another ballpark auction

[Frayed Knot]

Nymr83 wrote: Why was St Louis stupid enough to build the stadium without ironclad gaurantees? If I were a municipality, I wouldnt pay for a stadium (I'd maybe go so far as to offer a tax break or supporting road improvements for privately financed one, but i'm iffy even on that), but if I were to build one, there'd be so many doomsday clauses that the franchise would be afraid to even mention moving, they'd have to gaurantee 8 home games per year for 40 years or face heavy fines if they reneg.

In theory that's fine - and personally I agree with everything you say - but when the NFL dangles a team in front of the city fathers and tells them to pay up or we'll go elsewhere very few politicians (even the ones who actually want to) are strong enough to resist that and go down with the label that THEY were the ones who let the team slip away and allowed the city to fall into second-class status.

That ironclad type deal is what the Islanders have on Long Island..and it's a horrible situation for everyone.

Except there the building is only part of the problem.
The main one is that previous absentee ownerships ceded over control of things like parking revenue, merchandising, concessions to an outside entity via a very lengthy deal. Throw in a too-long TV deal which has gone from best in the league to barely adequate during its life span and they've severely capped their income as other teams have grown theirs. It's still a shitty situation but it's mostly of the team's own doing.

[Guest jwmann2]

If I was going to buy advertisements, this year wouldn't be the year to do it. What's next? Mets tickets on Groupon? : )

[Edgy MD]

Welcomec jwmann! (Have we met?)

[Guest attgig]

not to make this a football thread, but.. really? london? imagine if the chargers have to fly to london for a monday night game and then having to fly back for a thursday game? that would suck. even east coast teams would have a trip that's longer than a cross country flight.

bring the concorde back...

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

If I was going to buy advertisements, this year wouldn't be the year to do it. What's next? Mets tickets on Groupon? : )

Ha! That's silly!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Could they arrange it that the teams that go to London for a road game do so in the week before their "bye" week?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Could they arrange it that the teams that go to London for a road game do so in the week before their "bye" week?

That's exactly what they've done each of the years they've played that game.

[Edgy MD]

And, somehow, the London Rams get eight bye weeks.

[Guest attgig]

Edgy DC wrote: And, somehow, the London Rams get eight bye weeks.

exactly.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Edgy DC wrote: And, somehow, the London Rams get eight bye weeks.

That's Brent A.F.C to you.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Edgy DC wrote: And, somehow, the London Rams get eight bye weeks.

Boo-hoo! It's the NFL. They get stomped on by 300-pound lineman for a living. They can't deal with an extra two hours in an airplane once in a while? And it's not like they're in coach with you and me, and the 300-pound people who aren't linemen hoarding the armrest, spilling coffee all over my book and needing to go to the lavatory every 10 minutes when they're not snoring and drooling on my shoulder. The chartered team flights are pretty cushy, they stay at a nice hotel and they play once a week. Nike will pay them to use a specially designed ProCombat Performance Pillow to sleep with on the plane and they won't have to pay $4.50 for a Snack Pack that includes a granola bar, bag of pretzels and four baby carrots.

They can deal with it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And not to mention, as far as jet lag goes, coming to the United States from Europe is easy. Jet lag is worse when flying west to east, and easy when flying east to west. And for me, the worst part of it has always been that most flights from the U.S. to Europe are red-eyes. You arrive at your destination at about 8 a.m. local time, get to your hotel at 9, and the room isn't ready for check-in yet. So you drift zombie-like around the neighborhood for a while, or crash glassy-eyed in the lobby until your room is ready for you to get a few hours sleep.

And then you're fine.

Presumably an NFL team would have the money and the influence, to arrange it so that a comfy bed is waiting for the players when they arrive. Or better yet, they could charter a flight that would have them arrive at a more convenient time.

If any major American sports league could handle a European franchise or two, it would be the NFL.

[Edgy MD]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Edgy DC wrote: And, somehow, the London Rams get eight bye weeks. Boo-hoo! It's the NFL. They get stomped on by 300-pound lineman for a living. They can't deal with an extra two hours in an airplane once in a while? And it's not like they're in coach with you and me, and the 300-pound people who aren't linemen hoarding the armrest, spilling coffee all over my book and needing to go to the lavatory every 10 minutes when they're not snoring and drooling on my shoulder. The chartered team flights are pretty cushy, they stay at a nice hotel and they play once a week. Nike will pay them to use a specially designed ProCombat Performance Pillow to sleep with on the plane and they won't have to pay $4.50 for a Snack Pack that includes a granola bar, bag of pretzels and four baby carrots. They can deal with it.

Really, I don't give a fig, except insofar as the issue has hijacked this thread. I was just noting that the bye week thing doesn't solve every alleged problem.

[metirish]

Plans for the Rams playing "home" games in London going pear shaped as we speak

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/03/st-louis-rams-wembley-nfl?CMP=twt_gu


The issue relates to the terms of the Rams' existing lease in St Louis, which states they must play all their home games at the Edward Jones Dome. The point was raised by the St Louis Convention and Visitors Commission (CVC) � the public agency which runs the stadium following the league's announcement of plans for the Rams to play home games in London in each of the next three years.

[ashie62]

How about a Facebook logo right next to Groupon,in every MLB park.