Yankee Fan/Recent College Grad, Where's It Safe in Metro Boston? (Springfield: to live, move to)

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by smarty

You notice how many people say WE won instead of Patriots won recently (as if they just played the game.)

Yeah, that cracks me up. I have my favorite sports teams, but I find it absolutely appalling and pathetic the way some people use a sports team as a sense of pride. Who cares! These players come from everywhere, even from rival teams. It is not like the Red Sox (or anyone) pick the cream of the crop from it's own Boston residents. Nope. No team does that. If a Yankee player came to play for the RS he would get booed if he was playing lousy, but if he was playing good the idea would be, "well, at least he came to his senses and is now playing for the right team!" That kind of logic makes no sense. Then again, there is no logic in the typical sports fan.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

The one thing with baseball is if they ever had a salary cap like the all the other sports, the Yankees and Red Sox wouldn't be good every year because they wouldn't be able to both spend in excess of $100 million on a payroll. In many ways baseball is completely unfair and only favors about 6 teams.

Teams generate a large amount of revenue from ticket sales-so, the more they win-the more tickets they sell-the more money they make-the more they could pay their players. But, the majority of a teams revenue comes from selling merchandise. Most people are not going to buy an Oakland A's hat (unless you are me) unless they are die-hard fans. People will, however, buy Red Sox and Yankees gear simply because of the cities that they represent-whether or not they actually care for sports.

Either way, the more money a team brings in, the more it can pay it's players.

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Teams generate a large amount of revenue from ticket sales-so, the more they win-the more tickets they sell-the more money they make-the more they could pay their players. But, the majority of a teams revenue comes from selling merchandise. Most people are not going to buy an Oakland A's hat (unless you are me) unless they are die-hard fans. People will, however, buy Red Sox and Yankees gear simply because of the cities that they represent-whether or not they actually care for sports.

Either way, the more money a team brings in, the more it can pay it's players.

I agree with what you say, but what if you put everything the other way around. Say the Red Sox are horrible like the Kansas City Royals, nobody will want to go to the games or buy their apparel. Right now it is difficult for the higher payroll teams to be completely bad year in and year out because they can purchase the better players for their team. Also a lot of the Yankees and Red Sox $ comes from local tv contracts. They still have to play someone to make it a game and make it interesting for people to watch...so you need other teams.

Do you think anyone would care about baseball if there was only 6-8 teams in all of baseball. The bigger market teams need the smaller market teams for some competition and to make MLB a league.

[Mark_CT]

Originally Posted by holden125

You said you lived in NW Conn., so I figure Litchfield County? It's a beautiful area but there are so many people moved up from NY, or with second homes there, that it's been annexed in a sense. So I'll go with most of CT west of the river no longer being New England.

I spoke halfway in jest but obviously nobody's being expelled from New England in any meaningful way. However, I don't find the concept of New England to be irrelevant or antiquated since there is, in most of it except for the aforementioned regions of Connecticut, a commonality of architecture, of culture, of town layout, etc. A regional identity has existed for a long time and persists, though it has been eroded in the western part of Connecticut due to the enormous influence of New York City. That said, even the towns along the coast in Fairfield County are more likely to have the village green and the white church steeple than those in Westchester County. The visual differences are subtle, but they're there. The New Haven Green has churches of that kind, white clapboard houses, and "Police Take Notice" signs.

From your other posts in the thread, it's clear you prefer New York teams, New York suburbs, and apparently everything New York. I have lived for a number of years in NYC (leaving this year to return to Boston) and can appreciate its many virtues. But I've come across many people there with terrible attitudes (many of whom had that infernal interlocking NY on their persons somewhere). There are nice towns around New York, but some of the towns around Boston are among the prettiest in the country. If you don't like Boston, and think we're all Ma**holes, so be it, but why seek out a Boston forum to say so? I think there are millions of obnoxious guido jerks in New York, but don't bash the place on the NYC forum.

I don't think you're all m*******s! Did I ever call you a m*******? I just have had countless experiences with them... they get on my nerves.
As for why western CT shouldn't be in New England, it's not because the planning/appearance of places are not "New Englandy" enough (there are plenty of town greens with white steeples over them); it's because so many people here are suburban New Yorkers living in "New Englandy" colonials.

[Mark_CT]

BTW, I live in Hartford Co., but very close to the Litchfield Co. line.

[HowGoesIt]

Ladies, please. Everyone knows that if you are west of Hartford, you are NOT in New England. If you reside east of the insurance capital, then you are in New England. Simple, cut and dry. Root for whoever you want.. Jeez. I'm a Philly sports fan BTW (shamefully this year).

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

I agree with what you say, but what if you put everything the other way around. Say the Red Sox are horrible like the Kansas City Royals, nobody will want to go to the games or buy their apparel. Right now it is difficult for the higher payroll teams to be completely bad year in and year out because they can purchase the better players for their team. Also a lot of the Yankees and Red Sox $ comes from local tv contracts. They still have to play someone to make it a game and make it interesting for people to watch...so you need other teams.

Do you think anyone would care about baseball if there was only 6-8 teams in all of baseball. The bigger market teams need the smaller market teams for some competition and to make MLB a league.

You should be a Red Sox fan simply because you like the Red Sox (or any other team). If whether or not you support a team simply by how well they are playing then you are not a true fan. Yes the Yankees can afford top players, that's true with any sports team that rakes in the dough. The point is though, is that a majority of that income comes from merchandise sells to people who probably could care less about baseball and only wear the stuff because of the particular city that it represents.

Of course there needs to be more then six teams.

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

You should be a Red Sox fan simply because you like the Red Sox (or any other team). If whether or not you support a team simply by how well they are playing then you are not a true fan. Yes the Yankees can afford top players, that's true with any sports team that rakes in the dough. The point is though, is that a majority of that income comes from merchandise sells to people who probably could care less about baseball and only wear the stuff because of the particular city that it represents.

Of course there needs to be more then six teams.

I always support my home teams. I believe the player's union also gets a cut out of apparel sales...i know they do in the NFL.

Some people wear their teams apparel no matter what, but the truth is that apparel sales go way up when your team is winning, or has won the championship.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by LeavingMA

I always support my home teams. I believe the player's union also gets a cut out of apparel sales...i know they do in the NFL.

Some people wear their teams apparel no matter what, but the truth is that apparel sales go way up when your team is winning, or has won the championship.

In MLB, as opposed to the other sports, all apparel sales for all teams go to a central MLB fund that is divided evenly among all the teams. So the Red Sox make no more than the Royals do when a Sox hat is sold. The Sox have the revenue for higher payroll because

(1) the team gets more for TV rights due to high average viewership
(2) the team owns a large percentage of the NESN cable network
(3) they sell more tickets than many teams and at much higher prices
(4) they own Fenway outright and don't have to pay bonds for a new stadium as many teams do.

The same is true of the Yankees except the last item (for #3, they sell many more seats in a much bigger stadium, though many are available at a lower price). The Yankees, however, will sidestep the baseball revenue sharing system when they open a new park next season since they will be allowed to deduct payments on the cost of the stadium from revenues.

To Mark in CT, that was exactly what I was trying to say. Even Greenwich, first town in CT, looks more New England than the towns in NYS. Culturally there's an NY flavor since so many NY people have moved there, but physically the place looks New England.

[Mark_CT]

Bedford, NY was part of CT (and I guess New England). It was settled by puritans and looks very New Englandish. Then it became part of New York after the border dispute was settled.