Nashville Stars, proposed MLB expansion team discussion

[MNNumbers]

I've already said that Montreal and Nashville seem likely for the next two teams.

While I do understand one poster's view against reusing the Expos name in Montreal, I think at this point Montreal won't accept any nickname but the Expos.

And with my proposed 4-league alignment giving the AL the same 8 cities it had from 1955-60, the NL the same 7 cities it had from 1953-57 (with Miami replacing the 2nd NYC team, thus 15 AL and NL teams are all in Northeastern and Midwestern markets that were in MLB at some point between 1901-57), the new Continental League containing the 8 other Eastern/Central markets that first gained an MLB team after 1960, and the Mountain/Pacific teams in the new Pacific Coast League, I think MLB will prosper under this setup, given that PCL teams only would have to play three 3-game series in interleague play east of the MTZ (one in each league on a rotating basis) and the ET/CT teams only have to play one 3-game series west of the CTZ interleague.

The Continental League would be the only league long-term to include non-US teams, and ultimately when MLB is at 48 teams (12 in each league), the CL would have 3 teams in Eastern Canada (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto) and one team in Mexico City, a first for the big 4 sports leagues.

Have you had some conversations with the Commissioner about your 4-league proposal?

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Another thing to consider.

I've proposed a new rule in MLB which would require all future stadiums to be built with some sort of roof, with a retractable roof preferred to allow games to be played outdoors when the weather is nice.

Existing open air stadiums would be grandfathered under the rule, but their replacements must have a roof.

The idea is to one day eliminate rainouts at the major league level.

If necessary, MLB and all its member teams would contribute to the cost of the new stadium.

Thus, future expansion teams would have to have a roof on their new stadium.

Currently only three teams, Arizona, Tampa Bay and Seattle, have never regularly played home games in an open-air stadium.

Thus, a Diamondbacks home game has never been called off because of weather.

The Rays' only weather-related home postponements have been because of hurricanes, which make it extremely unsafe to stage even an indoor game.

Seattle has never been rained out at either of their regular home venues, but in 1994, the roof of the Kingdome collapsed, and the Mariners were forced to play their remaining home games at the venues of the opposing teams. One such game was a game against the Red Sox moved to Fenway Park which ended up being rained out. It remains the only home rainout in Mariners history.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Postseason scheduling under a four league format:

Each league is assigned to one network (with MLB Network airing one game from two of the leagues exclusively).

In the LDS, all games start at 1 PM or 7 PM locally. Thus, games in the CTZ start at 2 PM or 8 PM ET, games hosted by the Rockies at 3 PM or 9 PM ET, and games hosted by other PCL teams at 4 PM or 10 PM ET. This would allow the first game on each network to conclude well before the second game on each network.

In the LCS, when four games are played on the same day, one game each is played at 1 PM, 4 PM, 7 PM and 10 PM ET (the latter always being the PCLCS game), a preference to have the 1 PM game in the Eastern Time Zone would be in play. If one of the LCS between AL/NL/CL concludes before the PCLCS, the latter series could move up to the 7 PM slot.

The national semifinals both start on the same day. On the days when both series need to play a game, one would start at 4 PM ET and the other at 8 PM ET, alternating time slots every game. If one series concludes before the other, the remaining games of the series still in progress would be at 8 PM ET.

The World Series would have all games start at 8 PM ET.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

ESPN would be able to move Saturday playoff games it has the rights to to another Disney network, like FXX so that the MLB playoffs don't interfere with ESPN's college football commitments. FX would be unavailable since I am proposing Freeform air Group of 5 CFB games on Saturday afternoons which would involve FX airing starts of games that overlap with endings of others.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

One thing I noticed is that my version of the Continental League alignment has 5 teams in the Southern US and 2 in Central Canada.

The only outlier is Minnesota. The Twin Cities are the only market in either the Midwest or Northeast that didn't gain their MLB team until after the first West Coast moves, when the original Senators moved there in 1961, the first year any expansion teams were added in the 20th century.

Furthermore, only two seasons, 1969 and 1998 saw both the AL and NL add expansion teams in the same year. Though in the latter year, it required an AL team, Milwaukee, to move to the NL, because they didn't want year-round interleague play at that time. Since the NL was the older of the two leagues, it was decided to move an AL team to the other league rather than an NL team.

The biggest rivalries I could envision among the CL's Southern teams are the following:
Houston-Texas (already an AL West rivalry)
Houston-Nashville (there is much bitterness over the Houston Oilers relocating to Nashville, additionally, Nashville and Texas have rival country music scenes)
Nashville-Texas (again, the rival country music scenes and also the developing NHL rivalry between the Predators and Stars)
Atlanta-Nashville (it's very easy to travel between the two cities by car via I-24 and I-75)
Atlanta-Tampa Bay (connected by I-75)

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Similarly, I can envision the 5 California teams in the PCL having one big rivalry among themselves

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Spring training could see some changes too.

