Warming up Opening Day

A few weeks back at #108Day, we were discussing things that should be in the CBA, but definitely won’t be. You can listen to the whole segment below:

My idea concerned MLB Opening Day and how we can improve the temperatures that fans will endure on opening day. Weather has never been a deterrent in my Opening Day attendance, unless of course the game gets called. But why not make a couple tweaks to improve the Opening Day experience across the league.

The Basic Idea

When asked the question at #108Day, my response was that no team can host MLB Opening Day if their city’s average March temperature is below 60 degrees unless they have a temp controlled stadium. In order for this idea to actually work though, we need 15 teams to be able to host. Two quick things, the data could change, but I’m using this page as a guide AND I am assuming by the time we get this idea off the ground, the A’s will be in Vegas. Let’s take a look:

Well, we’re one short. Only 14 teams would qualify. But that won’t stop me. We need to figure this out.

The Expanded Idea

In order to make this work, we need just one additional city that will be warm. My choice is San Juan, Puerto Rico. The lows are above 60 in March, so the weather will be perfect. We send the two New York teams there to play each other. New York has a large Puerto Rican population, so I’m sure there are some people who would travel for that each year. Now let’s get into this a little more, because having a game in a special location brings up an idea that White Sox Dave has long held of treating Opening Day like the first days of March Madness. A morning through late evening barrage of games. This could help that happen by being a must watch morning game. Make this the last Friday in March every year and just have massive time off requests at offices across the country. Since this is a White Sox blog, I’m gonna show what time the games would be in their time zone and Central:

New York Yankees vs New York Mets in San Juan 11am AST (Puerto Rico doesn’t observe daylight savings time)/10am CDT

Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, and Toronto start at 2pm EDT/1pm CDT

Houston, Milwaukee, Texas start at 4pm CDT

Arizona (doesn’t observe DST), Los Angeles Angels, San Diego, and San Francisco start at 5pm PDT, 7pm CDT

Las Vegas, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Seattle start at 8pm PDT, 10pm CDT

This is an epic day of baseball. For us in the Midwest, you’re going 10am til about 1:30am. That’s one heck of a Friday!

-Chorizy-E