This explains why the Yankees put their Double-A team in Albany for years before
moving them all the way to Mystic Connecticut… why the Mets played their Minor
League systems in Pittsfield Massachusetts and Norfolk Virginia and why the New
Jersey Cardinals put their Minor League franchise out in the middle of a pasture
in Sussex County. It was because that was the closest you could get to the rich
New York City media market, without having one of the 2 NYC based Major League
teams, veto the creation of your new Major or Minor League ballpark due to
their territorial radius. For instance, the Mets had wanted a Minor League team
in Long Island for years, but the Yankees would never let them do it. The Yankees
meanwhile would have loved a Minor League franchise in Yonkers but they knew
the Mets would veto the move. |