Sharks ECHL affiliate the San Francisco Bulls folding or moving to Fresno

[dfwabel]

Here's the link to the SF Chronicle's article on it. Essentially just the letter sans any analysis or anything. Which was part of the Bulls problem. Many in SF didn't even know about them and most of the ones who did, didn't care. Terrible sports town.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/

Yes, Daly City (and S. San Francisco) is/are a terrible sports town(s).

As a small business, the ownership must give consumers a reason to care, otherwise you will fail. When you have five Division 1 basketball schools within driving distance and two with dominant women's teams, one must compete for the discretionary sports dollar and they failed to do that.

[Muggens]

Terrible sports town.

Your judging a city on an AA team placed in a bad area? The Giants have sold out for 3+ years and the Niners haven't had a blackout since 1981.

Ignore bosrs1. When it comes to San Francisco sports teams he has raging hate for them.

[bosrs1]

If the Sharks are in San Jose, and the Bulls are also in California, how in the world does it make sense to have Worcester be the AHL affiliate?

The fact there's no AHL teams out west in the US?

[The_Admiral]

They're in Worcester because it means quick, cheap trips to Providence, Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport, Albany, and Manchester, which means their prospects have less travel time and more practice time. And since so many of the Sharks' prospects are undrafted free agents out of college, they need all the practice time they can get.

[bosrs1]

Here's the link to the SF Chronicle's article on it. Essentially just the letter sans any analysis or anything. Which was part of the Bulls problem. Many in SF didn't even know about them and most of the ones who did, didn't care. Terrible sports town.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/

Yes, Daly City (and S. San Francisco) is/are a terrible sports town(s).

As a small business, the ownership must give consumers a reason to care, otherwise you will fail. When you have five Division 1 basketball schools within driving distance and two with dominant women's teams, one must compete for the discretionary sports dollar and they failed to do that.

Don't act like the Cow Palace wasn't literally across the city line from SF. You leave the parking lot and you were in SF proper. And yes SF is a bad sports town. Unless the teams play on the near downtown waterfront no one cares. Even the vaunted Niners couldn't get a new stadium in the city in the end. SF is doing all the can to defeat the Warriors privately funded arena that most cities would fall over themselves to have built. And the Giants, while well supported now, had to have a baseball palace built within spitting distance of downtown, hire a roided out homerun hitter and then win 2 World Series to keep interest up in the team. We'll see if it lasts their next really bad spell.

[IceCap]

Terrible sports town.

Your judging a city on an AA team placed in a bad area? The Giants have sold out for 3+ years and the Niners haven't had a blackout since 1981.

Ignore bosrs1. When it comes to San Francisco sports teams he has raging hate for them.

Indeed. I'm not sure how the local ECHL team folding makes it a terrible sports town.

[CityOfWalrus]

Here's the link to the SF Chronicle's article on it. Essentially just the letter sans any analysis or anything. Which was part of the Bulls problem. Many in SF didn't even know about them and most of the ones who did, didn't care. Terrible sports town.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/

Yes, Daly City (and S. San Francisco) is/are a terrible sports town(s).

As a small business, the ownership must give consumers a reason to care, otherwise you will fail. When you have five Division 1 basketball schools within driving distance and two with dominant women's teams, one must compete for the discretionary sports dollar and they failed to do that.

Don't act like the Cow Palace wasn't literally across the city line from SF. You leave the parking lot and you were in SF proper. And yes SF is a bad sports town. Unless the teams play on the near downtown waterfront no one cares. Even the vaunted Niners couldn't get a new stadium in the city in the end. SF is doing all the can to defeat the Warriors privately funded arena that most cities would fall over themselves to have built. And the Giants, while well supported now, had to have a baseball palace built within spitting distance of downtown, hire a roided out homerun hitter and then win 2 World Series to keep interest up in the team. We'll see if it lasts their next really bad spell.

Just can't contain the raging hate boner you have for SF can you? Was the roided out home run hitter on the team when they won the 2 World Series? Umm No and why wouldn't the fans love a winner unlike the A's who can get out of the Giants shadows.

[rams80]

Here's the link to the SF Chronicle's article on it. Essentially just the letter sans any analysis or anything. Which was part of the Bulls problem. Many in SF didn't even know about them and most of the ones who did, didn't care. Terrible sports town.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/

Yes, Daly City (and S. San Francisco) is/are a terrible sports town(s).

As a small business, the ownership must give consumers a reason to care, otherwise you will fail. When you have five Division 1 basketball schools within driving distance and two with dominant women's teams, one must compete for the discretionary sports dollar and they failed to do that.

Don't act like the Cow Palace wasn't literally across the city line from SF. You leave the parking lot and you were in SF proper. And yes SF is a bad sports town. Unless the teams play on the near downtown waterfront no one cares. Even the vaunted Niners couldn't get a new stadium in the city in the end. SF is doing all the can to defeat the Warriors privately funded arena that most cities would fall over themselves to have built. And the Giants, while well supported now, had to have a baseball palace built within spitting distance of downtown, hire a roided out homerun hitter and then win 2 World Series to keep interest up in the team. We'll see if it lasts their next really bad spell.

In San Francisco's (the city) defense, when you're on a friggin peninsula, space is kind of at a premium and sports palaces are wastes of space.

[The_Admiral]

I love the plan for the arena on the pier, but maybe it would be best to redevelop the Candlestick site. And if they've had to scale it down to 18,000, it's probably not NHL-compatible anymore.

