Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, the ownership is a huge point of contention with their fans. They have the excuse that they don't draw well, so they can't resign the players. A lot of their fans don't want to give the Dolans their hard-earned $. It's a tough cycle ... yet they contend every year with the homegrown talent, which then heads somewhere else when the big money comes due.
I don't blame the fan base, a group that includes my wife and in-laws, for being frustrated.
Moving has only been a rumbling up there from time to time, but I think we'll hear more about it over the next few years as the lease nears its end.
I'm sure other teams that have stadium or market issues (real or imagined) are watching developments in Oakland and TB closely.
MLB is in too many declining markets like Baltimore and needs a stronger presence in growing ones like Nashville. With the Orioles being sold, and that metro, not just city, losing population now, Nashville would be a much more sensible spot for an MLB team.
The last non-covid season, 2019, Nashville's minor league club averaged 8,631 fans per home game. Even that was a decline from 2018. Non exactly stats that help an argument there.
Baltimore was twice that number on average in 2019 with over 16,000 fans per home game.
HOWEVER to help your argument Baltimore was averaging over 30,000 fans in 2014. Been going down ever since. 15-20 years ago Baltimore was in the top half of the league in fan attendance annually. Now they've been at the bottom annually.
Baltimore is still drawing more fans than Miami and Tampa.
An MLB team could lead to an uptick in attendance for Nashville BUT could the market withstand an extra 20 games? (AAA plays 142 games, MLB 162). Also, how much would the increased ticket price impact fan attendance.
I personally enjoy minor league games because for the price of an MLB ticket I can not only get a minor league ticket but can also get food and beverages for the entire family and still have some $$$ left over.
I think the Cleveland Indians, or whatever they'll be called soon, are more likely to move than the Baltimore Orioles. Their lease at Progressive Field is up after 2023, they barely draw even when they are good and they have not engendered a lot of good will among a decent portion of their fan base losing the players they've lost in recent years.
The name fiasco is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way as well, probably more so than the team's recent postseason flops.
Nashville would seem to be the best option, but I wouldn't be shocked if the Braves have to be compensated for losing a chunk of their TV territory as a result.
Your argument holds a lot of weight in recent years sadly. You should've seen the Jake back in the late 90s / early 00s. People would flock to the corner of Ontario and Carnegie to watch the tribe.
Exactly Greenville. I'm not an Indians or Cleveland sports fan but it's a shame those teams haven't drawn better. When the Indians are really good, they will draw. But the fact that Game 7 of the World Series had at least 15,000 Cubs fans in the park, if not closer to 20, also speaks volumes.
Meanwhile, the Browns have been terrible for most of the last 20 years until these recent excellent drafts and other personnel moves and draw unconditional support.
I remember those 90s teams well. The Indians gained a ton of fans across the region and have kept most of them. Before then, my part of Ohio was predominantly Reds. It's 50/50 or so now, but that team changed the dynamic some.
The Nashville metropolitan area ranks 36th in the United States, behind 11 other metros - the Inland Empire, Charlotte, Orlando, San Antonio, Portland, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Austin, Columbus, Indianapolis, San Jose - that don't have MLB teams.
Sure, the IE and San Jose can be written off as too close to two other franchises each (LA/Anaheim, SF/Oakland), and maybe Sacramento is also too close to the Bay Area, and Orlando has Tampa, then there's Las Vegas with the gambling (but the Golden Knights and Raiders are showing that that's really not an issue).
But metro Charlotte? It's much bigger than metro Nashville, and growing even faster (yep, it is - check the census numbers).
And either San Antonio or Austin? Again, both are bigger, both are growing faster than Nashville, and they're located close enough to each other (80 miles, downtown to downtown) that a franchise in either - or perhaps somewhere midway between - could serve both metros.
Anyway, it'll be decades before Nashville catches Baltimore, which has over 800,000 more people. At current growth rates, it won't be until sometime post-2050 that Nashville pulls even with Baltimore.
And either San Antonio or Austin? Again, both are bigger, both are growing faster than Nashville, and they're located close enough to each other (80 miles, downtown to downtown) that a franchise in either - or perhaps somewhere midway between - could serve both metros.
I agree both San Antonio and Austin are huge metro areas and growing, and I have heard the idea of place a MLB team in the middle of both, right off of I-35, but I would probably just pick one of the downtowns if they wanted to place a MLB in either market.
MLB is a different animal and not like the NFL where they only play 8 or 9 regular season home games, mostly on Sundays in the afternoon (I know they also play on Thursdays, Saturdays and Mondays!), so you can get season tickets holders that might live 2+ hours away.
For baseball, you have 81 home games and many mid-week night games, where people might not want to drive an hour or more one way in traffic to get to a game or back home. I'm sure if they placed a MLB team in either San Antonio or Austin, you might have a small group of people that lived in the other metro (not getting the team) buying season tickets or maybe a 10 or 20 game plan.
Baltimore likely to fall behind Nashville next year in media market rankings. It not only trails Pittsburgh and Cleveland in media market rank, it has a small sphere of influence being wedged in between so many other teams. Keep in mind its attendance spikes for Yankee and Red Sox games, nearly 1/4 of all games, due to road team fans.
If MLB stays in Baltimore, all it has there is an overflow stadium for other teams fans. Not only is attendance low for other games, ticket prices are cheap. Bad for baseball to be in the top markets of 1950, not the top markets of today.
Baltimore likely to fall behind Nashville next year in media market rankings. It not only trails Pittsburgh and Cleveland in media market rank, it has a small sphere of influence being wedged in between so many other teams. Keep in mind its attendance spikes for Yankee and Red Sox games, nearly 1/4 of all games, due to road team fans.
If MLB stays in Baltimore, all it has there is an overflow stadium for other teams fans. Not only is attendance low for other games, ticket prices are cheap. Bad for baseball to be in the top markets of 1950, not the top markets of today.
And Nashville is certain to remain well behind Indianapolis, Charlotte and Portland, none of which have MLB teams. It's also likely to fall behind Salt Lake City, also without a baseball team, but which is growing faster. Also the fact that Salt Lake City and Portland have only one other major sports team - to Nashville's two others - to spread around the sports $ argues in their favor over Nashville as a relocation destination.
Baltimore likely to fall behind Nashville next year in media market rankings. It not only trails Pittsburgh and Cleveland in media market rank, it has a small sphere of influence being wedged in between so many other teams. Keep in mind its attendance spikes for Yankee and Red Sox games, nearly 1/4 of all games, due to road team fans.
If MLB stays in Baltimore, all it has there is an overflow stadium for other teams fans. Not only is attendance low for other games, ticket prices are cheap. Bad for baseball to be in the top markets of 1950, not the top markets of today.
Well, if you are using media market size, then I guess, Kansas City (34), Cincinnati (36) and Milwaukee (37) will all be losing their MLB teams before Baltimore!
Even before the Expos moved south, many people that lived in DC and NOVA, grew up and rooted for Baltimore and I'm sure a bunch still like the Orioles along with the Nationals.
And here's another thing you are overlooking, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) is owned by the Baltimore Orioles (90%) and the Washington Nationals (10%) and is carried over every cable network in Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia.
The channel televises all Orioles and Nationals not broadcast on a national network (around 320 games annually). Televises more than 520 live major sporting events annually. MASN operates an alternate feed, MASN 2.
Not too many MLB teams own their own regional sports network, where you can cut out the middle man like Comcast or Spectrum or At&T or NBC or Bally. So in a way, Baltimore "lucked out" having the 9th largest TV market just south of them, and one that carries both MASN and MASN2!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
