Will San Antonio ever get an MLB team? (Dallas, Mission: fit in, school) - Texas (TX) - Page 3 - City-Data Forum

raider042678 · 11-11-2007, 10:01 AM

I agree. Minor league baseball fits this city more than MLB. The ONLY problem I have is the stadium and the location of the stadium. Personally I love the downtown old-timer looking stadiums. A modern stadium yet its appearance takes you back to the 50's. One example, a stadium I absolutely love. The Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City is absolutely gorgeous. It is all brick exterior but very modern inside. It is connected to the city's canal walk (similar to our Riverwalk without the clubs and restaurants) and you can access the ballpark from the canal walk. What I envision for SA is something similar. A ballpark built downtown with access to the Riverwalk. I know I'm dreaming, but I believe that would make for a better atmosphere, and plus after the games, you can head right to the Riverwalk just a few skips away. And like I said, instead of MLB, keep the Missions, just maybe upgrade the team to AAA, just like Round Rock did with the Express a few years ago.

majormadmax · 11-11-2007, 10:50 AM

Yeah, I like the old-style stadiums as well, which is one of the reasons I love Camden Yards in Baltimore...

But I can tell you from firsthand experience the fans pay for those stadiums! Wolff isn't that bad looking for a minor league stadium, and I am always happy to see a lot of Air Force Basic Trainees there (I suspect they cut them a break, if not give them free tickets. What's fun is to watch then fall asleep, as usually they are so tired even the ballgame can't keep them awake!). Plus the team and the stadium do a lot to make it fun. I honestly don't see how a stadium closer to downtown would be financially viable...

Cheers! M2

Monumental1 · 11-12-2007, 07:00 AM

Hey San Antonio,

I hate to break the news to you, but your METRO / Market size is too small to support a MLB team. 20 - 30 years from now though who knows. But MSA really matters a lot. I know you are thinking well what about Milwaukee? Well it helps when the commissioner of baseball (Bud Selig) owns your team, and is from your city. Milwaukee shouldn't have a team if you don't IMO.

but - many people don't know, the Brewers are actually a team that was stolen from Seattle in 1970 when the city was just a town. The Brewers are really the Seattle Pilots. Crazy now Seattle is more than twice the size of Milwaukee, and runs circles around it, from every aspect known to man. Now of course Seattle has the Mariners, and the rest is history. (The Pilots only played one season in Seattle in 1969)

Just take the Brewers from Milwaukee, you are growing faster than them anyway. But I don't think Bud Selig will let that happen anytime soon.

NFL - is an even longer shot. As long as Dallas is in your state, it's not going to happen.

You are in a simular situation as Portland in the PNW. Seattle dominates the northwest so much, in MSA, and media market. Portland has little to NO shot at landing a NFL or MLB team. They have been trying for years. But the Seahawks, and Mariners are all over their city, in their news papers, TV etc. making Seattles market reach and domination that much more powerful. Leagues don't like tampering with that.

On top of that.........Portland was trying to get Major League Soccer when Seattle wasn't even thinking about it. ..........and guess who just got a team awarded to them. Seattle.

MSA determines a lot.

majormadmax · 11-12-2007, 07:09 AM

Well, after what I dropped ($$$) at the Spurs game last night, I am not too thrilled with having a "professional" baseball or football team coming here. $15 to park in the middle of nowhere, $15 for a hotdog, coke and peanuts, $4 for a regular-sized bottle of water, and $27 for "religious" tickets (near to God). My son loves the Spurs, but everytime I go to one of the games and pay those prices, I would much rather spend a heckuva lot less and go see a minor league team play where I can get much closer to the action for about a third of the price.

Cheers! M2

Bye210 · 11-12-2007, 07:31 AM

San Antonio is not a baseball area. I'm sure there's pockets of fans, but the fervor for the sport is not here. An MLB team here would play to a half-empty stadium on a good day. The Spurs can't even sell out their playoff games, and this city is Spurs crazy. This is a blue collar city, with a largely uneducated workforce. With the lower income in mind, and the fact that baseball is barely on the radar down here, I can't see how an MLB team could break even for the 80 or so home games.

