Walk-Off
-
Posts
299 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Walk-Off
-
-
4 hours ago, spartacat_12 said:
Who knows how accurate this scene was, but Howerton as Balsillie was a great piece of casting. He fumbled all his attempts to land an NHL team, but essentially provided the template for what not to do in order to become an NHL owner.
It sounds like Ryan Smith did the exact opposite, which is part of why the league is interested in doing business with him. He never explicitly stated he wanted to own the Coyotes, he just said, "I would like to own a team, I have enough money to do so, and I have a building that is ready to host games right away." He probably would've preferred an expansion team that would be playing their inaugural season in a brand new arena, but given the Yotes salary cap situation & stockpile of draft picks/prospects he's inheriting a pretty solid starting point. There's talk that he's going to be very aggressive this summer to bring in some big pieces too.
Maybe it is just me, but I think that one of Balsillie's most fatal flaws in his dealings with the NHL was an apparent narrowmindedness as to how he wanted to bring a team to Hamilton.
IIRC, Balsillie was unwilling to lobby for an expansion franchise. His NHL modus operandi was strictly trying to buy a US-based team with the intent of moving it to Hamilton. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins — a team with a history dating back to 1967, back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in the 1990s, and a location in a traditional hockey market and a well-established major professional sports market in general — were targeted by Balsillie for acquisition and relocation in 2006.
-
1
-
-
The basic problem with the American Airlines Center as the Dallas-Fort Worth PVF team's home court is that as long as that arena hosts both the NBA's Mavericks and the NHL's Stars, a third sports team whose season overlaps with at least half of the NBA and NHL seasons will have a lot of difficulty in getting attractive dates for matches.
-
5 hours ago, floydnimrod said:
What is the end goal for number of teams? I thought we'd all be good once each league ended up at 32. The math an symmetry makes too much sense.
4 hours ago, BeerGuyJordan said:This is a league that was happy at 21 teams for a substantial run. I'm not sure if that factors into it much.
That said, in theory, 36 isn't that much more of a burden, when compared to 32. The NHL is a more gate-driven league than the others, and the past two expansions have been almost exclusively positive experiences for the existing owners.
I think they'll keep expanding until they are given what they see as a reason not to.
Over the last few years, some people here in the CCSLC have accused Major League Soccer of adding teams mainly to prop itself up financially through expansion fees.
Is it possible, then, that the NHL and its teams — even with a very different relationship from what MLS has with its clubs — have run into a troublesome monetary situation that is causing a compulsion, or at least a temptation, to get quick and easy funds by expanding to a shockingly gargantuan number of franchises?
On 4/13/2024 at 10:43 AM, 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
1 hour ago, habsfan1 said:I was initially surprised Houston was not the chosen destination.
1 hour ago, GDAWG said:Especially with Dallas in the same division.
Speaking of expansion and expansion fees, the Houston market is so much bigger than the Salt Lake City market that I wonder if the NHL is preferring to save Houston for an expansion team and thus enable each of its existing franchises to gain a cut of a hefty expansion fee payment from Tilman Fertitta.
Another possible reason for SLC beating out Houston in the Coyotes "sweepstakes" is that Ryan Smith might have a chummier relationship with the NHL brass in general and with Gary Bettman in particular than does Fertitta.
-
On 4/9/2024 at 1:16 PM, tigerslionspistonshabs said:
So at this point, let's say the Vegas deal implodes after the A's make the move to Sactown....would they likely then stay in Sacramento?
On 4/9/2024 at 5:12 PM, TBGKon said:I think at that point Sacramento could be an option, but you'd likely have the Salt Lake's and Nashville's of the world kicking the tires too.
On 4/10/2024 at 10:33 PM, tp49 said:Of those three Nashville would be the most viable.
I agree that an MLB team in Nashville would be economically more viable than one in Salt Lake City or especially Sacramento. However, the MLB establishment's apparent present-day aversion to cross-country relocations of franchises leads me to believe that an A's franchise that sees its Las Vegas ambitions fall apart is far more likely to play in another western US market (e.g. moving to SLC; moving to Portland, Oregon; or staying in Sacramento) while MLB saves Nashville for either an expansion team or a relocation of a franchise from either a fellow Central Time Zone market (e.g. the Chicago White Sox or the Kansas City Royals) or the Eastern Time Zone (e.g. the Tampa Bay Rays).
-
19 hours ago, GDAWG said:
And this eliminates the state of Utah from MLB expansion.....I think.
I am sure that an NHL team in Salt Lake City would eat up disposable income that could otherwise go to a local MLB club. Even so, I think that the Big League Utah organization and the MLB franchise that it desires can survive and coexist with an arrival of the NHL in SLC.
