Saturday, April 30, 2016

Raiders Move to Las Vegas? Call them the West Coast Raiders! Have More Fans


Was it a bluff before for ownership to visit and talk about the San Antonio Raiders?  I don't think so.  The owner is of the jet-set class.  If the business of it all wants to have a big Raiders Nation, they can at least achieve it in name.


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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

American Soccer Pyramid and New NEWS

Look at that space in Detroit.

Could there be more interplay between baseball teams like it happens in pro soccer?  More college baseball teams playing big ones like in Spring training?  Just a thought.

wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_soccer_league_system

And in News:

ESPN FC says: ESPNFC.COM
  • At a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors last week, Garber said St. Louis and Sacramento were at the front of the line for the league's next round of expansion but added that other worthy candidates, in order of priority, were Detroit, San Diego, San Antonio, Austin and Cincinnati.
And....Cincinnati.
See that?  How fast did they join the conversation.  It happens when you break crowd records.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

All in a Name: Great Lakes Megaloppers

I have blogblabbed about possible good names (relevant names) that could evoke pride correlating with a region.  And with my regional theme, I have dreamed of a mult-node place of play tag-team-towns scheme.

For soccer, I've thought of a team called Great Lakes SC.
And hockey had me first thinking about such a brand.  Cleveland and Milwaukee line the lakes and have a hockey showing.  Columbus has a lock on Ohio now and Chicago is butt up against its northern beer neighbor, so my solution was simple with tagging one team between the cities of Milwaukee and Cleveland under the name of Great Lakes.

But while I'm at it, why stay just there?  Indianapolis and Cincinnati are certainly future markets.  In the meantime, why not at minimum make them preseason stints under the Great Lakes name to help the cities buy into the brand?  And the farm teams in all of the mentioned cities can still co-exist all the same.  That's 4 new NHL cities with one team.

Certainly before the Florida Panthers playoff contention, I've beat some drums about that team moving elsewhere.  Ditto for the ugly Coyotes, who in theme, I'd like to become the West Coast Coyotes and share with the likes of Portland and/or Seattle.  But it looks like the NHL wants some wisdom in dropping anchors instead of Vancouver Grizzlies after their southern capital Thrashers fiasco.

But anyway.
There were a few names I have been toying with for the regional brand.  Yep, in relation to the sport's birth to the international coast of Canada, a South Coasters, or plainly "Coasters" or [stealing the name] North Coasters team name would be good.  I've even thought of a team named North Coast playing part-time in the Dakotas and Wisconsin or even Idaho.  North Shore or South Shore is a thought.

Great Lakes Alliance or United has more of a soccer ring to it.  Lakers seems taken in American hearts.  I've even fancied a Yankees hockey brand if the likes of Steinbrenner braved such a bold and trailblazing investment in the idea of a multinodal playing regional team.  "Fleet" has a body of water notion to freeze over.
Armada is good too.

The Great Lakes Megalopolis includes the likes of Blackhawks and Sabres country.

Look at the possibility:  wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Megalopolis 
samples: 
East Coast Whalers of Hartford and Hampton Roads

Omaha-Dakota Diesel NHL Team

Southlakes Fishermen

Midlakes Mustangs  

West Coast Coyotes in Las Vegas! or share them with Portland and/or Seattle, ditto Anchorage

bizjournals.com/bizjournals/news/2015/04/09/sportmethod.html 

To lop somebody is to chop somebody.  

Go Megaloppers!

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Friday, April 22, 2016

The Most Important American Sports

Let me just pose it as how many of my intellectual contemporaries would say it (hahahaha):

Baseball is tops.  Life is a marathon.
Football gets exciting over the years.
Then Basketball.
Hockey is a good show in towns across America.  And it would be fun to play.
And will Soccer overtake it,....or has the generational respect already arrived?  Generation Z?  Overtaking b-ball?  Indoor leagues aplenty?   
Look at revenue required in any city market for a franchise when the Business Journal Expansion cities study comes out each year.



Why doesn't the NBA buy a brewery
and brand its own beer
After a game, sometimes I wonder why athletes don't just say, "I do what I do when I do what I do", all yeast mode out of the shower.

bizjournals.com/bizjournals/news/2015/04/09/sportmethod.html

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Hometown Pitch. That's what I'm talkin' 'bout !


