Havn't posted here in a while, but after hearing all this Marlins news for once on sports radio in South Florida, I thought I would chime in. Lack of fans, the city & state, MLB, and a horrible stadium are all parts of why the Marlins might leave South Florida, but I think another big reason for why the Marlins might be leaving is the Devil Rays. Sure the Devil Rays themselves aren't selling out every night and have bad attendance, but I believe it hurts the Marlins in the fact that it takes away 2 big markets in Florida; Orlando and Tampa/St. Petersburg. If the Marlins were the only team in Florida, they would have more exposure through out the state and would officially be the team of Florida. Now i know not a lot of people would drive from Tampa/Orlando to see the Marlins, but Im sure the Marlins would see a large increase in interest for the Fish. Just something to think about. To me, I believe the Devil Rays deserve to leave Florida more than the Marlins do. Maybe MLB should COMBINE both the Marlins and D-rays and put the team half way between Miami and Tampa (palm beach) to create the new Florida team!!!!! LOL. Joking of course. but what do you guys think?

don't forget the yankees, braves, red sox, mets, etc.. that all have hordes of fans in Florida.

The Deveil Rays don't have to many fans either, consistant losing records won't drive in to many fans to all of a sudden switch to a D-Rays fans even if the D-Rays are just right there.

 

It won't matter in the end, sadly the new ownership of the DRays plan to really advertise the Rays in Tampa. I think Loria should have done more Marlin advertisement all over florida rather then just South Florida, remember ESPN's 50 states in 50 Days where only like 3% of the state favored Baseball out of all Florida's sports teams?

The D-Rays are even less popular than the Marlins in Orlando. The teams that run Orlando are the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cubs.