bosrs1

And Sharks Ice in San Jose where the NHL team practices is planning to build a small arena on site as well which could also host the little Sharks if neither of those two options pans out. On top of that the new SF arena probably would be an option to consider as well. Plenty of places the Sharks AHL team could ultimately land. SAP center is hopefully a temporary option. And I agree that whomever stated that it sucks that Worcester is losing their team not even to another minor league town does suck. And unlike Norfolk or Manchester who are getting ECHL teams to replace their lost AHL teams, the Sharks don't have an ECHL team to move into Worcester. Only consolation seems to be that the Bruins may be exploring moving their ECHL team there instead so they'll have local affiliated puck in place of the WorSharks even if lower level.

So Bakersfield would be the first of the AHL teams as an Edmonton affiliate?

Glad I'm not the only one who thinks this way. The early 80s uniforms though, were pretty solid looking. I' m starting to love them. How early in the '80's are you referring? '85 I might agree with. Anything with the 3 color taco bell cap was just blah. Better than some of the mid-late 70's looks I'll grant you, but still garbage. Nada. I was there for a short while and it was just a big after-party hosted by them and Brandiose, nothing really going on business-wise. Not sure why anyone would expect Lake Elsinore to make any changes. Aren't they still one of the top selling MiLB logos and caps? That and it's just a good look anyway.

I think I've done this before, but I enjoy it none the less... MLB: San Diego Padres - I live in SD so they're my local team and fell in love with them and their ballpark when I moved here. Organization in particular treats fans and season ticket holders right for the most part which I appreciated too even if their brand of baseball isn't always the best. I spend more time reading, writing or watching them than any other team both currently or in my life. If I had to pick just one team in any sport, they'd be it. They completely hooked me. Oakland Athletics - My childhood team who were also my "local" team growing up in the South Bay. My parents introduced me to them having abandoned the Red Sox after the Buckner Boot (as my dad puts it, "that was the last straw") and they remain fans to this day. We weren't big on San Francisco as a family so the Giants were never an option. Today I consider them my "other" team and it works out since they're AL and rarely play the Padres. MiLB: Lake Elsinore Storm - Closest MiLB team and Padres long time affiliate in High Single A. I have always enjoyed MiLB games but I was never a big fan of any team until the Storm because growing up the local affiliate in San Jose was tied to the hated Giants. Always a good time when I visit the Storm's stadium (and cheap). Also follow them via internet radio. In fact they were my soundtrack most evenings when I was out jogging this summer on the MiLB app. NHL: San Jose Sharks - They were the brand new local team when I was growing up and my first exposure to hockey. Went to games then and still follow them from afar to this day which has become very easy thanks to the internet and NBCSN. Still drive up to LA and Anaheim to see them when I can. MLS: San Jose Earthquakes - Local team growing up who I was passively interested in until they shut down in 2005. Got big into the effort to bring them back to the league in 2006-7 and became a much better fan as a result when they returned to play in 2008. Still go up to LA to take in games when they're down my way and/or fly up to take in the occasional game in San Jose. Also follow them from afar thanks to the web. NFL: New England Patriots - Grew up in the Bay Area when the Raiders were thankfully gone, and as mentioned SF teams just weren't on the menu. So I gravitated toward my Boston area grandparents team as I developed an interest in football in the 90's. It's something my east coast relatives and I bond over since my immediate California based family loathes the Pats. Strangely I've never been to a Pats home game until this December, but I've been to plenty of away games in the Bay Area and San Diego. San Diego Chargers - I hesitate to call myself a fan of the Bolts, but they're so pervasive on San Diego TV and radio and among my friends and family in San Diego that I can't help but stay abreast of what they're doing. Been to plenty of games, usually when tickets are dirt cheap on Stubhub. Of all the teams on this list however they'd likely be the one I'd lose interest in if I ever moved to a different city. NBA: Los Angeles Clippers - My most recent team acquisition. I didn't really care about basketball until college, and then I became a Kings fan through a Sacramento native friend. However I was never as invested in the Kings as my other teams in part because they were hard to follow in the Bay Area. And during the latter Maloof years it got even worse until they drove me away completely when they announced they were selling the team to Seattle interests. By then I was living in San Diego and I gravitated toward the closest team to fill the void (and San Diego's former team) who were also on local San Diego TV and becoming interesting to watch. Have made the trip up to Staples to see them a couple of times and it was fun, if pricey and getting pricier as they get better and the Lakers tank. NCAA Basketball: Santa Clara Broncos - My alma mater's team who are easy to follow on the web. San Diego State Aztecs - Fell in with them through friends and again pervasive presence in the San Diego media. That and they're easily San Diego's sporting high water mark so they're very fun to watch especially in person. Crowds are very passionate and they suck you in. NCAA Football: California Bears - With 2 parents who never went to college and having gone to a football free school I didn't have any interest in NCAA football until I met my now wife. Her parents are diehard Cal alumni who brought me to my first college game which was an interesting and very different experience from any football game I'd ever been to. Also gives me things to talk about with the in-laws which is always a plus. Also they're strangely on the radio in San Diego for reasons I've yet to figure out. NCAA Baseball: San Diego State Aztecs - Discovered their games one lazy afternoon and love going to this day. Didn't hurt that their coach was the late great Tony Gwynn. He was as interesting to watch as a coach as he had been a player. Just a fun, affordable time at their quaint little ballpark on Montezuma Mesa. Also very easy to follow on the web. CFL: BC Lions - Discovered them on my first trip to Vancouver and have been following as best I could ever since. ESPN3 has made it very easy in the last few years with almost every game being broadcast. If I'm honest I like the CFL style of play better than NCAA or NFL and I never stop trying to sell others on the northern game's virtues (or trying to get them to watch it). Other: Club Tijuana Xolos - As close to a local soccer team as you'll find in San Diego. They're often on TV or ESPN3 for me to follow plus they play a couple friendlies north of the border every year which I always go to and have a great time. One of these days I want to get down to TJ and take in a game if I can ever find my passport. The fans I've talked to say it's quite the experience, almost a hybrid of visiting an NFL game and a typical Liga MX game. AFC Wimbledon - Became a follower of theirs after I heard their creation story and the sorry tale of Wimbledon FC's demise. It resonated with me as a Quakes fan who has similarly lost my team only to have it come back in a new form. That and their early meteoric rise back to the League was damned fun to watch. Plus I love having an English team I follow that isn't the typical answer when someone asks, like Man U or one of the other biggies. Yomiuri Giants - My old man got me a Yomiuri cap from a business trip to Japan as a little kid and I was enamored with the strange baseball team that wasn't in the US. Helps that they win a lot too. As an adult the irony of my favorite Japanese team sharing a name with my least favorite American sports team was also not lost on me. Only team I've ever stayed up until 5am to watch play, and win, a championship series on a pixelated and likely illegal feed web feed. Surprise Saguaros - Being a Padres fan I'm usually starved for baseball I care about in October and November and I fill that need by following the Arizona Fall League religiously. I always gravitate toward whomever is the Padres affiliate that year. Until this year it was the Peoria Javelinas as the Javs normally play at the Pads spring training complex, but due to construction in Peoria the Pads switched affiliation to Surprise for 2014. I suspect they'll be switching back in 2015 after construction is completed at which time my allegiance will transfer back. They're hard to follow except on rare nights the games are broadcast on internet radio or internet TV.

