"I have the impression that TV revenues are increasingly as important as gate receipts (and indeed had baseball figured this out back in the 1950s the Dodgers could have stayed in Brooklyn), and so perhaps population, distance, etc. may not matter that much."

Don't know that I agree.  While I DO agree that television revenue is far more lucrative than the gate (witness F1 President Todt's comment that he doesn't care if there's a single person in the stands as long as the TV sightlines aren't blocked), having an active physical presence is important.  In my opinion, if MLB had not moved to the West Coast, the PCL would have continued to dominate the baseball scene and, while MLB's popularity would have grown, it would not have come to dominate the market as it does now - especially with the boost having two legendary teams move gave the product.

I liken it to the NHL.  Los Angeles had the Kings, and no other NHL team could survive in the west.  When I was growing up, the closest team to the Kings was St. Louis - talk about grueling road trips!  Then, the far-sighted and now all-but-forgotten Bruce McNall (OK, he had issues ...) traded for/signed Wayne Gretzky.  Hockey popularity skyrocketed in LA, and before you know it you have franchises in Anaheim, San Jose, Vancouver, Denver, and Phoenix.  Physical presence (especially a successful one) leads to popularity and fan base, THEN the national television revenue will flow. 

I see the bandwagoning Royals fans have taken over Nebraska.  I think we only had a few dozen left over from the 80s until WGN & TBS started to peter out with the Cubs & Braves.

pinotfan, you are probably right and I hope you are as well, in that the de-localization of everything is not something I love about the contemporary world. So if place still matters it is something. 

Posted by italyprof on 6/1/2015 7:33:00 AM (view original):
pinotfan, you are probably right and I hope you are as well, in that the de-localization of everything is not something I love about the contemporary world. So if place still matters it is something. 

If there is any field that lives by the creed 'place matters', it's the wine industry!

Posted by redwingscup on 4/30/2015 12:34:00 PM (view original):
A few other things that interested me about the map.

surprised north/northwest Ohio favors the Tigers over the Indians, as the Tribe isn't that far from Toledo. Given the state of animosity between Michigan and Oho in general, I would have thought anything associated with a MI zip code would be sneered at in the Oil Pan of OH.

would have thought New Mexico would be Diamondback country as they're sort of AZ east

Utah needs to come to grips with the fact they're in the Western US and get off the presumably ESPN driven Bosox/Yankee fan train. Good grief. At least like the Rockies people. What does Utah have in common with Boston?

Ditto Virginia and NC... how about rooting for the Nats or Orioles? You'd think that a state where the capital of the confederacy was located would loathe anything associated with the word "Yankees", but maybe they're over the Civil War now.

I knew FLA had many transplanted New Yawkers, but you do have some local teams now folks. Root for them.

Tigers in Ohio - I used to live in Toledo.  The reason for this is that the Tiger games have been readily available on cable, forever, while the Indians have not been.  Detroit local stations were also on cable in Toledo (Lucas County) where Cleveland stations were not.  Toledo is literally on the state line and less than an hour drive up 75 north.

Since we brought up the subject of wine perhaps I could get a recommendation for a Pinot noir in the $10-12 range.

I would second the nomination for a team in the south.

IMHO, if a team were to be placed in the South, it would almost have to be in Nashville for it to succeed.  They have the population/market to support a team (plus they could draw from the entire state of Tennessee).  I think Charlotte would be a first alternative although the Braves are really embedded in the Carolinas and it would probably take some fairly quick success to get some of those Carolina folk to switch their allegiance.  I used to live in Charleston (yes, it's South and not North Carolina) but those people down their lived and breathed Braves baseball.

I would think the people in Tennessee are probably split in their opinions of their favorite teams - some would prefer the Braves, some would go for the Reds, and some would go for the Cardinals (Memphis is their Triple-A affiliate).  Look at the support the Predators have (who would have thought ice hockey in the mid-south?) - I think professional baseball would be a real success in the capitol of country music.

Posted by winnetka1 on 6/2/2015 9:48:00 AM (view original):
Since we brought up the subject of wine perhaps I could get a recommendation for a Pinot noir in the $10-12 range.

I would second the nomination for a team in the south.

Winnetka,

That is a brutal price point for pinot noir, unfortunately.  I cannot think of one I think truly tastes like a decent pinot for $10-12.  There are some that are decent glasses of wine, but aren't necessarily good examples of pinot.