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Despite speculation, Orioles not on the market to be moved or sold


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Just would like to clarify since I saw it mentioned a few times. Me posting the original piece has nothing to do with me lending any credibility to the piece, but everything to do with having a conversation over the potential of moving the team. 

 

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On 8/18/2019 at 12:04 AM, GuidoSarducci said:

I went to the As/Astros game in Oakland today,.   it was a great day (1 PM) game, a bit warm but not really hot, at least by my east coast standards.   The As are one game out from the wildcard, and trailed the Astros for the division lead by 7.5 games prior to today,  which with with a month and change left to play is by no means insurmountable lead.  

The reported attendance was 21,000 and change.   

Meanwhile, across town you have San Francisco Giants, who are totally out of the playoff race, and are drawing nearly 31,000 against the Nationals on a Wednesday night last week. 

Those numbers represent the number of tickets sold -- not the number of fans who attended the game. The biggest difference between the two is season ticket holders, who bought their tickets months ago (often renewing, without too much thought, purchases first made years ago) but don't show up, or sell or give away their tickets, for every game.

Oakland historically has had attendance problems (though they claim to have increased season ticket sales substantially this season), which they blame largely on the location, design and condition of their crappy ballpark. San Francisco -- which by the way, has been playing very well and has an outside shot at a wildcard spot -- has a large and well-heeled fan base, reflecting in part the enormous wealth that internet/tech companies have generated, and the attractiveness of the ballpark. I would guess that they sell a lot of season tickets, probably ranking in the top 6 or 8 teams for season ticket sales.

You can argue whether the A's and Giants are "across town" from one another -- I'd say they're not; they're in neighboring cities separated by a bay and a traffic nightmare -- but in any event these teams are in two very different situations, with very different fanbases and revenue streams.

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I was wrong about the Giants being totally out of the playoff race, they were actually 2.5 GB the wildcard at least on Saturday.

I guess my point was, if the As (and Rays) are having this attendance problem, despite being in a playoff push, I wouldn't really too much about the Orioles moving, as another poster alluded.   The As and Rays have the obvious issue of "the stadium" that the Orioles do not.   Camden Yards is just on another level compared to the Coliseum. Admittedly I haven't been to Camden in a long time, having relocated out of NoVa over 10 years ago.    I will give the As organization credit for at least keeping it relatively clean and safe (I had to drop a #2 and feared the worse but the janitor was just walking out of the stalls when I walked in, and ushers/security people are everywhere) 

 

 

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20 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Why?  Do you think a new owner has a better GM than Elias?

So far the Angelos brothers have been note-perfect when it comes to doing the right things, hiring Elias chief among them.  That being said, I will be a lot more comfortable about the future once the Orioles and MLB find a way to put their differences behind them.

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48 minutes ago, dmvsports410 said:

Do you guys think we should have a petition to have Angelos sell the team? An online one. Maybe we can protest and get the attention of potential Orioles buyers like Mitchell Rales, Kevin Plan, Chip Mason, Bill Miller or Maher, Jim Davis. Also, who do you think could be a potential new owner for the Orioles down the line? I know this won't do much, but as fans we shouldn't go down without a fight. Angelos this is all your fault. 

Not so much. The Orioles Hangout doesn't fool with petitions, walkouts, and such. If you are asking for discussion of Angelos and his sons and their stewardship, the search function will bring up thousands of references. If you are looking for threads talking about potential sales, there are a myriad as well.

Welcome to the board. 

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4 minutes ago, dmvsports410 said:

Elias hasn't proven anything yet in Baltimore. It's still early. 

Profoundly disagree. He has revised the entire structure of the organization. We already have differed discussing his results on the field for several seasons. 

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