GDAWG

10 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

This guy is comedy gold.

 

I am waiting for an episode where the league fails and he blames the NFL for it and plans to sue the NFL.  

15 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

 

It comes off to me like Gary Bettman didn't want the team to leave the area, so the goal was to move them to the closest city nearby that had a suitable arena, regardless of whether there was a demand for hockey or not.

 

Quebec was off the table, no matter how many tens of thousands of fans showed up to support their minor league team. But I was initially surprised Houston was not the chosen destination.

Especially with Dallas in the same division.  

2 hours ago, Jer15 said:

That's what I find to be interesting as well. 

 

Maybe they stay put for another year? 

Their final game of the season is this Saturday on the road at Calgary.  They won't announce anything likely until the playoffs end for them. 

Also the rumors from the message boards have been Montreal but nothing from the insiders, although I have not kept in touch.  

31 minutes ago, BeerGuyJordan said:

Jim Balsillie came close to relocating the Predators to Hamilton back in like the early 2010's. He wasn't as close as he believed, and started operating as if it were a done deal. That passed off the league and killed the deal.

 

I'm not certain he would have gotten it done even if he hadn't shot himself in the foot, but given the fact that the Isles debacle seemed to teach the League almost nothing, who knows?

So according to his Wiki, he tried three times, one of them the Coyotes in 2009.  Each time the NHL said no.

After we crown a new (or repeat if Denver does it again) NBA Champion, many of its players will be off until training camps but quite a few of them will be representing their countries in the Olympics.  

It will be 32 years since the very first Dream Team of NBA Legends and Christian Laettner competed in the Olympics. 

Wasn't there a guy trying to bring the NHL to Hamilton a long time ago, only for the NHL to stop him?

3 hours ago, PTrudellJr said:

Wait, which nut job with the MLFB is this one... Frank Murtha, or the other jackass?

 

Wow, actually listened to the video.  This is such a trainwreck.  He came so close to saying, "We're going to pay players in exposure".  We want the best talent, but we're going to pay them from ticket sales... and coaches should coach for the love of the game...

He is the other one.  

Also if his league fails, he's going to blame the NFL for his league failing.  

A few Bucks fans I know blame the Doc Rivers hiring on two of the owners: Jimmy and Dee Haslam.  Yes, the same owners who gave Deshaun Watson a $250 million guaranteed contract.  

18 hours ago, bosrs1 said:

 

As a temporary venue sure, with the modifications they’ll make it’ll suffice short term. But it’s not suitable as a long term venue. And without being demolished it can’t be made into a suitable venue. 

It only has to be enough to get approval from the Players Association for those three years.  

It's been a while since I posted about this moron:

Says his goal is to make MLFB the best football league in America and that they will be better than the NFL.  

In other words, he's a delusional schmuck.

Lakers and Warriors are in the play-in tournament......one of them is going to make a deep run aren't they?

The seating capacity at Ford Field is 61,000.  

17 minutes ago, Dilbert said:

So the Coyotes appear bound for Salt Lake, their farm club Tucson Roadrunners appear bound for Tempe. Anyone hear anything on the Utah Grizzlies? I know they are in a different arena in the suburbs but I cant imagine them staying to compete with the NHL. Should they go to Tucson to complete the circle of life?

It's going to cause a domino effect in minor league hockey since the Grizzlies are the ECHL affiliate of the Avalanche.  

22 minutes ago, Sodboy13 said:

Between this, the MS Word screencap, and the long runs of unpaid taxes and hotel bills, I think we're getting some valuable insight into how Alex Mereulo conducts business, and I look forward to his federal prison problems.

 

 

She does the Coyotes podcast on PHNX and the other day, they were doing a stream about the visit of the GM to the players informing them of the move.  She usually moderates and watches chat and someone asked Craig Morgan about why Suns owner Matt Ishbia did not buy the Coyotes to save them from this move and Morgan said it was too expensive for Ishbia.  

6 hours ago, Jer15 said:

 

 

Interesting that there are no rumors about Panther City yet.  On a lacrosse message board, one poster suggested the idea of the team moving across the DFW Metroplex to Frisco and the Comerica Center, which only seats 3,500.  If that happens, they would still be last in attendance, but it wouldn't be as jarring as it is at Dickies Arena, which seats 14,000.  It's only a suggestion, so not sure if it's actually going to happen.  

