All things offseason discussion part II

Heard a rumor that Jay Gruden was spotted here in Saratoga for the first weekend of the track, found a link that confirms

Saratoga Notebook: Ortiz hits trifecta on opening day (http://www.saratogian.com/sports/20140718/saratoga-notebook-ortiz-hits-trifecta-on-opening-day)

Washington Redskins head coach Jay Gruden and Cincinnati defensive coordinator Paul Guenther were at the Spa for Opening Day and in the winner’s circle for the Sir Cat Stakes.

The NFL coaches handed out the post-race hardware in the winner’s circle after jockey Joel Rosario rode Tourist to a win for trainer Bill Mott and owner Gary Barber and WinStar Farm.

Gruden was impressed with what he saw from the track.

“It’s my first time,” Gruden said. “It’s a great place, a lot of history. I just wanted to be a part of it with the jockeys and trainers and owners. To see it in person is quite an experience.”

The first-year Washington coach did not make any bets but he did notice the athleticism of the jockeys.

“They’re very athletic and courageous to do what they do,” Gruden said. “With the animals they’re on top of it’s very impressive and you can see they make a huge difference in the race with the positioning and timing that they have.”

Talking about putting a team in London has been around since Tagliabue, if not Rozelle. Maybe it will happen soon, but it's already been 20+ years theyv'e talked about this. And what makes you think Portland would support/could support a team?

I think Portland/Oregon would be the best city/ state to put an NFL team. Look at how they support the Ducks and Trailblazers? Look at how they support their MLS team? Also when they had arena and going way back to the USFL they lead in attendance. Perfect city to go to, not LA.

The few games the NFL played in London have been well received but would the city support 16 games per season? Also, the travel burden to and from London with a full schedule would be insane. What happens when the London team plays a non-division slate of games versus one of the divisions from the west?

LA is a huge market so it's no wonder that the NFL keeps trying to find a way to make it work with a team located there. In a way, it's a blow to the NFL's credibility to not have a team in LA.

I guess it could work for the 49'ers and Raiders to share a stadium. It doesn't seem to be a problem for the Giants and Jets. I admit that these type of arrangements have surprised me because it would seem that some teams would start to spread out a little more as the population grows.

I would have thought that the Raiders would have made the first move towards the San Jose area to try to add the rich Silicon Valley to their fan base before the 49'ers did so. I suppose that circumstances prevented that from happening. The Raiders should look at Las Vegas as a possible landing place. What team could be more perfect for Vegas than the Raiders?

Some day, I would expect the Redskins to build a stadium in Northern Virginia. I think the Bills should definitely consider a move to Toronto which is a much larger and wealthier city than Buffalo. I wonder if the Jets will some day want their own stadium, perhaps north of NYC.

p.s. Two of the three most populous metro areas in NA do not have NFL teams. They are Mexico City (Ranked 1st at 23.3M) and LA (Ranked 3rd at 18.0M). Toronto is ranked 8th at 6.5M whereas Buffalo is ranked 56th at 1.6M.

LA would be an epic failure if they put another team there. Two college teams, Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, Kings plus all the entertainment. It just seems like more of a college football town.

I think Portland/Oregon would be the best city/ state to put an NFL team. Look at how they support the Ducks and Trailblazers? Look at how they support their MLS team? Also when they had arena and going way back to the USFL they lead in attendance. Perfect city to go to, not LA.

They never lead in attendance in the USFL.

I think Portland/Oregon would be the best city/ state to put an NFL team. Look at how they support the Ducks and Trailblazers? Look at how they support their MLS team? Also when they had arena and going way back to the USFL they lead in attendance. Perfect city to go to, not LA.

The commissioner wants teams in LA and London. We may think those cities are bad fits for the NFL but it's pretty much a sure thing that one or both of those cities will get a team before any other city.

Team will be in la before London. Talk all they want, London team still in the far future.

from DC to London, nonstop = 7 1/2 hours one way

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=BWI,DCA,IAD;t=LCY,LGW,LHR,LTN,STN;q=trav el+time+from+washington+dc+to+london;d=2014-08-06;r=2014-08-10

San Diego to London, nonstop = 10 1/2 hours one way

https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=SAN;t=LCY,LGW,LHR,LTN,STN;d=2014-08-06;r=2014-08-10;q=travel+time+from+washington+dc+to+london


i would feel sorry for the London team having to travel up to 8 times per year. Im sure the NFL would schedule it so the London team could play 3-4 consecutive road games ... but then that would still suck for the london team players to be living out of hotels for a month at a time ....

i just dont see how it makes sense unless we are talking special super fast concordia jets ...

They never lead in attendance in the USFL.

In fact they (Portland) only had a team for one year (1985) that averaged 19K/game (in fairness, the arena only held 20K max). The were 7th out of 14 in terms of total attendance behind (among others) Birmingham, Orlando, and Memphis.

Thank you google:

USFL Attendance: Awesome80s Sports (http://www.awesome80s.com/Awesome80s/Sports/USFL/Attendance.asp)

Portland Breakers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Breakers)
Searching for a home, Canizaro was particularly intrigued when he visited Portland. It was a fairly large market with a reasonably adequate facility by USFL standards in 20,323 seat Civic Stadium. Canizaro moved the team there. The team drew an average of 19,919 per game in Portland.

[Side note: What a wonderful thing the internet is, almost any purely factual question can be answered by the simple inquiry "hmmm, I wonder if I can find it on google?]

from DC to London, nonstop = 7 1/2 hours one way



https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=BWI,DCA,IAD;t=LCY,LGW,LHR,LTN,STN;q=trav el+time+from+washington+dc+to+london;d=2014-08-06;r=2014-08-10



San Diego to London, nonstop = 10 1/2 hours one way



https://www.google.com/flights/#search;f=SAN;t=LCY,LGW,LHR,LTN,STN;d=2014-08-06;r=2014-08-10;q=travel+time+from+washington+dc+to+london





i would feel sorry for the London team having to travel up to 8 times per year. Im sure the NFL would schedule it so the London team could play 3-4 consecutive road games ... but then that would still suck for the london team players to be living out of hotels for a month at a time ....



i just dont see how it makes sense unless we are talking special super fast concordia jets ...


I think they would also maintain a facility here in the states for their home away from home type of deal.

Chris Snee will announce his retirement from football tomorrow ,opens up a spot and cap room on the Giants .