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Granted I'm biased as I grew up in Baseball City - St. Louis, but seeing a Toronto Blue Jays vs. NY Yankees was the most pathetic live sports experience of my life. I've never seen that many empty seats! Canadians simply don't care for one second about such an all american sport. They are far too engrossed in soccer and rugby.. (yawn..)
Soccer and rugby? We are talking about Canada, not England!
Soccer has grown by leaps and bounds in Canada (as it has in the States) but the number one sport in Canada is unquestionably hockey. I thought everyone knew that.
Granted I'm biased as I grew up in Baseball City - St. Louis, but seeing a Toronto Blue Jays vs. NY Yankees was the most pathetic live sports experience of my life. I've never seen that many empty seats! Canadians simply don't care for one second about such an all american sport. They are far too engrossed in soccer and rugby.. (yawn..)
I think the Blue Jays would do well in San Antonio. Texas is a great state for sports fans and San Antonio is America's 7th largest city and 25th biggest metro area. Its one of the very few metopolitan areas that saw postive grown from 2000-2010. Its really amazing it only has 1 pro. team (i.e. Spurs) when quickly dying cities like Cleveland have 3. That said, the Jays could do well in Charlotte also, another growing city (2000-2010).
Bottom line: Get baseball out of Canada - obviously they don't appreciate it!
But the 37th largest TV market which is what matters more than being the 7th largest city and 25th largest metro (though slightly).
the owner of the dodgers doesn't want to sell the team, but because of his serious financial issues + ongoing divorce, many are speculating that he'll be forced to sell.
and even if he does sell the team, there is no way the dodgers will be relocated from los angeles. it is simply too iconic of a franchise to move - unquestionably one of the top 3-5 in all of baseball along with the yanks, red sox, cubs, and cards. not to mention, the team has historically received great fan support, even if attendance is down this season. and dodger stadium is one of the most respected facilities in the league from an architectural, maintenance, and location standpoint.
a very popular team with iconic status and a beautiful stadium in the nation's second largest market is not going to move. yes, i realize they relocated from brooklyn back in the day, but that was a totally different era with much different considerations - they had stadium issues (ebbets field was crumbling, and the dodgers couldn't build the new stadium they wanted in brooklyn) and they saw a huge and rapidly growing tv/population market in los angeles that was wide open with lots of cheap land to build on at the time. none of those things are a factor today.
besides, mlb teams rarely move nowadays. the expos' move to washington in 2005 was mlb's first relocation since 1971.
the owner of the dodgers doesn't want to sell the team, but because of his serious financial issues + ongoing divorce, many are speculating that he'll be forced to sell.
and even if he does sell the team, there is no way the dodgers will be relocated from los angeles. it is simply too iconic of a franchise (top 3-5 in all of baseball along with the yanks, red sox, cubs, cards) to move, not to mention the team has historically received great fan support (even if attendance is down this season) and dodger stadium is one of the best facilities in the league.
a very popular team with iconic status and a beautiful stadium in the nation's second largest market is not going to move. yes, i realize they relocated from brooklyn back in the day, but that was a totally different era, not to mention they had stadium issues (they couldn't build the stadium they wanted in brooklyn) and a huge market in los angeles was wide open. none of those things are a factor today.
besides, mlb teams rarely move nowadays. the expos' move to washington in 2005 was mlb's first relocation since 1971.
That must've been it. I'm not an MLB fan at all, and are more accustomed to the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. It doesn't seem possible for it move though.
seeing a Toronto Blue Jays vs. NY Yankees was the most pathetic live sports experience of my life. I've never seen that many empty seats! Canadians simply don't care for one second about such an all american sport. They are far too engrossed in soccer and rugby.. (yawn..)
I think the Blue Jays would do well in San Antonio. Texas is a great state for sports fans and San Antonio is America's 7th largest city and 25th biggest metro area. Its one of the very few metopolitan areas that saw postive grown from 2000-2010. Its really amazing it only has 1 pro. team (i.e. Spurs) when quickly dying cities like Cleveland have 3. That said, the Jays could do well in Charlotte also, another growing city (2000-2010).
