MLB changes 2018?

[Krz]

It’s crazy that a whole country has less teams than the worst state in the U.S, I agree move em’ to Montreal.

[The_Admiral]

3 hours ago, KRZYBDGRZ said:

the worst state in the U.S,

NOT. EVEN. CLOSE.

[kroywen]

3 hours ago, KRZYBDGRZ said:

It’s crazy that a whole country has less teams than the worst state in the U.S, I agree move em’ to Montreal.

 

Canada has more MLB teams than Mississippi, TYVM.

 

I can't get behind Montreal as a viable MLB market. It's a mid-sized metropolitan area composed primarily of Francophones, with a severely shrunken business community relative to when the original Expos were created in 1969. I'd contend that Bill C-101 had as much to do with killing the Expos as the strike did. It's already miserably failed as an MLB market once. Would rather see a growing city like Portland, Vancouver, or Charlotte get a chance.

[jp1409]

14 hours ago, Ray Lankford said:

The Expos left Montreal because no one came to their crappy stadium to watch them. History has a tendency to repeat itself.

 

The Expos used to have people coming before the owners destroyed everything, the Rays never had anyone coming despite considerable success...

[SFGiants58]

5 minutes ago, kroywen said:

 

Canada has more MLB teams than Mississippi, TYVM.

 

I can't get behind Montreal as a viable MLB market. It's a mid-sized metropolitan area composed primarily of Francophones, with a severely shrunken business community relative to when the original Expos were created in 1969. I'd contend that Bill C-101 had as much to do with killing the Expos as the strike did. It's already miserably failed as an MLB market once. Would rather see a growing city like Portland, Vancouver, or Charlotte get a chance.

 

I also blame the Blue Jays for some of it, as they took away the Southern Ontario territory. It’s a small, but important factor in the Expos’ demise. I tend to think that if the NL had to do it over, they wouldn’t have chosen Montréal as an expansion market. 

 

Again, read Jonah Keri’s book on the Expos. I can’t recommend it enough.

[The_Admiral]

24 minutes ago, kroywen said:

I can't get behind Montreal as a viable MLB market. It's a mid-sized metropolitan area composed primarily of Francophones, with a severely shrunken business community relative to when the original Expos were created in 1969. I'd contend that Bill C-101 had as much to do with killing the Expos as the strike did. It's already miserably failed as an MLB market once. Would rather see a growing city like Portland, Vancouver, or Charlotte get a chance.

 

Every separatist should be made to skin his knees on Olympic Stadium astroturf every day until he dies.

[kroywen]

14 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

I also blame the Blue Jays for some of it, as they took away the Southern Ontario territory. It’s a small, but important factor in the Expos’ demise. I tend to think that if the NL had to do it over, they wouldn’t have chosen Montréal as an expansion market. 

 

I don't think there's any way they would've chosen Montreal in retrospect. The Expos were awarded during Montreal's last gasp as Canada's preeminent city. If the NL foresaw Canada's business community fleeing to Toronto over the next decade (as well as many Anglophone residents), and a disastrous Olympic Games that help cost the Expos any chance at having a viable, profitable stadium, I don't think they'd ever have chosen Montreal.

 

Do need to check out Jonah Keri's book.

[jp1409]

13 hours ago, tubby34 said:

Marlins did one thing right- they moved where it's easier to get in and out of the stadium with options on how to get home- or go out for the rest of the night. When the product on the field  improves consistently- I can see it being similar to a heat game during the lebron era.

 

The location is asbolutely horrible. Good for one football game every two weeks on the weekend but not good at all for a sport were you can play home for 7-10 days stretch including weeknights. People who care about baseball and can afford going on daily basis mostly live north of the 595. Going to Marlins Park during the week is a real pain in the ass. Someone working til 5pm in Broward, Palm Beach and Brevard can't really make it and retirees won't really bother going that far south on the I95 during rush hour...

[marlinfan]

Yeah, that sounds a lot like the arguments for putting them at Joe Robbie Stadium and it didn't pan out. Putting them anywhere but the economic center and most populous county in the region would have been a mistake. It worked out well for the Heat and Panthers when they played downtown.

