Marcos Flamengo

 

A WHOLE NEW NBA

Seattle and Las Vegas causes a major shakeup in the World's Best Basketball League

 

In 2019, the NBA Board of Governors approved two expansion bids that would cause a major shakeup in the NBA.

 

The first bid was made by a group of investors led by SoDo investor Chris Hansen that would bring back the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA, just 13 years after the original SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma's capital city, where they became the Oklahoma City Thunder. The new SuperSonics would play their home games in the renovated KeyArena.

 

The second bid was made by Black Knight Sports & Entertainment, a consortium led by Bill Foley and the Maloof family, which are the owners of the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, that would become the Las Vegas Spartans. The Spartans would play their home games in the T-Mobile Arena, in Paradise, Nevada.

 

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has decided that both expansion bids would cause a major shakeup in the league.

 

The New Orleans Pelicans leaves the Western Conference's Southwest Division to join the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division.

 

The Sacramento Kings would leave the Pacific Division to join the Northwest Division, which would see the addition of the Vancouver Mounties, owned by Canucks Sports & Entertainment, the same owners of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.

 

The Eastern Conference's Central Division would see the arrival of the Kentucky Colonels, which would be owned by MC Sports & Entertainment, LLC, the owners of the Cincinnati Reds' minor league affiliate Louisville Bats.

 

The Spirits of St. Louis finally comes to the NBA just 42 years after the original ABA team of the same name failed to join the NBA. The new Spirits comes to the NBA as an expansion team, in the Western Conference's Southwest Division. The Spirits are owned by Anheuser-Busch, the owners of the MLB's St. Louis Cardinals.

 

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE

 

ATLANTIC DIVISION

 

Boston Celtics (Boston, MA)

Brooklyn Nets (Brooklyn, NY)

New York Knicks (New York City, NY)

Philadelphia 76ers (Philadelphia, PA)

Toronto Raptors (Toronto, ON)

Washington Wizards (Washington, D.C.)

 

CENTRAL DIVISION

 

Chicago Bulls (Chicago, IL)

Detroit Pistons (Detroit, MI)

Indiana Pacers (Indianapolis, IN)

Kentucky Colonels (Louisville, KY)

Memphis Grizzlies (Memphis, TN)

Milwaukee Bucks (Milwaukee, WI)

 

SOUTHEAST DIVISION

 

Atlanta Hawks (Atlanta, GA)

Charlotte Hornets (Charlotte, NC)

Memphis Grizzlies (Memphis, TN)

Miami Heat (Miami, FL)

New Orleans Pelicans (New Orleans, LA)

Orlando Magic (Orlando, FL)

 

NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE

 

NORTHWEST DIVISION

 

Denver Nuggets (Denver, CO)

Portland Trail Blazers (Portland, OR)

Sacramento Kings (Sacramento, CA)

Seattle SuperSonics (Seattle, WA)

Utah Jazz (Salt Lake City, UT)

Vancouver Mounties (Vancouver, BC)

 

PACIFIC DIVISION

 

Golden State Warriors (Oakland, CA)

Las Vegas Spartans (Paradise, NV)

Los Angeles Clippers (Los Angeles, CA)

Los Angeles Lakers (Los Angeles, CA)

Phoenix Suns (Phoenix, AZ)

San Diego Surf (San Diego, CA)

 

SOUTHWEST DIVISION

 

Dallas Mavericks (Dallas, TX)

Houston Rockets (Houston, TX)

Kansas City Knights (Kansas City, MO)

Oklahoma City Thunder (Oklahoma City, OK)

St. Louis Spirits (St. Louis, MO)

San Antonio Spurs (San Antonio, TX)

This is an hypothetical realignment of the National Hockey League:

 

NHL Eastern Conference

 

Atlantic Division

 

Boston Bruins (Boston, MA)

Buffalo Sabres (Buffalo, NY)

Detroit Red Wings (Detroit, MI)

