MLB Expansion Locations
by Buzz Bissinger on Aug 30, 2008 12:23 PM EDT
Email
PrintPurely hypothetically speaking.. say baseball within the next 3 years decides to expand to have 2 more teams join MLB (to balance out the amount of teams in the AL and NL... What two locations would you put the two new franchises?
My choices:
1) Montreal -- If they built a new stadium in Montreal, it would be the best place ever to see a ball game.. totally different vibe than any other city... it would be like baseball in Europe. Even though EuroDisney wasn\t a success, baseball returning to Quebec would be phenomenal.
2) Brooklyn -- There really needs to be a third team from New York to appease the masses, and really spread the wealth of the marketplace. A team in Brooklyn would make everyone giddy with excitement.
Montreal -- Vive la baseball!!! (via z.about.com) 
Brooklyn, NY -- It's just logical! (via www.destination360.com)
35 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Northern New Jersey and Portland
But I don’t think MLB should expand for quite awhile.
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
Please
no more expansion.
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.
i think you missed the point
of the purely hypothetically, IF THEY DID… where would you want it to be?
by son.of.sourman on Aug 30, 2008 4:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Again I say
no more. Poop on your hypothetical.
O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!
Sondern laßt uns angenehmere anstimmen,
und freudenvollere.
One clearly should be in New York
Brooklyn has the history, so that seems logical…
After that, I’d say Portland is likely your best bet, but you could make a case for team #3 in Los Angeles too.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
I'd go with the #3 in LA ... or even a #4 in (or around) NYC before Portland, Vegas, San Juan, Sacramento, etc ...
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
Vegas & NJ
(Las) Vegas Aces or (Las) Vegas Kings
(New) Jersey Grays
http://yankeesmtom.blogspot.com/
Charlotte
It’s in the middle of a bunch of smaller markets and it’s a popular place to expand to for other sports teams.
Plus, the South really only has the Braves and the Cardinals.
Another team in the south makes sense
after all, it’s a baseball hotbed and the SEC teams get huge crowds at their games.
Nashville and Charlotte would be good options.
Louisville would be great
but it’s probably too close to Cinci.
Proud adopted parent of future big league slugger Thomas Neal
by nostocksjustbonds on Aug 31, 2008 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions
Yeah ... not that many ...
ignore city population … look at metro population — 1.9 million, bigger only than KC and Milwaukee …
"It's for your own good. Big strong Devo knows whats best for Poppy" -- Mossback
I love San Antonio
But I think they’re okay with the Missions for now. All they care about is the Spurs, anyway, or at least until they start a run of losing seasons.
And you'd be competing with the Rangers and Astros
MLB does not like to cannibalize its markets
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
Montreal
Give this city a decent stadium and the team would thrive. Everyone badmouthed their attendance but at least when they won they drew fans. Whats the deal with the lousy Tampa fans?
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Aug 31, 2008 12:04 PM EDT reply actions
Tampa fans
See- Tropicana Field.
(not sure if you were being sarcastic or no…)
by David Tokarz on Aug 31, 2008 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions
Ummm..
The big Oh was a big piece of crap but when the Expos won, at least the fans showed up. 14,000 showing up to see a team this good in August is just embarassing.
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Aug 31, 2008 1:56 PM EDT up reply actions
Tampa's attendance is averaging over 5,000 people more per game than last season
and that’s going up. They’ve had over 30,000 the last 2 games and that number is likely to continue into next week with the Yankee’s coming to town they’ll likely have 5 straight games over 30,000. That’s not terrible. And typically, you don’t see a big spike in attendance until the year after a break-out season.
Tools Whore
Sign Bonds!
Bad idea
Having recently moved from Montreal after living there for four years, I can tell you there is pretty much zero chance of baseball ever returning to the city. There’s a lot of bitterness towards the sport in general, since the Expos were destroyed by Loria. In addition to that, the French really don’t like baseball, ultimately, and view it as a sport for the Anglophones. This wasn’t so much a problem when the Expos first came to Montreal, as Quebec’s draconian language laws weren’t yet in existence and Montreal’s English speaking population was much larger than it is today. After the imposition of the language laws in the ‘70s, however, there was a steady flow of Anglo migrants out of Quebec and into Toronto and southern Ontario. At this point, there’s pretty much zero support for a major league team.
