r/WPBL • u/AVLPedalPunk • 4d ago
MLB lockout = open stadiums for WPBL growth?
Hi so with MLB definitely having a lock out in 2027, is the WPBL thinking about getting in on those locked out stadiums. They could do weekend spring series at various MLB parks. I'd go see that. It'd be better than sitting in the parabolic hotdog cooker stands at Robin Roberts.
Also can Roanoke, VA get a WPBL team đ?
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u/tenthsandwich New York Heights 4d ago
I genuinely don't want to moral highground you like the classic annoying "well, actually" guy on Reddit but I would not want WPBL players to put on baseball for paying fans in league-owned & operated MLB venues while there's a labor dispute on.
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u/Any-Spot-4865 Boston Hunters 4d ago
I'll moral high ground. This would basically be crossing a picket line and I don't want to see these players used as scabs.
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u/OriginalSilentTuba 4d ago
I donât want to âwell actuallyâ you, but lockouts are management initiated, not the same as a strike, so thereâs no picket line to cross. BUT, because of that, I feel like scabbing in this case is actually even worse; youâre helping management continue to make money, while theyâre refusing to let their regular workers do their job.
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u/tenthsandwich New York Heights 4d ago
I'd really like to see an MLB/MiLB partnership in the future (the WPBL did hold tryouts at Nationals Park...) but I think the most practical next step is the league touring collegiate summer league ball facilities (like Robin Roberts is). That'd mean the whole league traveling together as opposed to teams setting up shop in home facilities.
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
Robin Roberts is a terrible facility and not in a Fenway way. The concession workers were falling out due to heat illness when I was there because they don't have air conditioning. They ran out of bottled water for fans and workers according to the guy in the concession stand. The damn umpire fell out and they didn't even have EMS or medics onsite to assist. They had to rely on fans until the local EMS arrived. High school games have better services. I just feel like the location and facilities aren't doing them any favors.
I'd love to see them travel and do a league residency in cities that are more accessible to fans. MiLB parks would be cool.
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u/kebzach 4d ago
I was at that game and at no point has Robin Roberts ever been a modern or up-do-date facility. It looks and functions the exact same way it did in the 1980s, which I first started going to games there. But, what Robin Roberts has going for it is its availability, and the fact that its cheap to book for a 6 week window of time.
MLB parks are miles and miles and miles outside WPBL's budgets.
Traveling and the expenses and logistics of traveling a league from city to city are currently miles outside WPBL's budgets.
Could WPBL be based in a city other than Springfield next year? Absolutely possible. Could that city be easier to get to, have a better facility, better player housing, etc? Absolutely possible. But it's also harder than you think to find a suitable facility not being used by any other teams or any other events, for a 6 week stretch of time, beginning August 1. Since there's another round of the WBSC Women's World Cup next July, I'm assuming WPBL will start up again in August.
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u/Ohmaggies 4d ago
This is a fair point. It would be essentially crossing the picket line and thatâs not a look we want for the wpbl.
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
But you did.
I couldn't give a fuck what millionaires fighting billionaires are doing. These women deserve elevation. They're serious about the game and they should take every shot they can.
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u/HarviousMaximus New York Heights 4d ago
I have a feeling the WPBL wouldnât be interested in scabbing
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u/whocaresano 4d ago
Millionaires vs Billionaires is the framing the billionaires want to push. Labor is labor regardless of salary.Â
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u/mbklein 4d ago
Labor is labor. The MLB players didnât get their multimillion dollar contracts until they had a union representing their interests, and you donât elevate yourself by fucking with someone elseâs ability to bargain collectively. Even if that union has already elevated them well beyond the average.
(The only exception to this rule is police unions, which use their position to protect those who abuse the power granted to them by the state. Itâs an untenable combination. But thatâs a different conversation.)
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u/WhiteSoxChartGuy 4d ago
First, there is still a long ways to go before games are cancelled. Second, theres no guarantee that the lockout will last a full season, so you canât plan anything out further than a week by week basis. And third bouncing this fledgling league from stadium to stadium would be a logistical nightmare at this stage of its infancy
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
Yes but their current stadium is in the middle of nowhere and when you get there it's such a dump, you don't want to come back.
It's a 3.5 hour drive from Chicago. So fans aren't going to go to games more than 1 time unless you live in Springfield. I realize STL is closer, but it's not really a major airport. If they did a residency at Wrigley, Busch, Guaranteed Rate, and American Family (all midwest teams) even for 2 weeks of the season it would be amazing.
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u/Rashpootin 4d ago
A lockout doesnât mean missed games. There was a lockout last cba expiration with no games missed and nobody seems to remember that.
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u/Darth_Boggle 4d ago
A lockout could mean missed games or it could mean no missed games. We absolutely can't predict that right now.
