As the latest MLB ad campaign claims, baseball really is something else. You have players diddling kids, the media melting down over the Yankees and owners threatening to move their teams if someone so much as looks at them sideways. Seriously, when was the last time anyone focused on things taking place on the field? Now, the Chicago White Sox want to go to Nashville. Another week, another MLB relocation threat.
Chicago White Sox make Nashville plans?
Guaranteed Rate Field is lousy. It was built during a terrible time for stadiums and renovations haven’t been able to improve it all that much. The most memorable thing about it is probably the father and son meth addicts who attacked Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa more than 20 years ago now. The following day’s Jim Rome Show covering the event was epic.
Anyway, no one would begrudge the Chicago White Sox for wanting a new home. And with the ballclub’s lease expiring in a few years, now is the time for those discussions to start. So, how do team officials approach a delicate subject? Maybe with a statement about how they are looking forward to speaking with city and state officials about new opportunities. Or perhaps some generic words about being excited about the future in Chicago.
Nope. None of that. Instead, someone from the White Sox leaked to the press that the team is considering moving to Nashville. A relocation threat? Really? We aren’t even going to try and play other cards at this point?
This is nothing more than bullying. Baseball teams love to brag about how involved they are with the local community but none of them seem even remotely interested in being actual partners with the cities they call home. Making a few PR gestures is hollow. Do the hard work.
What irks me about the Chicago White Sox leaking their willingness to relocate is just how pathetic it is. They are the drunk college girl at a bar yelling at their boyfriend to not look at any other women or else the relationship is over. It’s unnecessary, unhelpful and nothing more than a stupid cry for attention. Also, if you are a man in that situation, end it now because you’re about to get dragged through the mud.
In some ways, I kind of wish White Sox fans and city officials would tell team leadership to go pound sand. If someone’s first move is to threaten to leave, they aren’t worth keeping around in the first place. That would suck, though, because it means a fanbase that has supported its team for more than a century would be forced to watch their beloved franchise leave.
Owner Jerry Reinsdorf and team leaders obviously know that. It’s why they are taking the lowest of low roads when it comes to building a new stadium. This is a path they know all too well since this playbook is how the White Sox got the new Comiskey Park built. But what would life have been like if the Chicago White Sox had become the Florida White Sox more than 30 years ago?
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Relocation does not equal better
In the late 1980s, both the White Sox and San Francisco Giants were moments away from moving to Tampa. And they should thank their lucky stars every single day they didn’t go through with what would have been an extremely short-sighted, disastrous move.
That “new” stadium in St. Petersburg they were promised sucked. Tropicana Field has been an issue for more than 20 years. What’s more, Florida, as a state, is at best indifferent towards Major League Baseball. Moving would have been much worse than staying.
No one making an MLB relocation threat at the moment understands the grass isn’t always greener. A publicly financed stadium and new market buzz sounds great, but it does not guarantee success. For all this talk about what a great market Nashville is, the city almost lost the Predators in 2007. And they weren’t this much-loved franchise until the past decade or so.
Ownership groups still have to put in work to make relocation successful or a new stadium popular. Just ask the Miami Marlins about that all-too-familiar reality. And why does anyone assume these wildly dysfunctional franchises in the Oakland A’s and Chicago White Sox will transform overnight just because where they play changes?
Also Interesting: The Milwaukee Brewers relocation threat is a baseball shakedown
Another week, another MLB relocation threat
The tactics of MLB owners aren’t sustainable. There are 6-8 franchises that have publicly mooted relocation as an option this year. That is absurd. There aren’t eight new cities capable of hosting a team. Even if they want to play this preposterous game of musical chairs, people end up without places to sit.
Let’s say all of these franchises get a new stadium, the precedent set is so destructive that no one will want to invest in the sport. Not fans. Not cities. No one. What’s the point? In 20 years, everyone just ends up back where they started. It’s nothing more than a waste of time.
Another week, another MLB relocation threat. Meanwhile, Wander Franco is grooming minors. Rob Manfred’s tenure continues to reach new heights. Baseball really is something else. That something else just isn’t very good.
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