Montreal Canadiens (Montreal, QC)

Ottawa Senators (Ottawa, ON)

Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto, ON)

 

Metropolitan Division

 

Columbus Blue Jackets (Columbus, OH)

New Jersey Devils (Newark, NJ)

New York Islanders (Brooklyn, NY)

New York Rangers (New York City, NY)

Philadelphia Flyers (Philadelphia, PA)

Pittsburgh Penguins (Pittsburgh, PA)

 

Southeast Division

 

Atlanta Thrashers (Atlanta, GA)

Carolina Hurricanes (Raleigh, NC)

Florida Panthers (Sunrise, FL)

Nashville Predators (Nashville, TN)

Tampa Bay Lightning (Tampa, FL)

Washington Capitals (Washington, D.C.)

 

NHL Western Conference

 

Central Division

 

Chicago Blackhawks (Chicago, IL)

Dallas Stars (Dallas, TX)

Kansas City Scouts (Kansas City, MO)

Minnesota Wild (St. Paul, MN)

St. Louis Blues (St. Louis, MO)

Winnipeg Jets (Winnipeg, MB)

 

Northwest Division

 

Calgary Flames (Calgary, AB)

Colorado Avalanche (Denver, CO)

Edmonton Oilers (Edmonton, AB)

Portland Tridents (Portland, OR)

Seattle Kraken (Seattle, WA)

Vancouver Canucks (Vancouver, BC)

 

Pacific Division

 

Anaheim Ducks (Anaheim, CA)

Arizona Coyotes (Glendale, AZ)

Golden State Seals (Oakland, CA)

Los Angeles Kings (Los Angeles, CA)

San Jose Sharks (San Jose, CA)

Vegas Golden Knights (Paradise, NV)

If Disney/ABC would acquire KWKW it would become a ESPN Deportes O&O radio station, and then would be rebranded as ESPN Deportes LA 1330 AM. Their current branding is Radio Deportes.

This is an hypothetical MLS broadcasting rights scenario that would include FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF and the Nashville FC. Please note that in this scenario, it would also include Las Vegas Lights FC, New York Cosmos, Phoenix Rising FC, Rochester Rhinos, Sacramento Republic FC, Saint Louis FC as hypothetical MLS expansion teams:

 

MLS Eastern Conference

 

Atlanta United FC: CW 69, Fox Sports South, Fox Sports Southeast, 92.9 The Game, Telemundo Atlanta, La Mejor

Charlotte Independence: Fox Sports Carolinas, Fox Sports Southeast, 730 AM The Game, 96.9 The Kat, Latina 102.3

Chicago Fire: ESPN+, WGN Radio, Univision Chicago, Univision Deportes Chicago 1200 AM

Columbus Crew SC: Fox Sports Ohio, CD 102.5, Telemundo Columbus, La Mega 103.1 FM

D.C. United: ABC7, WJLA 24/7 News, 106.7 The Fan, Bloomberg Radio 99.1 FM and 105.7 HD2, Univision Washington D.C., UniMás Washington, El Zol Deportes

FC Cincinnati: SportsTime Ohio, Cincinnati's ESPN 1530

Indy Eleven: Fox Sports Indiana, ESPN 107.5/1070 The Fan, Éxitos 1590 AM

Inter Miami CF: Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Florida Plus, 790 AM The Ticket, 104.3 The Shark, UniMás Miami, Univision Deportes Miami 1140 AM

Montreal Impact: Sportsnet East, CJAD 800 AM, TSN 690, TVA Sports, 98,5 FM

Nashville FC: Fox Sports Southeast, 102.5 The Game

New England Revolution: NBC Sports New England, My 38, The Sports Hub 98.5 FM, Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, La Mega 890 AM & 94.9 FM

New York City FC: YES Network, WFAN Sports Radio 66 AM & 101.9 FM, UniMás Nueva York, WADO 1280 AM, Qué Buena 92.7 FM

