friscodick said:How many of the 60K (which is a dubious number but lets not go there) would really be "pissed off?" The weather is nice right now in Arlington (a rarity for this time of year) so perhaps it would work better for them...who knows.free_mhayden said:gambochaman said:free_mhayden said:
So the Houston Astros are in Dallas, 20 minutes away from Rangers Ballpark, where they were offered to play 3 "home" games.
They instead opted to force their players to get on a plane and fly 1100 miles away to Tampa.
Yikes... Seems as though that organization values 3 games of a homefield advantage over their players well being.
Its a 2.5 hour flight
Not a huge deal
So if it's not a big deal then what is all the crying about?
Astros didn't want to sacrifice home-field advantage.
Rangers didn't want to piss off 60,000+ fans that had already bought tickets.
So they're playing in Tampa.
It also gives the Rangers an earlier homestand to make up ground on the wild card and play road games in late September when the Astros might be resting many of their starters.
The Rangers averaged 22,000 in a scorching hot mid-week series vs the Seattle Mariners. Averaging over 20,000 a game vs Houston isn't a "dubious" estimate at all.
And it's not just about how many are pissed off. It's about how many would even find out in time -- you realize that you're wanting on a Monday night to notify people that the tickets they have for a game in a month is now tomorrow or the next day?
So, yes, you are screwing over a lot of fans. But if it was just to get the games played, OK... But it's not just to get the games played... It's to make sure Houston keeps homefield advantage for 3 games.
Sorry, Houston keeping homefield advantage for 3 games isn't worth Texas screwing over it's own fans. Texas offered it's field and it's money, Houston wanted more.