Will the Marlins remain in Florida?

[Marc]

Apparently, there is question about where the Marlins will play, possibly not in Florida anymore.

"If the community doesn't come up with the money the Marlins may not be around in Miami," Bush said Thursday. "That's always been a given as far as I'm concerned."

In a letter Wednesday to a state lawmaker, Selig said the Marlins would most likely leave South Florida if the Legislature fails to approve a proposed tax rebate for a new downtown ballpark.

A bill to provide tax money for a new ballpark is awaiting action by both the full House and Senate.

The $122 million sales tax rebate plan is part of a $385 million package that includes county hotel taxes, an extension of a Miami city parking surcharge, a fee on game tickets and $6 million in annual rent payments by John Henry.

Thoughts? It's kind of surprising a world champion team can go from the best of the best to not having a home.

[mojo]

Its not suprising at all. An owner invested a lot of money to build a winning team, hoping it would build interest in an area that is not goint to be spend the money to support a baseball team.

A lot of baseball fans in the area, but few that have the money to go to the games on a regular basis.

[iFroggy]

Huizenga had an absolute fire sale after they won. Decimated (spelling?) them.

[mojo]

Originally posted by iFroggy
Huizenga had an absolute fire sale after they won. Decimated (spelling?) them.

And he did that because he knew there would be no way in hell that he could pay those salaries with what he would be getting from fan support in the area. He knew long ago that he would be moving or selling the team.

[Wedge231]

Well this is what you get when you buy a championship and sell all your players the next year.

[lmanchur.]

Originally posted by M. James
Thoughts? It's kind of surprising a world champion team can go from the best of the best to not having a home.

I don't find it surprising... that was 2 or 3 years ago they won... that's a long time in pro sports when you play in an area that is too saturated with a sport or a team in a small area (e.g.: Florida, in this case) no one really cares about.

[iFroggy]

Originally posted by mojo


And he did that because he knew there would be no way in hell that he could pay those salaries with what he would be getting from fan support in the area. He knew long ago that he would be moving or selling the team.

Yeah, that may be true. However, I really think that was a bad thing (PR wise) for him to do. Just my opinion.

I hope he doesn't do anything to screw up my Dolphins.

[catman]

If one wants my opinion, even if one doesn't, I think that the Marlins are a good team that has had bad owners. I just saw their Midwest League team play last night. Those kids are really good kids. No cussing, no bat or helmet throwing, no arguments with close calls. They won 11-1 so they should have been happy.
Back to the subject at hand. The Marlins are, like the Twins, the victims of over-expansion in Major League baseball. There are 2 or 4 too many teams and contraction is a real possiblilty. Just who and where the contraction takes place is for the Commissioners office to decide. I think that Selig wants to drop the Twins to get a bigger market for his Brewers. I'm not sure why he wants to drop the Marlins or Expos.
Contraction is an insult to the fans of baseball and we should all let Selig know it.

[Brandon]

Originally posted by catman

Contraction is an insult to the fans of baseball and we should all let Selig know it.

I don't think contraction is necessarily an insult to fans. If it was a last resort, and it was back up with years of study, I'd support it. But not right now. The Expos are trying to spend money, it just doesn't work in Montreal where there is even less support than in Florida. Maybe it would be a good idea to move them to Virginia like planned before. Personally, Peter Angelos should stop complaining about territory, his team is in Maryland, not Virginia.

Now, the Florida situation. I think the new owner, I forget his name, is doing a good job. The kids that they got from the firesale are showing up in the majors now, and they have some talent still coming. This will be a good ballclub. Now if they could get the stadium, they would probably draw some more fans, and everything would be allright. I do think the firesale pretty much killed baseball there, and they need to rebuild it.

The Twins are doing fine. The owner is making a profit off of them. If he were to invest just a little bit of money into that team, they would improve, like they're showing now, and the fans would come back, I know they're still there from 87 and 91. That's where a minimum salary cap would do good, force owners to put money into their teams, instead of operating them like a business to make money.

[SC-Jared]

They should definitly remain in Florida. The organization screwed themselves, but I like the Marlins franchise. They need to recover financially, win, and get back fans.

[Nate]

I also belive they should remain in Florida. They only suck cuz they sold their whole team...what was up with that anyway?...

Like Jared said, they need to stay and recover financially. Then they can start to win again. A move would not help them.

[Wedge231]

I think they have a good area to be in but I agree management decisions drove people away.

[MedicTJ]

The latest "meat" on this subject is that now Major League Baseball is considering consolidating the Expos, Twins, Devil Rays, and Marlins and creating 2 teams in two different cities.

Bad idea. I really hope that doesn't happen.

[lmanchur.]

Contrary to MedicTJ, I think ALL pro sports need to contract. Expansion has gotten out of hand. Contraction would make pay rolls smaller and increase the level of play.

[Wedge231]

I agree. Stop making hockey teams in the US midwest!