The Larry H Miller family, former owners of the Utah Jazz, are making a pitch to land a MLB team in Salt Lake City.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50619974/uta...-city-land

Gail Miller stated in her speech that the Major League Baseball may look to expand, with one team in the west and one team in the east, once the stadium situation for Tampa and Oakland are resolved.

I could see the A's moving to Las Vegas. Portland has a group trying to bring the MLB to their city, but apparently it's not as far along as the SLC bid. No location (SLC has it), no Billionaire backer (SLC has it), not local government support (SLC has it).

https://www.750thegame.com/big-league-ut...-portland/

In a few years, could we see some MLB expansion? In the east, who has the stronger bid? Montreal? Nashville? Charlotte?

Assuming the Rays stay in Tampa, it will be Salt Lake and Nashville. Assuming MLB goes to four-team divisions (ugh):

AL West - Seattle, Athletics, Angels, Salt Lake*
AL North - Minnesota, White Sox, Cleveland, Detroit
AL South - Houston, Kansas City, Texas, Tampa Bay
AL East - Toronto, Yankees, Boston, Baltimore

NL West - San Diego, San Francisco, Dodgers, Arizona
NL North - Colorado, Milwaukee, Cubs, Cincinnati
NL South - Saint Louis, Nashville*, Atlanta, Miami
NL East - Pittsburgh, Mets, Philadelphia, Washington

Charger: pretty good. Too bad you break up Cards/Cubs

Assumptions:
- Athletics move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
- Rays remain in Tampa Bay or move to Charlotte or Nashville.
- Expansion to Salt Lake City.
- Expansion to Charlotte or Nashville.

For this, I will say the Rays move to Nashville and are renamed the Blue Sox. The SLC team is named the Utah Hornets - I saw the name somewhere and really liked it. The other expansion is to Charlotte who are named the Kings as a play on Charlotte nicknamed the Queen City.

In maintaining AL/NL: Athletics and Blue Sox remain American League teams. Hornets join the American League and Kings join the National League.

American League
East: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Nashville Blue Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays
West: Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Las Vegas Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Utah Hornets

National League
East: Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Kings, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals
West: Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals



If we shift to geographical conferences:

Eastern Conference
Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays

Midwest Conference
Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockets, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals

Southern Conference
Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Charlotte Kings, Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, Nashville Blue Sox, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals

Western Conference
Arizona Diamondbacks, Las Vegas Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Utah Hornets

I'm not a fan of the A's moving to Vegas, but I think it's going to happen. Vegas would work great for the NBA but I think the Vegas Athletics will have the same attendance issues that the Oakland Athletics have had. At least they'll (likely) play in a better stadium. I'd rather the A's move to Sacramento then Vegas, but Sacramento would not be a candidate for any other relocation or expansion team. Frankly I wish they'd just get the Howard Terminal site done and stay in Oakland, but that seems like a pipedream at this point.

Nashville seems to be the most likely expansion location at this point, or they get the Rays from Tampa. If Tampa does relocate I could see both Charlotte and Nashville having a team, with whichever doesn't get the Rays being an expansion team.

This Salt Lake entry is one I did not expect, and I think they'd be pretty low on MLB's wish list, but with how far they are already they are definitely on the list of strong possibilities. I'd rank them ahead of Portland right now, but there are other cities that could leapfrog them.

I'm not sold on Montreal getting a team either, even though they've been rumored numerously. If Canada were to get a second team again I'd rank Vancouver ahead of Montreal personally. When the Expos moved, southern Virginia (Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News) was a candidate, but I've not heard anything there recently and they seem like a long shot now. Puerto Rico, despite getting the Expos for half a season, isn't a real candidate for a permanent site at this point. If they were to get statehood I wouldn't rule out a team there eventually though (realistically in 20+ years)

Either San Antonio or Austin would be great candidates, but I've not heard of any potential owners or stadium plans emerging. I think Austin would be a fantastic location that would be at/near the very top if they had any sort of plan like Salt Lake has come out with. While the entire state of Texas is shared territory for the Astros and Rangers, Austin is far enough away from both that neither really has much presence there, and they've flip-flopped having Round Rock in both team's minor league systems (Round Rock is located between San Antonio and Austin).

I could also see Oklahoma City getting a shot as well, I'd put them in the same basket as Salt Lake and Portland. Not one that MLB would prefer, but would do if they had the best ownership and stadium situation develop.

While the Yankees, Mets, and Phillies would all object (and likely cause MLB not to go this route), I could totally see northern New Jersey as a viable candidate. That would actually be my preferred destination if the Rays relocated.

I don't think any city in Mexico would be a candidate this round, but I'd rank Monterrey ahead of Mexico City. Both are probably decades away though.

MLB hasn't expanded in 25 years, the longest they've gone between expansions since the first one. Once the A's/Rays situations are resolved, or appear nearing resolved I think MLB get teams 31 and 32 pretty quickly. If I were commissioner though, I would not stop there. I'd set for expansion to 34 and 36 teams in the near future, say 5ish years apart. Something like Austin, Charlotte, Nashville, Portland, Salt Lake, and Vancouver getting expansion teams, and Vegas getting the A's, all within the next 15 years.

Round Rock is north of Austin.
Monterrey would be ahead of Mexico City IMHO as well because of location and strong baseball tradition - but way down the road.

All the Miller family did was give the current MLB owners the ability to raise the expansion fee by 15-20% from what was already discussed internally.

