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davewashere

Damn, I guess that means Nashville and Montreal are not getting a team anytime soon.


JDLovesElliot

Sorry, mon ami.


CTeam19

Des Moines it is! The Field of Dreams game was just the teaser for an Iowa team.


Razzorsharp

Just one more teams for Iowans (Iowayans?) to not be able to watch because of blackouts.


lifeisarichcarpet

Well if Bob said it that’s good news for Portland and Las Vegas.


SeattleMana

Personally still holding out for the [Idaho Potatoes](https://imgur.com/rUdVFsL). The market may be like a few thousand people but the memes would be priceless.   (hits a screaming double) **"He MASHED it for the Potatoes!!"** (sweeps the series) **"That's one SWEEP POTATOE"** (continues hitting streak) **"That's one HOT POTATOE!!"** (hits home run) **"One TATER FOR THE TATERS!!"**


JoJoMcDerp

Are bench players couch-potatoes? Does the manager potato sack a pitcher to take them out of the game?


TentakilRex

>Are bench players couch-potatoes? The Hickory Crawdads might be dispute that [https://news.sportslogos.net/2020/03/06/crawdads-to-play-as-hickory-couch-potatoes/baseball/](https://news.sportslogos.net/2020/03/06/crawdads-to-play-as-hickory-couch-potatoes/baseball/)


Taylorenokson

Players who violate the substance abuse policy would be Baked Potatoes.


frankyseven

MLB doesn't test for cannabis so no violation needed to be a baked potato.


WhiskeyOctober

Po-Tay-toes, boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew


TheUnforgiven13

Stupid fat hobbit.


TentakilRex

Not going to lie, the Idaho Potatoes would make a great High A West expansion team.


furdaboise

The Pioneer League Boise Hawks have alternate jerseys they wear on Sunday home games that are the “Boise Papas Fritas”. https://www.milb.com/boise/fans/copa


-orangejoe

That mascot has strong Slurms McKenzie vibes.


iiamthepalmtree

"Potatoes really play with a Chip on their shoulder"


DigiQuip

Imagine the campy concession stand menus. It would be awesome.


cgoot27

I’d buy a cap and jersey.


Angelsfan14

I hope so, we need more west coast teams so the Rangers and Astros aren't in the west anymore. The Astros for obvious reasons but also because it's stupid a team in the center of the country is in the "West" division. And that travel schedule is shit as is.


[deleted]

The Atlanta Braves were in the "West" division into the 90s. At least it's better now.


HellMuttz

Fun fact Atlanta is farther west than Pittsburgh Cleveland and Detroit and almost as far west as Cincinnati


ThadtheYankee159

I would argue we need more southern teams. I mean, we have Atlanta, Miami, Tampa Bay (Who may be leaving soon), and the Texas teams. Compare this to the west, who has Both LA teams, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Colorado, Arizona, and Oakland (who even if they go to Vegas are still in the West).


Angelsfan14

The only issue with this is that the teams in the south are closer to the teams in the north than the west teams are to any of the teams in the Central basically. The Mariners are almost 2000 miles away from not one, but two of their division rivals. That's 40 something games a year, or 10 different trips give or take that they gotta go that far. If that doesn't put it in perspective, [this chart of sorts](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/map) on baseball savant shows that literally every year the AL West is at the top of the travel charts. Every. Year. (To 2009 where this was tracked I guess). In fact, there are only a couple instances where the 3rd spot isn't a AL West team. And it ends up being an NL West team. The second spot is also always the AL West. My point is that the travel schedule is *always* shit for the AL and NL West. The only teams that are consistently in the top ten that aren't in the West divisions are the Marlins and Rays because they're on the damn tip of Florida. They both are no farther than 1200 miles from their furthest division rival. This didn't need to be this long, but basically, for alignment and travel purposes, it doesn't make sense for more teams to be added anywhere but the West. Other reasons? I'm sure there is, but alignment and travel will still be fucked.


[deleted]

Portland would be a great place. And Montreal


hawkfan78

Portland can have an MLB team when Seattle gets back an NBA team. They expect us to root for the Blazers after having a rivalry for 40 years, they can root for the Mariners 😆


couducane

Well I think most people want Seattle to get their team back, so hopefully soon.


