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rusthebuss

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And that would be the biggest issue. The Mariners had attendance issues at the Sportsplex. Plus, the local soccer teams are on the third or fourth tier, so I doubt Norfolk jumps to MLS before cities with second-tier teams.

That is true, MLS wants to put teams in cities that have a fan base that want a team.  Portland got an MLS team because of their insanely loyal fans to the minor league Timbers team.  Orlando is also the same with the fan base being the reason why their minor league team scored them a pro league team.

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  • 2 months later...

  • 3 months later...

The Admirals (and the AHL for that matter) are leaving for the West Coast due to realignment. In place of the team, we'll get an ECHL team. I'm actually really frustrated about this.

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/01/sources-admirals-out-norfolk-echl-coming

 

I'm really pissed at Ken Young for this. If he were truly committed to sports in the region he would not have sold no matter the pressure from the Ducks organization. Any franchise less than AHL is a major loss for the region. I get Anaheim would have had their way one way or another, but it just stinks that it doesn't even look like Ken put up a fight to try and keep the Admirals here.

 

This is such a dumb reason to move the team on Anaheim's part. The team was very successful and had pretty good attendance for a minor league hockey team.

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I'm really pissed at Ken Young for this. If he were truly committed to sports in the region he would not have sold no matter the pressure from the Ducks organization. Any franchise less than AHL is a major loss for the region. I get Anaheim would have had their way one way or another, but it just stinks that it doesn't even look like Ken put up a fight to try and keep the Admirals here.

 

This is such a dumb reason to move the team on Anaheim's part. The team was very successful and had pretty good attendance for a minor league hockey team.

This is part of a strategic move on the AHL's part to move more teams out west. Right now, it's pretty much an all East Coast league, spare for a couple west coast teams. The ECHL (East Coast Hockey League) on the other hand is actually spread out around the country. And for what it's worth, the Admirals were one of the weakest drawing teams in the AHL this year. Even in the championship season, the team was no better than middle of the pack for AHL attendance. It was only a matter of time until we lost the team. But Norfolk isn't alone in losing teams. It looks like five teams will be moving west. And I'm not sure all of them are even getting ECHL replacements. 

 

The good news with the ECHL switch is that ticket prices may be slightly cheaper. And I doubt there will be a whole lot of affect on attendance. The Admirals would pretty much be the only show in town for hockey. And most non-hardcore hockey fans won't even be able to tell the difference.

Edited by HRVT
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For the record, the ECHL is not the East Coast Hockey League anymore... They ceased using that name a while ago. Basically, the acronym "ECHL" has no meaning. The minor league hockey leagues in this country is a mess. Teams are all over the place. The AHL (Triple A) needs to have distinct conferences for east coast and west coasts like they are doing now. Because they are bus leagues, basically they should just play in their divisions. Same for the ECHL. I think the west division the ECHL currently has should break off, still be a double A league, and get rebranded as the WCHL. As the "new" ECHL, get rid of teams in those awkward markets (Allen, Texas?????) and re-establish teams in Richmond, Norfolk, Charlotte, Charleston, etc. where these AA teams once thrived.

 

I don't mind the Admirals moving back to the ECHL.... they had better attendance, better rivals, and the players seemed content playing in the league knowing the NHL was a long shot to most. In the AHL, Norfolk is basically just a pit stop before heading to Anaheim. The players don't want to be in Norfolk and never had a connection with the fans. The old Admirals from the ECHL had so many fan favorites and personalities that played for them and were like an extended family of the fans. The AHL Admirals never had a John Brophy, Victor Gervais, Mark "Saint" Bernard, Al MacIsaac, Rod Taylor, and Brian Martin.... all great names from the ECHL days.

