From Spy
5,
Sure, everyone needs to be up in arms about another owner with deep pockets seeking to build a stadium at someone else's, i.e., the public's, expense. But let's face it with Oakland's stadium situation - it's the fourth-oldest stadium in the NFL, it has the smallest capacity of any of the permanent NFL stadiums (StubHub Center, the temporary home for the Rams is smaller), though that is by design as the Raiders have closed off seats, and it's the only facility left that serves a NFL and a MLB team. And in this day and age, capitalizing and monetizing your home stadium is a big deal to NFL teams.
Besides, it's Oakland. Where would you rather go? Oakland or Las Vegas? Las Vegas is nearly four times the size of Oakland but its violent crime rate is just over half. I just don't get the self-righteous indignation toward the Raiders - and I don't like the Raiders. So am I wrong for not being incensed over the Raiders leaving Oakland?
Go Zags.
Spy -
All of which are fair points.
Plus, now that the gates have opened, if Vegas is willing to build buildings, expect that city to have its choice of the next basketball team - yes, considering who owns the Sacramento Kings, that makes a world of sense - or baseball club - the Vegas Rays anyone? - looking to relocate. There are two other things here, though.
If the Raiders, who were still getting TDs on dirt, which should not be happening for a $10 billion enterprise annually, were actually in need of a new stadium, they are just one of the few innocent casualties while cities like Atlanta are forking over billions every 20 or 25 years. Secondly, to be fair, NFL venues as city-owned vehicles are not a terrible business decision.
Baseball parks and other facilities on the professional level are questionable at best, but these mega-football-first-but-still-with-a-roof facilities can become homes to the biggest of concerts - Taylor Swift, Springsteen, you name it - as well as monster expos and big-time events like the Final Four. Now, add to the fact that Vegas will almost assuredly be inserted into the regular Super Bowl rotation and the billions spent by the city will be recouped within a decade.
We're surprised, in fact, with the money-making potential, that more teams do not pick up the check on the new stadiums like Jerry Jones did. (And in turn made his franchise the most valuable in all of sports, estimated at $4 billion by Forbes, more than $300 million more the Real Madrid.)
Now, let's go a step further. Why is the NFL not pooling money - remember it's making billions right now - to become the builder/owner/operator of these facilities. According to the most recent release figures, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-24/nfl-revenue-reaches-7-1-billion-based-on-green-bay-report each NFL team collected more than $222 million from the NFL's $7.1 billion of revenue in 2015.
If the league pulls back, say $640 million to go into a league-wide new stadium construction fund, that would mean each team only (ONLY) collected $202 million from the league. According to this graph, only two teams - Oakland and Buffalo - made less than $50 million in profit in that same year.
Sooner rather than later, the NFL then can finance all of these projects for a new facility in almost every market, and do so on their terms. Talk about a new revenue stream.
Say Atlanta wants a Final Four, well, the best place to hold it is Arthur Blank's new place. Since the city helped build that, that's an easy deal. But if the league owned the stadium, and the city wanted to bring in an event that easily brings $100 million to the city, would a $10 million rental be fair? How about the next big concert, and splitting ticket sales with Taylor or the Boss?
Someone get Goodell on the blower.
FILE- In this March 17, 2017, file photo, North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, left, and players Kennedy Meeks, Theo Pinson and Justin Jackson react during the second half against Texas Southern in a first-round game of the NCAA men's college basketball tournament in Greenville, S.C. Williams has long emphasized the importance of rebounding and his Tar Heels lead the country in rebounding margin entering the Friday, March 24, game against Butler in the NCAA Tournament's South Region semifinals. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt, File) From a lot of you
Who you like in the Final Four (and a couple of you specifically asking if there was some entertainment on the line)?
Gang -
OK, to get this thing going, UNC is a 5-point favorite according to Vegasinsider.com with an over/under of 152, and Gonzaga is a 7-point favorite with an over/under of 138.
So far in the tournament UNC is 2-1-1 against the spread and has split 2-2 on over/unders. Oregon is 3-1 against the number - with Vegas offering lines as precise as Oregon minus-15.5 in a 16-point win over Iona and a straight-up pick 'em in Oregon's one-point win over Michigan - and an even 2-2 in over/unders.
What does that tell us? Not much, considering the records would have been exactly the same across each metric if Luke Maye's toe had not been on the 3-point line with his game-winner against Kentucky. (UNC won by two as a 2-point favorite to push in Vegas' eyes.)
Here's what we think: There was much made about the loss of Oregon's best rim-protector when Chris Boucher tore his ACL late in the season. To this point, the match-ups for the Ducks have been against perimeter-oriented teams, especially Michigan and Kansas.
UNC is the biggest team in the tournament, and while Boucher's absence has not been a major sticking point so far, it will be a noticeable void Saturday night. The line is a sticky one, because unlike football where the swing points are on noteworthy numbers like 3, 7 and 10, basketball's end game craziness with fouls and free throws and all the rest make the points treacherous. A team winning comfortably all night can botch a couple of free throws late and a couple of cosmetic 3s make a double-digit lead four in a hurry.
Still, we'll take UNC and lay the five.