Bottom line: Get baseball out of Canada - obviously they don't appreciate it!
there's nothing wrong with toronto as an mlb market. the blue jays may have so-so attendance nowadays, but remember, they set all sorts of attendance records when the skydome (now known as the rogers centre) first opened. it's tough to maintain a high level of attendance - in a stadium that's way too big, btw - when the team has been so mediocre for past 17 years. plus, toronto is a large and wealthy market with a huge corporate presence - something that's absolutely necessary in any top-level pro sports league.
if san antonio gets a team, a far more likely relocation candidate would be the tampa bay rays. also, mlb could eventually expand to 32 teams, although i don't see that happening anytime soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spade
But the 37th largest TV market which is what matters more than being the 7th largest city and 25th largest metro (though slightly).
exactly. while i do think san antonio will eventually make a solid home for an mlb team, it's not exactly the largest market at this time, so mlb succeeding there is not (yet) a slam dunk.
but as SA continues to grow, i think it'll have a better case for being a viable mlb market - just give it another 10-20 years of steady growth. it would also help tremendously if its corporate presence increased during that time so that there is not only a sufficient population, but also the financial clout of the town's biggest movers and shakers to support a team.
mlb is the most difficult sports league for a smaller metro area to support at the gate, since there are 81 home games and the typical mlb stadium's capacity is so high. the only small or smallish-medium markets with mlb franchises are the ones who've had those teams for decades - pirates, reds, brewers, royals, and so forth.
* Tampa Bay Rays move to Norfolk, VA. Renamed the Hampton Road Ironclads
* Athletics move to San Jose / Santa Clara
** Expansion teams
I would love to see a team go to the Caribbean. The fans and talent are there, but I dont think the money is there to support it. San Juan, Santo Domingo, are possibilities, or perhaps in a team in Havana could be political tool to help democratize the island, and open up trade.
Haven't read through this entire thread, but as jasomm notes, the next logical place for MLB expansion should be Latin America or the Caribbean.
A team in San Juan or Mexico City makes sense to me. Both have a long tradition of baseball and would have avid fan base and plenty of corporate buyers to fill up the sky boxes. But the important thing is that their media markets would be huge; with Spanish broadcasting a Mexican or Puerto Rican team could go on satellite throughout all Latiin America, which would be enormously appealing I think to advertisers and override concerns about the gate in relatively poor and smallish home cities.
Obviously you could also think Santo Donmingo, but I think that might be TOO small and poor And Caracas could be right too, but might be too far away to fit into the MLB schedule. Of course, Hugo Chavez could complicate things! BUt the media play would be the same: MLB with a Latin home town team's games broadcast from Buenso Aires to Brownsville.
And the wild card IS Havana. It would have a headstart because its geographically close, baseball-crazed (like the DR) and has a long history before Castro as a destination for US vacationers.
Haven't read through this entire thread, but as jasomm notes, the next logical place for MLB expansion should be Latin America or the Caribbean.
A team in San Juan or Mexico City makes sense to me. Both have a long tradition of baseball and would have avid fan base and plenty of corporate buyers to fill up the sky boxes. But the important thing is that their media markets would be huge; with Spanish broadcasting a Mexican or Puerto Rican team could go on satellite throughout all Latiin America, which would be enormously appealing I think to advertisers and override concerns about the gate in relatively poor and smallish home cities.
Obviously you could also think Santo Donmingo, but I think that might be TOO small and poor And Caracas could be right too, but might be too far away to fit into the MLB schedule. Of course, Hugo Chavez could complicate things! BUt the media play would be the same: MLB with a Latin home town team's games broadcast from Buenso Aires to Brownsville.
And the wild card IS Havana. It would have a headstart because its geographically close, baseball-crazed (like the DR) and has a long history before Castro as a destination for US vacationers.
Except that MLB putting a franchise in Havana would be a violation of U.S. law.
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