Expansion Could Alter MLB's Landscape

Dropping 6 games, but also adding 2 teams results in a net gain, not loss.

It is not a net gain for the individual teams. 6 less games of broadcast revenue. 3 less games for revenue from full season ticket holders, 3 less suite rentals. The 10 teams that sell well will have less fans. National broadcast rights will be less for each team. There will be a short term bump up in merchandise royalties

Doesn't each teams cut of the expansion fees cover much of that?

Took a vacation. The expansion fee is likely to depend on how many players and what kind of talent they get to select. If they get a pretty good shot at having players the pricetag might be 1.2  billion each franchise as that is what Miami sold for.  . This is baseball. Angelos bought the Orioles for 173 m   The expansion fee 5 years later was 135m    I would think about 750m for a franchise.  2 teams net the rest 50m a franchise less whatever the commissioner takes out for baseball.  Between  revenue per year decreasing from the broadcast pool and inflation of wages for competition  for even the mediocre players, which in turn drives up arb costs the expansion fees should cover it for a few years. Being short sighted is not how owners became billionaires. 

A quick Google search shows you to be correct.
Portland gets most of their rain in the winter.
They actually get far less rain during baseball season than Minneapolis does.

From April through September, Minneapolis gets an average of about 20.8" of rain, while Portland gets 9.9".

Playoffs are in October

How's the baseball temperature in Portland Mike?

Portland bumping Colorado for the eighth slot in the west looks to be screwing all the realignment attempts. Sorry to stereotype, but are all those young hipsters really into baseball?

No chance, imo, there are enough businesses here to buy suites, nor do I think the tv market is big enough. Seattle would be bummed for sure, to lose this market, they would want to be compensated.

 

I think Vancouver, BC is actually a good idea. LOTS of money there, LOTS.

 

However, a report came out yesterday that there is a Portland money group working on this.....

 

The stadium would be tough. No one in the city likes going west to the burbs, no one in the far out burbs likes the hippy dippy city. Traffic is awful to the one suburb spot you could do (Hillsboro), and even worse in the city. Supposedly there is a site in the city. It will either be Amazon HQ2 (hahahahaha) or a baseball stadium (hahaha), or condos/apartments/park space.

 

Frankly, this city will have to ban cars in the center part of the city at some point....

So you're saying the Portland Weedpatch or Portland Cannabis baseball teams will never exist? All of the distributors can buy the suites...a lot of happy people at those games. 

Won't lie...dissapointed Nashville is not being considered. The South does need another team. I WILL NOT root for Atlanta. Cincy is too far north. St. Louis is not really a "Southern" city. Houston and Dallas are Texas. Then there are the Florida teams (give me a break).

Here's an idea...ad the additional two teams as mentioned, but also move the Rays to Nashville! Done!

Agreed.  Can't believe they aren't considering Nashville and Charlotte, two of the fastest growing cities in America.  

Don't know why you'd do away with the leagues. Doesn't solve anything...other than the DH question, and the DH discrepancy hasn't proven to be a huge issue over time. IMO, you should not only retain the two leagues, but do away with the inter-league play. In 2020, we don't need Mike Trout to play in our home ballpark in order to 'see' him play.

I do like the idea of reducing the schedule when you add the two teams. Also, IMO, with the improved access to global talent, MLB could withstand expansion without a huge drop-off in quality of play. Whatever quality of play issues currently existing are the result of how the game is approached/played...not a thin global talent pool.

I think the Carolinas are pretty entrenched as Braves territory. There are also a LOT of minor league teams in and around that area, including the Charlotte Knights, the AAA team for the White Sox.

I disagree. I've lived in the Charlotte Metropolitan Area for over five years and this is not Braves Territory by any stretch of the imagination, even less so in Raleigh which is a couple hours north and east of here.

In fact they don't even show Braves games here on Cable TV. Most Charlotte-tans are in fact transplants from NY City, New Jersey and the rest of New England so it's a very Yankee-esq City and could care less about Brave's baseball.

The City has grown leaps and bounds over the last 30 years due to the influx of financial firms and banks from the Big Apple. If estimates are correct in 20 years we'll be as big as Atlanta is now. We are one of the fastest growing cities in the country outside of Texas and the city is itching for professional baseball. 

Indeed.  Not to mention that it is becoming a fairly large AA international hub.

 

Isn't that where Pohlad wanted to move the Twins in the late 90s?

Pohlad didn't want to move the Twins anywhere. Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point was the location where he tried to fake people into thinking he was moving to but that was just a ruse to try to spur stadium construction.

Note the BA article quoted is from a year ago.

I think commingling the AL/NL would be pretty strange. I would also worry that the proposed regional division alignments would hurt revenue for some small teams.

Pohlad didn't want to move the Twins anywhere. Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point was the location where he tried to fake people into thinking he was moving to but that was just a ruse to try to spur stadium construction.

It was serious enough to where building a new stadium in NC was put on the ballot.

Even if you doubt the team would move, contraction was a real possibility. It was stupid, yes, but it was possible.

Also would add that Rob Manfred has specifically mentioned several cities for expansion back in July.

“that I think are not only interested in having baseball, but are viable in terms of baseball”

“Portland, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Nashville in the United States, certainly Montreal, maybe Vancouver, in Canada. We think there’s places in Mexico we could go over the long haul.”

https://deadspin.com/rob-manfred-says-he-wants-mlb-expansion-lists-six-pote-1827712616

What about 16 2 team divisions? Only division winners get to the playoffs, so playoff revenues increase with 16 teams in the playoffs.

And playing outdoor baseball in Minnesota during April, you need players comfortable in: stocking caps, thermal underwear, snow boots, winter parkas or snowmobile suits and the pair of gloves are to keep frostbite from the fingers, in addition to the one glove to catch the ball. (Native, Winter Hating Minnesotan)