let us see what the Big 8 looks like:
Baikal Medvedjanok
a returnee from last season, a playoff team with a 14-8 record. nice team: a couple of promising trainees, a couple of players who are just a bit older, well trained, and a couple of still-prime big men. low salary, but huge gate: this team should be making good money, unless they are spending big on coaches. solid team with a future.
Waschbären Hannover
blew through DIV.27 with a 21-1 record but lost in the finals. perhaps a team in transition, as the youngest players are from Utopia, but the team's success has been due to three players over the age of 33. another problem (i have it, too) is that promoting because of record means no promotion bonus for attendance. combined with a rather hefty team salary, Danki has some tricky managing challenges facing him.
Hopkins Blue Jays
last season's fifth place team, with a solid 13-9 record. this team also has a hefty salary (over $165,000) combined with a stadium that maxes its revenue at $120,000 or so. here bmore has trained, quite successfully, a couple of big men, has a couple of 19 year old trainees in the wings, and has balanced the team with older guards. the team has good depth.
Rolling Bushes
like Hannover, another non-title winning team advancing from DIV. the five players forming the core of the team consist of three veterans and two nicely trained outside men. the six youngest players on the team are Utopian; perhaps another team in transition (although one of the trainees is Utopian but was offered for sale earlier this season). Unlike Hopkins, The Bushes have a large stadium in place.
Boca lArine II
Boca closed last season with a rush, winning the DIV championship despite never have HCA. their first game at this level reflected the attendance bonus, with a handsome $148,000 gate. an oddly schizophrenic squad, with 5 players over 33 forming the team's backbone, along with ten young players from Utopia (three of whom are for sale). this is another team facing some tricky managerial decisions (already, one of the veterans is injured for two weeks).
Acque Pericolose
first team i have reviewed that joins us after having been relegated from DII. judging from the first game, there doesn't look to be that much of a revenue penalty for falling a division -- the team is blessed with good, loyal fans. the team's salary level is in the league's lower half. another one of these generationally-split teams, with seven players under 23, and seven over 34. (i would guess there are a lot of fights over what music to listen to in the clubhouse.)
DK BEARS B
the conference's second-place finisher last season. i definitely detect a Slovensko tilt to the team, as four of the youngest players are from that country, and one of them is on Slovensko U21 squad and a second is a 22-year old with a salary over $40,000 a week! otherwise, the most talented players are much older. the team carries a large salary, but the stadium revenues are on par with Hannover. interesting squad -- i get the feeling winning is not the top priority here.
Macabi Haase II
here because they blew through DIV.7 with a 26-0 record. but the oldest seven players are all over 33. the team salary is an outlier for the league, currently at around $75,000, but the arena should produce good revenues -- this team is well positioned to make a bit of money. not clear what the plans are here, as the most recent purchases were both 33 year olds. that said, i must note the team's manager has a good eye for talent, for his team's results are much greater than its salary.
good luck to one and all. with all the older players, i anticipate a good bit of roster turnover before this season is over.