sports in norfolk

[Virginia City]

No thanks. The arena league has lost teams every year since 2012. No need to see another folded Norfolk sports team.

[BFG]

I hear you. And I've been hearing the same "new and improved AFL" stories for the last 10 years. Meanwhile, they've gone from 16 or so teams to 4 in that same time, so I'd hate to see this area become another sports casualty through no direct fault of our own (see the UFL from 2011-12).

[BFG]

Sooooooo.....this happened.

[vdogg]

I know that was a looong ride back to Richmond. 1.8% chance of winning, I was shocked. They should’ve played the lottery that day. Hopefully this gives them some confidence going into the rest of the season and we can start building that win percentage.

[baobabs727]

Good for them, but never have liked Wilder. Been following since the beginning and a huge FCS & CAA fan.  Undidciplined teams historically with way too many penalties...especially personal fouls, illegal blocks, roughing. etc.  Also tolerates too much jawboning, imo. A signature win to be sure. Tech will not underestimate them next time, and I suspect a far different outcome....

[Up2313]

Tons of love for Wilder. Restarting a program from scratch, moving up to FBS and pulling off a huge signature upset all within 9 years. ODU keeps getting more and more legitimate recruits every year.

[BFG]

This win should hopefully cause a huge momentum shift, and give ODU the encouragement to win a few more games. If they can get to 6-6, they make a strong case for a bowl bid, despite being blown out by Liberty, which is pretty new to the FBS scene.

It should also be a great recruiting tool, esp. for players from local high schools. More importantly, it gives the region a nice little sports spotlight.

[carolinaboy]

Congratulations Monarchs. Feels good to beat the Hokies, doesn't it?

Hopefully you don't continue the hot streak this week vs. my ECU Pirates.

Edited September 24, 2018 by carolinaboy

[BFG]

CIAA’s next host city comes down to Norfolk, Charlotte, and Baltimore. They really need to go through with their renovation plans for the Scope. Add the luxury boxes and 3-4,000 seats. I felt like  a sardine sitting at the games there.

https://pilotonline.com/sports/college/elsewhere/basketball/article_10b91acc-ffce-11e8-9a14-ef9ce27da073.html

[BFG]

Anyone been watching the AAF? It's a new spring football league that's been getting some buzz lately; one of last week's games aired on CBS and scored higher ratings than the Rockets NBA game on ABC. Granted, a lot of that is probably curiosity (Vince McMahon's XFL initially started out with strong ratings), but I watched a little of tonight's game, and was impressed by the product. Current host cities are Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Orlando, Phoenix (Tempe), Salt Lake City, San Antonio, and San Diego.

The attendance seems to average around 15-20K, but if they expand, I could see Norfolk or Virginia Beach being an option, either at Dick Price Stadium (NSU) or the new ODU stadium. My goal is to see a Big-4 team in my lifetime, but I think our chances of getting NFL are probably the biggest longshot out of any of those sports. Something like this could do well here, IMO. The UFL had a solid following with zero promotion.

My only concern is that ODU's stadium might be too small, although Atlanta is using the former Turner Field, which holds about 24,000 for Georgia State's team. Here, Dick Price Stadium has a track, which might look cheesy on television.

[baobabs727]

I watched the inaugural game. Spurrier kicked butt. Entertaining. If B'ham can support one, so can we.

[BFG]

Looks like Virginia Beach City FC is moving to Powhatan Field near ODU. Not sure how they did attendance-wise at the Sportsplex, but I'm guessing it did not fill enough seats to justify the rent. Powhatan holds roughly half the Sportsplex's capacity (2,800 vs. 6,000).

https://www.vbcityfc.com/blogs/news/virginia-beach-city-fc-to-play-2019-home-matches-at-powhatan-field

[EJ_LEWIS]

This is great news for ODU and Norfolk.

[urbanlife]

Go support games, build a fan base for this team, it is a great way to get noticed by MLS when they are looking to expand.

[BFG]

Apparently, Hampton Roads was the top-rated market for the opening round of the NBA playoffs, which is a consistent trend. This area always does well with sports viewership. Pilot columnist Bob Molinaro noted that, with his dry pessimism that he's known for, we are more fans of the game on TV.

https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist/bob-molinaro/article_6331f228-6203-11e9-8e92-ebf249770d8e.html

[Virginia City]

7 hours ago, BFG said:

Apparently, Hampton Roads was the top-rated market for the opening round of the NBA playoffs, which is a consistent trend. This area always does well with sports viewership. Pilot columnist Bob Molinaro noted that, with his dry pessimism that he's known for, we are more fans of the game on TV.

https://pilotonline.com/sports/columnist/bob-molinaro/article_6331f228-6203-11e9-8e92-ebf249770d8e.html

Well it's not like we can go to a pro game in our own city.

[Willy18]

So.....it sounds like we are more of a Big screen, Funyun, Bud Light, Lazy Boy type of metro. 

[BFG]

Seeing the Nationals in the World Series is bittersweet. I'm happy for them, and hope they pull it off, but I remember the summer of 2004 all too well, when Norfolk wanted to make this the Expos new home. I remember spending that summer thinking how one day we'd be able to root the Norfolk team to a championship. What could've been... 

[BFG]

UFC's coming back to The Ted on "Leap Day" 2020. The article mentions 8,400 people showed up to the November 2017 match, so it's not too surprising to see them return here.

https://cagesidepress.com/2019/12/13/ufc-returning-norfolk-virginia-february-29-2020/

[Norva757]

Hopefully I will be there watching the fights!

[brikkman]

18 hours ago, BFG said:

UFC's coming back to The Ted on "Leap Day" 2020. The article mentions 8,400 people showed up to the November 2017 match, so it's not too surprising to see them return here.

https://cagesidepress.com/2019/12/13/ufc-returning-norfolk-virginia-february-29-2020/

Perfect event for scope. Just don't understand why scope can't attract these types of events. Its not really much to it... And because its ODU, as I recall, Norfolk city does not benefit directly because of the tax status correct?

[Virginia City]

I don't know about the tax thing but I remember reading that concerts don't like using the Scope because of the parking situation. I guess it's difficult to get the big trucks in the underground parking lot. I feel like UFC shows might be the same.

[Norva757]

Also ODUs arena is more up to date....Scope is so outdated and this will be televised 

[BFG]

On 12/18/2019 at 10:29 AM, Virginia City said:

I don't know about the tax thing but I remember reading that concerts don't like using the Scope because of the parking situation. I guess it's difficult to get the big trucks in the underground parking lot. I feel like UFC shows might be the same.

I didn't think about the garage, but I remember reading that today's concerts (think Beyonce or Lady Gaga) require more elaborate setups that Scope just can't accommodate due to its size and age. I'll never understand why they built Scope so small and didn't think about the possibility of future expansion, even if it's just a couple thousand seats.

I'll also never understand how they didn't make any major renovations in almost 50 years...a new scoreboard and exterior power wash don't count. Scope has looked outdated since the mid-90s.

[brikkman]

On 12/18/2019 at 3:07 PM, Norva757 said:

Also ODUs arena is more up to date....Scope is so outdated and this will be televised 

Never known them to show much but the ring with a mostly blacked out crowd, an announcers box and the locker room. Its just all interesting to me for things of this size why in this area scope isn't in the forefront. I would really like to know if scope's outdated status really had anything to do with it down the stretch. Like, are they even competing to start with?