Future MLB Expansion?

[Majingir]

It comes up every year, but Montreal expansion talks again:
https://www.tsn.ca/source-tells-olne...ppen-1.1279902

Quote:

It seems to come up every year the Toronto Blue Jays play exhibition games in Montreal: Will the Expos ever return to the city? A source told ESPN’s Buster Olney it’s possible. “This spring I had a conversation – and this is not like it was with Rob Manfred the commissioner or some owner – it was a mid-level person in Major League Baseball and it surprised me with such the ease that he had to say next round of expansion, which would take place after they settle the franchise situations with the Rays and the Athletics – two teams looking for new ballparks. But once they do the next round of expansion, yeah Montreal will be involved. And he said it as if it was a done deal,” Olney said Tuesday morning on First Up with Michael Landsberg and Carlo Colaiacovo. So you’re saying there’s a chance at expansion, Olney was asked. “That’s the way it was presented to me and I’d look at it more like it’s going to come down to a potential owner and do you look at a Nashville, do you look at someplace like Portland to give the west another team? Do you look at a place like Charlotte? And as I say, it was presented to me almost as if, ‘Well, Montreal will get one team and then we’ll see where the other one’s going to go.’”

MLB definitely could use expansion. Given the issues players are having with owners/getting paid, I'm sure they'd be in favor of this for sure. That's 52 big league jobs created for pitchers/batters alone, dozens more for coaches. Not to mention hundreds of more minor league players/coaches having a team.

Interesting part is how it seems like as soon as A's/Rays stuff is resolved, MLB is going for expansion (especially if one or both don't move). Montreal probably a fave, but also here mentioning Nashville or Portland as possibilities.

[Majingir]

If MLB has 32 teams, they're probably having 4 divisions per league. However, once DH becomes a thing in the NL, do people see a drastic change in baseball, or just simply adding 1 expansion team to each league and moving around divisions?

By drastic change, I mean redo all divisions. Each league has N,E,S,W divisions. Way less travel, we have playoff format like NFL. 4 division winners, 2WC teams, top 2 teams in each league get a BYE into LDS. WC round could be best of 3 (GM2-3 home field goes to better team regardless if division winners)

East 1-BOS,NYY,NYM,MON*
East 2-BAL,WAS,PHI,PIT
West 1-SEA,SD,ARI,COL
West 2-SF,OAK,LAA,LAD
North 1-TOR,DET,MIL,MIN
North 2-CHC,CWS,CLE,CIN
South 1-MIA,TB,ATL,NSH*
South 2-TEX,HOU,KC,STL

4 per division will build more rivalries(something MLB could use), and having 12 playoff teams in a 32 team league means more teams will be in it come September, leading to bigger ticket sales. Last year alone if 6 teams made playoffs, the worst would be 90 win Rays in AL, 88 win Cards in NL.

As much as "baseball purists" will hate it, no doubt this would be a great move for MLB from a business standpoint. You need to attract more fans. Hardcores will watch no matter what(and complain about changes), but you'll draw way more casuals by having bigger rivalry games and better odds of making playoffs, and casual fanbase is where MLB seems to struggle more compared to NFL or NBA.

[TheMatrix31]

I'd rather not dilute the talent pool further.

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheMatrix31

I'd rather not dilute the talent pool further.

I'm sure there's enough players to fill out more teams. Guys just not getting the big league opportunity, FAs going unsigned and so on.

If expanding increases amount of money players get, brings in rivalries (with smaller divisions) and gives more fanbases playoff hopes, don't see how it's much of a loss. A possible "diluted talent pool" is a risk I'm sure MLB/PA would be happy to take to make the game bigger. And if anything, diluted talent pool means the real talent should be getting more money if their numbers really do stand out from the average guys.

[bacon96]

Obviously a while down the road but these talks always get me excited too.

Other than Montreal, I'd like to see Las Vegas or Mexico City be granted a team.

[p_rushing]

MLB shouldn't expand, it probably already has too many teams. Unless the NFL goes away, it's not going to increase in popularity.

[BigOscar]

Honestly, it's sad to say, but I really think the Rays will move sooner or later. They've repeatedly botched attempts at getting a new park in a more viable area and the team is just going nowhere. 90 wins last year, exciting young team, yet they struggled badly to sell out the new reduced capacity 25k for opening day against the Astro's.

When cities like Montreal and Charlotte keep showing aggressive interest and the Rays keep just showing that they cannot generate any interest in Tampa, it just feels inevitable.

Manfred has said he won't consider expansion until Oakland and Tampa get sorted out with new stadiums, but I cannot ever see Tampa getting a new stadium other than by relocating

[Majingir]

When will MLB just give Tampa and ultimatum? A's look like they might be on right path, but nothing has happened from Rays to make people think it'll be resolved one way or the other anytime soon.

Could the MLB Owners and possibly even MLBPA try making MLB come down on this Rays stadium saga? If I'm an owner, I'd want the Tampa stuff resolved ASAP. Rays have attendance of around 15,000.

In a league with revenue sharing, how do you not get mad at having a team drawing so poorly and no progress in improving. Move to a city able to draw even 25,000 or so per game. 10,000 extra fans at $70 or so average ticket price, and that's a extra revenue of 700k per game. Over 55M extra for their 81 home games. Depending on which city they move to, we could even see impact felt on the road with travelling fans. I'd imagine a city like Montreal is more likely to have fans going to Baltimore or Toronto than fans from Tampa would.

I've said it before, Florida should have 1 team. Let fans of the entire state support 1 team. You have an older demographic down there, let those fans bump up TV ratings for that 1 team while giving another market some baseball.