MLB Offseason 2013-2014

[Timby]

DAFUQ?!?!?

What in the seven circles of hell is so wrong with Turner Field that they have to abandon it after only 16 fucking years?

Outside of its terrible location, not much. But the location is pretty bad, considering they're lucky to draw 15,000 fans on a good night. What the Braves are doing is moving out towards areas like Marietta, where the actual money is in the area (and where it's also 98% white and horribly regressive, politically). Cobb County voted down $7.5 million for new public school textbooks ... but may finance up to $450 million of this new beast. Ugh.

The Braves, like 98% of other teams out there, tried to extort a few hundred million bucks out of Fulton County and the City of Atlanta for renovations; both municipalities said "fuck no," so the Braves started looking elsewhere. Public financing for stadiums is bullshit.

Look, I love a new stadium as much as anyone, but this shit is a total waste. And I thought the Falcons were burning cash with replacing the Georgia Dome after only like 25 years?

The Georgia Dome does have pretty significant structural issues. And the Falcons are hardly burning cash on the project -- the City of Atlanta is forking out several hundred million dollars for the new stadium.

Edit: Jacoby Ellsbury turned down his qualifying offer from the Red Sox, so he's hitting the market. God, I can't wait to see what team overpays out the wazoo for him.

 

[R. Star]

I dunno... I went to Turner field once in 2003(Game 5 of the NLDS... sad that they couldn't even sell out their place during the freakin playoffs and the other teams fans had to fill the gap!) and thought it was a great stadium.

I'm not sure why they would replace it except.... everyone else has a new field, so why not them too?

 

[Pondwater]

^ Yep! That's ridiculous. I guess since the Falcons are getting an unnecessary new stadium. So, shall the Braves.

There's nothing wrong with the TED besides the location and the other things that were mentioned. But definitely the location is bad. Adding the fact that Atlanta isn't a baseball city. Football is king here, unless you count the band wagoners when the Braves are doing well. <_<

If they move to Cobb county, I will be going to fewer games. A Mets game would be easier to access.

I'm wondering about B-Mac (Brian McCann) …That was a shitty one-year deal they offered him. Why would they offer him a one year deal? With Chipper gone, McCann is the face of the franchise.

 

[Use of Time]

Most of Atlanta's fans aren't even in Atlanta. They are scattered throughout the southeast courtesy of TBS. Hell that is the reason I am a Braves fan. I wanted to watch baseball every night when I was a little kid and thanks to TBS the Braves were on every night. The Ted is in an awful location and is a pain in the ass to get to. The stadium itself is fine to me.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I'm a Mets fan and I have always watched the Braves games on TBS for like forever.

 

[Use of Time]

Yep, the only other national network that I remember doing that is WGN who carried the Cubs and White Sox.

 

[Pondwater]

^ Definitely. When I lived in Minneapolis, I watched more Cubbies games than Twins because of WGN.

 

[Timby]

I'm wondering about B-Mac (Brian McCann) …That was a shitty one-year deal they offered him. Why would they offer him a one year deal? With Chipper gone, McCann is the face of the franchise.

That was merely the qualifying offer, which is set each year by the league under the terms of the bullshit new CBA. By making the QO (and McCann turning it down), that means the Braves will now receive the first-round draft pick of the team that signs McCann. They can still negotiate with him, of course, but McCann is probably looking at a 5 / 80 deal, possibly higher given how fucking terrible this year's free agent class is, and the Braves have enough depth in their system to let him go for that price, considering they couldn't exactly move him to DH when his knees turn to dust, and Freddie Freeman seems to have first base locked up for some time to come.

McCann's going to the AL, mark my words. He'll wind up in Texas, New York, maybe Detroit ... possibly Boston, but they still have luxury tax concerns to deal with and they seem to be avoiding super long-term deals. (I still think Henry is looking to sell the team.)

Yep, the only other national network that I remember doing that is WGN who carried the Cubs and White Sox.

Not for much longer. The Cubs opted out of their agreement with WGN last week; WGN has an exclusive negotiating window for the next 24 days, and then the 70 or so games that are on WGN will be up for bid. So the Cubs will be on WGN for the next two seasons, but after that is anyone's guess. (This is why Bob Brenly left the TV booth after 2012, by the way; he had agreed in principle to a five-year contract, and the Cubs suddenly demanded it be a two-year deal because they already had the wheels turning to open up the TV rights for bids.)

 

[R. Star]

^ Definitely. When I lived in Minneapolis, I watched more Cubbies games than Twins because of WGN.