[Matito]

22 hours ago, tubby34 said:

The issue is the Dome and it's location.
The team needs to move....just to where people actually live. It's a 45 Minute drive to go to a game there, and it's all highway with few stops along the way. Who wants to get stuck in 45 mins of traffic going to a night game.

This times a thousand. The majority of the population in the Bay area lives on the east side of the Bay. The only ways to get into St. Pete are either crossing a long and congested bridge from either the east in Tampa or the south from Sarasota. The demographics in Pinellas County skew older, and they tend to be transplants from out of town, only showing up when their team is visiting, whereas most younger or even middle-aged people I see are Rays fans. If you look at the stands at the Trop even when they're full of Boston or New York fans, even that crowd tends to look 50+.

 

Putting a stadium in Tampa, minutes from downtown, is the best bet. I'm not saying they'll sell out all 28,000 seats every night, but a Hillsborough County stadium stands a much better chance at getting fans from Lakeland, Brooksville, Orlando, or Gainesville to come, not to mention the 1.3 million residents of Hillsborough County proper.

 

As a lifelong resident of St. Petersburg, I'd much rather see them move across the Bay and spend an extra 15-20 minutes in my commute to the game with 20,000 people than be at the Trop in 15 minutes flat with 10,000 people.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Radical (actually sensible) position:  Florida should be for spring training only.

[Olmec]

2 hours ago, Matito said:

This times a thousand. The majority of the population in the Bay area lives on the east side of the Bay. The only ways to get into St. Pete are either crossing a long and congested bridge from either the east in Tampa or the south from Sarasota. The demographics in Pinellas County skew older, and they tend to be transplants from out of town, only showing up when their team is visiting, whereas most younger or even middle-aged people I see are Rays fans. If you look at the stands at the Trop even when they're full of Boston or New York fans, even that crowd tends to look 50+.

 

Putting a stadium in Tampa, minutes from downtown, is the best bet. I'm not saying they'll sell out all 28,000 seats every night, but a Hillsborough County stadium stands a much better chance at getting fans from Lakeland, Brooksville, Orlando, or Gainesville to come, not to mention the 1.3 million residents of Hillsborough County proper.

 

As a lifelong resident of St. Petersburg, I'd much rather see them move across the Bay and spend an extra 15-20 minutes in my commute to the game with 20,000 people than be at the Trop in 15 minutes flat with 10,000 people.

Spoken like a true local, heck I've been down here less than 3 months and agree 100% with your assessment. I've been to 2 games so far this year to root for the Rays. I would love to go to more games but going to watch baseball at 7pm during the week is rarely worth the stress.

[BC985]

16 hours ago, daveindc said:

 

It won't be retractable.

 

A nicer stadium was long overdue, and a better location will only help. Weren't the Giants ready to move to the Tampa Bay area 25 years ago before they got their new stadium deal in SF? I don't want to see the Rays give up on that market, with a decent size metro area and a proven track record with other sports teams, but it'll probably be tough to get funding.

 

 

 

Not to be argumentative, but this article says it will: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/rays-unveil-plans-for-new-ballpark-with-a-roof-thatll-reportedly-cost-240-million/

[TBGKon]

1 hour ago, Brandon9485 said:

 

Not to be argumentative, but this article says it will: https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/rays-unveil-plans-for-new-ballpark-with-a-roof-thatll-reportedly-cost-240-million/

That article is misinformed, I'm local and watched the live press conference.  It was specifically stated the roof itself is not retractible.  There will be windows on the outer sides of the ballpark that can open and close to allow breezes and entry but the roof will remain intact.

[BC985]

1 hour ago, AstroBull21 said:

That article is misinformed, I'm local and watched the live press conference.  It was specifically stated the roof itself is not retractible.  There will be windows on the outer sides of the ballpark that can open and close to allow breezes and entry but the roof will remain intact.

 

I don’t live there, so I’ll take your word for

it. I stand corrected. 

[tubby34]

15 hours ago, jp1409 said:

 

The location is asbolutely horrible. Good for one football game every two weeks on the weekend but not good at all for a sport were you can play home for 7-10 days stretch including weeknights. People who care about baseball and can afford going on daily basis mostly live north of the 595. Going to Marlins Park during the week is a real pain in the ass. Someone working til 5pm in Broward, Palm Beach and Brevard can't really make it and retirees won't really bother going that far south on the I95 during rush hour...

