Tracy Ringolsby: "Portland ready, willing and hoping" for MLB

[4_tattoos]

Somewhat off topic: I've always found it odd that MLB didn't have more teams based in the south. I always got the feeling that baseball was big in the south (behind football, but definitely ahead of basketball). Culturally Miami and Tampa, FL aren't exactly "southern cities" despite their geography. As it turns out many people don't consider Texas as being part of the south (never quite understood the logic there). With those factors considered the only true blue southern team in the majors would be the Atlanta Braves.

Is there a reason why MLB never approach any of the major southern cities for a possible franchise (Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, etc.)

[gosioux76]

Certainly, but that's not exactly the point. That lack of Fortune 500 companies means Portland is a decent-sized media market and metropolitan area with a corporate base made up of primarily small to mid-sized businesses. I would guess that's not the type of corporate base most potential owners would be clamoring over.

This hasn't been an issue here before, because Portland for decades has been a one-team town. It hasn't been as much of a issue with the addition of MLS, because the barrier to entry for sponors is undoubtedly much less than it would be with a big-four league.

I just think sports fans fail to look at the business end of sports when they get wistful over these expansion/relocation fairy tales. Portland has an NBA team, so it MUST have an NFL/MLB/NHL team, too. There's more to it than that.

[rams80]

Somewhat off topic: I've always found it odd that MLB didn't have more teams based in the south. I always got the feeling that baseball was big in the south (behind football, but definitely ahead of basketball). Culturally Miami and Tampa, FL aren't exactly "southern cities" despite their geography. As it turns out many people don't consider Texas as being part of the south (never quite understood the logic there). With those factors considered the only true blue southern team in the majors would be the Atlanta Braves.

Is there a reason why MLB never approach any of the major southern cities for a possible franchise (Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, etc.)

Lack of money.

Birmingham, and New Orleans didn't bring owners with the financial resources to the table to gain entry into the cartel. Charlotte and Nashville are too "new money" to have bought in during the period of expansion.

[PhantomDreamer]

You don't have to be a Fortune 500 company to buy a luxury box or a billboard in the stadium. There's only 500 of those companies in the whole country (i.e. not just in NFL markets), and conservatively I'd say there's at least 3,000 luxury boxes at NFL stadiums.

MetLife Stadium has over 10,000 club seats and over 200 luxury suites.

[The_Admiral]

Somewhat off topic: I've always found it odd that MLB didn't have more teams based in the south. I always got the feeling that baseball was big in the south (behind football, but definitely ahead of basketball). Culturally Miami and Tampa, FL aren't exactly "southern cities" despite their geography. As it turns out many people don't consider Texas as being part of the south (never quite understood the logic there). With those factors considered the only true blue southern team in the majors would be the Atlanta Braves.

Is there a reason why MLB never approach any of the major southern cities for a possible franchise (Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, etc.)

Lack of money.

Birmingham, and New Orleans didn't bring owners with the financial resources to the table to gain entry into the cartel. Charlotte and Nashville are too "new money" to have bought in during the period of expansion.

All correct, to which I'd add that a major league baseball team probably places the greatest demands on a market: 40,000 for 81 games through six months requires a lot of activity, and with a near-daily schedule, it's harder to draw from outlying areas than a eight single-day big events like football. That's just the gate side, to say nothing of having the requisite market size to get a lot of money for your broadcasting rights or to establish a channel of your own. MLB is the only league of the big four that doesn't have "boutique" small markets: the NFL has the Packers, the NBA has the Jazz/Thunder/Spurs/Blazers, and the NHL has too many to list. The smallest city/metro on the circuit is Milwaukee, and Milwaukee isn't even that small (and was way higher up on the list before everyone started moving west and south). I think this is for good reason; I can see a major-league team in Salt Lake City going real bad real fast.

[gosioux76]

Rob Neyer, himself a Portland resident, also tries to put this to rest:

http://www.baseballnation.com/hot-corner/2014/1/23/5337302/mlb-baseball-portland-oregon-prospects-future

[Soarindude]

Somewhat off topic: I've always found it odd that MLB didn't have more teams based in the south. I always got the feeling that baseball was big in the south (behind football, but definitely ahead of basketball). Culturally Miami and Tampa, FL aren't exactly "southern cities" despite their geography. As it turns out many people don't consider Texas as being part of the south (never quite understood the logic there). With those factors considered the only true blue southern team in the majors would be the Atlanta Braves.

Is there a reason why MLB never approach any of the major southern cities for a possible franchise (Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, etc.)

Lack of money.

