Spin Doctors is playing at the last “Live After 5” in City Plaza. Does that help?
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Live Around 1991…charact/s
The sports radio guys (Ovies & Giglio) spent a couple of minutes on this topic yesterday. It goes from the 4:18 mark to 7:24. Around 5:30 they talk about the challenge of corporate support for MLB because of Hurricanes and the three major colleges.
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Definitely going to listen to this later. I don’t understand how having rabid sports fanatics in a region can be considered a challenge. We put 20,000 butts in seats for a non-NCAA club hockey match.
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I understand the corporate angle critique, especially compared to somewhere like Charlotte that has plenty of Fortune 500 companies to throw money around. But I also don’t think it’s that big of a concern. There are plenty of companies here (and growing more every year) that would be happy to sponsor.
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Particularly if we can get alumni to open up their Rolodexes. There are several billionaire alums in the Triangle schools. Hard sell on Tim Cook being a good corporate citizen now with his campus here.
Those same three major colleges that don’t really overlap with MLB? And the corporate support that could easily support multiple pro teams and universities?
This region is full of excuses.
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Yep, first citizens, advance auto parts, all scripts Raleigh HQ. Metz North America cmon we got companies to sponsor an MLB team. Even Apple could no excuses Raleigh-Durham MSA.
There are ‘major colleges’ all across the country that ‘compete’ for corporate dollars against pro teams in the same or nearby cities. Doesn’t seem be a big issue.
What a bogus excuse.
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You think people in Vegas were pearl clutching for UNLV when the Golden Knights became a thing?
You think Ohio State was fearing a support catastrophe when the Crew and later Blue Jackets came to be?
Was NC State about not just the Canes arriving but sharing their arena?
Pro sports is on a different level than college especially when everything is balkanized as it is here. The Canes bring everyone on the same level, why wouldn’t an MLB team especially since it would not overlap with basketball and not overlap much with football. This isn’t a UTexas case where they own the market or a ULouisville case where they own the arena a pro team would call home outright.
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Yes it isn’t rocket science
Yeah I think we’re both saying the same thing, with a different approach.
Raleigh Chamber at Coors Field today for some sort of learning / convention thingy.
https://twitter.com/raleighchamber/status/1650573108019879937
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Coors Field footprint also fits at the Downtown South stadium site…
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Haven’t seen any posts from Raleigh Chamber with tape measurers yet though.
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Given the focus on placemaking, wouldn’t be surprised if their main focus was making PNC/Carter-Finley feel like a place
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Yeah, when I pitched MLB Raleigh to Joe Ovies at Nice Price Jr. (record store) in 2018, I showed him the site, explained the idea, and asked him point-blank to poke holes in it.
He started with the Durham Bulls and Rule 52. I explained to him that the way he and many others around here were interpreting Rule 52 was wrong. I showed him proof.
He moved on to population size/media market size. I explained the CSA/Metro area confusion many had and showed him that we were in the middle of most small-market MLB cities in these categories (I proved this by taking metro and CSA data and putting it into square mileage covered). He moved on.
He finally moved on to the corporate money argument. Which is a complete hypothetical. I explained this, and explained that expansion is still 7-10 years away. Look at where Raleigh was 7-10 years ago. Now look at Raleigh’s projected growth. Look at the giants we’ve landed since 2018 (including Apple, VinFast, etc).
As we posted today on social media, Raleigh has the 5th best job market in the country. 38 active projects with over 14k associated new jobs and $8.4 billion in potential capital investment.
You’re telling me we should just pack it up and shut it all down because we MIGHT not have as much corporate backing as Nashville, Portland or Charlotte? Because we have to spread our corporate dollars between the 3 Universities and the Hurricanes? Everyone one of those cities will have competition on corporate spend, and while they may have more Fortune 500 HQs than us today, they also have more pro teams/colleges/entertainment venues to support than we do. And I believe we catch up to all of them in 5-7 years’ time.
This corporate sponsor is the strawman IMO. And I say that because when you, in good faith, weigh why our region is a possible destination for MLB vs. why it’s an impossible destination for MLB, you end up with a ton on the “Possible” category, and this hypothetical “corporate support” argument in the impossible category.
We’ve been quiet for a long time about the local media because we’ve hoped to create an alliance. We believed that the obvious local media narrative would be “Here is why it’s possible! Go Raleigh!”. We’ve reached out, invited these people to talk, we’ve given them free merch, and unlimited access to get their attention on the facts/data. And they continue to pour water on the idea. They continue with the “this is a pipedream” slant.
They continue to focus on the negatives and rarely dive deep into the data that shows it is possible and in line with many other current teams & expansion hopefuls.
They never educate the listeners on how it would work with the Durham Bulls and how rule 52 doesn’t exist anymore, or how MILB is now basically owned by MLB (taking away a potential financial barrier). They don’t talk about Charlotte’s major hurdles or the fact that Nashville’s entertainment spend will be all but gone if they approve the new Titans stadium this week.
National publications like Forbes and CBS Sports have dug in and covered our movement WAY more extensively than any local media has. And that’s what has been bit frusterating/confusing.
Listen, I once believed that creating a groundswell of support and creating a community movement, while taking zero profit, helping those in need, and doing everything the right way, would be a huge win/win for Raleigh. I thought that win/win would then be story enough for the local media to join in on the support for bringing MLB here and it would bubble up.
I was wrong in part. If we’re going to bring baseball here, it’s not going to be with our local media’s help. It’s going to be despite them (at least at this stage).
Once the ball really does begin to roll, and I believe it will, they’ll jump on and act like they were on the bandwagon all along. That’s the hard truth it seems.
*PS. To be fair, Joe had us on to give our pitch a couple times, but either gave his opinion that it wasn’t going to happen, or focused more on the merch/give-back aspect of the movement. *
*PSS. In the interview you posed, I believe it’s Giglio, states that the Triangle would need a local billionaire to bring MLB here and lists SAS’s Goodnight as the only one (but saying he’s uninterested). This is an uneducated take. Wayne McDonnell Jr of Forbes (who covers MLB expansion for them) told me that MLB has a huge list of investors who have indicated they are ready to move if the situation is right. So if we got our situation in order, sure Goodnight or a local might be interested in getting in, but they’d likely be up against a group from out of town. *
If you want proof just look at owners of teams. Who owns the Hurricanes? Tom Dundon…from Texas/NY. Who owns the Tampa Bay Rays? Stu Sternbert…from New York…this list could go on and on.
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Who tf is Joe Ovies?
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Lol he’s a sports radio guy on 99.9 The Fan. He also went to State and worked at WKNC
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I think Raleigh has a reasonable chance of landing MLB if the city gets behind it. Looking at the main known competitors, Portland feels like it’s out due to politics (likely unwilling to publicly fund all or part of a stadium). Nashville feels like it’s out due to too many recent debacles coupled with a coming $2.1B new stadium for the Titans (would taxpayers approve of another massive sports expenditure?). Charlotte doesn’t seem to have much support from business or political leaders (Tepper would be the most likely to make things happen but has given no indication he’s interested, plus he’s going to want public support for a portion of a new Panthers stadium soon). Heard rumblings of Salt Lake City recently as well. Of course, in the unlikely event that an owner/group surfaces and funds everything privately, it would become more of a crap shoot. It seems hard to believe that the Carolinas wouldn’t be the obvious choice for MLB but might only happen if a local billionaire or ownership group steps up to the plate.
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