barzilla
12-15-2004, 09:31 AM
Reports are that Washington D.C.'s city council has approved funding for the ballpark, but the bill requires the new ownership group (whoever they may be) to provide at least half of the funding. This is against MLB's agreement with the mayor, so their stay in Washington may only be one season.
When you look at Bud Selig's reign as commissioner you can see many problems, but a lot of them involve the Montreal Expos in some shape, form, or fashion.
1) A failed contraction effort that included the Expos and Twins. What few noticed and consider now is that the owner of Twins extended a large business loan to Bud Selig years before Selig decided that MLB would buy back both franchises for millions more than they were worth on the open market. Of course, the Twins have gone onto three consecutive division championships. Oops.
2) A huge conflict of interest situation with MLB owning a big league franchise for what is now going on four years. Remember, this was supposed to be a temporary situation. How much money does MLB spend? Do they allow the GM to trade star players? Can he sign away star players? Think of it from an individual owner's point of view. I operate 1/29th of a team and now I've lost a prize free agent to a team that own a part.
3) This brings us to biggest crime of all. Why has it taken this long to find the Expos a home? Apparently, that search isn't done. You're telling me that you spent nearly four years searching when Washington was the front-runner at the very beginning, but your long pain-staking research never indicated this could happen?
4) Any talk about how much the Expos or MLB has lost since Bud took over as commissioner only points out the claims of most major league teams that they've lost money. So, you have an industry that has tripled since Bud took over in revenues, but "more than half of the teams are losing money". Up until this year, Paul Tagliboue (sp?) and David Stern have spent most of their time PROMOTING their sport instead of pointing out every flaw. So, when you have a steroid crisis, baseball doesn't have a lot of goodwill to draw from because the promotion hasn't been there.
Well, I think I can build up some goodwill and help out the owners at the same time by putting forth this modest proposal. Have the Expos/Nats/insert name here go on a 27 city barnstorming tour this season. When its time for the team to play "home" games they can play a three game series in the 27 cities that would most likely get a big league team if MLB were to expand to 60 teams someday.
The Braves as America's team? Poppycock. The Expos/Nats would be the true America's team as nearly every major city would get an opportunity to see them play at some point in the year if you include the road schedule. Think of the opportunity for the following cities to see big league baseball
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Maine
Las Vegas, Nevada
Boise, Idaho
Kansas City, Kansas
San Antonio/Austin, Texas
Orlando, Florida
Charleston, South Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Bioloxi, Mississippi
New Orleans, Louisiana
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Des Moines, Iowa
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Bismarck, North Dakota
Billings, Montana
Newark, New Jersey
Bristol, Conneticut
Alberquerque, New Mexico
Salt Lake City, Utah
Of course, there are more, but you get the idea. But here is the best part.
Since this seems a lot like a concert tour why not include a musical act to go along with the game. I'm thinking a band like Motley Crue would do the trick. For one, you would attract fans that don't normally come to baseball games for for another I'm thinking that a band that hasn't been relevant for twenty years would be a perfect match for a team that will be out of the pennant chase by the first of June because of all the traveling.
Think about it. Setting up for baseball games in 27 cities will be a challenging effort and who better to take up the challenge than roadies? You have some people down on their luck in their community? Having trouble getting jobs? Have them sell concessions for those three days or better yet MLB can make some extra money for the traveling team by selling catering rights to a local vendor. Extra money could also be generated by selling concert/touring t-shirts.
Perhaps the best part of this deal is that you allow teams to reconnect with a piece of baseball history. We have a problem with young fans knowing about the game's history. Grandfathers could talk to their grandsons (and granddaughters) about how professional teams used to do this kind of thing all the time to make extra money and to spread baseball to the masses. MLB need extra fans. I can't think of a better idea than to do this. Think about it, when will the NBA or NFL go to Billings, Montana? Yeah, right. Nobody's going to Kentucky or West Virginia either besides the Expos. Talk about building up good will.
Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Scott,this will never work. For one, these cities don't have the facilities to handle it and we can't besmirch the sanctity of the pennant race by subjecting the Expos and other teams to this. After all, how legitimate would a game in nowheresville be with a centerfield of 330 feet at the local Little League diamond. Rubish. Everyone will get to play in the same conditions and how important is a pesky little pennant race in comparison with making baseball the number one sport in Deluth?
We haven't even mentioned the benefits to Motley Crue and the side benefits of having them perform. After all, for those of you who wondered what exactly makes Tommie Lee attractive to so many beautiful women you can go out and watch. It could spurn a comeback for them and thus lower the unemployment rate for loyal rodies that served them so ably in the early 1980s. If MLB is worried about content of songs they could scrap Motley Crue and simply have a tryout of other 1980s big hair bands. I'm thinking they could have a kick-off fest with Ratt, Quiet Riot, Survivor, Motley Crue, and Twisted Sister. The winner of the contest gets the tour. It will be a true reality show.
I know this proposal seems far-fetched at best, but it's no more far fetched than the idea of blindly picking cities and then saying, "whoops" we're going to have to start the process again. Just stay in Washington and let a billionaire pay his fair share of the stadium costs and get it over with. Oh, and tell Peter Angelos to shut up.
