Portland Baseball?

[Lou]

didn't Manfred say there wouldn't be expansion until the A's and Rays get new stadiums?

[floplag]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

didn't Manfred say there wouldn't be expansion until the A's and Rays get new stadiums?

I believe he did actually, but it would seem neither of those scenarios really makes any sense, the stadium isnt the problem if noone fills it.
To me the As either need to go further south away from the bay, San Jose-ish, or Vegas.  
Florida just doesnt seem to want to support baseball, then again Mia hasnt exactly tried to give them anything to support of late but TB certainly has.   hard to tell if its just lack of support or people not wanting to watching tanking baseball at this point. 

[Tank]

13 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Portland Swallows 

vict - no, nevermind...

[gotbeer]

1 hour ago, floplag said:

I believe he did actually, but it would seem neither of those scenarios really makes any sense, the stadium isnt the problem if noone fills it.
To me the As either need to go further south away from the bay, San Jose-ish, or Vegas.  
Florida just doesnt seem to want to support baseball, then again Mia hasnt exactly tried to give them anything to support of late but TB certainly has.   hard to tell if its just lack of support or people not wanting to watching tanking baseball at this point. 

People didn't want to watch the Rays when they were good in the Maddon years.  I think they only came out when they went deep into the playoffs.  And that was just barely.

[floplag]

58 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

People didn't want to watch the Rays when they were good in the Maddon years.  I think they only came out when they went deep into the playoffs.  And that was just barely.

The "tanking baseball" comment was more directed at the Marlins but, yeah.    Ive really kinda never understood the lack of better support for the Rays they always seemed to make the most of what they had in a very tough position in that division.  

[Angel Oracle]

4 hours ago, mulwin444 said:

Vegas might be decent as it's a growing and has the Golden Knights and the Raiders are incoming.  Definitely an attractive locale.

Charlotte would be another ideal city but I highly doubt the Orioles and Nationals don't contest that one as well.  The Nationals had to make concessions themselves to the Orioles just to move from Montreal.

I think smaller "big" cities like Portand are only going to be as viable as how much the surrounding communities are willing to support them or how many people an hour or two out are willing to make the trek to the park 81 times a year.

Nashville, with the Titans and Predators, might be another option. 

Vancouver and a relocation to Montreal would be likely option as well...they'd need to be in domes stadiums to make it work though.

Living there as a kid, Charlotte would instantly become my 2nd favorite MLB team.    

[greginpsca]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Living there as a kid, Charlotte would instantly become my 2nd favorite MLB team.    

I think Atlanta could block them. They are pretty much in Atlanta territory.

 

[Angel Oracle]

1 minute ago, greginpsca said:

I think Atlanta could block them. They are pretty much in Atlanta territory.

 

It could be a bit touchy, being only 240 miles apart.   They do have competing NFL franchises in the same NFC South division. 

[Dick Enberg]

If Portland, I would go with the PCL 1940's team name, Lucky Beavers. I have this T-Shirt too.

 

[Sully151]

I was just in Portland a couple of weeks ago. There was a whole store in NW Portland (I think) that was devoted to an MLB team.  There seems to be some excitement around the prospect. 

 

And since when when does anyone in Portland give a shit about what happens in Seattle. Do Portlanders follow the Mariners?

[Lou]

20 hours ago, Sully151 said:

I was just in Portland a couple of weeks ago. There was a whole store in NW Portland (I think) that was devoted to an MLB team.  There seems to be some excitement around the prospect. 

 

And since when when does anyone in Portland give a shit about what happens in Seattle. Do Portlanders follow the Mariners?

it has not about Portlanders caring about Seattle, it's about the M's not wanting another franchise 170 miles away, tv territory rights, etc. 

[Lou]

from April 2018

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/mariners/portland-will-need-financial-clout-in-order-to-have-a-chance-at-getting-major-league-baseball/

 

 

 

[disarcina]

I just don't see Portland being able to support an MLB team,

If I were MLB, I 'd watch to see how the new NHL entry fares over its initial five seasons,

Portland's demographics would seem to be more inclined to support/ participate in Extreme Sports activities (so the NHL may work there) rather than spectator sports and sitting through nine innings,

Northwest has their team -- Seattle Mariners.

