2016 NFL Season

[Senator Clay Davis]

Always loved Donald in Tampa, he puts up with a bunch of #### years and now he can't even play in the playoffs? Poor guy.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Ha ha ha ha. Serves them right and especially Jerry Jones as he was the one that pulled the last minute change to get the Rams the deal as it was going to be Oakland and San Diego which would have been much better for the league.

I think that's part of why Davis wants Las Vegas. Obviously a lot of Raider fans in LA, and it's short, cheap flight to Vegas for them. The Rams could play second fiddle in their own town to a team in another state lol.

[transplant99]

Chris Berman is stepping away from his hosting duties with ESPN.

Chris Berman, the network's long-time sportscaster, will no longer be the face of the network's NFL coverage, ESPN said in a statement on Thursday.

Berman, 61, will also be leaving his roles leading the network's "NFL Draft" coverage as well as its broadcasts of Major League Baseball's "Home Run Derby."

However, Berman will not be leaving the network all together. He will still make appearances on-air from time to time and will "also serve in public-facing roles on behalf of the company," according to the network.

He'll also continue to host ESPN's "NFL PrimeTime" from the field after the Super Bowl, will participate in the ESPYS, and handle play-by-play on radio for the MLB's divisional playoffs.

I find this extremely sad news, albeit not surprising, as he has looked quite haggard and worn out at times the last couple years. One wonders if there isn't a health angle to this yet to be made public.

I have watched Berman and his goofy style since satellite dishes were first introduced to us in Canada in the early 80's. No one has ever come close to being as big a personality as he has since that time when it comes to sports coverage. The guy has done it all over the decades.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/05/medi...commended_pool

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Chris Berman is stepping away from his hosting duties with ESPN.



I find this extremely sad news, albeit not surprising, as he has looked quite haggard and worn out at times the last couple years. One wonders if there isn't a health angle to this yet to be made public.

I have watched Berman and his goofy style since satellite dishes were first introduced to us in Canada in the early 80's. No one has ever come close to being as big a personality as he has since that time when it comes to sports coverage. The guy has done it all over the decades.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/05/medi...commended_pool

I always liked how he would shout out the the CFL and Grey Cup any opportunity he could. He was also at that Ti-Cats game a couple of years ago. I doubt we see a mention of the CFL by his successor.

[rubecube]

His references were getting pretty tired at this point and he was atrocious anytime they had him fill-in on announcing duties.

[GreenLantern2814]

According to Sportsnet, the Jaguars are about to name Doug Marrone head coach. The bad franchises never fail to stay bad.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Vance Joseph is the new Broncos coach. Interesting pick, probably means the end for Wade there.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Sean McDermott to Buffalo.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Vance Joseph is the new Broncos coach. Interesting pick, probably means the end for Wade there.

It wasn't really discussed here but this has been relatively well known in Denver for a bit. Even if Kubiak stayed it was likely Wade was gone, the belief is he wanted more money than Elway was willing to pay a DC. Maybe if Shanny's kid got the job he would have stayed but that's it. Time will tell how this goes but for now I'm happy with the Vance Joseph hire.

Denver is interviewing McCoy and Musgrave on Thursday for the OC spot. Not a fan of bringing back McCoy but Elway loves him some legacy hires.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I think that's part of why Davis wants Las Vegas. Obviously a lot of Raider fans in LA, and it's short, cheap flight to Vegas for them. The Rams could play second fiddle in their own town to a team in another state lol.

Isn't it a short cheap flight to OAK or SFO?

Vegas is attractive as they'd be handing over the keys to a new shiny stadium, upgrading from the tire fire they are in now.

I guess I don't see how going to vegas really sticks it to the NFL because now they 'got' LA.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Because the team in Las Vegas will be the most popular team in Los Angeles, despite there being two actual NFL teams in LA. And yes, the Chargers have officially decided they want to be the fourth choice of the LA football fan after the Rams, USC, and UCLA. They might be playing in front of 40,000 or less next year in the Coliseum. NFL is now more or less a lock to fail in LA with both teams being ignored, while the Raiders will still be the most beloved football team LA fans cheer for. But the NFL got paid, which is all that matters.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Because the team in Las Vegas will be the most popular team in Los Angeles, despite there being two actual NFL teams in LA. And yes, the Chargers have officially decided they want to be the fourth choice of the LA football fan after the Rams, USC, and UCLA. They might be playing in front of 40,000 or less next year in the Coliseum. NFL is now more or less a lock to fail in LA with both teams being ignored, while the Raiders will still be the most beloved football team LA fans cheer for. But the NFL got paid, which is all that matters.

But the team in Oakland isn't the favourite in LA? Somehow moving from the Bay Area to vegas maunfacutes fans in LA?

[Senator Clay Davis]

Manufactures new fans? No. But I guarantee you fans from LA will fly to Vegas en masse every weekend for games. You realize how much cheaper it is to fly and stay in Vegas than the Bay Area right? For someone from LA to LV, for round trip and hotel, maybe $250. Probably at least double that for the Bay Area unless you actually wanna stay in Oakland (which no one does). And so potential NFL customers for Los Angeles are off to support the Las Vegas team. Suffice to say that's not gonna help attendance for the Rams and Chargers.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Manufactures new fans? No. But I guarantee you fans from LA will fly to Vegas en masse every weekend for games. You realize how much cheaper it is to fly and stay in Vegas than the Bay Area right? For someone from LA to LV, for round trip and hotel, maybe $250. Probably at least double that for the Bay Area unless you actually wanna stay in Oakland (which no one does). And so potential NFL customers for Los Angeles are off to support the Las Vegas team. Suffice to say that's not gonna help attendance for the Rams and Chargers.

