NFL Merry-Go-Round: Relocation Roundelay

[STL FANATIC]

Gotcha, Goth. In the red is what really threw me, I guess, but that makes sense.

I would concur that St. Louis isn't rolling in money, which is why it's important to prioritize and spend wisely. But if they made it a priority (and again, they shouldn't), they'd be able to come up with the financing for a stadium through bonds and tax extensions. And doing so wouldn't really change the cities financial outlook all that negatively. I don't think you'd see significant public service cuts as a result of the stadium financing.

But, of course, it would mean they'd be preventing themselves from IMPROVING their financial situation and/or using these funding options towards something of greater importance.

As an aside, the city of St. Louis has far far too many government/public employees than they need. It's an area where they really should be making cuts to save money, but not because they're in terrible shape, just because government should be more efficient than it is. And I'm not talking about the more important public service/safety positions, but more bureaucratic ones. Unfortunately, those are also the ones city officials seem the most unwilling to cut. But I digress.

Another factor in St. Louis ABILITY to retain the Rams would be the (likely) three public entities involved. Whether the stadium is in St. Louis City or in the separate St. Louis County, both will probably provide funds. I honestly don't know what the financials shape of the County is, but I suspect they're overall in ok shape even as many of their 90+ municipalities (ridiculous, yes) struggle. And then the third entity is the state, though as you allude to, they'll eventually have no money because of the idiotic policies the legislature keeps passing. Those are the three entities that currently partner to payoff and fund the Dome, and I suspect they would all have some role in paying for a new stadium.

I'm not making predictions anymore, though. Just want answers.

[garydavison]

I used to do colleges more. Florida Tech Lightning and Vermont Maple Syrup Gathers. Pretty sure I stole Lightning from Tampa Bay, and Maple Syrup Gatherers was a joke I think i heard somewhere, but I did uniforms and everything.

You guys aren't alone.

I had leagues, but didn't go as far as naming players. I saved the stadiums for baseball . . . because drawing assymetrical bandboxes was more fun than drawing football stadiums.

'red, your 76ers would have had to battle my Jackson Magnolias for the Mississippi market. The Polar Bears would have been fighting the mighty Anchorage Anchors, who were a dynasty back in the 70s.

I read up alot on sports history as a kid and for some reason had a fascination for rebel leagues such as the WHA, WFL, USFL...etc. So I would create modern versions of these leagues. I did not draw uniforms or anything but I would keep yearly standing sheets and I would simulate games with dice.

Then as a teen I ended up creating some of these teams in pc games such as madden. I remember as a teen when the ''new WHA'' was announced. I was very excited. Too bad they never played a game.

So yeah I was a weird kid too I guess.

Glad to hear I wasn't the only one doing this. The Polar Bears won the 1980, and 1981 league championships, but in the modern day have found it hard to attract players to Alaska and have been toying with moving for years.

My league's dominant team was the San Jose Pirates. They won three titles in the 70's, added two more in the 80's, and two more in the 90's. Their colors were plain black and white with the simplest uniforms you could think of. A few years ago I made a custom mini helmet for the Pirates.

It's been a solid decade since I visited my fake football league. Maybe I should update it.

Really like your logo and helmet! Very simple but beautiful in my eyes. It reminds me fo the miami Sharks from Any Given Sunday...very simple yet perfect for football. Don't need to have complex uniforms for the mto be nice.

[Rockstar Matt]

I used to do colleges more. Florida Tech Lightning and Vermont Maple Syrup Gathers. Pretty sure I stole Lightning from Tampa Bay, and Maple Syrup Gatherers was a joke I think i heard somewhere, but I did uniforms and everything.

You guys aren't alone.

I had leagues, but didn't go as far as naming players. I saved the stadiums for baseball . . . because drawing assymetrical bandboxes was more fun than drawing football stadiums.

'red, your 76ers would have had to battle my Jackson Magnolias for the Mississippi market. The Polar Bears would have been fighting the mighty Anchorage Anchors, who were a dynasty back in the 70s.

Somehow I'm not surprised that multiple members of this board created imaginary football leagues as a kid, nor am I surprised that everyone's league contained a team in Alaska.

I went a slightly different direction - I didn't expand the NFL, but made a separate minor league for states that didn't have NFL teams. My league featured the Anchorage Admirals, Maine Lobsters, and the New Mexico Conquistadors.

/threadjack

Mine was a rival league, which initially consisted only of teams in states beginning with M . . . because the idea hit me while I was perusing the "M" volume of the World Book Encyclopedia. That limitation lasted about 30 minutes once I realized that even the M states only got you so far. However, it does explain why there were teams in Jackson, MS and Lansing, MI (the Lancers, if you must know).

Man, it's good to know I wasn't the only one who did this.

