Why are the Twins giving up TWO home games to play in Puerto Rico next year?

[DaveW]

Why on earth are they giving up TWO home games on a series next year against a division rival?

These sort of concessions should be made for terrible teams, in terrible/old stadiums. Certainly not a team that has a relatively new stadium and a team on the "upswing"

If I were a Minnesota taxpayer, I would be very very pissed off right now, the Pohlads not only stuck you with a large bill for the stadium, but are taking a nice payday no doubt for these two games in PR. Not only hurting the on the field clubs chances/advantage, but deriving the hundreds of people,and dozens of commerce companies (bars, food, parking lots, etc) out of significant money for two less home games next year.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is 2.5% of revenue those people, small businesses etc are losing out on.

 

Can someone on this board please hit the lottery and buy the team from the Pohlads??? Please!!!!!

[luckylager]

Meh. They play better on the road.

[Thrylos]

 

Why on earth are they giving up TWO home games on a series next year against a division rival?

These sort of concessions should be made for terrible teams, in terrible/old stadiums. Certainly not a team that has a relatively new stadium and a team on the "upswing"

If I were a Minnesota taxpayer, I would be very very pissed off right now, the Pohlads not only stuck you with a large bill for the stadium, but are taking a nice payday no doubt for these two games in PR. Not only hurting the on the field clubs chances/advantage, but deriving the hundreds of people,and dozens of commerce companies (bars, food, parking lots, etc) out of significant money for two less home games next year.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is 2.5% of revenue those people, small businesses etc are losing out on.

 

Can someone on this board please hit the lottery and buy the team from the Pohlads??? Please!!!!!

 

Have you checked the attendance in the last 2 Twins' home games at TF?

 

Pathetic.

 

At least in PR people are passionate about baseball and will fill the ballpark.  And guess what?  They might become Twins' fans.

 

Really smart move for the Twins to expand the Twins' Territory from the frozen tundra...

[nicksaviking]

Seems to me there have been a ton of empty seats at Target Field this year. It's not like tickets are scarce, I guess I don't see the issue unless I was the owner of Hubert's or something.

 

On the other hand, the Twins have a lot of Puerto Rican players, so asking them to do it only makes sense. I'd be happy to give up a couple of games each year if the Twins became the unofficial team of Puerto Rico.

[luckylager]

Also, Berrios getting a start in PR would be pretty dang fun to watch. 

 

[yarnivek1972]

Meh. They play better on the road.

This

[jorgenswest]

Maybe hosting games there will leave Latin American players with a favorable impression of the organization.

[Danchat]

They're going to be in April when it'll be really cold here in Minnesota, so it makes a lot of sense to me.

[ScooterDance]

If I was in the twins FO, I'd be lobbying the rest of the teams on the schedule to let us play our games at their stadium.

[Jerr]

My first reaction, was that it was not a good deal. But, after some thinking it makes a lot of sense for Twins exposure and future growth     

 

After that, I read this thread and it confirmed my thoughts..... This is the Twins Daily site, right???  

 

 

[yarnivek1972]

Why on earth are they giving up TWO home games on a series next year against a division rival?

 

These sort of concessions should be made for terrible teams, in terrible/old stadiums. Certainly not a team that has a relatively new stadium and a team on the "upswing"

 

If I were a Minnesota taxpayer, I would be very very pissed off right now, the Pohlads not only stuck you with a large bill for the stadium, but are taking a nice payday no doubt for these two games in PR. Not only hurting the on the field clubs chances/advantage, but deriving the hundreds of people,and dozens of commerce companies (bars, food, parking lots, etc) out of significant money for two less home games next year.

 

It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is 2.5% of revenue those people, small businesses etc are losing out on.

 

Can someone on this board please hit the lottery and buy the team from the Pohlads??? Please!!!!!

1) It doesn't sound like a lot, because 2.5% isn't a lot.

 

2) It's less than that. Pretty sure the businesses you name don't make 100% of their revenue even on a gameday just from Twins fans going to games.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Why on earth are they giving up TWO home games on a series next year against a division rival?

It increases their chances of winning.

[TheBoofIsLoose]

Does losing two games deserve this much attention? I don't see any real negatives from this move. The team gets some goodwill and opens themselves up to creating a market in a relatively untapped territory. Sure, Puerto Rico isn't going to be shoveling cash to the Twins, but this is a business and now they can put themselves in a position to increase brand awareness and marketability.

[DaveW]

So why again couldn't they have just taken one home game from each team?

 

Cleveland now gets 2 less away games effectively (since it's a neutral field)

 

I'm sure the Twins won't drop season ticket prices either because of two less games.

 

Pohlad wins again!

[notoriousgod71]

 

So why again couldn't they have just taken one home game from each team?

Cleveland now gets 2 less away games effectively (since it's a neutral field)

I'm sure the Twins won't drop season ticket prices either because of two less games.