1. Ryan Smith, the man being rumored to bring the Coyotes to SLC, is unaffiliated with the Larry H. Miller Company, the main backer of Big League Utah.
2. The State of Utah has passed separate laws regarding NHL and MLB venues this year. One law provides $900 million in funding for an NHL-friendly arena. The other law establishes $900 million worth of funding for an MLB-specification stadium.
-
2
-
-
-
https://le.utah.gov/~2024/bills/static/HB0562.html
Line #1674 of the Utah law enabling state funding of an MLB park in Salt Lake City's Power District "require[s] the major league sports team [playing at said venue] to be given a name that includes [']Utah.[']"
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, FrutigerAero said:
(what I am about to say should not be taken as some sort of defense of fisher, et al)
Oakland government's propaganda about this whole situation has been funny to me and crazy how many people are swallowing what they're putting out. They have been remarkably unserious about the whole thing. An example of this is the deal they just offered to the A's, which included a stipulation that they would be given an expansion team... a thing that the Athletics or John Fisher have no power to give them.
While reports suggest that the main sticking point in negotiations with Oakland was the drastic increase in rent ($97 million for a maximum-five-year lease extension, later revised to $60 million for a three-year lease extension) that the A's would have needed to pay to stay at the Coliseum beyond this year, I suspect that the Oakland government ruined any chance of a deal also through its insistence that MLB (a) guarantee the city a window of opportunity for an expansion team, (b) require the A's to leave behind their nickname and colors, or (c) force a sale of the team to an ownership committed to keeping the franchise in Oakland. Even if John Fisher were willing to accept Oakland's terms, the MLB commissioner's office could have pressed Fisher into backing off from an agreement with Oakland due to the demands that the city was making upon MLB as a whole.
-
1
-
-
NewBallpark.org: SidewA’s and the 32nd Team
This blog article provides some salient opinions on the next round of negotiations among Oakland, the A's, and MLB. I find the following point to be especially relevant:
"With no sign that John Fisher plans to reverse course on the Las Vegas move or sell, any pitch for an A’s sale can only be characterized as the kind of Hail Mary not even Al Davis would have loved. The expansion promise is pointless, as no one actually believes Oakland will be able to put together real deal terms in only a year, including a billionaire willing to subsidize an Oakland team indefinitely while all of the details for the elusive dream ballpark plan come together. Besides that, who would be crazy enough to ink an exclusive negotiating agreement with Oakland, whose track record on such agreements is downright dreadful."
-
ESPN: Oakland to present Athletics ownership with lease extension
"In addition, the city is asking for a commitment from Major League Baseball on one of three options: (1) a one-year exclusive right to solicit ownership of a future expansion team; (2) vote to leave the A's colors and name in Oakland, or; (3) facilitate the sale of the A's to a local ownership group."
As noble as the Oakland government's intentions are, I am concerned that a demand that any of those three things happen will be a deal breaker for MLB.
-
-
-
"Five (frustrating) NHL predictions for 2024"
SpoilerBrodie Brazil predicts, among other things, that:
1. The Arizona Coyotes will move to Salt Lake City, but the NHL will then turn around and grant an expansion team for the Phoenix market that would debut if and when the Phoenix area finally has a new NHL-specification and NHL-size arena.
2. The NHL will award a third expansion franchise to the Atlanta market.
-
21 hours ago, FrutigerAero said:
Ballys initially claimed that they were building a big casino next to this so strange to hear silence from them on this, as I had assumed we were waiting on them for more stadium details. Brodie Brazil will be asking where the casino is and if this can really fit on 9 acres lol.
However, I'm not a pure hater. As an architectural concept for a baseball stadium on the strip it's really good. Trying to look like the Sydney Opera House fits into Vegas' fakery and the view is really good, I didn't think they would manage a view.
These renderings underwhelm me mainly because of the absence of what Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (the ultimate owner of that 35-acre plot of land) and Bally's might build next to the ballpark. To me, that detail — or lack thereof — prevents the renderings from having a discernible sense of scale and thus keeps alive the big question of whether the ballpark can and does genuinely fit in a mere nine-acre corner of the plot, with a new Bally's-operated resort presumably filling the other 26 acres.
On another note, while some contributors to this thread have discussed the proposed ballpark's resemblance to the Sydney Opera House, it should be noted also that the head of one of the architecture firms for the project claims that (a) the shape of traditional baseball pennants inspired the roof and (b) the ballpark's overall design resembles a "spherical" armadillo.
