Since we’re floating the speculative question about whether or not the Rangers should move to downtown Dallas (yes, great idea, but, alas, it will probably never happen), how about a follow up: Being the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States, is it time to lure a National League team to Big D? Locate them in downtown. Cajole Mark Cuban to be the owner. Steal the Rockies or Diamondbacks. Then we get to see baseball in downtown, and my beloved Mets can come to town more than once every decade. And National League ball is so much better than American League. DHs? Come on. Give me a double switch.
I know, I know, fat chance. But hey, it’s fun to pretend. Who’s in?
22 comments
Better yet, move the Rangers to Dallas and put the “new” team in the Ballpark.
Why not try for something that is feasible, say, a minor league team in downtown in a purty stadium that could hold other events like, the little league world series, college softball/baseball exhibitions, etc.
Peter, you had me right up until “my beloved Mets.”
The Dallas Dodgers..I like the sound of that one…
In a perfect world, a new NL team could be put in Downtown Dallas, the Rangers could move to Fort Worth, and the RoughRiders could move to Denton (old Fouts Field site?) I really think that would need to happen, otherwise the Arlington team would struggle to compete and Colin County residents would never go downtown.
The Reunion Arena site would be the perfect place for a downtown ballpark.
Use City Hall’s site, it’s not being used.
i like the idea of a minor league arena that could be used for other events…and while we’re at it, let’s steal a page from round rock and put in swimming pools! i’d be there in a heart beat. can we take the train there too? or is that too urban?
In, say, 15 years, when the Ballpark is fading into obsolescence, DFW could be a 2-team town, with one team in Dallas and one in FW. That would be an awkward time because the reality is that no serious sports fan can be fans of both, even if they are in different leagues. We would all have to pick. As a longtime Dallasite Rangers fan, if the Rangers moved to FW, would I be a fan of a Dallas expansion team?
The only template in recent history for this circumstance is the introduction of the Nationals. DC embraced the Nationals easily enough, even though most DC folks used to be Orioles fans. But that was less of a treason than what we’re contemplating for two reasons: (1) DC and Baltimore are 25-30 miles further apart than Dallas and Fort Worth, and (2) DC, as a political town, is much more transient and therefore much less grounded in its teams (Redskins excepted). Also, the Orioles had sucked for 10-15 straight seasons when the Nats were introduced, so defection was easier to swallow.
So, to whom do the Rangers belong to more – Dallas or Fort Worth?
I’m not just trolling when I suggest that a nice new downtown stadium in Dallas could be just the bait it would take to hook the Marlins.
@Edgar: I like this question. If I was in charge of marketing the new franchise and had to win a fan base, I would think back to 1960s California. The Angels joined the Dodgers’ market. The A’s joined the Giants. market. Sure, both existing teams were transplants from NY and didn’t have the long history in their CA locales (at the time) that the Rangers have here. But these new teams were meant to capitalize on the growth of the state, which, much like Texas today, was taking on a large influx of new residents.
So who would root for the Dallas Marlins?
Go hard for the Hispanic community. Sign a lot of young stars from Latin America. Cultivate a rivalry with the Rangers that has a Celtic/(Glasgow) Rangers feel.
As for locations downtown, I love how San Diego developed their park right up next their historic center. You’re walking down the street, turn the corner, and — boom — baseball. That’s why my mind always drifts to the eastern edge of downtown for a location, just north of Farmers Market to fill up the no man’s land between downtown and Deep Ellum.
Im with Peter, on putting a stadium between downtown and Deep Ellum. However, I don’t think I could root for the Dallas Marlins, but the Dallas Blues? Maybe.
The ideal place for a Dallas Ballyard would be under the Calatrava Bridge next to the big new aqua-freeway — that way it could be used as a yachting venue when Dallas gets the Summer Olympics and, since it’ll have a domed roof, it could be covered with manmade snow and used when we get the Winter Olympics. You simply have to have vision.
@publicnewssense: Touché. Yes, we are playing in fantasy land. But there is skiing in Dubai:
http://www.skidxb.com/
Marlins getting a new stadium next year…that’s why we can’t have them or Josh Johnson for any price.
@Wes and Peter:
The soon-to-be Miami Marlins are moving into a new stadium next year, so there will be no Dallas Marlins. Perhaps the Dallas Rays instead?
Edgar-
Having lived in both Baltimore and DC, I can assure you they are not “25-30 miles further apart than Dallas and Fort Worth.” Door to door, Camden Yards to Nats Park is 37 miles. Total. Downtown Fort Worth to downtown Dallas is 32 miles.
I think it could work, though. The reason people root for the O’s instead of the Nats is the same reason people would root for the Rangers compared to the Stampeders or whatever. The O’s are a blue-collar team (Stampeders in his scenario), and the Nats (Rangers) are the white collar one.
I know Dallas Rangers fans wouldn’t agree with that necessarily, but if the Dallas-Fort Worth plan came true, that’s how the lines would be drawn. It’s happened before.
Bradford – Mea culpa re: mileage…looks like they’re 10-12 miles further apart. That may understate the practical distance given that the growth of Northern Virginia has moved the center of mass of the DC area further west and southwest. Regardless, with the underwhelming exception of baseball, you rarely hear about much of a rivalry between Baltimore and DC; that’s not the case between Dallas and FW. Baltimore and DC aren’t even considered by the census to be in the same statistical metropolitan area. A transplant or expansion team would shake things up more in DFW.
Fort Worth has a chip on the shoulder when it comes to Dallas. If Rangers were lured to Dallas, Fort Worth would be indignant and would wholeheartedly embrace a new team there. That would make for a good rivalry. If the Rangers went to FW, the results would be less dramatic. Dallas Rangers fans would be torn by a fondness for both teams. I like the former scenario better.
@Edgar: You are dead on. Rangers to Dallas; new team to Fort Worth. That would be a hot sports rivalry overnight, and Fort Worth is more of a National League kind of town (Pittsburgh, Cinnci, Milwaukee, . . . )
The east side of downtown and the area around the Dallas World Aquarium would be good sites. It should not be surrounded by parking lots rather built to take advantage of downtown being the center of rail transportation from Tarrant, Denton, Collin and Dallas counties. Oh yes and all the highways meet there, too.
The site of the old Reunion Arena, or between downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum would be the perfect site for a downtown ballpark for the Rangers. Then give Ft. Worth a national league team, that would create a huge rivalry between the two teams.
As good as that sounds though I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. Not only will Arlington fight like hell ot keep them, but the city of Dallas has almost no money to build a baseball stadium. Plus Ft. Worth is bound to try to get them to move there if Dallas tries to get them.