Pick cities for MLB expansion?

[dickay]

I actually would support expansion. I think the game is popular enough where put into the right situation it could survive. Thats just off the top of my head however, no research done on it.

As for locations.....I do think Mexico City is intriguing.

Although I don't know the population, nobody has mentioned Honolulu. Great weather, and I think you'd get a passionate fan base.

The Los Angelas Angels of all of California and Anehiem pretty much counts another Cali team out.

Although relatively small in population, how about Omaha? Center of the country baseball has been breed there for sometime because of the College World Series. It also borders Iowa, isn't far from Minneapolis & Kansas City.

Dunno enough about Charlotte to say yeh or neh.

San Antonio or Dallas, surely Texas can support two teams.

Oklahoma City for some reason is on everyones radar when sports expansion is discussed. May have merit.

I agree that the Northeast doesn't need another team, but southern Maine could probably support one.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I actually would support expansion. I think the game is popular enough where put into the right situation it could survive. Thats just off the top of my head however, no research done on it.

As for locations.....I do think Mexico City is intriguing.

Although I don't know the population, nobody has mentioned Honolulu. Great weather, and I think you'd get a passionate fan base.

The Los Angelas Angels of all of California and Anehiem pretty much counts another Cali team out.

Although relatively small in population, how about Omaha? Center of the country baseball has been breed there for sometime because of the College World Series. It also borders Iowa, isn't far from Minneapolis & Kansas City.

Dunno enough about Charlotte to say yeh or neh.

San Antonio or Dallas, surely Texas can support two teams.

Oklahoma City for some reason is on everyones radar when sports expansion is discussed. May have merit.

I agree that the Northeast doesn't need another team, but southern Maine could probably support one.

Texas is supporting two teams, Astros and Rangers.

As a resident of Maine, I highly doubt that southern Maine could support a professional sports franchise, as cool as it would be. The only two cities with anything close to a relatively large population are Portland and Augusta, which only combine for about a population of 70,000. Even if the region COULD support a team I doubt enough people would switch allegiances from the finally successful Red Sox to a brand new expansion team to net enough fans that it would matter.

As for cities I like, how about Oklahoma City and Brooklyn (again, call me sentimental)?

[shepster]

if Texas would be SanAntonio
Louisville aut to and
North Carolina

[FRENCHREDSOX]

Texas is supporting two teams, Astros and Rangers.

As a resident of Maine, I highly doubt that southern Maine could support a professional sports franchise, as cool as it would be. The only two cities with anything close to a relatively large population are Portland and Augusta, which only combine for about a population of 70,000. Even if the region COULD support a team I doubt enough people would switch allegiances from the finally successful Red Sox to a brand new expansion team to net enough fans that it would matter.

As for cities I like, how about Oklahoma City and Brooklyn (again, call me sentimental)?

Well the logic would be to ADD 2 cities to the AL & if anything 2 to the West & allow Texas to be shifted to its natural time zone,the Central.

Also it does help if the city already has a "baseball past" eg ex-MLB or current MILB AA/AAA team.


Thus the viable cities (IRL) would be IMO:

1° Portland
2° Vancouver (much richer than the BM version)
2B° Monterrey
3° Las Vegas
4° San Antonio (although they would be placed either in the West or Central)
5° Salt Lake

with the top 2 being my personal favorites & would help MLB's expansion OUTSIDE of the USA

[FRENCHREDSOX]

I actually would support expansion. I think the game is popular enough where put into the right situation it could survive. Thats just off the top of my head however, no research done on it.

As for locations.....I do think Mexico City is intriguing.

Agreed & already has a stadium MLB ready - only problem is Ticket prices & altitude (Colorado problem)

Although I don't know the population, nobody has mentioned Honolulu. Great weather, and I think you'd get a passionate fan base.

Distance would be a problem - if my memory is right the CITY IS LIKE 500k

The Los Angelas Angels of all of California and Anehiem pretty much counts another Cali team out.

Although relatively small in population, how about Omaha? Center of the country baseball has been breed there for sometime because of the College World Series. It also borders Iowa, isn't far from Minneapolis & Kansas City.

Dunno enough about Charlotte to say yeh or neh.

If one looks at the alignment Texas is NOT in its natural time zone (& I always have felt they have a natural disadvantage always playing outside of it) & thus the West would need 2 teams for an equitable balance

San Antonio or Dallas, surely Texas can support two teams.

Oklahoma City for some reason is on everyones radar when sports expansion is discussed. May have merit.

I agree that the Northeast doesn't need another team, but southern Maine could probably support one.

Agreed on the North East although there is a potential case for a third team in the NY basin like in hockey (New Jersey anyone ?) or a return to Montréal or even Ottowa

[chuckwillard]

Ottawa hasn't even done well at the AAA level...Montreal tried and failed, and I doubt the powers that be (i.e. Bud and his cronies) will give them another shot.

Why not Vegas? Besides the endemic gambling problem that would result, its an artificial city. No one in Vegas is from Vegas, and they all bring their hometown sports loyalties with them. It's a mish-mash of Yankee fans, Cub fans, Red Sox fans, Dodger fans, etc. Portland is a much, much better choice for the West Coast, and give Seattle something of a reprieve as the geographic outlier of major league sports.

