Norva

As someone who grew up in Tampa I love the name change. The Tarpons name is great and has a lot of history in the city and league. I'm excited

Wow Jax. I had no idea they were even looking to change? Just awful. Suns was a great name with a ton of history. I like as much whimsy as anyone but so much of this ends up as forced crap. 

At this point, I would be over the moon thrilled if they just called them the "Braves".

I still am not thrilled with the nickname choices, but Kissimmee or Osceola in front of them instead of Florida would be more stomachable.

It's a relocation so I understand wanting to rebrand. But yeah.

 

My submission was Osceola Spurs, or Kissimmee Spurs. Either way it should reflect the community. It's one thing if this is a major league club, but sorry people in St. Augustine, Vero Beach or Key West aren't going to give two craps about the Florida Rodeo Clowns. Don't name it after the state when your ticket buyers are going to be locals. Tourists aren't going to drive all the way down US192 away from all the parks for a Rodeo Clowns - Tortugas match up.

As someone who lives in the Kissimmee area and is excited for the team, these names are awful and extremely disappointing. The trend of over the top wacky names is getting a bit old. It's minor league ball, I get it, and it's all good fun but this is just so forced. At the least I wish they had used Kissimmee or Osceola as the location name. It's the Florida State League, all 12 teams are in Florida, why name it Florida!?

August preseason games... opening season vs. NFL & NCAAF, playoffs vs. NCAAB... it's just not in the cards.

I don't mind a June Final. Sure it's hockey in June... except it is only the last 2-4x teams remaining to play. Besides, the NHL draft is this month which is great, & FA on July 1.

I think that while there is certainly some overlap in terms of sports fans following NFL/NCAA/NCAAB and hockey, there are large swathes of sports fans that are one or the other. Hockey is king in Canada and perhaps among some people in the northern states. If the league focused its attention on where the majority of hockey fans are, it would do better than if it focused on failed markets like Arizona and South Florida. I'll be curious to see what kind of attendance the Cup parade will have in Tampa if they end up winning the Cup. I would wager it will be unspectacular, and not even draw on local news outlets.

I think you severely underestimate the Lightning's popularity in Tampa. Of course it's not like Toronto but the team is popular in town and has been successful.

Arena Football with 32 teams:

American Conference

Northern Division

Cleveland Thunderbolts

Iowa Barnstormers

Pittsburgh Gladiators

St. Louis Stallions

Southern Division

Georgia Force

Nashville Kats

New Orleans Voodoo

Texas ThunderBears

Eastern Division

Albany Firebirds

New England Steamrollers

New Jersey Red Dogs

Washington Commandos

Western Division

Arizona Rattlers

Colorado Rush

San Jose Sabercats

Spokane Shock

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Northern Division

Chicago Bruisers

Detroit Drive

Milwaukee Mustangs

Minnesota Fighting Pike

Southern Division

Carolina Cobras

Dallas Vigilantes

Miami Hooters

Orlando Predators

Eastern Division

Buffalo Destroyers

New York Knights

Philadelphia Soul

Toronto Phantoms

Western Division

Austin Wranglers

Las Vegas Outlaws

LA Kiss

Portland Forest Dragons

Why leave out Tampa Bay? The oldest team and consistently one of the highest draws in the league?

While looking for that I did find this from the lone meeting between the creamsicles and Panthers.

I played this matchup so many times on Madden ('95, I believe... the one where the Panthers and Jags were ridiculously powerful hidden teams) that this doesn't look weird to me.

Same, but on Tecmo Super Bowl III, which was also for the '95 season.

I am surprised that unused Patriots logo gets so much praise everywhere, I think it looks awful.

That's what the NBA already does, 16 teams, which is why he likely put it that way.

I don't get the hate for the Patriots uniform set, I really like it.

It's a good set except the shoulder logos are way to big and ruin it for me.

Kelly green sucks. There's something that feels washed out and unsubstantial about it.

Check the contrast on your screens and go to the eye doctor then...that color is beautiful and in no way "washed out"

This IS the "Unpopular Opinions" thread, and I agree with him the kelly green is overrated and I don't care for it at all.

Even though it was horrible to play on, and it's better left in the past, I kind of miss astro turf. I liked the way it looked.

Why are they "West Virginia" and not "Morgantown" or "Mon Valley"? I thought MiLB frowned upon two teams having the same locale name (unless they were in far different areas of the nation)...we've already got the West Virginia Power!

Aren't they both affiliated with Pittsburgh too? Kind of odd.

Also, new Tennessee Smokies logos:

I don't get why people want balanced schedules with a division structure, it makes divisions entirely meaningless and arbitrary. Might as well not have divisions at all if everyone has an equal schedule. In a divisional structure you should always play your fellow divisional teams more imo.

The overall design of the Lightning jersey is nice, I like it, but I think they should change the colors. I liked the old scheme, predominately silver and black with maybe some blue trim. The silver and black always reminded me of what those Central Florida thunderstorms look like, they fit the name perfectly.

I really like the new Seahawks set.

I'd tweak a couple of minor things, but I think over all it's really good.

I'd like the MLS to split into 4 divisions, but I don't think they plan to change the 2 conference/no division system ever.

I think the Tennessee Titans are one of the better looking teams in the NFL. I think they could use a few very minor tweaks but over all are a great looking franchise.

Here's one I haven't thrown out there, but will definitely be under the "unpopular opinion" criteria

With the exception of the Boston Celtics and Celtic FC, in almost all cases I prefer a darker green to kelly green. Yes, that includes the Jets (if Nike could ever get the greens to match like they were prior to the 2012 takeover) and the Eagles. The Stars are in a shade darker than kelly too, right?

I also think the Bucks are better off being a green/red team than a multi-green team.

I agree, I just don't like kelly green much at all.

Sun Dogs would have been much better.

Seahawks QB Russell Wilson as a Colorado Rockie

Tampa to Orlando is like 4 hours with traffic as I recall. It's not close.

No way. It takes me less time to get from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale than 4 hours. It's like an hour, hour and a half between Tampa and Orlando. Not next door, but not far either.