And the owner of the Washington Nationals is...YOU!

[eddiejc1]

Let's have a hypothetical exercise. MLB has swallowed
it's pride and named you as an owner. I believe the Nats
owner has a huge job trying to win back the goodwill of
fans that has ebbed because of the fight over the stadium.
What would you do? If you'd rather not talk about this, I
perfectly understand.

Eddie Cunningham

[KingJ]

1. Raise payroll to $100+ mil
2. Hire a better GM
3. Sign better FAs
4. Make sure we actually need them before we sign them
5. Win the NL East
6. Win the World Series
7. Get Max Capacity at the WS games
8. Get Complaints About WS Accomidations at RFK Sent to City Council
9. Get Stadium Built

[Bob Hannah]

Market the team. Efforts thus far have been woefully pathetic. That, however, is not entirely the fault of Taveres-budget. And I don't need to go into that.

Marketing/Community involvement outside D.C. proper. D.C. politicians are concerned with what happens in this regard in the city limits, and rightly so. The outlying metro area cannot be dirgarded. Get the affluent populous of Maryland and Virginia educated. Run some "Family" oriented deals, other than the family package sold. While those outfield lower and upper reserve are ok once or twice a season, include seating between the bags or down the lines. They are so much better for the money paid. The lower bowl remains pretty much sold out, don't know what they can do there.

Run deals for the Feds. How many hundreds of thousands work in the area?

Involve the local youth leagues. Even through last year our Little League would make its annual sojourn to Charm City to catch an O's game. Hope they have the sense to go much closer to home.

[vasprtsfn]

1. Get a better TV deal. This team had more TV exposure in Montreal. There is no reason why all 162 games couldnt be on television.
2. Have a fan fest every winter, either a one weekend event or a caravan style event, where we make stops in many locations throughout the DC area
3. Retain Jim Bowden. I know I am in the minority on this one, but I think he has made a lot of good moves so far in his tenure.
4. Have a Nationals exhibition home game every year against one of our minor league affiliates. (This would also be a good experience for the prospects.)
5. Just like the Arizona Diamondbacks do, require all of the my players to spend 15 minutes before every game signing autographs for fans. (Just like the Diamondbacks, though, only that night's starting pitcher would be exempt from doing so.)
6. More diverse concessions at the stadium. (Did anyone find a cheeseburger stand at RFK in 2005?)
7. One of my favorite giveaways last year was the team photos. I would make sure this is a yearly thing.
8. Have a few players conduct a baseball camp during the all-star break for local youth players.
9. Include scoreboard updates on our minor league affiliates games.
10. Any fan that catches a homerun ball, have them send the ball back to the team to be autographed by the hitter and returned to the fan.

All I can think of right now. But the TV deal has to be numero uno.

[Melottfan]

Resign, or sell the team.

[Melottfan]

Seriously folks, Renew the player development contract with New Orleans for another two years. Invest the money wisely in the minor league system, today's investment, tomorrow's profits. Kick Frank Robinson upstairs as special advisor to someone, and bring abroad someone who can teach as well as motivate the team.

[vasprtsfn]

Originally Posted by Melottfan

Seriously folks, Renew the player development contract with New Orleans for another two years. Invest the money wisely in the minor league system, today's investment, tomorrow's profits. Kick Frank Robinson upstairs as special advisor to someone, and bring abroad someone who can teach as well as motivate the team.

I would do that only if we cant get Richmond as our top affiliate. Most teams will tell you that they like having their Triple-A affiliate as close as possible, because they want injured players rehabing at as close to the big league level as posible and to be able to make it a same day trip. Teams like the Mariners, Rockies, Redsox, Reds, and Diamondbacks all can do that. But someone like the Marlins are screwed because their Triple-A affiliate is Albuquerque.

[vasprtsfn]

Originally Posted by Bob Hannah

Marketing/Community involvement outside D.C. proper. D.C. politicians are concerned with what happens in this regard in the city limits, and rightly so. The outlying metro area cannot be dirgarded. Get the affluent populous of Maryland and Virginia educated. .

I think you are exactly right with getting the suburbs educated and involved here. What idiots like Adrian Fenty and David Catania dont seem to understand is that with this region, there are thousands of entertainment options, and they all have to compete with each other for the entertainment dollar of the consumer. By having this team here, this will encourage even more money spent in the city by us suburbanites.

[efin98]

What the team needs most is marketting. I'd market the team out of town alot better in addition to the local marketting.

Get the New Orleans and Florida affiliates involved in the marketing. The city is a tourist magnet, with the word out in those tourist areas as well as locally that should drum up alot of support.

Also, I'd work with TBS and Turner South. Have them do segments before, after, and during the games on the team's players to give them some exposure and give the team alot of national recognition. Boston does that during the NESN pregame show, it's a highlight that really should be done other places...

[Uncle Dak]

Based on the good suggestions in this thread here are some moves to make:

Appoint Frank Robinson as Chief of Baseball Operations.
Hire Jim Beattie as the VP and GM.
Move the Zephers to Landover, MD.

I would change the name, too. Something completely different. I've always felt the Nationals was just a fill-in. I'll have some suggestions soon.