Sally Jenkins (who mbd will know I think is a gigantic idiot) actually has a good column for once on the total bill of goods being sold to the city. Money quote: "Basically, you're taxing people who make $30,000 a year to generate a toy for people who make $200,000 a year, and income for people who make millions of dollars a year." --Stanford prof. Roger Noll
yo chico: I agree, things are not all wine and roses when it comes to the Habs. Hockey has changed; I think the best part about Gillette's recent stewardship of the team is that he seems to get it. The glory days are over and now the Habs must, just like every other team, cultivate and manage a fan base, scout good players wherever they are and field a team not based on mother tongue. (Why, oh why, is Patrice "Breeze-by" Brisebois our highest-paid player? Why do we have to pay millions in arena tax, higher than anyone else in the league?) Sure, there are things to worry about: the rising ticket costs -- which surely won't come down after the lock-out/apocalypse -- which lock the working man out of the rink; the loss of Habs broadcasts on over-the-air, "free" television; Montreal's cultural shift from a bissected french/english to a more multi-ethnic and multi-cultural metropolis. But then I remember the feeling in the air, in the bars, in the cafes, when the team was winning -- when Theo was carrying us past the hated Bruins a season or two ago in that thrililng playoff run -- and I think: Can our love for these guys ever really die? Oh, but back to the thread at hand: I don't doubt that low attendance was the proximate cause of the Expos' demise. I have no doubt that if they had kept on drawing 20 - 30k a game -- as they did from the move to the Big Uh-Oh in '77 to the '94 season -- then some local buyer would have stepped in before Loria had a chance to ruin us. But the ultimate cause of the attendance decline is a bit more complicated: - starting in the early '90s recession and accelerating after the '94 referendum (v.2.0), all levels of government poured hundreds of millions (billions?) of dollars into making Montreal one of the premiere tourist destinations in north America. The hotels are now top notch. Our galleries and cultural institutions world-class. The dining and nightlife is, well, legendary. The problem for the Expos is now that from early June until late August, there is a major arts and culture festival downtown every week: Francofolies (the biggest french music fest in the world); Just for Laughs; Montreal International Jazz Fest (the biggest and best in the world); Montreal International Film Festival; DiversCite; Fantasia; the F-1 weekend; the Fringe... - it's been said before, but the stadium really didn't do the team any favours. It's not downtown, it's not attractive, it's not a baseball stadium (in the current, "retro" style). It's not a bad place to see a game when it's full -- it really cooks when there is 30k+ in there -- but it's rarely full. (I still say it's far superior to, uggh, SkyDome.) - the team failed at marketing. There was no english television or radio deal of any real significance for the last couple of years. You never saw an ad for an Expos homestand; never saw an Expos player out kissing babies, doing charity work, etc. - in some ways, yesterday's death was the final result of the mortal wounds suffered from the '94 strike. Remember that baseball took years to recover in many markets; but only in Montreal was there a widespread and justified feeling that the labour troubles stole our world series. Montreal loves sports and loves a winner. The Expos never recovered after that. - for some reason, the current generation of players never caught the francopohone imagination the way Carter, Dawson, Staub and "Rock!" Raines did. Maybe they weren't winners; maybe, like Vlad, they just weren't good at playing that role. Whatever the case, they had zero cultural profile in Quebec's crucially-important "vedette" (star) system. In the end, it came down to the very simple calculations every Quebecker -- and every north american -- does to spend their entertainment bucks: Do I spend more and more of it on a team out in the middle of nowhere, that's burned me before, that's prolly leaving town anyway, with players I don't know or care for, when I can go and drink cocktails on a terasse at the Jazz Fest and listen to (insert name of major/minor act here) for free? (Sorry for the length. I've been mourning nos amours for days, and I needed a chance to vent.)
I heard that suggestion about calling them the Washington Grays this morning. I love that name. It would be a huge step in the right direction. So it'll never happen. docgonzo, you made a few excellent points. You're right about the economic argument being the deal-breaker for Jean-Francois Sixpack. I mean, why bother caring? They've been out the door for a decade. And the only thing Skydome has over Olympic Stadium is location. That, and free sex shows over the left field wall.