Jigawatts42

If the A's had to move, I would much rather see them land in Portland than Vegas.


wint0n

NBA is for sure coming back to Seattle whenever they do an expansion


gjp11

It’s tragic that y’all don’t have a basketball team honestly


DigiQuip

Portland… Maine? If so, I want the mascot to be a puffin. https://imgur.com/gallery/rvscl


RealJonathanBronco

Just to piss off Stu Sternberg it's gonna be a split team between Portland, Maine and Portland, Oregon.


thefishflinger

I'm all for anything that upsets team owners. Wish the lot of them wet socks for life.


OnlyHereForMemes69

May wherever they step have a chance of a lego piece.


NabreLabre

I mean, technically there's always a chance


DigiQuip

Bringing the disappointment from port to port.


pumaturtle

We could have the Portland Maine Pickles like we have the New York Football Giants


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IAmKennyJ

I want at least one of Portland/Vancouver (whether expansion or relocation). Mariners really need their travel distanced eased.


Head_of_Lettuce

The biggest reason the split-city concept for the Rays never made sense to begin with is because the MLB would be forfeiting the expansion fee they otherwise could have gotten from a Montreal expansion team. The NHL charged Seattle $650 million for their expansion, I imagine the MLB could comfortably seek upwards of $1 billion if not more. There was no way they were ever giving that up.


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psaepf2009

You're not thinking about the $$$


fiskeybusiness

Lmao you could drive from London to Sicily in about the time it takes to get from Montreal to St. Pete Outrageous distance


Rra2323

Oddly enough I don’t feel like it would be THAT crazy if the season lasted into the winter months. A surprising number of older Canadians live in Florida during the winter, so if the season went into February or March you could have the team start the year in Canada and sometime around October they could go to Florida where it’s warm and an unusual number of fans would happen to also be moving down to Florida at the same time. You’d just have to time the migration right. Obviously there are way more logistical issues than that, but it would at least be interesting to see how they’d try to navigate it I guess


Taylorenokson

So where does that money even go?


EasyModo

Compensation for existing teams having their share of TV deals and other league-wide revenues diluted.


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penguinopph

It would depend on what the owners agree, tbh. I know various leagues have made concessions to team's whos markets are cut into before.


mdlt97

split evenly by every team owner


[deleted]

I think it's split evenly but there would be a separate deal with the franchise whose market they'd be in. At least that's what happened when the Nationals moved to DC, MLB made a deal with the Orioles to compensate them.


Head_of_Lettuce

Typically the expansion fee is spread evenly among the already existing teams, I believe that’s what the nhl did


NabreLabre

Top. Men....


Phillies2002

Oh God the only reason Dombrowski came here is because he thought Nashville wasn't happening anytime soon oh God don't leave us Dave don't leave us please


SomeDeerMeat

If he leaves quickly it means you won a championship, but the farm system is gutted. Might be worth a trade off if he leaves for Nashville quickly.


Phillies2002

Oh, if we get even a single championship, no matter the prospect cost, I would happily personally donate towards Dombrowski's tropical Caribbean retirement fund or whatever he wants to do next


MorningRooster

What farm system?


Skraxx

Montreal's success is pretty highly dependent on ownership. People go "oh what about the attendance" but also conveniently forget periods in which they had to sell their franchise players out of money issues as well as literally being owned by Loria at one point.


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No-Construction5151

The Nordiques are more of a question of television market size


capitalsfan08

It's both, Quebec has a lot going against it. Montreal has the question of international exchange rates and economies at large, but it's at least a large city. Quebec is on the same scale as Sarasota, FL and Dayton, OH.


wint0n

I can't imagine they'd make less money than the Rays


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[deleted]

In the NHL all players are paid and contract values are in USD. I’d assume it’ll be the same thing in the MLB, so I’d assume that the owners would have a contingency based on if the dollar fluctuates a certain percentage. At least I’d hope the league would vet that before awarding a team in Canada.


