Biz of Baseball: Brown: N.J. #1 Spot Without Team
Maury Brown writes that Northern New Jersey is the # 1 market to be considered when it comes big league baseball relocation or expansion. The biggest problem around making this happen, according to Brown, is:
The biggest (and probably only) thing blocking a third MLB team in the New York area are the Yankees and Mets (and yes, most likely the Phillies). The heel digging would be tremendous on these clubs part, and the compensation to placate two or three clubs would be tremendous. Other than that issue (and yes, it’s more than an 800 lbs gorilla, to be sure), the only other issue might be an interim stadium (you could play at the Trenton Thunder’s Waterfront Park, but it only has a seating capacity of 6,500). Still, that issue of getting around the Yankees, Mets, and Phillies is massive. The political dance would be one for the ages to pull off a team in Northern New Jersey.
I agree with everything that Brown says here.
Baseball is big in New Jersey. If I recall correctly, New Jersey and Indiana are the only states in the country without a major league team of their own to send over 300 men into the big leagues. (Although Alabama could be getting close to joining them.)
Sure, having a team in New Jersey would take some money out of the Yankees pockets. But, it would never make the Yankees poor. And, as a fan, it may provide some leverage in terms of controlling ticket prices.
Well, we had 3 teams in the Metro NY area at one time, and they did well. Politics and shifting demographics drove them away. I know attendance was pretty bad @ the Polo Grounds (600k+ in 56 & 57). Don’t know if the area had anything to do with it, but I suppose it didn’t get any better from 58-62 when the Mets started playing there. They drew 900k+ their first year then a million plus the next)
I do wonder what could’ve been with the Giants, as they had several HoF caliber players coming through their system after they left NYC. Then again, chances are they’d be playing in MN? Everything I’ve seen leads me to believe that the Jints were the redheaded stepchild of the 3 teams that played here. They certainly haven’t been romanticized as the Dodgers have. But little is written about Stoneham’s attempts, if any, to keep the team in NY, and maybe he didn’t want to. I don’t know.
ive argued with my friends that Northern NJ is ready and able to support a MLB franchise.
you’ve got thousands of people who are devout baseball fans who either refuse to, or cant afford to, travel into NY to see a baseball game.
my friends argue that because everyone in the region has alredy pledged their fan allegiance to the Yankees or Mets, a new franchise, whether it be an expansion team or relocated organization, wouldnt be able to build and sustain a big enough fanbase separate from the Yanks and Mets to survive.
if not a MLB team, the area in/around Wayne would be perfect for a minor league franchise.
the dopes who are building the Xanadu flop at the Meadowlands are really dropping the ball, IMO. they are building a minor league stadium, but putting an indepedent league team in there.
if you thropw an affiliated team in teh stadium, i bet it’d do much better. and, for example, i know the Mets AAA team in currently in New Olreans in the Pacific League. dont you think they’d love to move that team back to the Independent League, and have them a stone’s throw away from the big league team in the case of an emergency?
and think of the draw you’d have there if,say, Jose Reyes was rehabbing thru a minor league stadium at the meadowlands… you might see 10-15K people if you could fit it.
Well the next question about expansion teams is AL or NL. And then you have problems with what division you put them in. Regardless you are looking a re-alignment of the divisions, again.
Why exactly is there any belief that an expansion team would attract fans? Does anyone believe that there is a large group of “uncommitted” baseball fans in north Jersey? Expansion has always been to areas with large populations that aren’t served by a league franchise (or in the case of Washington, I think there were some other factors at play).
As it is now, there’s no reason to assume a large fan base would magically appear. A new franchise would attract a mixture of fans of the Mets, Yanks and probably some Phillies fans, but no one would be running to the sporting goods store for jerseys. The stadium would be filled with Jeter and Wright jerseys, and it would take forever to have a true committed fan base.
The stadium would be filled with Jeter and Wright jerseys, and it would take forever to have a true committed fan base.
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I don’t know about that. A franchise that turns it around quickly, like say the D-Backs, wouldn’t take forever to establish a fan base.
Given minor league attendance, another team would probably do well around here. But the question would be if it were worth the pain. I don’t see a team, established or otherwise moving into NJ in the future.
But the question would be if it were worth the pain. I don’t see a team, established or otherwise moving into NJ in the future.
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Exactly. The Nationals had to give up a full 33% of their OWN television rights fees to the Orioles in exchange for the right to encroach on the O’s traditional territory. Would it even be financially sensible for a team to endeavor encroaching on not one but two MLB teams in this territory (and maybe three if you count the Phillies)? How much in “tribute payments” would any new franchise have to pay to Steinbrenner, Wilpon, and the rest to get into this market?
The barriers to entry are tremendous, to say nothing of the fact that getting an MLB team to move where there isn’t a stadium commitment is highly unlikely. NJ taxpayers are footing the bill for part of the Xanadu and Meadowlands/Giants Stadium re-development. With the Nets leaving and the IZod Center going dark, it’s a lot to imagine that NJ voters would want to pay for even a portion of a new stadium bill.
Jersey? With the exception of the NFL , major sports attendance in Jersey is weak. How many people go to the Nets and the Devils games ( and these are franchises that have been reasonably successful)? The whole major sports in Jersey is an experiment that failed. It was utterly idiotic to put a team in an area that is in Met, Yankee and Phillie fan territory.
Look, I’m a Long Islander and we have the Ducks out here in Suffolk County. Yes, it is a successful minor league club but we can fill a stadium(I’m using the word lightly) that seats 6000 but no more. LI and Jersey suffer from that suburban syndrome, in where we are very close to the epicenter of everything BUT we are not in that epicenter. Therein lies the rub. One can call it the Suburban Syndrome because we are on the periphery and are part of the NY area, but aren’t at the same time(even though Brooklyn and Queens are on Long Island).
Last but not least, I think the Marlins or the Rays should move to North Carolina,yeah that opens up a can of worms but NC is becoming more important sportswise and it hasn’t worked in Florida. The Raleigh Rays? Or the North Carolina Fish?