Did MLB Make A Mistake By Putting A Team In DC?

You just described the (Devil) Rays problem before this year. People kept bitching about the low attendance. Uh, they're the worst team in sports, how's that for a reason?

Now they're winning and (shock!) guess what? They're attracting better than 20K.

 

If a game starts at 7, takes three hours to play, how many of the 5.4 million people that live in DC could be home in one hour?

How many of the 5.4 million could leave their homes at 6 p.m. and expect to see the first pitch at 7 p.m.

Hassle is a relative term, and for me, an 60 to 90 minutes from my door to my seat or my seat to my door is a hassle.

 

Miami was a mistake. Tampa Bay was a mistake. I don't think DC was a mistake.

 

I went to two games (Yankees and Jets) a few weeks ago and did not have that problem.

PNC Park, The Jake and Camden all do not seem to have the backlogs of traffic either.

If the Metro was better or more encompasing with more trains, then I think the Nats would draw a lot better.

 

Oh, DC is not a mistake.

 

Edited for spelling.

 

With any luck, there won't be any connection problems when I finish a long-ish post.

The crux of it: IIRC, the Expos announced their move pretty late in the game - not the move to DC, but the fact that they were getting out of Montreal. I want to say the schedule for the following season had been released already; so that essentially eliminated Portland, et al., since most out-of-division teams did a Montreal/NYC swing (or maybe it was Montreal/Philly). Changing out Montreal for Portland or any other city not on the east coast would have been too problematic.

Being in NoVa, I was one of the proponents for them to move here. But that was problematic too: I-66 and I-395 can be nightmares inside the Beltway, not to mention the likely prohibitive cost of securing land and razing it. The only open option was out by Dulles, and by then you're 30 miles from downtown - and you're still in a place where the infrastructure is ill-suited to handle such crowds. (At the Redskins' training-camp scrimmage, I sat a mile from Redskin Park and didn't move for 30 minutes. Which, I admit, says more about the Redskins' lack of planning, but still illustrates the point.)

The park, as it is now, was built on former industrial-use land - which is easily seen from the press parking area. It's nice because 1) it's new and 2) it's not RFK, but it was a rush job that lacks any sort of 'wow' factor. The centerpiece of the stadium, for heaven's sakes, is the Jumbotron.

And everyone knew this team, the '08 version, was going to struggle. Virtually no dependable starting pitching, a decent back end of the 'pen and a lineup that, save for one player, didn't scare you in the least. With all the injuries they've had, the season went to hell quick. It wasn't even like Seattle - at least the M's had expectations. We all knew this team was gonna be bad; the injuries just made them awful.

With all of that being said, Kasten and Bowden have done a pretty good job of restocking the farm system, which was completely barren when the Expos got here. I believe it's now in BA's top 10, for what it's worth. But those kids aren't ready for prime time yet.

As Moddy said, DC is a front-runners' town, except the Redskins. If those kids ever mature and there's some progress, they'll be OK. But they cannot have another clunker like this one, not with four other franchises in the city (Skins, Wiz, Caps, United) achieving levels of measurable success.

 

Wow, I have to say, I find those two statements incongruous. I just must not be a good enough fan.

 

I have always been surprised at just how easy it is to get in and out at PNC Park, definitely an improvement over Three Rivers Stadium, which was in nearly the same location with the same lousy crowds. They just set things up better.

It is also proof that the stadium is at best a very temporary fix. Pittsburgh has a ballpark that is the equivalent of any in baseball, better than most. Going to a game may not be cheap, but parking and traffic are fairly easy to deal with.

But if you run the team like shit and can't/won't spend, the product is still going to suck. Bad ownership is deadly unless a franchise gets lucky with a really good general manager.

Just like in D.C., baseball will never be the number one sport in town. It won't even come close. Right now the only thing PNC Park is doing for the future of baseball in Pittsburgh is forcing the team to stay due to the lease agreement signed when the park was built.

And this is a franchise that has the type of history that the Nationals don't have, going back to 1891 (there was a team before that, but not in 1890 and not called the Pirates). I think that is the only reason the Pirates' attendance and broadcasting numbers aren't as bad as those of the Nationals.

It seems like the Pirates are just killing time until the lease is up, at which time it is a very real possibility that they will either try to hold the city up again or move. The Nationals could eventually face a similar problem if they don't start putting a better team on the field.

 

Especially THERE.

We've been over this; first-guessed it.

We're talking the WORST front-running fan base in the world (gee, politicians and those who depend upon them for a paycheck? Whatta shock!).

That base will NOT support a non-winner (especially with an infinitely-more attractive ballpark (Camden) within easy reach).
They proved it as an AL doormat, and they're than capable of demonstrating it, once more.