I've heard different cities that they may play in next year, Wash. DC, Portland, OR, and Las Vegas. I think it'd be nice to see the Expos stay in Canada. Would Vancouver be a good option? Could that city draw the crowds to watch a baseball game?

DC. Finally I won't have to drive all the way to Baltimore for a baseball game. With Brady Anderson gone, it's no longer worth the trip. I just hope the DC team gets some hot - I mean, top-quality, talented - players.

Apparently they're talking about leaving the team in Montreal or moving them to a city temporarily until they can either move them to DC without having to face lawsuits from the Orioles, or until contraction is allowed again, whichever comes first.

I can't see them being much of a draw in any city if they aren't there permanently. We know they're not going to draw any more in Montreal since there aren't any apparent plans for MLB to sell the team to anyone who would try to make it work there. So the best thing they could do for that franchise is figure out how much it would take to shut up the Orioles' owner Peter Angelos and move them to DC, or move to some other permanent location.

I wonder if a team in Las Vegas would be like the Devil Rays--almost everyone seems to root for the Yankees or whatever team they cheered for before they retired to Florida. Would that happen in Vegas as well? What are the demographics like as far as native-born vs. transplanted from other areas?

[quote]Originally posted by Joe in Philly:
I wonder if a team in Las Vegas would be like the Devil Rays--almost everyone seems to root for the Yankees or whatever team they cheered for before they retired to Florida. Would that happen in Vegas as well? What are the demographics like as far as native-born vs. transplanted from other areas?

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It would be worse than the Devil Rays. No one is from Las Vegas. Transplants from everywhere. Mostly Southern California (which is why it was a smart move to make Las Vegas the AAA affiliate of the Dodgers), but a good smattering of Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, M'waukee (which is part of the reason that the football game at UNLV has been a home game for the Wisconsin Badgers), and just about everywhere else.

I also don't get the feeling that there's a huge pent-up demand for pro sports here (with the notable exception of boxing: Las Vegas remains the undisputed boxing capital of the universe). The Oakland A's talked about moving here a few years ago and the reaction was: YAWN. I love Las Vegas, but it's not a viable major league market. Baseball would be better off taking a second look at Buffalo.

Expos in Buffalo. Marlins in DC. Expansion in Portland & Mexico.

Buffalo???? Are you guys serious? It would totally require a retractable roof/domed stadium--is there any stomach for the taxpayers there to help build a stadium? I somehow doubt it. And wouldn't the Blue Jays object on territorial issues?

Portland? Oregon? WHY? Again, it would require a dome/roofed stadium and I doubt that the taxpayers will want to pay for it. From what my brother who lives there says, they like their minor league team but there's no overwhelming desire in the general population for MLB there.

Expand? No way! Contract, contract say I. And to Mexico? Wouldn't there be the same double taxation/weak peso thing that stops players from wanting to go to Montreal?

I think baseball has to face the reality of the sport in 2002. Its popularity is declining and it's not even something that a lot of kids under 30 give a shit about. Where is the next generation of fans going to come from after my age group (early 40's) start falling away? I really feel that baseball is in terminal decline and that in another 20 years will be firmly entrenched as the #3 sport in the US (behind football and basketball). It's days of ruling the sports roost are loooonnnggg gone and I think any talk of expansion is crazy. Although people had a cow when Selig talked about axing the Twins and Expos, I felt he should have really talked about the D Rays and a few other teams. I wouldn't mind 6 teams being axed, split up in to 4 regional divisions, winners play each other based on record and then the WS.

And if any city is stupid enough to buy the "Major league baseball brings prestige to your community" bullshit, they deserve whatever they get. It's what drives the NFL nuts about wanting to put a team here in Los Angeles; they truly just. don't. get. it. that we're not willing to pay 10's of millions of dollars to build a stadium that gets used a dozen times a year, mainly for the benefit of corporations and the rich. We don't need the NFL here; if you're in Nashville, it might be a different mindset but in city after city (I'm thinking mainly of St. Louis), citizens are saying "We will not be blackmailed in to paying for a stadium. You want it? You build it then". Good for them.

[quote]Originally posted by Jim Allen:
Buffalo???? Are you guys serious?

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Half serious. If you remember your baseball history, Buffalo and the Rich Family were one of the front runners to get an expansion team back in 1993, due to their strong support of their AAA Buffalo Bison at cute little Pilot Field.

That's how much baseball economics changed in the last ten years.

Expos in DC in 2004!....It appears to be a virtual certainty that the 'Spos will continue playing at decrepit Olympic Stadium in 2003 and THEN move to DC/Northern Virginia once the issues of stadium location and which local ownership group will be awarded the team are finalized -- presently there are at least three major ownership groups vying to bring MLB back to the nations capital where it belongs, including one led by none other than Dan Snyder -- please Selig don't give spoiled Danny Boy control of ANOTHER professional sports team ...as for the stadium location, downtown DC appears to be gaining in momentum due to the efforts of newly re-elected DC Mayor Anthony Williams (on a write-in ballot) and the MAJOR budget constraints that the Commonwealth of Virginia is apparently faced with (causing the Governor to withdraw any commitment for financial support towards the construction of a stadium anywhere in VA)....but the team would play at RFK Stadium anyway for 2 years while the new stadium is constructed, whereever that ultimately turns out to be.

As for the Marlins moving to DC, bridgeportJake, I hope you were joking because that ain't even funny....as starved as the DC/NoVa market is for baseball there is no doubt in my mind that this team would receive consistently enormous support at the gate (despite the decline in MLB attendance overall including a noticeable drop 45 miles up the highway at Camden Yards which can be attributed more to shoddy ownership than anything else) particularly in Northern Virginia due to the extraordinarily high income level in the 'burbs....however, even we WON'T tolerate an owner as bad as Jeffrey Luria (hell, we barely put up with Peter Angelos, who makes Luria look like a genius with his ability at running a successful professional sports franchise)....not only did Luria virtually single-handedly drive the Expos into extinction and demonstrate a total disregard for their fans (who HAVE demonstrated a willingness to support a successful, well-run franchise over their 33 year history in Montreal despite what many outsiders may believe) and proceed to personally turn a profit of nearly $100 Million when he "sold" the team to MLB in "exchange" for the Marlins, but in one short year in South Florida he has done far more harm than good -- just read the comments from anyone on the Marlins roster after he "cleaned house" this year, just days after he personally assured everyone in the clubhouse that would NOT take place....not to get too far off topic but Luria has a long enough history of incompetence as an owner with NO LOCAL ROOTS to the community (something that is VITAL to the success of baseball in DC, going way back to days of Bob Short moving the Senators to Arlington in '71) that NO baseball team is far superior to having to endure that heartache as a true fan.

Not to mention the fact that the Expos just happen to have some of the best young players in the game on their roster already and with some true leadership (i.e., Cal Ripken as GM of the NL team in DC/NoVa as has been widely speculated -- along with the message that his hiring by their interleague rival would rightfully send to that idiot attorney Angelos in "charm city") that franchise can and will thrive due to the enormous revenue they will generate....I say leave the Expos in Montreal in '03, get the all the cards in order to eliminate past mistakes, and return our national pasttime to the nation's capital in 2004 with Vladimir Guerrero, Jose Vidro, and company leading the way!

[ September 18, 2002: Message edited by: gamecock ]

In a "notes" column in today's Phila. Daily News it mentions that Vladimir Guerrero, Bartolo Colon and Javier Vazquez all can be free agents at the end of the 2003 season. If things aren't resolved quickly enough, why would any of them re-sign with the Expos?