[delgadobb]

Originally Posted by Gatsby1925

And LA Guy, yes, we do have a minor league team, the AAA Las Vegas 51s. Unfortunately, not only are they terrible, but they play in an absolutely decrepit ballpark. Cashman Field is such an armpit that by comparison it makes Sam Boyd Stadium (another armpit) look like Cowboys Stadium. They used to get a fair number of fans back when they were the farm team for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the Dodgers moved to a much nicer ballpark in Albuquerque. Now, we are the AAA affiliate for the Toronto Blue Jays. Good luck getting Vegas fans to care about developmental players for a club that's 2,000 miles away in another country.

While Cashman is nothing special, you couldn't be more wrong about the 51s. They're the AAA team for the Toronto Blue Jays, who have rebuilt to the point that they either have the best (or maybe second best) farm system in baseball.

I'll be going to plenty of 51s games this year; even though the stadium's mediocre & not in a great part of town, I've been in worse minor league parks. The most expensive single game ticket is generally a field-level seat for $14. Conversely, my place in Chicago is close to Wrigley field; I'm lucky if I can get anywhere close to the park for $14, let alone a reserved seat. Bleachers for, say, the White Sox game on May 19 are $110 - not through a scalper, but directly from the Cubs! It's not like the Cubs are fielding an all-world team this year & Wrigley Field's starting to show its age, even tho it's still a great place to see a game.

With the 51s, you can see David Cooper, who hit .364 for the 51s last year & ironically is not one of the better prospects on the team. Adeiny Hechavarria could already play SS at the major league level but needs to improve offensively. Similar story for Anthony Gose in CF, who has phenomenal speed, a rocket arm & decent power, needing to make more consistent contact. The 51s have the best catching prospect in baseball in Travis D'Arnaud, who hit for average & power last year at AA & has greatly improving his receiving. Travis Snider has had trouble sticking at the major league level (partially due to injuries), but is still a phenomenal prospect at 24 & currently hitting .432 with a .490 OBP & .773 slugging average. You just aren't going to see that mix of talent with just about any other minor league team. The Royals had a sick amount of talent at AAA last year but graduated a lot of it to the major league level. Ironically, the Jays' single-A team in Lansing might be one of the closest competitors, with Noah Syndergaard, Justin Nicolino & Aaron Sanchez, all potential future major-league pitchers with big upside.

There's a good chance we'll see some of the Jays' high upside pitching prospects in the second half of the season, depending on how they develop ... including Deck McGuire (not as much upside), Drew Hutchinson & possibly one of the aforementioned A-ball pitchers if they move quickly (tho it's a longshot). If CF Jake Marisnick moves quickly we may see him. Personally, I enjoy minor-league baseball for the value & 'fun factor' - major league baseball's become very corporate & expensive to the point that I find I have more fun at minor league games. Most casual fans wouldn't know the difference between a 51s game & major league game if they were played in the same park.

Originally Posted by Ulysses373

Field of Schemes. Read through that if you want to get really depressed about how much money is wasted on sports teams.

Great link. I used to write for Baseball Prospectus Baseball Prospectus & Neil DeMause (from Field of Schemes) still does with regards to Baseball financial stuff. It's amazing the amount of manipulation & extortion that goes on with stadium construction these days.

Sadly, I don't see a major league team in Las Vegas' future any time soon. The gambling issue will be a detriment in many cases (esp. NFL) & the high rate of tourist influx may make it difficult to develop a permanent fan base. MLS may be the best bet, but I don't even hold out much hope for that.

BTW, as an aside, do others realize that Las Vegas is considered part of the home market for the D-Backs, Padres, Angels, Dodgers, A's AND Giants for media purposes? I'm trying to throw money at MLB.tv so I can watch games online using my phone or tablet, but on any given day I can be blacked out of 40% of the games in MLB. THAT's a bigger issue to me than whether or not we have a major league team.

[Gatsby1925]

Originally Posted by delgadobb

BTW, as an aside, do others realize that Las Vegas is considered part of the home market for the D-Backs, Padres, Angels, Dodgers, A's AND Giants for media purposes? I'm trying to throw money at MLB.tv so I can watch games online using my phone or tablet, but on any given day I can be blacked out of 40% of the games in MLB. THAT's a bigger issue to me than whether or not we have a major league team.

YES. I freaking hate MLB blackout restrictions within the Las Vegas Valley. What makes it worse is that we don't even have affiliates for the D-Backs, A's and Giants through our cable providers, despite being in the blackout zone. Plus, some of the Dodgers games are broadcast on KCAL rather than FSN Primeticket, so if KCAL is broadcasting a game then we don't get to see it, even if it's on a national affiliate or on MLB.tv.

