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AnythingChicago

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  1. NFL-style MLB Realignment (playoff format would mat h that of NFL with Wild Card Round consisting of five-game series and all other series consisting of seven games)

    American League

    East

    Baltimore Orioles

    Cleveland Indians

    New York Yankees

    Raleigh/Durham (formerly Tampa Bay Rays)

    North

    Boston Red Sox

    Detroit Tigers

    Montreal Expos (expansion)

    Toronto Blue Jays

    South

    Chicago White Sox

    Houston Astros

    Kansas City Royals

    Texas Rangers

    West

    Las Vegas (expansion)

    Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

    Sacramento Athletics (formerly of Oakland)

    Seattle Mariners

    National League

    East

    New York Mets

    Philadelphia Phillies

    Pittsburgh Pirates

    Washington Nationals

    North

    Chicago Cubs

    Colorado Rockies

    Milwaukee Brewers

    Minnesota Twins

    South

    Atlanta Braves

    Cincinnati Reds

    Miami Marlins

    St. Louis Cardinals

    West

    Arizona Diamondbacks

    Los Angeles Dodgers

    San Diego Padres

    San Francisco Giants

    Here's a handy (albeit crudely drawn) map so you can see that despite some weird divisions -- such as St. Louis and the White Sox both being aligned in the South -- this actually makes a hell of a lot more since geographically than the NFL's current divisional alignment.

    16hvxqq.png

  2. Here's my take on a College Football postseason.

    • 32 teams (10 conference champions and 22 at-large) compete in a single-elimination bracket format.
    • Duration: approximately five weeks (second weekend of December to third weekend of January).
    • Each of the first 28 games will take place in a bowl site that is determined chiefly by the geographical location of the highest seeded teams (much like the NCAA basketball tournament).
    • The semifinal and final would operate exactly as it does now, with the two semifinal games rotating between the predetermined large bowls, and the final being played in a predetermined site.
    • Eight bowl games (or greater if more are added) would exist for non-playoff qualifying schools. Currently, those bowl games are the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the Raycom Media Camelia Bowl, the Boca Raton Bowl, the Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman, and the GoDaddy Bowl.
    • Below is an example of what a 2015 version of the format outlined above might look like. (Disclaimer: I seeded the teams yesterday, so the seeds do not reflect any of the conference championship games and follow the Week 15 College Football Playoff Rankings.)

    Seeds (all-caps denotes conference champion):

    • 1s: Alabama (1), Oregon (2), Florida State (3), Ohio State (4)
    • 2s: Baylor (5), TCU (6), Mississippi State (7), Michigan State (8)
    • 3s: Ole Miss (9), Arizona (10), Kansas State (11), Georgia Tech (12)
    • 4s: Georgia (13), UCLA (14), Arizona State (15), Missouri (16)
    • 5s: Clemson (17), Wisconsin (18), Auburn (19), Boise State (20)
    • 6s: Louisville (21) Utah (22), LSU (23), USC (24)
    • 7s: Minnesota (25), Nebraska (NR/26), Oklahoma (NR/27), Marshall (NR/28)
    • 8s: Memphis (NR/29), Duke (NR/30), Northern Illinois (NR/31), Georgia Southern (NR/32)
    • First six out: Colorado State, Air Force, Cincinnati, UCF, West Virginia, Stanford

    MHzH2Cx.png?1

    • Like 1
  3. The NHL has no history of absorbing an equal league, so the National/American split makes no sense, and is especially clumsy considering most people in hockey refer to the AHL affiliates as "the American League" for short.

    The NHL needs to be about regional rivalries in high-density population corridors. The key is to have a footprint that allows for them.

    I don't disagree with that at all; I thought that an American/National Conference format would be beneficial for the NBA, and I put the NHL in the same format just for kicks and giggles. ^_^

    • Like 1
  4. Since the NBA is becoming a joke because of how much stronger the Western Conference is, here's my idea for NBA realignment:

    American Conference

    East Division

    Boston Celtics

    Brooklyn Nets

    Charlotte Hornets

    Orlando Magic

    Toronto Raptors

    Central Division

    Cleveland Cavaliers

    Detroit Pistons

    Houston Rockets

    Indiana Pacers

    Oklahoma City Thunder

    West Division

    Denver Nuggets

    Golden State Warriors

    Los Angeles Clippers

    Phoenix Suns

    San Antonio Spurs

    National Conference

    East Division

    Atlanta Hawks

    Miami Heat

    New York Knicks

    Philadelphia 76ers

    Washington Wizards

    Central Division

    Chicago Bulls

    Memphis Grizzlies

    Milwaukee Bucks

    Minnesota Timberwolves

    New Orleans Pelicans

    West Division

    Dallas Mavericks

    Los Angeles Lakers

    Portland Trail Blazers

    Sacramento Kings

    Utah Jazz

    And, hell, the NHL in the same format while I'm at it:

