[Brad K]

Is there a baseball team that could be called America's Team? Some might say the Yankees and its true they have lots of fans. But they also have lots of anti fans. So they don't do well on net rating.

Dodgers fans might argue they are America's team but despite their regular season success they collect a lot of scorn for lack of post season success. The Braves have had good winning streaks but streaks they are. However they do show the power of TV... IF you're winning.

There was a missed chance for a team to become America's Team. They won the World Series and drew the third most fans in MLB. In a time before instant updates on cell phones, before internet, before cable TV sending games well outside the home area, before the only game outside the World Series a person was likely to see on TV was NBC's Saturday Game of the Week, WHEN most fans followed teams by radio, their broadcaster was a clear channel station that could be heard hundreds of miles away at night. They had the media covered and they were known and appreciated nation wide.

But after the World Series triumph, mostly standing pat with a largely age 30 plus team, the next year they collapsed to four games under .500. It was ten years after that before they got back to the World Series again. Interest dissipated and the opportunity was lost.

In the next post we'll join the meeting a couple of weeks after the World Series win where team owner Sean Walsh explains the goal of seizing the opportunity to become America's Team in OOTP. He then turns the meeting over the the GM who explains the methods and obstacles.