MLB Expansion

[HalfSmokes]

Looking at the map I never realized if you cut the country in two Halfs geographically how few teams are on the west half. Seattle is up there by themselves and the only city anywhere near them considered is right next door.

I would like to see one new team in one of the North Carolina cities and the other one in Montreal. Let Oakland move to Vegas and Tamps to San Antonio.

The other choice would be a new teams in Portland instead of Montreal but I would like to go see a game in Montreal.

From the Rockies to the Mississippi, there is a whole lot of empty space

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Seattle racks up the most travel miles of any team. Tmapa I think racks up a bit due to the distances within the division. New schedule will help them.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Does it really matter whether one boards a plane, train, or bus?  A road trip is a road trip.  And charter flights are presumably point-to-point.

Seattle racks up the most travel miles of any team. Tmapa I think racks up a bit due to the distances within the division. New schedule will help them.

[Senatorswin]

Does it really matter whether one boards a plane, train, or bus?  A road trip is a road trip.  And charter flights are presumably point-to-point.

I would think it makes a difference for a team like Seattle who never has a short travel distance for road trips as opposed to teams on the east coast who have so many of the road trips short distances. Who knows how much but Seattle going so far to the Astros and Rangers multiple times for games in their own division has to be tiresome.

This brings to mind Thurman Munson who decided to take flying lessons so he could fly home from New York to Cleveland after every home game. Not a good idea.

[Dave in Fairfax]

I think I recall over the years a number of complaints or at least observations about the costs (time, money, etc.) of road trips to Seattle compared to any other MLB city. One of the obstacles Portland would have to overcome is a similar degree of remoteness.

I imagine the Vancouver Grizzlies had a similar problem, especially with three of the teams in their 7-team division being in Texas. Add in Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Denver, and that's a lot of long road trips. Same for the Sonics (until they moved) and the Trail Blazers.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I suppose that the KHL must have dealt with this by scheduling regional play. Before Dear Leader lost his freaking mind there were teams from Vladivostok to Beijing to Bratislava. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I suppose that the KHL must have dealt with this by scheduling regional play. Before Dear Leader lost his freaking mind there were teams from Vladivostok to Beijing to Bratislava. 

hockey players and hitmen are their two biggest sources of hard currency.

[Senatorswin]

Here are Jim Bowden's opinion on where two expansion teams should go:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/cubs-white-sox-same-division-232605232.html

"Bowden’s thought experiment puts expansion teams in Nashville and Charlotte, two cities that have seen aggressive pushes for MLB franchises. Both of those clubs would be in the newly-formed “Eastern Conference,” according to Bowden’s alignment."

[imref]

Here are Jim Bowden's opinion on where two expansion teams should go:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/cubs-white-sox-same-division-232605232.html

"Bowden’s thought experiment puts expansion teams in Nashville and Charlotte, two cities that have seen aggressive pushes for MLB franchises. Both of those clubs would be in the newly-formed “Eastern Conference,” according to Bowden’s alignment."

Problem with being in the Eastern Conference is that Celtics and Bucks are dominating.

[HalfSmokes]

Here are Jim Bowden's opinion on where two expansion teams should go:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/cubs-white-sox-same-division-232605232.html

"Bowden’s thought experiment puts expansion teams in Nashville and Charlotte, two cities that have seen aggressive pushes for MLB franchises. Both of those clubs would be in the newly-formed “Eastern Conference,” according to Bowden’s alignment."

Do we get Charlotte’s tv rights or does Atlanta?

[Slateman]

Do we get Charlotte’s tv rights or does Atlanta?

Charlotte gets DC's and Baltimores

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Do we get Charlotte’s tv rights or does Atlanta?

We get Charlotte's rights, Charlotte gets Nashville's, and Nashville gets both Portland, OR and ME.  Sox and Mariners get raw deals, but Fenway Sports Group and NESN get the 50% of the Hurricane's broadcast rights while Seattle gets 50% of the  Opry.