    American Conference

    East Division

    Boston Bruins

    Florida Panthers

    Montreal Canadiens

    New Jersey Devils

    New York Islanders

    Central Division

    Buffalo Sabres

    Detroit Red Wings

    Nashville Predators

    Ottawa Senators

    Pittsburgh Penguins

    West Division

    Anaheim Ducks

    Colorado Avalanche

    Dallas Stars

    Edmonton Oilers

    Vancouver Canucks

    National Conference

    East Division

    Carolina Hurricanes

    New York Rangers

    Philadelphia Flyers

    Tampa Bay Lightning

    Washington Capitals

    Central Division

    Chicago Blackhawks

    Columbus Blue Jackets

    Minnesota Wild

    St. Louis Blues

    Toronto Maple Leafs

    West Division

    Calgary Flames

    Los Angeles Kings

    Phoenix Coyotes

    San Jose Sharks

    Winnipeg Jets

    • Like 2
  5. If it has to be held in the winter, then it'll have to be held at the end of 2022 because of the 2022 Winter Olympics in February. If they held it, say November 17 through December 17, 2022, it might work out. The European leagues would have to start their seasons more than a month earlier (say, mid-July) to compensate for the lengthy international break, but with no World Cup that summer the early start would be welcome by European football fans, I'd imagine.

    Could work, but that would mean a shortened offseason, which I doubt players would be in favor of.

    Their offseason would have been occupied anyways by the June-July World Cup.

  6. If it has to be held in the winter, then it'll have to be held at the end of 2022 because of the 2022 Winter Olympics in February. If they held it, say November 17 through December 17, 2022, it might work out. The European leagues would have to start their seasons more than a month earlier (say, mid-July) to compensate for the lengthy international break, but with no World Cup that summer the early start would be welcome by European football fans, I'd imagine.

  7. I don't think Portland can do better than Markham. Over 6 million people live in the GTA, and proportionately there are many more hockey fans than in Portland's metro area of about 2.3 million.

    As for SLC, while I think that's another good potential market, I'd still put it behind Hamilton, KC, Markham, and Portland.

    So I'll update my realignment with Portland in place of Saskatoon later today.

  8. Aside from the Seattle proximity nonsense, I'd still argue that teams in Kansas City, Markham, and Hamilton would all be more successful and profitable than a team in Portland. However, upon further consideration maybe Saskatoon is a bit of a stretch considering the attendence numbers for their current WHL team are strikingly low.

  9. Although I feel like Seattle would be a great NHL market, unlike the cities you listed above, it will not have an NHL suitable arena completed in three to four years. Once they build a new arena (which could be awhile considering the Kings are staying in Sacramento) I'm sure Bettman will make a serious push to relocate a team (such as the Canes or Predators) to Seattle.

    As for Portland, while that would be a viable NHL market, it would hurt Seattle's future chances of acquiring a franchise, and I feel that the other cities chosen would provide better fan bases.

    But I'll admit that "Hamilton Whalers" was a huge stretch.

  10. The recent NHL realignment was set up the way it was to pave paths to future expansion three, four years down the road, which is when I would expect some sort of expansion like the one I outlined in my proposal to take place.

    Columbus's economy has suffered from the Blue Jackets' lack of profit. The team has been bottom 4 in attendance the past few years, further proving that the market for a hockey team in Columbus is too small to survive profitably.

    Québec City is a much better NHL market. The province can certainly support a second team, and I assure you the attendence would be greater there than it is now in Columbus, especially when they move into the brand new Amphithreatre, but it would probably still be higher even if they had to play their first season in the artifact that is Colisée Pepsi.

  11. I realize that that the current Florida franchise was never in Hartford; in a perfect world, it would have been, but unfortunately it wasn't. I felt that because Hamilton begins with an "H", it would be appropriate to resurrect a former NHL team name to further replicate the "old NHL" in a way, considering the recent resurrection of the Winnipeg Jets and also the Québec Nordiques in this scenario.

    The name would be just as appropriate as "Los Angeles Kings" or "New York Rangers" are in today's NFL. And to have that logo back would be oh so sweet.

    All of that being said, the name of the Hamilton franchise wouldn't HAVE to be Whalers. That's just the only name that came to mind for a Hamilton-based franchise.

  12. IMO, the NHL is just begging for an overhaul, with too many southern or small market teams lacking a substantial fan base. This realignment/expansion favors moving many southern teams north, as well as adding two expansion teams to accommodate the new divisional alignment.

