Expos to move to DC
 

How do you all feel about this? I'm not sure if it's officially announced through major media networks yet or not, but a good deal of work is complete on the banking end to provide the city financing with stadium.

-Rudey

Did they decide on DC or Northern VA? I haven't really been paying attention to the whole thing too much because I don't really care about baseball.

Well- from this article:
Hopefully they can clear up any concerns the natives have in regards to the location of the stadium. And hopefully this one will do better than the last 2 attempts. Would be good for the DC Tourism- see the Smithsonian, see your Senator, watch a ball game. Sounds almost.... American. :)

It's definitely going to hurt Baltimore...driving up there from DC for games is a huge hassle. Also they've been trying to gentrify Anacostia and Southeast for a few years now...this might be what does it.

I didn't get that about the home games in San Juan - do they not have a stadium in Montreal?

As far as it helping the area - well, that's what they said about Three Rivers Stadium too, and it didn't help the North Side at all, in fact I think it made things worse.

I think they weren't selling enough tickets in Montreal, so they played down there in hopes that people in San Juan would want to watch major league baseball.

It's not just tickets, but price of tickets (ie luxury boxes) but yah.

-Rudey

You think? It'll be interesting to watch.

Well I'd rather it be Northern VA, but oh well. Now we'll officially never have any hope of ever having a professional sports team, unless they put one in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area, because northern VA is too close to DC and Baltimore.

But at least it's close enough where I'll be able to go whenever the Mets are in town, which is all I really care about anyway :)

I remember Chinatown was a dump before they put in the MCI center, and now that's like the new hot neighborhood. The city has been trying to revitalize the Anacostia waterfront for a few years, so if they're already trying I'm sure with a new stadium they'll really put a lot of effort into it.

They should put a new Moby Dick there. I could be the banker that makes that happen!!!

-Rudey
--Let them eat kabobs!

Long live the Richmond Virginians.

I truly never give a isht unless it involves my beloved Dodgers!

However, it does suck for those who love their Expos & for those who have to commute. I've never been there but I've heard that the commute in Washington is already a pain in the a$$.

It will be interesting to see how it effects the Expos competitively; i.e., will they get free agents, will they have the money to build their farm system.

The Orioles seem like they're getting a pretty sweet deal out of this as well. I believe MLB has agreed to guarantee that their revenue would still reach a certain level, and that if Angelos were ever to sell the team, MLB would guarantee that a certain sale level was reached. This was in response to the opposition he had to another team coming into the D.C. area.

San Juan was an experiment for a team that didn't have any other options. Attendance was pitiful in Montreal, they weren't making money, and they needed to do something to make up for it. It was a way for MLB to further entice the Latin American market while slowing the bleeding of the Montreal franchise.

As someone who has visited Camden Yards, that stadium is filled ALL THE TIME! Here in Philly, before the new ballpark opened this year, the Vet was lucky to sell 15,000 seats a night, and there was never that many people there. I remember going to Baltimore for a game, and the stands were full and then some, and it was so great to see. I don't know if the Expos move to DC will hurt them, but Camden Yards is a great park, and the Orioles have a huge loyal fan base. Of course the attraction of a new stadium/team is there, but I don't think it will kill Baltimore in the process.

Is it true that the team will be the Washington Expose'.

(Coors field has certainly been a huge catalist in rejuvination lower downtown or "LoDo" here in Denver. Great condos, restaurants and clubs in a former warehouse district/slum.)

The local media is still speculating on what the team will be called.

Lots of ideas but not a definite yet.

If they're not called the Senators I'll go apeshit.

Actually, I heard they may be called the "Gray" or maybe "Grays" in honor of an original (?) team in the old Negro League. That info was from NPR this morning. Hope I heard it correctly since I was driving thru a construction zone at the time.

ETA this from a website on early black baseball"

"Homestead Grays of 1931

Considered by many to be black baseball's best ballclub ever, this talented aggregation forged a 136-17 mark for the season. With no league in the east, Cum Posey's men played as an independent ballclub. Featuring Josh Gibson in his first full season and veteran Smokey Joe Williams in his latter years, the team was so strong that superstar slugger Oscar Charleston batted lead-off. Other strong players on the team included Jud "Boojum" Wilson, George Scales, Vic Harris and Ted Page. Other pitchers were Lefty Williams, Willie Foster and Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, who also relieved Gibson behind the plate. Gibson is credited with 75 homeruns that season, playing against all levels of competition, but in games against top black teams his homerun percentage, although still impressive, was less Ruthian."

