2020s MLB Expansion Watch Thread...

[murksiderock]

Keep this thread active for the 2020s because it's happening within the next 2-3 years:

MLB Expansion Suitors Grow, Even Without Formal Process

While there isn’t yet a definitive process for MLB expansion, that isn’t stopping potential candidate cities from becoming more vocal.

frontofficesports.com

Potential Major League Baseball expansion - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

How is MLB expansion impacted by the Oakland A's likely move to Las Vegas?

Could formal expansion talks start as soon as next year? “Now we've been hearing a message that’s really: get ready.”

theathletic.com

MLB expansion back on table with 6 cities competing for 2 spots

After years of putting it off, it looks like MLB expansion is officially on the horizon. Which of these cities would you want a team?

elitesportsny.com

So your candidate cities, in alphabetical order at this time:

•Charlotte
•Montreal
•Nashville
•Oakland
•Orlando
•Portland
•Raleigh
•Salt Lake City

Who do you all think or want to get the next two MLB franchises?

 

[murksiderock]

You have 8 cities fighting for 2 spots. If you ask me who I think will get the two at this very moment, I'd say Montreal and Nashville. Montreal is like Seattle in basketball, I think the city and The League really want a return to Montreal. I'd bank on that happening...

The players voted for Nashville at All-Star week as the city they'd most like to see an expansion in, and Nashville has more momentum than any of these other cities, including Montreal. MLB seems more interested in them than anyone...

But I do think everyone except Oakland has a reasonable shot and will have a chance to make their case. The A's aren't leaving Oakland just to immediately get an expansion team in a few years...

I'll put the plug in for Raleigh, because I live here. It would suffice as a market between Atlanta and DC. It's a growing market, and we are a larger market than candidate cities Nashville and Salt Lake, so if market size is a central issue those two cities have to come off the board before Raleigh...

Raleigh is also a larger market than existing MLB cities St Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Diego, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Las Vegas. In short, you can't play the "market size" game with Raleigh when you have 8 existing franchises in smaller media markets and two candidate cities in smaller media markets. And honestly, because of The League's interest in Nashville, I don't actually believe market size will be a major factor in this round if expansion...

We have the billionaire frontman to push our bid, the Canes owner. These leagues always need to know how a city can afford an expansion squad, and our owner recently said the price tag of $2.2 billion isn't an issue. So we are a leg up there...

As with all cities, this is a baseball-rich area. Baseball is America's oldest sport, few places don't have at least some baseball legacy. I don't know if any of these cities are baseball-first the way a city like St Louis is, but probably all of these cities have a deep baseball history simply off the age if the sport and its historical meaning to the US...

If MLB has any consideration to a saturated sports market, we only have one big league team, the NHL Canes. All of the other candidate cities besides Oakland have at least two major league teams already, and like I said I doubt Oakland gets another team this soon...

MLB in Raleigh would be the draw in the months that hockey isn't going on, would fill a natural void...

Lastly, these leagues care about if a city's residents can afford a team. The median household income in Raleigh is larger than all of these cities except Oakland, so people have more money to spend here than any of these other candidates...

That said, I think the major thing that will hamper Raleigh is that it isn't the "sexy" choice or a popular market. You could easily say all of these other cities are more popular than Raleigh even though some of them are smaller than Raleigh, broker than Raleigh, etc. Manfred in years past has publicly voiced an interest in Charlotte, so Raleigh isn't even #1 in Carolina...

We also don't even yet have a site selected or agreed upon for a stadium. Most of these other cities already have that and that puts us behind the curve...

I don't think Raleigh gets one as currently stands but I also think Raleigh has at least as much in its favor as anyone else. I'd definitely support a team in Charlotte though...

 

[Spence]

Orlando is on the list but OKC isn’t?

Nobody wants to play in SLC that’s why the NFL has stayed away.

Florida isn’t getting a 3rd team when only 19k people showed up for a Rays playoff team that won 100 games

I would throw Louisville into the mix as well for obvious reasons.

 

[murksiderock]

Orlando is on the list but OKC isn’t?

Nobody wants to play in SLC that’s why the NFL has stayed away.

Florida isn’t getting a 3rd team when only 19k people showed up for a Rays playoff team that won 100 games

I would throw Louisville into the mix as well for obvious reasons.

It'll be interesting to see what cities throw themselves in the race when MLB formally announces their expansion committee. OKC and Louisville would be interesting...

Of the cities that are already in The Race, who are the two you favor?

