Potential MLB Expansion Thread

[MMC]

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[BKIslandersFan]

There's less than 2 million people in the metropolitan area and there are already NHL, NFL and MLS team there.

Not happening. I get city is supposedly growing but still.

 

[Voight]

For one their park needs a significant expansion as it seats just over 10k. Need to get that to 35K at minimum IMO.

There's less than 2 million people in the metropolitan area and there are already NHL, NFL and MLS team there.

Not happening. I get city is supposedly growing but still.

Including Metro Areas its higher than Milwaukee and just under CLE & KC.

NHL and NFL don't compete with the baseball seasons a whole lot and while MLS is getting popular, it still lags behind the MLB significantly. NSH is a great option if they can add more seats to their stadium (its only 5 or 6 years old as well).

 

[Cas]

Nashville is an option, but I think it falls behind North Carolina and possibly Montreal, Memphis, or Portland (as well as a third New York team) - certainly its not well ahead of the latter bunch.

Of course that's only considering them as markets without considering what municipality might be willing to offer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land and public funds to build a park. A few hundred million is worth a lot of potential fans.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Nashville is an option, but I think it falls behind North Carolina and possibly Montreal, Memphis, or Portland (as well as a third New York team) - certainly its not well ahead of the latter bunch.

Of course that's only considering them as markets without considering what municipality might be willing to offer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land and public funds to build a park. A few hundred million is worth a lot of potential fans.

Memphis? They are smaller than Nashville and is economically worse off.

 

[Centrum Hockey]

Memphis? They are smaller than Nashville and is economically worse off.

Memphis is one of the poorest markets to have a big 4 team in the USA.

 

[Voight]

Nashville is an option, but I think it falls behind North Carolina and possibly Montreal, Memphis, or Portland (as well as a third New York team) - certainly its not well ahead of the latter bunch.

Of course that's only considering them as markets without considering what municipality might be willing to offer hundreds of millions of dollars worth of land and public funds to build a park. A few hundred million is worth a lot of potential fans.

Nashville has a ballpark. Granted it needs to expand seating capacity for an MLB team, but its fairly new.

All those other cities would need to build something from the ground up.

 

[Cas]

Nashville has a ballpark. Granted it needs to expand seating capacity for an MLB team, but its fairly new.

All those other cities would need to build something from the ground up.

I think the era of MLB teams simply expanding an extant ballpark are over - they demand a big, brand new park. Expansion of an existing facility hasn't really been done since the 60's, other than Arlington Stadium in Texas.

Montreal does have a facility (Olympic Stadium), as does Charlotte, NC. Both are in the same boat, though - they'd need to be replaced, even if on the same footprint as the existing parks.

 

[HisIceness]

I've said this before and I will repeat it again, Charlotte would be an awful town for MLB.

I don't know if Nashville would be "better", but one thing Nashville does have going for it is the tourism sector. Nashville has become such a hot tourist destination in the last decade that I could see teams offering bus trips there like what some NHL teams do when their team plays at Bridgestone, the Hurricanes for instance used to do this. Charlotte would have to rely heavily on the locals and the transplanted fans to pay the major-league prices for 82 night a year, mostly in the dead heat of summer. That's not happening when teams like the Diamondbacks and Mariners come to town.

Again, I don't know if Nashville would do better, but I think they have a better shot at getting more people to attend thanks to the tourism sector.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

I've said this before and I will repeat it again, Charlotte would be an awful town for MLB.

I don't know if Nashville would be "better", but one thing Nashville does have going for it is the tourism sector. Nashville has become such a hot tourist destination in the last decade that I could see teams offering bus trips there like what some NHL teams do when their team plays at Bridgestone, the Hurricanes for instance used to do this. Charlotte would have to rely heavily on the locals and the transplanted fans to pay the major-league prices for 82 night a year, mostly in the dead heat of summer. That's not happening when teams like the Diamondbacks and Mariners come to town.

Again, I don't know if Nashville would do better, but I think they have a better shot at getting more people to attend thanks to the tourism sector.