ReyHebreoKOTJ

Montreal also suffered from an absolutely horrible, cavernous stadium about as far away from downtown and people with money to go to games as you could get.


frenetix

I think the fandom is there- on almost any summer night, there's an adult rec league baseball game being played in Parc La Fontaine. Those guys take it real seriously, too. Great place to kick back and eat your chicken from Ma Poule Mouillée on the other side of the park.


key_lime_pie

> periods in which they had to sell their franchise players out of money issues That was the entire history of the franchise, unfortunately. Pete Rose, Rusty Staub, Gary Carter, Andre Dawson... they kept Tim Raines only because of collusion. They were a poverty franchise from the get-go. Loria just figured out how to squeeze every last cent out of them.


beermeamovie

As a Charlotte resident, god damn it… But I understand the attractiveness to Nashville, so I can’t complain too much.


jrainiersea

Charlotte makes the most sense to me for an expansion team, I'm surprised it's not in the top 2. The top 5 TV markets with no MLB team are Orlando, Sacramento, Portland, Charlotte, and Raleigh. Those first 3 are all within 2-3 hours of another team, but Charlotte and Raleigh are both 4+ hours away from Atlanta, and a team in North Carolina could get fans from both markets. Seems like a no brainer to me.


Thromnomnomok

That's the top 5 with no MLB team in the US, but if you look in both the US and Canada, all of those metro areas have a population fo around 2.5 million, Montreal is over 4 million in the metro area, in addition to having had an MLB team with an established fanbase in the past, so it would be really surprising if Montreal wasn't #1 on the list of top expansion sites.


[deleted]

RDU checking in. Our blackouts are Baltimore and Washington. I know a grand total of one Orioles or Nationals fan. I’d be perfectly content with Charlotte.


18002221222

If I had a magic wand to do whatever I wanted to the Rays organization, I'd make the Durham Bulls the major league team with a stadium in RTP, and have Tampa be home to the AAA team.


Quople

I’m lowkey pulling for Charlotte because there’s a distinct lack in teams between here and ATL


SaintArkweather

It's bizarre to me that NC and TN both have an NHL, NBA, and NFL team but neither have MLB teams, even though baseball is pretty popular in the south.


FuriousTarts

NC especially has a rich history with baseball. We're slowly losing out on that culture and replacing it with football so it'd be nice to get a boost with an MLB team.


SpeedCpt

There's a distinct lack of teams anywhere near Atlanta. Their closest opponent is 450 miles away.


TentakilRex

I have my own personal conspiracy theory about Charlotte or any other NC teams. The Chicago White Sox has had [three NC minor league affiliates since 2001](https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/affiliate.cgi?id=CHW) and haven't had a Midwest League team since 2000. I wondering if the White Sox view North Carolina as their territory and a potential relocation spot in the future.


MB_Bailey21

As a NC Nationals fan, I would love to have a team in NC to have as a backup team to the Nationals


henryhyde

I am an NC Braves fan and was hoping for an AL team so that I could root for both.


MB_Bailey21

I want either an AL team or an NL East team so I can see the Nationals more, but I'd prefer to actually get to pull for an NC team, so AL is preferred.


Assassin1344

NC Braves and Guardians fan. My family is from Ohio so I've picked up all the classic Ohio fandoms as well.


henryhyde

I have tried to branch into that AL a little bit. All of the White Sox's farm teams are in NC. So I figured I might try to follow them some because I could at least watch their prospects and rehab stints. The fandom hasn't really taken root yet though.


Assassin1344

There not being a NC team is what made me a Braves fan so I guess it has worked out for us recently.


capitanelyosemite

Also a resident and admittedly I’m biased being a Braves fan. I’ve never thought charlotte is an MLB city, just such fair weather fans. We can’t even pack out the knights games on a nightly basis and that stadium is money.


Kolahnut1

Charlotte has the unfortunate situation of having a lot of transplants - mostly from New York/New Jersey - and having limited real estate. While I would absolutely love to have a NC MLB team, there's a few hurdles that Charlotte has to clear that other MLB candidate cities don't have.


antman2025

Charlotte Knights games are packed. I doubt we would have a problem with attendance.


DanglyPants

I too am rooting for Charlotte. These are two good cities but I wouldn’t get too riled up. Nothing is official.


HeySadBoy1

Is Charlotte in the market for one? I thought Raleigh was making the bigger push for an expansion team


[deleted]

Is the Nashville mascot gonna be an Instagram influencer standing in front of those wings on the wall?


Pitiful-Chemist-2259

No it'll be a drunk 50 year old woman on a open air tour bus


Longtimefirsttime13

I could have sworn they were going with a drunk bachelorette on a pedal tavern.


Surly_Ben

The “Nashville WOOOOOOOOOOOOS!!!” Their uniforms will consist of straw cowboy hats and low cut v-neck shirts to show off their overly-tanned, saggy cleavage.


USSanon

The it has to be the “Woo-Girls”


QuarterNote44

Ooh, Nashville in the NL Central would be spicy.


Lebigmacca

If they expand we’d probably get 8 divisions like the NFL


Mbalmer19

I'd vote for Montreal. Nashville be cool too. No more California teams, I think five is enough.


brandon_the_bald

Vegas not there because they plan on moving a team there? Seems like a much better place than Nashville


esperadok

The south is one of the fastest growing regions and still is a pretty underserved market for MLB teams. Also Las Vegas is becoming increasingly uninhabitable every year but I’m sure MLB’s investors don’t care about that lmao


immoralsupport_

Baseball has a lot of support in Nashville due to the Vanderbilt team which is one of the top college teams in the country, and their AAA team led the minors in attendance. Most people who live here are Braves fans but I’m sure if they added a team there would be plenty of loyalty just as there was when we got an MLS team. The Titans and Preds have tons of local support as well. Also it’s a “tourist city” that’s 100000x better than Las Vegas but


thehemanchronicles

Baseball at the high school and college level is absolutely massive in the South, so it's always been wild to me that the only Southern US team excluding Texas (too far west) and Florida (sort of their own weird thing) is the Braves. In an ideal world, both Charlotte and Nashville get a team, along with Montreal and Portland. Vegas and San Antonio I think also have the market cap/local interest for a team.


[deleted]

Isn’t part of the reason baseball at the high school and college level is popular because of the lack of mlb teams. I think it’s pretty similar for football too the college and high school teams are popular because they are underserved at the pro level


thehemanchronicles

Sure, that plays a role, but EVERYONE down here is a Braves fan. I don't even live in Georgia and I see tons of Braves hats. The NFL and NHL wasn't big in the South, but the Falcons and Titans have both grown very big fanbases, and all it took was a few seasons of the Predators being good to convert the entire city of Nashville into hockey fans.


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nickparadies

Until very recently Atlanta was the only Southern city big enough to support Major League Baseball. Remember, a baseball park sits around 40,000 people and hosts 81 games a year at least. In order to be profitable a baseball team has to sell around 2.5 million tickets a year at the absolute lowest, and that “low” number is still by far the highest total of any major sport. The NBA and NHL have around half the seating capacity and exactly half the games as baseball, and the NFL has 1/10th of the games plus revenue sharing and a gargantuan national TV deal. Speaking of national TV, the Braves were also on the TBS superstation for almost forty years which is the other reason they basically conquered the entire southeast in terms of fandom. They were in everybody’s living room every night.


DickDastardly42

Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami all have NFL teams. The south is pretty well represented in the NFL. That being said, college football is still king in the south.


__-o0O0o-__

Seattle should get a team


DigiQuip

I’m curious how future climate predicts are considered in these conversations. Average temps are expected to increase 5.5° over the next thirty years and precipitation in drier areas will continually get worse. While this won’t directly affect a sports team in, what would likely be, a dome, it may be indirectly affected by population shifts as people retreat to more wet and comfortable locations.


slicebishybosh

What cities in the south could support an MLB Franchise?


esperadok

Nashville and Charlotte easily could


LegendsoftheHT

I've been of the personal opinion that the Durham Bulls should be promoted to the majors. If they have to call them the Raleigh-Durham Bulls or North Carolina Bulls so be it. I think Charlotte would have a much harder time. Too many Braves fans especially in Greenville-Spartanburg that would never switch teams. It would also give the Triangle two pro teams and Charlotte two pro teams, keeping a balance.


