough money to field a full AHL squad of non-NHL prospects. And with the easy out offered to them by ECHL they'd have been stupid not to sell.

So don't know how the other Pacific Division teams are doing, but spoke with a ticket rep a week ago and he said they had sold over 2,800 season tickets to the San Diego Gulls so far and still more deposits waiting to be converted to tickets.

From some of the rumors earlier this year, I think Colorado will affiliate with San Antonio and then Florida will affiliate with Springfield. Didn't Florida affiliate with Portland?

Probably a good bet. As long as they stay in Manitoba (one of the few advantages to state/provincial names).

Soccer has like 5 rules and you want to eliminate one of them?

So what you're saying is that being enslaved, brutalized, terrorized and massacred by one group of religious whack jobs is better than being enslaved by another group... Got it.

Wow really? That has to be the worst comment I've ever seen on this board. Would you prefer the slave rebellion? ISIS would likely be a less bloody form of regime change, and would conveniently hold both the Saudi's and Iranian's collective feet to the fire. If we need bases, we still have Kuwait and Bahrain. Win win from a US perspective. Yes because ISIS's brand of torture, murder, and downright barbarism have been so bloodless are so much better for the people of Qatar than the status quo... Or the US for that matter seeing as Qatar is a short rocket ride away from Bahrain.

Wow really? That has to be the worst comment I've ever seen on this board.

They aren't anti-American, but they're pro-bribery. They're also pro slavery which I think supersedes everything.I'm generally not a fan of baycotting events. I don't think the US boycotting the Moscow games did anything. Likewise with them boycotting the '84 games. But this may be the most disgusting sporting event since the time of the Roman Gladiators. This event shouldn't be boycotted so much as it should be condemned. I love the World Cup. It is probably my favorite sporting event of all. However, I seriously doubt if I'll watch much of this one. I may be melodramatic about this but having it in November and December is bad. Having it in Qatar is even worse. Same here. Shameful how it was granted, shameful human rights abuses allow it to happen (lets be honest here, it's slavery), shameful it's being held when it is, and shameful the confederations didn't stand up to FIFA over it. And from a purely sporting perspective, If there were ever a world cup that would be easy to ignore... this'll be it. That's hockey, football, basketball season. There will be plenty of other things to watch. In the US in particular it'll be the most invisible World Cup in nearly 40 years.

Which is what baffles me. They bitch about FIFA constantly, AND they hold all the cards. Why they don't just do an end run around FIFA I'll never know. They talk about it all the time, the fans seem to want it, their players won't care as long as they keep getting paid... so replace them already. FIFA is literally at the mercy of the confederations and yet the confederations continue to kowtow to corrupt lunacy.

Good. The sooner FIFA implodes the sooner we can get back to focusing more on the sport and less on the corrupt asshats running the sport.

And based on some circumstantial web searches it seems the San Jose team might be leaning toward San Jose Barracudas as a moniker.

Great news for Portland. Definitely makes more sense to at the very least be affiliated with an Eastern team. And yes it would seem to make sense for Phoenix to partner with San Antonio.

It's not a stadium first off, it's an arena. And that's about the running rate for such a venue. MLB stadiums are still in the $400-$500 million range. Arenas are a tad cheaper. It's only the NFL and their insanity that is demanding $1.5 billion for their stadiums and frankly not getting a whole hell of a lot for that as I've yet to go to an NFL venue that justifies that kind of cost.

Question is will they be a relocation of the Coyotes or an expansion. They mention both possibilities in the article. And God knows the Coyotes are continuing to be an issue in Phoenix despite Bettman's best deflections. "Isn't that keen? A new hockey team in Las Vegas! Pry your father away from the slots and forget about Penn and Teller. Hockey in Las Vegas? That's so unique we just have to check it out. The Johnson clan from Branson, Missouri are in Las Vegas to have fun!"Well it's not necessarily for the guys at the slots. Its for all those folks who actually live in Vegas.

Nope...the Pats are staying put. In other news, I just found out that the Manchester Monarchs will officially be keeping their same logo and colors in the ECHL. Have we heard whether the Admirals are keeping the same look when they move down?