Originally posted by The Wanderer:
thrived?!?! haha!!!
I don't have the statistics in front of me, but if you can prove to me that the Expos ever in their existence averaged that many fans in a season I will, I will... I don't know what, but it doesnt really matter because it never happened
I never said they averaged 30,000 per night, but that they could regularly draw that many to the games during the weekends. If you want raw numbers, here are some:
From 1992 through 1996, the Expos averaged about 20,200 fans per home game (baseball-reference.com). While not huge, its certainly enough fans to support a major league team. Keep in mind that attendance was also down greatly in 1995 due to the strike the previous year, and most fans in Montreal were still bitter about the fact that the team likely would have gone to the playoffs if not for the strike.
So Daniel Snyder wants to bring a baseball team to Washington? Well thats nice. Now in addition to a mediocre football team full of overpaid, aging veterans, he can have a long-neglected baseball team in a market where baseball was never able to sustain itself.
If anything, the Expos should move to a place like Nashville or North Carolina. Those growing markets should have their chances to support a baseball team. The Senators never made it in DC, and there is little evidence to suggest that anything has changed. Besides, I doubt the hour and a half drive from northern VA to Baltimore to see the Orioles is going to kill anyone.
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Change is the only constant