Should the Orioles move to the suburbs?

[DrungoHazewood]

The Braves just abandoned a 20 year old stadium to move to their affluent suburbs.

Camden Yards is a fantastic stadium but lets face it most of the fans live in the suburbs. The city has a lot of crime and I am sure that hurts attendance. The city does have public transportation and parking going for it.

If you did move the team where would you move it to?

I think the Braves' move was absurd, a ridiculous money grab from a team that was gifted a stadium worth hundreds of $millions 20 years ago. The Orioles abandoning one of the great stadiums in North American sports to move to a suburb would be a spectacular waste of tax dollars, make it much more difficult and unappealing to go to a game for much of the fanbase, and would be massive negative marketing for the city of Baltimore and MLB.

If someone wants to build a great big retractable roof UFO and move the team to Towson or Columbia or White Marsh I'd probably just support the Atlantic League team that moves into OPACY.

Put a gun to my head and tell me I have to move the Orioles and my location would be Austin or Portland. Or maybe back to St. Louis. Or Montreal like the Stallions. Or Indianapolis for the awful poetic injustice.

[Spy Fox]

Whenever I hear someone suggest leaving Camden Yards:

[atomic]

I think the Braves' move was absurd, a ridiculous money grab from a team that was gifted a stadium worth hundreds of $millions 20 years ago. The Orioles abandoning one of the great stadiums in North American sports to move to a suburb would be a spectacular waste of tax dollars, make it much more difficult and unappealing to go to a game for much of the fanbase, and would be massive negative marketing for the city of Baltimore and MLB.

If someone wants to build a great big retractable roof UFO and move the team to Towson or Columbia or White Marsh I'd probably just support the Atlantic League team that moves into OPACY.

Put a gun to my head and tell me I have to move the Orioles and my location would be Austin or Portland. Or maybe back to St. Louis. Or Montreal like the Stallions. Or Indianapolis for the awful poetic injustice.

I think if you were to move the team you could move it to Owings Mills. Tear down the mall put up a new stadium. Public transportation and right off the expressway.

[DrungoHazewood]

I think if you were to move the team you could move it to Owings Mills. Tear down the mall put up a new stadium. Public transportation and right off the expressway.

Public transportation of what kind? From where? I think a move there basically cedes much of what is now O's territory south of the city to the Nats. And I know I'm not the prime target, but that adds 30 or 45 minutes each way to my trip, so I basically won't go any more.

And who's going to pay for this? Maryland? The gov't that already has given the team arguably the best park in the country? How are you going to sell that? And if not the state, then who? Baltimore County? Do they have a spare $billion lying around?

[ExileAngelos]

What an incredibly horrible idea. I make the commute to Camden Yards from northern VA and moving to the suburbs would not make it any easier with traffic. I simply leave around 2pm and hang out at Pratt Street Pub before the game.

Also a Redskins fan and already have an awful stadium in the suburbs!! No thanks!! I treasure Camden Yards. You want to decrease attendance then go through with your idea.

[El Gordo]

What? Move Mecca to the 'burbs?

[atomic]

What an incredibly horrible idea. I make the commute to Camden Yards from northern VA and moving to the suburbs would not make it any easier with traffic. I simply leave around 2pm and hang out at Pratt Street Pub before the game.

Also a Redskins fan and already have an awful stadium in the suburbs!! No thanks!! I treasure Camden Yards. You want to decrease attendance then go through with your idea.

Having been to both Redskins Stadium and Nationals stadium I would say Redskins stadium is in a much better spot. Of course we got Redskins stadium 3 hours before game began and left early in the 4th quarter.

[DrungoHazewood]

What an incredibly horrible idea. I make the commute to Camden Yards from northern VA and moving to the suburbs would not make it any easier with traffic. I simply leave around 2pm and hang out at Pratt Street Pub before the game.

Also a Redskins fan and already have an awful stadium in the suburbs!! No thanks!! I treasure Camden Yards. You want to decrease attendance then go through with your idea.

The simplest counter to this idea is just to say "FedEx Field". In engineer-speak it's (OPACY)^-1

[DrungoHazewood]

Having been to both Redskins Stadium and Nationals stadium I would say Redskins stadium is in a much better spot. Of course we got Redskins stadium 3 hours before game began and left early in the 4th quarter.

FedEx? That's possibly the worst venue I've ever been to for accessibility. I once left a Virginia Tech game there around midnight and got to the beltway about a mile away at 2:45 am.

[clapdiddy]

FedEx? That's possibly the worst venue I've ever been to for accessibility. I once left a Virginia Tech game there around midnight and got to the beltway about a mile away at 2:45 am.

I was there for a Redskins PRE-SEASON game, and it took FOREVER to get out of that place. The stadium itself isn't bad, but the commuter access is downright awful.

[Pedro Cerrano]

This is a better topic for about 20 years from now -- and even then I'd rather just renovate OPACY.

I want the stadium to be around in 100 years. I want it the be this generation's icon.

[atomic]

FedEx? That's possibly the worst venue I've ever been to for accessibility. I once left a Virginia Tech game there around midnight and got to the beltway about a mile away at 2:45 am.

Left a concert at Nationals Stadium and it took me two hours to get into the subway. It looked very dangerous with more and more people coming and no one moving at the bottom. We gave up and ended up eating snacks at a hotel as it was impossible to get into any of bars down there.

[Going Underground]

See almost moved to Port Covington . I can see it in 20 or 40 years.

The proposal for the Port Covington location called for a multi-purpose stadium — remember, Baltimore wouldn’t get the Ravens until 1996 — surrounded by a sea of parking spaces, rather than actual water.

In fact, the parking was one of the big draws of the location.

The master plan actually calls for a waterfront stadium — albeit a significantly smaller one, likely to be used for private events on the Under Armour campus.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/real-estate/bal-port-covington-waterfront-stadium-for-orioles-20160406-story.html

[DrungoHazewood]

Left a concert at Nationals Stadium and it took me two hours to get into the subway. It looked very dangerous with more and more people coming and no one moving at the bottom. We gave up and ended up eating snacks at a hotel as it was impossible to get into any of bars down there.

I never rode the metro to Nats Stadium but it took maybe 20 minutes to get out of the parking garage and onto 295.

You don't have to worry about metro congestion at FedEx because there is no metro. You drive and park in a Dan Snyder approved lot for all the money or you don't go. They may have stopped forbidding parking off-site several miles away, not sure, it used to be strictly verboten for "your safety".

[MdSooner]

This is just me. I love Camden Yards. I have never felt unsafe there. Never had a problem with parking either.

We have season tickets and watch all the O's on TV.

But has anyone else noticed that on TV broadcasts at home you always hear cop sirens during the broadcasts?

That can't be good for a family that thinks going to one or two games is good.

And Oklahoma City built their triple a stadium just like Camden Yards. OKC took the blueprints to Camden and just decreased the capacity size.

Its amazing as well and right in the middle of downtown Okla. City.