Just watched the Channel 9 news. Peter Angelos has raised his ugly head (heh, heh, heh...) to make MLB consider what impact the Expos move to DC would have on the Orioles' fan base. This may help sway MLB away from relocating the Expos here and keep RFK available for DC United. Here's a link to an article: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-expossale&prov=ap&type=lgns
I've been watching this closely as well and let me tell you something: Angelos doesn't have a snowballs chance in hell to keep baseball out of D.C. and the thing is, I think he knows it too. All he's trying to do is get a large payment out of this when a team moves to D.C. There are plenty of other markets out there with the same amount of people or more that have great attendence. Look at the San Fransisco Bay area and Oakland. I think I saw something where there are more people living in the D.C.-Baltimore region and yet S.F. and Oakland support two great teams. This isn't about keeping a team out of D.C., for him it's about getting his cut when it happens.
Maybe so mellon, but Baseball can't afford the payoff he's looking for. As much as I loathe his handling of the Orioles, I am thankful that he is fighting this so hard. If, selfishly, it means that I continue to be able to attend DC United matches at RFK. I personally have no problem with DC getting a baseball team, that way we can have the Orioles back to ourselves.
Angelos can only outright stop an American League team from coming here. However, No Va is about 25% of the Orioles' market, if I remeber correct. That should impact the move.
Actually Mellon, I think you are absolutely wrong about this one. Look at the numbers. Oakland is one of the worst/smallest market teams in MLB. Their payroll is $40M. The Yankees payroll is $140M. Oakland may be forced to move if something doesn't change. San Fran isn't a big team either. The splitting of the market prevents either team from taking advantage of the size of the metropolitan area. The only city that can support two teams well is New York. Say what you like about Angelos, but there's absolutely no doubt that a DC team would very seriously hurt his Orioles in a myriad of ways. It wouldn't all happen at once, but a DC team would erode the Orioles attendance (fully 1/3 or more of the O's attendance comes from DC/VA), marketing (probably cut that in half within 5 years time), media coverage, corporate sponsorship, etc. While the Orioles are a fairly big club right now financially, they'd slide way down the ladder within 5 years of a DC team. Angelos is right, and I think baseball and all of the parties involved knows it. That may not stop it from happening, but this would be hugely detrimental to the Orioles. -Tron
Tron I think their attendence would be fine if their team didn't stink. If all this was happening in the mid-90's Angelos would be laughed at because the O's were selling out almost every game and they were actually good. My point about Oakland and S.F. is that they still have two great teams, I never said anything about the market. I will admit though, I am rooting for Angelos to keep a team out of RFK and allow United to play there. But I think it's only a matter of time until a baseball team moves here.