NoL releases 2008 Schedule

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midwestboy26	NoL releases 2008 Schedule	Lead	[-]
Posts: 69 (25-Oct-07 04:02:04) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Well, it is official, the NoL released their schedule for the 2008 season and they will be going it alone. No inter league play. There looks to be a lot of back to back home stands which could be interesting. I just wonder if the fans are going to like seeing only 5 different teams come into their cities. I hope they do as the NoL still has a great product. I have seen baseball in most of the other independent leagues and have to say that not only is the attendance better in the NoL night for night, but the fans support also seems to be second to none. Good Luck NoL in '08!
HorseRaider		#1	[-]
Posts: 156 (25-Oct-07 04:23:02) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Link??
nlfan		#2	[-]
Posts: 5349 (25-Oct-07 04:45:22) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The league's official press release. More importantly, they've put the 2008 NoL schedule online on the league site (along with removing the logos --but not links-- to the AB clubs).
BillyChapel14	Not too thrilled on what I've seen	#3	[-]
Posts: 357 (25-Oct-07 05:35:47) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I was quickly looking at the schedule. If I read it correctly, noticed that the Flyers do not play in Joliet on any weekends nor do they play them at all during the month of August. Not too sure I like what I'm seeing.
nlfan		#4	[-]
Posts: 5352 (25-Oct-07 05:45:05) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	You're seeing a screwy schedule. Just look at the Goldeyes schedule discussion. They play 25 games vs. Joliet with 5 of them on the road while they play around a dozen against the other two Chicago clubs.
mlbound		#5	[-]
Posts: 58 (30-Oct-07 22:42:00) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	at one point during the season we(Gary) play schaumburg, then joliet, then schaumburg, then joliet, and then schaumburg again. i bet we will be pretty good friends by the end of that.
nlfan	A Scheduling Nightmare?	#6	[-]
Posts: 5375 (31-Oct-07 02:03:43) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	For all of the fans out there who think the 2008 schedule is less than ideal, you have a friend in Dave Wright: Six-team Northern League a scheduling nightmare? In addition to some of the numbers different team fans have put together there is the question about KCK opening in Winnipeg and the threat of snow around May 15 (which apparently happened to them the last time they were in the Peg around that time). He mentions all the usual topic (fan fatigue, travel distances, how things were back in '93 when the league was the same size but distances were shorter) and other bits of trivia. And he points out one big scheduling miscue: For example, Fargo opens the season with a four-game set at Schaumburg, 617 miles away. The final game of that series is a Sunday afternoon. The next night, they are due in Winnipeg. That is quite a long 850-mile drive --complete with border crossing-- to complete 24 hours. It's also something that could have been avoided. Hard to say why the Hawks accepted that opening to the season. Still schedules have always had some bizarre, illogical connections --long before the league split several times. Dave continues to play up the extra bus trip time that the AB split means to the players. Yes, air miles go by faster, but it was the AA split that helped ramp up the bus miles hollowing out the center of the league and giving spots on I-29 and I-94 to play. The Winnipeg to Schaumburg run is going into its 10th season and trips to/from KCK into their 6th. These distances are hardly new --though I don't think Dave (while with the Saints) had made them regularly since '94-'96. Maybe inter-league play with the AA could help balance some of that out --if it can be negotiated (at all).
kckman		#7	[-]
Posts: 148 (31-Oct-07 22:54:21) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Can anyone come up with some logical reason for such a schedule? It is going to make travel more expensive for some teams than others. It will create an artificial imbalance unnecessary in a single division, and will not help any natural rivalries (if any still exist outside of the Chicago area teams). It seems that it is going to create as many or more traveling problems as having the AB teams in last year did. In short, it is another train wreck in waiting. I cannot see how they would not be helped by a shorter (80- or 90-game) balanced schedule, 16 or 18 games against each other, two trips by each team into each opposing ballpark. In what manner is the Northern League's administration challenged? IQ or perception of realty? IOW, are they crazy or stupid? Maybe it's both. Maybe it's neither, and they're simply evil, and trying to kill the league off quickly.
letsplaytoo		#8	[-]
Posts: 6 ( 1-Nov-07 01:31:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The league administrators (and schedule maker) only do what the six directors tell them to do. Their first priority in making a schedule is always to ensure that the number of weekend dates is equal for all the teams. Beyond that, they stuck with mostly three game sets rather than go to four or even five game sets, which would have cut down on the mileage dramatically. For example, you could send a team on a 10 game trip and hit both Fargo-Moorhead and Winnipeg in one shot and that would cut the mileage rather than going to Winnipeg for three, coming home, going to Fargo for three, coming home, etc. Their thinking apparently was that if you send a team on the road for more than six days, you have to balance that with a long homestand, and they don't want that. This schedule will be very tough on the players and coaches, but that is usually the last item on the priority list when it comes to scheduling in independent baseball, especially with this group of six. In terms of cutting the number of games, that will not happen. Your season ticket revenue would automatically be cut, and your recruiting would be effected because it would result in the players making less money in this league than in a 96 game league.
kckman		#9	[-]
Posts: 149 ( 1-Nov-07 03:59:55) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Fine, a 96-game season. That would mean that each team faced two others 18 times each, and three others 20 times each. They can come up with an equitable number of weekend dates for each team without messing about with the formula further. They can set up 30 series (six vs. each opponent), 24 of 3 games each and six of 4 games each. They can give first priority to distribution of weekend dates (and perhaps try to give some similar fairness on holiday dates), second priority to mileage. They could still cut back to a 90-game schedule without affecting recruiting, nor hitting revenues greatly. I think they're going to have bigger revenue problems next year than just losing a few home dates. I think those healthy attendance numbers might not stay that way for long. It doesn't have to be this crazy; I understand the overarching need for profit (especially with these guys), but they're obviously looking strictly at the short term. It will not serve them to ignore the long term issues. The wear and tear on coaches and players will hurt, and fans will notice the drop off in the quality of the product. When they start losing fans because of things like that, they will find it difficult to regain them.