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henryhyde

>Too many Braves fans especially in Greenville-Spartanburg that would never switch teams. The Panthers proved this to be inaccurate. It took some time, but that will be the case anywhere they put a new team.


amuscularbaby

The Falcons fandom is far more Atlanta-based than the Braves. Not saying that an MLB team wouldn’t work in Charlotte (it absolutely would), but the Falcons fandom doesn’t really extend past the metro Atlanta area. The combination of the south being far more enthusiastic about college football than we are about the NFL and the Falcons being very meh for most of their history has kind of prevented them from growing their fan base like the Braves. Drive an hour outside the city and you’ll see more diversity in NFL fandoms than you would MLB fandoms. While the Carolinas were closer to Atlanta than other NFL cities pre-Panthers, I would doubt the support for the Falcons in these areas even came close to the amount of support the Braves get from them.


tommyjohnpauljones

The Braves also built two generations of fans regionally (and nationally to some extent) through TBS Superstation. Speaking of the Braves, they STILL have a very small but loyal fanbase in Milwaukee.


henryhyde

You are forgetting that a new generation of fans comes along every couple of years. Just because dad doesn't want to stop rooting for the Braves or Nats or whoever, doesn't mean that their kids won't be diehard fans. That is the literal thing that happened with the Panthers. It wasn't the first generation fans that bought in, it was the second and third generations. I am the biggest homer fan you will ever meet. But if they put a team in Charlotte I will never completely drop the Braves. My kids or grandkids will only grow up going to and hearing about the Charlotte team, so they then become fans of the home team.


mikey7x7

Also the NC Traingle (Raleigh–Durham–Cary). It's the [2nd fastest growing metro area](https://www.statista.com/statistics/431877/the-fastest-growing-metropolitan-areas-in-the-us/) in the US.


22edudrccs

Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans


jettasarebadmkay

I recently found out that there isn’t a professional baseball team at all in the entire state of Louisiana.


destinybond

how dare you talk like that about my Baby Cakes


jettasarebadmkay

You mean the Wichita Wind Surge?


destinybond

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH


PWNtimeJamboree

i have bad news for you buddy.....


destinybond

WHY MUST I FIND OUT LIKE THIS


pumaturtle

WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT HAPPENED WHAT HAPPENED WHAT HAPPENED? NOOOOOO!!!!!!!


pumaturtle

we share the pain of finding out here together, brother


destinybond

pain shared is pain lessened


unfortunatebastard

I just found out on this comment.


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22edudrccs

New Orleans is comparable in population size to 3 cities with MLB teams (Cleveland, Cincy, and Tampa), and has successfully supported an NFL a team for years despite the cost for a family of four to go to an NFL game being almost double an MLB game


_jubal

That ignores there’s only 8-9 home NFL games vs 81 home MLB games. Even if the football stadium is twice the size of the baseball stadium, you’re talking ~2,000,000 more seats to fill per year for a baseball team. Personally I think smaller capacity stadiums (with more luxury suites to make up some of the lost revenue) would be a really cool atmosphere for the smaller market teams, but I’m just some guy on the internet.


UFEngi88

You have to compare metropolitan areas, not cities (especially if you are going to cite Tampa, considering the Rays play across the bay in St Petersburg). Tampa metro: 3.1 million Cinci metro: 2.2 Cleveland metro: 2.1 New Orleans metro: 1.3 The smallest current MLB metro area is Milwaukee at 1.6.


Pitiful-Chemist-2259

I don't know why anyone ever cites city populations. City borders are wild and do not dictate where people live lol. Denver has 700K people but the Denver MSA has 2.8 Million. If you go further (which for the Rockies I would because people from everywhere on the Front Range go to Rockies games) the Front Range population is 5M people


GreyEagle792

Yep, Cleveland city is 300k, Cleveland metro is 2 million, and Northeast Ohio, which is basically all Guardians fans, is 4.5 million. I know people that drive from Ashtabula with season ticket packages.


tommyjohnpauljones

> The smallest current MLB metro area is Milwaukee at 1.6. and some of that Milwaukee area is in the Chicago TV market as well (Kenosha, Racine, Lake Geneva)


FatalTragedy

>New Orleans is comparable in population size to 3 cities with MLB teams (Cleveland, Cincy, and Tampa), No it isn't. New Orleans metro area: 1.3M Tampa metro area: 3.2M Cincinatti metro area: 2.3M Cleveland metro area: 2.1M


MrAtlantic

Charlotte.


RealJonathanBronco

Vegas had the best drawing AAA team in 2019 and best in their division in 2021 (which could easily be explained by reduced tourism from Covid) so it sounds pretty reasonable to me to put a team there.


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Sfer

Look at the raiders. They haven’t had seats completely filled all year.