Further compounding the problem is the fact that there’s always snow on the ground there until at least mid-April, and early October snow storms aren’t abnormal; any team going to Montreal would really need a dome. Moreover, it wasn’t just that Olympic Stadium was a piece of crap that kept people from going there – it is – but it’s also in a really inconvenient area, being in a fairly poor part of the city and close to an hour on the metro from downtown. Any new stadium would suffer from the same problems, as there isn’t a chance in hell that impoverished Montreal is going to be giving away any land to a baseball franchise.
To top it all off, it’s just a bad idea to have baseball teams in Canada, especially for a small market team. It’s really, really difficult to plan a payroll years in advance when your revenue stream could drop significantly just because Canadian currency is devalued.
That was an excellent response!
And thank you for the insight most of us would never have. Merci.
I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen. - Bob Lemon, 1981
expansion question adds tension
….because it’s ruined the game, and because no one wants to see the game further weeded so the “okay” college player can make a 10 year living on the bench in the majors….
however, because of the damnations of economics, teams shuffling locations is likely to continue….one of the florida teams will likely be next….and if there weren’t plans for a new stadium in minnesota and a recently built one in milwaukee, those cities would be likely next on the axe list….
that said, i’d say the next relocation sites will likely be vegas and san jose….san jose has made a strong play for a team many times recently, but have not been able to close the deal….
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.
There is zero chance of a third team being put in the Bay Area over LA, Chicago or New York
It would be patent idiocy to further subdivide the SMALLEST of the 2-team markets, particularly when one of those teams already doesn’t draw fans.
Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.
Not to mention
There is a zero percent chance the Giants would agree to put a team right in their backyard, especially with the A’s supposedly moving right to their alloted border in Fremont, trying to steal fans from San Jose in their own right. Not going to happen.
Plus like you said, the Bay is just not big enough for three teams. I say, move the A’s to Sacramento. They would actually draw fans, and you already have a stadium you can add a second deck to that makes it perfect for the A’s right on the river. Just a short haul up the Amtrak, and Bay Area fans could get there…although I couldn’t imagine why they would do that since they don’t go the Coliseum, but still.
by thethrill22 on Aug 31, 2008 11:14 PM EDT up reply actions
If I had to say
I guess I should answer the first question though, probably Las Vegas and Portland. You could put them both in the AL West and move the Rangers to the Central where they belong. You would have 16 in both leagues, perfect balance.
by thethrill22 on Aug 31, 2008 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions
People said the same thing about the Giants back when they weren't drawing fans...
…but then, a new ballpark and they have an average attendance that ranks 11th in the majors despite arguably having one of the five worst teams in baseball.
I don’t doubt the Athletics would do more with a good stadium.
That said, I agree that San Jose is a pipe dream. Especially with the A’s moving to Fremont, there won’t be enough distance between them and San Jose by major league rules (only New York has been grandfathered into that rule). But then, one could argue a similar thing about an attempt at a Brooklyn team, and probably a Northern New Jersey team as well.
Put the new teams in new markets.
SFDugout.com is BACK! See the Top 50 Giants Prospects!
by BruteSentiment on Sep 1, 2008 7:09 AM EDT up reply actions
Salt Lake City and Sacramento
Proud adopted parent of future big league slugger Thomas Neal
by nostocksjustbonds on Aug 31, 2008 5:56 PM EDT reply actions
If I had to suggest:
I’d say that Portland and Charlotte are the two most deserving cities of expansion. Charlotte for all the reasons listed above, and Portland is a growing area that has a lot of potential and a strong love for baseball since the days of the PCL.
Salt Lake is worth noting as well, partially as a growing metro area itself, and partially because the mountain states remain so underrepresented in baseball (and all sports). There’s a reason that some states, like Montana, don’t even sponsor baseball teams in their schools. For an entire fifth of the country, the chance of seeing major league baseball is not just a long drive, but at least a plane flight away.
SFDugout.com is BACK! See the Top 50 Giants Prospects!
However
Voting against publicly subsidizing a baseball stadium = FAIL
I know that minor league attendance probably shouldn’t matter much, but don’t Portland and Charlotte have pretty crappy attendance figures for their respective AAA teams?
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
The Charlotte Knights
Stadium’s nice, but it’s located about 10 or 12 miles away from downtown, and about 25 or 30 miles away from where I live in the suburbs. Plus, they kinda suck… stupid White Sox and their crappy farm system…
Pittsburgh
Hey, Pittsburgh could use a team. They have a wonderful ballpark, but have not had a team since the early ’90’s.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50814
SFDugout.com is BACK! See the Top 50 Giants Prospects!
by BruteSentiment on Sep 1, 2008 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions
The answer is
Anywhere that builds MLB a stadium for free.
Relive Royals History at royalsretro.blogspot.com
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