Why would Charlotte be any worse than Arlington or Cumberland, Georgia?

 

[HisIceness]

Why would Charlotte be any worse than Arlington or Cumberland, Georgia?

Well Arlington and Cumberland are both suburbs of cities that happen to be much larger than Charlotte, so there's that.

But to get to the point, Charlotte already has the NFL, NBA, and an MLS team coming so that's maxing out the sports dollar as it is. The NFL team, the one that is the most popular in this city and state among the 3 major-league teams, fails to sell out in lean years (in fact they failed to sell out the home opener last season, and they always sell that out no matter what). The NBA team has very few actual fans, most of the attendees are there for the booze and/or to see the star players on the opposing team. How the MLS will do remains to be seen, I'm sure they will be a hot commodity at first but if they take the route of the Panthers/Hornets and fall into mediocrity most years, expect empty seats. This city overall is pretty fickle and fairweather when it comes to the sports teams. Such is life as a transplant city I guess but the reaction in lean years is apathetic at best.

MLB would require a brand new stadium, likely Uptown since that's where most of the "action" is. This would mean tearing down the 6 year old BB&T Ballpark which was already a hassle to get built thanks to a lawyer who claimed the land should be used for a bigger stadium and kept suing the city, and rebuilding the infrastructure. BB&T Ballpark was not built for MLB expansion. And, Charlotte already had a big controversy building Spectrum Center in the 2000's, the original Hornets left because of it. No potential owner is going to pay for this likely billion-dollar project out of his own pocket, and frankly as a Charlotte taxpayer, my taxes are already high enough as is, and I would rather see that money be spent on improving public infrastructure (in particular the poorly lit, narrow, and pot-hole filled roads!) and getting the light rail to run a line out to the airport, than building a toy for a billionaire for a team that, lets face it, is likely going to be mediocre most years anyway. Plus, this just my own opinion but minor-league ball is a lot of fun and a more enjoyable experience than the majors.

And then there's the sheer number of home games. 82 home games is a lot, and those home games in the dead heat of July and August (especially against the non-draws) are going to be a tough sell with major league prices. With the Knights, the tickets are cheaper and the team usually offers dollar beer or dollar hot dog nights on hot weekend nights to get more people to come out. That's not happening with an MLB team. The only way an MLB team here would sell out year round is if they were the 2nd coming of the 1996-2003 era Yankees. If the 8-home game a year Panthers fail to put butts in seats in lean years which they already do (see last season as a good example), I'm not sure why the Carolina Knights or whatever would be any better. This city is way more of a Football town than a Baseball one.

 

[Canes]

A few years ago my wife and I decided to walk up last minute to go to a Knights game and it was sold out, which was surprising for a MiLB game. We've since been and BB&T Park is one of my favorite sports venues period. Great setting for baseball. I think baseball could work in Charlotte with the right owner. But they just built that stadium and apparently it's not expandable. Other potential cities like Nashville probably have less hurdles to clear.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Charlotte's stadium baffled me when it was built and still baffles me. It's too small to be a temporary venue and isn't expandable in any meaningful way. They basically waved away their chances of attracting a team by building a stadium in that tiny footprint.

I doubt a hypothetical team in Nashville would call First Horizon Park home for long, but at least the footprint isn't boxed in by streets and courthouses preventing even temporary expansion.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Charlotte's stadium baffled me when it was built and still baffles me. It's too small to be a temporary venue and isn't expandable in any meaningful way. They basically waved away their chances of attracting a team by building a stadium in that tiny footprint.

I doubt a hypothetical team in Nashville would call First Horizon Park home for long, but at least the footprint isn't boxed in by streets and courthouses preventing even temporary expansion.

What minor league stadium is ever built with MLB expansion in mind?

 

[Big McLargehuge]

What minor league stadium is ever built with MLB expansion in mind?

