Souhan: Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck doesn’t need to overhype his program anymore

[BleedGopher]

Per Souhan:

So last week, during his last full-length news conference before the season opener, Fleck raved about the state of his program, which isn’t surprising.

What was surprising was that he didn’t make any excuses. He didn’t downplay expectations.

And he could. He coaches a disadvantaged program in what might be the best conference in college football. He is expected to contend with teams that contend for national titles, and those teams have inherent advantages: more money, more tradition, better facilities, bigger stadiums.

While no one wants to hear him complain about his plight, he could make a fact-based argument for lowered expectations.

What I heard last week was an endearing blend of pride and optimism, which is justified by these developments:

Souhan: Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck doesn’t need to overhype his program anymore

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck is known for his over-the-top promotion, but this year he’s focusing on pride and optimism. Read more in Jim Souhan's latest.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[pregameatblarneys]

Souhan- not a dink?

 

[highwayman]

I can only read what is on this page, as I will never give a dime to ST.

"While no one wants to hear him complain about his plight, he could make a fact-based argument for lowered expectations."

F.U. Soupcan

IMO being a fan is to rarely if ever have lowered expectations. That's why they play the games and don't rely on EA Sports to do it.

Go Gophers!

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

Major League Baseball and college football are terribly run sports that thrive because fans can’t quit them.

He's right on the money with that statement.

 

[Schnauzer]

Major League Baseball and college football are terribly run sports that thrive because fans can’t quit them.

He's right on the money with that statement.

That stuck out to me as well. He hit the nail on the head with that comment.

I can only read what is on this page, as I will never give a dime to ST.

"While no one wants to hear him complain about his plight, he could make a fact-based argument for lowered expectations."

F.U. Soupcan

IMO being a fan is to rarely if ever have lowered expectations. That's why they play the games and don't rely on EA Sports to do it.

Go Gophers!

I subscribe to the digital version of the Strib and they accommodated me to break up my payment so that they recognize $.10 every month is in the name of "highwayman".

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

Souhan- not a dink?

He seems to like PJ. Likely it's because he is fit.

 

[zman]

Likely it's because he is fit.

Man, those were good times.

 

[minnyrules11]

Would disagree on better facilities and more tradition.

Also how exactly is MLB poorly run? I think a lot of people have given up on pro baseball regardless if local team is good or not.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

Would disagree on better facilities and more tradition.

Also how exactly is MLB poorly run? I think a lot of people have given up on pro baseball regardless if local team is good or not.

Here are a few examples of how MLB is poorly run, off the top of my head:

• With the exception of a handful of large market teams that own their networks, local TV deals are a disaster with the implosion of RSNs
• ESPN bailed out of its Sunday Night Baseball contract, with its replacement rumored to be headed to streaming services like AppleTV or Netflix (which will stick another dagger in the game's heart, IMO)
• HUGE payroll disparities between a handful of teams and the rest of the have-nots, which is going to lead to an inevitable work stoppage after next season (and it could be long and ugly because a hard salary cap and salary floor will be the key issues)
• The oldest fan demographics among any of the major sports' fan bases (by far), with a seeming inability or lack of interest to make the sport attractive to younger audiences
• A horribly mismanaged situation with the Athletics in Oakland, making them play 3 seasons in a minor league park in Sacramento before their stadium is complete in Vegas. And a sketchy stadium situation in Tampa/St. Pete (not even counting that the Rays are also playing in a minor league park because of an act of God out of their control), although with new ownership that might get solved.
• The implementation of a draft lottery when one was completely unnecessary. Most draft picks don't make it to the majors for 2-3 years, if they make it at all. Because of that, nobody's tanking over 162 games. Now you're seeing teams having historically bad records picking 10th in the draft. It's a great way to keep bad teams bad.
• Bad ownership situations in Minnesota, the Athletics, Pittsburgh, the White Sox, LA Angels and Colorado. MLB needs to aggressively purge owners who refuse to compete financially and find new ones who will, but they've shown zero interest in doing that.

 

[TNGophfan]

Would disagree on better facilities and more tradition.

Also how exactly is MLB poorly run? I think a lot of people have given up on pro baseball regardless if local team is good or not.

Can't compare all facilities of course, but he's talking RECENT tradition, not 60 years ago.

 

[Schnauzer]

Also how exactly is MLB poorly run?

I think it would have been a lot easier and shorter if you would have asked “In what way is MLB run well.”