So any ideas when AHL might spill the beans on a westward move?

Starting to remind me of hockey's answer to Chivas USA over in MLS. Two teams that try to put on a brave front but the reality is that no one seems to care. Say what you will about the Coyotes woes, but people in power with the city, league and even some half assed ownership groups seem to have always cared. Not to mention their vocal minority of fans who have clung on and continue to spout hope despite years of evidence to the contrary. With Florida it seems more like Chivas in that no one really seems to care. Not even the fans. They seem to know they're in a terrible spot.

Oh that's a given that they don't necessarily impact the other. But they are two separate moves that are rocking the lower levels of hockey albiet separately. The AHL move will come non-the-less it seems.

An off center 50 year old arena that looks like this is ok for the NHL?

Yeah you already posted this in the Coyotes thread... And the title is very misleading. You should be punished for such a misleading thread title.

And now the AG is investigating whether they violated open meetings laws. I will say one thing for the Coyotes... they're the off ice gift that keeps on giving.

So has the merger between the CHL and ECHL gone through?

ugh NEVER MINDhttp://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/shoalts-new-lifeline-could-keep-coyotes-from-changing-hands/article20906156/ They spent $62 million on major-league payroll alone last year without taking any other expenses (coaches, office staff, travel, lodging, debt service) into account. The napkin math is looking bleak here. They're a money sink. They always will be. Between the debt and crappy location they've been dead team walking since the day they broke ground in Glendale.

I think that's the problem, and always has been, even functioning well the Coyotes are a money sink. It's just not destined to work in Glendale (if not Phoenix as a whole). All of these ownership moves just seem poised to delay the inevitable.

Definitely looks like its going to be the baseball model from now on...

If they lost $24 million over the last year... aren't they halfway to the $50 million barrier before we're back into relocation mode?

You have got to be kidding me... Though to IceArizona's credit, they should be walking away with a nice profit despite the losses they incurred last year. Also I completely missed that the Jobberdome was renamed Gila River Arena.

Well hot damn. There goes the first domino. AHL will be the second one. Just hope San Diego ends up with the Ducks AHL squad when this is all over.

Cats have already said they won't be modifying their logos or identity based on the new affiliation.

Next two years are definitely going to get interesting in the lower levels of hockey. Just hope San Diego ends up with a team in the end. The Gulls have been gone for too long.

I put a call in to the GM of the team, and when he returns it, I'll know more. Be sure to ask them if its this season or next...

Wait, so if they're going to merge this year what does that mean for the team alignments for this season in ECHL?

Intrigues me too, which is why I posted it. I had no idea the Toros had come back last season and I live just across the border. Had no idea the Tecate team had folded too.

All of them I believe (MiLB). Has anyone seen the diamond era 5950's? Speaking of Yuma and the southwest (or technically northwest), here's the newest logo for the Toros de Tijuana of the Liga Norte de Mexico.

Who knows with a fly by night operation like that. They could still be using both. Assuming of course there is even a team. I've yet to see any other confirmation of the league they claim they'll be a part of other than what the Desert Ghosts themselves have released regarding the Western Association.

Still not sure what league they're playing in, or if they'll ever play a game, but the Yuma Desert Ghosts have started trickling out their uniform design starting with their home and away caps.