Sorry, you're mistaken as far as the "Fans" living north of 595. (For those who don't know the area, hes saying the stadium should be 40 miles north in the middle of nowhere).

The 1993-2011 Seasons proved those fans didn't care and didn't come out like you assume they would have with a new stadium further north. The laughable attendence numbers came about from that very market. No one in Miami would drive an hour to visit Dolphins Stadium or anything further north on a weekday.

Miami isn't a poor city by any means, but to claim that a team should have went FURTHER north when it was already in Broward for 20 years and didn't do anything is laughable.

 

I started to drive in 2004, and would take the ride up to Dolphins Stadium often. The worst part of that stadium? The 3 MPH trek for 3 miles to the turnpike while those panhandlers harassed you, through a neighborhood who despised you even were there. The drive home was 80 minutes on the weekend, and 70 minutes on a weekend. There is no place in Broward a stadium can be dropped and have the type of surface streets and travel options Marlins Park has. Never mind the ability to stay out and keep partying or eat. Broward is a "Open at 8am, close at 11pm" kind of town outside of FTL beach and Las Olas.

 

Miami has proved it'll celebrate this team, it did so in 2012 before the team (Heath Bell, Ozzie Guillen saying he loves Fidel Castro) sucked so much everyone abandoned ship. It's a winners market and has always been.

How many fans actually cared about basketball before 2011. How many cared about hockey before 1996? How many cared about the Marlins before 1997 and 2003?

 

Winning brings asses in the seats, consistent winning and generational talent keeps them there. It's an event town and always would be, that's why Football was successful, it's 8 events a year.

 

Getting to Marlins Park from West Palm Beach (Exit 93 Greenacres) is possible during the weekdays. Hell I've done it numerous times. I've had my butt in my seat at 6:35pm for first pitch with a soda in one hand and a backpack loaded with stuff in the other.

 

Those that claim the stadium is too far south are just grasping at straws. Especially during the summer when school is out. I leave my home at 630am and get to Ocean Drive (right by Mango's) in 30 minutes. I get home in the same amount of time in rush hour, AND I PASS the exit ramp for I-95 South (where those broward / west palm beach folks come off of too) and drive right past the stadium at a consistent 60 MPH.

 

Heck, when I've worked til 635 on a weekday I can still make it into the stadium for a 7:10 start in time for that Soda.

 

Nevermind the Tri-Rail and Shuttle Options that have been available since 2012 for those "Further North".

 

[jp1409]

1 hour ago, tubby34 said:

The 1993-2011 Seasons proved those fans didn't care and didn't come out like you assume they would have with a new stadium further north. The laughable attendence numbers came about from that very market. No one in Miami would drive an hour to visit Dolphins Stadium or anything further north on a weekday.

Miami isn't a poor city by any means, but to claim that a team should have went FURTHER north when it was already in Broward for 20 years and didn't do anything is laughable.

 

They get lower attendance than some AA clubs during the week now that they only count paid tickets. The actual attendance situation at Marlins Park is not only laughable, it is totally disastrous... 5000 paid tickets with 50-75% actually showing up spending some more at the stadium is ludicrous at best. I was absolutely stunned seeing how empty the place was at first pitch the last three-four times I've been there...

[SFGiants58]

7 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Radical (actually sensible) position:  Florida should be for spring training only.

 

I maintain that one Florida team could have worked (preferably in Miami, away from Spring Training’s nucleus), but the execution of both expansions was horrendously botched. 

[The_Admiral]

Who the hell is even thinking of driving from Brevard County to Miami? Even PSL is a reach.

 

Last time I took the Tri-Rail, the train broke down. The conductor told us "an engineer may be coming and hopefully it will be fixed." There were two conditionals too many in that sentence, so I disembarked and got a ride the rest of the way.

[Bill0813]

Tonight, the Orioles play-by-play announcer said the Orioles will be wearing this jersey on Saturday.  Black is the Friday night jersey, so I expect like last year, they'll be wearing them the day before the Saturday giveaway.