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I don't mind the Admirals moving back to the ECHL.... they had better attendance, better rivals, and the players seemed content playing in the league knowing the NHL was a long shot to most. In the AHL, Norfolk is basically just a pit stop before heading to Anaheim. The players don't want to be in Norfolk and never had a connection with the fans. The old Admirals from the ECHL had so many fan favorites and personalities that played for them and were like an extended family of the fans. The AHL Admirals never had a John Brophy, Victor Gervais, Mark "Saint" Bernard, Al MacIsaac, Rod Taylor, and Brian Martin.... all great names from the ECHL days.

 

I would be just as, if not more (probably more) upset if the Tides got bumped down to double-A. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/01/new-pro-football-league-may-bring-team-norfolk

Here we go again. Another upstart sports league looking to have a team in HR. Maybe they'll learn from the UFL and do the exact opposite this time around.

Sorry for the pessimism...I've become soured on sports in this area.

Well, we know how this would end. Personally, I would rather see arena football back in that area.

I wish someone would market scope for use to present UFC....

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I think the Scope or Ted would be great for UFC. I've seen some Spartyka MMA matches at the latter and they bring pretty decent crowd. I believe there's a match happening at the Hampton Coliseum that's supposed to be on national TV.

If/when they build the beach arena, I'd love to see them court an arena football team. The UFL had its following here, so I could see that possibly translating to arena ball.

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I'm not impressed. We have the Tides and will soon have an ECHL team to replace the AHL team. ODU football is probably better than any lame minor league football team.

If it isn't from a major league, then I'm really not interested. :stop:

 

So you wouldn't want an NBA D-League team if they wanted to expand or relocate to Norfolk?

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I'm not impressed. We have the Tides and will soon have an ECHL team to replace the AHL team. ODU football is probably better than any lame minor league football team.

If it isn't from a major league, then I'm really not interested. :stop:

Umm, didn't you read the article? It's MAJOR LEAGUE Football. ;)

 

In all seriousness though, I'm all for this. The UFL was quite entertaining. I don't buy that this will ever happen, but it would be cool to have football to watch in the Spring. Heck, play their cards right, it may get something of a national fan following (not like the NBA, NHL, or MLB obviously, but SOMETHING). The atmosphere won't be like an NFL game... but perhaps it could be at least like an ODU game.

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  • 6 months later...

I've been shooting the AAU Junior Olympics for about the last week and a half, and today is the final day in Norfolk and VB. It's been a lot of fun, and this is a nice boost for the area. They've been here twice before (1998, 2010) and will return in 2020. 

Here's a pic from NSU...the indoor events were held at the VB Convention Center. Hopefully, in another five years, we'll have a new arena to host the events! :P

IMG_20150808_080513.jpg

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Umm, didn't you read the article? It's MAJOR LEAGUE Football. ;)

 

In all seriousness though, I'm all for this. The UFL was quite entertaining. I don't buy that this will ever happen, but it would be cool to have football to watch in the Spring. Heck, play their cards right, it may get something of a national fan following (not like the NBA, NHL, or MLB obviously, but SOMETHING). The atmosphere won't be like an NFL game... but perhaps it could be at least like an ODU game.

Major League Football?

Sarcasm aside, that is a TERRIBLE name that screams bush league. Along with the NAFL, new USFL, and A-11 Football League, that's FOUR attempts in the last two years to start a new professional league. NONE of them have even played a down.

I really do miss the UFL when it was a thing. I watched it in its inaugural season in 2009 (before Hampton Roads even had a team) and it looked like a legitimate second tier league like how you see with soccer in numerous other countries. Same rules as the NFL, no stupid gimmicks, the exact opposite of the XFL. When they announced that Virginia Beach was getting an expansion team, I freaked out so much. Went to all of the Destroyers games except for the last one. Amazing atmosphere - the Plex was sold out for the first time in its history to the point where they had to expand seating. Their highest attendance? Nearly 15,000, which for that stadium was nothing short of spectacular. It's a crying shame that the league was having money issues (calling it "issues" is a bit of an understatement, considering the investors lost around $150 million in four years) because from the perspective of fan support, the UFL was, for the most part, exceeding expectations. I still display my Destroyers flag proudly above my TV.