My city made a good pro soccer showing:

I love how the businessmen in the article talk of utilizing existing structures, like beautiful Nippert Stadium (The Wrigley of College Football... as reported by some).



Ohio United. Or call it an Ohio Divided Team. Cincinnati-Dayton Metroplex  
A good name for the newest Cincinnati team

Fantasy Expansion Example for Cincinnati

Where would a good spot be for a Soccer-Only stadium in Cinci?
   
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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Too Close to Other Sports Markets for Now Though. Sandwiched in Between is some Meat

Indianapolis- Cards, Cubs or Reds
Definitely Columbus-Reds or Indians
In the same ballpark, Louisville clashes with sports countries.
Baltimore is between Philly and D.C. for other sports
Hampton Roads on east coast Virginia is between D.C. and the Carolina country.
OKC isn't as Denver Dallas sandwiched as it once was thought to be.

Expansion takes time.  Captain Obvious says that too.
Before the 1990s, the furthest MLB team south in the southern U.S. in the American League was the Orioles until Tampa Bay landed a full-time team.  In the National League, Houston was the only thing in the heart of the country before pushing eastward into St. Louis until Denver hit mile high.  Atlanta has its dominance of the south until something like Nashville or Charlotte comes along.

Do you have any observations?


                 With MLB Expansion Comes MiLB Expansion

If you're willing to consider a chunk of miles you can make more cases of being sandwiched.  The world has shrunk.  Distance Decay.  The boob tube and even fast cars.  Regional sports networks make this claim in large chunks of mileage.  For instance, Portland is in a state of its own but between the Bay in California and Seattle in Washington.  It could be said of southern California and Phoenix holding weight with Las Vegas.  It would be a stretch in this regard to say that Albuquerque is at the bottom of a triangle for Texas, Arizona and Colorado teams.  Little Rock is Little Rock and Omaha is what it is also.

Austin has a problem.  It'd be a great and smooth venture for Major League Soccer if not for San Antonio.  And Houston, and Dallas for all the other sports.  Let San Antonio have soccer and Austin have the NHL.  Houston can fill their car with oil and drive to the heart of their state for a change.

San Jose makes its claim for northern Cali's bay area for big time soccer and hockey.  East of them, Salt Lake City touts these big two too.  All of these loosey-goosey thoughts have led me to regional brands.  Austin ice-hockey named Texas_____ (like their place as the Dallas affiliate as the Texas Stars) could make a more palatable draw out of San Antonioans and Houstonians.   I'd argue the same for Columbus, Ohio.  Carolina brands do it right.  Could Missouri do a Kansas City-St. Louis tag team in the NBA?


I have many thoughts throughout the blog.  Combining cities for a team is some.  Compromises like San Marcos for Austin and San Antonio, and an NFL tailgating destination in Alabama created out of thin air, building up an entire town.  What do you got?

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 a tad more samplage':  
NFL Regional Teams
Transteleportation of Sports Spectatorship

Detroit Arsenal Major League Soccer Expansion Team 

Major League Baseball in Vancouver and Montreal. Make it one team. North Country Lumberjacks
Major League Baseball in Portland and Charlotte 

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Best Guess for Next

NHL:  Las Vegas and Quebec City

MLS:  Charlotte, St. Louis, San Antonio and Sacramento

NBA:  Seattle and Louisville

NFL:  Louisville or Toronto in the east.  Out west is Portland or Oklahoma City.  Jacksonville will move from the Navy town.  London?

MLB:  Portland and Charlotte.  And Tampa will move to Montreal.
                                            Whatcha' think?

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Franchises. They're Sports FRANCHISING. Brands in Sports

And the question is, is this more important than your town?

What if the NBA has advertisements on player jerseys?

In Little League, aka Knothole, I had Colonel Sanders's face on the back of my jersey.  Glad to have the jerseys and not pay for them.  Before people ate some chicken in town, they could wait by looking at one of the development teams with the town or neighborhood's name on the front.


I can't tell you how to feel.  How do you feel about seeing Coca-Cola on the Cincinnati Reds some day?  Personally, I feel cheap seeing a product association with my town when I'm trying to root on a guy.  I don't care if guys are getting rich off of Coke in Atlanta.  Or employed by them for that matter.  I try not to remember that the millionaire on the field is illiterate, although likely a hard worker.  And making millions.  I suppose that's why I watch a hell of a lot less sports than I did.  The older, the less I do.  Ballerina wrist flips of the bat at the plate or gyration Too Live Crew dances after expected results are made.  Oh well.  The Reds are HERE.  Coke is EVERYWHERE. 

