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DustDevil61

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Everything posted by DustDevil61

  1. DustDevil61
    It’s a realization, I feel, that I’m coming to as well. The NHL’s higher ups are hellbent on keeping the Coyotes in Arizona and a team out of Quebec City, logic be damned. Some kind of true contraction/re-expansion almost seems more likely than a simple relocation at this point. The NHL will get that sweet, sweet expansion fee when Team #32 (II) is ready!
  2. DustDevil61
    I agree, though I could see Bettman and the BoG making more of a threat to Calgary than to Arizona, given their priorities.
  3. DustDevil61
    The cynic in me tells me that refball will “somehow” show up at the remaining Steelers games, starting with Monday night.
  4. DustDevil61
    I’ve heard somewhere that the Maverik Center was built with an option to be expanded should the need arise. It was also completed in *checks notes* 1997. I’ll reiterate that a new arena—or a renovated/expanded Maverik Center—would be required long-term. While a nice basketball arena and venue, Vivint Arena doesn’t have great sight lines for hockey. It could work for a couple years while another building is being prepared, but little else. Having gone to the Kings/Knights preseason game there a couple months ago, I learned first-hand of the sight lines’ limitations. The upper bowl directly behind the nets were left empty as you couldn’t see them. Add to the fact that Vivint Arena was renovated around 5 years ago, so doing that all over again soon just doesn’t seem likely at all. Honestly, though, I’m come to accept the likelihood that an NHL team never comes to Utah. Las Vegas is only a 5-6 hour drive or a short flight to Denver/LA/Seattle/etc. away. I’d love an AHL team in the Maverik Center in some kind of long-term, no-relocation agreement. Now, that’s not how the AHL works, but I guess a guy can dream.
  5. DustDevil61
    Agreed. There are worse places than Houston to put an NHL team; it’s an improvement over Phoenix, er, Glendale. If this somehow, against all reason, winds up with Salt Lake getting the team, then I’m all for it. Of course, while I’m no betting man, I’d be pretty comfortable betting my next paycheck that it doesn’t happen.
  6. DustDevil61
    Bumping because apparently the A’s have put in a bid for a potential Las Vegas ballpark site.
  7. DustDevil61
    Oh, don't mind me--I'm just playing this tiny little violin here. One can hope that they (unfortunately, eventually) return to the Bullfrogs name, right?
  8. DustDevil61
    If anything, going by the split-city schedule (and having the subsequent half-schedule in Tampa Bay and Montreal) suggests to me that, if anything, more Exporay fans would attend games in Tampa Bay and Montreal than they would if the team committed to one of the cities.
  9. DustDevil61
    One thing that Ryan Smith said that gives me hope is something to the effect of “Don’t be afraid to screw up.” Granted, that was regarding the 1980s computer-y font on the social media posts, but I’m hoping that he’s telling himself that about the rebrand too, whether with its criticism now, upon its full unveiling, or 3 years down down the road from then after his new stamp on the team is no longer new. Smith and Co. seem to be at the same stage in regards to a return to purple as Padres management was about 5 years ago regarding a return to brown: “We own the team and have our own idea; we’re not changing back at this point.” Hopefully Jazz brass begin reconsidering—as Padres management eventually did—once the Black/White/Yellow novelty starts to wear off some 4 years from now.
  10. DustDevil61
    ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies set to unveil a green alternate on November 5th: Looks like a green version of these, but that’s not a bad thing IMO.
  11. DustDevil61
    Pretty much my thought. I don’t hate the idea of Black/White/Yellow for the Utah Jazz as much as just Black/White, but I like the idea of going back to Purple/Light Blue/Copper (or even Navy/Light Blue/Copper) far more. I’ll reserve final judgement until we see the full rollout of this rebrand. This is a classic case of “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Despite new staff from the top down, Jazz brass is trying to cram themselves into an already over-bloated trend hole, all the while shouting “Me too!” while jumping in a year or two too late, forgetting their previous brand equity in the process. In 2004, purple was dropped for navy; in 2022 (most likely), navy itself is getting the boot for black. The ironic thing is, despite its origins in trend-chasing, I feel that Utah is one of the teams/places that two-tone blue could’ve really taken hold, had the Jazz remained committed to it (and adding copper) after returning to the note logo. That could’ve led to an easy jumping-off point back to purple, and little, if any, of the current identity crisis in the process, Nike program notwithstanding. A couple more things: First, I’ve heard rumors that Ryan Smith is no fan of purple. Like, at all. So there’s your likely reason why purple is not, nor ever was, in the equation in this Jazz rebrand (if true). Second, does this make the Utah Jazz the NBA’s Vancouver Canucks and San Diego Padres, or does this make the San Diego Padres and Vancouver Canucks MLB’s and the NHL’s Utah Jazz?
  12. DustDevil61
    Hey @Conrad., anything new from Utah about this increasingly likely Black/White Jazz rebrand? The social media accounts and even the local broadcast scorebugs are using it—something’s gotta be up. I don’t see anything happening for this season, as the timing’s off for anything to sync up. (I’ll pull up screenshots/links when I can find them, unless someone beats me to it first.)
  13. DustDevil61
    Between this, the higher prices for attendance (and apparently $30 parking!), and the political climate in Oakland/Alameda County, I think it’s a foregone conclusion that Fisher and Co. Athletics are going to be playing somewhere else—in the realm of 99.5% that it’s Las Vegas—within the decade. My biggest concern is that the Las Vegas market will become too saturated too soon, going from 0 to 3 teams in the space of a decade—notwithstanding the stigma of gambling preventing teams from going to Vegas or its “destination city” reputation. Sure, if I had my way, they’d at least give Portland or Salt Lake a glance or two (cities with a baseball history, the latter of which IMO is still close enough to tap into Las Vegas), but I think all of us, myself included, knew it was either “stay in Oakland” or “move to Las Vegas.”