The MLB could order a strict geographic split for spring training, which would require Cincinnati and Cleveland to move to Florida and Houston, Minnesota, and St. Louis to move to Arizona. Montreal, as an Eastern time team, and Nashville, as the easternmost Central time team, would conduct spring training in Florida.

Thus the Grapefruit League and Cactus League would essentially function as Eastern and Western Conferences for spring training only.

 

[AdmiralsFan24]

Spring training could see some changes too.

The MLB could order a strict geographic split for spring training, which would require Cincinnati and Cleveland to move to Florida and Houston, Minnesota, and St. Louis to move to Arizona.

No

 

[voyageur]

I'd like to see Nashville, Portland and Montreal all get in. I think it's inevitable that the DH gets in, it's the modern era of offense. Though I miss the days of Tony La Russa's coaching around the pitcher's spot. Takes some of the genius out of the game. I hope they keep the two leagues though, that's alot of history being torn down. It's like taking apart the AFC and NFC in football, but with 50 extra years of history.

I say Rays take their sunshine to Montreal, Nashville and Portland get in. But swap the Rockies and Expos to make it work.


AMERICAN LEAGUE

Pacific
Seattle Mariners
Portland Beavers
Anaheim Angels
Oakland A's (if they have troubles can always move to Vegas, it's trendy these days)

West
Colorado Rockies
Texas Rangers
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals

North
Minnesota Twins
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland (something other than Indians, like Crusaders appropriately)
Detroit Tigers

East
New York Yankees
Boston Red Sox
Toronto Blue Jays
Baltimore Orioles

NATIONAL LEAGUE

West
San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
Arizona Diamondbacks

Central
St. Louis Cardinals
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates

East
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals

South
Cincinnati Reds
Atlanta Braves
Nashville Stars
Miami Marlins

 

[Gnashville]

I still hate this proposed name of “Stars” mainly because it’s a Predators divisional rivals name already. It is like an expansion NFL Football team in Toronto being named the “Sabres” or “Bruins”. I hope the Dallas Stars prevent it from being used.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I already came up with the name Volunteers for the Nashville MLB team. It was the name of the old minor league team in the city.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Of the 5 Southern cities in my proposed Continental League, only Atlanta and Nashville ever had teams in the old Southern Association. Both Texas markets were part of the Texas League for a long time. Tampa Bay had multiple Florida State League teams before the Rays arrived, and they still do.

So, I've proposed that the Thrashers (new name for the Braves) and Volunteers play for the Dixie Cup, a trophy which is also a play on Dixie cups.

 

[Mightygoose]

This is a week old

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sp...tennessee-titans-not-nissan-stadium/582963400

Titans not a fan of the East Bank. Do the Titans own the land the baseball group wants to build?

Seeing if they are a big enough hurdle to clear if that's the site the Star's group is set on.

Otherwise, they're not has close to moving forward as thought. Not like MLB is going to green light expansion anytime soon.

 

[MMC]

Justin Timberlake joins effort to bring MLB to Nashville

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

I still hate this proposed name of “Stars” mainly because it’s a Predators divisional rivals name already. It is like an expansion NFL Football team in Toronto being named the “Sabres” or “Bruins”. I hope the Dallas Stars prevent it from being used.

I’m not sure the MLB needs any more southern franchises, if this is close to confirmation then that’s sad. Expos need to get back into the league.

 

[GindyDraws]

Good news is the mayor who wants the Rays to honor the Tropicana Dump lease is out next year so hopefully the new mayor is more open to the hybrid agreement... Or letting the team walk.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I'd much rather Montreal and Tampa Bay have separate franchises, both of which would be in the Continental League under my proposal

 

[generalshepherd141]

Nashville is already an over-saturated major league sports market. It has an urban area population of under 1 mil, and yet has the Titans, Preds, and MLS now. Can't see this going well if it happens.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Nashville is already an over-saturated major league sports market. It has an urban area population of under 1 mil, and yet has the Titans, Preds, and MLS now. Can't see this going well if it happens.

For all intents and purposes, Nashville and Memphis are one market in regards to sports - difference is NBA is in Memphis. All pro teams in TN are supported statewide, as are the Tennessee Volunteers. It's very likely home games of all TN teams draw fans from the entire state.

