Post by mikecubs on Apr 9, 2018 11:45:58 GMT -6
^ I don't know if the attendance drop would be as big as you think with the Jays. They won't sell out as many games for sure and I think that's their issue. Toronto apparently has the drunkest fans in baseball so they make a ton of money there lol. I used to goto games and almost the entire upper bowl would be empty, it can't get worse than that.
It would be HUGE. Canadians don't like tanking and the Astros/Cubs are a "minor league teams" that just happened to win it all and have the some of the best futures in baseball. Canadians are "big league" and don't go for that.
Hey Hey Hey, the Cubs have the drunkest fans in baseball!!!!! Wrigley by far has the worst reputation for that. The Cubs for 100 years before the Rickets ownership were literally selling the park/come sit in the bleachers get drunk. That's why they went 108 years without winning.
Before the Jays had their 2 season playoff run and having the afterglow last year of that to milk they averaged only 25,455 from 98 to the 14 season. That's a little above the bear minimum attendance needed and in that time they NEVER tanked. If they could get away with tanking Donaldson/others would have been dealt. Season tickets for this year dropped from 20,000 to 13,000 and that is without tanking. Management made the wrong decision and admitted it because Toronto fans couldn't take an Astros/Cubs/Braves/White Sox/Padres style tank job. They knew attendance would drop to the teens and wanted to avoid it.
The Rogers Centre is huge/insane with 49,282 and very rarely do teams sell out in baseball even when try do win. There are only a handful of sellouts in baseball history. I'm not saying attendance should be the same if you tank(it fell off for every tanking team) but I'm saying you have to get a bear minimum amount of high teens/20,000 and have the fans come back when the tank job is over.
What I'm saying is if they tanked attendance would drop into the mid to low teens and when the team was ready to win fans would not come back in either Montreal or Toronto even with real parks. Even a world series team like the Cubs/Astros would be considered "tainted" if it was assembled in that manner. Kind of like how most consider the home run record tainted by steroids(Bonds/McGwire/Sosa).
The Jays/Expos are/would be forced into a viscous cycle of signing old washed up players, fans complain because the team isn't winning and demand more free agent old players you have a viscous cycle like this continue where you have to keep spending more on old guys, don't win except rarely, get less fans but you can leave this cycle because getting young players isn't allowed and attendance would totally drop off if you do tank. It's NOT sustainable long term.
White Canadians have VERY VERY old school values(look at how many Canadians think it's morally wrong to have southern hockey teams even the good ones like LA,SJ Dallas). I don't see long term Canadians embracing a game where the goal of it is who can take a dive the best. Canadians HATE tanking and I just don't see them ever accepting it.
I absolutely HATE to say this since baseball is my favorite sport and I want it to be as global as possible but I don't think baseball has a long term future in Canada UNLESS Canadians learn to adopt/understand the modern game/change moral standards. Currently Canadian thinking(outside a handful of elite diehards) will NOT work. There may be a horrible/major labor war in 2021 because teams have realized signing 30 year olds is almost always a failure with roid testing and younger players is the key yet most Canadians are 100% unaware of this want 30+ year olds. LOL It's NOT 1998 anymore!!! You can't buy a winning team anymore. This is similar to a sun belt fan from Phoenix going to a hockey game with 0 understanding of hockey and yelling "slap shoooooot the puck". Just totally 100% off from reality of modern day post roid baseball.
The whole "don't trade my Josh" thing was a total black eye/major set back for Canadian baseball. There were tons of articles down here is the states just blasting/making fun of Canadian fans lack of modern baseball understanding and how they couldn't let go/get value of a good older player who won't be around for another winning team realistically. You have to wonder this too. Vlad Guerrero/Bichette are 20ish and will be up soon(another year or 2 ish ) since they are so good. When they hit free agency they won't be considered too old like most are. They will be considered a rare free agent worth signing like Bryce Harper/Manny Machado will be this off season. What happens if Toronto is outbid or they get an equal offer from a US team that did tank and now have a ton of talent unlike the Jays will have. If losing Josh Donaldson at age 32 was too much what happens if a 26-27 year old Guerrero/Bichette leave? Would that be the death blow?