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July 17, 2003
The San Juan Expos?
I was out at a work outing for most of the day, so I didn't have a chance to blog about Major League Baseball's announcement that the Montreal Expos might play their entire home schedule in San Juan next season. To say the least, I'm not surprised. And I'd say that there's about a 100 percent chance that's exactly where the Expos will be next year. Why? Because putting off the move gives other potential cities and ownership groups a chance to get their acts together, and make bids for the team -- something that will obviously increase the ultimate sales price. Here's the next bold prediciton Off Wing readers: Major League Baseball will never return to Washington, D.C. Turn out the lights. In the immortal words of Bill Paxton, it's "Game over, Man." UPDATE: Check out the discussion in the comments box, especially the note left behind by Jay Sokoloff about how the Expos will probably wind up back in Montreal next year. Sometimes I become so absorbed in the Washington side of the story, that I can forget that there's still an actual team out there that I'm talking about.
Eric
07:11 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry: CommentsSo what is the possibility that the Expos would just flat out move to Puerto Rico instead? Not a big enough base market? But isn't interest from Latin America for baseball just increasing and increasing. Just look at the sale of Anaheim to Arturo Moreno. I would think that some consortium could come together to create a true Latin American team. The Marlins forgetaboutit. Ken Wilcox Posted by: at July 17, 2003 10:00 AM What's so "bold" about that prediction? As you have well-documented, the economics, the politics, etc. all say that baseball will never return to the District. Posted by: at July 17, 2003 02:45 PM Ok, one at a time old friends. Let's go backwards and take Marc's question first. Indeed, on the surface, the prediciton seems hardly bold at all. Sometimes, I just repeat it out of frustration that the coverage of the possible Expos move hardly ever takes the negative into account. So, in a nutshell, Marc was right to call me on it. As for San Juan, there are a number of problems. After averaging somewhere around 14,000 a game for the first homestand in San Juan, the Expos dropped to about 10,000 per for the second. Weather wise, San Juan in the Summer is actually worse than Miami when it comes to the heat, something that will always work against any franchise located there. More importantly, per capita income in San Juan is pretty low compared to the Continental U.S., and there isn't a whole lot of big business based there that could serve as the meat of a season ticket base. If I had to make a prediction, I'd think MLB would look at Northern Mexico before anywhere else -- perhaps one of those huge Mexican business conglomerates like BANAMEX might be a potential buyer. But even then, currency exchange rates would be a constant management problem for any team based in Mexico, much as it is for franchises based in Canada that take in revenue in the form of a weaker currency (the Loonie) and still pay it out in U.S. Dollars (professional athletes, no matter what their nationality, aren't paid in anything else). This has been a constant management problem for the Expos and the Blue Jays -- more so for the Expos as their local revenue base has dwindled to next to nothing. Posted by: at July 17, 2003 04:11 PM For the reasons you just enumerated, I find it extremely dobtful that the 'Spos can/will relocate to San Juan. I know that the brutal schedule (along with a rash of injuries) has already exacted a heavy toll on the team. I doubt that the players association will tolerate another season of these shenanigins(?). I am not sure if you heard JOse Vidro's quote but it was to the effect that he doesn't care where the team plays next year just as long as it is in one city. As a result, I feel confident that the 'Spos will once again play out of the Big Owe in 2004. Posted by: at July 17, 2003 05:47 PM Post a commentThanks for signing in, . (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |