MLB Off-Topic

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm 97% sure this has been said before (even in this thread), but Manfred said today that the Top 3 cities he has in mind for expansion are Montreal, Mexico City, and Charlotte, NC.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I'm 97% sure this has been said before (even in this thread), but Manfred said today that the Top 3 cities he has in mind for expansion are Montreal, Mexico City, and Charlotte, NC.

I believe this has been stated for the last 3 years. It's nice to see that MLB isn't wavering from its long term thinking in relation to those three cities.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Charlotte is an interesting choice, as they currently have one of the best ballparks in the Minors.

[Money99]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Am I ignorant to think NC would be a great fit for MLB?
Naturally I want Montreal to get a team first, but NC seems like a no brainer.

Sent from my LG-K210 using Operation Sports mobile app

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Only issue is the Knights. There's not a single Major League city that also holds a Minor League team.

[SPTO]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Only issue is the Knights. There's not a single Major League city that also holds a Minor League team.

Does Raleigh have a Minor League team? They could always move the Knights there and make it the expansion team's affiliate.

[TripleCrown9]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Does Raleigh have a Minor League team? They could always move the Knights there and make it the expansion team's affiliate.

Not Raleigh proper, but the Durham Bulls are 30 minutes away. And the Buies Creek Astros are 45.

[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

Only issue is the Knights. There's not a single Major League city that also holds a Minor League team.

The Knights would move if Charlotte got a MLB team. The stadium was built with expansion to 30,000 being possible.

The problem with Charlotte is the city is full of fair weather fans. Just look at how many people show up to Bank of America when the Panthers aren't good. BB&T park (the minor league stadium) only sells out because they kept the ticket prices the same as they were when the Knights were in Fort Mill and couldn't get anyone to drive 30 minutes out of the city to attend a game. A MLB team would obviously have to raise ticket prices beyond the $5-25 range that it currently is set at and I think that would drive away a lot of the people that attend games after working downtown.

And North Carolina is still a basketball state.

The only way I could see it working is if they designed the stadium in a similar way that Coors Field is done, where it's more about the experience of being at the stadium over actually watching the game. They might be able to get consistent fans then, since Charlotte's demographics are very similar to Denver.

[Majingir]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

To go back to my MLBN comment, I just so happened to check out their listings on my tv guide and tonight they got abunch of 90s ASGs. First up I believe is the 91 one in Toronto. 30 min recap so I'll definitely check it out.

I'm 97% sure this has been said before (even in this thread), but Manfred said today that the Top 3 cities he has in mind for expansion are Montreal, Mexico City, and Charlotte, NC.

I don't think MLB should really expand(though if they did,I wonder how divisions would end up. NFL style maybe?). Relocation needs to happen though. Florida just shouldn't have 2 teams at all. I don't care what their population is, they're just not the greatest of sports states.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

The Knights would move if Charlotte got a MLB team. The stadium was built with expansion to 30,000 being possible.

The problem with Charlotte is the city is full of fair weather fans. Just look at how many people show up to Bank of America when the Panthers aren't good. BB&T park (the minor league stadium) only sells out because they kept the ticket prices the same as they were when the Knights were in Fort Mill and couldn't get anyone to drive 30 minutes out of the city to attend a game. A MLB team would obviously have to raise ticket prices beyond the $5-25 range that it currently is set at and I think that would drive away a lot of the people that attend games after working downtown.

And North Carolina is still a basketball state.

The only way I could see it working is if they designed the stadium in a similar way that Coors Field is done, where it's more about the experience of being at the stadium over actually watching the game. They might be able to get consistent fans then, since Charlotte's demographics are very similar to Denver.

On top of that, the Carolinas and most of the southeast has historically been Braves country due to their longtime presence on the TBS superstation.

[Speedy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't find Charlotte to be a viable option.

I'm a huge Braves fan and there's SEVERAL of us here that grew up loving and watching Atlanta. It would be extremely difficult for a Charlotte team, even if they were local to NC, to pull support away from Atlanta. I'd probably protest even if MLB took away the Atlanta feed to where I could only watch Charlotte locally but not Atlanta.

It's different than the Hornets as they started in 1989 and had some great drafts/players to really garner a lot of excitement as TV really hit its stride in the 90s. The Braves meanwhile were on a big cable TV network and modeled as a local team for NC folks so once they moved to the locally broadcasted FS/South or SportsSouth, they'd already established a substantial foothold.

Anyone remember when they were thinking of contracting the Twins and moving them to Greensboro?

[Jr.]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I don't find Charlotte to be a viable option.

I'm a huge Braves fan and there's SEVERAL of us here that grew up loving and watching Atlanta. It would be extremely difficult for a Charlotte team, even if they were local to NC, to pull support away from Atlanta. I'd probably protest even if MLB took away the Atlanta feed to where I could only watch Charlotte locally but not Atlanta.

It's different than the Hornets as they started in 1989 and had some great drafts/players to really garner a lot of excitement as TV really hit its stride in the 90s. The Braves meanwhile were on a big cable TV network and modeled as a local team for NC folks so once they moved to the locally broadcasted FS/South or SportsSouth, they'd already established a substantial foothold.

Anyone remember when they were thinking of contracting the Twins and moving them to Greensboro?

The Panthers faced the same kind of issue that a Charlotte MLB team would face. It took nearly 20 years, but the Panthers have a pretty good hold on NFL fandom now, so a new team would just have to be patient enough for homegrown fans to get older and take over.

My biggest concern would be enough attendance early on. It's too late for BB&T to sell PSL's, I think, like Bank of America was built on and guaranteed a certain number of tickets sold for every game.

[Speedy]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I disagree.

The Falcons weren't good at all. I can be wrong but I don't recall any NFL team having a foothold here like the Braves have in baseball?

[Sportsforever]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

So...remember Angel Hernandez is suing baseball? He should just be thankful he has a job:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-worst-called-strike-of-the-first-half-3/

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Off-Topic

I've seen worse calls, but that's really bad.