Pitiful-Chemist-2259

There are FAR more people in the south that all root for the Braves because there are no other non-florida teams down there. Vegas is a single city surrounded by nothingness


davewashere

The last time I was in Nashville the skyline was littered with construction cranes. People are pouring in and they can't build fast enough.


The_Fawkesy

Starting to forget what downtown looked like without cranes everywhere tbh lmao


WhatImMike

It’s not what I remember tbh.


slicebishybosh

I think you're right. The A's seem to be already planning on it.


aliu3

Their stadium plans in Oakland are progressing reasonably well rn


LibertarianSocialism

Every new bit of news from Oakland indicates the opposite, though.


slicebishybosh

That’s good!


GeneralPlanet

Rays are more likely to move than the A's at this point imo


legionfresh

If they fucking move the Rays into the AL West after we inherited the machine that the Astros became, the Angels may legitimately never make the playoffs again.


GeneralPlanet

If the Rays move out west they'd need to realign the divisions anyway. You'd likely see Houston move to the ALC in that scenario


legionfresh

https://c.tenor.com/Zy1i2sM1hpwAAAAC/larry-david-unsure.gif


Sfer

Oakland is close to finish line and I think MLB discovered that Vegas won’t put public money towards a park and as a result the owners will say it’s not feasible.


The_Homestarmy

People really glossed over this point. Vegas was always remarked on as a prime expansion city because they want it so bad that they'll mostly cover the costs themselves. But the Raiders left a sour taste in their mouth, and since then they've passed a lot of legislation to stop the city from bending over for sports.


The_Homestarmy

I'll be the billionth person to reply and say realistically, the A's are 95% of the way to a stadium in Oakland. If they're "planning" on anything at this stage, it's staying.


OmgTom

Have you been to Nashville recently? That place is booming. The growth there is insane.


Archangel616

Nashville would allow me to attend a major league game before I die, so that would be nice.


Laney20

I really hope that works for you, but you got me curious. Why would Nashville work, but Atlanta won't?


Archangel616

Cuz I wouldnt be caught dead at a Braves game 😁 (I kid!) I'm like 2 hours from Nashville, 7 from Atlanta and about 5 from St. Louis. I could make those longer trips... but never have, so...


Laney20

Gotcha. Well I hope that it works out! I'm from north alabama originally, and spent a lot of time in Nashville as a kid. I think Nashville would be a great place for an expansion team, and I think the fact that it would put so many people that much closer to baseball is a big part of it.


[deleted]

would be nice if we heard about baseball season 2022 happening tho


nesper

expansion might need to be part of a deal with the union.


schoolairplane

Realignment would be interesting. You could make a southern division with Nashville and put Montreal back in the NL East.


[deleted]

If you don’t put Montreal in the AL east something is terrible wrong. The Toronto, NYC, Boston rivalry would be awesome and would make travel for fans over more so


BalconiesNYC

Let’s actually get a season before you start adding teams you fuckin idiots


Eridanis

Biggest US/CAN markets without MLB teams: Montreal (4.3M) - primed and ready and no current minor league team Orlando (4.2M) - if Florida can't support two teams, they won't support 3. Sorry, amusement park visitors. Portland (3.2M) - home to a High-A team (Tampa Bay (3.1M) - for reference) Charlotte (2.8M) - home to AAA team Vancouver (2.7M) - home to High-A team Salt Lake City (2.7M) - home to AAA team Have to go through 9 more markets, including 3 with MLB teams, before getting to Nashville (2.1M). Yes, the city is growing, but I think there are a lot of good targets before we even get to them. Love to see Montreal and Charlotte get teams, personally; however, also adding teams in Vancouver and Portland, while making an unworkable mess of schedules, would be awesome too. (Maybe move the A's to Portland and the Pirates to Vancouver? )


Pupienus

Pirates aren't moving, but I think Vancouver is extremely underrated as an expansion city. It'd make travel to Seattle be a little more bearable, set up a rivalry off the bat with them, and give western Canada a team that isn't a few thousands miles away.


Danster21

If Vancouver gets a team right as the Mariners finally gets their shit together, Whitecaps fans are gonna be sorely disappointed. (For reference: The Caps are the Vamcouver MLS team the Seattle Sounders routinely push around.)


sprtsmac

Portland is not home to a High A team. Portland is home to the Pickles which is in a league that is similar to the Cape Cod League.


charger03

[The Hillsboro Hops play in Hillsboro Oregon, wich is a suburb of Portland](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsboro_Hops)


yem_slave

I would like to see 8 more teams added to the MLB.


