Washington "Expos"??? NoVA "Expos"??? Norfolk "Expos"??? Hagerstown "Expos"???

Does anyone have any input into the proposal for the Expos relocating to this area? Would you remain a fan of your current team or become an "Expos" fan?

I guess it would good for the Expos to go to Norfolk, and give Virginia a pro team. If they can't go to Norfolk, then Washington would be the next best place IMO. I don't, however, think they should be able to come to NoVa because IMO pro teams are for big cities. Hagerstown doesn't have enough people to support a pro team.

I just threw Hagerstown in there for fun. I know too well that it could never have any national pro team. From what I've been reading in the Post every morning, NoVA is ahead in the bid for the Expos due to the high expected sales of skybox suites that would be more prevalent in this stadium than others. The Norfolk area and DC are putting up a battle though. Norfolk is ahead on the aspects of parking and "more unanimous" support. It will be interesting to see what happens.

It will be, but I'll probably still support Baltimore.

I love baseball and am huge National League fan (see avatar). From my point of view, I think the team would be best situated in Northern Virginia then anywhere else. It's just far enough away where the O's fans are not as plentiful and there is a wide variety of support for some of the other MLB teams (Pitt, Phili). It would also be nice to be able to attend some of the Cubbies games since there will finally be a NL team in the area.

In a side note, I think it would draw more interest in the Suns since now local fans may get a chance to see some of the product in the majors.

The proposed stadium near Dulles is about two miles
from where I'm sitting right now (Reston)...it would be
AWESOME to get off work and head straight to the
ballpark on any given summer night....I love the Orioles
but Camden Yards is a pain to get to during the week...

I would think residents wouldn't want a stadium near their house, I mean usually stadiums aren't in the nicest part of town so I wonder if it was built near Dulles what it would do to land values and the like.

I think it depends on how the stadium is designed. A few examples that come to mind are Camden Yards and Wrigley.

Camden was a run down area before they rebuilt the ball yard and football stadiums. Now there are higher priced town homes moving into the area.

In Wrigley, the houses right behind the stadium value have skyrocketed. Everyone wants to be near Wrigley.

I'm not sure how well the new parks in Pitt and Detroit are fairing. I know they've ben built in some rundown areas, but are very creative in their designs. I would imagine it would lure some good folks.

I actually liked the old Tiger stadium better than the new one they built. Yeah the new one is all fancy but the old one had character. Anyways...... It would be nice if NoVa (Dulles/Loudon co) got the team. That way it could be built in an area which is relatively safe. Been to all the local DC/Baltimore stadiums and never felt good about leaving my car in the designanted parking areas. I'd hope in NoVa got the team they would change the name from Expos to something relative to the area.

The area near Dulles is currently a gravel quarry...it sits along the toll road
corridor and Route 28 in a primarily commercial/light-industrial community...
the nearest homes are probably a mile away...

Now that I think about since the Dulles area is mostly middle-class suburban it might effect land values there.

With the Dulles area (or any place for that matter), they will have to get creative to make the park attractive to people wanting atmosphere vs. the game. I say this in the event that there is no established neighborhood in the area the stadium is going to built at. From the postings on the board, I would say that this may be true of NoVa.

http://www.baseballinva.org/

Click on the 'Gallery' under the 'Ballpark Plans' heading...
their drawings look pretty creative to me. Reston is just
two miles away and Ashburn continues to explode to the
west...they will have no problem attracting fans. Sure,
the place will be a huge draw due to its newness...we'll
have to wait and see if they can duplicate the magic that
Camden Yards once had...as you can see lately on TV,
there's a whole lot of empty seats up in Baltimore these days...

Looks pretty good. I would go there to check it ( as long as my Cubbies are playing).

Speaking of Camden, why aren't the O's drawing fans? If there is such a huge fan base, like Angelos claims, why aren't they drawing?

Well, it's a long drive to Baltimore, the prices are outrageous, and they haven't been to a World Series in how long.

As much as I hate the O's, I was at the game last Saturday vs. the Braves and there were well over 45000 people there. This was a weekend game, probably the reason for the high attendance, but I do wish attendance would rise again and baseball would become America's pasttime again. Ticket prices and an overall lack of interest in MLB in the past two-three years has caused ticket sales declines across the country. One day soon I hope baseball will thrive again.

IMO, the reason so many ppl are staying away from pro ball is that ticket prices are outrageous, and so is the food ($7.25 for nachos in Atlanta). Baseball used to be the kind of sport that you can take your whole family too, now you have to take out a loan to go to a game! Simply, most families can't afford to go.

I don't think the ticket prices are to bad, since today's stadiums seem to have good sight lines. But, I do agree that the food prices are way outrageous.

They are for most families around here, maybe not in the DC/Baltimore area.

Are you saying the ticket prices are to much? $9 for an O's ticket doesn't seem to high to me. I've got a family of three, so that would be $27 plus parking (I assume I'm eating dinner at home).

IMHO, that's not a bad treat for a weekend game. Now, if we start tacking on food and souvies, then it's an expensive proposition.

How far up is this $9 ticket?

The tickets are in left field upper reserve. Good seats to see a game.