    NHL Realignment

    East

    Atlantic

    Boston Bruins

    Buffalo Sabres

    Hamilton Whalers (formely Florida Panthers; I realize that there are no whales anywhere near Hamilton, but it would kind of be like a Los Angeles Lakers or Arizona Cardinals situation in that the team name doesn't relate to the region but was carried over from a previous franchise.)

    Montréal Canadiens

    New York Islanders

    New York Rangers

    Québec Nordiques (formerly Columbus Blue Jackets)

    Tampa Bay Lightning

    Metropolitan

    Carolina Hurricanes

    New Jersey Devils

    Ontario Legacy (expansion franchise; located in newly built arena in Markham, Ontario)

    Ottawa Senators

    Philadelphia Flyers

    Pittsburgh Penguins

    Toronto Maple Leafs

    Washington Capitals

    West

    Central

    Chicago Blackhawks

    Dallas Stars

    Detroit Red Wings

    Kansas City Monarchs (expansion franchise)

    Minnesota Wild

    Nashville Predators

    St. Louis Blues

    Winnipeg Jets

    Pacific

    Anaheim Ducks

    Colorado Avalanche

    Calgary Flames

    Edmonton Oilers

    Los Angeles Kings

    San Jose Sharks

    Saskatoon (formerly Phoenix Coyotes; I had come up with a great team name for Saskatoon but it is escaping me at the moment. :/ )

    Vancouver Canucks

  13. Considering you have schools like San Jose State in the Pac-12 and East Carolina/Southern Miss in the ACC, not too well. You can't base NCAA conferences so much on just geography. And saying "there's no such thing as" sounds kind of like this is magical fantasyland.

    Well, it is the Point Less Realignment Outpost and/or Fantasy Land, right? :P

    And I do see what you're saying about some of the smaller schools in bigger divisions. What would you suggest I could do with them?

  14. College Football (and some basketball) Realignment.

    The Run Down:

    • There is no such thing as an "independent" school for football nor basketball.
    • There as no such thing as a "partial membership" (such as San Diego State and Boise State are planning on doing by being a Big East football member and a Great West/WAC basketball member). Schools will participate in the same conference for football and basketball. All other sports do not apply to this rule, as the hockey/baseball/soccer conferences are pretty much completely different from that of football and basketball.
    • All of these conferences are geographically sound for the most part.
    • The WAC and Conference USA no longer exist.

    Here she is:

    Big East

    Atlantic

    Connecticut Huskies

    Central Florida Knights

    Rutgers Scarlet Knights

    South Florida Bulls

    Syracuse Orange

    Temple Owls

    UAB Dragons

    Midwestern

    Cincinnati Bearcats

    Louisville Cardinals

    Marshall Thundering Herd

    Memphis Tigers

    Notre Dame Fighting Irish

    Pittsburgh Panthers

    Tulane Green Wave

    Great Plains (formerly Big 12)

    East

    Houston Cougars

    Kansas Jayhawks

    Kansas State Wildcats

    Iowa State Cyclones

    Missouri Tigers

    Texas A&M Aggies

    Tulsa Golden Hurricane

    West Virginia Mountaineers

    West

    Baylor Bears

    Boise State Broncos

    Brigham Young Cougars

    Oklahoma Sooners

    Oklahoma State Cowboys

    Texas Longhorns

    Texas Christian Horned Frogs

    Texas Tech Red Raiders

    Midwestern (formerly Big 10)

    Legends

    Iowa Hawkeyes

    Michigan Wolverines

    Michigan State Spartans

    Minnesota Golden Gophers

    Nebraska Huskers

    Northwestern Wildcats

    Leaders

    Illinois Fighting Illini

    Indiana Hoosiers

    Ohio State Buckeyes

    Penn State Nittany Lions

    Purdue Boilermakers

    Wisconsin Badgers

    Atlantic Coast Conference

    Atlantic

    Boston College Eagles

    Clemson Tigers

    Florida State Seminoles

    Maryland Terrapins

    Navy Midshipmen

    North Carolina State Wolfpack

    Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles

    Wake Forest Demon Deacons

    Coastal

    Army Black Knights

    Duke Blue Devils

    East Carolina Pirates

    Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

    Miami Hurricanes

    North Carolina Tarheels

    Virginia Cavaliers

    Virginia Tech Hokies

    Mountain West

    North

    Air Force Falcons

    Colorado Buffaloes

    Colorado State Rams

    Idaho Vandals

    Nevada Wolfpack

    Utah State Aggies

    Wyoming Cowboys

    South

    Fresno State Bulldogs

    New Mexico Lobos

    New Mexico State Aggies

    Southern Methodist Mustangs

    Rice Owls

    San Diego State Aztecs

    UTEP Miners

    Sun Belt

    Arkansas State Red Wolves

    Florida Atlantic Owls

    Florida International Golden Panthers

    Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns

    Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks

    Louisiana Tech Bulldogs

    Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders

    North Texas Mean Green

    Sam Houston State Bearkats

    Troy Trojans

    Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

    Pacific Coast Conference (formerly Pacific-12)

