Speaking of Expos moving to Boston.....
There are various media outlets including ESPN that are reporting that Major League Baseball wants to move the team they own, the Montreal Expos to Boston for one year (or more). The deal will apparently have the Expos sharing Fenway Park with the Red Sox next year.
This would be the first time that Boston has had two Major League baseball teams since the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. I guess if there is a place that could support two teams, it would be Boston.
<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/29717p-28212c.html"; target="_blank">http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/29717p-28212c.html</a>;
Edit: The ESPN article is only accessible if you are a member of the Insider program there, and I am not.
I also forgot to mention that MLB is preventing all press conferences on these issues until the World Series is over and there is supposed to be a media blackout but this information apparently was leaked out.
[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Fran441 ]</p>
This would be the first time that Boston has had two Major League baseball teams since the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee. I guess if there is a place that could support two teams, it would be Boston.
<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/29717p-28212c.html"; target="_blank">http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/29717p-28212c.html</a>;
Edit: The ESPN article is only accessible if you are a member of the Insider program there, and I am not.
I also forgot to mention that MLB is preventing all press conferences on these issues until the World Series is over and there is supposed to be a media blackout but this information apparently was leaked out.
[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Fran441 ]</p>
Comments
They can't move a team down to that area unless the Orioles agree to it.
This deal, on the other hand, would have the Red Sox taking much of the advertising revenue and collecting rent from the Expos. They would still reserve the right to keep the Expos from moving to Boston permanently.
The Red Sox CEO 'laughed' at this report, but there are reports on Boston radio (850) that says the deal is real and that the news blackout until the end of the World Series means that the Red Sox have to deny it for a few more days.
Remember that Oakland and Seattle have denied their managers are leaving even though the deals are *confirmed*.
<a href="http://msn.espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1024/1450403.html"; target="_blank">http://msn.espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1024/1450403.html</a>;
This could be a lot of fun. I'm sure M3D Jack and others living in the Fenway neighborhood (who don't like the 81 home games already played there every year) are going to be pissed, but this could be great for Boston even if it only is for a year.
Considering the weak attendance by A's fans for an excellent team this seems a questionable statement. Bay Area denizens like to talk about San Jose being a fertile spot, but there is little direct evidence to support htat as a possibility. The attendance of the A's combined with slighly loewr attendance for the Giants this year in spite of both being in pennant races suggests that regional interest is only middling for two teams and that three teams would be a stretch. Considering that I highly doubt htat either club would be willing to tolerate a third team, unlike the Red Sox who are virtually guaranteed to have the same attendance regardless of whether another team is in town.
Even the Yankees and Mets don't sell out all of there games so they don't have the excess demand that Boston may have.
[quote]Remember that Oakland and Seattle have denied their managers are leaving even though the deals are *confirmed*. <hr></blockquote>
Not true in the least. The A's publicly admitted that they had given the Mets permission to talk to Howe. There has been no public confirmation that the rumored agreement between the two has been met, on the other hand they have not denied that Howe was leaving, only that htere was a deal to announce yet. The Mariners and Piniella have both explicitely stated in various public comments that he would not be back with Seattle next year, that he was in fact leaving. Piniella's agent did at one point did at one point threaten to have him come as a move to try to force hte Mariners to deal with the Mets but that was obviously a secondary negotiating ploy. Bottom line, this one has been publicly hashed over. Now that doesn't mean that your point about people denying things doesn't apply to the Expos situation but the examples you used don't really fit that.
<strong>
Considering the weak attendance by A's fans for an excellent team this seems a questionable statement. Bay Area denizens like to talk about San Jose being a fertile spot, but there is little direct evidence to support htat as a possibility. The attendance of the A's combined with slighly loewr attendance for the Giants this year in spite of both being in pennant races suggests that regional interest is only middling for two teams and that three teams would be a stretch. Considering that I highly doubt htat either club would be willing to tolerate a third team, unlike the Red Sox who are virtually guaranteed to have the same attendance regardless of whether another team is in town.
Even the Yankees and Mets don't sell out all of there games so they don't have the excess demand that Boston may have. </strong><hr></blockquote>
The As need a new ballpark in a better neighborhood. Of course they can't sell out a multipurpose stadium that was reconfigured for football. That and they made ticket prices way too high. $30+ for sky high bleachers for the play-offs? Please!
The big problem is how they live in the shadow of San Francisco...introducing a third team might make things interesting. The As don't air any commercials on local TV. They don't do anything to promote themselves on the airwaves. They also need to cut a deal with the local FOX affiliates to ensure a decent number of games are shown on TV during the season.
I'm not endorsing such a move though. I wouldn't want the Giants attendance figures to dip...
$30 playoff tickets? That would be my best dream come true. :eek:
Actually, $30 tickets at Fenway for regular games would be good too. Maybe when the Expos move, their ticket prices will be down.