Pretty much how I ended up a Cub fan in the heart of Texas. I was too far from the local Houston and Dallas markets that carried the Astro/Ranger games, so as a kid who loved baseball, I watched the Cubs. Good marketing on WGN's part.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'm not sure why they would replace it except.... everyone else has a new field, so why not them too?

Turner Field IS the new field. Hell, Camden Yards is older, that oughta tell you something.

And I don't see how TF's location is that bad. Sure, it's a couple of miles from the nearest MARTA stop, but at least there is one nearby. If I interpret this correctly, there's not a scrap of public transit anywhere near this new location.

 

[Timby]

And I don't see how TF's location is that bad. Sure, it's a couple of miles from the nearest MARTA stop, but at least there is one nearby.

It's rather socioeconomically depressed (and will likely become a near-ghetto if Turner Field gets dumped), for one -- crime is high and getting worse, and as a result storefronts all throughout the area are abandoned. It's not like the area around Camden Yards, which is relatively safe and has a large amount of pre-game festivities. I'd love to see how Fulton County responds to an empty, desolate husk of a stadium, given how rough the neighborhood already is.

And getting there is a massive pain in the ass. You have to drive (or walk) to MARTA, take a train to Underground Atlanta, walk through Underground Atlanta, then take a bus to the stadium. Doing this to get to the stadium isn't a huge pain, but leaving the stadium is annoying as hell.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Hmm. Well if it's that bad, I guess I understand it a bit more now. Still seems like a waste though. Just like the Falcons.

Maybe the Rays could move to Turner Field. Can Atlanta support two teams? TF's still better than the damn Trop.

 

[Captain Ice]

^ Definitely. When I lived in Minneapolis, I watched more Cubbies games than Twins because of WGN.

Pretty much how I ended up a Cub fan in the heart of Texas. I was too far from the local Houston and Dallas markets that carried the Astro/Ranger games, so as a kid who loved baseball, I watched the Cubs. Good marketing on WGN's part.

Also pretty much how I wound up growing up a Cubs fan while living in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Also, I think it's why they outdraw quite a few of the other teams in their own stadiums.

 

[Scout101]

^They also showed a population map of where the tickets are bought from, and they just essentially moved closer to the people that actually buy the tickets.

 

[Timby]

Maybe the Rays could move to Turner Field. Can Atlanta support two teams? TF's still better than the damn Trop.

Atlanta's a football city, and they can barely sustain the Braves (and even Georgia Tech football is having attendance issues). The answer to whether or not Atlanta can support two teams is somewhere between "no" and "hahahaha, fuck no."

Edit: Mayor Reed confirmed today that the Braves attempted to extort up to $250 million in City-financed renovations in exchange for staying at Turner Field, the City said no, and now Turner Field will be demolished following their departure.

 

[Skywalker]

^They also showed a population map of where the tickets are bought from, and they just essentially moved closer to the people that actually buy the tickets.

Is this what you're talking about? I found it on another website. After seeing this, the move makes a lot of sense to me. Still think it's bullshit that they're trying to get the public to foot most of the bill, though.

 

[Scout101]

Yep

 

[Pondwater]

I'm not sure why they would replace it except.... everyone else has a new field, so why not them too?

Turner Field IS the new field. Hell, Camden Yards is older, that oughta tell you something.

And I don't see how TF's location is that bad. Sure, it's a couple of miles from the nearest MARTA stop, but at least there is one nearby. If I interpret this correctly, there's not a scrap of public transit anywhere near this new location.

They'll have to come up with another kind of Braves Shuttle like they have from the Five Points station. They've been fighting MARTA expansion since before we moved here.

Maybe the Rays could move to Turner Field. Can Atlanta support two teams? TF's still better than the damn Trop.

Atlanta's a football city, and they can barely sustain the Braves (and even Georgia Tech football is having attendance issues). The answer to whether or not Atlanta can support two teams is somewhere between "no" and "hahahaha, fuck no."

QFT!

^They also showed a population map of where the tickets are bought from, and they just essentially moved closer to the people that actually buy the tickets.

I've got to wonder if they just counted the sales from their box office or did they count sales over third party sites like Stub Hub.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ IIRC, most teams don't count StubHub when figuring total ticket sales.

 

[Timby]

^ IIRC, most teams don't count StubHub when figuring total ticket sales.

Yes and no. Almost every MLB team has a partnership agreement with StubHub, under which they get a commission on ticket sales, and several teams actually sell their tickets directly to StubHub or put them up for sale themselves on the marketplace, essentially scalping their own tickets (unless they're brazen enough to outright scalp their own tickets publicly, like the Cubs do with Wrigley Field Premium Ticket Services).