New York Red Bulls: MSG, MSG Plus, ESPN New York 98.7 FM, MSG Deportes, ESPN Deportes Nueva York 93.1 FM

Orlando City SC: Fox Sports Sun, My 65, 96.9 The Game, Real Radio 104.1

Philadelphia Union: NBC 10, NBC Sports Philadelphia, 610 ESPN, Classic Rock 102.9 MGK, Telemundo 62, ESPN Deportes 99.9 FM

Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, 94.5 3WS

Puerto Rico FC: Univision Puerto Rico, WKAQ 580 AM, KQ105 FM

Rochester Rhinos: MSG Western New York, ESPN Rochester 95.7 FM and 950 AM, 92.5 WBEE

Tampa Bay Rowdies: Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Florida Plus, 1250 AM WHNZ Impact Radio, US 103.5, La Ley 1550

Toronto FC: TSN4, Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050, Sportsnet 590

 

MLS Western Conference

 

Chivas USA: NBC Sports Los Angeles, 790 KABC, 95.5 KLOS, Mega 96.3 FM

Colorado Rapids: Altitude, Altitude 950 AM and 92.5 FM, UniMás Denver, La Invasora 87.7 FM

FC Dallas: Fox Sports Southwest, Fox 4 More, ESPN Dallas 103.3 FM, UniMás 49, Univision Deportes Dallas 1270 AM

Houston Dynamo: AT&T SportsNet Southwest, THE KUBE, Sports Radio 610, UniMás 67, Univision Deportes Houston 1010 AM, Latino Mix 104.9 & 93.3

Las Vegas Lights FC: AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, Fox Sports 98.9 FM and 1340 AM, Azteca 19, ESPN Deportes Las Vegas 1460 AM

Los Angeles FC: YouTube TV, ESPN LA 710 AM, Azteca 57, La Mera Mera 980 AM

Los Angeles Galaxy: Spectrum SportsNet, LA Galaxy Audio Network from iHeartRadio, Spectrum Deportes, ESPN Deportes LA 1330 AM

Minnesota United FC: Fox Sports North, ESPN Twin Cities 1500 AM, El Rey 94.9 FM

Portland Timbers: KGW 8, NBC Sports Northwest, 750 and 102.9 The Game, FM News 101 KXL, Univision Portland, La Gran D 1150 AM

Real Salt Lake: AT&T SportsNet Utah, ESPN 700, Juan 1600 AM, 102.3 La Gran D

Sacramento Republic FC: NBC Northern California (KCRA 3 would be acquired by NBC Universal and become an NBC O&O station), NBC Sports California, NBC Sports California Plus, ESPN Radio 1320, Telemundo 58 (MyNetworkTV affiliate My 58 would be acquired by NBCUniversal and become a Telemundo O&O station), La Buena 92.1

Saint Louis FC: Fox Sports Midwest, Fox Sports Midwest Plus, Big 550 KTRS, La Tremenda 880 AM

San Antonio FC: Fox Sports Southwest, Fox Sports Southwest Plus, ESPN SA 1250 AM / 94.5 FM, Norteño 720 AM / 104.1 FM

San Diego 1904 FC: Fox Sports San Diego, The Mighty 1090, 105.7 Max FM, ESPN Deportes 620 AM

San Francisco Deltas: ESPN+, ESPN Bay Area 106.1 FM, ESPN Deportes 103.7 FM

San Jose Earthquakes: NBC Bay Area, NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports Bay Area Plus, 1590 KLIV, Telemundo Área de la Bahía, La Kaliente

Seattle Sounders FC: JOEtv, Q13 Fox, Root Sports Northwest, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, Univision Seattle, El Rey 1360 AM

Sporting Kansas City: Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Kansas City Plus, Sports Radio 810 WHB, ESPN Kansas City 99.3 FM, Univision Kansas City, La Grande 1340 AM

Tulsa Roughnecks FC: Fox Sports Oklahoma, 1300 The Buzz, 97.5 KMOD, ESPN Deportes 100.5 FM

Vancouver Whitecaps FC: TSN1, BNN Bloomberg Radio 1410

I think that despite the fact that ESPN would be forced to sell Fox Sports Networks, in order to a potential FCC approval of the Disney/21CF merger, due to FCC antitrust rules (which I honestly don't like it, in my opinion), they would likely never give up and keep fighting to acquire regional sports rights.

