re: Salt Lake City MLB

I think one of the biggest problems SLC has is altitude. They are approx 4300 feet above sea level. Baseball in Colorado has been weak, in part bc the elevation hurts the pitching staff and manipulates the field dimensions. 8 winning seasons since 93 and ZERO division titles.


Best case scenario you get a Tampa rays type organization that wins with less. they’ll never be a free agent destination and always on the prospect dread list.

I just don’t think baseball is better with Utah. Leave them as a minor league destination— adding Utah just dilutes the product.

Baseball markets are different. Biggest reason why the A’s left Oakland. MLB wants to expand its footprint not oversaturate its existing markets. Hence why Nashville and SLC are the leading candidates for expansions.

Yes, the Rockies support and attendance is actually incredible considering how poorly run they’ve been. If anything they prove the opposite

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Nashville is already a shoe-in. The second team will probably be SLC. They will just be easier to deal with business wise than Montreal. Portland maybe but do we really want/need another West coast team? Austin and OKC are already in large MLB markets so they’re out. Charlotte makes sense but not going to expand two teams in the east.

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I wouldn't be so sure about Nashville. Raleigh may end up being the spot in the east. They already have an owner and money in place. The owner of the Hurricanes and Trailblazers has committed. They have land and location for a stadium and local and state politicians are supporting it as well.

There are a couple other surprising things that can sway it to Raleigh as well. Raleigh is the nations largest TV market without an MLB team in its footprint. The TV market is larger than Nashville, Raleigh is 22nd and Nashville is 26th (Charlotte is 21st). The MLB uses a 60 mile radius for population. Raleigh has 2.4 million people in that radius and Nashville has 2.1. Raleigh has a faster growth rate as well. 1.68% vs. 1.19%. Raleigh would come into the league with a market bigger than 10 cities with teams. Maybe most importantly for owners is that Raleigh currently sits outside of any of the current TV market area. They would have to carve out of the Braves TV market to accommodate a team in Charlotte and Nashville would have to carve out of both the Braves and Cardinals markets.

That was certainly a factor but playing in the shadow of the Giants market always hindered their bottom line. They would’ve moved to San Jose but MLB blocked it. When Vegas became a thing it was a no-brainer.

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It will be interesting whether the MLB moves to 4 8-team divisions or 8 4-team divisons.

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4 divisions of 8 teams would be better so Manfred will definitely do 8 divisions of 4 teams.