[jetsetter2004]

Idk if this has been covered already in this thread - but I thought the Jets should have built their new stadium in brigeport. The land is cheap and you could get the fans in from LI via ferry (which was the Jets home base at the time anyway). But getting back on topic I think that CT would be able to support a team in the right location. The problem is that there is not a great location where you can get land relatively cheap unless the state could donate it.

[7 Wishes]

The Giants sort of tried that in the mid-70s playing in the Yale Bowl for 2 years while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and Giants Stadium was being built and it didn't go to well.

[jetsetter2004]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

The Giants sort of tried that in the mid-70s playing in the Yale Bowl for 2 years while Yankee Stadium was being renovated and Giants Stadium was being built and it didn't go to well.

I'm aware of that - but as far as I know there was no ferry service from LI. That would have been the key for the Jets anyway since they are an LI franchise to start with. CT like anyplace is going to be a tough market for a baseball team to break into fresh due to the ticket prices.

[joelap]

The two best places for the team to go are Norwich / Groton area or Hartford area. Norwich/Groton due to its proximity to the Casinos there potentially drawing ticket sales from visitors there and the developing economy there. I go and see a lot of concerts, and 90% of them are now at Mohegan Sun that USED to go to the Hartford Civic Center. That region is a huge, budding area of the state. There's no real traffic concerns either. However, a less dense population of locals there.

My second suggestion is Hartford as it is dead center to CT and at the midpoint of NY and Boston. while I don't doubt NY and Boston will cry foul even if its a national league team, proper marketing of the team as an NL team to would-be ticket buyers could go a long way in terms of attendance. Hartford really, really needs the boost. Hartford does not have a Yale keeping it somewhat vibrant.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by jetsetter2004

I'm aware of that - but as far as I know there was no ferry service from LI. That would have been the key for the Jets anyway since they are an LI franchise to start with. CT like anyplace is going to be a tough market for a baseball team to break into fresh due to the ticket prices.

I've never been on the ferry, but I have a nephew in the Bridgeport area with relatives in Long Island who has and he tells me it takes awhile and it pretty expensive. So I'm not sure that would help bring the LI market in, as it might be just as easy for them to go to Citi Field, remember they don't need a toll bridge to go there.

Originally Posted by joelap

My second suggestion is Hartford as it is dead center to CT and at the midpoint of NY and Boston. while I don't doubt NY and Boston will cry foul even if its a national league team, proper marketing of the team as an NL team to would-be ticket buyers could go a long way in terms of attendance. Hartford really, really needs the boost. Hartford does not have a Yale keeping it somewhat vibrant.

Not that this has any bearing on now, but in the pre-1900 era there actually was an NL team in Hartford.

[Lowerdeck]

Originally Posted by joelap

The two best places for the team to go are Norwich / Groton area or Hartford area. Norwich/Groton due to its proximity to the Casinos there potentially drawing ticket sales from visitors there and the developing economy there. I go and see a lot of concerts, and 90% of them are now at Mohegan Sun that USED to go to the Hartford Civic Center. That region is a huge, budding area of the state. There's no real traffic concerns either. However, a less dense population of locals there.

Norwich recently lost a AA team to Richmond, and only replaced it with a short season A league.

[GrotonMan]

Originally Posted by Lowerdeck

Norwich recently lost a AA team to Richmond, and only replaced it with a short season A league.

The Connecticut Defenders did leave Norwich, however I truly believe that the success of a minor league team is not very indicative of how major league sports would be. Honestly, I live in Groton and I almost never hear anything about the baseball team aside from an occasional name drop at community events. When the Navigators were playing here they had great marketing, I always heard about cool things that they were doing there, and I dont have the numbers, but when we would go the stadium would seem pretty full, the fans were involved in the games, and the team had fun activities that people could participate in. Just this last summer I talked to some of my friends about going to see a game and they honestly didn't even know that there was team here anymore after the Navigators left.

The Defenders just about dropped it entirely in the marketing feild. An MLB team is kind of something hard to miss. Honestly, I wouldn't drive or take the train to Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford, and certainly not Stamford to see a minor league team play, but I would definitely travel through the state regularly to go to a professional game if it were Connecticut's team. if the drive were easy enough and the tickets weren't exorbitant, I would go once or twice a week during the summer, and sometimes more. I won't travel hours and hours, and pay ridiculous amounts of money to watch another state's team play though. If I happen to be in the city when a game is going and the tickets are cheap, or somebody invites me to go, I'll go, but other than that I'll pass.

No bias here, ha ha, but I would love to see them at least put Groton-New London on the consideration list. Sure it isn't very big, and it isn't the middle of the state, but it does split pretty nicely between New York and Boston at roughly 100 to New York and 90 to Boston. The area is also showing some promise of good growth, and there are certainly many people eager to help as they may to put the region "on the map so to speak". And also, of the southern CT metros, this area would be the most affordable, not only for land, but for labor; as well as arguably infrastructure improvements. With the lower density of development there could possibly be less money needing to be spent trying to avoid, or even acquire land for right of ways and so forth. There are also the Casinos, which draw many people, and they would benefit mutually.

I'm just throwing my positive thoughts on the subject out there.