[DC Baseball] Stupid, Fat Woman single-handedly kills the Capitol's bid for Expos

Manny --

I heard that report as well, and I tend to agree. They have to make this work to save face.

 

This story pretty much hits it out of the park. The sense of entitlement by the billionaire jackasses who run MLB is sickening, given their inability to keep their own house in order

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=caple_jim&id=1947248

 

I guess they could move to Tijuana and change their name to...

The Mexpos

 

interesting to be a DC baseball fan, I guess. the team that has yet to step on the field for you is already threatening to move. bud adams, anyone?

 

Apparently it would be more profitable for the owners to disband the team in 2006 than to have it playing somewhere, so I'm not sure why they should take a loss to keep it around. Granted, I'm not really crying for the super rich owners of these teams, but I just think its wrong to add an amendment to the agreement after signing the agreement with MLB. The comparisons to the Giants and Cardinals are a no-go as far as I can see since they are established teams in established markets. To get something NEW that you DON'T have, you've got to pay for it. Look at the Texans. How much MORE did that end up costing us instead of keeping the Oilers, not even including one trip to the Super Bowl?

 

Brilliant move by DC, imo. Baseball's so inept they moved their team without getting all the I's dotted and the T's crossed on the financing end. No, they worried about more important matters like changing uniforms and picking a name. Are they really going to move the team out of Washington at this late date? And do what, move back to Montreal with their tail between their collective legs, where nobody in the world will watch? 50% public, 50% private financing sounds like a fair deal to me. Not every shiny new stadium has to be publically financed - the Giants financed their stadium themselves.

 

i agree with this. and i'm super surprised that baseball took the steps they took without having this thing pretty well iron clad.

so from a negotiation standpoint, the city of DC is really holding the marbles. MLB's jump the gun move is probably an indication of how few available markets there are for franchises to be relocated to....and now that they've done it, there's the embarassment and cost associated with pulling up stakes and moving again next year.

 

Considering MLB's demonstrated in ineptitude in all things . . . well, pretty much all things, period, I don't find it that surprising at all that they'd mess this up.

 

they should hire you and me to represent them! we'd have a blast!

 

Wait a sec, I want in!

<--Holden frown

 

dude, you're in. you're so money and you don't even know it.

 

True.

 

Exactly.


I remember driving to a party downtown in 94 and I ended up getting off of the freeway right where MinuteMaid Park is now. It was nothing but a bunch of empty warehouses. Very beat-up. My friend was like "you're going to get us killed over here". Now the entire area is bustling with new businesses. It completely turned around that area of downtown along with the rest of the retvitalization efforts. Some folks can't see the forest for the trees.


On a sidenote, you will probably never see an MLB team contracted because the union is so ridiculously powerful that I think they have to approve the contraction of teams.

 

1. Let's be honest....there is no boom near MMP. I wish there was. But there's not. There's a hotel with a 1% occupancy rate on weekends right at the corner of Texas and Crawford. There's plans for a highrise that no one can ever seek to break ground on. There is a grand total of ONE restaurant/bar in the immediate vicinity. It's 5-6 blocks closer to the Theater District before you see the bustle you're talking about.

2. The union no longer has the power to counter the contraction of 2 teams after 2006. Part of the last agreement.

 

I'm not really sure what exactly you are talking about. I moved out of Houston about 4 years ago and downtown was a COMPLETE dump. I came back to visit about 6 months ago and downtown seemed like a pretty happening place. Granted it is not immediately next to the ballpark, but I don't think its a coincidence that downtown has steadily improved since the new stadiums opened up. And downtown will continually improve even more over time. MMP and TC have done alot for that downtown area and the city of Houston.

As far as I am concerned, DC screwed MLB on this, and yes, MLB should have done a better job making sure their contract was set. It's really not that big of a deal ... DC obviously does not want a baseball team so they will not get it. Its going to be moved to Northern Virginia where the stadium will be payed for and it makes complete business sense to do that too. You would have to be an idiot to pay for half of a stadium when you can just go somewhere else and have one built for you.

 

Josh -- the buildup of businesses in the vicinity of the ballpark has not happened. i have a hard time believing that the improvements on Main Street would not have happened if there were no ballpark.

i don't think the ballpark HURT...and it probably helped in some measure, just because it gave people a reason to get reacquainted with downtown. i don't believe it was as significant for development 6-10 blocks away as others might. and i think the fact that the land around it sits unused and vacant (or as a remaining taxi dancing club) speaks volumes about the impact of the stadium.

 

Max:

You really should drive by MMP some time. Your numbers are way off. How long has it been since you went over there?

1 restaurant?!? 1% occupancy?!? These #'s are just off. Big time.

 

Fatty -- i'm over there ALL the time. all the time. i have season tix to the 'stros...and i'm down at the courthouse all the time.

the 1 % occupancy rate for the Inn at the Ballpark is absolutely true. that's the weekend occupancy rate at that hotel. unfortunately, the weekly occupancy rate isn't much higher.

there is 1 restaurant in the immediate vicinity. it's the BUS bar and grill right across the street. there's a really upscale steakhouse connected with the hotel that doesn't exactly draw the pre-game ballpark crowd. what else is there?? name it. it has not drawn the immediate business in the way it was promised. a lot of that has to do with overvalued land.

 

I've been to Vic and Anthony's several times. It has always drawn a good # of people. I've been to two clubs that have opened due to MMP, and there are at least two bars and two other restaurants over there. I'll need to drive over there to get their names. Don't have them off the top of my head.

Also, I don't know where you're getting a 1% occupancy rate at a hotel, but if it truly were, that place would be shut down immediately. 1% is an obvious exaggeration. It may not be doing as well as expected, but I'd give that a little more time.

Also, if you ever parked over there beforehand, (and I did) you would see the massive transformation that side of downtown has seen.

These things don't sprout up overnight, but it is happening. It's growing at the same rate the west side of downtown did. It'll take a couple more years, but to say there is no progress as a direct result of MMP is incorrect.

 

Max, you really think that what's there now isn't significantly better than what was there before? Do you also think that so much would have changed just a little ways down the street if this area had not changed so much?