I wish that a Seattle NHL team would be nicknamed Totems.

9 minutes ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

Foley: I want it to be the Black Knights. Because Army!

 

West Point: We have a problem with that.

 

Foley & McPhee: We're the Vegas Golden Knights. Because Army. We even invited the parachute team to our big name reveal!

 

U.S. Army: We have a problem with that, too.

 

VGK legal representation: Hold on, this has nothing to do with the Army!

 

POTUS Donald Trump: What the f... is going on?. Didn't you know that the Black Knights trademarks are only registered with the United States Army!? Who the f... you said that you were taking the Black Knights trademarks without the permission of the Federal Trade Commission?

 

Foley: Mr. President, honestly, your excellence have misunderstand.

 

General Mark Milley: I think that's you have misunderstand.

 

VGK legal representation: Look how far we got?.

 

FCC President Ajit Pai: It's seems that's not your only problem!. And that's not me!. As a hockey fan, I like it!.

On 08/01/2018 at 2:48 AM, neo_prankster said:

 

Assuming the Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox is a done deal, it would be nice to have localized editions of Sports Center on most of the former Baby Foxes. Or perhaps the regional channels that carry MLB teams can integrate the Baseball Tonight music, and maybe bring back the National Hockey Night theme for NHL broadcasts.

Sure. And one correction: I would rename ESPN Sun into ESPN 2 Florida.

This would be the supposed list of ESPN regional sports networks and its local subfeeds in the future; the former Fox Sports Ohio would be separated into four full-time separate regional feeds, ESPN Cincinnati, ESPN Cleveland and ESPN Columbus:

 

ESPN Arizona

ESPN Atlanta

ESPN Baltimore (if the Orioles opts to end MASN and sign regional broadcast deals with ESPN)

ESPN Carolinas

ESPN Cincinnati

ESPN Cleveland

ESPN Colorado (replacing Altitude Sports, once Kroenke sells all of its sports properties, except the LA Rams, to Disney)

ESPN Columbus

ESPN Dakotas (if ESPN acquires college sports broadcast rights to North Dakota Fighting Hawks, North Dakota State Bison, South Dakota Coyotes and the South Dakota State Jackrabbits)

ESPN Dallas

ESPN Detroit

ESPN Florida

ESPN Hawaii (if ESPN acquires regional rights to Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine college sports)

ESPN Indiana

ESPN Iowa

ESPN Kansas City

ESPN & ESPN 2 LA

ESPN Minnesota

ESPN New Orleans

ESPN New York (replacing YES Network, because, in my opinion, ESPN has more value than YES)

ESPN Oklahoma

ESPN St. Louis

ESPN San Antonio

ESPN San Diego

ESPN Southeast

ESPN Sun

ESPN Tennessee

ESPN Washington (if the Nationals opts to end MASN and sign regional broadcast deals with ESPN)

ESPN Wisconsin

11 hours ago, MadmanLA said:

 

The Disney-21CF deal is going to take a minimum of a year to get federal approval, but this deal is also tied to other agreements, such as the Sky Networks in the UK.  The Sinclair-Tribune merger should completed within next few months, pending final approval from the DOJ and FCC; the merger is of vested interest for Fox, because Sinclair and Tribune are two of Fox's largest affiliate groups, in terms of number of stations (Sinclair owns and/or operates 30 Fox affiliates, Tribune owns 15 Foxes) and audience reach percentage.  Because of that, and thwarting an attempt by Sinclair to potentially launching their own network (and they [Sinclair] have network affiliation agreements with every major U.S. broadcast network and MyNetworkTV, and owning the Univision affiliations in Seattle and Portland), Fox is getting back into the station buying game, especially in those key markets they want to protect.