Decades-old blackout rules leave Major League Baseball fans in the dark - Sports - ReviewJournal.com

The Review Journal had a great article last year about the blackout issue. Despite promises back during the Winter Meetings in 2008 that MLB would work to make those games available to Las Vegans, nothing came through and it hasn't been brought up again. A unnamed source from the inside claims that the reason for the absurd blackout policy is so TV networks can claim a larger geographical area and audience when negotiation contracts, allowing them to up their monetary worth.

[Willy702]

The reason why those teams have claims to the market was because at one time they all showed games on an LV broadcast channel. I remember seeing A's Sunday games on a channel back in the 90s and thought does anyone who doesnt have money on this game really watch? Giants games were shown often back then. Then when the DBacks started they started showing Sunday only games on a local channel. If I remember correct the Giants and A's were gone from the airwaves then. Then in the 2000s finally almost all games came off broadcast and went to the regional sports networks. The Padres got all the exposure if you had Cox.

It all must have seemed innocuous to show a handful of games on local TV,but now with the blackout rules its screwing things over. I am sure the only way it would change is if a club actually moved to Vegas and could claim home TV rights. Other than that why would a club give up territory?

[bxlefty23]

Originally Posted by Willy702

No stadium for major league sports gets built any more without public funding of some sort. Its been a long time since it has happened.

Thing about Vegas is the situation is totally different. Its the one locale where you can recoup a lot of tax revenue from outside the state with an arena. The economist argument against stadiums is they take money from other area entertainment options shifting spending. Vegas is all about shifting entertainment spending right out of other staes coffers. Investing $400M on an arena aimed just at drawing a few fights, concerts and the rodeo actually generates a return. The incremental tax revenues from maybe 20 event nights is huge from gaming and hotel tax alone. The pro franchise doesnt even matter and ends up being more a local amenity than an outside draw.

The baseball giants didnt get any public financing

[irishspy]

A MLB team in LV would need a large TV audience. This is the revenue driver for the team. This is what hurts small market teams the most. MLB is not interested in having more small market teams. Good example Montreal Expos,about the same size market as LV but they were limited on TV rights by the 3 teams around it Toronto,Boston and NY. They could not hold on to their stars $$$. If they were in the American league they might have made it because of the fan base in NE and NY. The other thing they had a crappy stadium with a roof which was suppose to retract but was broke. Indoor baseball does not fly and LV would need that. IF MLB expands it will be international towards Japan or Cuba or South America. You are beating a dead horse on LV.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by bxlefty23

The baseball giants didnt get any public financing

One park out of how many? And Giants fans have complained about it since day one talking about how the debt load prevents the team from spending more money on the roster. The Yankees could have easily done it but they still got half the money from public financing.

So sure it could be done, but Las Vegas is not a top 5 media market and doesn't have over 5 million residents to draw from and a regional market of almost 20 million like the Giants do.

[bxlefty23]

Originally Posted by irishspy

A MLB team in LV would need a large TV audience. This is the revenue driver for the team. This is what hurts small market teams the most. MLB is not interested in having more small market teams. Good example Montreal Expos,about the same size market as LV but they were limited on TV rights by the 3 teams around it Toronto,Boston and NY. They could not hold on to their stars $$$. If they were in the American league they might have made it because of the fan base in NE and NY. The other thing they had a crappy stadium with a roof which was suppose to retract but was broke. Indoor baseball does not fly and LV would need that. IF MLB expands it will be international towards Japan or Cuba or South America. You are beating a dead horse on LV.

there is no chance mlb expands to japan
a couple of games every 3 or 4 years a week before the season is a complete different than having teams playing there consistantly

[Nolan05]

I do not know if has been said already but I would not want one here since the 51s is a much cheaper alternative and AAA baseball, all of the minors for that fact is a better game to go watch. Having 3 kids who love to go to games, spending 50 on 5 seats right by the field is a lot better than 200 or more just for tickets to a pro game and those are to sit way up.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by Nolan05

I do not know if has been said already but I would not want one here since the 51s is a much cheaper alternative and AAA basebmosall, all of the minors for that fact is a better game to go watch. Having 3 kids who love to go to games, spending 50 on 5 seats right by the field is a lot better than 200 or more just for tickets to a pro game and those are to sit way up.

Not every team is the Yankees. Those $10 seats for the 51s cost about $40 in San Diego and are easy to get. If you want to keep it to $50 most teams can accomodate you and the seats wouldnt be as bad as you think. And better to watch? I doubt few agree would agree Cashman Field is a good experience or a good place to catch a game. It certainly is no competition for any major league stadium or most AAA or even AA facilities.

[Buzz123]

Thought this was interesting. I never knew about this man. I guess it's way past time to go to a 51's game. I think their first game (as LV Stars) may have been the only one I ever went to. Blum, 91, itching to ditch hospital, return to 51s post - Sports - ReviewJournal.com

I'd say I hope to be that active at 91, but I'm not that active now.