-
On 3/4/2024 at 12:42 PM, jlog3000 said:
MLB
American League:
* AL East: NY Yankees, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh
* AL North: Chicago White Sox, Minnesota, Cleveland, Toronto
* AL South: Texas, Tampa Bay, Nashville* or Charlotte*, Kansas City
* AL West: Anaheim or LA Angels, Oakland or Las Vegas, Seattle, Arizona
National League:
* NL East: NY Mets, Montreal, Washington, Philadelphia
* NL North: Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Detroit
* NL South: Houston, Miami, Atlanta, St. Louis
* NL West: LA Dodgers, San Francisco, San Diego, Colorado
On 3/4/2024 at 2:19 PM, jlog3000 said:AL/NL East: NYY/NYM; BAL/WSH; BOS/MTL; PIT/PHI
AL/NL North: CHW/CHC; MIN/MIL; CLE/CIN; TOR/DET
AL/NL South: TEX/HOU; TB/FLA; NSH or CHA/ATL; KC/STL
AL/NL West: ANA or LAA/LAD; OAK or LV/SF; SEA/SD; ARI/COL
Since others have touched on the Detroit Tigers-Pittsburgh Pirates league swap, @jlog3000, I will focus on another flaw that I see in your proposal.
You have the National League have a team in Montréal again while keeping the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League, you insist that every MLB team have a prioritized interleague rival, and then ... you pass up the opportunity to create a Toronto vs. Montréal rivalry — an all-Canadian, seemingly no-brainer matchup — and instead give the new Montréal team a prioritized rivalry with ... the Boston Red Sox? Why? Is it just for the sake of having a baseball equivalent of Canadiens vs. Bruins?
If prioritized interleague rivalries in MLB must exist, I think that a saner approach with this particular alignment of teams would be the Blue Jays vs. the new Montréal club, the Red Sox vs. the Philadelphia Phillies, the Tigers staying in the AL, the Pirates staying in the NL, and the Tigers and the Pirates being each other's prioritized rivals.
-
1
-
-
From what I remember, the MAC revoked the past football-only membership of UMass because the Minutemen had insisted upon staying in the Atlantic-10 in other sports. Thus, I am curious as to how much of an edge -- if any -- the MAC holds over the A10 in media rights revenue these days.
As for Western Kentucky University as a MAC member, that school has long had to deal with its home television market (Bowling Green, Kentucky) being one of the thirty smallest TV markets in the United States. Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee State University is within the Nashville TV market, one of the thirty largest in the United States. As nice as it would be for the MAC to add WKU by itself to get back to an even number of members, I am cynical enough to wonder if the MAC would rather take in the Hilltoppers only in conjunction with MTSU and (to even out the numbers) a third school.
-
23 hours ago, TrueYankee26 said:
NHL
Eastern Conference
North Atlantic Division
- Boston Bruins
- Hartford Whalers
- New Jersey Devils
- New York Islanders
- New York Rangers
- Philadelphia Flyers
Mid-Atlantic Division
- Baltimore Skipjacks
- Buffalo Sabres
- Kentucky Thorougblades
- Norfolk Admirals
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Washington Capitals
Great Lakes Division
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Detroit Red Wings
- Montreal Canadiens
- Ottawa Senators
- Toronto Maple Leafs
Southeast Division
- Atlanta Thrashers
- Carolina Hurricanes
- Florida Panthers
- Nashville Predators
- Orlando Solar Bears
- Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference
Mountain Division
- Calgary Flames
- Colorado Avalanche
- Edmonton Oilers
- Utah Grizzlies
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Winnipeg Jets
Midwest Division
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Indianapolis Racers
- Kansas City Scouts
- Milwaukee Admirals
- Minnesota Wild
- St. Louis Blues
Pacific Division
- Anaheim Ducks
- Los Angeles Kings
- Portland Winterhawks
- San Antonio Sharks
- Seattle Kraken
- Vancouver Canucks
Southwest Division
- Austin Ice Bats
- Dallas Stars
- Houston Aeros
- New Orleans Brass
- Phoenix Coyotes
- San Antonio Rampage
@TrueYankee26, if I am looking at this correctly, the Blackhawks are listed twice, both the Milwaukee and Norfolk teams have Admirals as their nickname, and San Antonio is home to both a relocated Sharks franchise and an expansion team.
-
South Side Sox: Satire: Sharks swimming with the White Sox
What if Jerry Reinsdorf and a would-be business partner of his went on Shark Tank to try to get money for their proposal for The 78?
-
6 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:
Jerry Reinsdorf would apparently now like to talk about that, as he sat for an hour with Greg Hinz, who currently has one foot out the door from Crain's Chicago Business. Some of the comedic highlights:
* It is much more important for him to build a winning team in Chicago than to make money.
