Expos move not moving smoothly?

[db44]

MetroSource:

(Philadelphia, PA) -- Officially, Major League Baseball executives say that not one of the six bids to relocate the Montreal Expos is complete enough to make a decision on the matter. However, "USA Today" reports Washington, DC is now the relocation committee's top choice. The newspaper cites three unnamed sources who are close to the discussions. Meantime, northern Virginia's chances of getting the Expos are said to fading because its financing plan relies on funding that isn't 100 percent certain. At the same time, the DC City Council has yet to authorize spending any money on a new stadium. One source says northern Virginia's trump card may be Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos. He's against moving the Expos to DC, and is lobbying on behalf of a group from the Norfolk area. The source says northern Virginia could become a compromise location. Baseball executives say they'll revisit several cities in the coming weeks.

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Meanwhile, the cover story on The Washington Post's Metro section is about the Orioles D.C. Fan Fest yesterday and how the possible move is being viewed by fans and locals.

[db44]

I'm thinking now about Angelos and his cries about the team moving to D.C. I don't think he has much of a leg to stand on.

The D.C./Baltimore consolidated metro area, according to World Book online, has about 7.6 million people in it. The San Francisco/Oakland consolidated metro area has 600,000 less people in it, and yet those two cities/teams are about 10-15 miles away from each other. With 40-60 miles between the sites, and plenty around both D.C. and Baltimore, there should be little reason to cry. For that matter, SF-Oak shares a subway line. D.C. and Baltimore are connected only by commuter rail.

Baltimore as a stand-alone is bigger then many of the baseball cities in the nation, and still will have its share of D.C. people making the trek.

So I say let the Expos move in... Especially when you consider Angelos' been a horrible owner of late, the problems he has are not and would not be because of competition in the area.

And that's coming from somebody who is in a two-team town, and attends games of both teams on a regular basis.

I also was wondering this morning if we have truly seen the end of the Montreal Expos. If the team moves to, say, LV, is there a stadium ready to accept them? The 'Xpos could play in RFK for the time it would take to build a stadium in VA/D.C. (I wonder what that would mean in regards to United and the possible return of the Freedom), but if they go elsewhere, wouldn't they still need to wait while decent facilities were built?

[Venisenvy]

The Expos need to go to San Juan.

[princessKT]

Honestly, there aren't all that many O's fans in DC. There are a hell of a lot more Yankees and Sox fans there.

[db44]

4,000 people showed up for the fan fest.

[princessKT]

4,000's not that many, in the scheme of things. When I went to the Yanks/O's game, it was like 3/4 Yankees fans.

[db44]

One of the fun things about the article in the Post was that one teenager was there with a sign saying "boycott the Orioles" and an older fan said to the line of "he's too young to remember the Senators, and how nobody went to those games." Not in response, but the kid's answer was like "I hope all the people who came here today from Baltimore (apparently many of those 4,000 were in fact Baltimore residents) get stuck in traffic going home so they can see what it's like for us down here."

[princessKT]

Yep, have fun going back on the BW Parkway.

[db44]

I went to one game (rainout, actually) with a former LDer, from D.C. to Baltimore, and I fell asleep on the drive back, in all the traffic. It was a Friday after I had worked my usual morning and then driven down to D.C.

[princessKT]

Ouch, not good. Did someone beep to wake you up? lol

[db44]

Oh. No, I was the passenger.

[princessKT]

LOL alright, I guess it's OK then.

[Annoyedlistner]

there are too many yankees fans out there

GO BRAVES hehe