STL FANATIC

You always have to factor in that while owners collect expansion fees, all other future league-wide revenue then gets split in one (or two potentially) more slices. So expansion doesn't automatically become a windfall.

If there's a ("major") league it would happen in, though, it'd be the NHL. But even in that rinky dink league, there's probably always going to be enough interested private parties (whether it's in their preferred market or not) to avoid such a situation.

That series last year was the ultimate in fake images. Bunch of dirty players who pretend they're angels. And probably the two dirtiest and most annoying goalies in the league. Wish they'd have fought.

Don't 100% remember if they're doing it still this year, but the Blues have done similarly with Ameren UE power company sponsoring their power play, I believe. Yes they do. I still don't get why a monopoly needs to advertise. The craziest sponsorship I've seen was at a Blues game during intermission. They bring the house lights, scoreboard, LED screens, and sound down to make it seem like a power outage. Then they start playing "I've got the power" by Snap and then everything comes back up and there is a commercial for Peabody Energy (a coal company). Scared the crap out of me first time I was there for it. Sometimes I am convinced the Scottrade Center only has music from the day it opened in 1994. (90s Jock Jams songs). Busch stadium has done this too, as have others probably. It's a smart if overdone advertisement. Good point about the monopoly, though. Maybe it's a good will thing.

Don't 100% remember if they're doing it still this year, but the Blues have done similarly with Ameren UE power company sponsoring their power play, I believe.

A hockey thread that's gone on a tangent about fast food? Don't mind if I do... Hardee's is really good, quality food for fast food. If you want a burger (and you're not specifically in the mood for a White Castle slider or a McDonald's patty) or chicken strips, I'd suggest Hardee's. I don't go that often, but it's good when I do. Now, their Red Burrito menu is just whatever. It's not awful, but it's not really a big draw for me. I'm not particularly picky, though. I enjoy all of Jack In The Box, McDonalds, Hardee's, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC, and Wendy's. Should put Culver's in the mix too. Arby's has some okay stuff, but now that I live back in St. Louis, I'll rarely if ever eat there again. Not with Lion's Choice being an option. Someday they'll expand beyond St. Louis and the world will be forever grateful. And I specifically don't understand the BK hate. They're not amazing. Seems like all their new ideas are copies of someone else's, and sometimes they're not as good, but when I ate fast food more frequently and needed a change of pace, I was never against going there. I'll mention Chick-fil-a and say the food is good, but I'm one of those that has stopped eating there since the anti-gay equality views were expressed by their owners. And hey, I don't eat Little Caesar's because Illitch owns them and the Red Wings (and the Tigers—not that I care), so I'm consistent on discontinuing my patronage once I discover I'm unhappy with the parent company/owner. (Not that I'm remotely comparing the two issues.) When I lived down in Alabama, I enjoyed Zaxby's chicken on occasion. For sandwich shop, I'm not a big fan in general. Subway is ok. Jimmy John's is ok. Now that I've discovered the more gourmet style sandwiches from JJ's, I give them a little more business. Plus they deliver and have drive thru's sometimes. And if you're putting that build-your-own sandwich style place in fast food, do Chipotle, Moe's and Qdoba make the conversation too? If so, I like them all but in reverse order. Love Qdoba, Moe's is good, and Chipotle is better than I give them credit for (I think I'm just being a rebel—everyone goes nuts over them). And I think I'll cut off my fast food analysis there.

The Jackets may finally be trending upwards. I really think John Davidson is going to get that franchise going in the right direction.

I actually think 8 divisions of 4 isn't so bad. It works for the almighty NFL. The playoff system then ought to be the 4 division winners and 4 wild cards. That may or may not be the same as the top 8.

I'm pretty sure he was talking about the new Glendale city council group, not the new ownership group. EDIT: And it looks like he edited his post to clarify that.

Is anybody else having trouble setting their photo? Rejecting every file I give it.

How is there a real website that still looks like that?

There's markets that are starved for hockey, and there's markets that would probably support hockey. It's the former that would fill the arena for a neutral exhibition, and the latter that wouldn't rush out to buy tickets. If you goal is to get a team guaranteed to turn a profit, you go with the former. If you're still interested in taking at least some level of risk in order to grow the sport and the fan base, you don't worry about attendance at an exhibition game and give a shot to the latter. I think Kansas City probably would support a team. But I don't think they'll ever flock to a neutral exhibition.

Well the ballot measure has been rejected and will not appear on the ballot. That doesn't preclude a court case bringing it back into question, though.

I just saw a tweet that the citizens working on getting the issue to ballot believe they have a deadline that has yet to come while many are saying their deadline has past. I'm too lazy to dig for the whole story, so make of that what you will...