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Here are a few examples of how MLB is poorly run, off the top of my head:

• With the exception of a handful of large market teams that own their networks, local TV deals are a disaster with the implosion of RSNs
• ESPN bailed out of its Sunday Night Baseball contract, with its replacement rumored to be headed to streaming services like AppleTV or Netflix (which will stick another dagger in the game's heart, IMO)
• HUGE payroll disparities between a handful of teams and the rest of the have-nots, which is going to lead to an inevitable work stoppage after next season (and it could be long and ugly because a hard salary cap and salary floor will be the key issues)
• The oldest fan demographics among any of the major sports' fan bases (by far), with a seeming inability or lack of interest to make the sport attractive to younger audiences
• A horribly mismanaged situation with the Athletics in Oakland, making them play 3 seasons in a minor league park in Sacramento before their stadium is complete in Vegas. And a sketchy stadium situation in Tampa/St. Pete (not even counting that the Rays are also playing in a minor league park because of an act of God out of their control), although with new ownership that might get solved.
• The implementation of a draft lottery when one was completely unnecessary. Most draft picks don't make it to the majors for 2-3 years, if they make it at all. Because of that, nobody's tanking over 162 games. Now you're seeing teams having historically bad records picking 10th in the draft. It's a great way to keep bad teams bad.
• Bad ownership situations in Minnesota, the Athletics, Pittsburgh, the White Sox, LA Angels and Colorado. MLB needs to aggressively purge owners who refuse to compete financially and find new ones who will, but they've shown zero interest in doing that.

All of this.

They are also moving towards a style of play that is somehow both LESS fan-friendly and LESS traditional.

 

[50PoundHead]

I'm saving bytes by not copying your whole post WindyCity, but that is one of the most accurate depictions of what is wrong with the state of MLB right now that I have read. I don't know how to fix it given consumer preferences for action, action, action on the playing field at all times and baseball has its own pace (the only sport where one play can conceivably last forever--batter keeps hitting foul balls duing an at-bat ad infinitum). It's a sport that is largely based on failure and that doesn't sell these days.

 

[fmlizard]

Here are a few examples of how MLB is poorly run, off the top of my head:

• With the exception of a handful of large market teams that own their networks, local TV deals are a disaster with the implosion of RSNs
• ESPN bailed out of its Sunday Night Baseball contract, with its replacement rumored to be headed to streaming services like AppleTV or Netflix (which will stick another dagger in the game's heart, IMO)
• HUGE payroll disparities between a handful of teams and the rest of the have-nots, which is going to lead to an inevitable work stoppage after next season (and it could be long and ugly because a hard salary cap and salary floor will be the key issues)
• The oldest fan demographics among any of the major sports' fan bases (by far), with a seeming inability or lack of interest to make the sport attractive to younger audiences
• A horribly mismanaged situation with the Athletics in Oakland, making them play 3 seasons in a minor league park in Sacramento before their stadium is complete in Vegas. And a sketchy stadium situation in Tampa/St. Pete (not even counting that the Rays are also playing in a minor league park because of an act of God out of their control), although with new ownership that might get solved.
• The implementation of a draft lottery when one was completely unnecessary. Most draft picks don't make it to the majors for 2-3 years, if they make it at all. Because of that, nobody's tanking over 162 games. Now you're seeing teams having historically bad records picking 10th in the draft. It's a great way to keep bad teams bad.
• Bad ownership situations in Minnesota, the Athletics, Pittsburgh, the White Sox, LA Angels and Colorado. MLB needs to aggressively purge owners who refuse to compete financially and find new ones who will, but they've shown zero interest in doing that.

The situation in St Pete has nothing to do with how MLB is run from the commissioner's office and everything to do with the Rays current owner reneging on a signed stadium deal with the city of St Petersburg. The city bent over backwards for the Rays, offered the largest per capita public funding in the history of American pro sports, and the team still took advantage of a technicality (a delayed bond vote because Cat 5 Hurricane Milton was bearing down on the city) to back out.

The bond vote happened to get delayed from before the Nov election to after and some different county commissioners were elected. Those new commissioners reneged on their prior promises to voters and still passed the bonds after the election, catering to the Rays again, but even after all that they still bailed on a deal they signed in summer of 2024.