Yeah I doubt Orlando gets it because of Florida notoriously being hard to support their teams...

Salt Lake is also in the running for an NHL franchise, and it's not a glitz and glamor place like Vegas or Nashville so they aren't getting both...

 

[CarltonJunior]

From what I've read, Charlotte and Portland seem to be locks.

Orlando is a technicality, it's only being considered as a place for the rays to play if laws/funding don't line up properly in the Tampa area.

SLC has a rich dude whose on a campaign for it but he seems to be the only major player pulling strings for it, the city itself isn't campaigning.

The rest aren't serious contenders...as far as I've read anyway.

 

[Da_Eggman]

Orlando can’t support a baseball team that’s ridiculous

 

[Windows 91]

Florida can't support the teams they already have, Orlando got no chance. Oakland

 

[murksiderock]

From what I've read, Charlotte and Portland seem to be locks.

Orlando is a technicality, it's only being considered as a place for the rays to play if laws/funding don't line up properly in the Tampa area.

SLC has a rich dude whose on a campaign for it but he seems to be the only major player pulling strings for it, the city itself isn't campaigning.

The rest aren't serious contenders...as far as I've read anyway.

All the most recent reports suggest that Nashville is the leader in the clubhouse and whoever is up for expansion city #2 is basically up in the air...

Charlotte and Portland were more often mentioned in the past 3-5 years but I think the dynamic changes with Manfred basically announcing forming the expansion committee is imminent. All of these cities have been notified within the last week to prepare for Q1 2024; the math is changing with the realization we're advancing beyond the "just talking about" expansion stage...

Even with Nashville as the current favorite, I wouldn't call them a lock, either. If market size matters, you have to ask if a city Nashville's size can support 4 major league franchises (same question that needs to be asked of Vegas with the A's moving there)...

 

[CarltonJunior]

All the most recent reports suggest that Nashville is the leader in the clubhouse and whoever is up for expansion city #2 is basically up in the air...

Charlotte and Portland were more often mentioned in the past 3-5 years but I think the dynamic changes with Manfred basically announcing forming the expansion committee is imminent. All of these cities have been notified within the last week to prepare for Q1 2024; the math is changing with the realization we're advancing beyond the "just talking about" expansion stage...

Even with Nashville as the current favorite, I wouldn't call them a lock, either. If market size matters, you have to ask if a city Nashville's size can support 4 major league franchises (same question that needs to be asked of Vegas with the A's moving there)...

Yeah upon further review, it does seem like nashville and portland, charlotte doesn't seem have a pathway to building a major league capable stadium currently, whilst nashville and portland have outlined, public plans ready to rock

I wouldn't mind if any of those 3 got teams. I don't underestimate canada either, if montreal wants it enough I think they will have a strong bid

 

[Remote]

Population:

Charlotte: 880,000
Montreal: 1.8 million
Nashville: 700,000
Oakland: 430,000
Portland: 640,000
Raleigh: 470,000
Salt Lake City: 200,000

That's a blunt way to look at it. And it doesn't consider the broader metro area, competing markets (especially important regarding Oakland) or the local finances to support a franchise, but it's a start.

You look at that and think Montreal is a no-brainer but then you have to question why the Expos failed in the 1st place and what will be different this time around?

 

[CarltonJunior]

Population:

Charlotte: 880,000
Montreal: 1.8 million
Nashville: 700,000
Oakland: 430,000
Portland: 640,000
Raleigh: 470,000
Salt Lake City: 200,000

That's a blunt way to look at it. And it doesn't consider the broader metro area, competing markets (especially important regarding Oakland) or the local finances to support a franchise, but it's a start.

You look at that and think Montreal is a no-brainer but then you have to question why the Expos failed in the 1st place and what will be different this time around?

In sports I feel that it's well documented that location is secondary to ownership, at this point. Ownership will make do with what they have and build up the location and culture accordingly. That's why teams like the sacramento kings have lasted so long with no signs of relocation in sight.

So in that respect I think with meticulously vetted ownership and buy in, Montreal, and any of those other locations really, would be fine. The only concern would be for those places what type of ballpark are they developing and can it be developed in a suitable timeframe

 

[AVXL]

When was Raleigh ever getting a MLB team?

