Will San Antonio ever get an MLB team? (Austin, Arlington: price, move)

[LindaGrace]

Originally Posted by GNW4life

I grew up in a baseball city (St. Louis) and I would give anything to have an MLB team here to take my kids to. The Missions are fun but I am not a fan of the Nelson (I own this county) Wolff Field.

There is never a sellout crowd at the Missions games, I think that is a big indicator that we would not be able to play host to a MLB team.

Totally agree - if you can't even sell out a tiny ballpark where the most expensive seat is, what? Ten bucks? how're you going to sell out a major league ballpark?

I grew up an hour away from St. Louis and am a huge Cardinals fan. My husband and I have Missions season tickets and they're on the away side of the Wolff. That way, we get to be up close and personal with the future of the Redbirds, thanks to the 6 games the Springfield Cardinals play here.

[TomBradyFan]

I have to greatly disagree and say I don't subscribe to the 'you can't sell out minor league games then you can't support MLB' theory. People want to watch the top of the top play not the minor leaguers who aren't ready yet or aren't good enough or are too old, etc. That minor league stuff is from a small city or big town like Boerne or New Braunfels or Schertz.

It's like telling someone, 'hey, you can't sell out a pee wee football game? You're not ready to support minor league.' or better yet, like saying: 'You don't like handed down clothing? Well, than you'll never be able to wear store bought.'

[doss1]

Originally Posted by TomBradyFan

I have to greatly disagree and say I don't subscribe to the 'you can't sell out minor league games then you can't support MLB' theory. People want to watch the top of the top play not the minor leaguers who aren't ready yet or aren't good enough or are too old, etc. That minor league stuff is from a small city or big town like Boerne or New Braunfels or Schertz.

It's like telling someone, 'hey, you can't sell out a pee wee football game? You're not ready to support minor league.' or better yet, like saying: 'You don't like handed down clothing? Well, than you'll never be able to wear store bought.'

I totally agree with you. I'm a huge baseball fan, but I never go to minor league games. It's not the same crossover appear like it is with football and basketball.

[slaleman]

I'd much rather have/keep sports that my family can actually afford to go to than get another major league team here that will drain my wallet every time I go, unless it's done in the Green Bay model where the people own the team, so you can't have some greedy team owner threatening to take a team elsewhere because wah wah wah we won't give them a stadium deal.

[mookiebomber]

Think about it. All the football talk has left me wondering, sure it would be nice to have a football team here in San Antonio. The stadium is already built and it is beautiful. If the Alamo Dome were living in another place, it would be the best venue there as well, so the stadium is not the problem. The problem is that there are bigger cities lacking a football team; Los Angeles is the obvios choice popullation wise, and if you count the metro popullations, cities like Portland, Sacramento and Orlando should "deserve" an NFL team more than San Antonio.

And if you really think about it, though football would be nice, it isn't exactly that big of a need--drive 4 hours north and watch the Cowboys, don't like the Cowboys? Drive 3 hours east and watch the Texans play an AFC match-up instead. NFL teams are the most overrated thing in my opinion. 8 times a year 3 hours a game, and there's your whole season. What's in it for the city for just that?

You want a real idea? Get a Major League expansion franchise here. Sure Portland doesn't have a team either. But with that weather it is next to impossible that they will get a team, unless they build a stadium like the Mariners did-- Retractable roof 700 million dollar tax increase for the city. So it's unlikely they do. So what about San Antonio? Wouldn't it be great to host 81 games of a family oriented sport that is only getting better and better economically-wise? Wouldn't you rather spend your summer days at the ballpark drinking a cold beer, eating a dog with your children, than to go to overpay and struggle to get tickets to a football game?

Why is there so much talk for lacking a football team, when the city should instead focus on bringing baseball to this great city. The weather is excellent for a baseball team. Other than L.A. I couldn't think of better skies for a baseball games than SA.

Another great thing to ponder is the relative nearness of San Antonio to the border with Mexico that would attract thousands and thousands of fans from Northern Mexico in particular the cities of Salitllo, and Monterrey to come to support the team here in San Antonio. Don't forget baseball has recently attracted serious fan-base with the hispanic group, and San Antonio is a very hispanic city. I just cannot see how this idea will fail.

If the team mirrors their image with that of the Spurs, it would only improve the quality of this already great city in my opinion. What do you think?

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

San Antonio is over 2 million, and growing faster than those other cities, not long before it surpasses them metro wise. Then there is a closer large metro, Austin. There should be a MLB between both San Antonio-Austin and NFL in central San Antonio.

[doss1]

The fact is, they tried to bring a MLB team to SA not too long ago, remember? I'm a baseball nut and it's the only sport I watch. Just listening to Willie Mays and Hank Aaron talk about the game the other day reminded me so much why the game is important to America.

If they do bring a team here, I think they should locate it somewhere between SA and Austin near I35. They also definitely need a roof as the humidity and summer heat will kill the fans. That can get expensive.

[Willsatx]

Thanks Henry Cisneros for pushing that the dome not be configured for baseball.

[TexHwyMan]

Originally Posted by TexasNick

The fact is, they tried to bring a MLB team to SA not too long ago, remember?

Actually, a couple of teams used SA as leverage to get better deals in their hometowns.

Originally Posted by TomBradyFan

I have to greatly disagree and say I don't subscribe to the 'you can't sell out minor league games then you can't support MLB' theory. People want to watch the top of the top play not the minor leaguers who aren't ready yet or aren't good enough or are too old, etc.

I agree. SA had a hard time supporting several minor league football teams, but sold out every one of the Saints games when they played here after Katrina and has sold-out or nearly sold-out several NFL preseason games.

[713 to 210]

Everyone needs to realize that just because you might be able to support an NFL franchise or basketball franchise doesn't mean you can support an MLB franchise. Look at the numbers below, you have to sell 3x as many tickets per season for baseball than for football or basketball. And that's that I went low on the baseball average. SA is barely large enough to support football in my opinion, it's nowhere near big enough to support 81 games of baseball per year. Not to mention to cost of building a retractable baseball stadium. And who would build it? Are New Braunfels taxpayers going to pony up for a stadium? Not every city craves attention and reassurance like Arlington.

Football stadium (70000/game) @ 10 games (2 preseason) = 700,000 tickets/year
Basketball arena (18000/game) @ 41 games = 738,000 tickets/year
Baseball stadium (30000/game) @ 81 games = 2,430,000 tickets/year