Orlando on the path to a MLB team

Florida can barely hold onto the two teams it has not sure how a new one would be any better. They are better off moving one of the existing Florida teams to Orlando.
The Rays are on their way to Montreal and I don't see the MLB moving the Marlins to Orlando after the whole debacle with making the city of Miami fund their ballpark.
 


The Rays are on their way to Montreal and I don't see the MLB moving the Marlins to Orlando after the whole debacle with making the city of Miami fund their ballpark.
The rays Montreal thing is for from a given. Keeping in mind that Montreal couldn’t keep the team they had, I’m skeptical of it happening.

orlando should go for a triple a team before a major league one. I don’t think they can support a major league club, especially with the issues Florida teams in any sport have drawing
 
The rays Montreal thing is for from a given. Keeping in mind that Montreal couldn’t keep the team they had, I’m skeptical of it happening.

orlando should go for a triple a team before a major league one. I don’t think they can support a major league club, especially with the issues Florida teams in any sport have drawing
The Montreal thing is just the typical shell game. They lost their team because it was in a crappy stadium and the people didn't want to pay for a new one. So they stopped showing up. Team moved because someone agreed to build a stadium. Now Montreal is getting momentum to build a stadium, Tampa is balking. Guess what will happen? And in 20 years, when the team in Montreal wants a new stadium again, Tampa will probably be in the mood to build one and the folks in Montreal will still be holding the debt on the old stadium.

And a AAA team is no good. The only people that support teams in FL, unless they are winning big, are the retirees and recently moved coming to see the teams they support. And that's not just football. You can go to a Dolphins game in December and see more visiting jerseys than home, and not just now when the team stinks. Same with the hockey teams, the basketball teams, and the Rays. No one goes to see the Marlins, mainly because the area is more Central/South American culturally than northeast/midwest U.S. So unless that team gets good, no one is ever going to care. Regardless, a AAA team won't cut it because it won't draw the visiting fans.
 
I watched the live stream. His numbers for sustaining the Orlando Dreamers (name inspired by Walt) seem reasonable.

TB Rays split hometown is wild. Spring in TB and summer/fall in Montreal?
 


I watched the live stream. His numbers for sustaining the Orlando Dreamers (name inspired by Walt) seem reasonable.

TB Rays split hometown is wild. Spring in TB and summer/fall in Montreal?
The logo is rather terrible tho.
 
The logo is rather terrible tho.

You're being generous. It's hideous.

80 million visitors to Orlando in a few years. He thinks 2% attendance is fair at 1.5 million/year. Combined attendance in Miami and Tampa was 1.9 last year. Combined. Rays have 8 years left on contract with St. Pete/TB.

I encourage doubters to just watch the Q and A portion of his press conference. I think teams visiting the Orlando Dreamers could be a draw to the out of town visitors.
 
You're being generous. It's hideous.

80 million visitors to Orlando in a few years. He thinks 2% attendance is fair at 1.5 million/year. Combined attendance in Miami and Tampa was 1.9 last year. Combined. Rays have 8 years left on contract with St. Pete/TB.

I encourage doubters to just watch the Q and A portion of his press conference. I think teams visiting the Orlando Dreamers could be a draw to the out of town visitors.
Even combined that seems more than they show on TV. Not saying it wouldn't be a draw but you also need a local base for a team. Florida teams haven't gotten that so far.
 
Even combined that seems more than they show on TV. Not saying it wouldn't be a draw but you also need a local base for a team. Florida teams haven't gotten that so far.

I think that's part of his thinking. The visitors would be among the highest in MLB and would help sustain the business.

I can see Yankee/BoSox/mid-West team fans on vacation at WDW going in droves to see their favorite team play in an air conditioned stadium in Orlando.
 
The Rays have always been a bit of special case.

Attendance was very weird even when the team was doing well. Tons of late arrivals at the games, very evident on the broadcasts I watched.
Wondering if the in area location played a bigger part in the issue.

Having attended a few Expos games in my life time. I can see Montreal supporting a team, but again stadium location would be important, as would the ability to have it be inside.
When I was in college in the late 90's, for $6 you received an outfield ticket, and a round trip bus ride from across the border in Vermont. It was an amazing deal. I'd be happy to see it again, especially if the team is assigned to the AL east.
 
The rays Montreal thing is for from a given. Keeping in mind that Montreal couldn’t keep the team they had, I’m skeptical of it happening.

orlando should go for a triple a team before a major league one. I don’t think they can support a major league club, especially with the issues Florida teams in any sport have drawing
That was my thought, too. They need to try for a minor league team. Orlando won't support a MLB team. They barely support a NBA team.
 
Not sure if this will eventually have a Disney connection, but Pat Williams just announced the start of Otown getting a MLB team. I would buy season tickets, but right now they are just gauging interest. I can see visitors to WDW going to see MLB games if the transportation was convenient.

https://www.fox35orlando.com/sports...lando-dreamers-effort-to-bring-mlb-to-orlando
I'm thinking Disney won't be in favor of people leaving property to spend money with MLB. Perhaps if we had the Orlando "Lost Boys" and built the stadium where the race track used to be, then Disney might be onboard.
 
There won't be a minor league team in Orlando. MLB is trying to restructure and contract the minor leagues, so deciding to push for a new team, when they are trying to downsize is probably not going to happen.
 
MLB isn't going to put another team in Florida.

I also don't think vacationers will be much of a draw. Unless it's some place like Wrigley or Fenway where I'm going to see the stadium as much as the game, why would I go to a game when I'm on vacation when I can just go to a game when I'm not on vacation?
 
MLB isn't going to put another team in Florida.

I also don't think vacationers will be much of a draw. Unless it's some place like Wrigley or Fenway where I'm going to see the stadium as much as the game, why would I go to a game when I'm on vacation when I can just go to a game when I'm not on vacation?
CONCUR. I have made a special effort to catch a game at Fenway and nowhere else. I could see doing the same thing at Wrigley </list>. Admittedly I'm not much of a baseball fan but I think I'm the sort of person you would need to market to if you hope to make of a go of it relying on visitors to keep the team viable. After all, it would be a new team with no fan base. Going to the game is going to have to be a pretty special experience.
 
I also don't think vacationers will be much of a draw. Unless it's some place like Wrigley or Fenway where I'm going to see the stadium as much as the game, why would I go to a game when I'm on vacation when I can just go to a game when I'm not on vacation?
I could see it for die hard fans as it's not hard to make the week you're visiting line up with your team playing down there and it's cool to see a game in a different ballpark. I don't know how many of those fans there are for teams that aren't the Yankees/Cubs/Red Sox though.

I think their biggest issue would be that Tampa is 1.5 hours and Miami is 3.5 hours away. If people cared that much about seeing a game they could easily go to one of those cities already and attendance isn't great for either team.
 

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