Possible Movement Toward Nashville Expansion Team

[DeployEloy]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/07/dombrowski-la-russa-stewart-join-nashville-franchise-effort.html

Wonder what other team they would also add to keep an even number of teams in the league. Is Montreal a possibility, or do they move somewhere west like Portland?

[Mohoney]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/...se-effort.html

Wonder what other team they would also add to keep an even number of teams in the league. Is Montreal a possibility, or do they move somewhere west like Portland?

Now that MLB’s staunch opposition to all things gambling has gone the way of the Dodo, perhaps Steve Stone’s dream of a Las Vegas baseball team finally becomes a reality?

[Krs1]

Make Jay Cutler part owner and turn it into a reality show. Make a billion dollars.

[TDog]

Now that MLB’s staunch opposition to all things gambling has gone the way of the Dodo, perhaps Steve Stone’s dream of a Las Vegas baseball team finally becomes a reality?

Las Vegas would be just about the worst place for MLB to expand. But even cities that aren't on the brink of crisis would be bad MLB expansion sites. Baseball needs minor league expansion, not major league expansion.

[Mohoney]

Las Vegas would be just about the worst place for MLB to expand. But even cities that aren't on the brink of crisis would be bad MLB expansion sites. Baseball needs minor league expansion, not major league expansion.

Minor league expansion makes no money for parent clubs. You will see contraction before you see expansion.

[TDog]

Minor league expansion makes no money for parent clubs. You will see contraction before you see expansion.

And as a result, major league baseball will lose money. Major league baseball has benefited from supporting minor league baseball. The current commissioner won't understand that until he has finished killing major league baseball.

[Mohoney]

I think MLB will be just fine financially despite losing the exposure provided by minor league affiliates in Great Falls, Montana and Bluefield, West Virginia.

[TDog]

I think MLB will be just fine financially despite losing the exposure provided by minor league affiliates in Great Falls, Montana and Bluefield, West Virginia.

Major league baseball isn't just fine right now. It's not on a path to being just fine, and expansion wouldn't help. Minor league baseball has always been challenged, but you're not going to get more people subscribing to MLB coverage packages from Great Falls, Montana, if you abolish the Pioneer League. What you're doing is killing national interest interest in baseball.

[Mohoney]

Major league baseball isn't just fine right now. It's not on a path to being just fine, and expansion wouldn't help. Minor league baseball has always been challenged, but you're not going to get more people subscribing to MLB coverage packages from Great Falls, Montana, if you abolish the Pioneer League. What you're doing is killing national interest interest in baseball.

I completely disagree with the premise that Major League Baseball is in any sort of trouble whatsoever. The league generated $10.7 billion in revenue last year. If a few dozen cattle ranchers in Billings don’t subscribe to MLB TV, I think they will still be OK.

[Dumpjerry]

So many strongly worded assertions with so much actual information about MLB finances not being known (most of it is just not public information).

[TDog]

So many strongly worded assertions with so much actual information about MLB finances not being known (most of it is just not public information).

MLB's finances are not the issue, at least not my point. Really, current finances are irrelevant. Any relevancy would be limited to the next labor and television contracts anyway.

My concern is for the decreasing popularity of baseball in America, an issue the commissioner is oblivious to. Baseball is bigger than MLB, but MLB bears the burden of guardianship of the game.

[Krs1]

I completely disagree with the premise that Major League Baseball is in any sort of trouble whatsoever. The league generated $10.7 billion in revenue last year. If a few dozen cattle ranchers in Billings don’t subscribe to MLB TV, I think they will still be OK.

I hope these teams find independent funding, because many of these locations aren't the one-horse town you make them out to be. Hub cities like Billings are actually a strong part of meaningful markets for all things, including sports entertainment.

[Mohoney]

I hope these teams find independent funding, because many of these locations aren't the one-horse town you make them out to be. Hub cities like Billings are actually a strong part of meaningful markets for all things, including sports entertainment.

Considering the money being spent by MLB to sustain these teams, I’m not even convinced that the entire endeavor is a net-positive for MLB, let alone something that will be sorely missed.

[TDog]

Considering the money being spent by MLB to sustain these teams, I’m not even convinced that the entire endeavor is a net-positive for MLB, let alone something that will be sorely missed.

If money is the issue that teams can't afford working agreements to develop talent, baseball indeed is in bad shape.

[FourGoldGloves]

I would guess there are teams that are struggling financially and teams that are doing very well. (Duh) I doubt that one size fits all. If the minor leagues are eliminated does MLB go to an NFL model where only college players need apply? Or does that just apply to the poorer teams, while the Yankees and the Dodgers use the poorer teams as their minor league affiliates -- like the Yankees/A's in the 50s? In that case we may need MLB expansion to provide more poor teams for grooming Big Apple players. Or is that where free agency has already put us?