Marlins’ “Teal Monster” Not Getting Repaired Anytime Soon

Marlins ownership has done quite a bit over the years to earn its spendthrift reputation, whether it be Wayne Huizenga, John Henry or now Jeffrey Loria. Even if they’ve found ways to be successful with a lower payroll in recent years, the team hasn’t exactly made up for it in other departments, getting the city of Miami to pony up public funds for a new stadium. Even that won’t come until 2011. ↵↵In the meantime, there are repairs to be made at Sun Life Stadium, where the Marlins are still calling home for the next two seasons. The massive out-of-town scoreboards in left field (unfortunately dubbed “The Teal↵Monster”) currently aren’t functioning. Rather than address the matter, the team is just content to cover them up with huge advertisements for the MLB Network, along with a cheesy picture of their mascot and a plug for the Marlins Community Foundation. And that’s gonna stay the way it is.↵

↵↵⇥Dating back to last season several bulbs were either malfunctioning or broken. Stadium and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross deemed it too expensive to fix. As lame duck tenants, the Marlins certainly aren’t going to put so much as a dime into a facility they will vacate after the 2011 season.↵↵↵While a huge overhaul to a stadium with fewer than two full seasons remaining would be a foolish outlay on the part of management, and the loss of an out of town scoreboard not a huge detriment to the gameday experience, it’s a sad message for a franchise to send to its fans that basic maintenance cannot be undertaken at the stadium. We’re certainly not talking household light fixtures here, but is the expense that prohibitive, especially when the league is already giving the team heat for not spending enough income from MLB’s revenue sharing structure? While I’m sure Loria would be happier to cut and run to the new stadium, perhaps a little upkeep would be a reasonable sop to throw to fans and the league?↵

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