Cardinal News: Then & Now takes a look back at the stories we brought you over the last 12 months. Through the end of the year, we’re sharing updates on some of the people and issues that made news in 2023. Today’s installment: sports.
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Wytheville’s hockey team the Blue Ridge Bobcats takes the ice
Then: Wytheville got its first professional sports team since minor league baseball left in 1989, and its first pro hockey team ever, when the Blue Ridge Bobcats of the Federal Prospects Hockey League took the ice in October. Some were skeptical of how well the team would draw.
Now: The team is averaging 990 fans per game, ranking it ninth in an 11-team league. The Binghamton (New York) Black Bears lead the league with 3,689 fans per game. Coming in behind the Wytheville team are the Motor City Rockers in Fraser, Michigan, with 962 fans per game and the Watertown (New York) Wolves with 749 fans per game.
This is comparing hockey sticks with baseball bats but for comparison purposes, the Wytheville hockey team is out-drawing the summer league baseball team in nearby Bluefield. The Bluefield Ridge Runners of the Appalachian League averaged 760 fans per game this past summer.
By contrast, the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs are ranked second in attendance in the Southern Professional Hockey League with an average of 5,248 fans per game.
— Dwayne Yancey
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Gate City’s McClung makes his mark in the G League
Then: Former Gate City High School star Mac McClung became the first player from the G League — the NBA’s minor league — to be invited to the NBA Slam Dunk Contest that’s part of the All-Star Game festivities, then became the first G League player to win it. McClung wowed the judges with a perfect score of 50 on one round, and just missed a second perfect score with 49 on the second round.
Now: McClung’s team, the Delaware Blue Coats, won the G League championship. He also played in two NBA games last season for the Philadelphia 76ers, posting 20 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in one game. This season he signed with the Orlando Magic and is currently playing for their affiliate, the Osceola Magic, where he’s averaging 25.4 points per game (third best in the league) and was named G League Player of the Month for November. He’s now been invited back to defend his Slam Dunk Contest crown.
— Dwayne Yancey
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Botetourt’s Zack Kelly hopes to return to big leagues in 2024
Then: Zack Kelly, a Lord Botetourt High school grad who’s now a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, injured his arm in April and missed most of the season. He worked his way back with a rehab assignment for the Salem Red Sox and returned to the big leagues at the end of the season.
Now: He expects to be back with the team in 2024. He posted on Twitter: “2023 didn’t go as planned. Time to get ready for a healthy 2024.”
— Dwayne Yancey
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Atlantic Coast Conference holds together — for now
Then: Much of the summer was dominated by speculation that the Atlantic Coast Conference — of which Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia are members — might fall apart.
The college sports landscape has been rocked by some spectacular realignments, including the departure of 10 members of what used to be the Pac-12. The driving force: The widening gap in TV revenues between the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference and everybody else. The ACC is held together by a legal agreement called a “grant of rights” that requires a big exit fee to depart. Nonetheless, a group of schools (including Tech and Virginia) were unhappy with the amount of revenue they’re receiving, prompting speculation some schools might pony up and try to leave.
Attorney General Jason Miyares warned that neither school should do anything to hurt the other, which was widely seen as a warning to the University of Virginia, which is presumed to have more options outside the ACC than Tech does. The ACC took the unusual step of adding teams in Texas (Southern Methodist) and California (Cal and Stanford) as a way to try to keep up with other conferences. The addition of three teams, however geographically incompatible, also gives the ACC an insurance policy in case three of its existing teams leave — the conference needs to stay at 15 teams to meet obligations for its TV contract.
Now: The ACC holds together, but Florida State on Friday sued the league to void its estimated $120 million exit fee. Whether that succeeds, and whether that sets in motion a larger crack-up of the whole league, is something we won’t know until 2024.
— Dwayne Yancey