The bigger issues for SLC, or any candidate are where is your broadcast revenue going to come from and indicate that you will give into the revenue sharing pool, not take from it.

Also remember that the Diamondbacks stadium needs to be resolved too as their lease expires in the year as the Rays.

(04-17-2023 11:45 AM)BePcr07 Wrote:  Assumptions:
- Athletics move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
- Rays remain in Tampa Bay or move to Charlotte or Nashville.
- Expansion to Salt Lake City.
- Expansion to Charlotte or Nashville.

For this, I will say the Rays move to Nashville and are renamed the Blue Sox. The SLC team is named the Utah Hornets - I saw the name somewhere and really liked it. The other expansion is to Charlotte who are named the Kings as a play on Charlotte nicknamed the Queen City.

In maintaining AL/NL: Athletics and Blue Sox remain American League teams. Hornets join the American League and Kings join the National League.

American League
East: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Nashville Blue Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays
West: Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Las Vegas Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Utah Hornets

National League
East: Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Kings, Cincinnati Reds, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Washington Nationals
West: Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals



If we shift to geographical conferences:

Eastern Conference
Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays

Midwest Conference
Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockets, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals

Southern Conference
Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Charlotte Kings, Houston Astros, Miami Marlins, Nashville Blue Sox, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals

Western Conference
Arizona Diamondbacks, Las Vegas Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Utah Hornets

I like the idea of the Blue Sox, but I think the Rays stay in Florida...probably Tampa.

I seem to remember some buzz a while back about the White Sox possibly looking to exit Chicago. Did I dream that? A historic franchise, yes, but a bad stadium and their side of Chicago isn't great. That and it seems the Cubs are more popular anyway. Might we see the White Sox depart for one of these new cities?

I like the idea of Montreal as long as it's a smart ownership group. They ended up being run into the ground in the 90s, but there was a time it worked well.

Salt Lake City and Portland are similar markets in some ways. They have NBA teams and MLS teams...and that's it. I would bet on greater long term growth in SLC though.

Nashville or Charlotte would seem to work. In Charlotte's case, you could conceivably see fans coming down from Raleigh-Durham on a regular basis so that maybe expands the potential there. Either market would penetrate the traditional Braves territory though so I don't know you're going to get a ton of new baseball fans out of either city.

I don't like the idea of the A's moving to Las Vegas. I just don't see that being a baseball market. The NFL and NHL seem to work fine and I think the NBA would be good too, but when you're talking about an outdoor sport during the hottest months of the year? Yeah, you could build an indoor park with an on-site casino probably, but is it worth the cost?

By contrast, I don't think Oakland is viable long term. The Giants are popular and the Bay Area, while very populous, isn't as populous as the other mega cities that have 2 franchises. Add to that there's a reason the Raiders and Warriors have already left. With that said, I just don't think Las Vegas is the answer. The city isn't that huge and they are Johnny-come-lately to this. That and studies say you need the greatest amount of wealth to support an MLB franchise as opposed to other major pro sports. Again, Las Vegas isn't a hub of wealth and corporate big wigs so much as a hub of tourism and the entertainment industry.

All in all, I'm a little surprised the MLB would seriously consider expanding, but there does seem to be an undercurrent for it.

There hasn't been buzz about the White Sox leaving since 1990 when the state legislature froze the clock at 11:59pm and passed a new stadium deal to prevent the team from moving to Tampa.

That said, I don't think the White Sox will be in Chicago 30 years from now. The stadium isn't good, the location isn't good, and I don't think it's likely a new stadium would be built. The fan base size is a fraction of the Cubs and it's just never going to change barring a new downtown stadium.

But the Sox are safe as can be for the next 10-15 years. Any relocation would be 15-30 years down the road. My bet is the White Sox end up in Nashville circa 2040.

(04-22-2023 11:27 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  There hasn't been buzz about the White Sox leaving since 1990 when the state legislature froze the clock at 11:59pm and passed a new stadium deal to prevent the team from moving to Tampa.

That said, I don't think the White Sox will be in Chicago 30 years from now. The stadium isn't good, the location isn't good, and I don't think it's likely a new stadium would be built. The fan base size is a fraction of the Cubs and it's just never going to change barring a new downtown stadium.

But the Sox are safe as can be for the next 10-15 years. Any relocation would be 15-30 years down the road. My bet is the White Sox end up in Nashville circa 2040.

All things considered, it’s a near-miracle that the second team of Chicago has survived this long. Being a decent organization in the mid-20th century and having Reinsdorf as owner in the late 80s (he later admitted that he had no intention of moving from Chicago to Tampa Bay) kept them pretty stable during the most perilous eras of relocation threats in modern baseball history when a lot of big markets were attracting teams.

It’s not impossible that they move, but it’s unlikely imo. I have no idea if Reinsdorf has kids interested in running the team after he passes, but if they do it’s not likely they move their dads legacy and a team of 100+ years away. If they sell to a buyer, there are enough ultra-rich Chicagoans out there that would buy and keep the team around.

Back on topic, I think Salt Lake City would be a viable MLB market. Montreal, Nashville, Charlotte, San Antonio, or Austin would be on my relocation/expansion list ahead of the them, and ahead of Las Vegas too. Imo Oakland’s fate was sealed 20+ years ago when Wally Haas gave away the locational rights to San Jose and then Mt. Davis was built for the Raiders’ return. Without the first they get an economically viable relocation alternative to stay in the Bay Area, without the second the Coliseum is probably less of an albatross than it’s been since the 90s.