Blank looking for new revenue, not new QB, for Falcons

Football Betting Lines

02/15/2007 -

ATLANTA (AP) -Arthur Blank is looking for new revenue - and possibly a new stadium - for the Atlanta Falcons.

Not a new starting quarterback.

February marks the five-year anniversary of Blank's purchase of the team. ``There have been a lot of ups and downs along the way, but we've had a lot of fun,'' Blank told the Atlanta Press Club.

Blank fired coach Jim Mora after the Falcons failed to make the playoffs for the second straight season and hired Bobby Petrino as the new coach. But the biggest offseason news was quarterback Michael Vick's water-bottle encounter with Miami airport security last month.

Vick was cleared of allegations the water bottle he attempted to take through the airport was laced with marijuana. Though Miami police moved quickly in announcing the results of lab tests, several days of public suspicion did not help Vick's public standing.

Vick has not been available for interviews and the Falcons have been mostly quiet on the matter after an initial public reprimand from general manager Rich McKay, who said the quarterback ``let a lot of people down.''

Blank stood up for Vick Thursday.

``He is our quarterback,'' Blank said in an interview session following his speech. ``We're proud of Michael. He's obviously a great player and he's a very fine person. The incident in Miami was unfortunate, but as we found out it was a water bottle. It might have been a trick water bottle, but it was a water bottle and it was filled with water and that's what it was filled with.''

Blank said Vick is ``enthused and excited about operating under new coaching and a new scheme.''

Blank said officials have discussed backup quarterback Matt Schaub's future. Schaub is a restricted free agent who could be viewed as a potential starter for another team.

``We'd love to keep him as part of the Falcons,'' Blank said. ``We always have to look at options and we'll certainly consider options as we look toward our roster for 2007.''

Meanwhile, Blank's search for new revenue continues as he again discussed the option of replacing the Georgia Dome, now 15 years old.

``The Dome is a fine place to play football but it was built in 1992 and domes tend to age more quickly than other stadiums,'' Blank said.

Blank said the team's lease with the Georgia Dome continues through 2020 or when bonds are paid.

But he said it's not too early to discuss a new stadium that could be configured for more high-priced seats. The Georgia Dome has ample space for 204 luxury seats but it has only 4,400 club seats - far fewer than division rivals Tampa Bay (12,000) and Carolina (11,300).

From Blank's perspective, that's lost potential for revenue.

``In order for us to continue to field a competitive team, we will need some short-term revenue opportunities to continue to develop for us and some long-term resolutions,'' he said.

Blank has said he prefers the Falcons' home remain in a downtown location, but on Thursday he indicated no preference for either an indoor or outdoor facility.

``My view is we would start out by doing what we always do, by talking to the fans ... about the kind of stadium they would like to see us build.''

Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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What Is the Point Spread?

What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?

In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.

Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).

If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).

Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.

How to Read Point Spreads

New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles

The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)

In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:

To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.

Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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