* He expects the entire cost of the stadium - $2 billion - to be paid for with the hotel tax, bonds and the TIF district scheme. In other words, not a penny out of his pocket.
* If the deal doesn't get approved really soon and he dies, his family will sell Jerry's stake to the other White Sox owners. And while Jerry, dear sweet Jerry, would never move this franchise out of Chicago, well, there no telling what all those other owners would do, but he has an inkling!
* What happens to Comiskey, that stadium the state still owes money on 33 years later, when the Sox move? I dunno, rip off the upper deck and make the Fire move there or something. Not his ballpark, not his problem.
As sarcastic as this whole take seems to be, and as much of a slow-pitch softball as that interview is, at least the full article brings up Reinsdorf's threat to move the White Sox to the Tampa Bay area in the latter half of the 1980s and the resulting extraction of Illinois state tax money to keep the Pale Hose in Chicago via their current ballpark.
Meanwhile, conspicuously absent from that whole interview and article is any mention of Reinsdorf's meeting with the mayor of Nashville two months ago, a detail that seems to undermine any notion that Reinsdorf is somehow more loyal to the Chicago area than are any and all of his co-investors in the Chisox.
Finally, as much of a "stan" for a Nashville MLB team as I am, the difference in size between the Chicago and Nashville markets is such that I beg to differ with Reinsdorf's insinuation that a Nashville White Sox team would be worth more than that franchise has been as the Windy City's "junior" MLB club.
-
3 hours ago, Sodboy13 said:
[W]atching the Bears and Sox go up against each other in matters of long-term planning will be akin to that fight in the front yard where Homer Simpson's relatives rammed into each other with cooking pots covering their heads.
In that kind of battle, I would take Jerry Reinsdorf and the White Sox over the McCaskey family and the Bears any day. At least to me, Reinsdorf, for all of his faults and flaws, gives off an impression of being very certain about what he wants. By contrast, the McCaskeys have seemed to spend many years hemming and hawing over where to locate a new stadium for the Bears, what kind of new stadium the Bears should have (e.g. seating capacity, permanently outdoor vs. retractable roof vs. permanently indoor, etc.), or even whether or not to have the Bears leave Soldier Field in the first place.
-
On 2/15/2024 at 6:17 PM, BottomlessPitt said:
Commissioner Rob Manfred plans to retire after contract is up in January 2029.
7 hours ago, GDAWG said:And the A's still probably won't be in Las Vegas by then
The way that things are going, I would not be surprised if the A's are still without a plan in place for a new permanent home in any location by 2029.
Another thing that would not surprise me is if MLB's next commissioner -- whoever that might be -- is much more aggressive about expansion than Rob Manfred has been. While Manfred has consistently conditioned any future addition of teams to MLB on firm resolutions of the respective ballpark situations of the A's and the Rays, his successor might not be so patient with regard to expansion.
-
If I understand the report correctly, Jerry Reinsdorf seems to be pursuing funding from the State of Illinois, which is what he did for the current home of the White Sox more than three decades ago, rather than from the City of Chicago or Cook County.
-
1
-
-
-
Here is how I would align the NBA if (a) the league expands to 32 teams and, as frequently rumored, puts those new franchises in the Las Vegas and Seattle markets; (b) the league reverts to two divisions per conference and uses the same names for divsions as when it last had two divisions in each conference; and (c) all of the existing teams stay in their current respective markets.
Eastern Conference
Atlantic Division
Boston Celtics
Brooklyn Nets
Miami Heat
New York Knickerbockers
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
Toronto Raptors
Washington Wizards
Central Division
Atlanta Hawks
Charlotte Hornets
Chicago Bulls
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Indiana Pacers
Milwaukee Bucks
Minnesota Timberwolves (conference shift)
Western Conference
Midwest Division
Dallas Mavericks
Denver Nuggets
Houston Rockets
Memphis Grizzlies
New Orleans Pelicans
Oklahoma City Thunder
San Antonio Spurs
Utah Jazz
Pacific Division
Golden State Warriors
Las Vegas Battlers (expansion)
Los Angeles Clippers
Los Angeles Lakers
Phoenix Suns
Portland Trail Blazers
Sacramento Kings
Seattle SuperSonics (revival via expansion)
Division 1 College Conference Realignment
in Sports In General
Posted
ESPN: Judge orders Florida State, ACC to mediation to settle suit
"[Judge John C.] Cooper ordered the sides to begin mediation within 120 days. But a mediator cannot force an agreement, so the case could end up back in court."