Questions submitted by
@Mitch!
For what reason did the NHL and IHL begin merger talks, and who could benefit from them?
Hurricane Katrina had forced the New Orleans Revelers to temporarily move to Dallas. The IHL at the time felt that merging with the NHL would secure the futures for some of their teams. The Revelers returned to New Orleans for the 2006-07 season and the Zatarain's Arena (known IOTL as the Smoothie King Center) is consistently sold out for most Revelers (IHL), Jazz (NBA) and VooDoo (Arena football) games.
The IHL Whalers, who arrived when the NHL iteration left for Virginia in 1997, are among the most popular IHL teams. Right now, the Whalers are planning to replace the XL Center with a new arena on the site of the OTL Toscano Family Ice Forum in a joint venture with the University of Connecticut.
Were any changes made to the plot of Team Atlantis following Michael J. Fox’s health hoax?
The project was put on hiatus during Fox's health hoax and has returned to production after Fox confirmed he was okay.
In which ways did sports arenas, or stadiums, change since the Dodger Dome’s construction?
The carpet developed for the Dodger Dome is known as Dodger Turf. The first generation of Dodger Turf was a joint project by General Electric, Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) and DuPont. The Dodgers periodically replaced the Dodger Turf with newer versions as technology advanced to make artificial surfaces safer for contact sports. As of July 2008, the Dodgers are on their fourth incarnation of Dodger Turf. However, Major League Baseball is looking to mandate that teams playing on artificial surfaces replace their fields within a shorter time window for player safety reasons.
The lower level of the Dodger Dome's seating bowl is designed to be convertible between baseball and football. For Jets games, the gridiron is laid out from home plate to center field, similar to how it was done at Shea Stadium IOTL.
When the Dodgers hit a home run, a mechanical apple pops out of a top hat that sits next to the batter's eye. This is literally the same as the Mets' apple prop still being used at Citi Field IOTL.
With the Jets now building a new football specific stadium in Willet's Point, the Dodgers are looking to overhaul their domed stadium to make it more baseball friendly. Joining the Jets in Willet's Point will be the Cosmos of MLS.
With the Dodger Dome occupying the OTL Barclay's Center site in the Atlantic Yards neighborhood, the Nets of the NBA will likely stay put in New Jersey.
Over in Texas, the Astrodome in Houston is now being converted into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame. The HSHOF's first inductees will be Gordie Howe (original WHA Aeros), Michael Jordan (Rockets), Nolan Ryan (Astros) and George Blanda (Oilers).
TimeWarner (based in Detroit ITTL) has now acquired the Pontiac Silverdome in hopes of converting that facility into either an indoor Warner theme park.
The Washington Heroes (known IOTL as the Redskins/WFT/Commanders) built Art Modell Stadium on the site where Audi Field sits IOTL. DC United of MLS also shares "The Art" as it is sometimes called.
In 1992, the Arizona Cardinals opened the Circle K Dome, which they share with the MLB Diamondbacks. The site of the Circle K Dome sits on the OTL site of Chase Field.
In 1994, the original Winnipeg Jets moved to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma Twisters. For the first few years in OKC, the Twisters played at the Myriad before moving into the Ford Center (known IOTL as the Cheapeake Energy Arena) in 2000.
When the Calgary Broncos of the NHL moved to Las Vegas to become the Silver Knights in 1996, they split their home games between the Thomas and Mack Center and the MGM Grand Garden Arena. In the early 2000's, the Silver Knights opened MGM Resorts Arena on the site where T-Mobile Arena sits IOTL.
In the late 90's, the Cleveland Browns of the NFL replaced Cleveland Municipal Stadium with Goodyear Stadium which sits closer to the Gateway District which includes Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field.
In 2002, the San Diego Chargers opened Jack in the Box Stadium (below) on the east side of the former Jack Murphy Stadium parking lot.