Gothamite

I grant that Toronto and Montreal are not US cities, but they are not cities seeking expansion/relocation teams either. They have been in the league since its creation. They aren't going anywhere any time soon. (sadly) I'm just saying that since all that the BOG cares about is expanding revenue, and US TV revenues would be a good way to do so, that expanding into Canada would not be something they would see as favourable to that plan.

I agree that you have accurately summed up the attitude of the BoG in the past, which is why the sport's in the poor shape it is now.

Hopefully, they've learned their lesson with the dismal failure of the Coyotes and success of the Jets.

And not a moment too soon.

Love that goats-head logo. Much better than the igloo, which has never really worked for me.

Ugh. Too much time on the "Saints bounty" threads.

Goodell and Bettman. Opposite ends of the Commissioner spectrum; one a model, the other a cautionary tale.

Yep.

If Goodell had just let the Jets move back to Winnipeg, at least that part would have been simpler. But he just couldn't let go of his ego.

Hey everyone. Check out the ring from the LA Galaxy's 2011 MLS Cup title run. Basic, but sweet (considering it's soccer):

That is nice. I like suspending the club crest over the gemstone background - very clever.

When the mayor can't even be bothered to put the customary "mystery buyer" spin on this, they're in real trouble.

C'mon, Gary. Do the right thing. You've held on long enough that you can't be blamed anymore in Arizona, and you'll be a hero in Quebec.

Can't agree with you there - I think any city that's worked that hard to get a team back is, well, entitled to a sense of entitlement. Especially when their work stands in so much contrast with other places around the league.

A post from HFboards by someone who purports to be a teacher:

Basic math says that 40 games X 12,000 people is actually more people than are served by the libraries. And even the best library on the planet isn't really making money for the city. I often go out to dinner at Westgate before a game - I can't say I've ever viewed the library as that sort of 'event' destination that makes me spend money.

Arizona is weird

yeah... I can't believe the millions of dollars the librarians are making...

Plus his "basic math" is rather interesting.

According to the city budget, "1.46 million people walked through the doors of the Glendale Public Libraries in FY 2009."

I don't see a number for a more recent year, but let's say that it has stayed roughly the same. "40 games X 12,000 people" equals 480,000 patrons for Coyotes games. Math was never my strongest subject, but it is my understanding that 1,460,000 is slightly greater than 480,000.

That is, even if reducing the "Libraries v. Coyotes Subsidy" argument to raw numbers of "people served" like McDonald's wasn't irretrievably silly. Which it is.

More money down the black hole!

So we have a hockey-crazy city marching forward with a new arena and signing strong naming-rights deals, while the league keeps dumping money year after year to prop up a team that can't draw fans in a city that wants them out.

Looks like there's only one way this ends.

True enough. It doesn't really matter what the situations with other teams are. Every team is an island here.

Yeah, that doesn't exactly speak to a healthy league.

No pics yet, but a description of the Cardinals' World Championship rings:

World Series rings have nods to history

For the second time in club history and for the first time to commemorate a World Series championship, the Cardinals' 2011 title rings will feature their distinctive bird-on-a-bat logo.

Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III said the team has finalized the design of the championship rings and that the manufacturer, Jostens, is in the process of acquiring stones and constructing the rings.

"I'm excited about all of the elements that we're bringing together," DeWitt said. "It should be some visual."

The top of the ring will feature a solo bird on a bat, with the bird crafted out of faceted rubies. The bird will be outlined in yellow gold and perched on a bat made of yellow gold, but the rest of the ring will be white gold, DeWitt said. In 2004, the team's National League champion rings were the first in team history to use the bird logo ? like the team's Sunday caps ?on a title ring, and that bird was crafted from a cultured ruby instead of being made of multiple rubies.

Making history is only part of the ring.

Marking history is its theme.

DeWitt described Wednesday how many designs on the ring will be new ? "trailblazing," he said ? while focused on the team's championship past. Some details DeWitt said will be present on the 2011 ring:

? One side panel of the ring will feature the number "11" made out of rubies to signify the 11th championship in club history.

? The other panel will have the team's interlocking "STL" logo in rubies.

? Busch Stadium's Musial Bridge motif will be featured in relief on the ring, and there will be room for the player's name on one side.

? The years of the 10 other championships will be etched on the shank of the ring to give history "a prominence," DeWitt said.

? The phrase "World Champions" will appear on the face of the ring framing the solo bird, but the diamonds will be set behind the letters to create what DeWitt described as "an additional bling factor."

