Marlins Breaking Ground On a New Stadium

LITTLE HAVANA,FL: So I am one of the pessimists who has always preached that until a shovel goes in the ground at the Orange Bowl site, the Marlins would never get a stadium in Miami. Looks like they might finally do that tomorrow morning at 10AM. 

A little background for those of you reading this not from South Florida: The Marlins convinced the city to pay for a large chunk of the new stadium, and in turn tore down one of sports most historic monuments in this country.  As a former Miami Hurricane student (not too long ago) and alum, it was the ultimate sin to take away the most legendary college football field in the country (yes I understand that is a biased opinion). It is very VERY odd to drive by and not see that piece of junk standing any more, but that was the very soul of Miami football in this community, and no matter how hard they try, "Joe Player Robbie Dolphin Land Shark Stadium" will never feel the way the O.B. did in pivotal times like when FSU had a chance to beat Miami with a last second field goal.  I will venture to say that wide kicks would not have happened at Dolphin Stadium and that the O.B. helped the Canes win a large portion of those close ones.

Back to real point of this opinion piece. Right... tomorrow, the Marlins have somehow done it.  They have convinced the city and taxpayers to help build the new stadium for baseball which seems to be a real popular draw in this community (sense sarcasm here).  There is not a franchise in sports history that has done more championship winning then the Marlins and they still can't draw consistent crowds. 

Moving the stadium will help slightly, but at the same time not really. Why? Everyone from Broward will no longer go, but you will gain more Dade county fans, which at the end of the day will warrant the same quantity of attendance. From an ownership standpoint parking and concessions will directly impact their pockets and give more flexibility to go after talent and maintain the talent they grow here.  But at the end of the day, Miami will still be looked at as one of the worst sports towns in the country, maybe THE worst baseball city. The best thing the Fish are getting out of this stadium is the ability to disguise empty seats, as bright orange will now be a dark green that will surely blend like a chameleon with the 2,500 fans in attendance.

Believe it or not, I would love for baseball to be successful in this community but I just don't see it happening.  The novelty of the new stadium will be fresh, exciting and new and really help attendance year one, lets sit back and evaluate the attendance for the first three years before we assess the validity of building this team a new stadium.