Will Fox Broadcasting Company acquire Sinclair-owned Fox stations?. This would affect Sinclair's plan to launch their own network that would compete with every major U.S. broadcast network. Hearst Corporation would also try to acquire WGN Radio and WGN 9, because, in my opinion, their sale to Sinclair would be bad to the people to Chicago, who is traditionally a liberal city, and Sinclair's programming tend to be more conservative. Hearst would also acquire stations that may be divested by Sinclair. NBC would also enter in the station buying game by potentially acquiring News3, NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, and integrating it to Telemundo Las Vegas.

2 minutes ago, buzzcut said:

ESPN Arizona

ESPN Carolinas

ESPN Detroit

ESPN Florida

ESPN Indiana

ESPN Kansas City

ESPN Midwest St. Louis

ESPN New Orleans

ESPN New York

ESPN North Minnesota

ESPN Ohio

ESPN Oklahoma

ESPN San Diego

ESPN South Atlanta

ESPN Southeast

ESPN Southwest Dallas & ESPN San Antonio

ESPN SportsTime Ohio Cleveland

ESPN Sun Miami

ESPN Tennessee

ESPN West and Prime Ticket and ESPN2 LA

ESPN Wisconsin

 

Fix'd.

Nice fixing. I did commit some errors. Sorry for that.

2 minutes ago, MadmanLA said:

 

Before you get too carried away...the FCC won't be involved in this decision, because there's no broadcast station licenses involved; this deal will be under the purview of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.  The Fox network is keeping the 28 stations it owns, and is planning buy some of the stations that need to divested in the Sinclair Broadcasting-Tribune Broadcasting merger (using some of the cash/stock coming from the Disney deal), including several stations that Fox once owned until a few years ago (particularly WJW Cleveland, WITI Milwaukee, and KTVI St. Louis), with the ultimate prize being Tribune's duopoly in Seattle (KCPQ/KZJO), the largest NFC market where Fox doesn't own a station.

Will the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice approve the merger or will reject it?. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the case of the merger not being approved, Disney and Fox executives would unite them to sue both the FT and the U.S. DoJ, but they would need to make a clear and objective document citing the reasons it would mention it.

In the case of Fox Broadcasting Company, it would be nice to see them reacquire Fox 8 (Cleveland), Fox 6 (Milwaukee) and Fox 2 (St. Louis) and Tribune's Seattle duopoly (Q13 Fox/Joe TV).

3 minutes ago, CS85 said:

Credit to Dan LeBatard for grilling Rob Manfred's ass on the shady dealing regarding the Marlins sale.

So strange to see that this interview wasn't aired on TV. Or it was?.

16 minutes ago, AstroBull21 said:

No...it would be YES Network.  Even now with it owned by Fox Sports, you'll rarely see Fox branding

It would happen the same thing if YES becomes an ESPN-owned network.

If the FCC approves the Fox/Disney merger, the NHL would return for ESPN for the 1st time in more than a decade.

I think that this would probably happen because Murdoch's favorite U.S. republican POTUS candidate was, in my opinion, nothing more, nothing less than Donald J. Trump. So Fox News likes the current POTUS so much, but I and millions of good persons across America and around the world hates his excellence so much.

10 minutes ago, AstroBull21 said:

I doubt the YES Network name changes...that brand has good value.

In other words, you would say YES powered by ESPN?

