Bowden: expansion is inevitable..and so is realignment?

[Jagwar]

I've always thought that the monster payrolls/revenues of the Yankees and Mets show that the greater New York area could easily support another team. Maybe even a second one if you place it closer to Boston (another monster revenue stream).

I know the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox would aggressively fight it to the end, but bring baseball back to Brooklyn. Put another team in Hartford/Springfield.  

[eddie83]

13 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Would you guys care if they got rid of “American” and “National” league?

Yes. It’s unnecessary. I’m all for changing with the times but tradition has its place. It may require a team or two changing leagues.  I don’t like the whole regional realignment. 
 

 

[eddie83]

33 minutes ago, Jagwar said:

I've always thought that the monster payrolls/revenues of the Yankees and Mets show that the greater New York area could easily support another team. Maybe even a second one if you place it closer to Boston (another monster revenue stream).

I know the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox would aggressively fight it to the end, but bring baseball back to Brooklyn. Put another team in Hartford/Springfield.  

So existing Mets, Sox and Yankees fans would stop cheering for their teams? 

[eddie83]

16 hours ago, ChuckS said:

LOL.  Good luck requiring MLB players to take up residence in Mexico. 

Yeah.  I never bought that. 

[Sports Guy]

I think the idea of less travel makes a lot of sense. 

I don’t really care about league names and I don’t know that the “rivalries” really matter all that much, since rivalries will build organically with a new division anyway.

I think expansion is inevitable and I think doing some realignment makes some sense. Personally, I would prefer 2 leagues, no divisions and just have the top 6-8 teams in each conference/league make the playoffs.

Reduce the schedule to 150 games too. Play every team in the other league for one 3 game series and play the teams in your league 6-7 times each.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Sports Guy

[eddie83]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

I think the idea of less travel makes a lot of sense. 

I don’t really care about league names and I don’t know that the “rivalries” really matter all that much, since rivalries will build organically with a new division anyway.

I think expansion is inevitable and I think doing some realignment makes some sense. Personally, I would prefer 2 leagues, no divisions and just have the top 6-8 teams in each conference/league make the playoffs.

Reduce the schedule to 150 games too. Play every team in the other league for one 3 game series and play the teams in your league 6-7 times each.

The Orioles play on the road 26 series this year. NBA/NHL teams play 41 games a year on the road. In a sport with fewer games due to physical limitations it makes sense have a schedule like that. That said these teams from the West/East coast are still playing the opposite coast teams on the road and home. The Celtics go to GS, LAL etc once a year.  
 

Divisions are important in my opinion. It helps to create rivalries and makes games more significant when you play teams you are directly competing against. I think what they did this year to the schedule creates a solid compromise.  

 

[Jagwar]

1 hour ago, eddie83 said:

So existing Mets, Sox and Yankees fans would stop cheering for their teams? 

I believe it's possible that fans would emerge and support the team.  There are plenty of advertising dollars and eyeballs and ticket revenue potential in the 5 boroughs, not to mention Long Island. 

The snag wouldn't be fans IMO. The snag would be the Yankees and Mets crying over lost revenue and market share.  

[HakunaSakata]

18 hours ago, wildcard said:

The problem I have with this is Bowden is the source.

18 hours ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

Same. If I hear another MLB analyst or writer talk this up then I’ll take it more seriously. Bowden’s track record with MLB rumors is about as good as Jason LaCanfora is with NFL rumors. 

Hate to say it, but that was my first thought too. Jim Bowden's about as "plugged in" as a cordless weed whacker. 

[BRobinsonfan]

2 hours ago, eddie83 said:

Yes. It’s unnecessary. I’m all for changing with the times but tradition has its place. It may require a team or two changing leagues.  I don’t like the whole regional realignment. 
 

 

Exactly.  There should be an American League and a National League, just like God intended when he whispered it in Abner Doubleday's ear way back in the day.   

[emmett16]

21 hours ago, ChuckS said:

LOL.  Good luck requiring MLB players to take up residence in Mexico. 

Mexico City is amazing.  Spend a weekend there, get diner at Pujol and let me know I’d you think pro-athletes would like that city. 

[SemperFi]

21 hours ago, ChuckS said:

LOL.  Good luck requiring MLB players to take up residence in Mexico. 

I think this will be a huge point of contention in the next labor agreement.  Owners flat out want Mexico's TV market, players will be in favor of expansion but not so excited about Mexico mainly due to travel.  But, it is the least tapped TV market and that is the biggest revenue producer.

[ChuckS]

1 hour ago, emmett16 said:

Mexico City is amazing.  Spend a weekend there, get diner at Pujol and let me know I’d you think pro-athletes would like that city. 

Visting somewhere for tourism and living there are quite different things.  I would love to visit Mexico City, but that's besides the point.  Not everyone is similarly open-minded when it comes to traveling and living abroad.  

Puerto Rico might be an easier sell. 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ChuckS

[btdart20]

7 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

Visting somewhere for tourism and living there are quite different things.  I would love to visit Mexico City, but that's besides the point.  Not everyone is similarly open-minded when it comes to traveling and living abroad.  

Puerto Rico might be an easier sell. 

Mexico City metro rivals NYC in its size.  Depending on how you define the city/urban/metro area, it can be bigger.  20 million plus.

San Juan, the biggest city in Puerto Rico, is less than 400k.  Smaller than Baltimore.  I couldn't find the metro population for San Juan, but it's not much bigger.

Crime is pretty similar if I can believe everything I read on the internet...  Crime Comparison Between San Juan, Puerto Rico And Mexico City, Mexico. Safety Comparison. (numbeo.com)

[AlbNYfan]

They will never realign with Yanks, Mets, Phillies and Sox in the same division. They want as many of those teams (and others) in the playoffs and ultimately the WS as possible. MLB has nightmares about teams like the O's, Pirates, Reds, KC facing each other in the WS......TV rankings would be terrible. I'm not too crazy about a division with the O's and Senators (opps Nationals) either. It's hard to create true rivalries. Dodgers/Giants are only rivals their Bronx, Manhattan connection. I like geographical alignment to a point, but look at the records of teams in the AL Central for the past few years...unbalanced schedule, close to half their games within the division and still end up close to 100 games below .500, yet someone makes the playoffs. 4-8 team divisions?? Top two teams in each make the playoffs..I don't know.

[emmett16]

2 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Visting somewhere for tourism and living there are quite different things.  I would love to visit Mexico City, but that's besides the point.  Not everyone is similarly open-minded when it comes to traveling and living abroad.  

Puerto Rico might be an easier sell. 

PR would be pretty far flying.  Mexico city isn't close, but it's somewhat central.  Demographics of league and the viewership they are going for would benefit from both PR & Mexico City IMO.