[disarcina]

also -- last thing MLB needs is expansion.

I guess moving the Oakland A's to Portland might be a possibility,

A's franchise has no where to go but up -- City of Oakland, Alameda Coliseum Authority have broken promise after promise and are in no financial position to offer the A's much of anything.'

It also does not help that the multi-jurisdictional Alameda Coliseum Authority/ Commission is government paralysis / bureaucracy at its worst and can't make decisions let alone do anything on time frame/ deadline.

Even Portland would be better than that.  I think Las Vegas would be better.

 

[Hubs]

Portland is 3 hours and 180 miles away from Seattle. That’s not that close. 

They are very much trying for an MLB team right now and the A’s or Rays would be easily moved there but they probably want an expansion team.

They are a larger market than Vegas but the two are within 250-300k residents in their metro area.

They are larger metro area than Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Milwuakee, and Kansas City. 

The only markets that have a larger metro area and no MLb Team are Sacramento, Orlando, San Antonio, and Charlotte.

They could support a team just fine as long as the stadium had a roof.

[failos]

On 2/3/2019 at 2:58 PM, Angelsjunky said:

I really hope so. I lived in Portland for ten years and still consider my home city in many ways. A Portland team (the Swallows?) would instantly become my 2nd favorite.

Portland Swallows (jizz)

[Mark68]

22 hours ago, floplag said:

The "tanking baseball" comment was more directed at the Marlins but, yeah.    Ive really kinda never understood the lack of better support for the Rays they always seemed to make the most of what they had in a very tough position in that division.  

Perhaps it's that craphole they play in...

[Dtwncbad]

Portland seems perfect for a niche minor league team.  I fear it would be "not cool" to support the major league team.

[Broad Street]

What about Nebraska? Do you think it would be too much to have the College World Series in Omaha and a Major League team? It just feels like teams are fairly sparse in the Midwest/Oklahoma/Tennessee/Kentucky and some of the southern states (Louisiana/Alabama/Arkansas/Mississippi)... Personally, I'd rather see an expansion team somewhere around there before hitting the coasts or another country.

[Lou]

absolutely no chance Nebraska would even be considered 

[gotbeer]

21 hours ago, Hubs said:

 

They are a larger market than Vegas but the two are within 250-300k residents in their metro area.

 

 

One thing to consider about Vegas though that the Golden Knights have proven.  Fans of other teams will travel to Vegas to watch their team.  

And while Portland Metro has a larger population of 2.453 million vs Vegas metro of 2.2 million.  Portland area is 6,683 square miles.  Vegas is 600 square miles.  That's quite a bit of population density in a small area to support a team.  Or to put it this way.  Would someone travel 100 miles 5 days a week to watch a baseball game.  Or would someone travel 30 miles.  

[WeatherWonk]

On 2/4/2019 at 4:09 PM, Lou said:

it has not about Portlanders caring about Seattle, it's about the M's not wanting another franchise 170 miles away, tv territory rights, etc. 

Amazingly, I am about 500 miles and an 8 hour drive from Seattle...........yet MLB blacks out games of the Mariners on my MLB.TV subscription. 

Somebody needs to challenge the MLB blackout policy. Threaten them with their cushy anti-trust exemption or something. It's ridiculous.

That's when I'm not in Mexico.

[Jay]

Everybody in the U.S. has to be in some MLB market, even if they are hundreds of miles away from an MLB city.

People in southern Oregon are blacked out from OAK, SEA, and SFG, according to this.

People in the Boise area should consider themselves lucky that they're only blacked out from SEA.

If Portland gets a team then the Boise folks will be blacked out for SEA and Portland.

 

[Lou]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

People in the Boise area should consider themselves lucky

there's something I never thought I would read 

[Dtwncbad]

The Portland Piercings names its first manager.