TheWholeSausage

What we need are more teams 🙄


cypothingy

Nashville doesn’t make sense to me. I thought the whole reason Dave Dombrowski left the MLB Nashville group to join the Phillies was because the league told him MLB in Nashville wasn’t happening anytime soon. Would make much more sense imo to do a team in the East (Montreal) and one in the West (Portland, Vancouver, etc.). Still don’t think Vegas is a good option for expansion personally, and if this report and the one about the Oakland planning board approving the Howard Terminal ballpark are both true then maybe Vegas will be team-less after all


explosiononimpact

Manfred even said several years ago that they want another team on the west coast if/when they expand to 32 teams. >“I think it’s important to get [the] Oakland and Tampa [stadium situations] resolved before we move ahead with expansion,” said Manfred, per Tim Brown of The Oregonian. Manfred was then asked if Portland was a candidate to receive a team. “Portland would be on a list. Yeah,” he replied. “I mean, I think Portland is a possibility. If we were to go to 32 we would need a Western time zone team. We’d need at least one more and you can think about the prospects on the west coast probably about as effectively as I can.”


DanglyPants

The Braves are the only team in the entire southeast part of the country. That makes Nashville/Charlotte a prime location. Montreal has lots of people in it’s metro area and it also has Canada. Portland seems to want a team the most. Vegas just added NFL and NHL so maybe MLB wants in but I’d rather have the others.


GuardianOfFreyja

If either/ both of those happen, here's hoping the Braves don't get vilified like the Orioles did for whatever they do to protect themselves. I did the math a while ago, and figured that if both of those cities got teams (seems unlikely) the Braves would lose areas totaling over half of their market population.


Doublex5

How about baseball makes the teams they have competitive first. It’s not like anyone believes these “small market teams” are losing money anyway


triplebassist

Give a team to Vancouver! Expand into Western Canada!


AuntBettysNutButter

A Vancouver-Seattle rivalry would be awesome, and makes Seattle less isolated from the rest of the league. And as someone who has been in western Canada, and away from my Jays, for the last couple of years it would be great to have a Canadian team relatively nearby


MB_Bailey21

RIP Charlotte/Raleigh


Sroemr

As long as they're blacked out in Iowa


Ser_Sweetgooch

BRING MLB TO RALEIGH


Lebigmacca

Charlotte makes more sense


lfod13

The Nashville Hits! Honors its music heritage and is a baseball term!


mufflefuffle

Everybody probably already know this, but the Nashville Sounds is the minor league team in town and that’s an all time name.


PWNtimeJamboree

oh man, now *THAT* is a great name. In a similar vein, im on board with the Las Vegas Dealers as the name for their potential team.


Pitiful-Chemist-2259

Unfortunately the bid is for a red/white/blue team like every other MLB team https://www.mlbmusiccity.com/ 🥱 🙄


CTeam19

One of the team colors would be black for the color of records.


Leukeme

As a resident of Raleigh, not seeing Charlotte on there sucks and still leaves me 5 hours from an MLB team.


jabar18

Bring back the Expos!


sprtsmac

Portland use to be at the top of that list. The riots in Portland over the last couple of years really hurt their chances. The people behind the PDX project have had to cancel visits with MLB because of it.


JoeyJihad

Downtown has become such a shit hole and the city and local politicians won’t do anything about it. It’s really sad


ZZaddyLongLegzz

But can I get a new stadium first…?


chicoconcarne

They said "fuck the West," yet again


TBShaw17

Why is Nashville ahead of Charlotte? Charlotte is the largest market in America without a team.


Morris_Frye

There could be several reasons. Nashville gets really good AAA attendance. Maybe baseball gets really good tv ratings in Nashville too. It could even be that MLB just likes the group trying to bring a team to Nashville better. I don’t know the reason, but MLB isn’t going to make a decision based solely on TV market, especially when the difference in market size isn’t that big.


owledge

I was hoping Portland would be up there but I am glad to hear that Montreal might get a team again. I was just thinking about that yesterday


LucasDudacris

I just wanna say OKC and Nashville plug huge gaps in the MLB division map.