As for the opener Saturday, well, Gonzaga is 1-2-1 against the number in four tournament games with three of those going under the total. South Carolina is a spotless 4-0 against the spread in the tournament with three of the four exceeding the number.
It's hard to get a feel for this one because a) Gonzaga defensively is so good, and b) South Carolina's recent run of excellence masks a team that before the tournament was 5-6 since Feb. 1 overall and a mind-blowing 2-9 against the spread in that span.
What does that mean? Exactly.
Here are a couple of things. Each team is making its first Final Four appearance, so nerves will be a factor for each. (Although to be fair, Gonzaga has more time on bigger stages than anyone involved with the South Carolina program this side of Hootie.)
South Carolina's offensive showing in the tournament has been aided by the fact that it has been fortunate to play in Greenville and MSG, two of the better shooting venues in the bracket. That will not be the case Saturday in the mammoth venue that is University of Phoenix Stadium.
With that, we'll take the under 138, expecting these teams to play way closer to a game in the 50s than the 80s.
Restaurant and retails stores sit across from SunTrust Park, the Atlanta Braves' new baseball stadium in Atlanta, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. The Braves' new ballpark looks like a throwback stadium with its green seats, brick walls and its old-school, intimate feel. That's from an initial glance inside the park. Beyond the stadium walls sits the real wow factor that could be a game-changer for the industry. (AP Photo/David Goldman) From Patrick
Heard some of the baseball talk this week on the show but did not see a lot on the 5@10. What gives? Who you got this year, and what will the Braves do?
Thanks.
Patrick -
We think the Braves will win 70-75 games.
The starting pitching is entirely too thin. Could they win more? Maybe, because the young pieces of the lineup will be better and the full-season additions of Brandon Phillips and Matt Kemp should equal more runs.
Team is still at least a year and a bona fide top of the rotation starter away from contending with the best in the East. Forget the lineup and look at the top three arms of the Nationals and the Mets and know that Nos. 2 and 3 for the Braves are 40-plus righties Bartolo Colon and R.A. Dickey.
As for around the leagues, well, buckle up:
AL
East - Boston
Central - Indians
West - Houston
Wildcards - Detroit and New York
ALDS winners - Boston and Cleveland
ALCS winner - Boston
NL
East - Washington
Central - Chicago
West - Dodgers
Wildcards - St. Louis and San Francisco
NLDS winner - Los Angeles and Chicago
NLCS winner - Los Angeles
World Series winner - Boston
AL MVP - Mookie Betts, Boston
AL Cy Young - Chris Sale, Boston
AL Rookie of the year - Andrew Benintendi, Boston
AL Manager of the year - A.J. Hinch, Houston
NL MVP - Corey Seager, L.A.
NL Cy Young - Clayton Kershaw, L.A.
Rookie of the Year - Dansby Swanson, Atlanta
NL Manager of the year - Bruce Bocky, San Francisco
From Gina
My husband got me recently reading the 5-at-10. He's been reading your stuff for a while and listens to Press Row every day. Now we regular talk about your question of the day, especially your Rushmores. Do you announce them at the end of the week or just leave them open for everyone?
Thanks and thanks for your columns.
Gina -
Thanks so much for the email and please tell Mr. Gina thanks for reading and playing along with the craziness that is Press Row, weekdays from 3-6 on ESPN 105.1 the Zone and timesfreepress.com.
Great question, and we try to offer our daily feedback question as a way to generate thought and potential back-and-forth if you are not interested at all in any of the topics du jour. (Hmmmm, topics of the day, that sounds good. I think I'll have that.) This week's Rushmores were spaced out a little bit.
Thursday we had the Rushmore of most famous rap songs. Please notice we did not say best. We said most famous, and sometimes famous is not a compliment. For example, "Who Let the Dogs Out?" is likely more cross-society famous than anything done by Public Enemy, including "Fight the Power."
It's that way in all walks of music. You could make a strong argument that the most famous pop song worldwide is the Macarena and that one of the three most well-known country songs ever is "Achy Breaky Heart."
In that regard, famous doesn't mean better. Not by a long shot. With an open mind that we may have missed one or three, if we had to pick the most famous rap songs, we'll go Hammer U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer, Rapper's Delight by Sugar Hill Gang, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix A Lot and more than likely Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song is an interesting test case, and Eminem's "Lose Yourself" can make a case, too.
Wednesday we asked for the Rushmore of pitchers of the last 35 years in honor of Cy Young's birthday. This was harder than it seemed. We'll drop Maddux and Randy Johnson first, considering all that each did. We loved the suggestion of Mariano Rivera, because in no way did we mention only starting pitchers. From there, we'd have to pick between the short-term greatness of Pedro and the unbelievable start to Clayton Kershaw's career. We'll go with Pedro right now, but a couple more Kershaw-like seasons and we'll swap that out. (Make no mistake Clemens is a no-brainer if he is included but the clouds are too think.)
We played true and false on Tuesday and on Monday asked for the Rushmore of female song birds on Mariah Carey's birthday. We'll take Mariah and Celine Dion off the board quickly. We'll then raise with Whitney Houston and we loved the sneaky great suggestion of Christian Aguilera.