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I factor in the population you draw from, how well they draw compared to how well or how bad the team is and for how long.
NYC? Are you kidding? 20-30 million people to draw from and a payroll two-three times everybody else in baseball. Pretty easy to draw fans there. Mets should draw better than they do when they have the population of the smallest five metros combined within five miles of the place. The Mets are not "that" bad and even if they were, they have no excuse not to draw. The Yankees should win the world series every year with their payroll and while they woefully underperform they are usually competitive and in the pennant race ever year yet don't sell out.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee does not even have 2 million people in its entire metro and consistently averages 35,000 a game even though they rarely really compete and go to the playoffs.
That’s a baseball town. NYC? ha
Compare the cost of going to a Yankees game and a Brewers game.
I would put Tampa in the bottom, as one of the 3 or 4 worst baseball cities. They have had competitive teams over the last several years, cheap ticket prices, and yet they still cannot draw big crowds unless the Red Sox, Tigers, White Sox and Yankees are in town.
Aging stadium? Camden Yards was build in the early 90's.
I could be wrong, but I believe the Orioles lease at Camden Yards expires in 2021, which really isn't all that far away. Camden Yards is still definitely in good enough shape where a lease extension, coupled with some light modifications, could probably easily add another 15-30 years onto the usefulness of the park.
I don't think Portland will ever get Major League Baseball.
Portland attracts young people, the demographic that has lost a good deal of interest in baseball.
Baseball is still relatively popular with the younger residents of the Northeast. Unfortunately, Portland would play in a western division, giving them less home games against teams that young in-migrants from the east coast would want to see.
I strongly disagree. Take a look at Oregon State and Univ of Oregon baseball for example. Portland would be a great Major League baseball city. Those young people will be there in droves sipping microbrews in the sunshine. I would guess Oregon is better baseball territory than upstate NY. My upstate NY cousins played soccer, lacrosse, and hockey while I grew up playing football, baseball, and basketball in the NW.
Seattle seems to have turned its back on their team. They have a great downtown ballpark and solid population base. They need to chill out on their MLS team and be careful not to lose their MLB team haha. They lost the NBA and don’t have NHL. Weird sports market, but I don’t see the Mariners moving anytime soon.
The NBA team in Seattle was stolen, not lost. Expect the NBA and NHL in Seattle soon.
The fans in Seattle are boycotting Mariners leadership, Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln. They are terrible stewards of the team and @--holes in the community. The Mariners have been trying to block the Sonics return, so fans like me are not giving them a dime until Lincoln-Armstrong have been dumped or the team is sold to one of the minority partners.
A bunch of $ was dumped into Safeco Field this off season and the team just formed an RSN with DirecTV. They are again one of the richest teams in baseball and are not moving anywhere.
I strongly disagree. Take a look at Oregon State and Univ of Oregon baseball for example. Portland would be a great Major League baseball city. Those young people will be there in droves sipping microbrews in the sunshine. I would guess Oregon is better baseball territory than upstate NY. My upstate NY cousins played soccer, lacrosse, and hockey while I grew up playing football, baseball, and basketball in the NW.
You're right about Oregon being a better baseball area than upstate New York. And I wish that you were right about the rest but I just don't see it.
In a smaller market with less promotional opportunity, a Portland franchise would either have to overpay players to become competitive or practice that deadly dull Moneyball strategy of taking a kazillion pitches and hitting three run homers.
I don't think Portland, which supports a soccer team that plays games in under two hours has the attention span to watch three to four hour baseball games.
Last edited by SyraBrian; 04-29-2013 at 01:22 PM..
Reason: syntax
I don't think Portland, which supports a soccer team that plays games in under two hours has the attention span to watch three to four hour baseball games.
Then why the high TV ratings for baseball? Why two top 10 college baseball teams in the area?
MLB in Portland would be a success. Great summer weather, no serious sports competition as MLS is a minor sport in Portland. They talk way more MLB and college baseball on sports radio than soccer.
The area is growing, they produce MLB players, they produce NCAA championship teams, and they watch the sport on TV. MLB as the 2nd major sports franchise in Portland would do real well. They could also partner with Comcast and make a ton of $ with an RSN that competes with the Mariners/DirecTV partnership.
I prefer expansion to relocation, market feasibility with division alignment notwithstanding.
Too bad it's out of the question for the time period.
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