NJTank Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 According to ESPN.com Las Vegas has a chance of landing the Expos with a ballpark near Bally's CasinoI personally dont have a problem with Vegas getting a team, but if tehy bring a team to Vegas, wouldnt it be atleast a little hypocritical to keep Pete Rose out of baseball? Article www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stampman Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 It does sound a bit hypocritical--But does MLB really have a shot at Vegas? Or vice versa? Comic Sans walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve your type here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JQK Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 North Jersey i think is slowly becoming a contender... Stay Tuned Sports Podcast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian in Boston Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Personally, I'd be shocked if anything comes of MLB's supposed "interest" in Las Vegas as a home for the relocated Expos. I don't see the sports books in Vegas taking baseball action off the table. Unless they do, MLB isn't going to place a team there. Besides, despite the "fastest growing city in America" tag, Las Vegas isn't a slam-dunk to support an 81 game home schedule. The metro area's population is fairly widespread throughout the surrounding valley, and the folks who are in the area of Bally's are tourists... and they're not in town to go see a ballgame.MLB's desired home for the Expos is Washington, DC or Northern Virginia. Unfortunately, Orioles' owner Peter Angelos has been making noise about a team in the nation's capital harming his franchise's ability to turn a profit. What's more, the District has let it be known that they're not going to get around to figuring out a stadium financing plan until such time as they've been granted the franchise. That flies in the face of MLB's desire to have the stadium financing plans in place BEFORE they'll select a market. Portland, Oregon and the newly minted Norfolk, Virginia plan both hold some interest for MLB, but the powers-that-be wonder if either market is large enough/wealthy enough to support a big-league baseball franchise playing 81 games a year. Moving the NL East-based Expos to Portland would likely necessitate Divisional realignment. Norfolk would become MLB's smallest market.San Juan, Puerto Rico and Monterrey, Mexico are "pie-in-the-sky" bids. Sure, MLB would love to make a statement about the globalization of the game by shifting/granting a team to Latin America. Unfortunately, there are serious questions regarding the economy in both markets. Bottom line: As much as MLB hates to say it, if they're serious about sticking to their guns over the bid groups having their stadium financing in place before being taken seriously by the relocation committee, this could eventually turn into a Portland vs. Norfolk showdown. Those markets seem to be closest to getting their ducks in a row financially. Unfortunately for MLB, that's a battle between markets that don't exactly "thrill" the corporate bean-counters.Brian in Boston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yh Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Las Vegas or Portland could work by moving the Pirates to the NL East, and the Rockies to the Central. I agree with Brian, however, that Vegas would be unlikely to carry the support for MLB - the tourists don't come to town to see ballgames and the townies really don't care to go down to the Strip that frequently. Norfolk seems to be the logical choice given the parameters MLB has set out. They have no major league sports of their own and likely have a population base that would support a single big time sports team. Plus, it wipes out the need for realignment and would be a good bridge city between its two divisional rivals to the north (NYM and Philly) and south (Atlanta and FLA). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ez Street Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 I don't think Vegas is a good choice.Cashman Stadium: 9,334 Avg Attendance: 4,531This is for the AAA Farm Club of the LA Dodgers.Personally Portland or Norfolk would be better. I don't think Mexico of Puerto Rico are good solutions. I think they'd run into the same problems they had in Montreal. But check this out....Portland:PGE Park Capacity: 19,566Avg Attendance: 6,231So maybe Portland isn't any better of a choice than LV. @DavidStreeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJTank Posted January 27, 2004 Author Share Posted January 27, 2004 Portalnd would be a good choice, but I still think the DC area would be the best choice. www.sportsecyclopedia.com For the best in sports history go to the Sports E-Cyclopedia at http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STL FANATIC Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Leave em in Montreal! JUSTIN STRIEBEL | PORTFOLIO | RESUME | CONTACT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ez Street Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Leave em in Montreal!I SECOND THAT! @DavidStreeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 I don't think Las Vegas will ever get a major league professional team because of all the gambling. If the leagues lightened their stance on gambling (not to condone it per se, but at least not be horrified by it), then maybe Vegas can get another team in the future.Las Vegas is all built on the gambling and tourist industry. There's not much else to do there. You have a big dam about 20 miles out of town, and plenty of brothels an hour away. But I Think where minor leagues can thrive due to their compatiblity with smaller cities, major league sports wouldn't work. I'm not too sure what the general population of Vegas is, but I don't think there's enough full-time residents there to support a major franchise, or at least enough in the financial demographic which would help a team be successful. Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitroseed Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 According to this site, Vegas has a population of roughly 1,563,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Even so, they don't even go to the teams they have now, except for UNLV. Unless they build a stadium like the BOB, there's not way people are going to sit through 120+ degree heat in the summer for 3 hours to watch a baseball game. Or football either, in the early months. We have seen the attendance at Cardinals games (poor quality teams aside), and I'm pretty sure Vegas is hotter.I went to a 51s game last April, on a Sunday afternoon, and the stands were barely 2/3 full. It was 75 degrees that day, the warmest and least windy day it had been that week as well. Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian in Boston Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 nitro...Unfortunately, that population is spread over a comparatively wide area. Also, locals don't generally flock to "The Strip", which is regarded as a tourist haven. Said tourists aren't in Las Vegas to see a baseball game... they're there to gamble. The same holds true for those locals who do visit "The Strip": they're frequenting the gaming establishments. Finally, and most importantly, MLB seems adamant about wanting the Vegas-based sports books to stop offering odds/taking bets on professional baseball before they'll even think about granting the city a franchise. Bottom line: the casinos aren't going to comply. As a result, Las Vegas has zero chance of landing a MLB team, relocated or otherwise. The city's current "candidacy" as a relocation site is simply an attempt by MLB to welcome more cities to the table in the hopes of scaring DC baseball advocates into getting their acts together.Brian in Boston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stampman Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 vegas couldn't sustain a CFL team--how are they going to manage MLB? Comic Sans walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve your type here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitroseed Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 No, believe me, I'm not pitching that as a case to give Vegas a team. And I believe the core populus of Vegas is actually closer to 475,000. I don't think the MLB would work there at all. They'd be better off in somewhere like D.C. or Norfolk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapshot Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Check out the attendance from the XFL team. After the novelty of the first game wore off, I thought I read that the attendance went down every game after that.No one wanted to see "He Hate Me"So Vegas couldn't really support a CFL team or an XFL team.And like Brian in Boston said, people go to Vegas for the gambling. The only other touristy things are the Dam, golfing, and the whorehouses. So 2 out of those 4 Vegas "institutions" are not necessarily MLB-friendly (guess which 2). Back-to-Back Fatal Forty Champion 2015 & 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stampman Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 golfing? Comic Sans walks into a bar, and the bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve your type here." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoHoJoe Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Leave em in Montreal!I SECOND THAT!And maybe the Big "O" could get a big Make"O"ver!!!! BRING BASEBALL BACK TO MONTREAL!!!! MON AMOURS SIEMPRE!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian in Boston Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 If the powers-that-be in DC can't get their act together on stadium financing, this going to be a Portland vs. Norfolk battle. Frankly, I'm intrigued to see how well the Hampton Roads/Tidewater region would support major professional sports.Brian in Boston Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC97 Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Leave em in Montreal!I SECOND THAT!And maybe the Big "O" could get a big Make"O"ver!!!!L "O" L :cool: --- Chris Creamer Founder/Editor, SportsLogos.Net "The Mothership" • News • Facebook • X/Twitter • Instagram Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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