The Expandables

The Gipper

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken

gumby73

@the-gipper said:

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken

Ok.. this is cool & welcome back major sports!!

The Gipper

Still.....kind of a stupid name. Orcas or Sockeye Salmon would have been better

Dutch Oven

@the-gipper said:

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken

So will their arena be known as the "Krak House"?

Making their fans "Krak heads"?

Dutch Oven

@browns149 said:

Yes. It would be easier for fans of any of those teams to travel to an out of town game on a weekend. Not easy to drive to Minneapolis or Kansas City

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though.

Browns149

@dutch-oven said:

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though.

Not sure the Indians are getting too many fans from Columbus. Knowing people that live there, most of them like Cincinnati

Icecube

@mjp28 said:

Now may be a precarious time to pursue an expansion of a major professional sports franchise into your city with the team, stadium and everything else that goes along with a mega million or billion dollar investment.

But then again with the pandemic still hot is it a good opportunity for some bold investors to make a move like that.

Taxpayer funding might be scarce or virtually not available so it might have to be done with private investments and maybe tax incentives.

I guess this is what separates the big money risk takers from the rest of us.

Bro, none of the old rules apply. All sports will nose dive in revenues. How can they not?

ballpeen

@dutch-oven said:

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though.

Another factor, many of those cities host a AAA team. Then a team would have to find another location for its AAA team.

ballpeen

@browns149 said:

Not sure the Indians are getting too many fans from Columbus. Knowing people that live there, most of them like Cincinnati

It's a lot closer. It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus. Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

Dutch Oven

@ballpeen said:

Another factor, many of those cities host a AAA team. Then a team would have to find another location for its AAA team.

I'm on record that I think the Dolans eventually sell the Indians, and the new owners will move the team.

So Portland, Columbus, Montreal, etc might get the Indians instead of having to start up an expansion team.

Dutch Oven

@ballpeen said:

It's a lot closer. It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus. Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

Columbus has always been more of a Reds town, but used to skew towards the Browns in football. With the Browns being so bad for so long, that's probably changed. I know there are a lot of Steelers fans in CBus now.

Bob806

@browns149 said:

I figured that the NHL didn’t stay in Cleveland because Cleveland can’t support both NBA and NHL.

NHL is a much better product IMO

There really was no trouble there.

Brief history lesson....Gunds move the California Golden Seals from SF to Cle. Cle supports the team (Barons). Gunds work out a backdoor deal with the Minnesota North Stars, merge operations and leave Cle. Eventually that team moves to Dallas.

Gunds never truly gave Cle a great shot at the NHL. We would have supported it, the AHL Barons and WHA Crusaders drew fans just fine.

ballpeen

I don't think so. Plus, Portland doesn't deserve shit.

Dutch Oven

@ballpeen said:

It's a lot closer. It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus. Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer.

ballpeen

@dutch-oven said:

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer.

It's more about traffic and highway patrol. I drive up from Tennessee for Browns games. From the stadium in Cincy up to say OSU stadium takes about a hour and a half. Most of the drive is through rural Ohio. You can hit the gas a bit. The way up to Cleveland is populated. Seems like Troopers are sitting about every 10 miles apart bodgering up traffic. It takes nearly double the time.

The Gipper

@dutch-oven said:

Columbus has always been more of a Reds town, but used to skew towards the Browns in football. With the Browns being so bad for so long, that's probably changed. I know there are a lot of Steelers fans in CBus now.

Columbus is a FRAK town...when it comes to football and baseball. Whichever...Cleveland or Cinci...that is doing good in either sport is who they tend to go for.

The Gipper

@dutch-oven said:

I'm on record that I think the Dolans eventually sell the Indians, and the new owners will move the team.

So Portland, Columbus, Montreal, etc might get the Indians instead of having to start up an expansion team.

No...just no.

The Gipper

@bob806 said:

There really was no trouble there.

Brief history lesson....Gunds move the California Golden Seals from SF to Cle. Cle supports the team (Barons). Gunds work out a backdoor deal with the Minnesota North Stars, merge operations and leave Cle. Eventually that team moves to Dallas.

Gunds never truly gave Cle a great shot at the NHL. We would have supported it, the AHL Barons and WHA Crusaders drew fans just fine.

This is correct. The NHL Barons were only here like a year and a half. And if you were around....be aware that there was almost NO promotion of their existence even. I suspect attendance was a bit below league average....but hell, when no one knows you are there....who's gonna come?

The Gipper

@ballpeen said:

I don't think so. Plus, Portland doesn't deserve shit.

I don't know about that. Portland is one of the faster growing regions in the country. They support the Blazers pretty well. And it is all about the Benjamins.

They will NOT get an NFL team because the Seattle owner....which is the Paul Allen Trust, directed by his sister, is also the Blazers owner, and they consider Portland "Seahawk territory"...just like Jerry Jones considers San Antonio and Austin to be Cowboy territory...and that is why that city could not get an NFL team.

But...baseball for either of them....if that league eventually decides to expand....more of a possibility. Seattle Mariners do not, I believe have a stranglehold on the Portland market the way the Seahawks football team does.

The Gipper

@browns149 said:

I would also like to see the Cavs traded for the Blue Jackets. To me NHL is a FAR FAR better product then the NBA

What is stopping you from supporting the BJs....going to games in Columbus? I see that you are in New Haven WVa. And looking at map of that...you are like equidistant from Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. You could pretty easily make it to Columbus games which is only about 100 miles for you. You are closer than I am here in Wadsworth....which is about 112 miles from C-bus. I suppose you moved there from NEO?

I suppose if I were to be a fan of an NHL team it would be the CBJs.....but I really have not gotten into them.

I think you have to grow up with a team, which is probably why I am a much bigger Tribe/Browns fan than Cavs fan.....the Cavs were not around when I was growing up. They were only formed when I was like a senior in HS. I am still a fan of theirs, don't get me wrong...but the heart strings are still pulled far more by the teams you followed when really young.