As a kid for a school project, I had to come up with a new board game. I made mine a football board game complete with 12 teams initially. It was so well received by my class and my friends that two friends and I myself expanded on this idea and ran with it. We played this game for a solid 4 years! We created a massive league consisting of 150+ teams with a minor league of about 80 teams with promotion and relegation between the two leagues. Each team had a helmet design and one uniform. We played around 200 seasons while keeping stats for playoff appearances, conference titles and championships including a detailed stat sheet of who won in this particular year and who was the runner up.

Example: Year 47 Pirates def. Panthers

I was a weird kid too.

[garydavison]

we were/are a bunch of sports nerds lol

[Norva]

I made a bunch of imaginary leagues as well as a kid, in fact games like Out of the Park Baseball still fuel that for me now. I have a fictional league I made, with 3 levels of minors, all teams I made. Everyone has logos, uniforms etc.

[JayMac]

I'm gonna continue the sports nerd jack of this thread. I had a football league called the USFA. It had a team in each state. And very simply, the team adopted the colors of the most popular college team in that state. I also had an expansion era where each state had two teams. I haven't done anything with it recently but I think I'll pick it back up.

But let me make a relevant statement to this thread. I think the Rams are returning to LA.

[kewp80]

I remember when I was a kid I created the Ultimate Baseball League which had the City League, which had teams named after cities obviously, and the Street League which had teams named after local and famous streets. Made hand drawn logos for all teams and even drew stadiums for some of the teams. Loved some of the Street League team names I came up with. My childhood street the Bonny Linn Bombers, the Beale St. Blues, Lake Shore Shooters, Golden Gate Guards, Pennsylvania (Ave.) Pols and even had the audacity to make the Strip Strippers

I also created the Canadian Arena Football League in my teens in the AFL's heyday on NBC. Created the teams on Madden then had a forced expansion when the Arena video game. Had a lot of cool history in that league. Maybe I could do that as a concept series, for both of them

I still make fictional leagues in OOTP too. Creating a league from the 1870's onward making my own history and such from old teams who started the NL way back in the day. Such as the Mutual Baseball Club and Allegheny Baseball Club. Thinking of making it more of a soccer like league structure with just city or club names and just a single league with no postseason, and possible promotion and relegation.

EDIT: Perhaps, mods, we should have a new separate topic for this. We've gotten pretty off topic here. Haha.

[TheOldRoman]

I didn't make a fantasy league as a kid, but about ten years ago I created an Alaka U team in NCAA football. Their colors were similar to the Carolina Panthers, but with a lighter blue and very little black. The road jerseys were solid white with blue accents, and white numbers outlined in blue to simulate a blizzard. This is how I avoided studying in college. I have to hook up my Gamecube now to find out what the hell I named the team. I want to saw Snowmen.

[HedleyLamarr]

My nerdy things involving competitions involved a wooden peg-based football game and a Snakes-n-Ladders game.

For the wooden football game, I had a 12-team league involving 6 pro teams and 6 college teams. For each game, teams got two possessions per quarter, all starting from their own 20. Using two dice, the cumulative roll determined each offensive play (2 was touchdown pass, 3 was defensive interception, 4 was 20-yd run, 5 was 10-yd QB sack, 6 was 5-yd pass, 7 was incomplete pass, 8 was 5-yd run, 9 was 25-yd pass, 10 was no-gain run, 11 was defense recovering fumble, 12 was 30-yd pass). Offense got 4 downs to gain 10 yards or score (any forward-moving play could score...i.e. a 25-yd pass if you were on the opponent's 15 yard line would give you a touchdown). A turnover let the defense get the ball at the spot of the turnover (Interceptions moved the ball back 10 yards), and the defense-turned-offense would get to move the ball without it being one of their two drives for the quarter. (So Team A could fumble at their own 20, Team B can score off of that turnover, then Team B would go right back on offense on their own 20 after scoring a touchdown or FG.) Field goal attempts were based off of position of the field and the roll of the dice...a FG attempt from the 5 needed a roll of 3 or better to score 3 pts, or a FG attempt from the 40 needed a roll of 10 or higher to convert the FG. Overtime rules were the same as college football. Two-point conversions involved one play from the defense's 5-yd line...any positive offensive play gave you the 2 points. For a safety, the defense got the option of taking the two points and starting a new possession, or continue this possession by placing the ball at the 50 yard line and try to score a touchdown or FG. Teams had three options for 4th downs: attempting a FG (if they were on the defense's half of the field...possession ends after any FG attempt), going for the first down or touchdown (possession ends if offense doesn't get first down or touchdown or turns ball over via INT/fumble), or punting (roll 1 dice, multiply number rolled by 10, defense gets to continue possession). If the offense turns the ball over, and the defense turns the ball over on the same possession...that possession is over. Teams were divided into a Pro and College division, played a home-and-home division schedule and once vs. the other division (16 game schedule). 4 teams made the playoffs, single elimination.