Would it change your mind to see non-profits on jerseys?  What about Charities?  What about ones in which the executive officer in the charity doesn't live 2,000 times more monetarily than you do?


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Teams across the water. Geographic Observation

When you think about a stadium across the water do you think the Meadowlands in New Jersey to NYC?
Yankees old and new

Tampa Rays housed across the bay in St. Pete
Across "town" in Anaheim?
Maryland for the Redskins
Oakland and San Fran in the Bay
I wouldn't put it past Covington or another Kentucky suburb to lull tailgating across the Ohio River from Cinci someday.
 Got anymore?
East Rutherford, NJ with NYC skyline in the background.
With a population that more than doubles most cities, football can be had in the New York area every week of the season to represent that amount.  Think LA basketball and Chicago baseball also.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Minor League Football. The Junior Varsity so to speak

College should be a place of Higher Learning.  We should put together a minor league system for the NFL.

Peruse through these posts:
Minor League Football. The Better Idea?
Let's say 32 Minor League Football Teams

Minor League Football Affiliations and Brands
Minor League Football Affiliations and Brands. Part II 

UFL and Arena Football filling a Void?
 Arena football has teams in Portland and Orlando unlike the NFL.
Bolder CFL Expansion 
   prosportsexpansion.blogspot.com/     

What's Going on with Expansion/Relocation. 500 Postesses' in Blog Idea Land

Some 25 months have gone by since a lackluster consolidation outside of the Business Journal could be found in the world wide web via the information super highway, spurring this blog of maybe-expansions in all the sports.  Some bloggerations found here are short mentions of news buzz rumor.  Some posts are ramblings of the start of an idea.  No doubt it might culminate into more half-assed pictures of pretty jerseys for future teams alongside congratulations and sorry-for-your-losses to the likes of Saint Louey'.  The blog probably started with the dilemma that is something like the Oakland stadium situation, or stupidity of constant big league ball in St. Petersburg, and ended up being periodic reading and reiterations while sipping cold coffee and refining ideas.  And no doubt the ideas will evolve as realities are realized amidst my map wanderlust for sharing the love.

What's going on in the world a decade and a handful past the 2,000 year mark?:  Leagues are expanding via media, whether it's some Euro League soccer feetballs or tackle feetball going to Beijing as some gladiator display.  More such melding is occurring in the likes of London as if we have some sort of exchange program going on with different takes on football.

Big businessmen and taxpayers are still squabbling over who has the privilege to pay for theaters hosting sports accolades in our society of attitude to buy on emotion in a passive income society where our richest and poorest have the best insurance policies on the gamble.  And so Oakland and Tampa may start to care more about the affordability and appeal that is Major League Soccer as St. Louis no doubt will.

MLS offers the most hope for most of the populations in the coming decade.  San Jose has two.  San Antonio will no doubt be sooner than later.  Austin probably will be holding the pot, even when they deserve ice hockey more than Las Vegas does.         

The Rams will be back home in LA.  About time!  And they will try to hog more such spoils from another city.  Los Angeles wants to go big AND go home.

Montreal chimes in now with fever pitch each year to make the likes of Charlotte and Portland wonder about their chances.  Sacramento and San Jose want in on more action just as much as San Antonio.

Las Vegas, Quebec and Ontario will get the hockey, but how soon?

Louisville lies in wait for the NBA.  And Seattle wonders what the hell and when as Las Vegas builds and grows.  The questions are pulled back and forth whether to contract or expand, whether the math is tugged on inflation-of-talent or the dollar in markets.  And no doubt the big 3 leagues love to teeter on contraction with the cities-in-wait as a good insurance fall back for relocation.

But yeah, as the other 2 in the Big Five, Hockey and Soccer are most active and hopeful.  Toronto will likely double up on hockey before it finally gets the NFL though.

