Arena The Major League Baseball Thread

The Marlins drew 3 million fans in their first season, so there's obvious interest. Or was, at any rate. They drew 2.3 million in 1997 when they won the World Series, which was 5th in the NL in attendance. Given that teams generally see an increase in attendance the year after such success, it's reasonable to assume that had there not been a fire sale after they won, they would have drawn even more fans in 1998. Yes, in 2003 when they won again they only drew 1.3 million, but that came after drawing only 800,000 in 2002. And once again a fire sale kept interest down the next year. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that it's ownership, more so than overall interest. The real problem is ownership's nonsense ruining a whole generation of potential fans, which is hard to make up.

Amazing.

 

Well, in 1997, when they won the Series, the average attendance was around a respectable 30k in a football stadium that was always ridiculously hot and humid. Then they had their first fire sale. I think that when things started going south for good. The second fire sale didn't help matters.

EDIT: Or what Amazing said.

 

And the third fire sale this past year probably means MLB should just contract the team, because it's doubtful that this current ownership has pretty much alienated all past and future fans, especially with that 'letter' the owner wrote defending himself and blaming the fans.

 

No team in baseball will ever be contracted. You can't just contract one team, because then you have an odd number of teams and that doesn't work in baseball. Contracting two teams means 50 major league roster spots gone, which the union will never let happen. Not to mention hundreds of minor leaguers, front office jobs, coaches, all wiped out. And political pressure from the cities themselves.

And just remember the last time baseball "seriously" considered contracting two teams. The Expos moved to Washington and got a fancy new stadium and the Twins got a fancy new stadium. Publicly funded, of course. Almost like it was designed that way.

Amazing.

 

They should just relocate the Marlins to a place like Las Vegas (would complement either the D-Backs or the Angels), Louisville (home of the Louisville Slugger), OKC ( a really growing market thanks to the Thunder of the NBA), Nashville (why there is not a team already in Tennessee is very unusual), San Antonio (the proximity of both Houston and Dallas hinder its chances), Portland (would be a natural rival with the Mariners), Charlotte (again there are no MLB teams in NC; mainly because its more associated with Basketball and Football), Indianapolis (might be hard to have considering that the Pacers and Colts rule), and Brooklyn (Very slight chance due to Mets and Yankees not wanting to have their fan bases diminished.

 

After we kicked out the AAA Beavers and gave their stadium to an MLS team I don't think anyone is bringing Baseball back to Portland.

 

Relocating the Marlins would have been reasonable right up until they broke ground on the new stadium. At this point, they're not going anywhere. Selig just needs to start not so gently nudging Loria out the door.

Besides, Oakland and Tampa are tops on the relocate/new stadium list.

Amazing.

 

Move the Rays to Charlotte and the A's to Santa Clara.

 

Charlotte doesn't have enough corporate support and the Giants say that Santa Clara is their territory.

 

Move the Rays to Oakland and the A's to Tampa.

 

Well Quinton's suspended 8 games and Grienke's out 8 weeks with the collarbone.

 

Why is baseball so reluctant to move teams that seriously need to be moved? It took forever for them to let the Expos become the Nationals, but at least they have that as a precedent. Moving the Marlins up to NC or SC makes the most sense to me; that way they would remain in the NL East and would actually then be alot closer to Atlanta who should be their natural rival, but really isn't at the moment.

 

Go see 42 this week. It was a fantastic movie. I saw it in a pretty big crowd and the crowd reaction to some of the scenes made the experience all that more enjoyable. They do a nice portrayal of his first season and what he had to endure. I just finished my second viewing, just as good as the first.

 

Assuming a new stadium hadn't just been built in Miami, the issue is where they would play if you move them. There isn't anything close to a major league ready stadium in North or South Carolina (or Las Vegas or Portland or anywhere else that doesn't currently have a major league team). Plus territorial rights are covered throughout the country, whether it makes sense or not. And there is the existing fan base to consider.

Selig has very little left to accomplish as commissioner, but before he retires (supposedly December 2014, more likely when he dies), I assume the Marlins will have new ownership (which solves most of their problems), the Rays will have a new stadium in Tampa, and Oakland will be in San Jose or Fremont. In order, it's just a matter of pushing out Loria, paying off the remaining 15 year lease on Tropicana field, and paying off the Giants with respect to their territorial rights. I would guess most of this gets settled within the next 12 months.

Amazing.

 

I hope to be seeing it either tomorrow night or sometime next week. I've heard mixed reviews for it, but I'd imagine I'll end up enjoying the film anyway. Harrison Ford will be throwing out the first pitch (to Rachel Robinson) at Dodger Stadium on Monday night.


http://deadspin.com/dodgers-fans-at-chase-field-forced-to-change-clothes-or-472797108


Wow... Ken Kendrick can go **** himself.

 

Jose Reyes injured.

 

After getting rocked by the Dodgers it is nice to see the Pirates bounce back against the Dbacks and Reds. Bring out the brooms for tomorrow!

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I wonder if it's worth while to try putting another team in Montreal. The Expos did reasonably well until the '94 strike destroyed their fanbase.

 

If and when baseball expands again, I would think Montreal would be among the contenders. Though I think perception of Montreal is still colored by the post-94 fan attitude (not unlike what's going on in Miami, no coincidence that Loria was the last owner of the Expos).

Amazing.

 

I heard somewhere a few days ago that there was support for a new team in Montreal. Doubt it would happen, but that would be interesting just because of the natural Canadian rivalry with the Blue Jays.

 

Montreal would be the logical choice because of their market size but they need a smaller, baseball only stadium in my opinion. Gone are the days of the huge domes.

I know a few writers throw around bringing a team back to Brooklyn, not sure if New York can sustain a 3rd team. It was different back in the day. But you never know a move like that could level the financial playing field the Yankees have had on the American league.

My personal pick for a new team is San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is trying to become a state so that would ease travel and tax concerns. Plus no team claims it for television rights so there is no competition or team to be paid off. When the Expos played there back in 03 and 04 there seemed to be decent interest having major league players come to town for baseball. The biggest obstacle would be a major league caliber stadium.

 

And travel time. The Puerto Ricans definitely would go to games, but I don't know if the extra travel time, especially for teams in the West, would really be worth it.

 

Puerto Rico has two major problems aside from travel time that Gunny mentioned. One is San Juan has a pretty small population, it would be the 46th largest US city. And second is a fairly low median income, which would cause all sorts of revenue problems.

I think the NY/NJ area is probably the best place for a new team. When you consider NYC, counties north of the city, Long Island, northern NJ, and Connecticut, you have something like 13 million people in the area, easily enough to support a third team. The only real issue, aside from territorial rights, is team allegiance is pretty much established. If you're a baseball fan in the area, you're pretty much declared one way or the other. But the population is there.

Someone one at Baseball Prospectus did a write up a year or two ago about all the possibilities and why pretty much all of them are flawed, I'll try to find it.

Edit - And here it is. Good read, some surprises on there, too.

Amazing.