Ratbirds Want D.C. Market Too?

Yeah, Bhawlmuher is a "Major League City."

You know, this is just further proof as to the absurdity of the whole Peter Angelos-Baseball in Washington, D.C. conflict. If Bhawlmuher does not have enough strength in their own market to support Major League teams, why should Bhawlmuher be allowed to have them? If Washington can support Major League teams on their own (w/o requiring the help of other markets mind you) why was Washington denied a baseball team for 34 years?

And going off on a side rant here, I don't want to hear a single word from some Baltimoron telling me that Jack Kent Cooke kept the NFL out of Bhawlmuher. That is a flat out lie. Cooke never did anything such as that because he didn't need the market and the competition wasn't non-existant.

Last season with Nats games being aired erratically on WDCA in Washington, D.C. and little formal marketing to speak of, the Nationals drew 2,692,123 fans while Bhawlmuher pouted drawing 2,624,804 fans according to ESPN stats. This year with the shine off the apple in D.C., the TV coverage worse than last year (some cable systems picked up MASN but there are less games on over the air TV) and marketing of the team finally starting up recently, the Nats have drawn 1,388,893 fans in 51 games averaging 27,233 per game while Bhawlmuher has drawn 1,642,147 in 61 games averaging 26,920 per game.

The B.O.'s have a TV market that includes all of MD, parts of PA, and a good portion of VA along with a strong marketing presence. Peter Angelos said last year that wouldn't have minded if the Expos had been moved to Richmond or Norfolk. But with the Nats TV rights in his hands, Richmond and Norfolk didn't get any Nationals games last year from MASN, while the B.O.'s were carried in those markets. Even now, the Nats do not have an over the air station in either of those markets or Roanoke which the B.O's continue to have. The B.O.'s also have a D.C. affilate but not the only over the air affilate that the Nats have is Channel 20.

But just like the B.O.'s now the Ratbirds insist on having the D.C. TV market too. Can somebody please explain to me just why Bhawlmuher deserves to be in the driver's seat and why they are allowed to lay claim to the D.C. TV market when they clearly can't support their own teams? I guess the Redskins will have to move too?