57 minutes ago, Sykotyk said:

Without trying to go explore it, this was one of the sites the Islanders were looking into building an arena, right? Or did they build one here nearby?

The Islanders are in nearby Nassau County.  

So apparently, the NYCFC Soccer stadium only needs the mayor to sign off before official groundbreaking.  That seems likely since he's in support of this stadium since the start.  

30 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

So you're saying you want him to lie.  Ok.

At least give the fans in Arizona some hope, so yes.  

32 minutes ago, bosrs1 said:

That’s an urban myth. The  Raley Field does not have major league caliber facilities under the grandstand nor can the upper deck support any kind of expansion. It would have to be completely demolished to be expanded. 

The thing is though is that Sutter Health Park only needs to do enough renovations to get the approval of the Players Association.  Sahlen Field in Buffalo had to undergo renovations before the MLBPA signed off on it as the temporary home of the Blue Jays due to travel restrictions.  

The fact that they have been completely silent about the A's move to Sacramento and yet they have been outspoken about the uniforms and the large amount of pitching injuries is interesting.   

1 hour ago, RyanMcD29 said:

Because this couldn't get more YOTES, this delayed statement STILL HAS THE CURSOR LEFT ON

The fact that he doesn't deny the rumors is telling.  What he should have said is "I am fully committed to keeping the NHL and the Coyotes in Arizona" but instead he dances around saying that he isn't allowed to make any public comments at this point.  

1 hour ago, gosioux76 said:

I think small markets are actually the way to go for the NHL. I don’t see the league getting more popular as time goes on. I think moving into markets where it’s No. 1 or 2 in the local sports hierarchy is the most logical move. 
 

Even with competent leadership, I’d bet a franchise would still suffer in sports-saturated Phoenix. Atlanta was (and could be again) a similar circumstance. Houston, too, for that matter. It doesn’t really matter if there’s a “hockey culture” there if the team gets lost in all the noise.

 

Places like SLC, Quebec City, or maybe even Omaha, stand a better chance at success. 
 

The league will always have the cornerstones of NewYork, LA, Boston and Chicago to offer the reach necessary for big TV contracts.

The likely rationale for Houston in the NHL is that "if hockey can work in Dallas, it can work in Houston" and the NHL wants that Dallas vs. Houston rivalry.   If that turns out to be the main reason for a team in Houston, it's a stupid and short-sighted reason.   One of the reasons the NHL worked in Dallas right away was because the team was competitive to start.  Were there seasons where they weren't great?  Yes there were, but they were never bad enough to where attendance was a disaster.  Their worst season was 1995-1996 when they won 26 games in a full season.  Otherwise, they've either been at .500 or a few games below it in their three decades.  

There's no guarantee Houston will be a success in the NHL as the Stars have been.  The success of the Stars have resulted in a state sanctioned high school hockey league in the DFW area and places known as StarCenters, which serve as community centers for ice skating and ice hockey.  It also led to the arrival of the Allen Americans of the ECHL, in the suburb of Allen, Texas.  

1 hour ago, PrimalCookie said:

Cities that tried to get the Coyotes but failed:

- Kansas City
- Hamilton

- Winnipeg

- Seattle

- Quebec City

- Houston

- Likely more that I’m forgetting/we don’t know about

The city that finally got them:

- Salt Lake City

 

I think Utah will be a pretty good hockey market, I’m just shocked they were the ones to get it done after so long. I really hate it for the the Coyotes fans… but it was time. It had been time for a while. Maybe they get a second chance down the road and make use of it, or not and they just become Atlanta 2.

 

Sucks, but it also doesn’t. Yknow?

Seattle and Winnipeg did eventually get NHL teams.  Salt Lake City out of the running gives Houston a legit shot for an expansion team.

And the Nordiques will probably be back whenever Atlanta 3 fails again after a decade.  

15 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

Are there any Coyotes in Utah?

 

Still, Utah Coyotes and Salt Lake City Coyotes doesn't sound good. Relocation was inevitable. But getting their own identity would be better.

 

Even their basketball team took New Orleans' identity. Both of their big 4 pro sports teams have a brand that used to belong to someone else.

I heard on PHNX that Ryan Smith plans on rebranding the team once his purchase of the team is finalized.