2017 NFL season thread

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The Georgia Dome was only 25 years old so I'm not sure how they justified a new stadium but the new one certainly looks pretty nice. It seems that teams are going to domes/retractable domes with a lot of glass to let in daylight. Where do they go from here? What other improvements will they be able to make to make this new stadium obsolete in 25 years?

I dug into this this morning and how the numbers work in Atlanta and it is very interesting. We can compare it to the situation in Calgary if we wish.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) was made possible by some quirky city/state dynamics that don't exist in many other places (Maybe only Vegas, and I'm not even sure of that). Atlanta pulls in enormous amounts of hotel tax revenue for a city of its size because it is a year-round convention destination. But it doesn't really get to decide what to tax or what to spend it on all of that is micromanaged by the state. The tax revenues could theoretically pay for a lot of things, but the state has decided that it should pay for things that contribute to tourism. It's not a totally unreasonable line of thought since Georgia can't compete with Florida's beaches and theme parks and resorts, so its tourism business largely relies on Atlanta having world class convention facilities and a stadium that can bring in Super Bowls, College Championships, Final Fours, etc.

As a result, by state law, 40% of Atlanta's hotel tax money must go towards the operation and management of a "multipurpose domed facility". In the past, that was the Georgia Dome. Now it is MBS. The only new obligation that the public took on was to pay $200M of construction costs, which will also be paid for out of that 40% hotel tax bucket. There was also a substantial private contribution, financed by the sale of personal seat licenses to Falcons fans. So there was no real meaningful debate. City residents did not vote on it, and for the most part, they won't be paying for it. The only cost to the city is the theoretical lost ability to use that 40% to pay for other things, but it is truly theoretical, since the city can't amend state law.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I dug into this this morning and how the numbers work in Atlanta and it is very interesting. We can compare it to the situation in Calgary if we wish.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (MBS) was made possible by some quirky city/state dynamics that don't exist in many other places (Maybe only Vegas, and I'm not even sure of that). Atlanta pulls in enormous amounts of hotel tax revenue for a city of its size because it is a year-round convention destination. But it doesn't really get to decide what to tax or what to spend it on all of that is micromanaged by the state. The tax revenues could theoretically pay for a lot of things, but the state has decided that it should pay for things that contribute to tourism. It's not a totally unreasonable line of thought since Georgia can't compete with Florida's beaches and theme parks and resorts, so its tourism business largely relies on Atlanta having world class convention facilities and a stadium that can bring in Super Bowls, College Championships, Final Fours, etc.

As a result, by state law, 40% of Atlanta's hotel tax money must go towards the operation and management of a "multipurpose domed facility". In the past, that was the Georgia Dome. Now it is MBS. The only new obligation that the public took on was to pay $200M of construction costs, which will also be paid for out of that 40% hotel tax bucket. There was also a substantial private contribution, financed by the sale of personal seat licenses to Falcons fans. So there was no real meaningful debate. City residents did not vote on it, and for the most part, they won't be paying for it. The only cost to the city is the theoretical lost ability to use that 40% to pay for other things, but it is truly theoretical, since the city can't amend state law.

I get that they had some state loopholes but I was wondering about the stadium itself and what was so bad about it. We aren't talking about a relic like McMahon stadium as the existing dome was a fairly decent place to watch a football game. From what I have read it was a decent facility and it seems the main argument against it was that it was kind of dark inside. You know it's a strange world when in North American cities like Atlanta they are demolishing a perfectly good stadium that shames McMahon.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I get that they had some state loopholes but I was wondering about the stadium itself and what was so bad about it. We aren't talking about a relic like McMahon stadium as the existing dome was a fairly decent place to watch a football game. From what I have read it was a decent facility and it seems the main argument against it was that it was kind of dark inside. You know it's a strange world when in North American cities like Atlanta they are demolishing a perfectly good stadium that shames McMahon.

25-30 years is about the expected lifetimes for these new stadiums and arenas.
It's one of the reasons they're generally considered a ripoff for cities to invest in.

[GirlySports]

Browns are road favorite on Sunday

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Browns are road favorite on Sunday

I'll probably take the Browns over Indy. Indy is just awful.

[Drake]

How can Fowers be employed. He is trash. Robinson isn't much better.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Drake

How can Fowers be employed. He is trash. Robinson isn't much better.

In a post that will probably come back to haunt me later, I'm really looking forward to Sunday. The Eagles defensive line is going to feast on the Giants and their CFL-level line.

[Drake]

That play defined Elis career. lmao

[GirlySports]

I think Jim Caldwell is pretty underrated as a coach. He's often portrayed as a bottom-tier NFL coach and I'm just not sure why. He's not a great tactician but his results (Colts AFC title, 2 playoff trips with Lions) are better than many who are held in a higher regard. I think it's in large part because of his reserved demeanor. Yellers are often wrongly perceived as leaders.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I think Jim Caldwell is pretty underrated as a coach. He's often portrayed as a bottom-tier NFL coach and I'm just not sure why. He's not a great tactician but his results (Colts AFC title, 2 playoff trips with Lions) are better than many who are held in a higher regard. I think it's in large part because of his reserved demeanor. Yellers are often wrongly perceived as leaders.

He's a brutal tactician. He got to an AFC title game on the back of Peyton Manning and a team built by Tony Dungy. His Lions teams lucked into the playoffs both times they made it. The Lions are going to be my favourite team to bet against the next few weeks. Very likely that they're 2-6 by the time the Browns come to town in week 9.

[Erick Estrada]

Nice to see the sad sack Giants in prime time in the first two weeks. I can never get enough of Eli Manning finishing out his HOF career. Eight straight games now the Giants haven't scored 20 points or more. I can't believe some pundits thought this team was a Super Bowl contender. McAdoo needs to fire himself as OC before he just gets fired as HC as that offense is a mess.

[calgarygeologist]

I'm pretty sure the NFL is trying to drive down ratings to make Thursday Night Football fail so that they can scrap it. Tonight is another horrible match up. I don't even remember when the last time a Thursday night game had me excited to watch.

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm pretty sure the NFL is trying to drive down ratings to make Thursday Night Football fail so that they can scrap it. Tonight is another horrible match up. I don't even remember when the last time a Thursday night game had me excited to watch.

Two weeks ago?

[Machiavelli]

DAZN giving everyone another free month, that's nice

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Muffins

Two weeks ago?

The KC/NE game wasn't actually Thursday Night Football though.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm pretty sure the NFL is trying to drive down ratings to make Thursday Night Football fail so that they can scrap it. Tonight is another horrible match up. I don't even remember when the last time a Thursday night game had me excited to watch.

it'll get better eventually.

Week 5 Patriots at Buccaneers
Week 6 Eagles at Panthers
Week 7 Chiefs at Raiders
Week 10 Seahawks at Cardinals
Week 11 Titans at Steelers
Week 15 Saints at Falcons

[Jason14h]

The issue is every teams get 1 prime time game, so they hide the duds early in the season on Thursday for the most part!

[KelVarnsen]

It's

vs

[calgarygeologist]

Ha, I forgot that the NFL does the monochrome uniform colours for TNF. Some of those can be really awful. The 49er's could look good in those black uniforms though but I wonder if they will wear their gold helmets or something else?

[KelVarnsen]

They have to wear their gold helmets. The NFL rules state only one helmet per year because something something safety BS.