<strong>
$30 playoff tickets? That would be my best dream come true. :eek:
Actually, $30 tickets at Fenway for regular games would be good too. Maybe when the Expos move, their ticket prices will be down.
Er, Fenway upper bleachers during the regular season are $18 for a single game, and nowhere near as high as the ones at the Coliseum.
The Coliseum seats are three decks up...they were added for football. They're normally $7 a ticket. The As usually have one day a week where they sell those tickets and even some better ones for $1.
$30+ for those nosebleeds? Not a chance.
[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]</p>
The big problem is how they live in the shadow of San Francisco...introducing a third team might make things interesting. The As don't air any commercials on local TV. They don't do anything to promote themselves on the airwaves. They also need to cut a deal with the local FOX affiliates to ensure a decent number of games are shown on TV during the season.<hr></blockquote>
I'm not talking about selling out. What was the A's average attendance and where did it rank among all teams and among playoff teams?
It is true that that neighborhood sucks although other cities certainly do well with stadiums in lousy neighborhoods. The stadium may suck too, I haven't been there since they reconfigured. But that is still as much a problem for the transplanted Expos as it is for the A's. MLB is not gonna let them play in the same stadium as the Giants since they are in the same league. Never gonna happen. Where else are they gonna play then besides the coliseum? That AAA stadium in San Jose? TV still remains as much of an issue for the Expos too as the A's. Except the Expos would be new to town and are a weaker team which makes them an even weaker proposition in a more fractured market.
Beyond all that neither Magowan or the A's ownership would ever agree to it. As desperate as both are for cash they wouldn't want a team in their backyard with an indefinite future. Maybe if they already had another stadium under construction in another city but not with an open ended arrangement.
They are gonna wind up in VA or DC long term anyway. This is gonna be a payoff to the politicians for not revoking the antitrust exemption.
At least the seats are facing home plate.
The Expos probably won't end up in DC/Virginia because of the Orioles. I have no idea where they will end up in the long run, but I think Boston next year would be great.
Anyway, there is talk of having the expos play in porto rico, portland and boston.
oh well...
Go expos!
But Washington DC is a football town. Our Skins have always been much more central to our sporting spectatorship. Baltimore got the Ravens, and they don't have much care for the Skins anymore. I don't think it would be unfair to introduce a Ball team to DC. The Orioles continue to suck even though we dump a ton of money into them. Regional competition would probably help the team get things fixed.
DC has proven they can't support a team. Twice.
If there is another team put down in that area, it will greatly hurt the Orioles and it will be the 3rd time a DC team has failed.
I don't know where they are going to put the Expos in the end. You can't put a second team into a city that won't support the team they already have. For a year, Boston would be a good place for them since Boston is a baseball town.
But after that, I have no idea where they could go. It's painfully obvious they can't stay in Montreal.
Montreal can't support the team. They don't even have a television deal! Sorry Matvei, but they can't stay up there.
<strong>A new ESPN.com article has been posted:
<a href="http://msn.espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1024/1450403.html"; target="_blank">http://msn.espn.go.com/mlb/news/2002/1024/1450403.html</a>;
This could be a lot of fun. I'm sure M3D Jack and others living in the Fenway neighborhood (who don't like the 81 home games already played there every year) are going to be pissed, but this could be great for Boston even if it only is for a year.
Aw, I'm flattered you remember
By the way, the Expos play... Baseball, right?
<strong>It's sad when more Red Sox fans go to Expos games than people from Montreal. The biggest series up there the past few years has been from people in Boston chartering busses and driving up to see the Red Sox play the Expos.
Montreal can't support the team. They don't even have a television deal! Sorry Matvei, but they can't stay up there.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The situation is more complicated than this. You have to understand that fans have been lead to this indifferent state by the expos management through the nineties. Every year, our best players were traded away for nothing. every year. Like a gilted lover, fans were driven away and, while still harboring a love for baseball, refuse to be slapped in the face again.
Montreal will never be a big market but it can certainly support a major league team. The thing is that the trust needs to be built back up again. It takes a while.
Last year was very interesting. They did everything right. People here were flabbergasted at the concept of the team being tinkered with attention and drive. It had never happened. Trading prospects for current ballplayers? Wow! what a concept! Filling the holes in the roster? Good idea! Marketing the team? Hummm... we had never seen that! There was never any effort.
A few years of this kind of tony tavares building will bring the fans back. Will they get a chance?
Last year, you would have thought that zero fans would show up... we beat the friggin' marlins! Of course, loria had to artificially inflate his standing by buying tickets himself but we all know that lame-duck expos were a bigger draw. This could be a start. People expect this to change overnight. It won't. Fans were burnt pretty badly...
Go expos!
Major League Baseball is looking for a buyer and they aren't going to find one who will want to keep the team up there. MLB is almost forced to move the team just to find a buyer.