Vancouver couldn't support basketball, I don't see it doing well with an MLB team.

As for New Jersey as a team location...did it ever occur to you that the teams that bill themselves as "New Jersey" play less than ten miles from Manhattan? In the same complex as both "New York" football teams? It's an artificial distinction. It's worse than trying to distinguish between L.A. and Anaheim. And one of the two major league teams that bills itself "New Jersey" is preparing to move to Brooklyn, and the other survives by virtue of being owned by George Steinbrenner.

Maine? Maine? Are you even serious? Why not put a team in...I dunno...Burlington, Vermont?

The idea with expansion is to tap a market that is supportive, economically vibrant, and large enough to allow the team to succeed. We don't want to create more Royals, Pirates, and Expos. These type of markets that are currently uptapped really exist only on the West Coast and in the Sun Belt. The rest of the country simply isn't economically strong enough to add more teams.

Mexico may be a great idea in theory, but there are serious practical security and economic issues that would need to be resolved. Mexico is economically a third world country, and large parts of it are extremely dangerous for travel. Plus there's the issue of paying salaries in dollars when tickets are bought in pesos, which aren't even close to equivalent, unlike the Canadian dollar.

We lost the chance to expand to Cuba when we failed to stop Castro 50 years ago. I think that country has been irrevocably harmed.

[Arctic Blast]

I think an MLB team would have a decent shot in Vancouver. The Grizzlies were a HORRIBLY run franchise when they were there. Awful management, awful marketing, awful customer service...just a complete joke. I don't blame them moving on the city, but on the franchise itself. The Canucks have done consistently well, and it's not like they're a perennial Stanley Cup contender...they just do an immensely better job of getting to the customer. Plus, keep in mind, with all the improvements being made to the city's transit and road grids for the upcoming Olympics, there are now a number of accessible locations in and around the city for a ballpark.

[FRENCHREDSOX]

I think an MLB team would have a decent shot in Vancouver. The Grizzlies were a HORRIBLY run franchise when they were there. Awful management, awful marketing, awful customer service...just a complete joke. I don't blame them moving on the city, but on the franchise itself. The Canucks have done consistently well, and it's not like they're a perennial Stanley Cup contender...they just do an immensely better job of getting to the customer. Plus, keep in mind, with all the improvements being made to the city's transit and road grids for the upcoming Olympics, there are now a number of accessible locations in and around the city for a ballpark.

Also there is no "competition" for Baseball,as it is a summer sport & NHL is well a winter sport.Vancouver is a "rich" city with a varied & international community.Also it would provide,IMO,a natural rival to Seattle which as of today they lack.


On a side note Baseball is becoming more influential in Canada & more & more Canadians are being drafted higher & higher each year - any expansion means a draft & a Vancouver team has every reason taking as many Canadians as possible....but the City/State has MANY advantages compared to say Oklahoma City

[ohms_law]

A good city to put a team for the AL west is Phoenix

You think that Pheonix can really support two clubs?
(oops, didn't see the second page...)

The Al West only has 4 teams because MLB wanted all 30 teams to be able to play on any given day, without interleague play every day. To do this, they needed an even number in both leagues, so 15/15 wouldn't work, and 14/16 is the best choice. If they were to add teams, they would need to be added to the AL, and either be in the West, or use realignment to make the divisions more even spaced out.

Two in the AL west and more Texas to the Central.

Also there is no "competition" for Baseball,as it is a summer sport & NHL is well a winter sport.Vancouver is a "rich" city with a varied & international community.Also it would provide,IMO,a natural rival to Seattle which as of today they lack.


On a side note Baseball is becoming more influential in Canada & more & more Canadians are being drafted higher & higher each year - any expansion means a draft & a Vancouver team has every reason taking as many Canadians as possible....but the City/State has MANY advantages compared to say Oklahoma City

I agree. I used to think that Vancouver was too close to Seattle until I really looked it up. Portland - Seattle - Vancouver are all about equidistant from each other though, and are most certainly separate markets (as much as the Mariners front office would like to dispute that). Having teams in all three cities would certainly create a fiery, competitive atmosphere as well. Fun.

I used to use Sacramento quite a bit. That would be a great choice to consider as well, I'd think.

[EP Hotties]

Hawaii wouldn't work. The big island has a population of only 150k, all the islands combined only 1.2 mil. There is nowhere else to draw fans from. Assuming a major league team need to draw 30k at least occasionally to be successful, this means that one in 40 Hawaiians will attend each game. Simply put, not possible.

[EP Hotties]

Is posters posing as famous people going to become common now?
I've got dibs on Jack Nicholson.

[EP Hotties]

OK, I take it back, that was a pretty impressive Yogi phrase right there.

[TheNamelessPoet]

I live 10 minutes outside hartford. It could never support an MLB team.

i di as well and it unfortunatly would not hold up. + its withing 70 miles of NY i thik or is it boston?

[Clay Dreslough]

I think Hartford could support the Marlins.

Heck, Worcester could support the Marlins.

[chuckwillard]

We'll take the Marlins. The ****ing Braves just stole our AAA team, we need a new one. Oh, wait, the Marlins are a major league team, they just draw similar crowds to my D-III college team.