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The city already has 2 major league teams(NBA, NFL). 3 teams for a market of just over 1 million seems a bit too much.
You're right, I would love an MLB team here though. I think it would be easy to get other fans to travel but hard to get enough local fans to attend unless they actually were to advertise in neighboring cities.
Hey, keep hope alive. I can certainly understand you wanting to have the A's back. They are an awesome team.
But the current and last ownership group has really treated Oakland the fans like sh*t, doing everything they can to make the fan experience sucky, to alienating the team from their fan base, to trashing the city to to media every chance they get, when there were plenty of opportunities to build a great stadium here.
I don't really have anything against San Jose either--they just want a team.
But the SF Giants are NOT giving up Santa Clara County cause they consider that county their cash cow. 40% of Giants Fans are from Santa Clara county according to the SF Giants President Larry Baer.
And so what Bud Selig probably thought would be a slam dunk 4 years ago, now is looking less and less likely everyday. He put together a committee to look into the issue of moving the team from Oakland to San Jose and after 3 years, no resolution.
I think its because the committee has realized that the A's ownership exaggerated their claims that Oakland was not viable.
Baltimore is not going anywhere, so forget about that. Other smaller market teams that have about no chance of moving are Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Chicago Sox (yes, the Sox are technically a small market team even though they play in a big market).
I don’t see any city that does not currently have MLB being able to support a team successfully long term.
You need two things (or lots of one to make up for the other) to support a MLB team. A strong baseball history and a very large population to draw from. You also need a billionaire owner of course that is willing to build a half billion dollar stadium (very rare) or a city/metro willing to build one with tax money (not easy).
If there were any teams that would move, it would be Tampa Bay and Oakland. Miami is kinda locked in with the new stadium, but they are a god awful “MLB” town. Miami even with a brand new stadium just cannot draw fans. I think it has a lot to do with the transient type area.
Cleveland has the fans, they are just going through some rough times economically and on the field. Although they may not be able to keep this up another ten years and they could be in trouble by then, but I think something will change (better team etc). Eventually things turn around. Cleveland is a great baseball town.
Same with Baltimore. Classic ballpark, diehard fans. Just a long drought of competitive teams takes its toll on fans and the Ravens have taken the sports spotlight as of late. They are drawing better now.
Kansas City is a smaller market as well, but people don’t realize how much of a baseball town it is. They just need a respectable team. KC is more of a baseball town than a football town. People just don’t know that and no other city would put up with the Royals as long as KC has and still average over 20k after 25 years of bad baseball. They may be finally getting the team the city deserves though.
White Sox have no reason to leave. They are a lower revenue team, but still have enough TV revenue in the Chicago market that they are fine where they are and would certainly not be better off moving.
Pittsburgh? Not a chance. Amazing ballpark, great fans. Stable franchise. Just win a few games and they will draw. Smaller market hurts, but they will survive.
Seattle seems to have turned its back on their team. They have a great downtown ballpark and solid population base. They need to chill out on their MLS team and be careful not to lose their MLB team haha. They lost the NBA and don’t have NHL. Weird sports market, but I don’t see the Mariners moving anytime soon.
Houston. Same as Seattle. Media Market is just way too big and a relatively new downtown ballpark. Even with lower attendance, they are fine.
As far as teams that could leave
Oakland desperately needs a ballpark, but they have the fan base to compete with San Francisco. I hope they don’t move to San Jose or elsewhere, but it’s a real possibility.
Tampa also needs a nicer ballpark. I think they have the potential to be a great MLB market with a stadium, but if they can’t get a new park, then they could move.
There are only a few cities that could even be discussed as far as relocating a MLB to. Places like New Orleans, Louisville, OKC etc (which come up often on silly forums like this) are just completely out of the question for MLB. Way too small of a population base and media market to even think about filling a 40,000 seat stadium 80 times a year and put a remotely competitive team on the field.
Places where it may be a remote possibility are Charlotte and Portland. With regional populations of both approaching 3 million, it’s possible they could host another struggling, yet stable team (like KC, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Millwaukee etc), but without a long tradition of generations of baseball fans and baseball culture, it would be difficult.
Even longer shots (although more likely than Louisville, Birmingham, New Orleans, OKC etc) are Indianapolis and San Antonio and or Austin. I don't see those markets getting a team before Portland or Charlotte though.
But again, I don’t see any MLB moves for a while.
OH and just for fun. The best baseball city in the country bar none is St Louis. Followed by Boston and then Philly, Chicago and Milwaukee. Kansas City is pretty good too, lots of history and loyal fan base that deserves better.