The rings will be presented to players on April 14 at Busch Stadium during a ceremony before the second home game of the regular season. All of the players who appeared in the majors with the Cardinals last season will receive a ring, as will all of the team's living Hall of Fame players and other team officials. There are several versions of the ring, with the same general design, that will also be presented to club employees.

While DeWitt said the team sought to enhance upon the 2006 championship ring design ? which was built around the interlocking "STL" on a baseball diamond made of diamonds ? he also wanted to make sure they could be displayed together.

"I want to be cognizant of the need for them to be different, but also make it possible for them to sit beside each other and share the same qualities," DeWitt said "They're the same size. There are similar touches. There's a nice symbolic thing that (comes from) ... the team's history."

Damn. That's nice. Do we have an emoticon for envy?

If you ever want to sell it, you know where to find me.

New Ring just added to my collection. 1982 Brewers AL Championship ring

Vuke? Really? Holy !

Tell me that's a salesman sample.

The Devils, though, are completely consistent when it comes to what colours are swapped between sweaters. The Blackhawks have two different striping patterns between their sweaters. Which isn't a bad thing. Despite that they still look like they belong to the same uniform set, which is all that really matters. It's kind of a holdover from an era when making sure each individual sweater looked its best was the goal, rather then obsessing over complete consistency.

The Packers had the same kind of thing going on in the 60s. The striping pattern from the green jerseys wasn't carried over and inverted for the white jerseys because the powers that be decided it didn't look as good on the whites as a simpler design did.

My unpopular opinion is that the Packers' roads look awful and they need to bring these back tomorrow.

I think the biggest factor in all this is wall of secrecy that had decended around the NHL. The first rule of Gary Bettman's NHL is 'Don't talk about the NHL'.

Obviously the press has received the memo.

I will also add the Seattle Sounders FC success may have also been IN PART because of the Sonics move, kind of a "screw you David and Clay, we support pro sports".

Maybe for some, but all the soccer fans I know in Seattle were soccer fans before MLS came to town. And I doubt that resentment could have sustained an interest in the sport even as long as it took for them to field a team.

MLS is staggeringly successful in cities like Seattle and Portland because the league put teams in markets already hungry for the sport. They could have played the "find the biggest TV market" game, but saw the folly there.

Build on the markets you already have one foot in, even if they're not the largest. For that, MLS has been rewarded with devoted fanbases and a tremendous energy behind the growing sport. I don't doubt that it has also resulted in increased revenues through ticket sales, merchandise in the like. Ask them if they'd trade that for apathy in the largest geographic footprint possible.

3) a 12,000 (or 80% capacity) average is bad, but consider the move across all sports leagues from reporting butts in seats to reporting either tickets sold or outright bald-faced lies. There are probably more teams closer to 12,000 than whatever numbers they're cooking up on the box score.

That's a really good point, and one I hadn't considered. Attendance figures from any more than 15 years ago were arrived at by very different methods.

An "interested ownership group" is only one part of the equation, and not the most significant at that. More important is a place to play and a fanbase receptive to the sport. If you've got those, and the market shows it can handle hockey, they'll have owners coming out of the woodwork.

I have more faith in the US economy than I do the NHL.

The NHL has never considered any of their "final deadlines" for the Coyotes to be anything close to that.

Still, I believe the runaway success in Winnipeg must be making them take a closer look at Quebec City. If nothing else, we've leaned that a smaller market that is already crazy about the sport can trump a large market that couldn't care less.

It's a good thing for Bettman that, with a few notable exceptions, NHL teams can't draw top-level owners. That's the only way he can keep his job.

I think his point is valid - unique by itself is neutral, neither good nor bad. It's entirely up to what they do with it.

Myself, I loved the graphite cap but hated everything else about that set. Dark gray is a sadly underused color in sports. Or maybe I'm just sad that my Admirals traded their gorgeous gray sweaters for yet another black sweater.

You know, I was going to come in here write a big long dissertation here. But some reason I forget what I was going to write...or even what thread this is....

I know, she's hideous. Like some bizarre parody of a woman created by an alien who had never seen one but only read about them online.

Nice Whalers shirt, though.

FYI the Hartford Whalers logo appeared in Grown Ups in 2010, it was worn by Adam Sandler at the water park... maybe the director and producers of the film were promoting the Whalers as a brand and trying to wage the return of NHL hockey to Hartford or maybe it was a mere coincidence... IMO the Whalers logo is one of the best logos in sports and I would certainly love to get my hands on some Whalers merchandise, can't seem to find any decent though.

I don't know if it was part of any agenda - seems more likely that they were riding the fad that sprung about then, as the NHL finally got merchandising rights.