Stu Sternberg is the first of the owners who needs to be aggressively purged, and thankfully that's happening. Problem is the broken contract due to two major hurricanes in two weeks will likely end baseball in St Pete and be the lasting legacy of Milton.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

The situation in St Pete has nothing to do with how MLB is run from the commissioner's office and everything to do with the Rays current owner reneging on a signed stadium deal with the city of St Petersburg. The city bent over backwards for the Rays, offered the largest per capita public funding in the history of American pro sports, and the team still took advantage of a technicality (a delayed bond vote because Cat 5 Hurricane Milton was bearing down on the city) to back out.

The bond vote happened to get delayed from before the Nov election to after and some different county commissioners were elected. Those new commissioners reneged on their prior promises to voters and still passed the bonds after the election, catering to the Rays again, but even after all that they still bailed on a deal they signed in summer of 2024.

Stu Sternberg is the first of the owners who needs to be aggressively purged, and thankfully that's happening. Problem is the broken contract due to two major hurricanes in two weeks will likely end baseball in St Pete and be the lasting legacy of Milton.

I'm not disagreeing with anything you said, but IMO, a parent corporation is at least somewhat responsible for management/mismanagement by its franchises.

There is a reason why Chik Fil A's around the country have a different feel than Burger Kings.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

The situation in St Pete has nothing to do with how MLB is run from the commissioner's office and everything to do with the Rays current owner reneging on a signed stadium deal with the city of St Petersburg. The city bent over backwards for the Rays, offered the largest per capita public funding in the history of American pro sports, and the team still took advantage of a technicality (a delayed bond vote because Cat 5 Hurricane Milton was bearing down on the city) to back out.

The bond vote happened to get delayed from before the Nov election to after and some different county commissioners were elected. Those new commissioners reneged on their prior promises to voters and still passed the bonds after the election, catering to the Rays again, but even after all that they still bailed on a deal they signed in summer of 2024.

Stu Sternberg is the first of the owners who needs to be aggressively purged, and thankfully that's happening. Problem is the broken contract due to two major hurricanes in two weeks will likely end baseball in St Pete and be the lasting legacy of Milton.

This is all true, but MLB allowed the Rays to play in that absolute shithole of a stadium (and in St. Pete instead of more populous Tampa) for nearly 26 years without forcing the issue much earlier with local and state politicians. Frankly, building a new stadium should've been a condition of being awarded the expansion team in 1995.

 

[fmlizard]

This is all true, but MLB allowed the Rays to play in that absolute shithole of a stadium (and in St. Pete instead of more populous Tampa) for nearly 26 years without forcing the issue much earlier with local and state politicians. Frankly, building a new stadium should've been a condition of being awarded the expansion team in 1995.

The Rays built the Trop (Florida Suncoast Dome) on spec in the late 80s hoping to attract the White Sox before they replaced Comiskey. So they were awarded a franchise for a mostly new stadium.

The Trop isn't great but is better in person than it looks on TV. I would go to more games if there was a retractable roof which was not part of the new stadium plan.

The county population difference between Pinellas (St Pete/Clearwater) and Hillsborough (Tampa) is 1M vs 1.5M so on a percentage basis it might lift attendance a little but not a lot. Because the team has been in St Pete there are more serious Rays fans on this side of the bay who may be lost if the team moved to Tampa.

The cities do tend to be distinct from each other, more than Minneapolis and St Paul for sure. I moved to St Pete from Chicago in 2022 and one of my biggest surprises has been how little I go to Tampa except for the airport.

The Rays in Tampa would make me a 99% TV fan instead of the 10-15 Rays games a year I was going to when they were a few minutes from home.

 

[TNGophfan]

The Rays built the Trop (Florida Suncoast Dome) on spec in the late 80s hoping to attract the White Sox before they replaced Comiskey. So they were awarded a franchise for a mostly new stadium.

The Trop isn't great but is better in person than it looks on TV. I would go to more games if there was a retractable roof which was not part of the new stadium plan.

The county population difference between Pinellas (St Pete/Clearwater) and Hillsborough (Tampa) is 1M vs 1.5M so on a percentage basis it might lift attendance a little but not a lot. Because the team has been in St Pete there are more serious Rays fans on this side of the bay who may be lost if the team moved to Tampa.

The cities do tend to be distinct from each other, more than Minneapolis and St Paul for sure. I moved to St Pete from Chicago in 2022 and one of my biggest surprises has been how little I go to Tampa except for the airport.

The Rays in Tampa would make me a 99% TV fan instead of the 10-15 Rays games a year I was going to when they were a few minutes from home.

I will disagree on 1 point - The Trop is/was a dump. Sterile, echoey, etc. Every time I've been there I have PTSD of The Metrodome.