thundercleetz

They can thank the Marlins for that. Wow did the city get screwed in that deal.

I would like to think that but we are still seeing massive amounts of money being handed out. Where are you getting this feeling from?

Happy birthday!

I could see it go both ways in ten years. Either the NFL continues exploding in popularity through sponsorships, television deals, and international expansion (Jags to London, Bills to Toronto). Or I could see the NFL as a bubble that over expands and saturates its product. Regardless, I see the problem you've identified above as getting better. Teams with a stadium in a prime location are going to be more inclined to renovate as opposed to new construction (less cost). Furthermore, a lot of these old owners asking for new stadiums are value rich, but not necessarily rich with liquidity (sports teams have exponentially increased in value turning owners who bought these teams for a few million into billionaires). In other words, the new money owners coming into the league might be in a better position to help contribute to a project if they want some of the luxuries above and beyond a functional stadium. We've seen this already with Biscotti privately funding improvements to M&T since taking over. Private colleges, and some public, for years have been able to fund their own stadiums through private fundraising. Maybe this could be a model for future improvements to pro stadiums as well, to a degree. However, a state owned facility has just as much motivation to upkeep a stadium and keep it as revenue generating. I don't ever see Bisciotti moving the team. Especially with how much he spent on the Castle in Owings Mills. I think he and the team will be fair with their demands in 2024. Anyways, I'd be in that boat that would pay a little higher taxes to keep the Ravens/O's if it came down to it.

It's no coincidence that the Ravens extended M&T naming rights until the exact year the lease runs out. We are going to see the exact scenario you explained above in 2024 and renovations to M&T Bank stadium.

Happy birthday!

Sorry to change the topic again but I'm a huge WWE fan and I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean pre-2000s? After the steroid prob in the early 90s (which was complete BS with what was going on in baseball), the WWE (then WWF) emphasized sports entertainment to avoid being governed by sports state commissions like boxing and MMA. WWE is coming to Portland on December 10. As far as demand in the South or Midwest, Indy, Charlotte, Nashville. No doubt in my mind one of these cities would vie for a team. Indy has a wildly popular AAA team (my wife is from Indy and the games are a blast to go to, beautiful stadium in the heart of downtown with sufficient expansion potential). Indiana University in nearby Bloomington is among the top attendance in NCAA for baseball. Charlotte just built a brand new AAA ballpark. Nashville is a baseball crazy town with huge support for both the AAA team and Vanderbilt. Louisville, Omaha, New Orleans, and Columbus could also do a lot better job then some current MLB cities.

Well, San Jose already said they would build a stadium. City even filed a lawsuit against the MLB for blocking the move. Beyond San Jose, I think you would be very surprised. If an MLB team openly declared they were looking to relocate, baseball is enormous in the South where there aren't as many pro franchises. I am sure there is a greedy, fame crazed politician who will do whatever it takes to build a stadium. On a completely different cultural spectrum, I bet Portland would try for a team. They are already trying for the Raiders. There is a new documentary on how baseball crazy Portland is. http://blog.seattlepi.com/baseball/2014/04/11/a-rival-for-the-seattle-mariners-portland-eyeing-oakland-as-for-possible-relocation/

I think it is an interesting discussion. I get where you are coming from, nearly all economic data suggests no positive economic impact of sports stadiums to a community. But it's almost like a reverse race to the bottom, if one city doesn't pay for a stadium, another will. If a community wants to publicly fund a stadium, then that's their decision I guess. Sure, not everyone will be happy, not how is that different than anything else? Anyways, I think it is a very interesting topic with all the adverse economic data out there. I mean San Antonio with an NFL team? Crazy! Although the Saints did average over 62,000 fans on short notice for their three games in San Antonio.

I love the Miller deal, the guy has an exceptional K/9 of nearly 15. We now have two legitimate set up men in Miller and O'Day. Miller also allows Matusz to be an exclusive lefty specialist. Great move. Never much of a fan of Eduardo Rodriguez. Scouts say he isn't much more than a reliever, kind of reminds me of Radhames Liz.

Samardzija is under contract through next season, but I am sure Lester is gone after this season. I do not think Cespedes is that big a loss for them, he was only under contract through 2015. They will have one more run next year. Remember, the A's will get A.J. Griffin and Jarrod Parker back in the future; two young, very good pitchers. They will be fine for the future, but are certainly all in this season. I completely agree. It's absolutely ridiculous how the MLB will not let the A's move to San Jose when the city is more than willing to build a new stadium and the A's GAVE the Giants that territory as a goodwill jester years ago to help them get a new stadium.

Yeah because holding Rocky Coppinger, Matt Riley, Hayden Penn, Daniel Cabrera, Brian Matusz, Jake Artieta (before he flamed out), Adam Loewen, and many other "top" prospects worked so well. Luckily we could salvage Zach Britton's career but that looked extremely bleak up until this season. I am not saying you are wrong in theory, I am saying I have no confidence in the Orioles developing a stud pitcher. No way I trade Gausman, looks like we managed not to mess him up. But Harvey and Bundy, especially with their arm issues, I'd absolutely be open to trading them.

It's a no win for us. We trade them and they flourish for someone else, or we keep them an they blow out their arms.

I'm sure Frank Walker is out there ready to play.

Don't like to see anyone hurt but glad to see Jerrigan is OK. Urban was considered a raw prospect when we drafted him. We essentially redshirted Lewis-Moore last year, so we could see a similar rehab with Urban where he comes back ready to play next season.

I'm not sure about that picutre specifically, but here's what I found: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_burn http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichtenberg_figure

No guaranteed salary. From a football standpoint he poses no risk. He is an extremely talented player. From a media standpoint, can it get any worse?

Great bounce back from a potentially slump starting loss on Friday night. Let's keep the homers coming today and take the series!

I didn't listen to the call but having worked in customer service myself, I heard other companies would use Comcast calls as examples of bad customer service haha.

I watched the Pilot on Netflix and didn't watch the next episode. I thought the pilot was good, but nothing gripping that made me want to watch more.

Anyone see the O's clinch homefield advantage in the World Series last night?

Sounds kind of unnecessary to arrest him for that.

This is a dumb quote but ironically there is a sad, unintended truth behind it. The world will adjust in one way or another, however, like the dinosaurs, how many people will die as a result? The sad part is it will take death before action is taken and by then it will be too late. Humans will continue living on earth, I have no doubt about that. However, there will be a significantly smaller population, and habitable land will only be available to those who can afford it. Those that perish will be the less fortunate.

Wow I can't believe that story! It would be funny if your brother destroyed the dish. I worked in customer service and there are a few key words that automatically deserve attention: attorney, supervisor, and BBB. Your brother doesn't have to be serious, but if he mentions he is going to get his attorney, they have to escalate the situation. Same with saying he will file a BBB complaint. Have him write down the full name and extension of every associate and manager he speaks with and that usually gets things going as well. Force, what are you doing posting at 3 AM? Lol

If we win tomorrow, we take the series and head into the break ten games over .500. I'd be very happy with that. Plus, I'm going to the game so a win would be awesome.