Insomniac · 11-12-2007, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bye210

San Antonio is not a baseball area. I'm sure there's pockets of fans, but the fervor for the sport is not here. An MLB team here would play to a half-empty stadium on a good day. The Spurs can't even sell out their playoff games, and this city is Spurs crazy. This is a blue collar city, with a largely uneducated workforce. With the lower income in mind, and the fact that baseball is barely on the radar down here, I can't see how an MLB team could break even for the 80 or so home games.

If you will, let me try to clear up some facts. Do you watch MLB baseball? Outside of Chicago, Boston and NY, most teams play to half empty stadiums during the regular season. Another clear up, the Spurs do sell out playoff games and the one time you're talking about was because of a well documented Ticketmaster screw up. San Antonio also isn't a blue collar city, where you got that is puzzling and how is the workforce uneducated when San Antonio has the second highest number of college students in Texas?

And with that handle I can predict you won't be too kind to SA or unbiased.

Bye210 · 11-12-2007, 03:35 PM

Yes, I watch MLB baseball. And no, most teams outside of the five that you mentioned do not play to half-empty stadiums. Where did YOU get that fact? San Antonio is indeed a blue collar city. If you look at the statistics from this website, only 21.6% of the people here hold a Bachelor's. Construction is the most common industry for males.
Additionally, how does the number of college students in a city equate to whether or not its workforce is uneducated? Does that mean that all of these students actually graduate and work in San Antonio afterwards? Does that mean they are all from San Antonio(Trinity, IW)? Either way, a semester or two at UTSA or SAC doesn't equate to being educated. UTSA has a four year graduation rate of 8%, and 30% at six years. Not exactly churning out diplomas. SAC has a graduation rate of less than 10%, and it's a junior college.

I have nothing against San Antonio. I've enjoyed my time here, and it's where I met my fiance. So your assumptions are wrong. My problem resides with people such as yourself that try to play down outright facts. Be proud of what your city does have, but don't try to make it in to something its not.

Insomniac · 11-12-2007, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bye210

Yes, I watch MLB baseball. And no, most teams outside of the five that you mentioned do not play to half-empty stadiums. Where did YOU get that fact?

I didn't mean it literally but a majority of major league teams do suffer from poor attendance during the regular season. The average MLB stadium seats 50,000 people and the average attendance during the regular season is 31,000. The Florida (Miami) Marlins avg. 16,919 in a 48,000 seat stadium. The Washington Nationals avg 24,217 in a 45,000 seat stadium. The Atlanta Braves avg. 33,891 in a 50,000 seat stadium. I could run off 10 or 15 more teams with exactly the same pathetic attendance. I think you get my point.

Quote:

San Antonio is indeed a blue collar city. If you look at the statistics from this website, only 21.6% of the people here hold a Bachelor's.

How does that make the city "blue collar". Please explain.

Quote:

Construction is the most common industry for males.

Construction is the most common industry for males in Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Miami, Denver and many others.

Quote:

Additionally, how does the number of college students in a city equate to whether or not its workforce is uneducated?

That stat doesn't equate but your sole opinion does?

Bye210 · 11-12-2007, 06:18 PM

"Construction is the most common industry for males in Houston, Dallas, Charlotte, Miami, Denver and many others."

Great. What does that have to do with San Antonio?

"How does that make the city "blue collar". Please explain."

What kind of jobs do you think the other 78.4% of people have? Jobs which don't require a degree. What kind of jobs are those? Figure it out.

"That stat doesn't equate but your sole opinion does?"

Saying SA has the second most college students in Texas is irrelevant when you see the graduation rate of the two largest(by far) colleges in the city. It's even more irrelevant in terms of the education level of SA's workforce.

Insomniac · 11-12-2007, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bye210

Great. What does that have to do with San Antonio?

Seriously?

Quote:

What kind of jobs do you think the other 78.4% of people have? Jobs which don't require a degree. What kind of jobs are those? Figure it out.

So what is the "white collar" percentage? Is it 27% like in Houston? What about the 16% in Miami? Either way, I highly doubt you'd call Houston or Miami "blue collar."

Quote:

Saying SA has the second most college students in Texas is irrelevant when you see the graduation rate of the two largest(by far) colleges in the city.

First off, can you post the data that supports those claims of graduation rates and second, can yo

Quote:

It's even more irrelevant in terms of the education level of SA's workforce.

Second, can you post the data that supports the "uneducated workforce" claim. I'll be patiently waiting.