It used to be somewhat common. You get the team first, then you build the stadium. Cities would build venues with the thought of expanding. The Rangers played in a jumbo-sized minor league stadium for decades. It hasn't always worked...Buffalo's stadium was built with an eye towards the Majors and wound up just being awkwardly large for a AAA stadium. Expansion teams playing in temporary dumps was basically the expectation until the Diamondbacks actually began play in a stadium built specifically for Major League Baseball. In some circumstances those temporary dumps just keep going...see Tampa...


The point is more that the city just used taxpayer money to build an uptown baseball stadium (right by the football stadium) and another stadium would be required to actually house a Major League team not even a decade later. Washington doesn't get the Nationals without having RFK Stadium to play in until they got a stadium to be built. If you're talking straight expansion then you can wait until a stadium is built...but I'm against expansion at this point in time and you still have the issue of finding funding for a full-blown baseball stadium, which ain't cheap on top of whatever exorbitant price the expansion fees would run.

 

[KevFu]

Nashville has a privately financed stadium plan in place, and are trademarking (terrible) names and logos.

Nashville, Portland and Montreal are the only serious contenders. And Baseball is going to expand, soon. See my posts in other threads.

 

[SSF]

Vegas minor league stadium was built to expand for one.

First Horizon could be expanded in Nashville, but it would be difficult as it was built on a fairly small lot in North Downtown. It could go towards the river some and to the southeast but there is a trail that would have to be relocated, which would start protests almost immediately.

 

[KevFu]

Vegas minor league stadium was built to expand for one.

First Horizon could be expanded in Nashville, but it would be difficult as it was built on a fairly small lot in North Downtown. It could go towards the river some and to the southeast but there is a trail that would have to be relocated, which would start protests almost immediately.

Nashville has a site picked out, and a financing plan in place. They also just added a former Red Sox GM to their team.

 

[KevFu]

Buffalo's stadium was built with an eye towards the Majors and wound up just being awkwardly large for a AAA stadium.

And the Jays are contemplating using it for their 2020 season, apparently!

 

[Unholy Diver]

If a team were to be awarded to Charlotte could they just play in the football stadium temporarily?

 

[Big McLargehuge]

If a team were to be awarded to Charlotte could they just play in the football stadium temporarily?

Not without some fairly intense renovations. None of those seats are collapsible/movable in the way they were in multi-purpose stadiums. Charlotte is getting a MLS team next year that'll be playing there, too...which involves some renovations to the lower bowl/stadium innards that would make configuring it to baseball even more difficult.

Doing so temporarily would probably be doable...but I doubt there'd be much desire to repeat the Dodgers playing at the Coliseum for their first 4 seasons in LA, where you could hit a 251 foot home run to left field or a 300 foot bomb to right.

 

[BKIslandersFan]

Not without some fairly intense renovations. None of those seats are collapsible/movable in the way they were in multi-purpose stadiums. Charlotte is getting a MLS team next year that'll be playing there, too...which involves some renovations to the lower bowl/stadium innards that would make configuring it to baseball even more difficult.

Doing so temporarily would probably be doable...but I doubt there'd be much desire to repeat the Dodgers playing at the Coliseum for their first 4 seasons in LA, where you could hit a 251 foot home run to left field or a 300 foot bomb to right.

Better to just play in their minor league stadium, unless the plan is to build the new stadium on that site.

 

[KevFu]

If a team were to be awarded to Charlotte could they just play in the football stadium temporarily?

There's no reason to do this though. Just like the Seattle NHL team and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the next expansion teams can join the league when their facility has been constructed.

 

[Cas]

There's no reason to do this though. Just like the Seattle NHL team and the Arizona Diamondbacks, the next expansion teams can join the league when their facility has been constructed.

All they need is a municipality gullible enough to fork over a billion dollars.

 

[KevFu]

All they need is a municipality gullible enough to fork over a billion dollars.

No, I mean there's no reason for an expansion team to play in a temporary stadium.

The Diamondbacks and Rays were awarded teams on March 9, 1995. Their first games were April of 1998.