Montreal -- the Canadian version of Atlanta? As for the move to Washington, I'm still baffled why someone isn't lighting fire to the mayor's office over this. Public money for a private operation. It's nice to know DC has so much cash to throw around. As for possible names, my top suggestions: 1) Washington Lobbyists 2) Washington DCs (for Dick Cheney, of course) 3) Washington Beltways 4) DC Filibusters 5) Fuck Peter Angelos
Fuck Peter Angelos I promise they will get at least 1 jersey sale. Otherwise, I like the Grays or the Senators.
How about the Washington Capitols! I mean, if St. Louis could have a baseball team and a football team with the same name (for a while), why can't Washington do it too (hockey instead of football)? Other choices: Washington (insert current terror level colour)s Washington (insert name of current political party in power)s How about all those rejected basketball names?
Washington Terrorists?
decidedly uncompetitive Angelos subsidy. Angelos is a major asshat. With his line of reasoning, should we expect to see George Steinbrenner be compensated because the Mets might steal the Yankees' fans? What a load of crap. The reason the O's have lost fans of late is 1) because Angelos is a jerk, 2) Cal Ripken retired and 3) many of us are still bitter about the stupid '94 strike. I hope they call them the Senators. I hope they DON'T! As Mayor Williams rightly points out, DC residents don't have representation in the U.S. Senate despite paying federal taxes. (BTW, many, many people don't even realise this and think DC residents don't pay federal taxes) So the last thing the team name should do is help continue the myth that all Americans are represented equally in Congress. dzot, I got it too. Those transit cops are Nazis. I don't know who here actually lives in the DC area and takes the Metro, but I would venture to guess that those who agree with the comment above don't live here and don't realise the reason DC has one of the best trains systems (minus their effed up management, which again is mostly Congress' fault) is because DC has actual rules for behaving well in public. The Metro also doesn't allow people to eat or drink in the system and therefore there aren't rats and tossed-aside Big Macs on the floor. So when slanted articles are posted on news sites they inevitably focus on the "she was pregnant" and not "she was swearing loudly and shouting into her cell phone." Or "she was only 12" and not "she was eating fries on the train and verbally assulted an adult Metro employee." I am sure there was a better way to handle the pregnant woman's incident, but the reason folks are all over the Metro employee's case is because the pregnant woman is talking to anyone who will listen (loudly, I assume) while Metro has remained relatively mum. So on those occasions when someone is caught breaking the law by eating on a train, they suddenly become the victim even though they knowingly broke the law. What is usally the truth is they thought they could get away with it, and when they didn't they are suddently the victim and upset because they had to pay the fine or were arrested. Metro may be run VERY poorly, but those of us who rely on it for their daily commutes (and to get around town) like the fact that the trains and stations are clean and safe to use. The trains are air conditioned, carpetted and and for the most part not filled with trash. It may sound like overkill to people who are used to something else, but I will take it over some of the other systems in the US I have used.
Montreal -- the Canadian version of Atlanta? Oh you big tease. Not in a million-billion years. Hotlanta sucks so much ass it hurts. Montreal is the best fucking city on this continent (well, NYC is very hip). Go stand downtown at 3 AM in either. You'll see. Washington Grays is a great name. But only if they spell it 'Greys'. I also like calling them the Nationals. dcgonzo - I agree with most of your points, but would say that the 'entertainment dollar' question is certainly not limited to Montreal. There's something far deeper than just having to make a choice.
I went to the Expos game last Thursday. (that's all)
There should definitely be more outrage over public money being spent on the stadium. That is not a sarcastic comment. But it happens all over, as we are finding ehre in Santa Clara County with the Supervisors in the process of selling about $80 million in bonds to finance a 7,500 seat music venue in a terrible location after the House of Blues decided there wasn't a good enough market to pay for the building themselves. Yes, we are very smart in Santa Clara County.
