By Blaidd Drwg
I really don’t have any love for Bud Selig and I have even less love for him when he starts spouting off about how teams need lavish publicly financed stadiums to replace their current facilities. Bud did just that the other day, saying the A’s and the Rays need a new place to call home. My favorite line from his comments:
“You can’t ask people to compete if they have a stadium that doesn’t produce any kind of revenue to give them a chance to compete. So that’s a given.”
OK – so the Rays, a team that you say needs a new stadium to be competitive, has made the playoffs in 3 of the last 4 seasons, in a division with the Yankees and Red Sox. I don’t think a shiny new ballpark is the answer here; people are not going to go to Rays games either way. So does this mean that you are going to ask the Padres, Pirates, Twins – all of whom are generally in the bottom half of league payroll and all of whom have newer stadiums that were publicly funded, to finally spend some money and compete?
Another tidbit:
The last time I was there, I probably shouldn’t say this, but I’ll say it anyway, it reminded me of County Stadium and Shea Stadium, and that’s not a compliment, in either case.
Hell, the Dodgers draw close to 4 million a year in a not particularly charismatic vintage 1962 ballpark. A new ballpark gives you about a 2 year attendance boost. People will go to games to see a quality product on the field, not because of the bells and whistles at the park. Just ask the Mariners, who have what most people consider to be one of the 3 or 4 best stadiums in baseball, how well consistently losing in a nice stadium has worked out.
FlatbreadGarden 