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Minor league baseball in Tallahassee?

psycuda

By psycuda
in Tallahassee Coffee House

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Go Gators Burg

Go Gators

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Ill have to agree with St Joe and 97Preludesh here. As much as Id love to see a professional ball club here myself, I dont think Tallahassee could "swing" it. Florida is the home to multiple minor league teams in some major markets. Even those teams have attendance problems. The Lakeland Tigers, for example, only fraw 200-300 fans per game. They draw from East Hillsborough and all of Polk County. Since Tallahassee is so isolated, and there are so many FSU baseball loyalists to compete with, I think an additional team would struggle.

And lets try and remember that all opinions are welcome here, regardless if we all agree with them or not.

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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Of course all opinions are welcome...

The Tigersharks didn't have an attendance problem... I know several loyalist. I remember them coming to our elementary school when I was in the 3 or 4th grade to sign autographs. Us kids thought they were the real deal! I miss that!

Its cool having FSU, FAMU, and TCC sports, but its hard for everyone to do the college thing when they have no connections to any. Everyone in a community can rally behind their professional sports team, no matter what school they attend or graduated from.

I'll agree with the others in saying it is not the role of our government to sponsor a team, I'm not advocating that at all... I think one of our wealthy local investors should step up and take the risk. Tallahassee has come a long way in the years since the Sharks and the Thunder... it would be nice to try the sports thing again...

... but I'm in no hurry. I've still got my Lakers, and I'm gonna be in Tallahassee for a looooooooong time! :D

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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No real news since DeVoe's plans fell apart back in the late 90s. There was talk of the city purchasing some land that they could possibly turn into a field for a team, but nothing as serious as talks were in the 90s where it seemed as if DeVoe has secured a Minor league team for his proposed ball park off of I-10 exit 31A, Mahan Drive.

The county commission bowed to the pressure of the NIMBies, I remember Commissioner Bruce Host very clearly on this issue, at the time he was still on the board, DeVoe Moore was represented by his attorney George Lewis I believe, and they made a very logical, strong case for the Ballpark plans, but the "Flood Plain" excuse previaled. So, shortly thereafter, this property became home to Water Buffalo, until the recent years when work began on what is to be the new Antique Car Museum. I hope it looks good... I'm afriad of his taste.

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psycuda Hamlet

psycuda

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Just curious... who teaches these courses? This wouldn't even seem like a class to me... it would probably feel like liesure.

Chapin, his PHD thesis was looking at the effects of building baseball stadiums on the neighborhoods surrounding them. Good guy, was my advisor in the program.

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EbonyGardens Hamlet

EbonyGardens

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Beloved Governor :rofl: . Not after he tried to kill Tallahassee's economy with the crazy amount of privatization, some of the jobs going to out-of-state companies. But I won't get into all of that!

I think South Florida has a much better chance of getting Jebby and the Blue Suits to give up the money than we do here in Liberal Leon. :silly:

:cry::rofl: Jeb gets no love up here, at least not from me. This is the same dude who went on a privitazing spree. At least he won't get re-elected so thank god for that. We'd take the Marlins, we need a pro sports team. The only issue is building them a ballpark.

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stjoe Hamlet

stjoe

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I think Jeb has done a fine job and I think privatization is a legitimate option for many functions.

As far as killing the local economy...that is nonsense. The lack of decent paying jobs in this area is strictly due to a local govt unfriendly to business and a long history of failure attracting business. Even the recent move of the Canadian company to IP was damn near botched by the Leon County Commission. thank goodness the area has the FSU Mag Lab that attracted the company....that and the fact their market (air conditioning) is in the Southest...not Canada

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Florida Megalopolis

Florida

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I think Jeb has done a fine job and I think privatization is a legitimate option for many functions.

As far as killing the local economy...that is nonsense. The lack of decent paying jobs in this area is strictly due to a local govt unfriendly to business and a long history of failure attracting business. Even the recent move of the Canadian company to IP was damn near botched by the Leon County Commission. thank goodness the area has the FSU Mag Lab that attracted the company....that and the fact their market (air conditioning) is in the Southest...not Canada

Its good to know it was FSU's Mag Lab alone and not the City of Tallahassee incentive package that helped solidify the deal. I suppose the COT messed this one up too? :blink:

Yes the local economy was heavily dependent on state jobs. That was our fault for not acting locally before something like this happened. But, no I don't think the privatization was entirely justified. And neither does the state review panel that can't seem to make up its mind on the issue. Sure, we have saved money in certain areas, but not enough to justify the firing of state employees, Floridians, who live here, raise kids here, pay taxes here. Just my opinion.

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csmurphy8885 Burg

csmurphy8885

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I wish i were more of a fan of baseball, i say we are more of a football town or else more would go out to the fsu baseball games (i mean, they are as bad ass if not moreso in rank than the football boys). I am sure others look at that aswell.

though the brick they have installed on the outfield wall of the fsu basball stadium looks great.

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Monticello-1827 Whistle-Stop

Monticello-1827

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hey, i love spreading the word about tallahassee!

yeah, i know the town is football crazy but i think the chance of a minor league football team coming in are slim... plus, how great would an intimate ballpark downtown (Cascades) be with a gas light district right next door? tallahasseans walking from bars/restraurants to a NIGHT game... that would be something...

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laneyj34 Unincorporated Area

laneyj34

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fsu baseball is awesome, and though it does not attract the crowds football does (it does draw crowds similar to the avg bsktbll game for the big series), we do have one of the highest average attendances in college baseball. i am a huge baseball fan, and a college team averaging 4000 people a game is great (top 10 in the nation). for this reason, i think our town would support a minor league team.

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Relient J Hamlet

Relient J

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I'd like to offer a city comparison to this discussion if I may. I got my bachelor's degree from Berry College, which is located just outside of Rome, GA. According to city-data.com, Rome was estimated to have a population of 35,551 in July 2004. Rome has been home to the Rome Braves minor league baseball team since 2003. Their stadium has a capicity of over 5,000, and if I'm reading it right, had an average attendence of 3,737 in 2004 according to Ballpark Digest. What's really extraordinary about this is that Rome is also home to a World Basketball Association basketball team, and a National Indoor Football league team. This is in addition to a lot of local high school and college sports (though the two main colleges are small schools).

Now, much of this may due to a higher interest in sports, particularly baseball given Rome's proximity to Atlanta (65 miles to the southeast), but it seems to me that if a city with a population of 35,000 or so can support a minor league baseball team, then surely Tallahassee can.

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