With Day 1 of the 6,456 day baseball season approaching quickly, young players are busting their asses to try to make opening day rosters, while the savvy veterans are trying just hard enough to make sure they don’t split their pants on routine fly balls. But something that we don’t hear a lot about in the MLB preseason is how the owners prepare, so I thought I’d take this chance to check in with everyone’s favorite owner, Jeffrey Loria, to see how he’s getting ready for the 2013 season.
Loria’s Miami Marlins already had a pretty tumultuous offseason, as he traded the team’s highest paid players after just one season in the brand new stadium, which he built with taxpayer money after promising to sign high-priced talent. That led to fans demanded that Loria sell the team, which he won’t do, and he tried to quell the turbulent waters of hatred by promising the team’s most loyal fans that everything would be okay.
Translated: The Marlins are suing two longtime season ticket holders.
Now the team is burning bridges with the only true-blue Fish fanatics left — longtime season-ticket holders.
That’s how Jan and Bill Leon are feeling, at least. The couple has paid tens of thousands for front-row season tickets since 1998. But last year, after the team installed an obtrusive billboard that blocks their view and dangerously obscures ground balls, the Leons asked to move into a different section. Their reward? A lawsuit threat.
“They’ve pooped on fans’ feelings for years,” Jan Leon says. “These seats are not what we paid for.” (Via the New Miami Times)
Here’s a visual of their complaint:
In an update to that article, the Marlins claim they have tried to move the Leons multiple times to find an amicable solution, but Jan said, “poop” and that sh*t’s my favorite word, so I’m #TeamLeon on this one. Also, the Marlins should probably do whatever they can to make the Leons happy, because it’s not like people are kicking down the doors to buy season tickets.
Just how bad are sales for the Fish? Women’s professional soccer bad.
“Despite the history of women’s professional soccer and a league structure that puts some personnel decisions in the hands of U.S. Soccer, Paulson decided to invest in a Portland franchise. “Merritt felt it was just the right thing to do for the sport,” saidMike Golub, Timbers chief operating officer.
Portland quickly responded, with fans buying more than 6,000 season tickets — more than the Major League Baseball Miami Marlins had sold as of late February. (Via The Oregonian)
Well, that’s just some embarrassing poop for Loria right there.
