April 9, 2003 [LINK]
Baseball in Virginia!?
In their recent presentation to the MLB Relocation Committee in Phoenix, Virginia baseball officials submitted their estimates of anticipated franchise revenues. According to the Washington Post, this was based on an expected average attendance of nearly 40,000 per game in the first year, and about 35,000 per game over the long run. They claimed, with solid justification in my view, that a huge potential fan base in the Virginia suburbs would be far more likely to see games if the stadium were located in the Old Dominion. (That's obviously even more the case for Virginians like me who live an hour or more away from Washington.) It's not the fear of crime in Washington so much as the convenience factor and atmosphere. In any case, Arlington is widely considered to be an integral part of the Washington already -- after all, that's where the Pentagon is located.