When you look at Bud Selig's reign as commissioner you can see many problems, but a lot of them involve the Montreal Expos in some shape, form, or fashion.
1) A failed contraction effort that included the Expos and Twins. What few noticed and consider now is that the owner of Twins extended a large business loan to Bud Selig years before Selig decided that MLB would buy back both franchises for millions more than they were worth on the open market. Of course, the Twins have gone onto three consecutive division championships. Oops.
2) A huge conflict of interest situation with MLB owning a big league franchise for what is now going on four years. Remember, this was supposed to be a temporary situation. How much money does MLB spend? Do they allow the GM to trade star players? Can he sign away star players? Think of it from an individual owner's point of view. I operate 1/29th of a team and now I've lost a prize free agent to a team that own a part.
3) This brings us to biggest crime of all. Why has it taken this long to find the Expos a home? Apparently, that search isn't done. You're telling me that you spent nearly four years searching when Washington was the front-runner at the very beginning, but your long pain-staking research never indicated this could happen?
4) Any talk about how much the Expos or MLB has lost since Bud took over as commissioner only points out the claims of most major league teams that they've lost money. So, you have an industry that has tripled since Bud took over in revenues, but "more than half of the teams are losing money". Up until this year, Paul Tagliboue (sp?) and David Stern have spent most of their time PROMOTING their sport instead of pointing out every flaw. So, when you have a steroid crisis, baseball doesn't have a lot of goodwill to draw from because the promotion hasn't been there.
Well, I think I can build up some goodwill and help out the owners at the same time by putting forth this modest proposal. Have the Expos/Nats/insert name here go on a 27 city barnstorming tour this season. When its time for the team to play "home" games they can play a three game series in the 27 cities that would most likely get a big league team if MLB were to expand to 60 teams someday.
The Braves as America's team? Poppycock. The Expos/Nats would be the true America's team as nearly every major city would get an opportunity to see them play at some point in the year if you include the road schedule. Think of the opportunity for the following cities to see big league baseball
Portland, Oregon
Portland, Maine
Las Vegas, Nevada
Boise, Idaho
Kansas City, Kansas
San Antonio/Austin, Texas
Orlando, Florida
Charleston, South Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Bioloxi, Mississippi
New Orleans, Louisiana
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Des Moines, Iowa
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Bismarck, North Dakota
Billings, Montana
Newark, New Jersey
Bristol, Conneticut
Alberquerque, New Mexico
Salt Lake City, Utah
Of course, there are more, but you get the idea. But here is the best part.
Since this seems a lot like a concert tour why not include a musical act to go along with the game. I'm thinking a band like Motley Crue would do the trick. For one, you would attract fans that don't normally come to baseball games for for another I'm thinking that a band that hasn't been relevant for twenty years would be a perfect match for a team that will be out of the pennant chase by the first of June because of all the traveling.
Think about it. Setting up for baseball games in 27 cities will be a challenging effort and who better to take up the challenge than roadies? You have some people down on their luck in their community? Having trouble getting jobs? Have them sell concessions for those three days or better yet MLB can make some extra money for the traveling team by selling catering rights to a local vendor. Extra money could also be generated by selling concert/touring t-shirts.
Perhaps the best part of this deal is that you allow teams to reconnect with a piece of baseball history. We have a problem with young fans knowing about the game's history. Grandfathers could talk to their grandsons (and granddaughters) about how professional teams used to do this kind of thing all the time to make extra money and to spread baseball to the masses. MLB need extra fans. I can't think of a better idea than to do this. Think about it, when will the NBA or NFL go to Billings, Montana? Yeah, right. Nobody's going to Kentucky or West Virginia either besides the Expos. Talk about building up good will.
Okay, okay, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Scott,this will never work. For one, these cities don't have the facilities to handle it and we can't besmirch the sanctity of the pennant race by subjecting the Expos and other teams to this. After all, how legitimate would a game in nowheresville be with a centerfield of 330 feet at the local Little League diamond. Rubish. Everyone will get to play in the same conditions and how important is a pesky little pennant race in comparison with making baseball the number one sport in Deluth?
We haven't even mentioned the benefits to Motley Crue and the side benefits of having them perform. After all, for those of you who wondered what exactly makes Tommie Lee attractive to so many beautiful women you can go out and watch. It could spurn a comeback for them and thus lower the unemployment rate for loyal rodies that served them so ably in the early 1980s. If MLB is worried about content of songs they could scrap Motley Crue and simply have a tryout of other 1980s big hair bands. I'm thinking they could have a kick-off fest with Ratt, Quiet Riot, Survivor, Motley Crue, and Twisted Sister. The winner of the contest gets the tour. It will be a true reality show.
I know this proposal seems far-fetched at best, but it's no more far fetched than the idea of blindly picking cities and then saying, "whoops" we're going to have to start the process again. Just stay in Washington and let a billionaire pay his fair share of the stadium costs and get it over with. Oh, and tell Peter Angelos to shut up.