rams80

I don't think it is, but if Penn State did go down, you'd probably see them grab Pittsburgh posthaste because that Pennsylvania footprint needs to replaced. Granted Pitt is a real crappy replacement for Penn State, but Temple's even worse.

Waiting to see if they need to be subbed in for Penn State presumably.

It could also be that we've already lost the season and only the NHL owners and union heads know it. No need to move the Coyotes when they won't lose any money next year.

No, that's never going to happen. Now the Maloofs unwittingly allowing Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli to Trojan Horse his way into NBA franchise ownership without going through the league's vetting process...that certainly appears to be the plan. Only it's a ty plan because everybody except the Maloofs know it's the plan and rather than tow the damn thing into the city walls the NBA's dusting off the "Achaean flambe" recipe in its cookbooks.

From the comments:

Latter part is not confirmed. WAC looks like a bad place to park your Olympic Sports right about now.

OK, it sounds like WestGate needs an anchor store to help attract shoppers. Here's a hint to the Glendale Council. THE COYOTES CLUBHOUSE IS NOT AN ANCHOR STORE.

I thought of setting up an organized crime ring in their city first.

That makes it even less likely the league will continue on with Glendale. Watch the NHL respond to a ruling tomorrow with "Well, we gave you enough chances, TTFN." and deal that toxic asset to Quebec faster than you can say "Bank of America."

More importantly, going through with THIS plan ropes the NHL into a 20 year commitment to Phoenix. I suspect that part is what would ultimately prompt an owners revolt because they don't want to do something that long term.

I prefer the whole "Glendale thinks Jamison will buy the goddamn arena in 5 years and free them of most of the subsidy and debt service" pipe dream. Only some councilmembers believe that (including the one who addressed the feral cat issue).

Yes, but chances are you aren't getting that warning if you were doing caught doing 100 in a subdivision. Which is kind of what Glendale's subsidy is like with regards to Arizona law regarding such things.

Can someone explain to me why half of hfboards is convinced a 2 team expansion is going to be part of the new CBA? I mean such an act of insane stupidity only makes sense under OITGDNHL logic.

Rationale: Court lacks authority to stop the vote from taking place. That said, it acknowledges Glendale has kind of been doing a crappy job of providing documents within the required time window for such things, so I don't know, grounds for a restraining order on enacting the lease deal I guess. EDIT: and Goldwater indeed says that they'll be back in court if the vote passes.

There's got to be an election at some point. If nothing else that is when it will end. Either way, nominates "The Neverending Story" as the theme song of the Phoenix Coyotes debacle.

O'Neal Division or Maravich Division (Yes, I know he played for the Jazz, but the New Orleans connection is there)

... except nobody here gives two farts about the Big Ten except for Big Ten alumni (but then you could say that about any conference). The Big Ten is a decidedly Midwestern conference, whereas DC is a decidedly Mid-Atlantic (some would say Southern despite its strong progressive bearings) city. DC doesn't care about college football. That's part of the reason Maryland football has struggled to fill Byrd Stadium even during the early Fridge years when they were ranked in the top-10. And if what you claim is true about the Big Ten not needing Maryland or Rutgers to expand influence to the Eastern Seaboard, then why would the Big Ten even consider expansion at all? Barring a doomsday scenario in which certain other conferences go to 16, they wouldn't. And even then it would be grudgingly.

First off, I never said Maryland was Penn State's biggest rival, I said Penn State was Maryland's biggest rival. There's a difference. Second, who do people in the DMV care about if not Maryland? Virginia? Two hours away from DC. Georgetown? They play football in the Patriot League. Virginia Tech? Nobody around here even knows where Blacksburg is, let alone drives down there for games. This isn't the same Virginia that was ranked year-in and year-out during the 90s and early 2000s. This Virginia has trouble generating enough interest for even regional TV coverage (living in Richmond for three years, I can recall exactly three times that Virginia had a football game on TV that wasn't broadcast on ESPN). Maryland controls the DMV in terms of college sports. Georgetown comes in second. Virginia isn't even on the radar here. I'm not sure I'd use "control" there. "Steadily diminishing plurality" seems to be a better description. But here's the secret: the Big Ten doesn't need Maryland to get into DC. Just like they don't need Rutgers to get into New York. The current Big Ten schools have such large expatriate communities in those two cities that they have pre-existing footholds in the college sports consciences of those cities. With regards to Virginia falling off a little in the 2000s, Al Groh does have a way with programs. But so does Mike London

Ok, now let's pretend we aren't a Maryland booster for five seconds. The school is worse than Virginia in the national rankings; despite selling its soul to UnderArmor for cash$money as mentioned, the athletic department collectively is several degrees worse than broke and about to axe 8 different programs, the facilities suck, the Athletic Director is an idiot, football is a smoking crater, and basketball has been slowly drifting in a similarly wrong direction ever since Gary Williams broke through a decade ago. Also nobody in Baltiwash gives a about Maryland unless they're any good and welp, they ain't good right now. Oh, and Virginia (the state) is getting progressively less "Southern" every year. Yankee migrants seem to keep pushing south from Washington. You're going to get your people who care about the Big Ten, and thanks to Mike London you're going to get people to care about playing good football over there. If the Big Ten were to drag in Maryland, it would only be as Virginia's partner, not based on any merit for Maryland. PS. It's cute that Maryland thinks its Penn State's biggest rival in football. Is this kind of like how Illinois views Michigan?

Why would the Big Ten want Virginia when they could have Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Pittsburgh instead? Virginia is far, far down the list of possible expansion candidates. Nobody wants a school where the two biggest sports on campus are baseball and lacrosse, even if the academics are top-tier. Why do you think Rice has been left out in the cold by both the Big XII and the Big East? Because Virginia is likely a better get than most of those schools you just named. Virginia is a major state school in a large-ish and growing state, which means it commands a sizable resource base the Big Ten would like to get. Additionally, while football and basketball is not convincingly the best-supported program there, there is better growth potential for the football and basketball teams than you would see at a place like Rutgers or Maryland.

They aren't handcuffed. The only thing is that Virginia (the state government) wants both schools to have a home in the event the ACC collapses. Those political forces would be satisfied by a hypothetical Virginia Tech to the SEC, Virginia to the Big Ten scenario.

So? As stated earlier. FSU would have been better off trying to talk Notre Dame into joining with them. Or BYU. Notre Dame, yes. BYU? Stop it. The Cougars are pretty much Clemson with a TV network and market (so...better). They have the added bonus of being available without needing to dynamite a conference.

So? As stated earlier. FSU would have been better off trying to talk Notre Dame into joining with them. Or BYU.

West Virginia is "southeast".