Really that ends up being irrelevant. When teams go bankrupt, the owner usually remains a wealthy millionaire. Unfortunately many NHL teams lose money and the owner simply has to be passionate enough to absorb the losses. That said, the goal is to turn a profit or at least to limit the deficit. So saying that it's okay if the Sabres income falls dramatically just because the owner is super wealthy doesn't work.

Even more recent Blues update. The sale is done. The BOG will approve it tomorrow. It will be announced Wednesday.

With what we have seen over the past three years, I think everyone means it only half-jokingly. Nothing would surprise us when it comes to this clown college of a league. This is very true.

In case anyone isn't picking up on it being a joke, the Blues ownership situation being finalized was supposedly waiting on the end of their run. Numerous sources saying an announcement is coming within a week. That situation has earned skepticism itself of course, though there's never been steps back. Just lots of tiny ones forward.

ME! ME! I said that! ... Just kidding of course. If the Coyotes are still in Phoenix next year, I doubt as if there will be a major spike in regular season attendance. I do still contend that winning hockey and stable, smart ownership would have a good chance of success in Phoenix, but the hole has been dug so deep even I've come around that the chances for that franchise to succeed at this time seem small. However, maybe if they're getting stable ownership and they can remain this competitive it could still work. Maybe. Unfortunately, if Glendale is going to have to bankrupt itself further and ignore public services, then it really shouldn't even be on the table.

They kept the playoff "whiteout" from Winnipeg? Seriously? Yeah, they've done it the last few years, and it honestly looked like they were all Red Wings' fans (although most of them probably were?) They've done it the entire time they've been in Phoenix, there was just a big playoff lull in the middle. I the late 90s when they were a good team (Roenick, Tkachuk, etc.), the whiteouts looked great. I don't know how fan support was during those seasons, but the fans showed up big time for the playoffs as I recall. It's unfortunate that crappy ownership killed any momentum that fan base had.

I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of thankful he wasn't able to buy the Rams. I agree now. At the time it sounded glorious. That said, he might have had better investors behind him for that one. In any case, it doesn't matter since Kroenke was going to match.

Since you went baseball, I'm hoping that the Cardinals can manage to do the same thing. TV contracts have really exploded lately. It's how the Angels were able to land the Cardinals former first baseman. St. Louis doesn't remotely rival the size of LA, but the number of fans who tune into the games might. Regardless, I'm not suggesting they ought to be able to match that deal, only that they can probably do a lot better than they are now. TV money has mattered for a while, but it seems only lately it's become such a major, major source of team revenue to the point of really effecting payroll. I'll always be thankful to Checketts for taking the Blues at one of their lowest points, giving them some stability, and making the moves necessary to lay a strong foundation for the future. But it seems he never really had enough funds to make this work for the long-term and he hasn't executed an exit strategy in an effective way.

Yep, my understanding is that the Blues are essentially being funded by the NHL. It's not as dire as a lot of times you hear that sort of thing (the Coyotes for instance), but true nonetheless. Reports out of St. Louis today say that the Stillman group is yet closer to closing their purchase. It may well be true. Every time we heard it, it may well have been true. But it's been reported about 90 times, so these must be baby steps. They're saying within weeks now. I hope so. I'm tired of it being up in the air. It SOUNDS like the future is secure, but it's not done yet. But saying that, the Blues aren't moving. There's too many worse situations than the Blues. If the Blues fail as a franchise, it would mean something catastrophic for the league. Like massive contraction. I think Admiral has it right. It's largely about ticket prices and advertising fees. It's always been that way, but when the lockout, Laurie sale, and purging of all big contracts and good players happened in 04-05, it got amplified. You had a weakened fan base from the lockout and an awful hockey team on the ice. You just weren't going to sell tickets in a mid-sized market without bringing the prices down. They've slowly gone up, but because the Blues have only had one playoff appearance and won no games, they've never been able to justify ratcheting them up substantially all at once. The rebuilding plan is finally paying off, and I think you'll see a healthy price increase for next season. If the Blues manage to win a series or two or more this year and bring in that extra revenue, their earnings will likely see a great jump. If they could also flip that into increased TV revenue and such, that would be a big bonus. I don't know if the St. Louis hockey can every be super profitable, but it should be able to get out of the red if things go decently well on the ice. Here's hoping that it's finally headed that way. The sham that was the Blues vs. Blackhawks last night was reportedly the highest rated Blues game on Fox Sports Midwest ever, so that would bode well for them being able to negotiate higher TV revenue at some point.

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not TOR, but replace "then" with "than" and you'll get the proper meaning.

UPDATE: Found it. It's Stratum 1, maybe 2 sometimes. ---- Looking for the NIKE font featured here: http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nikepro/en_US/ It's used on the STAY COOL, STAY WARM, and all of that, and also the type when you roll over those things. I think the NIKE PRO COMBAT is even a variation of it, though that might be highly customized. Thanks.