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Post by AztecBill on Jun 26, 2019 17:43:58 GMT -8
There is a lot of talk from both sides that the Tampa Bay Rays may share home games with Montreal. I think it's a great solution. I would think playing 40 games at home instead of 80 would increase attendance to those 40 games significantly. Those doing the schedule can make efforts to reduce travel for both the Rays and their opponents by taking advantage of the two locations. The one issue is the players having two homes. If a player has a family they would be separated three-quarters of the Season instead of half the season.
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Post by aardvark on Jun 26, 2019 19:07:18 GMT -8
There is a lot of talk from both sides that the Tampa Bay Rays may share home games with Montreal. I think it's a great solution. I would think playing 40 games at home instead of 80 would increase attendance to those 40 games significantly. Those doing the schedule can make efforts to reduce travel for both the Rays and their opponents by taking advantage of the two locations. The one issue is the players having two homes. If a player has a family they would be separated three-quarters of the Season instead of half the season. Tampa Bay has an iron-clad lease through I believe 2027--a major reason why they weren't contracted during Bud Selig's reign as commissioner. Tampa Bay has wanted a new stadium for years, but aren't willing to put up much money for the project, and now, they expect the various government entities in the Tampa/St Pete region to build them a new park that only gets used for half a season. The local agencies aren't thrilled with that idea, to say the least. I don't know what will happen with that franchise, but personally, I don't expect it to be in Tampa after 2027, if even that long.
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Post by cvtower on Jun 28, 2019 12:05:24 GMT -8
As a longtime Expos fan until their relocation after the 2004 season, I'm semi-optimistic about this idea. Many Montrealers (from reading other message boards) and Expos fans feel this is a good plan for the eventual return of a team to Montreal. Also, just for the record, even before this split city idea came about, for a few years now there has already been a movement going on for bringing MLB back to Montreal. This movement helped to have the Toronto Blue Jays play 2 exhibition games in Montreal (since 2014) and the attendance for these games have been excellent. I had the pleasure of attending one of these games in 2016 (Blue Jays vs the Red Sox) and the environment at Olympic Stadium was incredible.
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