nothing much new.... "RFK Stadium, the 45,000-seat home of the expansion Senators until they moved to Texas after the 1971 season, would be the Expos' temporary home until a new stadium is built." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030128/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbn_expos_sale_6
damn I hate baseball - (this coming from someone who played for 12 years) - 46 guys scratching while 2 guys play.
The thing I think is funny is how all the politicians are so excited about baseball coming here..almost like it's always been a wet dream for them. Not realizing the fact that baseball's popularity is slowly but surely eroding. IF this new bseball team does anything to screw up or inconvience DC United I will be one pissed of person.
It's a tough one for me -- I like baseball almost as much as soccer, and would love to have a hometown team to follow. So I'm looking for a way to think that this could be a win-win situation. The best I can come up with, though, is that once its clear that the Stadium Authority sole's focus will be building Jare Parc South, Uncle Phil will give up on them and just go ahead and build United a stadium on his own. Other than that is the sort of metaphysical theory that making Washington a better sports town is the kind of rising tide that will lift all boats. Unfortunately, I find it hard to actually believe either of these two pipe dreams. Anybody else have ideas?
The end of the article seems to plug Portland as the favorite since it only has one pro sports team out of the four major sports, the Trailblazers. My take is that they will get the Expos. Toddinho
Westfield HS right near DCU HQ seems like an obvious choice for me. Brand new (3 years) and looks a lot like the stadium that the Burn are playing in this year. Probably seats about 6,500-8,000 but could easily be expanded for much more. Already has European style soccer goals too.
Folks in Portland think that DC is the front runner. We have already rejected a proposal for a publicly funded stadium once and there is no local rich guy interested.
What really aggravates me is columnists like Boswell write how having a team in D.C. will not cost the city any money. Baseball owners are such pimps. Using one city against another to get unsuspecting citizens to foot the bill for their business ventures. One of the potential investors was suprised by how much it would cost to build a stadium. In the back of his mind, he was probably wondering how he can get D.C. to pay for it. Sorry about this rant. I am just tired of watching taxpayers get fleeced by wealthy owners.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I can't stand baseball! I suggest the baseball people build their own stadium. RFK is Soccer only!
I agree. But how many good HS stadiums would there be to play at in DC? Hopefully we never have to worry about any of this, but the proximity to HQ just makes it seem possible. Plus the fact that there is very little housing in and around the school itself, so it would probably meet less local resistance.
Let's hope DC United will even have a boat. Seriously, baseball is a huge threat to DC United's possibility of being able to continue playing in an acceptable venue. Anthony Williams, Bobby Goldwater and the other folks promoting baseball's move to DC don't care one bit what happens to DC United or they would have addressed the issue. I've never seen anything in any of their pro-baseball statements that would indicate that DC United is even an afterthought in their plans. Has anyone organized any kind of letter writing campaign to DC's "powers that be" to indicate that we would oppose a baseball team's arrival if it meant that DC United would be negatively impacted? I have nothing against baseball in itself, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna support something that could easily take away something near and dear to me.
FWIW, here's an article from today's Oregonian from Portland's point of view: http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/104384778352540.xml
First of all, screw Les Expos. Second -- if, god forbid, we are forced out of RFK (I think they would attempt to accomodate us, but it would suck), the nearest high school is Eastern -- right on E. Capitol St. I'm sure they would love a little investment in their stadium. The gameday procedure of going to a match for most DC fans wouldn't be significantly altered.
...says the guy who already has a baseball team in his town! Seriously, though, how this shakes down will depend on Uncle Phil & Kevin Payne. That a baseball team has a good chance of coming to DC cannot be a surprise to the folks at AEG, so hopefully they're working on alternatives while a permanent SSS gets built plus have some kind of idea whether the DC Sports Commission will be serious about (or able to) helping build an SSS if it gets into the baseball stadium business.
Then there's also the possibility that the DC Sports Commission gets hosed big time if Northern Virginia gets a team, stick's it in RFK for a year and then vacates.
The problem for United would be that it would probably be in RFK for at least two years. Would we end up crammed into FedEx Field? If the baseball team is coming, I'd rather it be in the District, but would NoVa getting the team be better for United's chances of getting a SSS out of the DC Sports Commission? I wonder.
Eastern High is out of the question. The issue is not finding a field to play in because baseball will reconfigure or tearup RFK. The issue is gameday double-bills. You cannot play at Eastern on the same day as a baseball game at RFK. They would use the same parking, roads, and transit facilities. That's insanity. Therefore, the most likely candidate for DC United in the short term, IF, they must vacate RFK is some Landover there in MD. I say IF, because it has been stated by the evil pigdogs of the stadium authority that they believe that soccer and baseball will coexist at RFK. Go figure how that will happen without soccer getting the jail cell treatment. But, that is what has been in the ink. From my view, there is NO WAY that the corrupt idiots at the stadium authority will ever build a new soccer specific stadium if NOVA gets the baseball team. All they would do is placate DC United, stall, promise, lie, then back out of any plans. If DC gets the team, then it is still a very unlikely proposition that DC United gets a new stadium. Think about it, what motivation on earth does a corrupt entity like the stadium authority have to invest money in soccer and abandon a facility from which they have been staying afloat with these past 7 years? It is a fact that RFK will NOT be the future sight of a new baseball stadium (in print, there are three other sights that are preferred by the city). Hence, all that will happen if baseball comes to DC is that United will get the MAJOR LEAGUE SHAFT for two years and then go back to getting its Major League Shaft at RFK thereafter. The only possible good outcome from this is that the impetus of being molested will cause Anschutz to build a stadium with his own money. I hope it is in Silver Spring...but that idea seems to have been lost years ago. Tim
Huh? You live in Rockville, MD...which is generally within an hour drive of Baltimore. Or, would a team in DC be counting on any fans in the Capital belway vicinity. Whatever. It's less of a hassle to see the Frederick Keys play.