04/19/24
October 24, 2002
The Boston Expos?: Someone's thinking of putting the Expos in Fenway next season. A little kooky, I think. I'm not against adding a team to a market that has one (ie a 3rd NY team) but sharing a stadium, moving on short notice, and many other things make this particular idea a bad one. Plus, I don't think Expos attendance would go up very much anyway, even at Fenway. I mean, can you really picture large amounts of the diehard Red Sox nation thinking "hey, let's go catch the Expos-Pirates game tonight?"
posted by Bernreuther to baseball at 01:18 PM - 12 comments
Of course, if they had any brains, they'd move the Expos to DC, but considering who's running baseball right now, the chances are slim to none But also, the cynical bastard in me says that if "it's all about the Benjamins," then they really should move the Expos to New York and make it a three-team town again. The baseball gods know that you can get a whole hell of a lot more cash in NY than Boston.
posted by PeteyStock at 03:09 PM on October 24, 2002
Being from the Boston area, it'd be interesting to see. Plus, it might allow the owners to hold off the ticket price increase for Sox tickets, but I doubt that'll happen. If it does happen however, and the Expos tickets are cheaper than the Sox tickets, I'd probably find myself in Fenway quite a bit to see players I might never have a chance to see otherwise (even with interleague play).
posted by turacma at 03:17 PM on October 24, 2002
I'm still behind moving the Expos to San Juan, but that will take time, so doing this for the time being is interesting. The problem is watching a game at Fenway sucks, the seats are uncomfortable, there are obstructions all over the place blocking your view of the game, and parking sucks too. Move the Expos to CT for the season, hell there have been crazier ideas passed around, and market the team to the Puerto Rican population in southern CT, put the Expos games on Univision, put them on spanish radio. The minor league team in Bridgeport has a brand new stadium, and no major league affiliation, hire them to help market the team for a piece of the gate, and ship all the players to the Expos A league team. The whole idea primes the pump of a depressed city, a depressed team, and it helps get the team ready for San Juan.
posted by jbou at 03:26 PM on October 24, 2002
I think it would be interesting to see all the game's best players playing on one of baseball's legendary fields. Other than that, I think it is a bad idea.
posted by carbs at 03:50 PM on October 24, 2002
I *love* this idea. But why not the Brooklyn Expos?
posted by djacobs at 04:37 PM on October 24, 2002
it might allow the owners to hold off the ticket price increase for Sox tickets Too late. They already increased prices this year (earlier this week). The idea here, according to Sean McAdam on WEEI this afternoon, is that they'd charge lower ticket prices. I'd definitely go root for Vladi and the 'Spos if I could sit in a decent seat for under $70 a pop. It'd work for a year as a novelty act. I don't think Boston could support another team for longer than that. I also tend to think this is complete crap, but the suggestion that this is Bud Selig doing John Henry a favor does make some sense. Doesn't make it true, but it's a fun rumor. My only question is what would they do with rainouts? Or when the first vendor drops dead from exhaustion? Or when Joe Mooney quits?
posted by yerfatma at 07:26 PM on October 24, 2002
They raised ticket prices at Fenway? They raised them? Wait a minute, that team hasn't won diddily in some eighty years and they are particularly crappy over the past three or four and the ownership... no... the new, more benevolent ownership raises ticket prices??? Someone has to tell me that that is a joke. Or at least the Red Sox fans here can tell me they'll go watch the Expos instead of the Sox.
posted by 86 at 09:58 PM on October 24, 2002
Moving the Expos to Boston would be the same kind of move as trading Cliff Floyd to Boston. One purpose: funnelling money into John Henry's pockets. I actually think it'd work better if the Expos were in Boston permanently. Affection might build. But one year? Boston fans aren't gonna get behind a temporary team. Anyhow, the Boston Globe reports that it's not serious.
posted by Bryant at 06:40 AM on October 25, 2002
the Boston Globe reports that it's not serious. I don't believe it either, but just because Gordon Edes says something doesn't make it even close to so. they are particularly crappy over the past three or four Could you provide a side-by-side of the Mets and Sox winning % over the past couple of years? Ticket prices have nothing to do with player salaries or team performance. One factor drives prices: what ownership feels will maximize its revenues. The unfortunate fact is that there aren't too many seats in the "lyric little bandbox", so demand grows while supply stays the same. As long as they're setting new attendance records every year, the prices will continue to go up.
posted by yerfatma at 07:02 AM on October 25, 2002
Wait a minute, that team hasn't won diddily in some eighty years and they are particularly crappy over the past three or four and the ownership... no... the new, more benevolent ownership raises ticket prices??? Of course they raised them. They have done so for the last several years and they are packing sell-out to near sell-out parks each game. They finished second in the division. 10 games back. Manny won the batting title, 2 twenty game winners who are possible contenders for the Cy Young. It's not where I want the team to be, but it's not like they finished 26.5 games back or anything!
posted by jerseygirl at 12:22 PM on October 25, 2002
jerseygirl: it's not like they finished 26.5 games back or anything! You better not say "19 games back"! Make fun of the Mets as much as you want, but leave our Expos alone and in Montreal. I was there for their 81st win, and it was like winning a championship to me: a .500 season! Just sad that Vlad couldn't get his 40th homer.
posted by qbert72 at 12:29 AM on October 28, 2002
I think that's possibly the strangest thing I've ever heard. That said, their attendance couldn't possibly be worse than it currently is, and might be a fair bit better. Assuming seats are cheap, I could see a lot of NL 'expats' going to see home teams- I'd check out the Marlins, for example, when they came to town. And I'd love to have an opportunity to see Maddux if he's back with the Braves, or Bonds when he passes through with the Giants. Again, assuming prices are reasonable, there might be certain games where the (mostly fairly knowledgeable) Boston fans might show up in droves if they were marketed correctly. [That said, no one is going to show up for Expos-Pirates or any of a number of other utterly dreadful games that would be on the schedule.]