re: Salt Lake City MLB

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they’ll never be a free agent destination

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I would disagree. It's a beautiful place and low tax environment. A star could have a place in Park City and be at the park in 30 mins.

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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.

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The Rockies suck because of shite ownership

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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.

Ya that’s a good point. Nashville seems like the bigger draw from a marketing standpoint but both would be solid options.

MLB talent pool is already watered down. Expansion would water it down even more.

A city has to have a massive population to support a MLB team and Salt Lake City does not have that population needed to support a baseball team

Salt lake is what? 1.4 million if that?

There is no way that a city of that size can fill up 80 home games every year.

Sure, if they are winning world series and making the playoffs every season sure, but if the team has a few losing seasons, they will be done

The next expansion team needs to be the Rays locating from Tampa to Orlando. Tourists will flock to see a ball game in Orlando especially if it's their home team

That's all mlb needs on my opinion

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The next expansion team needs to be the Rays locating from Tampa to Orlando.

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Salt lake is what? 1.4 million if that?

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I wouldn’t use that number as your sole basis.

When you’re out here, it’s more about the sprawl along I-15, from north of Ogden area down thru Provo.

It is becoming massive. Even those in between areas like Lehi, American Fork, Pleasant Grove are experiencing massive growth.

A ton of tech has moved into the area.

Moreover, LDS families w a ton of kids, pro sports has proven to be a huge hit entertainment wise here. The Mammoth are crushing, and the Jazz always have.

But if you’re not in this region, I can understand why you’d underestimate this market.

But the growth is significant.