Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkDaMan
I've noticed when Portland talks about gaining an MLB team, all these preceived 'weak' markets come out to defend themselves.
Look, Portland isn't actively recruiting a team that already has a home. We are just making sure everyone is clear that we have the will, market, and space to get this thing together when the opportunity arrives. Keep buying your tickets, change ownership, build new stadiums, but when a team tires of their market, their market tires of them, or an expansion to league is planned, Portland's waiting.
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It's a natural impulse for us to defend ourselves, considering everyone else's tone seems to revolve around Pittsburgh being "unworthy" of a MLB team, and then citing attendance figures to back up their claims, when really, most people have no idea what Pirates fans have had to put up with for 14 (going on 15) years now. We haven't had a winning season since 1992, and most of it has to do with shitty, tight-assed ownership. Why waste money to watch a lousy baseball team? Because Cubs fans do? Feh. Cubs fans are the only fans I can think of in any sport who still show up at games in spite of the continued futility of the team. They're the exception, not the rule. The Blackhawks are in Chicago, and they suck too, but no one goes to their games. And I don't blame the fans either. Blackhawks ownership hasn't exactly given their fans anything to cheer about in recent years. But that doesn't mean Chicago is "unworthy" of an NHL team. Similarly, those who say that Pittsburgh is "unworthy" of a MLB team while citing attendance figures can't see the forest for the trees. There's a legitimate reason we don't go to the games: Because sports owners who are only interested in making a profit, without any care as to whether or not the team is any good, don't deserve to make a profit. I said nothing of whether or not Portland was "worthy" of a MLB team, just that Portlanders would get sick of the same shit that Pittsburghers have had to put up with since Kevin McClatchy bought the Pirates. My post was less about Portland, and more about Pittsburgh and it's ownership-induced market weakness. Basically, the whole point of my post was that I'm sick and tired of people pretending that Pittsburgh "can't support a MLB team." Just because we choose not to doesn't mean we can't. There's no doubt in my mind that Portland could support a second sport, but why would anyone support a team with incompetent ownership? That's my secondary point. Move the Pirates to Portland, and the only thing that'd change is that the team plays in a different city --- the same ownership would kill fan interest out there too.
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Did I hear that we were going to have Major league Soccor sometime soon? I also am inclined to believe that Las Vegas, with 1.8 million in it's metro, has the highest % urban population without a professional sports team in the country.
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