rossiter@cornell.UUCP (David G. Rossiter) (07/17/85)
The current 26 major league teams are stretching the bounds of the major league
talent available. With all due respect to Kelvin Chapman, what's he doing
playing in the major leagues, even on a part-time basis? :-) But there are
a lot of cities that `deserve' a major league team, like Denver and (yes)
Washington. Then there are cities with large stadiums that are empty in the
summer, like New Orleans and Tampa. There are probably 10 legitimate expansion
contenders, and when you consider cities that could give a team the same support
as Pittsburgh, maybe 30!
My suggestion is: leave the size of the leagues unchanged, but have the smaller
cities/markets share teams. For example, Pittsburgh/Cleveland (I say keep the
Indians and send the Bucs to Denver), Denver/Phoenix, Louisville/Indianapolis,
Baltimore/Washington. Comments? This was tried in pro basketball at least
once (KC/Omaha), how did that work out? And in football, the Green Bay Packers
are really the Wisconsin Packers, playing 4 of their 8 home games in County
Stadium, Milwaukee.
Since the baseball season is so long, it would seem to maximize exposure,
attendence, fan interest etc. to spread the 82 home games over two or even
four stadia. And die-hard fans wouldn't have too far to drive to the other
cities. Areas like Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse-Albany, which individually
can't support a major-league team, could do so by sharing.
I wonder, however, if this would hurt what is left of the minor-league system.
Some teams, like the Lousville Redbirds and Rochester Redwings, draw at least
reasonably.
Well, lets get this topic going!
David Rossiter / CS Dep't / Cornell University / Ithaca / NY / 14850 / USA
{uw-beaver,ihnp4,decvax,vax135}!cornell!rossiter (UUCP)
rossiter@Cornell.ARPA (ARPAnet) ; rossiter@CRNLCS (BITNET)bd@peora.UUCP (Bernie Dougan) (07/18/85)
A statement was made that Tampa has a stadium sitting idle because
of not having a pro baseball team. That is not correct. As far as
I know there is no stadium anywhere in Florida that is large enough
to support a major league team. There is currently talk in many
Florida cities (Tampa, St. Petersberg, Orlando, Miami) of building
a stadium in hopes of attracting a pro baseball team. In fact, in
Orlando there is talk of having the stadium be built on Disney World
property.
--
Bernie Dougan
Perkin-Elmer Southern Development Center
2486 Sand Lake Road
Orlando, Florida 32809
(305)850-1040
{decvax!ucf-cs, ihnp4!pesnta, vax135!petsd}!peora!bddavid@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin) (07/22/85)
> ..................................................... In fact, in > Orlando there is talk of having the stadium be built on Disney World > property. > Bernie Dougan ...giving new meaning to the phrase "Mickey Mouse organization"... David Rubin {allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david
bobm@hp-pcd.UUCP (bobm) (07/24/85)
>> A statement was made that Tampa has a stadium sitting idle because >> of not having a pro baseball team. That is not correct. As far as >> I know there is no stadium anywhere in Florida that is large enough >> to support a major league team. There is currently talk in many >> Florida cities (Tampa, St. Petersberg, Orlando, Miami) of building >> a stadium in hopes of attracting a pro baseball team. In fact, in >> Orlando there is talk of having the stadium be built on Disney World >> property. >> -- >> Bernie Dougan >> Perkin-Elmer Southern Development Center >> 2486 Sand Lake Road >> Orlando, Florida 32809 >> (305)850-1040 >> {decvax!ucf-cs, ihnp4!pesnta, vax135!petsd}!peora!bd I think it only fair that any Florida team should be forced to have spring training scheduled in Minnesota. After all, you wouldn't want to give a team the advantage of the home field in the exhibition season - it could lead to raised expectations at the start of the real thing. :-) Bob May Hewlett-Packard hplabs!hp-pcd!bobm
roy@hpmtla.UUCP (roy) (07/24/85)
>> ..................................................... In fact, in >> Orlando there is talk of having the stadium be built on Disney World >> property. >> Bernie Dougan > >...giving new meaning to the phrase "Mickey Mouse organization"... > > David Rubin > {allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david ...sounds like a Goofy idea to me... Roy