    North

    California Golden Bears

    Oregon Ducks

    Oregon State Beavers

    San Jose State Spartans

    Stanford Cardinal

    Washington Huskies

    Washington State Cougars

    South

    Arizona Wildcats

    Arizona State Sun Devils

    UNLV Rebels

    Hawai’i Warriors

    UCLA Bruins

    USC Trojans

    Utah Utes

    Southeastern Conference

    East

    Georgia Bulldogs

    Florida Gators

    Kentucky Wildcats

    South Carolina Gamecocks

    Tennessee Volunteers

    Vanderbilt Commodores

    West

    Alabama Crimson Tide

    Arkansas Razorbacks

    Auburn Tigers

    Louisiana State Tigers

    Mississippi Rebels

    Mississippi State Bulldogs

    Mid-American Conference

    East

    Akron Zips

    Bowling Green Falcons

    Buffalo Bulls

    Kent State Golden Flashes

    Massachusetts Minutemen

    Miami Redhawks

    Ohio Bobcats

    West

    Ball State Cardinals

    Central Michigan Chippewas

    Eastern Michigan Eagles

    Northern Illinois Huskies

    Toledo Rockets

    Western Michigan Broncos

    Because of the no partial membership rule, a new basketball conference had to be made for the former basketball only Big East schools as well as one former C-USA basketball only school. Here are your Metro America League teams:

    • DePaul Blue Demons
    • Georgetown Hoyas
    • Marquette Golden Eagles
    • Providence Friars
    • Seton Hall Pirates
    • South Alabama Jaguars
    • St. Johns Red Storm
    • Villanova Wildcats

    The other basketball only C-USA school was Denver. They will join the Big West.

    Due to the new no independent schools rule, the four NCAA independent basketball schools have each found conferences.

    Longwood Lancers - Patriot League

    Seattle Redhawks - Big West

    Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners - Big West

    Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks - Summit League

    Lastly, some schools switched leagues in basketball due to former partial memberships:

    Navy AND Army - moving from Patriot to ACC

    Temple - moving from Atlantic 10 to Big East

    Massachusetts - moving from Atlantic 10 to MAC

    Sam Houston State - moving from Southland to Sun Belt (Southland divisional system would therefore fold)

    And that's all she wrote. So how'd I do?

  15. Pathetically, there's actually serious talk of the Big Least, Conference USA, and Mountain West merging into a 32-team conference. No, I am not making this up. Boise State and Houston need to get the hell out while they can.

    Football only or basketball and other sports included?

    EDIT: Just found an article on it; football only. The conference would span from Connecticut to Hawaii. Great. Who doesn't love those UConn-Hawaii and Marshall-Wyoming match-ups?

    This is stupid. Although I wouldn't be against a C-USA and Big East merger for all sports. That makes sense geographically and revenue-wise.

  16. Guys, NHL realignment for Winnipeg isn't that hard. Just put Winnipeg in the Northwest, move Minnesota up to the Central, and scoot Nashville on over to the Southwest. Bada bing.

    But eventually I think Phoenix should move to Québec City, so here's how I imagine the NHL with a NHC (National Hockey Conference) and an AHC (American Hockey Conference):

    AHC

    AHC East

    New Jersey Devils

    New York Rangers

    Philadelphia Flyers

    Florida Panthers

    Québec Nordiques (or whatever they are named)

    AHC Central

    Nashville Predators

    Columbus Blue Jackets

    Pittsburgh Penguins

    St. Louis Blues

    Carolina Hurricanes

    AHC West

    Anaheim Ducks

    Vancouver Canucks

    San Jose Sharks

    Winnipeg Jets

    Minnesota Wild

    NHC

    NHC East

    Washington Capitals

    Tampa Bay Lightning

    Boston Bruins

    Montréal Canadiens

    New York Islanders

    NHC Central

    Buffalo Sabres

    Toronto Maple Leafs

    Chicago Blackhawks

    Detroit Red Wings

    Ottawa Senators

    NHC West

    Los Angeles Kings

    Dallas Stars

    Calgary Flames

    Edmonton Oilers

    Colorado Avalanche

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