 

[King Poetic]

Montreal and charlotte

Portland is third

Everyone else

 

[murksiderock]

Yeah upon further review, it does seem like nashville and portland, charlotte doesn't seem have a pathway to building a major league capable stadium currently, whilst nashville and portland have outlined, public plans ready to rock

I wouldn't mind if any of those 3 got teams. I don't underestimate canada either, if montreal wants it enough I think they will have a strong bid

I think expansion is exciting and I'd like for any of these cities to get it. That said, I'm not sold on Nashville being able to adequately support four major league teams, because the size just isn't there...

The smallest city with 4 major league franchises is Seattle---->which has the 8th largest economy (GDP), 12th largest media market (DMA), and 14th largest metropolitan area (MSA) in the United States. It's 2-3 times larger than Nashville on all counts. So I don't think Nashville should be awarded the expansion franchise because one of the teams is gonna suffer there from oversaturation...

Population:

Charlotte: 880,000
Montreal: 1.8 million
Nashville: 700,000
Oakland: 430,000
Portland: 640,000
Raleigh: 470,000
Salt Lake City: 200,000

That's a blunt way to look at it. And it doesn't consider the broader metro area, competing markets (especially important regarding Oakland) or the local finances to support a franchise, but it's a start.

You look at that and think Montreal is a no-brainer but then you have to question why the Expos failed in the 1st place and what will be different this time around?

The population in the city limits doesn't matter. St Louis is down to ~286,000 residents and they still support their teams because the St Louis metro area has never lost population; all the citizens leaving the city and most just stay in a suburb of St Louis somewhere...

Here are the 8 contending cities by each relevant metric:

(DMA)
*Oakland shares the 10th-largest Markey with SF and SJ*
17 Orlando
21 Charlotte
22 Portland
23 Raleigh
27 Nashville
29 Salt Lake

Montreal being in Canada isn't on here but it's safe ti say it would be above every city here except The Bay...

(GDP)
*Montreal's GDP would be around 17th highest if it were in the US*
19 Oakland
21 Charlotte
25 Portland
29 Orlando
30 Nashville
39 Salt Lake
41 Raleigh

(MSA)
*Montreal would be 14th-largest if it was in America*
21 Oakland
22 Orlando
23 Charlotte
26 Portland
38 Nashville
43 Raleigh
48 Salt Lake

I do agree though, that despite the nostalgia, MLB needs to take a thorough look at how the Expos dissolved in support in Montreal what would be different 20 years later...

When was Raleigh ever getting a MLB team?

We on the list fam I'm pretty sure 25 years ago muhfukkas asked how Raleigh was getting an NHL team too, yet we got em and have kept em longer than Atlanta kept their NHL squad
..

 

[AVXL]

I think expansion is exciting and I'd like for any of these cities to get it. That said, I'm not sold on Nashville being able to adequately support four major league teams, because the size just isn't there...

The smallest city with 4 major league franchises is Seattle---->which has the 8th largest economy (GDP), 12th largest media market (DMA), and 14th largest metropolitan area (MSA) in the United States. It's 2-3 times larger than Nashville on all counts. So I don't think Nashville should be awarded the expansion franchise because one of the teams is gonna suffer there from oversaturation...

The population in the city limits doesn't matter. St Louis is down to ~286,000 residents and they still support their teams because the St Louis metro area has never lost population; all the citizens leaving the city and most just stay in a suburb of St Louis somewhere...

Here are the 8 contending cities by each relevant metric:

(DMA)
*Oakland shares the 10th-largest Markey with SF and SJ*
17 Orlando
21 Charlotte
22 Portland
23 Raleigh
27 Nashville
29 Salt Lake

Montreal being in Canada isn't on here but it's safe ti say it would be above every city here except The Bay...

(GDP)
*Montreal's GDP would be around 17th highest if it were in the US*
19 Oakland
21 Charlotte
25 Portland
29 Orlando
30 Nashville
39 Salt Lake
41 Raleigh

(MSA)
*Montreal would be 14th-largest if it was in America*
21 Oakland
22 Orlando
23 Charlotte
26 Portland
38 Nashville
43 Raleigh
48 Salt Lake

I do agree though, that despite the nostalgia, MLB needs to take a thorough look at how the Expos dissolved in support in Montreal what would be different 20 years later...

We on the list fam I'm pretty sure 25 years ago muhfukkas asked how Raleigh was getting an NHL team too, yet we got em and have kept em longer than Atlanta kept their NHL squad
..

You got one pro team bro and even that’s a huge commitment for y’all. You acting like MLB is clamoring for a team in Raleigh just because you live there

There are several more legitimate and realistic options including in your own state than Raleigh, GTFOG with this disingenuous, low key homer thread. Raleigh ain’t gettin shyt