>Michel;
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>Professional sports is a business. Unfortunately, we may at some point in life actually become interested in a local team. What a mistake that can be!
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>If you want to see how a professional sports fan can suffer, consider San Francisco.
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>1. AAA Baseball – San Francisco Seals. Abolished the team (1957) and brought in the N.Y. Giants (1958).
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>2. 49’ers. I suffered since I was 4 years old, to see my team win. The original owners would buy 500 tickets at every local game so the game would not be televised. When Eddie DeBartolo Jr. bought the team things improved dramatically! Today the team is a “disaster”.
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>3. Saints Basketball team. They set the then all time attendance record in 1962. The owner moved the team to New Orleans and stated, “attendance did not meet expectations”.
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>4. Enter the Philadelphia Warriors. Wilt Chamberlain left the team and went to the Lakers After a few years the Warriors left San Francisco and moved to Oakland.
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>5. Local Ice Hockey (Sharks) and Soccer (Earthquakes) teams are in San Jose.
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>Our professional sports teams are known for having had some of the greatest talent to have ever played in professional sports and are traded like cattle on the open market. People become upset when a local hero departs for financial reasons.
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>Perhaps no professional sports town is immune from these “business like activities”, which do not take fans and loyalty into consideration. I think it is our mistake to become somehow attached to any professional team. The older I get the less I care about professional sports. As far as I am concerned all the local teams can pack up and move wherever they please. The want my money and I want to be left alone! :)
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>Tom
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>>Some sports reporters have expressed since last year some very bad comments against the Montreal Expos, its stadium, its attendance and so on. Again, today, many of them couldn't believe the bad press expressed by ESPN. Here's another one. Going at ESPN baseball page tonight, you will get "Forget the fact baseball returned to one of its favorite house of horrors" as a comment towarded to the first home game of the Montreal Expos.
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>>Last year, as per the stadium, we got bad press as it was said that our stadium was not a good ballpark. The new wave was to have new stadiums around the league. Well, with new stadiums, most of those teams have less attendance. So, put an X on that one.
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>>Then, there was the attendance issue. Without naming any name, a baseball owner purchased 15,000 tickets for the last season game of the Florida Marlins last year to avoid finishing behind the Expos. This year, everyone is speaking as the Expos finished last last year as far as attendance goes. Did anyone remember that 15,000 tickets purchased for that Marlins game?
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>>The Expos finished second in the NL East last year. A respective over 500 average was related to it. But again, the Expos was one of the worst team of the majors, as per most of the sports reporters. Where's the problem?
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>>Who got the best record in pre season game this year in the NL? Ok, you got the answer.
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>>Who's leading the NL East since the beginning of the year. Ok, you got that one as well.
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>>And, who's having the priviledge of that horrible statment at ESPN tonight? Well, do I have to say more?

It proves what many have said for some time. Professional sport is sick.

But demographics could also explain what's happening.

Old folks don't go to sporting event as much as a younger crowd. Frequently when they go it's because they were dragged there by a child. But still that does'nt explain everything.

There was a time when a professional baseball player played because he loved it (this can be aplied to other professional sports). He liked the sport, he liked the city where he was playing, he liked the fans. Nowadays it looks like these guys lost the touch with reality. I'd probably be the same (but I hope not) if my salary was $20 millions per year.

Those sports were always sick. At a certain time owners were exploiting the players. Now it looks like the players are exploiting the fans.

When will it stop. When enough teams have problems so that the enterprise becomes too risky to get in. It's beginning to look that way with baseball. Like Michel pointed out new stadium is'nt the solution to all problems.

Montreal Expos is the proof that it's starting to be tougher to sell a major league team to a city. Oh yeah like the owners are'nt moving the team because they respect the Montreal fans for all the years they've been supporting the Expos. If the Expos are'nt gone yet it's because the owners have not been able to have all their conditions met. Should'nt this ring a bell for the owners?

Not yet because a lot of those guys are filthy rich and there's a good chance that it does'nt affect the majority of them yet. But from what we see from the inactions leading to more difficulties things could change soon.

Unless this is a part of an overall plan to make that business crumble so they can start all over and establish the NEW RULES to favor them again (the owners) this time.