I somewhatagree with your numbers. However, what ELSE is there in those areas that would compete with your events. Stockton had nothing prior to getting our new Arena 3 years ago, except Triple A Baseball. The Arena right away had ECHL Hockey (36 reg. season home games) and af2 Arena Football (8 reg. season home games). So now there are 4 teams competing for the local sports dollars. Add The MLB Giants and A's that are 1 1/2 hours away give or take, Raiders and Niners the same. Then there is also the Kings in Sac. About 1 hour north of us. If those Areas have little to nothing going on they could do quite well, even in a fairly small market. I also am convinced that the original Cougars owners screwed up a huge opportunity when they started the first season. Think about IFG (the owner of the Hockey and Football team) what you want, they DO KNOW sports marketing. With a better approach and no hockey the Cougars would have drawn 5-6,000 average in their first season.
It depends upon the market. The Ft. Collins-Loveland Metropolitan Area has no shortage of sports events available to consumers. First of all, Ft. Collins is home to Colorado State University and all of its NCAA Division 1 athletic programs. The city is also home to the Ft. Collins Foxes of baseball's Mountain Collegiate Summer League. Nearby Greeley, Colorado (33 miles) is also home to a MCSL team - the Greeley Grays. Neighboring Loveland's Budweiser Events Center (24 miles) plays host to the Colorado Eagles of the minor-pro Central Hockey League and the Colorado Ice of United Indoor Football. The University of Colorado's athletic programs are located in Boulder (55 miles), while the Rocky Mountain Rage of the Central Hockey League play in Bloomfield (56 miles). Meanwhile, all of Denver's major-pro sports teams are just 65 miles away. As for Wenatchee, Washington, while the region surrounding the city isn't home to anywhere near as many professional or semi-pro franchises as grace the Greater Ft. Collins-Loveland area, the Wenatchee Wild of the Junior A North American Hockey League are setting-up shop at the Greater Wenatchee Regional Events Center. The city is also home to the Wenatchee Apple Sox of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. The Stockton Ports aren't a Triple A baseball team. They compete at the Class A Advanced level.
My bad.... I know next to nothing about Baseball. Went to 4 or 5 Ports games over the years at Thirsty Thursday events (a buck a beer) and about fell asleep around the 6th Inning. A European like me can never get the excitement people get out of Baseball or even worse... GOLF..... playing, yeah, watching? BOORRRINNGGGGG. But I respect that people enjoy it, so no pun intended. Just doesn't do anything for me.
Well, this kind of matches the web listings: http://www.arenaleague.com/Canada/index_E.html PASL and CMISL The PASL and CMISL are moving forward on a partnership of cooperation for inter-league play and having the Canadian Champion as part of the PASL Championships. The CMISL will continue to be a separate organization, but would be a part of the PASL family of leagues. The leagues are also looking at all of the options to further develop the relationship. CMISL Official Web site: www.cmisl.com http://www.cmisl.com/node/16 CANADIAN MAJOR INDOOR SOCCER LEAGUE 2008 DIRECTORY Calgary United FC Edmonton Drillers Saskatoon Accelerators Winnipeg Alliance FC Although, you just gotta' love the Saskatoon Accelerators' "What's In A Name" blurb: "Scientific infrastructure is an integral part of Saskatoon's diverse economic base," noted team president Mel Kowalchuk. "Our decision to name the city's indoor side the Accelerators not only pays tribute to Canada Light Source's particle accelerator but serves as a reminder of the research being conducted at that world-class facility on the University of Saskatchewan campus. Ultimately, I believe the name helps reflect the Saskatoon of the new millennium."
Four of the US franchise names have been revealed... http://www.arenaleague.com/teams/10270975/LIST.html Western Division Colorado Lighnting (Ft. Collins, CO) Southern Colorado Stars (Pueblo, CO) Stockton Cougars (Stockton, CA) Wenatchee Fire (Wenatchee, WA)
Wow - I know this is frivolous, but those are some bland, generic team nicknames. Two of them belong to NHL teams, one to an MLS team. The best one (Cougars) belongs to hundreds of high schools and college teams around the country. They're not even GOOD generic team names - Fire? Lightning? What is this, 1993? Maybe Stockton can change their nickname to the Kougarzz. Man, that'd be totally extreme! I do like the CMISL nicknames, though...
I have to agree with you for the most part. I think the Lightning's farm team's names are so much better: FC Fury (my 1st choice) & Diblos SC. I probably would have left the Southen Colorado Stars as the Colorado Rush or at least left their farm team as the Rush because now they both have the same team name now. Cougars and Fire I would leave the same - the names have a ring to them and I like their logos. I like CMISL names too. Now if we only knew what the Liga Mexicana names were...
On the PASL website listing of PASL Pro teams for this fall, the SoCo Stars have been replaced by a team simply called "Colorado" with Denver in parentheses. Does anyone have more info?
Same owner, same franchise, different market. The Pueblo listing was premature. There will be a press conference in the next few weeks to announce a team name, but it won't be Stars (which makes sense since the Premier team will still be called the Stars).
Sweet!! In the 10 years I have lived in Denver I have been waiting for a pro indoor team to come back here. I am curious to see where they will play. The Broomfield events center would seem to make the most sense, I would think.....
OK, maybe I am being premature. The link has been changed back to Southern Colorado. I'm not going to assume anything yet......
There is a Dallas team listed on the PASL Pro web site. I am concerned about where this team thinks it is going to play. Frisco is closed this year, Allen won't be open until 2009, both arenas in Fort Worth are full with conventions and trade shows, Fair Park has no hockey boards (given to the Austin Ice Bats in 1998), and of course Reunion Arena is closed after June 30. This leaves the American Airlines Center, where they will be at least 5th in line after the Mavs, Stars, concerts/ice shows, and the Desperados. One of those 4 things are going on every Friday, Saturday, or Sunday from October to June.
Wish we had some more info on most of the teams. Owners, arenas... New York is interesting, as of now, it is the only east coast team listed. Is the NYC, or the state, or.... Just wondering
The PASL entry on Wikipedia has Denver listed as a franchise and playing at the Denver Sports Center (I am assuming they are talking about the Denver Sports Center on Evans just west of Sheridan). Does anyone have any information about this that they can share, or are there any upcoming announcements planned?
Let's Play Soccer in Denver????? Another quality PROFFESSIONAL venue. I will eat my hat if the Denver PASL-Semi-Pro-whatever team plays at the American Airlines Center.........EVER.
They'd have a hard time playing at the American Airlines Center because that's in Dallas. It's the Pepsi Center in Denver.
Whoops.............wrong city sorry about that. Maybe they can play in the parking lot of what was once McNichols. Ya know Ken with the massive expansion and scope of PASL-PRO it isn't hard to get your cities / practice facilities mixed up. You are right it is the Pepsi Center in Denver and American Airlines Center in Dallas...................and Kick Em Up and Score in Piqua, Ohio.