Name a new commissioner. For a former used car salesman installed during a coup that led to the worst work stoppage in the sport's history, Bud Selig hasn't been that bad, particularly when compared to his predecessors or heads of other major sports. Innovations such as interleague play and the wild card may offend purists, but their introduction has coincided with incredible revenue growth via increased attendance and rights fees, and the game now enjoys a hard-won labor peace as well as the strongest drug policy in major professional sports.
Adopt the designated hitter in both leagues. The rule has been around for 40 seasons, and the players' union isn't about to let it be rolled back at the cost of high-paying jobs. With season-long interleague play, NL teams will be at a competitive disadvantage if they don't cultivate their own DH options.
Besides, nobody needs to see pitchers risk injury or parade their ineptitude by flailing at a. Expand instant replay. As with the late introduction of the technology to handle boundary calls, it should be possible — and preferable — to get a new system in place in time for the postseason, instead of waiting for Cull the umps. Bucknor and Bob Davidson among them — have done their best to make the game about their authority instead of the actions of players.
As tempting as it may be to replace them with robots , at the very least, MLB needs to institute a process via which all umpires are held more accountable for their actions — including enforcement of a uniform strike zone — and disciplined with transparency, with the worst of the lot vulnerable to losing their jobs, and only the best receiving the prestigious postseason assignments.
Keep the World Baseball Classic spirit going by sending regular season baseball overseas. The international tournament has its inherent limitations — particularly due to the need not to overtax pitchers — but the game's growth outside of North America was on full display this month, as teams from Brazil, China, Italy and the Netherlands made their presences felt, and the Dominican Republic took home the WBC title. With four years until the next Classic, MLB should maintain the momentum by scheduling series abroad in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, Asia, even South America, perhaps as many as one a month.
Implement it in time for next season, so each team gets at least one trip overseas before the next tournament, and so that once or twice a year, we in the United States can wake up to baseball being played in far-off lands.
The revenue would more than offset the loss of a few home dates for the participants. Banish Jeffrey Loria. With Frank McCourt out of the picture, the Marlins' owner is the game's worst by a country mile, and not just for his repeated roster teardowns and crimes against good taste.
Force him to sell the team and reimburse taxpayers for every last cent via the proceeds and his private fortune, then send him to Antarctica to live out his days discussing 20th century art with indifferent penguins. Expand to Montreal, and Puerto Rico as well.
It's tempting to uproot the Marlins, but the ballpark is built, and Florida fans deserve the sunshine of a better ownership group. Instead, baseball should add two more teams, with one stationed in Montreal, where the Expos played from through and produced Hall of Famers Gary Carter and Andre Dawson as well as Tim Raines more on him momentarily , Vladimir Guerrero and Youppi. Though making its residents subject to the amateur draft has taken its toll , baseball has a rich tradition on the island, and fans have demonstrated incredible enthusiasm while flocking to aging Hiram Bithorn Stadium to support the World Baseball Classic or the occasional regular-season detour.
Though small by MLB standards, the market could become a tourism magnet for baseball-crazed fans from other Caribbean countries as well as the U.
Sell the Mets. Even after being cleared of further liability in the Madoff scandal, the Mets are drowning in red ink , as nearly a billion dollars worth of loans to the team and its television network comes due in the next two years. The need to service their debt has left the team padding its roster with Quad-A filler and undead retreads such as Marlon Byrd.
Meanwhile, the public relations gaffes continue; how tone-deaf do owners implicated in a Ponzi scheme have to be to allow Amway to open a storefront at Citi Field?
MLB and Mets fans need to be rid of the Wilpons, putting the franchise in the hands of an owner who can afford to rebuild in a manner befitting the majors' largest market. Build new ballparks for the A's and Rays. Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium and Kauffman Stadium have received substantial facelifts, and plans are in the works to renovate Wrigley Field well. Oakland's rent-a-name Coliseum is a dilapidated mess ill-suited for baseball, a big reason why the team has ranked in the AL's bottom three in attendance in each of the past seven years.
The expansion Rays, mired in the gloomy Tropicana Dome est. Smart management has brought some success on shoestring budgets to both teams, who deserve better ballparks via which they can slug it out with the financial heavyweights. Mid-American Journal of Business, 21 2 , Domazlicky, B.
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Promoting leisure services: Economic and emotional aspects of consumer response. The Journal of Services Marketing, 12 , The Rockies sit at the big kids table when it comes to drawing fans, and it makes perfect sense that, after a year in that saw massive improvements and a Wild Card Game appearance, that the team should have excellent attendance. But how do you explain the attendance numbers being what they have been over the last 10 years?
And what can teams with poor attendance numbers do to replicate what the Rockies have been able to do in drawing fans, even when the team is struggling? What will the Colorado Rockies possibly look like? Next 1 of 4 Prev post. Next: An idea that is working in Colorado. Akron Gets Cancelled. Rox Pile 3 years Colorado Rockies offense looking for more consistency when it matters. More MLB News ». View all MLB Sites.
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