big money for Marlins stadium and they're, what, in last place? and don't draw well
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8/2/13:
>>What has moving to Miami brought the Marlins? About 100 extra fans per game. That’s the current gap between this year’s attendance and the average gate count for the Marlins’ last season at Sun Life Stadium, the football field that owner Jeffrey Loria blamed for the team’s long-standing attendance and revenue woes.
Those problems ended up following Loria to the government-owned Marlins Park, which is on track to face the worst fan rejection of a new baseball stadium in at least a generation.
Miami Marlins attendance reverts to old Sun Life Stadium levels
Yeah, the Marlins may perform pathetically on the field now, but they've won in the past.
But only an extra 100 fans per game? I think it should be 10,000, at least in the first couple of years just to see that marvel of engineering.
I'm sure Tampa Bay is looking and making note. Moving is far less costly than building a state of the art stadium which gets comparable results to Miami. But where? Montreal has already proven they can't support a baseball team. Next candidates are places which have NBA, NHL and/or NFL team without MLB. Indianapolis? Maybe. Portland? Salt Lake City? San Antonio? All probably too small. Edmonton or Calgary would be better bets than any of these, but no sure thing either since the only thing they have going for them is no competing franchise within hundreds of miles and reasonably good support at the minor league level.
yeah, florida is just too hot and old to support a baseball team. Plus there is too much other fun stuff to do. The Devil Rays should move. Good candidate cities include:
1. Indianapolis: New baseball only stadium that can be expanded. Great location - growing population with very strong attendance at their minor league games already.
2. Raliegh-Durham: Beautiful nearly new stadium known as the Camden Yards of the south. Strong attendance - outstanding and deep rooted baseball tradition no other area in the country can beat. Also exceptionally large base of high income fans to draw from. Former northerners that have migrated, would love to see those teams visit. Also near RTP which is home to the nation’s largest tech companies including IBM, Cisco, SAS, etc from which the team can draw strong day time attendance, business group functions,etc.
3. Vegas: Old standby wanna team town. Hitting the skids since the recession.
My vote would be for Raleigh Durham. They are the Rays main farm team already. Just move the organization up there, make tampa the AAA team. Keep the Durham Bulls name - and let the Durham Bulls beat the New York Yankees in the next world series!