 

It's nice to see Hampton Roads being mentioned for an expansion team in any professional sports league. However, this is one league that is likely to never get past the initial stages of development. I feel that with the Oceanfront Arena in VB, we're going to be a much more likely destination for NBA/NHL expansion/relocation. Although even that is a bit optimistic, what with the NHL's comments when the Hartford Whaler's owner tried to move them here in the 90s. At the very least, we might soon be getting another AHL team or D-League side (the latter of which is more likely).

I've actually spoken with some people up in the VB City FC organization. They're trying to get into the NASL or USL Pro within the next few years.

Regarding any future teams in the Norfolk city limits itself? Highly unlikely. The Admirals and Tides will stay and I highly doubt there will be any more league alignments in the coming years, but any future teams are likely to be located in the city over, just because of cheaper land, proximity to the ocean, and more updated (relatively speaking) facilities.

This picture is from the 2011 UFL Championship Game. It was in this game that Marty Schottenheimer won his first "professional" title as a coach.

IMG_0191.JPG

Edited by OBXastronaut
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Building the arena is the first step, but the way this area supported the Destroyers (still bummed I never made it to a game), I think they could do very well with arena football again, but the top tier instead of AFL2. The Destroyers averaged about 12,000 a game, which would be well above the average AFL attendance. People traveled from all over for the Junior Olympics; I'd love to see something similar for AFL games.

I could see VB getting arena football and eventually, MLS. The latter is gaining a lot of traction in the US...with the right upper management, the Mariners soccer team could've thrived in the late-2000s.

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  • 1 year later...

Mayor Alexander wants the MEAC tournament to offer more daytime events, which could compliment the tournament, instead of just a bunch of basketball games. That said, the tournament has done well here, compared to other similar-sized athletic conferences. A long way to go before you get on the CIAA's level, though.

http://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist/harry-minium/minium-meac-tournament-has-carved-out-a-nice-niche-but/article_3b9ea8fd-d7c3-50da-b32b-3cf2a22311e7.html

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  • 4 months later...
On 7/30/2017 at 11:23 PM, BFG said:

UFC Fight Night coming to The Ted in November. The Ted hosts a local MMA match called Spartyka, but this is the first ever UFC event to come to the area. I wonder if the new UFC Gym helped spark this.

http://wtkr.com/2017/07/30/ufc-fight-night-coming-to-ted-constant-center/

I've said this for a number of years, this should have been done at scope years ago. 

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4 hours ago, brikkman said:

I've said this for a number of years, this should have been done at scope years ago. 

Whereas I figured it would've come if/when the arena opened at the beach. I agree Scope would've been a good venue. Great exposure for the region. 

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  • 3 months later...

Packed house at The Ted last night.

It looked great on TV, and I love that it was a full house. My only nitpick (and a very minor one) is that I wish they had shown one or two shots of Granby St. They did show the outside of The Ted, but the only downtown stuff I saw was the Wisconsin (understandable because of Veterans Day) and Waterside. Other than that, a nice representation of the area, and I hope they come back again.

The NFL on FOX pregame/halftime crew is at Naval Station Norfolk as I type this. The 757 is getting some nice exposure this weekend, and it feels good to have a little taste of big name sports here.

mural.jpg

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These  are the type of entertainment scope should have been marketing for. This is sooooooooooooooooooo past over due. I've said they should have looked at hosting UFC fights years ago like 2007.  Now although its great for the region, its still limited to ODU which is hosting that without any "direct" kickbacks to the city right.

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UFC at the Ted was a phenomenal experience. I felt like a little kid being there. I had always wanted to go to a UFC event but had always imagined that I'd have to travel to another city. I never dreamed that they'd actually come here. I've never seen Hampton Boulevard so busy either, there were thousands of people in the village. Really hope they come back.

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