For Snakes-n-Ladders, one dice was used. Teams were the color name for the magnetic marker (Red, Green, Brown, etc.). League had gotten up to 14 teams. Basically, the road team rolled first, then the home team, and you'd move the number of spots the dice showed. The ladders and snakes were disregarded....basically, you'd roll the dice and try to get to 100 first. Scores and score-keeping obviously resembled a basketball game. Teams were divided into two divisions and played home-and-home vs the division and once vs. the other division (21 game schedule). A variety of postseason formats were used, as every team played in the postseason tournament (akin to college basketball)....sometimes a 1-14 bracket, sometimes a bracket formed by finish in the division (Div. A #1 vs. Div. B #2, Div. B #1 vs. Div. A #2, Div. A #3 vs. Div. B #4, and so on). When the league had 8 teams, a double-elimination bracket (like college baseball) was used.

[The_Admiral]

I had a backyard wrestling federation. My friend had lots of costumes from theatre and stuff, so we used those a lot. I once played a Scottish wrestler. I thought I was a pretty convincing pastiche of Rowdy Roddy Piper, then my friend's older sister came home and asked why I was wearing her Catholic schoolgirl skirt.

[HedleyLamarr]

then my friend's older sister came home and asked why I was wearing her Catholic schoolgirl skirt.

Hope her skirt was being worn around your head after you had her get into a compromising position....

[The_Admiral]

I didn't have that kind of game at 11.

[FiddySicks]

Anchorage. LOL

When I was a kid I had a pretend football league with 12 teams and histories dating back to 1970, hand drawn uniforms through the years, and made up players for every team. The Alaska Polar Bears were one of those teams. They played in Anchorage in a domed stadium called The Alaska Dome.

I was a weird kid.

Your Alaska Polar Bears would have been no match for my Mississippi 76ers*. The 76ers** played in a stadium right on the Mississippi River. You could watch the steamboats at halftime.

I was a weird kid too.

*I was 10 and I thought 76ers was a cool name.

**I added the 76ers and the Kentucky Hillbillies to the then 26 team NFL.

Neither of your teams would've been a match for my Northern California mining-town powerhouse team, the Sonora Stripes. Best team in the Cal-Nev League (CNL). Had a bunch of mini helmets made up, too.

I'm still weird.

[Cosmic]

I held back on posting this because it was a little off-topic, but since it's way more on-topic than imaginary leagues...

"Most" of the money from the Bills sale will go to the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, focused exclusively on the Detroit and Buffalo areas.

[The_Admiral]

That's really cool. I'm all in favor of helping out our Great Lakes cities. I don't know how much "most" is, but coming out of $1.4 billion, that's a lot of money that can do a lot of good.

[sc49erfan15]

I had a backyard wrestling federation. My friend had lots of costumes from theatre and stuff, so we used those a lot. I once played a Scottish wrestler. I thought I was a pretty convincing pastiche of Rowdy Roddy Piper, then my friend's older sister came home and asked why I was wearing her Catholic schoolgirl skirt.

Yep, had one of those too, the TWF - Trampoline Wrestling Federation, complete with belts made from a big cardboard box. We recorded theme songs on a cassette tape that we'd come out to, played from a boombox. The costumes and entrances were more fun than the actual wrestling. I had a sports-centered character that wore jerseys all the time (I was Cena before Cena was Cena!) and another one called "The Masked Idiot" that did stupid things that somehow made him win.

Man, I miss that.

Back to your regularly scheduled NFL relocation thread (or probably not)...

[Sport]

I didn't make a fantasy league as a kid, but about ten years ago I created an Alaka U team in NCAA football. Their colors were similar to the Carolina Panthers, but with a lighter blue and very little black. The road jerseys were solid white with blue accents, and white numbers outlined in blue to simulate a blizzard. This is how I avoided studying in college. I have to hook up my Gamecube now to find out what the hell I named the team. I want to saw Snowmen.

It's crazy how similar this is to my NCAA Football 2004 created team the Alaska University Inuits. Even the colors are the same.

[Cosmic]

That's really cool. I'm all in favor of helping out our Great Lakes cities. I don't know how much "most" is, but coming out of $1.4 billion, that's a lot of money that can do a lot of good.

Assuming they actually mean most, you could take just half of the sale money, split that $700M in half between Buffalo and Detroit, and it would still be the biggest Buffalo-specific charity. It's a pretty big deal.

[ninersdd]

Interesting NFL to Dodger Stadium?

http://www.si.com/nfl/2014/10/07/dodger-stadium-los-angeles-nfl-team-relocate

[CubsFanBudMan]

It has been stated for years that Chavez Ravine is the NFL's preferred destination. Guarantee it's in this thread, but good luck finding it.

I believe the first dent in the Farmers armor was when the report came out that they'd rather be in Chavez.