What markets will get MLB's 31 and 32?

[KevFu]

That tracks. Everything is connected!

 

[KnightCap78]

If Oakland stays in Oakland, what is the likelihood of Vegas? I need a team to care about during the summer, and i have written off that cesspool i grew up in called the dc/balt metro.

 

[KevFu]

If Oakland stays in Oakland, what is the likelihood of Vegas? I need a team to care about during the summer, and i have written off that cesspool i grew up in called the dc/balt metro.

I think the odds would be long. If the Vegas A's deal falls through, it's over the money and who pays what.

If they can't work out a deal for a team that carries no expansion fee to show up, who's paying the additional $2 billion for an expansion team?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

If MLB comes to MTL the stadium will be completely empty all the time.

 

[PCSPounder]

It'll be whomever takes the step to finance a new stadium first.

That's the major barrier. Pick any two markets, and if those two are the ones to put a plan with a few hundred million dollars towards it together, they'll be the next expansion cities.

My hunch would be Charlotte and Nashville, with Salt Lake City being a dark horse, but all it takes is one billionaire to make the leap, and their city's the new frontrunner.

I'd love to see Montreal come back, but I really don't expect that kind of financial backing to get that done.

As for an out of left field option, I wouldn't be shocked to see Albuquerque try to put something together if MLB or NBA/NFL start being more open about expansion.

I might amend your comment to say “first acceptable public stadium funding scheme in an acceptable market, then the next one.”

Albuquerque isn’t acceptable. It’s not a rich market, the whole state (which isn’t small in land area) is just over 2 million population, and the one market you could argue could make it even something of a TV market…

…would be El Paso. El Paso/Juarez is actually the larger market. If it weren’t just as poor, that would make for an interesting conversation. Thing is, if anything, if it was a richer market, you’d be siting the park in Juarez. But we won’t be seeing a proposal from them.

There was plenty of talk about Mexico City when the Padres and Giants were playing there a week ago. That IS a richer market. If anything, the altitude is the main concern, and 11 home runs in one game speaks to that. Albuquerque is a few feet higher than Denver, and while Salt Lake is 1,000 feet lower, the Mexico City discussion brought out a thread among the cognoscenti that Colorado is essentially set up for failure because the location will never allow pitching to look good.

 

[Frosty415]

Bring back the expos

 

[KevFu]

I might amend your comment to say “first acceptable public stadium funding scheme in an acceptable market, then the next one.”

Albuquerque isn’t acceptable. It’s not a rich market, the whole state (which isn’t small in land area) is just over 2 million population, and the one market you could argue could make it even something of a TV market…

…would be El Paso. El Paso/Juarez is actually the larger market. If it weren’t just as poor, that would make for an interesting conversation. Thing is, if anything, if it was a richer market, you’d be siting the park in Juarez. But we won’t be seeing a proposal from them.

There was plenty of talk about Mexico City when the Padres and Giants were playing there a week ago. That IS a richer market. If anything, the altitude is the main concern, and 11 home runs in one game speaks to that. Albuquerque is a few feet higher than Denver, and while Salt Lake is 1,000 feet lower, the Mexico City discussion brought out a thread among the cognoscenti that Colorado is essentially set up for failure because the location will never allow pitching to look good.

El Paso/Juarez is really interesting/complicated to consider.

But I think we're still a long way off from an MLB team in Mexico. The Mexico City series took place in a brand new stadium... that's way too small for MLB. Everything about the facility is MLB standards except the capacity (And not having Coors-like altitude adjusted dimensions).

 

[KevFu]

Bring back the expos

I really hope it's Montreal.

Montreal and either Nashville or Charlotte makes the most sense for baseball.

NL has no team in Canada or Texas; AL has no team between Baltimore to Texas to Tampa; and no team in the Mountain Time Zone.

So Montreal and Houston back to NL; Nashville/Charlotte and Colorado to AL.

AL West: SEA, LAA, OAK/LV, COL
AL North: MIN, CWS, CLE, DET
AL South: TEX, KC, TB, NASH/CHAR
AL East: TOR, BOS, NYY, BAL

NL West: SD, LAD, SF, ARZ
NL Central: MIL, CHC, STL, CIN
NL South: HOU, WAS, MIA, ATL
NL East: MON, PHI, NYM, PIT

Who's not happy?

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

I might amend your comment to say “first acceptable public stadium funding scheme in an acceptable market, then the next one.”

Albuquerque isn’t acceptable. It’s not a rich market, the whole state (which isn’t small in land area) is just over 2 million population, and the one market you could argue could make it even something of a TV market…

…would be El Paso. El Paso/Juarez is actually the larger market. If it weren’t just as poor, that would make for an interesting conversation. Thing is, if anything, if it was a richer market, you’d be siting the park in Juarez. But we won’t be seeing a proposal from them.

There was plenty of talk about Mexico City when the Padres and Giants were playing there a week ago. That IS a richer market. If anything, the altitude is the main concern, and 11 home runs in one game speaks to that. Albuquerque is a few feet higher than Denver, and while Salt Lake is 1,000 feet lower, the Mexico City discussion brought out a thread among the cognoscenti that Colorado is essentially set up for failure because the location will never allow pitching to look good.

Lets not put a MLB team in a cartel battleground