Will San Antonio ever get an MLB team? (Houston, Orange: attorney, live in)

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by 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

Tell that to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, which has about the same metropolitan population. It's a question of "can you put together a talented team" The Tampa Bay Rays were perennially a last place team for 9 straight seasons. Then this year they were very good and made it to the World Series. Fans came from all over to see them play. Also, Tropicana Field has seated over 30,000 fans before and as many as 45,000 this year. You should also consider that Austin is nearby. You could have fans from there travel to San Antonio.
As for New Braunfels, it's not even in Bexar County, but San Antonio is. The city of San Antonio can worry about building a stadium. Even then, think about this: The Alamodome isn't being used as much as it used to be. Sure it was used for the Spurs, but it was used for football too. If you can use a stadium for football, you can use it for baseball. Why not use the Alamodome for baseball and build a new stadium later. When the Minnesota Twins moved from Bloomington,MN to Mpls in 1982, the Twins and the Vikings have shared the same stadium since. San Antonio doesn't even have an NFL team, so it can buy time for building a new stadium.

[Metalmike]

SA just needs a Triple-A team and were good. Or build up the fanbase for the Missions.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Metalmike

SA just needs a Triple-A team and were good. Or build up the fanbase for the Missions.

Why stop there? Why not MLB?

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Why stop there? Why not MLB?

The $300 million price tag for a MLB stadium would be the biggest reason to stop there, IMO.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by Bowie

The $300 million price tag for a MLB stadium would be the biggest reason to stop there, IMO.

Who says you have to build it right away in San Antonio? San Antonio has the AlamoDome. It isn't being used as much. If it can be used for football, then it can be used for baseball.

[Bowie]

Originally Posted by pirate_lafitte

Who says you have to build it right away in San Antonio? San Antonio has the AlamoDome. It isn't being used as much. If it can be used for football, then it can be used for baseball.

I doubt that a baseball field will fit on the main level of the Alamodome without taking out a lot of football seating. The fact that option was never once suggested as a possibility when the Marlins were flirting with the city about a move here is all of the convincing I need that it won't work.

[IonRedline08]

I doubt an existing team would move here to play at the Alamodome.. They would want a new stadium to play in.. Same with an expansion team

[LindaGrace]

I am sorry, but indoor baseball is just WRONG. You like baseball, you just sweat, that's how it is. It's a summer sport which means you get hot, even just watching.

[bresilhac]

Originally Posted by LindaGrace

I am sorry, but indoor baseball is just WRONG. You like baseball, you just sweat, that's how it is. It's a summer sport which means you get hot, even just watching.

That may work in other parts of the country but down here it would be a disaster. Who would want to see a MLB game or any game in 98 sweltering degrees of heat? Not me. Do you know what it's like during the summer months in South Texas? It's hell on earth, that's what. To suggest that fans come out and suffer slow death by heat exhaustion is not the way to go. If we can get MLB it has to be played in a dome.

[Metalmike]

Alamodome won't work as a baseball stadium, the roof is too low.