The Montreal Expos

[AndyP]

So PR and I talked about this awhile ago and I looked into it more today. It seems to me that the biggest thing keeping the Montreal market unattractive is a ridiculously low per capita income of 18,700.

If that is bumped to 24,000 (still among the lowest, or the lowest, of any current market) - Montreal becomes capable of offering a 140M budget for their owner.

Personally, I've always hated the very existence of Tampa and I used to love the Expos. I talked with G and he'd love to bring the Expos back, so let's talk about relocation.

Here are the options I'm interested in hearing opinions on:

1 - No relocation. If you're opposed to it, please post why.

2 - Yes to relocation, but Tampa has to pay full stadium price for the move

3 - Yes to relocation, but we treat it like real life and the new host city basically foots the entire bill

4 - Yes to relocation, but we have Tampa pay half the costs of a new stadium.

Thoughts?

[gmoney]

Just to be clear, I'm abstaining from the vote in the poll for obvious reasons. However, I would love to get the Expos back into this league.

[JMaineD]

Voting no

I would love to see the Expos back as well, I just don't like the idea of raising the per capita income. I feel like if you're going to change this, then the league has to set a minimum so other small market teams can have equal opportunity. I don't have the game in front of me so I don't know the ranges of income.

[cadmus2166]

I voted no to keep MLB realism, unless the option to move is open to other teams as well. I had considered asking about a move to Vegas, but didn't think that was an option. If I'm incorrect in my assumptions, please state so and I'll change my vote.

[gmoney]

I would love to see the Expos back as well, I just don't like the idea of raising the per capita income. I feel like if you're going to change this, then the league has to set a minimum so other small market teams can have equal opportunity. I don't have the game in front of me so I don't know the ranges of income.

Right now, other than St. Petersburg (21784), the lowest Per Capita Income currently for any market is Cincinnati's (23758). This would put Montreal around that low end.

[rockybull]

i vote yes, but they have to pay at least half. i mean when the braves in real life relocated to the suburbs, away from the city of atlanta, the braves paid a lil more than half and cobb county foot the rest of the bill, which was close to half.

i also feel tampa's pain here. he is in a division with the yankees, red sox and blue jays. those 3 teams are like top 5-7 in potential revenue stream in this league. i mean that's just tough to work with right there and i looked at the florida markets and they all suck.

i don't mind there being something to help a team like the rays out here. i do think andy that you'd have to at least have an open mind in the future if another team that has a small(ish) revenue and wants to relocate in the same state but no other place in the state has good revenue potential, but maybe a small bump in per capita to help them out a bit could be necessary. i think if you'd consider that this could work out. just gonna depend how far you wanna take this andy. but i do think the rays should be helped out here, especially considering their division.

[AndyP]

I voted no to keep MLB realism, unless the option to move is open to other teams as well. I had considered asking about a move to Vegas, but didn't think that was an option. If I'm incorrect in my assumptions, please state so and I'll change my vote.

In general I don't like relocation and in this case I only make it available because there used to be a team there.

As for changing per capita incomes, I consider this a sanity check. 18700 is dumb.

At this point, what other teams are low rev? Pitt or San Diego? I guess I see this as a unique case.

[cadmus2166]

I voted no to keep MLB realism, unless the option to move is open to other teams as well. I had considered asking about a move to Vegas, but didn't think that was an option. If I'm incorrect in my assumptions, please state so and I'll change my vote.

In general I don't like relocation and in this case I only make it available because there used to be a team there.

As for changing per capita incomes, I consider this a sanity check. 18700 is dumb.

At this point, what other teams are low rev? Pitt or San Diego? I guess I see this as a unique case.

I get the sentimentality with the Expos. I just think we shouldn't go there if relocation is unavailable to the other GMs. Even if it were made available to relocate and re-create past MLB teams that are now defunct, there would be a bias against the west teams, since all the defunct teams are from the east coast or midwest.

[AndyP]

I guess I wonder why you'd want to move the Rockies? I've only ever been asked about relocating the As and Rays.

[Geaux Blue]

YESSSSSSSSS