[IanRubbish]

Montreal is not getting another team.  The bizarre Rays/Expos discussion a few years back was the result of a close friendship between Rays owner Stu Sternberg and Steve Bronfmann.

Nashville and Charlotte are the sensible choices for the next expansion, which will probably be in 10 years at the earliest.   Vegas apparently is not coming through for MLB in terms of a good stadium deal and they've said no more room taxes now that they've already done that for the Raiders.  Vegas is also getting a little tapped out going from nothing to NHL and NFL so quickly, needs to grow a little more.  The A's have been 2-3 seasons from moving for about 20 years now.  Wouldn't surprise me if another couple years end up being added to the Coliseum lease, or worse, they turn them into nomads like MLB did when they had the Expos play in San Juan.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/salt-lake-citys-bid-for-a-major-league-expansion-team-is-for-real/

Interesting candidate that's entering the discussions.  Very solid financial package, nice location for a stadium picked out, and, surprisingly, fairly comparable in terms of size of the TV market and the CSA size (counting Provo and Orem, which are well within commuting distance). Perhaps the biggest difficulty might be the lake itself. It is at significant risk of drying up even after a bit of recovery with a very nice winter of precipitation. If Salt Lake dries up, then you have major air problems in the form of toxic dust. 

[Elvir Ovcina]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/salt-lake-citys-bid-for-a-major-league-expansion-team-is-for-real/

Interesting candidate that's entering the discussions.  Very solid financial package, nice location for a stadium picked out, and, surprisingly, fairly comparable in terms of size of the TV market and the CSA size (counting Provo and Orem, which are well within commuting distance). Perhaps the biggest difficulty might be the lake itself. It is at significant risk of drying up even after a bit of recovery with a very nice winter of precipitation. If Salt Lake dries up, then you have major air problems in the form of toxic dust.

Beer sales might not be quite the concessions driver, either. 

[Slateman]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/salt-lake-citys-bid-for-a-major-league-expansion-team-is-for-real/

Interesting candidate that's entering the discussions.  Very solid financial package, nice location for a stadium picked out, and, surprisingly, fairly comparable in terms of size of the TV market and the CSA size (counting Provo and Orem, which are well within commuting distance). Perhaps the biggest difficulty might be the lake itself. It is at significant risk of drying up even after a bit of recovery with a very nice winter of precipitation. If Salt Lake dries up, then you have major air problems in the form of toxic dust. 

Just ship in some water, problem solved

[Elvir Ovcina]

Just ship in some water, problem solved

Think outside the box.  If you want to raise the water level, it doesn't matter what solid objects you sink in there.  As long as they're heavier than water, the level will go up.  We've got potential solutions for everything from landfill space in New Jersey to Chinese rockets crashing into random African villages: just drop it off in SLC!

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Just fill the lake with bobbleheads.  I probably have enough lying around my house ro raise it a few mm. 

[imref]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/salt-lake-citys-bid-for-a-major-league-expansion-team-is-for-real/

Interesting candidate that's entering the discussions.  Very solid financial package, nice location for a stadium picked out, and, surprisingly, fairly comparable in terms of size of the TV market and the CSA size (counting Provo and Orem, which are well within commuting distance). Perhaps the biggest difficulty might be the lake itself. It is at significant risk of drying up even after a bit of recovery with a very nice winter of precipitation. If Salt Lake dries up, then you have major air problems in the form of toxic dust. 

Yep:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/climate/salt-lake-city-climate-disaster.html

[Slateman]

Think outside the box.  If you want to raise the water level, it doesn't matter what solid objects you sink in there.  As long as they're heavier than water, the level will go up.  We've got potential solutions for everything from landfill space in New Jersey to Chinese rockets crashing into random African villages: just drop it off in SLC!

This is great thinking. Write up a project plan and have it on my desk by Monday morning.