With relations soon to be normalized, will we see the Havana Rays?

Any time soon? Only if MLB or the Cuban government is willing to carry the team financially. Cuba is certainly baseball crazy but the average Cuban just does not have the expendable cash necessary to keep a franchise afloat.


EDIT: Do like your thinking on this Chowdah, I do think it would be a great move for atmosphere, I just don't think it will work financially.

It would make for some AWESOME road trip games and that alone would make it financially doable.

If the Sox had a 4 game series there, I would buy my tickets and book my trip the day the schedule is released!

Just tap the brakes on that. I have been to Cuba. Those people are going to be dirt poor for many years to come.

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Just tap the brakes on that. I have been to Cuba. Those people are going to be dirt poor for many years to come.

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Yeah... I don't think so... I've known several Cubans in the US. The amount of money that could pour into there is more than imaginable.

You will see tremendous inflation, but the crumbs that fall from the table will be big bounty for the poors that catch them.

Education will be a hard issue because that doesn't increase quickly.

I've believed either the Marlins or Rays could end up there.

Isn't MLB carrying both those teams, anyway? Tampa appears to have had 18K people per game. Let's pretend those people paid $20/ticket. If 36K people went at $10... you'd generate the same revenue.

But think about the amount of revenue you would generate when you bring 30+ Millionaires and their families to the island for 81 games.

You would also have a number of big money people who would jump in.

Ticket revenue is only part of a teams revenue. Corporate sponsorship, TV and radio rights, luxury boxes, ect, are all equally important in a team's bottom line.

Not going to happen. For the same reasons there is no Santo Domingo Marlins.

Yeah, revenue is about a lot more than selling tickets.

I'm skeptical about a major league team moving to Cuba. I think it's going to be viewed as a risky venture, and if I were working for MLB, I would look at the unhealthy nature of some of Latin America's most popular soccer clubs in some of Latin America's soccer crazed countries and worry developing countries are inherently difficult environments for high level professional sports.

Would it not shock me if some wealthy guy tries to push the idea? No, but I'm skeptical it will happen any time soon.

I think it will be more interesting to see how the Cuban Baseball Federation responds if, presumably, at some point, Cubans can come play their baseball in the States without the difficulty of defecting.

Will we see an agreement like MLB has with the Japanese? Unlikely, but I have to think the Cubans will do their very best to keep Cubans playing their baseball in Cuba for as long possible- I don't think Cuba will want to settle for being just another winter league (as in the Dominican Winter League, Venezuelan Winter League, etc...)

And quite frankly, I don't want to see the Cuban leagues ran into the ground by the American minor league baseball system. I would prefer to see MLB approach Cuba like the NHL approaches the minor leagues- NHL teams enter into affiliate agreements with minor league teams but those minor league teams and those minor leagues as a whole have much more autonomy in how they run their teams and their leagues than do minor league baseball teams.

I wish MLB would invest more in all of the Latins leagues beyond running a bunch of baseball sweatshops in the Dominican for a bunch of teenagers that are wooed by the possibility of playing minor league baseball for a few years before they get kicked to the curb...but perhaps I'm getting off point here.

My reason for thinking about the Havana Rays (or another team) is that if it Fidel Castro was a better pitcher, there would have already been a Havana team.

Americans would love to see that happen for tourism purposes. Resorts would reopen. Casinos would open and everybody wins.

It'd be neat, but revenue from tourists would probably only be a small portion of what would be needed to sustain a club in Havana.

I just think its a risk that will not be taken, but yes, it is a neat idea.

The two biggest issues in South America is the corruption and the crime.

To think outside money for casinos and tourism is a possibility, one might look no further than how Castro gained power. It was the corruption, casinos and tourism which drained much of Cuban wealth to outside interests and put them in power.

See: Venezuela

Those same issues are what gained Chavez power in Venezuela... those are the same things that keep countries in the Caribbean as impoverished countries.

For me... and many Cuban-Americans it is about investing outside money into Cuba for the sake of building Cuba, not exploiting it.

I know there is a fine line between what I'm suggesting, but should be very obvious.

Its as likely that the Red Sox move to the Bronx as it is that there will be a major league team in Havana

What would the commies want to tax the club and millionaire players?

Think that many would be happy playing for team if they are taxed at 90% (for home games)?

The levels of government in the US suffer from too much corruption, think how risky it would be to try something in a country where corruption has ruled for many generations.

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What would the commies want to tax the club and millionaire players?

Think that many would be happy playing for team if they are taxed at 90% (for home games)?

The levels of government in the US suffer from too much corruption, think how risky it would be to try something in a country where corruption has ruled for many generations.

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While this is an interesting premise, you'd have to believe that the MLB would stipulate that any move would provide a protection to wealth clause for its employees.

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What would the commies want to tax the club and millionaire players?

Think that many would be happy playing for team if they are taxed at 90% (for home games)?

The levels of government in the US suffer from too much corruption, think how risky it would be to try something in a country where corruption has ruled for many generations.

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One of the great things about corrupt governments is their ability and willingness to give tax breaks and other special treatment to sports teams and leagues they enjoy watching.

It has happened for decades in the United States.