[bosrs1]

Here's the link to the SF Chronicle's article on it. Essentially just the letter sans any analysis or anything. Which was part of the Bulls problem. Many in SF didn't even know about them and most of the ones who did, didn't care. Terrible sports town.

http://blog.sfgate.com/sportsevents/2014/01/27/sf-bulls-cease-operations/

Yes, Daly City (and S. San Francisco) is/are a terrible sports town(s).

As a small business, the ownership must give consumers a reason to care, otherwise you will fail. When you have five Division 1 basketball schools within driving distance and two with dominant women's teams, one must compete for the discretionary sports dollar and they failed to do that.

Don't act like the Cow Palace wasn't literally across the city line from SF. You leave the parking lot and you were in SF proper. And yes SF is a bad sports town. Unless the teams play on the near downtown waterfront no one cares. Even the vaunted Niners couldn't get a new stadium in the city in the end. SF is doing all the can to defeat the Warriors privately funded arena that most cities would fall over themselves to have built. And the Giants, while well supported now, had to have a baseball palace built within spitting distance of downtown, hire a roided out homerun hitter and then win 2 World Series to keep interest up in the team. We'll see if it lasts their next really bad spell.

In San Francisco's (the city) defense, when you're on a friggin peninsula, space is kind of at a premium and sports palaces are wastes of space.

True, and that's part of the problem. The existing venues that can host minor league teams (and the NFL team) are all old, hard to get to and/or rundown. And the ability to build a new one is beyond minor league teams (and maybe even some major league ones as the Niners found out and the Warriors may find out).

[AndrewPF]

If the Sharks are in San Jose, and the Bulls are also in California, how in the world does it make sense to have Worcester be the AHL affiliate?

The fact there's no AHL teams out west in the US?

I guess, but it doesn't seem to make logistical sense to have 2/3 of the organization in one state and have the other piece on the opposite coast.

They're in Worcester because it means quick, cheap trips to Providence, Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport, Albany, and Manchester, which means their prospects have less travel time and more practice time. And since so many of the Sharks' prospects are undrafted free agents out of college, they need all the practice time they can get.

Ah, that does begin to make sense! I suppose I can see it better now.

[raysox]

Aren't the Warriors building a new arena in San Francisco?

Also why the hell is Worcester still using the old Sharks logo?

[bosrs1]

Aren't the Warriors building a new arena in San Francisco?

Also why the hell is Worcester still using the old Sharks logo?

The Warriors are trying to build a new basketball arena in SF. But it's run into the typical SF NIMBYism.

And I'm glad someone is still using the original Sharks logo rather than the new cartoony mess.

If the Sharks are in San Jose, and the Bulls are also in California, how in the world does it make sense to have Worcester be the AHL affiliate?

The fact there's no AHL teams out west in the US?

I guess, but it doesn't seem to make logistical sense to have 2/3 of the organization in one state and have the other piece on the opposite coast.

They're in Worcester because it means quick, cheap trips to Providence, Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport, Albany, and Manchester, which means their prospects have less travel time and more practice time. And since so many of the Sharks' prospects are undrafted free agents out of college, they need all the practice time they can get.

Ah, that does begin to make sense! I suppose I can see it better now.

It doesn't make sense to have a random AHL team out west either by itself. It's far more cost effective for the NHL team to be shipping its players cross country occasionally when they move up and down than it is to have a whole AHL team having to cross country every other week.

[JackieMoon]

It didn't take long for the ECHL's website to get rid of the Bulls' page.

The ECHL Western Conference Playoffs are pretty useless now. Not too hard to clinch a spot.

More reason why the ECHL just needs to let all the West teams form their own league.

[twi]

It didn't take long for the ECHL's website to get rid of the Bulls' page.

The ECHL Western Conference Playoffs are pretty useless now. Not too hard to clinch a spot.

More reason why the ECHL just needs to let all the West teams form their own league.

Been tried multiple times and has never worked out.

[OMMF]

If the Sharks are in San Jose, and the Bulls are also in California, how in the world does it make sense to have Worcester be the AHL affiliate?

The fact there's no AHL teams out west in the US?

I guess, but it doesn't seem to make logistical sense to have 2/3 of the organization in one state and have the other piece on the opposite coast.

They're in Worcester because it means quick, cheap trips to Providence, Springfield, Hartford, Bridgeport, Albany, and Manchester, which means their prospects have less travel time and more practice time. And since so many of the Sharks' prospects are undrafted free agents out of college, they need all the practice time they can get.

Ah, that does begin to make sense! I suppose I can see it better now.

Also, even though the Bulls were the Sharks ECHL affiliate, I believe they only had 5 people that were signed to Sharks contracts playing in San Francisco. So it's not like AirSharks needed to make multiple trips per week between California and Massachusetts.

[The_Admiral]

That's about par for the course with ECHL assignments. Generally a goalie who'd otherwise sit on an AHL bench, and a few young longshot prospects. I'd be shocked if there was a single SF-to-SJ callup during their affiliation other than maybe an emergency goalie.

[mamiller99]

Guess San Jose gets Indy?

[bosrs1]

Guess San Jose gets Indy?

If I had to guess I'd say SJ will either re-affiliate with Stockton and share the affiliation with the Islanders (not unlike they'd been doing before the Bulls came along), or they'll seek out another relatively close option like Vegas.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

So as far as I know the players are just getting dispersed. I'm friends with a girl who's boyfriend played on the Bulls (they actually just moved out there about 3 months ago) and he's getting picked up by the South Carolina Stingrays.