BillyChapel14		#10	[-]
Posts: 367 ( 2-Nov-07 00:36:38) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	kckman wrote They could still cut back to a 90-game schedule without affecting recruiting, nor hitting revenues greatly. Do you think any team wants to give up 6 games. Let's say that 3 on the road and 3 at home. We'll use Gary as an example and use the average of 3600 people per game and a ticket price of $9. The team stands to lose about $97,200 alone in ticket sales. Don't for get the money lost at the consessions. I can not see any team wanting to lose that money to try to make a schedule more balanced. The wear and tear on coaches and players will hurt, and fans will notice the drop off in the quality of the product Again, the die-hard fans are going to be the one that notice any change in the quality, but since the majority of fans are the groups out for an evening out, they should be any "drop off" in ticket sales. Look at the Flyers in 2007, not a "banner" year, new manager, all new players and not the best record, but still had 206,749 walk thru the doors this season. It reamins to be seen if a drop to 6 teams will hurt. I don't see where a loss of Calgary or Edmondton will hurt the bottom line much if at all as long a teams group sales can keep the busses pulling up to the front gate.
mlbound		#11	[-]
Posts: 60 ( 2-Nov-07 01:45:32) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	By the way, even though this is a little off key, did you notice that every year the Railcats win the championship the league gets smaller? We won in 2005 with 12 teams, and the following year we lost 4 teams. We won again this year with 8 teams, and now we're down to 6. I think if we repeat in '08' we might be looking at a 4 team league in '09'. just an odd little fact.
BillyChapel14		#12	[-]
Posts: 368 ( 2-Nov-07 02:18:42) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	mlbound wrote: By the way, even though this is a little off key, did you notice that every year the Railcats win the championship the league gets smaller? We won in 2005 with 12 teams, and the following year we lost 4 teams. We won again this year with 8 teams, and now we're down to 6. I think if we repeat in '08' we might be looking at a 4 team league in '09'. just an odd little fact. If that's the case Travis, is it wrong to ask the Railcats to stop winning Championships until the league expands again?
mcarlsonus	Just took my first look at the schedule for 2008	#13	[-]
Posts: 159 (12-Nov-07 21:54:19) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Eek! And I thought it'd be the end of the horrid nine-day roadtrips! The only solution I can see is to have three or four "home" stadiums. All the teams will utilize these stadiums and travel in and out as "home" or "visitor" teams. That'd assuage all the hard-core fans, but also serve to confuse the general public to the point where the owners could justify "folding the tent." Honestly, though, I don't think there's an attempt to kill the league. So, it's down to six teams, but revenues go up automatically because it's far cheaper to go to Winnipeg occassionally than to Winnepeg, Calgary, and Edmonton often. These owners gotta love it! And, Travis...Yeah, everyone's aware everytime youse guys win the championship, the league gets smaller. My suggestion is that you take your pitching staff and distribute them equally around the remains of the league. Then you let the other teams supply you with pitchers they select...
JohnU11		#14	[-]
Posts: 2 (24-Nov-07 12:55:39) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The schedule for 08 is peculiar, but there were some generous blunders in last year's schedule as well. I didn't get to see Edmonton once all season because they weren't scheduled in Gary in the last 2 months. All the same, the 1,800 hardcore RailCats fans will be OK with what they see. The fans who come out for a good time and who don't care who's playing won't even notice. "Oh, this is Joliet? Did we play them before?" In KC or Winnipeg, where they get 6 or 7,000, that might matter more.
mcarlsonus	Hey, John (again!)	#15	[-]
Posts: 168 (27-Nov-07 08:32:13) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	There are a number of hard-core fans in KC, but you'd be surprised. We're vastly outnumbered by "occasionals." As beaten to death in the past in other forums, media/press for the 'Bones is virtually non-existent, and, yet the team continues setting new attendance records every season. We actually managed to cram in over 10,000 one Saturday evening last season! Mind you, Community America Ballpark has actual seating for 4,365 fans. It'll be bigger next year, though, as the area's soccer team is moving in, center right'll have to be expanded, and, at least in theory, they're going to add bleachers or something.
JohnU11	we want willie!	#16	[-]
Posts: 4 (27-Nov-07 09:38:26) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Staying off my introduction thread and keeping it here, let's hope the Bones keep growing that fan base. I did recall seeing the 10K crowd, wondered if they'd forgotten to divide legs by two. It does demonstrate that marketing is the magic wand for minor league ball. The trick is to get a sports editor interested and, in most metro areas, that ain't gonna happen. but ... are you SURE we can't have Willie back? (The man was clearly superior.)

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