I guess there wasn't enough time in between patting each other on the back and taking a victory lap for "Saving the Lancers" to ask any questions...... It is truly amazing the Democrat and Chronicle can track down a chapter 7 filing in Florida but could not do any fact checking on story here in Rochester involving Rochesterians.
Things we learned today... According to the Rochester D and C this morning, apparently the Sabres and Pegula will not be taking over ownership of the Lancer's home - Blue Cross Arena. The new boss will be the same as the old boss for the next two years - SMG. Further, according to the article the Amerks and Knighthawks are both in the process of re-negotiating their own lease with the Arena. http://www.democratandchronicle.com...g-blue-cross-arena-rochester-amerks/15309287/ Then the MASL schedule came out earlier this afternoon. The Lancers have 6 Saturday night dates out of their 10 home dates. They also have a New Year's Day date, and two Sunday afternoon dates. The only real "tough sell weeknight game" is on 2/19 at 7:35PM http://masl.stats.pointstreak.com/leagueschedule.html?leagueid=1289 SS was railing against SMG and the Blue Cross Arena in his letter that shut down the last thread. As the facts are coming out regarding Blue Cross Arena and the Lancers schedule it doesn't seem like there is too much to complain about.
Indeed. Rochester's Saturday night (7pm) dates: 11/22, 11/28 Rochester's Saturday afternoon (1pm) dates: 12/20, 12/27, 1/10, 2/14
The Amerks are playing at home on the nights of 12/20, 12/27 and 2/14. Nothing showing for 1/10 in the evening, yet.
With the way they package their product (extremely kid friendly) and it being winter in upstate NY, afternoon games for the Lancers might be better for them to be honest. If parents w/ 2 kids are forced to pick between a 1PM soccer game in-which 2 of the 4 tickets are free and they are home by 4 or the 7PM hockey game that will cost more and have no free tickets, plus not get you and the kids home until 10 pm at the earliest, which are you picking? Might be a blessing in disguise they have more afternoon dates.
In the past, games ran long due to Sam overdoing it in pre-game and halftime introductions for 10-20 minutes apiece. In some cases (the game in 2012-13 where the West Webster Fire Department was honored), this was okay and appreciated. But I really hope he dials it back this year, as unlikely as it sounds.
The schedule times almost all changed after the schedules were originally posted to pointstreak this morning. Taking the schedule posted at face value and without crosschecking against all the other arena tenants ... it looked like all night games. However, (as Scott717257 said) afternoon games might work out better (I'd probably prefer them myself) ... that assumes that (as KidFlash said) whoever does the pregame and halftime festivities can keep things tight it should be fine.
Could not agree more. I believe this to be true of any minor league sport. The only exception is if the local NFL team is playing at the same time. Few people choose indoor soccer over watching the NFL. Some of the people on this board may, but we are certainly in the minority. I remember in the IHL, the Milwaukee Admirals tried it once during a Green Bay Packers game and it was a resounding disaster.
Well, at least here they've avoided that, unless the Bills somehow end up playing on January 10, which is the NFL's divisional playoff round. Even then the Lancers game starts early enough so that the team would probably swing some kind of restaurant promotion ('come to our game, then take XX off your order at the Distillery tonight with a ticket stub!').
What SS and the Lancers not telling the whole story? Jim Bob - Here's another question to ask on the show - Why did SS use the lack of a lease as one of the reasons to fold the team. None of the teams that play in the BCA had a lease on August 2nd. Did you or Jeff DiVeronica contact the BCA about the status of a lease when it was announced? How about the league office/Commissioner?
Thanks. Apparently the times changed since the MASL originally posted the schedule. If you believe that Saturday night a 7:05PM is the ideal time to draw maximum crowds for the Lancers, then the updated times are less than favorable.
In addition to signing cheaper players this year the Lancers will save on printing especially when you play the same teams over and over. Just need to double check the spelling of Syracuse. So much for creating a "Major" league of indoor soccer.
The lack of leases for any of the BCA tenants on August 2nd was an issue for the MASL that wanted all the teams to have signed leases for the 2014-15 season by that date. Sam was frustrated because the league was needling him about a lack of a lease and he couldn't get the paperwork done with the BCA because of the whole SMG/Pegula situation that was being worked out at the same time. The lease situation was just another stressor that led to the Lancers offseason not being fun for Sam.
How very generous of Sam to share his stress with the whole league via tantrums, rants, and awful publicity stunts. He's very lucky the local newspaper reporter is buried so deep in his hip pocket.
What I dont understand is why back in June (at least I think it was June), did Sam make a big point of saying on Kick This that the Lancers already had the 1 year extension on the arena signed? It was during a short speech about the Lancers not being dead after the MISL collapsed. Maybe I am totally mistaken, but when Sam makes statements like that I notice them because (based on history) you can usually be sure the opposite will be said later.
It was my understanding that MASL has no guaranteed or minimum contracts. The players are at the mercy of what Sam/Doug wants to pay and they can be cut at any time for any reason. This team was 6-14 last year. What options do these players have? I didn't Baltimore, Milwaukee or Syracuse sign them. The all have other jobs to support themselves so the can't up and move so SS/Doug could offer them almost nothing to play along with pizza gift cards, tubing passes or free advertising for their business. They are doing that with Doug Miller. How long before they advertise the goalie will change your oil or give you 15% off your bill. I thought this was professional sports?
Is anybody really surprised by the lack of truth coming from the Lancers? Sam releases it and the Democrat & Chronicle prints it. Its been happening for years....
I seem to recall the MASL league commissioner stating the same thing (about the Lancers having an arena lease in place). But what does he know?
Just guessing they could have agreed to a term sheet, which is a general agreement of terms. Kind of like, "OK, you're going to play here, it will cost X depending on Y and Z, and we'll do our best to get you the best dates available."
I was also under the understanding that the commissioner says he had a signed lease in hand for the Lancers. Maybe Kevin was mistaken.
Let's be realistic, last years Lancer's team will be one of the better teams in this league. Sam himself sited the level of this league as the following They have been running a glorified men’s league and they have no idea how amazing the MISL was. He's been playing us all along . Let's be serious the Lancers were never an MISL caliber team, they should have been in the MASL the past two years. This has been a play by Sam from day one, he needed everyone to follow and Ed Hale bit the Apple.
Hey don't dip him down or up to the old PASL teams! Seriously, I don't blame his team or even the coach although I know very little about them. Sam was the one that played the charades not his team. Even if they knew the numbers were different than what he was saying, they had families to feed. I actually feel sorry for the players.
What happened to the two for Thursday announcements? Two players and and two organizational partnerships announced every week? Couldn't make it one week huh.... Maybe next Thursday?