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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 18815
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 20112 Location: Sampa
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Posted: 02/16/05 1:26 pm ::: |
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Most major leagues, in the US and abroad, have had lockout seasons. It's not the end of the world and it'll eventually happen with the W.
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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 18815
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Posted: 02/16/05 1:47 pm ::: |
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Most major leagues are HUGE enterprises, not secondary leagues, like the NHL and the WNBA.
Major League Baseball, NFL, and NBA can all tolerate it, and still come back because of the people's passions for the sport, and I mean the MAJORITY of the people.
The NHL and the WNBA are niche sports IMO still, and any kind of lockout like this will result in a huge negative backlash to the sport.
I guess we'll see.
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pilight
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 66773 Location: Where the action is
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Posted: 02/16/05 2:01 pm ::: |
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BCBG25 wrote: |
Most major leagues, in the US and abroad, have had lockout seasons. It's not the end of the world and it'll eventually happen with the W. |
Not many have cancelled entire seasons.
_________________ Let us not deceive ourselves. Our educational institutions have proven to be no bastions of democracy.
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 20112 Location: Sampa
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jimmyk
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 4028 Location: Bristol. TN
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Slovydal
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 12205 Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Posted: 02/16/05 11:05 pm ::: |
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Jimmy,
I passed through Bristol for a minute about this time last year.
The place was a trip. We drove under a sign that said Bristol. We drove up the street. We drove back down the street. We went on our way...
Honestly, there was something kinda creepy about the place.
I felt like I was in a freakin' John Waters film! lol!
So...Uh...What do people do there?
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jimmyk
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 4028 Location: Bristol. TN
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Posted: 02/16/05 11:29 pm ::: |
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Sounds like you went down State Street. There's obviously not too much there. The train station looks a lot better now than it did then. They almost had an Amtrak stop here once...
There are two things this Bristol is known for...Bristol Motor Speedway and it is the Birthplace of Country Music. That's basically it. Twice a year, 155,000 rednecks cruise in for race weekends while the rest of the locals leave town for the week. If you ask Nascar fans, Bristol is usually the favorite track. It's nearly impossible to get tickets to either race...especially the night race in August.
The BCMA (Birthplace of Country Music Alliance) just got going a few years ago. There's a museum for it someplace or the other. It's not in the mall anymore, thank goodness...that was a silly idea.
And I'm sure you know from your trip that there are really two Bristols...one in Tennessee and one in Virginia, separated by the afore-mentioned State Street. It's really goofy...you can stand on one side with a phone and have to call long distance to the other side of the street.
I'll stop there...it is a pretty good place to live, as the sign says. I'm just glad they fixed the lights in the sign...it looks pretty good nowadays.
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Slovydal
Joined: 17 Nov 2004 Posts: 12205 Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Posted: 02/17/05 12:24 am ::: |
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Yeah, that's right - We went up state street.
I had about two hours sleep on a plane from LA to DC - picked up my friend and drove to Knoxville. I think we stopped in Bristol assuming we'd find a place for lunch. I was so tired the whole thing was really surreal.
State street reminded me of that Twilight Zone where that couple was stuck in that town and could never leave...
I rememeber the sign that said The Birthplace of Country Music" Tennessee is cool in a real laid back kinda way.
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jimmyk
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 4028 Location: Bristol. TN
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Posted: 02/17/05 10:34 am ::: |
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There are a couple good places in Bristol's downtown for lunch, but if you're on highway 11E (aka Volunteer Parkway) there's more to choose from. Even better would be if you'd have stopped at Interstate 81 Exit 7 in Virginia...there are all kinds of good lunch stops there...Bob Evans, IHOP, Chili's, a couple buffet places beside the Wal-Mart, and a handful of fast food stops. And I'm probably not thinking of some things.
Anywho, downtown is getting better, it seems. It's not as bad now as it was when you were here...there are more things moving in so the majority of the buildings aren't empty. But that's only the influence of the race track. Food City hosts a big race night thing on State Street for the August race with a bunch of drivers and cool stuff like that. People like to have businesses around thousands of people for obvious reasons.
And, to kinda steer this conversation back on topic, there were a few hockey fans here, too, and most are not the influence of the Nashville team, because the ones I met were fans before they even thought about a team in Tennessee. I fear that number might fall into the single digits because of the utter insanity of those involved with the CBA barganing. But losing fans in Bristol, Tennessee, is the least of the NHL's problems at the moment.
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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 18815
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Posted: 02/17/05 10:48 am ::: |
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BCBG25 wrote: |
DTS, the NHL offered a 49 million salary cap. That's not very niche for me. For example, the NBA salary cap is almost 7 million below that thresold. They are a major league and they have enough revenue to afford that type of money. The WNBA doesn't quite fall into the same category.
I don't interpret a lockout as cancelling a season. Those are two different things. The thing is with the WNBA, there wouldn't be time to resume a season after a possible lockout. There would be uncontrollable logistics problems with the season overlapping with the NBA's not to mention the fact that the players go overseas in the winter. In the W, lockout would mean cancelling the season, but it'll happen some day, hopefully when the league has achieved major league status. Or something like that |
We're going to disagree on this one. Hockey in North America is most definitely a niche by my definition, which means limited (not nationwide) fan appeal, average at best TV contract, minimal press coverage other than ESPN who has the deal.
If you are rating the "Big 4" sports now in NA, I'd say in order Football, Basketball, Baseball (maybe 2 and 3 swap), NASCAR.
You say lockout in WNBA means cancel season, which is exactly why this is now something we can compare to, since the NHL has cancelled the season.
It was pretty funny, Commish B. was on ESPN radio this am on my way in, and of course, while he was on, the head of the players assoc. called in demanding equal time to rebut. I think he's looking to keep his job, because the players seem pretty divided on this one.
By the way, the players wanted 49 mill, the owners would not go that high.
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BCBG25
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 20112 Location: Sampa
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Posted: 02/17/05 11:06 am ::: |
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To afford a 49-million cap, one has to have the tv deals and the fanbase. It could be niche as in not as wildly popular as football or baseball, but that type of money doesn't come the way of niche sports.
I could say, for instance, that Formula 1 is a niche sport here, but they have more money than any sports league on the planet. So I understand what you're saying, but it is a major league regardless.
They (NHL and Players' Association) negotiated for 5 months, so there was plenty of time to reach an agreement, the W season is too short for that kind of holdup.
If there's a lockout, then most certainly there would be no season. When will the current CBA expire?
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Queenie
Joined: 18 Nov 2004 Posts: 18013 Location: Queens
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jimmyk
Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 4028 Location: Bristol. TN
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Posted: 02/17/05 11:19 am ::: |
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The players are miffed. I would be willing to bet that either Goodenow gets sent out on his rump or he does a lot of rear-end kissing to keep his job. It looks to me like it's Goodenow and Bettman who are mainly at fault here...and those eight or so team owners that said that $45 million was too much money. Was there a salary floor? If there was, surely those 8 teams could've matched that. I think the players will be good to go if they know that there's a salary floor as well, if there isn't one already.
DTS has it right on this one. Hockey was becoming one of the big four in NA, but it wasn't there yet...NASCAR passed it long ago. And Bettman and Goodenow have just put it many laps behind.
Let's hope they fix the motor this summer or they may be out for good.
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dtsnms
Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 18815
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