:mad: :mad:

I really hope they don't use that name, or there will be a lot of pissed off Pittsburghers (including myself). Why steal our name and our history? Why not use whatever the Negro League team in that area was named?

During the late 1930s through the 1940s the Grays played their home games at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. However, during this same period the club adopted the Washington, D.C. area as its "home away from home" and scheduled many of its "home" games at Washington's Griffith Stadium, the home park of the Washington Senators.

From the NLB site

That's interesting stuff. A little like a lot of people don't know how many "home" games the Packers play in Milwaukee.

But they're not the Washington Grays or the DC Grays. They're the Homestead Grays.

Not to mention the sci-fi aficionados who will say "they're naming a baseball team after these?"

Just saying.

I know, nothing against you. I'm just pouting. :D

How about the Washington Watergates? It's alliterative.

I don't care what the team name is...I am just glad it isn't the Norfolk (VA) Expos. The powers that be are too high on their horse that we don't have a professional team, when we can't support one here in this area.

Way to go DC. Should be interesting that they are considering building the stadium just blocks away from the Capitol. Driving and parking at a game is going to SUCK! :rolleyes:

That was a possibility I heard the other day! How about the Washington Lobbiests?

I was reading somewhere that the Rangers (is it the Rangers the Senators became?) still hold the trademark to "The Washington Senators". Which is unfortunate.

Yes it is the Texas Rangers that hold the rights to the name. So DC may have to pay a lot of money to get that name back... but I just can't see the team being called anything else.

None since County Stadium went down - I don't think Miller Park is conducive to a football game.

And can I just say that I dislike the entire Selig family, who, btw, just sold the Brewers?

Did the Rangers buy that name from the Twins?

I might not have all the facts completely straight, but from what I understand, the Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins the first time, but the Twins didn't keep the rights to the name. Then, when DC got a team the second time, they were again called the Senators... but then became the Texas Rangers, and the Rangers did retain the rights to the name. Somebody feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got this info from Mr. SSS and he said he wasn't completely sure about what happened with the Twins.

Why did the Rangers keep the rights? Was the move supposed to be temporary?

Because it's the history of the team.

Much the same way that the Tennesee Titans still hold the rights of the Houston Oilers and records for the Titans carry over from the Oiler years.

KS 361

Not all teams retain such rights, even though its their history. When the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore, they intentionally let the name remain for a future Cleveland Browns football team. This was a classy move by the Ravens. Lets see if the Texas Rangers organization care about the greater good of baseball, and the baseball heritage of Washington D.C. Especially when they weren't the Washington Senators for that long.

You bring up an interesting point.

This team will always have the history of the Expos. Despite not being in Montreal, current players will be competeing with former Expos for team records.

The Browns thing was a special case scenario.

Why should the Rangers have to give up their history? Obviously Washington didn't do enough to keep the Senators the first two times they were there, why should they have to erase their team records? Come up with something creative. When Colorado got an NHL team back(the Avalanche) they got a new name, they didn't resurrect the name "Rockies", because i'm sure the Devils still hold the rights to that.

KS 361

I'm not suggesting that the Texas Rangers loose their team records. The Rangers don't have access to the team records of the firss.t Washington Senators. The Baltimore Orioles don't have access to the records of the first Baltimore Orioles. The Expos should not have access to the team records of the second Washington Senators. Only the Rangers should have that.

If the Rangers' team history can deal with a Washington Senators team that existed before that franchise, they should be able to deal with a Washington Senators team that comes into being soon.

I thought Colorado decided on the name Avalanche because Colorado's MLB team is also the Rockies. I think what should happen when a team leaves a city is for them to sell their name back to the league (unless they want to retain the name in the new city). That way, if a team ever comes back to said city, they'd have a choice to recycle the name or choose something new.

sorry but no matter the circumstance, the words "classy" and "Ravens" should never ever appear in the same sentence....(insert barfing icon here)

Amen. Go Redskins.