MLB Stadium Saga: Oakland/Tampa Bay/Southside

[gosioux76]

10 hours ago, who do you think said:

Does Portland even really want a team? They had chances with the Expos and Marlins. I think they're fine with NBA and MLS, and baseball wants them to want a team more than they themselves actually want one.

 

In the 10 years I lived there, the only substantive interest in this topic, that I could see, came from the small number of people pushing stadium plans and sportswriters who seem to refuse to accept that soccer is a real sport. 

 

There are surprisingly few large corporations in Oregon, let alone Portland. Unless Phil Knight were to buy the team (as he's reportedly attempting to do with the Blazers), I have doubts whether there's enough corporate support to prop up another team without siphoning from the Blazers and Timbers.  

 

The now four-year-old campaign to bring a baseball team to Portland — the Portland Diamond Project — appears to be little more than a collection of stadium renderings, promises of future land acquisitions, and no acknowledged financial backers outside of small-scale vanity plays, like Russell Wilson and Ciara. It's essentially an apparel brand that sells baseball hats with a P on them. 

 

In order for the A's to land there, the current ownership would have to buy into Portland as the most viable option for them to invest in a stadium that they, in all likelihood, would have to finance privately. There's ZERO appetite there for publicly subsidizing a big-league ballpark. 

 

So, once again, any mention of Portland as a likely landing spot is nothing more than base level speculation. There's a lot more to it than looking at a map and seeing which big cities don't have a  major league team.

 

I love Portland, so I hope I'm proven wrong about this. But I just don't see it happening. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Whenever I think of community-led sports projects, I think of this guy:

 

 

"Well, we'll need a banner because that's how people will know what city we're talking about here. And then a baseball, because it's baseball! It's a nice symbol for baseball. Let's get some bats in there too 'cause if you have a ball you gotta have some bats! And can we get some stars too? See, 'cause we're 'dreamers' and you dream at night. And what's in the sky at night? Exactly!"

 

[WestCoastBias]

1 hour ago, ManillaToad said:

 

This doesn't answer my question at all because it just comes off as you being annoyed that there's a successful hockey team in Las Vegas

 

I think it's obvious that baseball is the sport I think will fail in Vegas. I could care less about the successful hockey team that didn't even make the playoffs last year, they'll be fine since they were the first ones there.

[McCall]

10 minutes ago, plobrien said:

 

I think it's obvious that baseball is the sport I think will fail in Vegas. I could care less about the successful hockey team that didn't even make the playoffs last year, they'll be fine since they were the first ones there.

For the first time in their 5-year history, y'know.

[McCall]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

It is right to be annoyed at the presence of an NHL team in Las Vegas as opposed to a Canadian city.

 

It is also right to hope that the A's do not move to Las Vegas (or anywhere else), so that an original American League team does not have to endure its third relocation and does not end a stint in Oakland that has now surpassed the amount of time that the team was in Philadelphia.

 

Anyone with an appreciation for history would understand these feelings.

 

I have an appreciation for history and I don't feel either of those.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

I'm really hoping they work something out and stick around. I've always had a soft spot for the A's.

[FiddySicks]

And I’m really hoping they don’t. People are severely underestimating just how few A’s fans are left in general, let alone in the Bay Area. What’s it gonna look like when they have this 12 billion dollar stadium project (:censored:in roflmao at even the thought of that ever happening, but still) and people still don’t show up for games? The stadium issue is absolutely the A’s most pressing issue, but it damn sure isn’t their only problem. They have DECADES of rebuilding left to do just to get that fanbase back up to competing with the rest of the league. The idea that A’s fans are going to come pouring out of the woods once a new stadium is built is wrong, and frankly, really stupid. 

[Red Comet]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:47 AM, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

It is right to be annoyed at the presence of an NHL team in Las Vegas as opposed to a Canadian city.

 

It is also right to hope that the A's do not move to Las Vegas (or anywhere else), so that an original American League team does not have to endure its third relocation and does not end a stint in Oakland that has now surpassed the amount of time that the team was in Philadelphia.

 

Anyone with an appreciation for history would understand these feelings.

 

Yeah, and if wishes were fishes we’d all have fins. History? It’s a business, man. If they could put a team on the Moon they would’ve done so already. 

