Marlins Likely to Play In Puerto Rico... Sigh.
by GameFish on Jan 8, 2010 6:53 PM EST
in News and Rumors
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PrintDespite my repeated protests, it appears the Marlins are actually going to play a home series in Puerto Rico.
The Marlins' plans to host the Mets in a three-game series in San Juan, Puerto Rico, this season are close to being finalized, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
With the Marlins set to open a new stadium in 2012, they'll use the preceding two seasons to strengthen the South Florida market as a "Gateway to the Americas." The club is also looking to host an additional series in Puerto Rico in 2011.
"Our view of it is that with our ballpark coming online, there's no question in my mind we're the team of the Americas," team president David Samson said, according to the newspaper.
I was under the impression that the team was going to be referred to as the Miami Marlins in 2012, not the "Marlins of the Americas." Exactly how many dollars is Puerto Rico contributing to fund the Marlins' new ballpark?
Mr. Samson can wax eloquent about being a gateway to the Americas and spreading the game internationally, but the truth is that the Mets are much more of a draw in Puerto Rico than the Marlins, however jacking a series from Fish fans will cause much less of an uproar than if Mets fans were denied one of their home series this summer.
As a fan who attends games most often on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, when the Puerto Rico series would take place, this decision (clearly) doesn't sit well with me. Taking away one of our home series, especially such a popular one, is shortchanging Marlins fans and season ticket holders. And please hold the standard response, "what fans and ticketholders?" Even if local fans aren't exactly coming out to the stadium in droves, I'll bet a limb that we outnumber those who now or ever will fly in from Puerto Rico.
It's not the Marlins job to spread the game internationally or to bring baseball to the Americas. It's their job to build a loyal fan base in South Florida. Moving one of the most popular home series of the season a plane ride away isn't going to help make that happen.
[Steps off soapbox.]
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PR and PR
I completely agree that Season Ticketholders are the losers in this deal, they should at least refund / not charge for the PR series.
That being said, the Marlins do have a vested interest in engendering themselves to as many Central / South American baseball fans as possible. Big budget teams have an advantage in amateur recruiting, and good scouting doesn’t help if if the Yank$ and the $ox swoop in to steal a prospect away. By making the Marlins a more of a “local team” than larger more “storied” franchises, they might help themselves out in recruiting players.
Will it work? Eh, who knows.
The Marlins are really just trading one hostile venue for another.
Puerto Rico is actually Met territory. Of course most games against the Mets in Dolphin Stadium are dominated by Mets fans anyway. So the Marlins are really just trading one hostile venue for another. I do imagine that there will be a good attendance by the Mets fans in Puerto Rico just as they have good attendance here in Dolphin Stadium by all the local Mets fans who way outnumber the local Marlins fans.
In the Dominican Republic, there is a lot of enthusiasm for the Marlins as opposed to Puerto Rico. Everywhere you go you in the Dominican Republic you see Marlins gear on sale. No other team seems to be nearly as popular there.
Yeah pretty dumb decision to go to Puerto Rico, but it’s only three games. I have to assume that season ticket holders will be reimbursed.
I think the reason that the Marlins feel they need to...
Is because so many immigrants of Latin descent come into Miami. If they’ve been exposed to the Marlins at home before they come, then they’ll be more likely to support them when they come to America. I don’t really see the harm in one series, though they definitely could have picked a more boring one.
I think the reason that the Marlins feel the need to...
is money. :)
I’m not completely opposed to the idea of playing games elsewhere. What I don’t like is that MLB wants the Mets in Puerto Rico, and we’re giving up home games to make that happen. I wouldn’t feel the same if this were guaranteed to only be an every-other-year series, and the teams were to take turns playing as the home team.
There is a much larger Puerto Rican population in NY than in Miami-Dade, and Puerto Ricans do not make up a very large percentage of the hispanic pop here. I just can’t really see how this would have an impact on future Marlins attendance in Miami. I don’t buy that as the reason to do this. If that was it, then why did the Expos play in PR? This is about money. It’s always about money.
If you read all of Samson’s quotes, the Marlins want to make this a regular occurrence (already working on 2011), which means fewer than 81 games at home for us every single year. And after the city and county ponied up the money for the stadium, rather than be ambassadors for MLB, I’d like to see a focus on building our home base of fans. That’s all.
Yes exactly correct Gamefish-nice post
Puerto Rico was exactly the worst place to start to reach out to Latin America. Cuba, the DR, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, Colombia all would have been much better.
Each Latin country and culture sees itself as very distinct in every way even their language mannerisms are quite distinct.
David Samson needs to get some better advice on how to relate to the Latin populations.
And Puerto Ricans are overwhelmingly Mets fans very much opposed to the other Latin populations here. Take away the Puerto Ricans and the rest of the Latins here in South Florida tend to strongly support the Marlins.
I disagree
While it’s true that there would be advantages to those other locations, the fact that Puerto Rico is a US territory makes a lot of logistical aspects easier than doing them in an actual foreign country. Puerto Ricans, while poor (on a per capita basis) compared to your mainland US residents, are in a better position to pay for tickets than residents of any other Latin American locale (cite). And thanks to the Expos Experiment, Hiram Bithorn Stadium is already well-suited for major league play.
Chaim Mattis Keller New York City's # 1 Royals fan!
i welcome this idea…i dont see what the big deal is if your a season ticket holder you will get your money back or bonus tickets…just think of it as rained out games which there will be anyway.. I’m from Puerto Rico and i am a marlins fan im actually gonna fly down to the island for that series because a real fan would support the team no matter where they go. I am a Florida Panthers season ticket holder and had to lose out on 2home games because of the finland series opener and i was compensated with bonus tickets next to my seats. This isnt even about the marlins this is MLB testing the waters in san juan because they have been flirting with the idea of maybe getting an expansion team down there the past couple of years.
a "real fan" would buy me plane tickets to San Juan too
I mean, since we’re challenging everyone’s fanhood and all…
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