  14. DustDevil61
    …and, get this: It’s yet another color scheme for the franchise.
  15. DustDevil61
    This is a fair take, coming from someone who grew up in southern Utah as well. I’m a sucker for the red rock sunset look (I’m even guilty of owning a couple jerseys), but even I’ve got to admit that it suffers from not representing northern Utah. If the G-League Stars were based in St. George, it would be perfect as a full-time look for them. I’ve also felt that the 1990s color scheme—or at least the base of Purple/Light Blue (or Teal)/Copper—represented the entire state, with copper representing Canyon Country and the copper industry, well as a whole. I’ve also thought that the copper would’ve complimented the two-tone blue well (as I’ve said before, despite it having the opposite issue of the red rocks, Light Blue/Dark Blue at least fits Salt Lake/the Wasatch Front well). For that matter, I think copper could work with Dark Green/Gold (Yellow) (IMO another color scheme that fits Utah) also, if done right. I wouldn’t mind seeing any of the aforementioned palettes ported over to the current Association/Icon/Statement designs, as I don’t have any real issues with the jersey designs. I think Purple/Light Blue/Copper ultimately wins out by committee in my mind, as it’s actually been used, purple/light blue is close enough to two-tone blue, and would still stand out even after Seattle inevitably gets an NBA team.
  16. DustDevil61
    I have some further insight on this. I never worked for the Stallions, let alone go to a game (I was planning to for the home finale, but we all know what happened), but I had a Twitter conversation with a couple people who did. It was no secret that The U of U wanted the Stallions out of Rice Eccles after 2019, but while Rio Tinto would’ve been a better option, Real Salt Lake didn’t want their field getting torn up just before the MLS season. Had the AAF made it to season 2 (and if S2 wouldn’t have inevitably been canceled by the pandemic), I don’t think that the Stallions would be in Salt Lake, solely because the owners of the two venues didn’t want them to use their facilities. EDIT: One factor that may have changed the attitudes about a football team using Rio Tinto since 2020 may be RSL’s ownership. We’re still not sure who ends up buying the team. Another factor is that other stadium options may be made available for an XFL team in the future. The silver lining to the AAF’s internal and the XFL v2.0’s Covid-forced collapses is that it may have bought time for something to be put together, most likely for an XFL v3.0 team. As for the uniforms, they grew on me. Two-tone blue IMO fits Salt Lake/Utah well, though I would try to tweak the uniforms a bit.
  17. DustDevil61
    Eh, a guy can dream.
  18. DustDevil61
    I don’t see the league ever letting them.
  19. DustDevil61
    ...and navy blue is any less typical than purple?
  20. DustDevil61
    Oh yea, that’s right. I forgot about them for a moment.
  21. DustDevil61
    Of course my mind goes over what all 6 of those cities would be. The only 2 Canadian cities without a team that I would think are viable are Montreal or Vancouver. In the States, we know that Nashville and Portland have been mentioned, so there’s 4 total. What could possibly be the other two?
  22. DustDevil61
    Agreed. As the news that the Athletics were open to exploring relocation emerged in May, and with the links to the articles above pitching Salt Lake for swirling around in my mind, I thought that sending the Athletics to Salt Lake and splitting them and the Jazz in Utah from the Knights and Raiders in Las Vegas while cross-promoting all 4 between both cities would be more feasible than giving a 3rd—and possibly 4th—team in a market that has just 2.5 million residents (which, IIRC, is roughly the same population along the Wasatch Front, if you count Provo and Ogden—correct me if I’m wrong.) Again, I know the businessmen making the decisions probably aren’t going to go with that, but it’s a fun little thought experiment to see if two relatively close cities could pull off. Yes, Las Vegas is a tourist town, and that works for the first team there (the Knights) and the Raiders (who are an NFL team, really aren’t too far from their historical fanbases anyways, and are the Raiders), but I just don’t see it translating to all 4 big leagues.
  23. DustDevil61
    If they're trying to escape the (worst of) the heat, the Athletics could always temporarily set up shop in Salt Lake with this backdrop while waiting for a new ballpark in Las Vegas to be built: I know that some local sports radio talking heads (among them former Lions great Scott Mitchell ) that made a pitch for the Raiders to temporarily set up shop in Utah last year (as silly as the concept of the "Utah Raiders" sounds) did something similar with the A's once they announced their intention to explore relocation back in May. Oh well, a man can dream. It's ultimately little more than an article to spur talk, given the logistics of pulling that off (chief among them is where the AAA Bees go), but it's always fun to think about. It's just crazy to me how quickly Las Vegas is going from 0 to possibly 3 teams in under a decade, previous gambling issues or not. Anyways, the temporary Las Vegas Ballpark setup talk does spur another question if the A's do move to Vegas: What happens to the what, 2-, 3-year-old ballpark when an even newer big league park opens (as it inevitably will)? What happens to the AAA Aviators if the Athletics come to town--where do they go? Could there be the possibility of doing some kind of switcheroo, with the MLB team going to Las Vegas and the AAA team going to Oakland?
  24. DustDevil61
    That works for the NFL, given the low number of games in a season, that most Raiders fans still hail from nearby California, and that, except for the first month or so of the season, the NFL season plays during the cooler months. The Golden Knights, being the first team in town, have also carved out their spot on the market and have at least 41 home games to fill during the coolest time of the year. I’m not sure that MLB, with at least 81 home games during the heat of the summer, would be the ideal Vegas getaway for baseball fans.
  25. DustDevil61
    I really hope not, because if any of these reports about the Canucks moving their team to Abbotsford/thereabouts/Boise, Salt Lake would likely be SOL for an ECHL/AHL team for the foreseeable future.
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