Pohlad wins again!

 

This would make the most sense.

 

 

[spinowner]

 

They're going to be in April when it'll be really cold here in Minnesota, so it makes a lot of sense to me.

It's not significantly warmer in Cleveland in April.

[howeda7]

I assumed that each team would give up one home game, but the OP is a massive over-reaction. I'm guessing they are getting more from MLB than they would make from an April home game. 

[ThejacKmp]

 

So why again couldn't they have just taken one home game from each team?

Cleveland now gets 2 less away games effectively (since it's a neutral field)

I'm sure the Twins won't drop season ticket prices either because of two less games.

Pohlad wins again!

 

With season tickets you pay by the game so no one is going to have to pay for those games. That would be real nuts.

 

I don't mind the Twins playing two games in Puerto Rico but agree it should be a 1 home game and 1 road game situation.

[Otto von Ballpark]

With season tickets you pay by the game so no one is going to have to pay for those games. That would be real nuts.

The Twins have variable pricing per game. These particular games will be a Tuesday and Wednesday in April against a frequent opponent, so they would have been among the cheapest games on the schedule. So season ticket holders will lose 2.5% of games, but almost certainly won't save that much on their total bill. In fact, if the Twins raise prices again, they may not save anything.

 

Also, for single game attendees such as myself, Wednesday is the most affordable night, with $5 student tickets (and similar/cheaper on the secondary market) and $1 hot dogs. This means one less opportunity for my family to go to Target Field in 2018, and comes on the heels of their 2017 abolition of kids ticket discounts on Sundays...

[Otto von Ballpark]

Pioneer Press article:

 

http://www.twincities.com/2017/06/21/twins-to-play-two-games-in-puerto-rico-next-season/

 

They get quotes from Kenny Vargas, but is it even clear he will be on the team next April? He'll be out of options (I guess that means he won't be in AAA), and he's got an 80 OPS+ for 2017 so far, and 98 career...

 

Also, it's unclear that Berrios would even be lined up to pitch either of those games. I don't like the idea of us setting up our rotation just to make that happen, either...

[Old Twins Cap]

People were mad too in Brooklyn in 1960, when they moved the Dodgers to California.

 

You never know what might come of a move like this.....

[ashbury]

People were mad too in Brooklyn in 1960, when they moved the Dodgers to California.

 

You never know what might come of a move like this.....

They weren't too quick to catch on, then, since the Bums played their first regular-season game in the Coliseum on April 18, 1958.

[amjgt]

It's not significantly warmer in Cleveland in April.

I did some research on this a couple years back. I think, on average it's actually colder in Cleveland in early April than in Minneapolis.

[Mr. Brooks]

I did some research on this a couple years back. I think, on average it's actually colder in Cleveland in early April than in Minneapolis.

April 8 (average)

High: CLE: 56, MPLS: 54

Low: CLE: 38, MPLS: 34

[spinowner]

 

I did some research on this a couple years back. I think, on average it's actually colder in Cleveland in early April than in Minneapolis.

That would not surprise me. I spent 8 years in Duluth where all weather forecasts ended with the phrase "colder near the lake".

[amjgt]

April 8 (average)

High: CLE: 56, MPLS: 54

Low: CLE: 38, MPLS: 34

Maybe it was Detroit

[Mr. Brooks]

Maybe it was Detroit

Detroit is 55/37 averages for April 8.

[amjgt]

Detroit is 55/37 averages for April 8.

Maybe it was Regina

[ThejacKmp]

 

The Twins have variable pricing per game. These particular games will be a Tuesday and Wednesday in April against a frequent opponent, so they would have been among the cheapest games on the schedule. So season ticket holders will lose 2.5% of games, but almost certainly won't save that much on their total bill. In fact, if the Twins raise prices again, they may not save anything.

Also, for single game attendees such as myself, Wednesday is the most affordable night, with $5 student tickets (and similar/cheaper on the secondary market) and $1 hot dogs. This means one less opportunity for my family to go to Target Field in 2018, and comes on the heels of their 2017 abolition of kids ticket discounts on Sundays...

 

They won't pay for games played in another country. That's what the OP was saying and that is categorically false.

 

Ticket prices going up has nothing to do with the two fewer games concept. Walmart raising its price on camping lanterns from $10.99 to $12.99 doesn't mean that you save less with the $2 off coupon. Rising prices have nothing to do with this. You can be upset about ticket prices going up but two games in Puerto Rico has nothing to do with that concept.

 

You can make a really good argument that the Twins got rid of the two games that effect the least number of people - weekday games in early April that are often too cold for most fans and are during the day due to temperature concerns and thus are not available to young fans.

 

There are many reasons to hate the Pohldad's but this is pretty low on the list.

[Otto von Ballpark]

This makes it easier for them to raise prices -- they can say (total) season ticket prices aren't going up, but just have 2 fewer games. I think it is fair to question their motivation here.