Lying in wait:
MLB:  Montreal, Charlotte.  Wild Card:  Portland.  A ballsy innovation I'd like to see:  Montreal-Vancouver sharing a brand.  See my North Country Lumber'Jacks idea.  They could justify western division alignment and Carolina could slide into the east.
NFL:  Portland, Toronto, Louisville.  Wild Card:  Birmingham, Las Vegas.
NBA:  Seattle, Louisville.  Wild Card:  KC
And these leagues have so much room.  And we'll see Expansion from these Guys Soon:
NHL:  Austin.  But first, Las Vegas, Quebec City, Toronto.......um, Seattle or Portland.  Wild Cards:  Indianapolis.  Ballsy action I'd like to see:  A rebirth of the Kansas City-Omaha sports alliance (see KC-Omaha Kings) and a Cleveland-Milwaukee Great Lakes alliance of some sort with consideration for Indianapolis and Cinci.
MLS:  Austin, San Antonio, Arizona (let it be Tucson), Sacramento, St. Louis, Charlotte and all the other major league cities in the next couple decades.

My ideas of co-location on expansion could take care of some of this frustration of void and questionable markets, some mentioned above.
Consolidate:  Bring in the East Coast Expos as Charlotte and Montreal.  Make the West Coast Athletics with Portland, Las Vegas and/or Vancouver.  Make the Rays "Southland" and do time in Nashville.  Or move them to Tennessee to split time with Memphis and/or New Orleans.

Look at what could've been done with the Clippers as a West Coast brand.  Or even the Warriors.  Seattle would be taken care of in such a share.  And again, Las Vegas.  Raiders ditto.  Coyotees ditto.  Some kind of new West Coast Chivas ditto (See:  The Chivas should've been moved to Las Vegas Part-Time

What are some East Coast and West Coast combo'nations you could see in each of the leagues?
Here's another example I see:  East Coast Whalers of Hartford and Hampton Roads



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Saturday, April 9, 2016

Will Las Vegas Beckon the NBA?

Wouldn't this oasis city love some West Coast Warriors action?

Think "Embassy Jerseys".

The City.  Golden State Embassy in Las Vegas.  "Neighbors'" jerseys.  So many ways to market it.

We pretty all much know that they'll be announced as an expansion for the National Hockey League.  Will they build more and land Major League Soccer next or be Aces high in basketball?

http://www.si.com/nhl/2016/04/06/nhl-expansion-team-las-vegas-new-arena 

More substance:  Click 'em.

Las Vegas Sin



...and more substance.
Lull or lure.
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 prosportsexpansion.blogspot.com/     

New Arena. Newer look for a League. Volleyball

Bolster professional Volleyball in Las Vegas.  Showcase it like crazy.
Logically, with a nice arena in town and being a place of meeting flair, the thing to be after hockey points towards landing an NBA team and Las Vegas makes for an almost olympic gathering place.
Turn the volleyball league into a more constant tournament atmosphere.  Market it exponentially by dedicating an entire television network to the game.

Let's have a competing alternative to basketball.
si.com/nhl/2016/04/06/nhl-expansion-team-las-vegas-new-arena



Crosley Field - Big League Dreams - Las Vegas  ...and Fenway..and and.


Could Volleyball be the Next Big Five or Six Sport?



Sabina
Pro in France

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

Shorten the season. Stretch the brand

Balls are freezing off.  Not cool.
More butts in seats, but not cold seats.  Less games, more urgency to get to games by fandom, as in more of "absence makes the heart grow fonder".

Starting and ending the baseball season with coffee or hot cocoa isn't cool.  Neither is a cold vibrating bat.  Ever feel that sting in your hands?

How about mid April to September?  And thematically throughout my blog it is written, let's play some games in the likes of Las Vegas, Monterrey and Charlotte.  I'm not all about expansion.  I'm for the season contracting a bit.



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Saturday, April 2, 2016

Omaha-Dakota Diesel NHL Team

Or Nebraska-Dakota Diesel?

Wouldn't that be an awesome pro tag-team?

North of the Stars and sandwiched between lands of the Avalanche and Wild, firmly in college hockey country.  Only thing in town?  Maybe not.  Biggest?  You bet.  Stick that in your Vegas and bet it while ignoring the likes of Seattle, Portland, an arguably sports saturated Milwaukee and Indianapolis markets.


I like my unconventional Midlakes idea also, which includes Austin, Texas, further south:  Midlakes Mustangs NHL 

But yeah, Ontario deserves another one as well as a Nordique re-landing.

The NHL in Lincoln-Omaha
Dakota NHL Team
Southlakes Panthers NHL
Longitudinal Map of North American Big Pro Sports
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