Around the League - 2021 Szn
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Southcack77
Well-known member
The biggest Metropolitan Areas without Baseball in USA:
Charlotte 2.6m (Hornets, Panthers)
Orlando 2.6m (Magic. MLS)
San Antonio 2.55m (Spurs)
Portland 2.49 m (Blazers, MLS)
Sacramento 2.36m (Kings)
Las Vegas 2.26 (Raiders, NHL)
Nashville 1.9m (Titans, NHL Predators)
Charlotte 2.6m (Hornets, Panthers)
Orlando 2.6m (Magic. MLS)
San Antonio 2.55m (Spurs)
Portland 2.49 m (Blazers, MLS)
Sacramento 2.36m (Kings)
Las Vegas 2.26 (Raiders, NHL)
Nashville 1.9m (Titans, NHL Predators)
CrazyTrain
Well-known member
Charlotte needs a team. Although if we did... they would have to be AL or I'm not sure I'd be able to support them.
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CrazyTrain
Well-known member
Boy, Mitch Haniger is having a good start to the season.
Southcack77
Well-known member
I suppose that I should be fine with a Charlotte team as it would be more convenient than Atlanta and my kids might find that more useful, but I just feel like it would be a small market team without a whole lot of passion behind it.
But that's my general impression of Charlotte. Not anything worth getting excited about.
On a related note, I'm sure it would inconvenience my Braves access in one way or another. And it would probably hurt the Braves bottom line somehow. If I thought it would be a success and a good thing for the kids, I'd probably reluctantly support it. But I just seriously doubt that MLB would do well in Charlotte.
CrazyTrain
Well-known member
What's the source of your feeling here? MiLB sets attendance records in Charlotte. Not sure why that wouldn't translate well to an MLB team.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
Vegas!
Southcack77
Well-known member
I don't know. It would begin life not only as a small market, but one with two other professional sports franchises in town.
The Braves also dominate their target population to a much more intense degree than anything the Panthers or Hornets ever had to deal with.
With the exception of the early years of the Hornets (LJ and Mourning), I've never really sensed a hell of a lot of passion for professional sports from up there. I tend to wish them well enough, but not enough to follow closely.
I think the MiLB vs MLB dynamic and even target fan is a little different, but the AAA numbers are I guess somewhat encouraging. I understand the park is nice and that has certainly pushed attendance in a lot of places, but sometimes that MiLB thing is about ease and affordability. Not about connection to the team or winning or even watching a baseball game. I feel like you need a lot of more passionate investment in the product to support MLB numbers, but I might be dead wrong.
Southcack77
Well-known member
I sort of lean towards Portland, but I think that's just because I liked their stadium renderings.
Southcack77
Well-known member
I kind of wonder if the Triangle wouldn't be as good or better a choice in NC. Faster growing. Further away from Atlanta.
Montreal and Vancouver seem like good choices on paper, but both cities have lost professional franchises for disinterest in recent past.
CyYoung31
Shift Leader
Montreal didn’t lose the team due to disinterest. They lost the team because they continually got screwed by MLB.
Southcack77
Well-known member
They had below average attendance for their last 20 years or so.
CrazyTrain
Well-known member
Proximity to ATL isn't really an issue IMO. Braves Country is the southeast and NC falls directly into that regardless of the extra 2.5 hrs away. TBS was the best thing that ever happened to that franchise.
The Triangle would be another good spot, but IMO Raleigh is even more of a transplant town than Charlotte is at this point. They support the Canes fairly well when they are decent.
Charlotte supports everything but the Hornets (due to obvious reasons) and I think the MLS team will take off like a rocket. Prior to the original Hornets leaving the Hive was slammed for every game. CLT also kills it with the golf tournaments... NASCAR...
This city loves that stuff.
50PoundHead
Hessmania Forever
I was just tossing out Vegas somewhat as a joke. It would have to be a climate-controlled stadium (or else no night games) because summer in Vegas is unmercifully hot.
CrazyTrain
Well-known member
lol I'm pretty sure Portland should be completely avoided by all at this point. What a ****hole.
CyYoung31
Shift Leader
Yes, because MLB continually did them dirty.
I actually think Vegas is a legitimate contender. They've shown there is absolutely no hesitancy to shell out HUGE money for a state of the art park there, and if MLB reshuffles the divisions to actually address some of the travel concerns putting another team out west would certainly make sense because it would really help cut down other teams having to go so far to play the Mariners.
MLB West Division - LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Anaheim, Colorado, Arizona, Seattle, Vegas (formerly Oakland)
MLB Midwest Division - Kansas City, Houston, Texas, St. Louis, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Chicago, Chicago
MLB Northeast Division - New York, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit
MLB Southeast Division - Orlando (formerly Tampa Bay), Miami, Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, Cincinnati, Nashville, Raleigh/Charlotte
If you rotated playing divisions like the current AL/NL system with the West/Midwest as one league, Seattle wouldn't have to come east of Chicago/Milwaukee unless they made it to the World Series and none of the teams in the new Eastern League would have to deal with time zone changes.
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Southcack77
Well-known member
CyYoung31
Shift Leader
Well, it started with Jeffrey Loria, but when MLB bought the team in 2002 they took a talented, competitive team and wouldn’t let them spend any money to supplement it. They also constantly blocked them from getting a new stadium built as far back as the 90’s. It was all a ploy to get baseball back in DC.
It’s not like the fans just woke up one day a la Jason Heyward and decided they hated baseball. They had good attendance pre-strike.