The NBA has succeeded in Memphis mainly because the city was already a basketball hotbed, with numerous nationally prominent high school teams and the Memphis Tigers of the NCAA.

Likewise, all of NC is considered one market for sports - NFL and NBA in Charlotte, NHL in the Triangle.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

For the record, there are 10,488,084 people in North Carolina, and 6,829,174 in Tennessee.

As a matter of fact, in many cases a state only has one team in a certain league, and these teams tend to be supported by most, if not all of the state. All of Michigan's teams are in Detroit, and Minnesota's in the Twin Cities, because those are the only metro areas big enough to host the teams in question.

Chicago is likewise the only metro area based around an Illinois city to have major league teams, yet it has two MLB teams, an artifact of when numerous Midwestern and Northeastern cities had at least 1 team in each the AL and NL.

New York is unique. Upstate New York and the Metro NYC area are basically two states in all but legal purposes. Both of Upstate NY's teams are in Buffalo, while metro NYC has at least two teams in every major league.

The list goes on and on.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I did some research, and there are 16 states that do not have more than one team in any of the big 4 leagues:

Arizona
Colorado
Georgia
Indiana
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Nevada
North Carolina*
Oklahoma
Oregon
Tennessee*
Utah
Washington
Wisconsin^

* - teams in multiple metro areas
^ - the Packers physically play in Green Bay, but are for all intents and purposes a Milwaukee team

Thus, these states can be considered single markets for sports purposes.

 

[Gnashville]

Nashville is already an over-saturated major league sports market. It has an urban area population of under 1 mil, and yet has the Titans, Preds, and MLS now. Can't see this going well if it happens.

Middle Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama has a population of over 2.5-3 million. The Geography of Tennessee is such that Nashville doesn’t need a large urban population to draw well. It’s basically the same as Denver Colorado. Now is the money there to support all 4 teams is a viable Question. Titans play 8 home games, Predators 41, MLB 81, MLS ? Plus playoffs games Titans 2 max, Predators 16 max (this would drive me crazy BTW 4 home game 7’s wowza) MLB/MLS ??. Is the money there for all these games? I honestly don’t know but the area is seeing incredible growth.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Middle Tennessee, Southern Kentucky, Northern Alabama has a population of over 2.5-3 million. The Geography of Tennessee is such that Nashville doesn’t need a large urban population to draw well. It’s basically the same as Denver Colorado. Now is the money there to support all 4 teams is a viable Question. Titans play 8 home games, Predators 41, MLB 81, MLS ? Plus playoffs games Titans 2 max, Predators 16 max (this would drive me crazy BTW 4 home game 7’s wowza) MLB/MLS ??. Is the money there for all these games? I honestly don’t know but the area is seeing incredible growth.

There's over 10 million when you take into account the rest of Tennessee's population and all of Kentucky outside metro Cincinnati.

In states like Tennessee, fans come from everywhere in the state to see a major league sports game. Even those in East Tennessee are willing to go all the way to Memphis to see the Grizzlies.

 

[Gnashville]

There's over 10 million when you take into account the rest of Tennessee's population and all of Kentucky outside metro Cincinnati.

In states like Tennessee, fans come from everywhere in the state to see a major league sports game. Even those in East Tennessee are willing to go all the way to Memphis to see the Grizzlies.

I disagree about the Grizzlies since Memphis is kinda in it’s own sphere. Memphis is still bitter about the Titans choosing Nashville instead of them. I can count on one hand how many Grizzlies jerseys, hats, shirts ect I have seen people wearing in 15 years. They are nothing compared to the Predators or Titans in popularity. NBA is a star player league and Memphis has never had one to attract fans. I don’t know if Ja Morant is good enough to help that.
Most of Kentucky’s population is near Louisville which has 3 NFL (Colts, Bengals, Titans) teams nearby (200 miles), 1 MLB (Reds) team, 1 NBA (Pacers) team, 1 NHL (Predators) team. Would Nashville draw enough from The Reds to effect anything?
Most Baseball fans in TN already have teams they support Cardinals, Braves, Reds, & Yankee. The Nashville team would probably be American League.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Well under my four league plan, Nashville would be in the Continental League as it is an ET or CT market that gained its MLB team after 1960. Every other such market would go in that league, except for Miami because one such team needed to stay in the NL to make it an even 8 teams, as the AL would reset its city lineup to what cities were in the league in 1957, albeit with Kansas City and Washington now being represented by the Royals and Nationals rather than Athletics and Senators. Every other NL team is likewise in a city that had an NL team in 1957 (but Miami replaces the second NYC team, while NYC is now represented by the Mets and the Brewers, rather than the Braves, represent Milwaukee).