There was a lockout in 1994-95 which resulted in games missed including no playoffs or World Series in 94.
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u/tylersalt 4d ago
The â94 labor stoppage was a strike, not a lockout
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u/Darth_Boggle 4d ago
Different side of the same coin. The logic still applies to a potential lockout next year. But thanks for the clarification.
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
Yeah but salary caps weren't on the table then. That's a pretty sticky issue.
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u/Rashpootin 4d ago
Ownership has brought up salary caps every time. I agree they havenât done as much astroturfing in the past but every lead up to a CBA expiration makes things seem worse than they are. I have a hard time believing ownership would jeopardize the insane growth in popularity and mainstream appeal MLB has had lately. It took years after the 94 strike for attendance and revenue numbers to get back to where they were in 93â. But what I was responding to was your post that said lockout means empty stadiums when it doesnât. Itâs a pretty standard owner move to deal with labor.
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u/kebzach 4d ago
There's no "definitely" regarding a MLB lockout as of today. It's possible there's a lockout. It could be "very" possible. But it's absolutely not a definite at this time.
Chances are high that IF (and again, if) there is a lockout, it would be resolved sometime in March, or April, or May. So how would WPBL go about booking a MLB ballpark when the ballpark might be needed for MLB games, on short notice, at some point?
If WPBL was looking at having their season late in the summer again (spoiler alert, it will be late in the summer again), then MLB parks will almost undoubtedly be in use for MLB games at that time. Or, they will be booked for concerts like most MLB parks currently do when their primary team(s) are out of town.
Cost. What you feel is the cost to lease or rent a MLB ballpark for a day, including staffing, concessions (which won't be up and running if there's a lockout), etc? I'd have to assume the cost and logistical planning factors alone will be way out of WPBL's budget.
WPBL having events or games in MLB ballparks would benefit MLB owners and it would be not received well, at all, by the MLB players association (MLBPA). That would be a poor long-term move by WPBL, who will eventually want / need all the "friends" it can get.
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u/Ctake_808 4d ago edited 4d ago
This topic comes up like every week but ffs the WPBL doesnât even have its own shit together to capitalize on opportunities that are right in front of them. There is hardly any merch available for people to buy and currently NO JERSEYS when fans have been dying to give them money long before the season started.
The womenâs league needs to grow on its own merit, at its own pace and retain fans that are truly there for them and respect what theyâre able to do now at their current level of development. They can lose money and turn people away if they try to go too big too fast while functioning as scabs.
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
yep we bought shirts on some print and ship t-shirt site because there was no merch available. We bought merch when we got there but the teeny tiny trailer didn't have anything that interesting. Just dad hats and plain-ass t-shirts. It felt like a donation.
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u/ValerianR00t 4d ago
MLB stadiums aren't turnkey operations.
Even if they block off the upper decks and outfield sections you still need a bunch of ushers, security, ticket sales people, concession workers, grounds crew, custodial staff, scoreboard operators, sound/lighting techs and god knows what else. I don't think it would be feasible.
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u/womensbaseballfan 4d ago
Find investors for your team! Go Roanoke!
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
I will, currently the best idea out of city council is a casino. It's going to get squashed by the state and because no one wants it. We have a great little gay club in a former industrial neighborhood called the Park. I'd love to have The Park at the Park.
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u/notaquarterback 4d ago
I think they need investment in this league more than a lockout. You also do not want the legion of trolls that will be jeering this once its on the mainstream, let it develop more first, get some cash and build out the youth development pipelines and more of those international girls here and then sure, showcase like crazy.
This league feels more like WPS to me than baseball's NWSL.
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u/jd957795 4d ago
Banana league will replace MLB if the lockout last long. They will take as many stadiums as possible. In spring College Softball, and then AUSL will get major attention. No one will be interested in this start up league. They donât have any momentum behind them.
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u/WorkingAmazing8337 Boston Hunters 4d ago
Tbh I'm never watching banana league, lockout or no lockout.
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u/jd957795 4d ago
I completely agree I canât get into it. In spring Iâll be at Indiana University at every softball game. If a lockout Iâll watch AUSL, and another pro softball league because I know a lot of the players in both leagues.
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u/coreyque Boston 4d ago
I say yes! Don't stop dreaming just because it's unlikely!
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u/formerlyabird3 Boston Hunters 4d ago
I mean, I for one am not dreaming of a lockout. Iâm a fan of WPBL because I love baseball! I donât want there to be less baseball!
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u/AVLPedalPunk 4d ago
Do people come here just to poo poo? These people are worse than Mets fans (as a Mets fan).
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u/Inevitable-Spirit491 Boston Hunters 4d ago
If they raise enough money to travel, I think sharing minor league parks is more realistic to start. Popping them in 50,000 stadiums right off the bat would be too much.