I'm not a system player. I am a system.
Maybe I am the only one that thinks this is not that crazy of an idea (Spend half the season in one city, the other half in another city).
If fan support is weak, it seems like a great idea.
I am guessing most fans in Tampa are the diehards. If there is half the home games, they might get 80% of the attendance that a full slate of home games gets.
It doesn't have to be so cut and dry like "the entire summer in Montreal", May and September in Tampa.. They could alternate weeks. IIRC, the old Montreal stadium had a dome too.
This might be the future of expansion too. They could make a Charlotte-Portland team, for example.
bottom_feeder (06-23-2019)
The Nationals should refuse them the Expos name and history until the Twins and Rangers surrender their history when they were the Senators.
Go Gators!
cumberlandreds (06-24-2019),North (06-24-2019),Revering4Blue (06-23-2019)
Paul Daugherty chimes in:
"JUST GET RID OF MLB IN FLORIDA, ALREADY… The Rays intro’d this cockamamie plan to play half their games in St. Pete and half in Montreal, in hopes of blackmailing local Florida taxpayers into building them a new stadium. Note To Rays ownership:
Pay for it yourself, or move after your lease expires in 2027. SI.com:
'Major League Baseball has granted the Rays permission to seek operating in two cities at once by partially relocating to Montreal, the former home of the Expos. Under the plan, the Rays would play the first half of the season in St. Petersburg and the second in Canada.'
Again: Florida is a terrible state for MLB. They’ve had good teams in Miami and Tampa-St. Pete. Championship teams. And nobody goes. Miami fell for the Marlins BS, built them a stadium. For what?
The Rays want their employees to pick up and leave halfway through a season, and move to Montreal? Two places to live in and maintain? Who’s gonna go to a Rays game in Florida knowing in July the team will leave for Canada?
How stupid is this, really?
The only time the Rays draw is when they play the Red Sox and Yankees, because the snowbirds from Boston and New York show up. They could re-create the Taj Mahal (Taj Ma-ball) on the St. Pete Pier and nobody would go."
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/spo...fl/1545808001/
I don't understand the complaint about "The Rays' employees having to move and have two houses".. If they play half their home games in Montreal, that just means 40 more road games. The team should pick up the tab for any employees that have to travel there. If the employees already don't go to road games, why would they have to go to Montreal?
Sure, 40 more road games sucks for the players, but it's not completely unreasonable. In theory, half their games in Montreal generates more revenue so if ownership cared, they wouldn't have to dump every good player that gets expensive.
I still see this idea as potentially the future for expansion teams. It's really a good idea to maximize revenue on a long baseball season.
This vaguely feels a little bit like what happened when the Royals left Cincinnati, and became the Kansas City/Omaha Kings.
Eric Stratton, Rush Chairman. Damn glad to meet ya.
RedsRocker (06-29-2019)
The Rays owner held a press conference yesterday, said that Tampa Bay (not just St.Petersburg) can't support a full time baseball team, this is the only way to save the team, he doesn't want to move to Montreal permanently (yeah right) and of course he still has no idea who will pay for the 2 stadiums he wants.
Go Gators!
bottom_feeder (06-27-2019)
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