Yes I'm familiar with how vegas is cheaper than SF.

I don't know, we'll see. Sure there are tons of raider fans, but in part that's because there has been no pro ball there so what's their choice? LA is a pro sports market, a team deserves to be there. Not so sure about two but it may come down to who is doing well that particular year for awhile.

LA will have a shiney new stadium. So the lunch bucket crowd may fly to vegas for awhile, which doesn't strike me as sustainable. And the corporate money will all go to charger and rams games.

Maybe it will be saturated but I don't think it's the massive fail you portray. And over a decade or two raider fan base will shrink and the base for the LA team(s) will grow.

I'd add that I understand why both the rams and chargers are moving. They go from horrible stadium situations to a great one when the new place is built. That matters a ton.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean you saw the post that started all this talk right? About the Rams being dead last in their own market on TV? About the Rams having better viewership numbers in St. Louis than in LA? LA is a transplant city like SD, though not quite to as high a degree. And it lost two NFL teams already for a reason. LA is like every sports town that has awesome weather: As fair weather as it gets. Can you blame them? Going to live sports is extremely expensive. Going to the beach on a 70 degree day is...yeah.

The Rams are there for at least the next 30 years because Kroenkeworld is happening, not because of the epic support they'll have. As the home of NFL media, and as the virtually guaranteed home of a Super Bowl ever 5 years (plus you gotta think NCAA football and basketball finals), there's all the money in the world coming in. If that's the judgement for success, making money, they can't fail. But it'll be a mostly ignored team, and likely not even as popular as teams from other cities unless they produce a Patriots type dynasty team. Good luck with that.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I mean you saw the post that started all this talk right? About the Rams being dead last in their own market on TV? About the Rams having better viewership numbers in St. Louis than in LA? LA is a transplant city like SD, though not quite to as high a degree. And it lost two NFL teams already for a reason. LA is like every sports town that has awesome weather: As fair weather as it gets. Can you blame them? Going to live sports is extremely expensive. Going to the beach on a 70 degree day is...yeah.

The Rams are there for at least the next 30 years because Kroenkeworld is happening, not because of the epic support they'll have. As the home of NFL media, and as the virtually guaranteed home of a Super Bowl ever 5 years (plus you gotta think NCAA football and basketball finals), there's all the money in the world coming in. If that's the judgement for success, making money, they can't fail. But it'll be a mostly ignored team, and likely not even as popular as teams from other cities unless they produce a Patriots type dynasty team. Good luck with that.

Yet that fickle crowd you just described will travel en masses to vegas every second weekend?

I'm not sure about the charger move as they are giving up a devoted base. A dump of a stadium that can't generate much money and a city that doesn't seem to care about improving that situation but this is a big and expensive leap. But one team should work.

The rams didn't have much to lose. Over time raider base will shrink and local fans will grow. It's weird to think LA doesn't deserve a pro football team. It just does.

[Senator Clay Davis]

En masse is like 5,000-10,000 people (Vegas stadium will be 65,000 capacity I believe). That's on the low end of people from LA who are in Vegas every weekend to begin with. But that's a lot of potential customers gone who'd really rather support the other team. Obviously we'll have to see, but the Raiders are still LA's favorite team, and Raider fans are about as dedicated as it gets in the NFL. I just think them being there always made the most sense. But Kroenke wanted LA and got all the right people on his side. It is weird to think LA doesn't deserve a team, but the NFL grew by leaps and bounds without it. Not every market is meant to be, Green Bay in theory should never have been able to be as successful as they are, but here we are.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Chargers are actually going to be play at StubHub Center the next two years and not the Coliseum. So that will if nothing else offer a unique fan experience.

[Lil Pedro]

Feel bad for Chargers fans in SD; couldn't imagine getting the Flames ripped out of Calgary like that. Not sure how they are going to fare in LA, especially the 2 years at Stubhub.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Lil Pedro

Feel bad for Chargers fans in SD; couldn't imagine getting the Flames ripped out of Calgary like that. Not sure how they are going to fare in LA, especially the 2 years at Stubhub.

Unless things turn around for the franchise and they are playoff contenders not likely well. Nobody in LA cared about the Rams this season and at least there's some history with the Rams in the city (I realize the Chargers spent their first season in LA but that doesn't count because it was 1960). The thing about San Diego is that it's got a lot of transplants and any time the Raiders were in town or some other popular NFL teams that stadium would be full of fans of the opposition. Sure some fans from San Diego may make the drive up north but not many and LA was never asking for the Chargers so the only way they are going to entice fans is to win and unfortunately I don't like the Chargers chances of being a winner any time soon in the AFC West. The only thing going for the Chargers in LA is that they are going to get the Raiders in there once a season which should be one of the games they can count on to be full or close to full (I don't see them selling out any games).