Birmingham, and New Orleans didn't bring owners with the financial resources to the table to gain entry into the cartel. Charlotte and Nashville are too "new money" to have bought in during the period of expansion.

All correct, to which I'd add that a major league baseball team probably places the greatest demands on a market: 40,000 for 81 games through six months requires a lot of activity, and with a near-daily schedule, it's harder to draw from outlying areas than a eight single-day big events like football. That's just the gate side, to say nothing of having the requisite market size to get a lot of money for your broadcasting rights or to establish a channel of your own. MLB is the only league of the big four that doesn't have "boutique" small markets: the NFL has the Packers, the NBA has the Jazz/Thunder/Spurs/Blazers, and the NHL has too many to list. The smallest city/metro on the circuit is Milwaukee, and Milwaukee isn't even that small (and was way higher up on the list before everyone started moving west and south). I think this is for good reason; I can see a major-league team in Salt Lake City going real bad real fast.

also, keep in mind that Tampa Bay area is made up of a lot of older folks who moved from up north. Still you see a lot of Yankees and Red Sox fans.

[Brian in Boston]

More rain on the MLB-to-Portland parade.

According to a story in the Portland Business Journal, an aide to Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has said that bringing Major League Baseball to the city "... is not a priority project for the mayor; it wasn’t in 2013 and it isn’t in 2014.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/02/M-L-B-not-a-priority-for-hales.html

[bosrs1]

More rain on the MLB-to-Portland parade.

According to a story in the Portland Business Journal, an aide to Portland Mayor Charlie Hales has said that bringing Major League Baseball to the city "... is not a priority project for the mayor; it wasn’t in 2013 and it isn’t in 2014.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/2014/02/M-L-B-not-a-priority-for-hales.html

So much for the idea having the support of the mayor. Seems the "news" that got this thread going recently has been completely shot to hell. PDX has no more hope than owner-less and politically disinterested markets its size right now.

[gosioux76]

If anyone is interested in reading more, the Portland Business Journal explored the uphill battle to bring MLB to PDX in good depth last fall.

http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/print-edition/2013/10/25/baseball-supporters-face-uphill-battle.html

[PhantomDreamer]

Seattle Mariners billboard in Portland via Gregg Greene

[Soarindude]

How far is Seattle from Portland?

[Gothamite]

A little under 200 miles. I seem to recall it was about 2 1/2 hours driving when I lived there.

Far enough that they're not the same market in any way.

[JayMac]

A little under 200 miles. I seem to recall it was about 2 1/2 hours driving when I lived there.

Far enough that they're not the same market in any way.

Yeah, they really should be separate markets. That's about the same distance from Philadelphia to New York. We all know Philadelphia fans and New York have nothing in common. Lol

[wonderbread]

A little under 200 miles. I seem to recall it was about 2 1/2 hours driving when I lived there.

Far enough that they're not the same market in any way.

Yeah, they really should be separate markets. That's about the same distance from Philadelphia to New York. We all know Philadelphia fans and New York have nothing in common. Lol

but in the west everything is so spread out 200 miles isn't that bad of a drive, and isn't that 2 1/2 hours isn't that far considering I've done similar drives to sporting events in florida since i live in St. augustine which is a little south of jacksonville

[Gothamite]

And you can drive between the two cities, but that doesn't make them in any way the same market. They are as distinct and separate in their own way as New York and Philadelphia, or Milwaukee and Chicago (separated by less distance).

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I generally budget three hours by car, four by train, with the latter hopefully becoming more a faster, more frequent option in the future.

That said, I never think about going to Blazers games, and there's no advertising for them here. I'm surprised to see an M's banner in Portland, but at the same time, you're more likely to take a summer day trip for baseball than a winter night trip for basketball.

[BBTV]

A little under 200 miles. I seem to recall it was about 2 1/2 hours driving when I lived there.

Far enough that they're not the same market in any way.

Yeah, they really should be separate markets. That's about the same distance from Philadelphia to New York. We all know Philadelphia fans and New York have nothing in common. Lol

LOL. New York and Philadelphia are only around 90 miles apart.

[Gothamite]

Also about the distance from Chicago to Milwaukee. Doesn't take much to create very separate markets.

[JayMac]

A little under 200 miles. I seem to recall it was about 2 1/2 hours driving when I lived there.

Far enough that they're not the same market in any way.

Yeah, they really should be separate markets. That's about the same distance from Philadelphia to New York. We all know Philadelphia fans and New York have nothing in common. Lol

LOL. New York and Philadelphia are only around 90 miles apart.

I know NY and Philadelphia are only about 100 miles apart but it does take about 2 to 2.5 hours. But thanks for the geography lesson.