So New Orleans is out.......how about Charlotte....can they support a Carolina White Sox?! Or should Raleigh get the Carolina White Sox? I think for baseball the Seven Cities would be better only because they are on the coast and don't have ANY pro teams. And I think tidewater is far enough from DC.
I think there's things an area may do to make things better. For example in Chicago...The Sox stadium is surrounded by a bunch of surface lots and there are plenty of Sox fans out there. The overall fan experience there sucks though. On the contrary, the Cubs suck on average and still sell out most of their games because the area the stadium is in is surrounded by bars, food, etc and it's one giant party regardless of whether they win or lose.
And so what Bud Selig probably thought would be a slam dunk 4 years ago, now is looking less and less likely everyday. He put together a committee to look into the issue of moving the team from Oakland to San Jose and after 3 years, no resolution.
I would thoroughly support this move if they called themselves the San Hose A's.
OH and just for fun. The best baseball city in the country bar none is St Louis. Followed by Boston and then Philly, Chicago and Milwaukee. Kansas City is pretty good too, lots of history and loyal fan base that deserves better.
I have no idea why you didn't put New York on the list. NYC has lots of successful franchises, but it's Yankees territory first, second, and if they're lucky, the Giants are third. The Mets don't have anywhere near the success or fanbase that the Yankees have, but they're usually good for a deep postseason run once (maybe twice) a decade or so.
My top 3:
STL
Boston
NYC
Honorable mention: Chicago, Cincinnati (people forget how good this franchise was in the early & mid 70s and the latter part of the 80s... they love their baseball)
Some posters are either very young or have short memories. Most of the cities listed by the OP are fine and I would be shocked if they relocated.
Cleveland: When the Indians opened their new ballpark in the 1990's they sold out every single game for several seasons in a row. They have been pretty bad on attendance for several years, but as recently as the mid-2000's they were fine. They are an old franchise with fans that will come out with a decent product on the field.
Baltimore: Another franchise with a lot of history. And they have a gem of a ballpark. I have been to about a dozen ballparks and Camden is one of my two favorites.
White Sox: Another historic team. Chicago is plenty big enough to support two teams. And they usually draw decently...over 25,000 per game most years.
Oakland: Yeah, they really need a new stadium. I could see them moving if things didn't get worked out, but it would be kind of a shame
Tampa: This is the only one that I think is a possibility at all. Florida just tends to be a bad sports market for whatever reasons. If the Marlins didn't have a brand new stadium I would say they might be a possibility.
The problem is that it is really tough to support an MLB team. There are just so many home games...you need a large population and a lot of business support. I honestly don't know if any existing market would be better than where they are now. Las Vegas might be able to do it, but MLB probably won't go for that b/c of the gambling. I don't see Portland being able to support a team. NOLA and Nashville are great cities, and I'd love another southern team, but I just don't think either market could support another pro team. Both metros are under two million and already have two pro sports franchises. I think the best bet (aside from Vegas) might be North Carolina...Raleigh only has one team, but that is a pretty small metro. Maybe give Charlotte another 10 years and see. I believe they are constructing a downtown minor league park. Perhaps that could serve as a test balloon to see if an MLB team could be viable in a decade or so. Montreal supported the Expos for a long time and I could actually see them getting another chance as well.
Interesting to see some people mention Montreal here. With a proper amount of attention given to the product on the field and to stadium planning efforts, I think Montreal could succeed with a do-over of the Expos.
On the flip side of that, does anyone think a team in Vacouver would prosper? The population is there, but I'm not sure if the baseball interest is super high in that part of Canada. Also pretty close to Mariner country, and I'm sure Seattle would have major objections.
Are there any other international cities that could conceivably land an MLB squad in the next 10-15 years? We've been told for years that the reason Miami has a MLB franchise is to carry the fan support of the Carribean/Latin American market, but could a San Jaun or Mexico City ever get an MLB team?
Since a couple people have mentioned it, I'll just go ahead and throw this out there: Nashville is not getting an MLB team any time soon. We have our hands full with the two franchises we have (NFL Titans, NHL Predators)...we were too small to be a 2 sport market when we got them, and we're just now growing into the size to viably support both. Adding a third franchise -- especially MLB, which tends to gravitate towards the largest markets, would be too much strain in my opinion. I think Nashville is, at the very least, 25 years away from being able to support MLB. There are plenty of under-served sports markets (Portland, San Antonio/Austin, Las Vegas, and even Orlando) that I could see getting an MLB team before us. At our size, we're more likely to add an MLS franchise (though that would still be some time off)...then NBA (also not as likely with the Grizzlies being relatively close).
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