RIP: Las Vegas Gladiators

I'm a little slow with this news, but if you didn't hear already, the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League will be moving to Cleveland next season with Bernie Kosar at the reins.

There are some in the Vegas area that are pretty happy that the Gladiators are gone. Owner Jim Ferraro ran the team into the ground. After a season in which they averaged over 10,000 fans a game, Ferraro moved them from the Thomas & Mack Center to the Orleans Arena where attendance dipped to a staggeringly low 5,383 in 2007. Granted the team stunk going 2-14, but that is no reason to drop nearly 5,000 fans per game. That's simply poor management. Chances are Vegas will get another team in the pretty near future. Going a couple years without football could end up being worth it.

And while some are happy, there are others that are without a doubt upset. The handful of fans in the area will have to go without football for a while, the players who now have to spend their downtime in The Flats instead of the Bellagio, and maybe most of all, the Gladiators cheer squad, the Goddesses. I mean, what on earth are these girls going to do for work now?


I mean, young, busty, flexible, dancers just don't have a whole lot of opportunities in the Vegas area. Perhaps we should set up a fund for them, maybe do some bake sales or car washes or something. Jim Ferraro, I ask you...What about the cheerleaders? Can't we all just think about the cheerleaders for once?


Team: Las Vegas Gladiators
League: Arena Football League
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Arena: Orleans Arena
Mascot: Thraxx
Dance Team: Goddesses

Today in Sports Logos

Today I bring you a new feature here on The Sports Logo Pundit. In an attempt to keep up with what seems like a never ending amount of sports logo news that I am notoriously slow to react to, from here on out I will do what I can to gather that news and present it semi-daily along with the normal reviews. I really would like this to be a post-a-day blog containing up to date news, but I don't always have the time or motivation to think about and then write a full review. So we are going to this new quick wrap, linky style format for the off days. Anyway, watch for Today in Sports Logos often and if you have any tips, please don't hesitate to email me.

New ABA Team of the Day - Say goodbye to the Las Vegas Venom and hello to the Las Vegas Lights. The over/under for amount of games played next season by the Lights is currently listed at three. (OurSportsCentral)

USBL Loses Two - The new USBL season is off to a rough start. First the Boston ownership group pulled out days before the season leaving the league to field the coachless New Jersey Meteors for one game against Albany. Then today the Meteors and the Long Island Primetime folded. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger)

Sonics Gone? - The Washington State legislature decided that they would not be voting on the financing package for a new arena for the Seattle Supersonics during this session. In response, Clayton Bennett popped open the bubbly, smoked a cigar and celebrated with all of the lobbyists that he kept as far away from Olympia as possible. (Seattle PI)

Corporate Ballpark Deal of the Day - The Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League announced today that five year old Falconi Field will now be known as CONSOL Energy Park. The over /under for years until CONSOL Energy is swallowed up and renamed causing the park to also rename itself currently sits at two. (Ballpark Digest)