16 minutes ago, MadmanLA said:

Denver is the only major market in the U.S. with no NBC/Comcast or Fox regional sports presence...they're served by AT&T SportsNet (Rockies) and the Stan Kroenke-owned Altitude Sports (Nuggets & Avalanche).  I know with Kroenke owning the Rams in Los Angeles, eventually he and his family would have to sell-off their Denver sports properties, as part of the NFL's cross-ownership rules, and that may well also include Altitude.  Outside of Denver, Altitude also handles the production of the Rams preseason telecasts, despite their TV flagship being already owned by one of the NFL's broadcast partners (CBS).

 

Oddly enough, NBC/Comcast owns cable systems in every market serviced by AT&T SportsNet (Pittsburgh, SLC, Denver, Houston, Seattle), except now in Las Vegas, where Cox and CenturyLink are the major cable providers there; another sense of irony, what is now AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Astros & Rockets) was created from the remnants of the since-defunct Comcast SportsNet Houston.

If Disney acquires Alttiude sports network, it would be a great addition to its future staple of ESPN regional networks. It would probably also acquire Cox-owned channel 4SD and merge it with the future ESPN San Diego.

14 minutes ago, Lenny Dykstra said:

Would Boston and Philly just get lumped in with New York

When I put ESPN New York, i've referred to the possible future name of the YES Network. And I've only make a reference to the New York City metropolitan area, from which YES Network primarily broadcasts.

If the FCC approves the Disney/Fox merger, these would be the names of the new ESPN regional networks:

 

ESPN Arizona

ESPN Carolinas

ESPN Detroit

ESPN Florida

ESPN Indiana

ESPN Kansas City

ESPN Midwest

ESPN New Orleans

ESPN New York

ESPN North

ESPN Ohio

ESPN Oklahoma

ESPN San Diego

ESPN South

ESPN Southeast

ESPN Southwest

ESPN SportsTime Ohio

ESPN Sun

ESPN Tennessee

ESPN West and Prime Ticket

ESPN Wisconsin

28 minutes ago, the admiral said:

The fun never ends!

What was the Vegas Golden Knights would become Las Vegas Knights, in my opinion. And I make your words also the mine ones, @the admiral.

54 minutes ago, the admiral said:

Cam Newton laughed at a reporter for asking about "the physicality of routes" and said something about how women can't ask him about football. This meant that Cam Newton literally hates all women and must be destroyed, which was weird, because Cam Newton has been a very sympathetic figure himself for being a black quarterback and in the South at that, but sexism overrides racism, so now he is bad. But then someone found her Twitter account where she talked about how good her dad's racist jokes are and then used the n-word, which may override the original sexism-racism override. You can't tell the players without a program, folks.

In other words, Cam Newton became a bad boy.

If the NHL returns, one day, to Hartford, they would use ressurect the "Whalers" name. If the NHL arrives to Houston, as an expansion team if Carolina says NO to a relocation, they would obviously use the "Aeros" name. There would be no problem if the Quebec Nordiques returns to the NHL as an expansion team under Quebecor, the owner of TVA Sports and, also, the operator of Videotron Centre.

 

If the Quebec Nordiques returns, the English-language TV home would be Sportsnet East, which recently lost Montreal Canadiens games to TSN 2, which, in my honest opinion, was likely relegated as a secondary feed of TSN, to the viewers in Eastern Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada. The play-by-play would be Dave Randorf and the rinkside analyst would be Jason York, who formerly was a Canadiens on-ice analyst on Sportsnet East. We remind to all of you that this is an assumption.

3 hours ago, Wings said:

An OITGDNHL moment:  relocate the Carolina Hurricanes to Houston and have them keep the nickname not realizing how insensitive that would be. 

In my opinion, if Carolina relocates to Houston, they should be nicknamed Aeros, to honor the former WHA team, and to avoid the insensitive that would be keeping the Hurricanes nickname.

It seems like Turner and Univision did outbid Fox as the US home to UEFA Champions League soccer.

i'm not a Russian invader

We don't know if the NHL goes south to the border, in this case, Mexico City?. This would be a good or a bad idea?.