[tigers]

On 6/28/2022 at 3:27 PM, Cujo said:

 

 

[WestCoastBias]

3 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

And I’m really hoping they don’t. People are severely underestimating just how few A’s fans are left in general, let alone in the Bay Area. What’s it gonna look like when they have this 12 billion dollar stadium project (:censored:in roflmao at even the thought of that ever happening, but still) and people still don’t show up for games? The stadium issue is absolutely the A’s most pressing issue, but it damn sure isn’t their only problem. They have DECADES of rebuilding left to do just to get that fanbase back up to competing with the rest of the league. The idea that A’s fans are going to come pouring out of the woods once a new stadium is built is wrong, and frankly, really stupid. 

 

I know numerous A's fans that are sick of the owners crap and refusing to go to games or buy gear this year. While I question that approach as it gives the team an out that they don't have enough fans in Oakland, it is a thing that is happening. 

[Gary]

33 minutes ago, tigers said:

 

 

 

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

1 hour ago, Red Comet said:

If they could put a team on the Moon they would’ve done so already.

 

That's fine, as long as it's a new expansion team (or the Rays).

[GDAWG]

 

[BBTV]

10 hours ago, Red Comet said:

It’s a business, man. If they could put a team on the Moon they would’ve done so already. 

 

The moon has a population of 0, so it's unlikely the stadium would be filled, and local broadcast rights would be around 0, give or take 0.  Even if the technology exited to put an American League team on the moon and have it not take a week to get to New York for a series with the Yankees, it wouldn't be a sound business decision.

 

Let's get London done before we tackle the moon.

[McCall]

25 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

The moon has a population of 0, so it's unlikely the stadium would be filled, and local broadcast rights would be around 0, give or take 0.  Even if the technology exited to put an American League team on the moon and have it not take a week to get to New York for a series with the Yankees, it wouldn't be a sound business decision.

 

Let's get London done before we tackle the moon.

More available parking on the moon.

[BBTV]

15 minutes ago, McCall said:

More available parking on the moon.

Thats a fair point, but I’m against stadiums that aren’t accessible via public mass transit, so unless there’s a subway or street car line built (which is challenging without streets), I still can’t support the idea of a Moon team. Maybe in a year all these things will be worked out. 

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

Thats a fair point, but I’m against stadiums that aren’t accessible via public mass transit, so unless there’s a subway or street car line built (which is challenging without streets), I still can’t support the idea of a Moon team. Maybe in a year all these things will be worked out. 

 

But isn't the argument for every public stadium deal that building it will become a catalyst for future development? So all we need to do is build a stadium on the moon to provoke development of a moon mass transit system! 

 

I mean, how can it go wrong?

 

Now for team names: I'm all in on Moon Walkers.

[FiddySicks]

12 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

I know numerous A's fans that are sick of the owners crap and refusing to go to games or buy gear this year. While I question that approach as it gives the team an out that they don't have enough fans in Oakland, it is a thing that is happening. 

Well, here’s the thing with that. While I’m sure some people are doing this as a protest this year, I know even more people who just got sick of it all and walked away years ago (I’m one of them). Either switched to watching the Giants, another team outside of the market, or just said you know what? Baseball is boring anyway and I think I’ll just find other interests. That crowd isn’t coming back because of a shiny new stadium. The A’s have basically been gaslighting their fanbase and the greater Bay Area for four decades now and are really underestimating the damage they’ve done. There’s a stench attached to that franchise at this point and enough hurt feelings amongst their fans that a new stadium isn’t going to rectify. 

[Red Comet]

4 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

The moon has a population of 0, so it's unlikely the stadium would be filled, and local broadcast rights would be around 0, give or take 0.  Even if the technology exited to put an American League team on the moon and have it not take a week to get to New York for a series with the Yankees, it wouldn't be a sound business decision.

 

Let's get London done before we tackle the moon.

Thanks for explaining the joke, my tiny Middle American brain didn’t know there was no one on the Moon.

[gosioux76]

1 hour ago, FiddySicks said:

Well, here’s the thing with that. While I’m sure some people are doing this as a protest this year, I know even more people who just got sick of it all and walked away years ago (I’m one of them). Either switched to watching the Giants, another team outside of the market, or just said you know what? Baseball is boring anyway and I think I’ll just find other interests. That crowd isn’t coming back because of a shiny new stadium. The A’s have basically been gaslighting their fanbase and the greater Bay Area for four decades now and are really underestimating the damage they’ve done. There’s a stench attached to that franchise at this point and enough hurt feelings amongst their fans that a new stadium isn’t going to rectify. 

 

You don't think that changes if Billy Beane does one of his semi-miraculous turnarounds where he finds 9 guys you've never heard of and turns them into contenders? I'm a purist when it comes to the "winning cures everything" theory, but I certainly believes it carries some curative properties. The A's, if anything, have proven to be resilient over the years when it comes to competing.