Henderson quietly tried to lure Arizona Diamondbacks to Southern Nevada

[CAHLUV]

Originally Posted by gliu953

I can't believe some of you are serious about getting rid of the Diamondbacks.
I lived in a mid-size city that didn't have any major league sports and I moved to Phoenix to be in a bigger city because of things like better jobs and close access to major sports teams.
You should be thankful Phoenix has the Diamondbacks and the other teams. This place would probably be little more than an overgrown small town if it didn't have them. I know they're not the best but at least you have 4 major league teams with state of the art stadiums, that's something many cities can't brag about.
You don't know what you have until it's gone. Remember that Ponderosa and JGMotorsport64. Good riddance to you.

I think some are tired of mediocre franchises wanting to use taxpayers for brand new arenas/stadiums.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Even when the Phoenix based teams are on a winning streak, there is still one big factor, which is the transplants who couldn't care less about the fact that we have pro sports. They're still loyal to the teams they left when they moved here: Steelers, Packers, Bears, Bulls, Cubs, Patriots, Yankees, etc. Hell, we draw more substantial crowds during Spring Training than we do during the Diamondbacks' regular season.

I can't really agree with your statement that the sports teams here have been historically awful. People seem to forget that the DBacks won the World Series in 2001, and have been in the NL West playoffs several times since then. The Suns never won a championship, but were in the finals twice: once in the 1970s, and the other time in the early 1990s. During much of the '90s, the Suns were the envy of the NBA thanks largely to Colangelo.

You're obviously a transplant, but you don't seem to have the typical transplant mentality, which is: move to Phoenix and lay in the sun or gawk at the mountains, but the hell with the more important reasons to move to a large city (good jobs and amenities like pro sports teams). In any event, I agree with you 100%. As for the DBacks, they need to stay in their current venue and quit threatening to move. Chase Field is still a state of the art facility, and all it needs are some general repairs & upgrades. It would be a huge mistake to vacate Chase Field and move to some idiotic location like the SRR, Nevada, etc. Downtown Phoenix would take a huge step backward if this were to happen.

Have to point out a few things about the statement in bold above.


- The D'Baks, during fairly mediocre .500 season after trading away their all-star face of the franchise last off-season, are drawing middle of the pack in MLB, there are literally 12 other teams drawing worse than us in a 30 team league. Our attendance isn't stellar but it isn't a problem, when they put a competitive team on the field the fans show up just fine.


- You don't build a Cubs type following in 20 years, a few generations from now after the team has been here 50+ years and several generations have been born as Phoenix natives, tides will shift, don't assume that today's status is permanent. We're a young city, the fact that fans of all these other organizations would rather live here is telling!



With all that said, baseball has a serious problem with their entire fanbase, it's shrinking because the younger generation's aren't following it like their parents and grandparents did. Beyond that, there is a massive imbalance in the league between big and small market teams, to compete with the Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs of the world a small payroll team like the D'Baks have to be smart, data driven, and depend on a continual rotation of young players from the farm system. Since data analysis is a huge part of my career, I actually like it, but most people don't care they just want to see playoffs or it's a bust.



I think MLB would be making a big mistake to expand their teams when cities like Miami are drawing 9,000 people per game, if you think our attendance is bad at 30,000ish try going to a Marin's or Ray's game sometime...

[cjseliga]

Originally Posted by locolife

I think MLB would be making a big mistake to expand their teams when cities like Miami are drawing 9,000 people per game, if you think our attendance is bad at 30,000ish try going to a Marin's or Ray's game sometime...

Good chance of getting a foul ball though at MLB games in FL!

[gliu953]

@JGMotorsport64
Then the team needs different owners, not a new stadium or moved out of state.
Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by gliu953

@JGMotorsport64
Then the team needs different owners, not a new stadium or moved out of state.
Don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Right. But it’s the owners that want the new stadium or to move out of the state

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by gliu953

I can't believe some of you are serious about getting rid of the Diamondbacks.
I lived in a mid-size city that didn't have any major league sports and I moved to Phoenix to be in a bigger city because of things like better jobs and close access to major sports teams.
You should be thankful Phoenix has the Diamondbacks and the other teams. This place would probably be little more than an overgrown small town if it didn't have them. I know they're not the best but at least you have 4 major league teams with state of the art stadiums, that's something many cities can't brag about.
You don't know what you have until it's gone. Remember that Ponderosa and JGMotorsport64. Good riddance to you.

Ah...and you assume that everyone cares about sports...see that is the first problem. Many people care about sports. There are those, myself included, that really don't care. I couldn't tell you the names of anyone on any of our teams. I would never, when considering a new city, have their sports teams anywhere on my Pro/Con list.

[gliu953]

I never assumed everyone cares about sports or likes sports.
My reasons for moving to Phoenix from New Mexico were better jobs and I wanted to be in a bigger city that offered things like major league sports, but I didn't want an overcrowded place like LA or San Fran.
If you have no patriotism for sports that's your choice but sports teams are on my list when I consider a new city, especially if it's a bigger city than where I moved from.
I enjoy the options of going to games in state of the art stadiums and I'd hate to see Phoenix lose the Diamondbacks or any of the other major league teams.

[KurtAZ]

Fair enough...that is important to you. I don't see where anyone should be "thankful" for these, albeit professional athletes who are a lot better at sports than I would ever want to be, mediocre teams in the valley. The Suns used to be good...not so much anymore. The Coyotes have never been good...probably why Winnipeg was so keen to get rid of them. Cardinals? 20 years of "meh" a couple of good years in a new stadium and then..."meh" again. Diamondbacks started off strong and then when Randy Johnson retired...again..."meh". The only saving grace of having major sports teams is that tourists/snowbirds/transplants still have a chance to watch THEIR teams play (and probably win) without having to leave Arizona.

Anyway...glad you like the availability of sports entertainment. Enjoy the game.

[asufan]

What kind of man doesn't care about sports?

I kid. Sorta

[KurtAZ]

Originally Posted by asufan

What kind of man doesn't care about sports?

I kid. Sorta

Heh...well...we care about different sports. Like Mick Schumacher getting a ride on the Ferrari F1 team or who is going to take the pole at Brands Hatch for the DTM race this weekend...stuff we don't get here except for NASCAR. We used to have a Phoenix Grand Prix way back when...for a couple of years...ah well. Guess we are just stuck with the Drift n Drags at Wildhorse.