At least one positive of not getting a MLS team is that we have so much material from that process that we are now using to convince people to get on board with Raleigh getting a MLB team.
5 Likes
Charlotte’s ability to net the MLS club at the time was almost exclusively due to Tepper. He’s going through a stadium funding issue with the city, and now has the burden of Charlotte FC. We also didn’t have Dundon and his suite of investors in play at that time. Feels like a different situation here.
5 Likes
More thoughts, cause the traffic to and from for 30,000 for 80+ games a year is nothing to sneeze at…
Close to I-40, Western, for the cars.
There’s a rail line that could be used to go south to a Garner and Park-n-Ride station somewhere? Rail line goes north into downtown for a central station and a Glenwood station.
Gondola from central Dix to Nash Square just for fun
And a doable walk to a BRT station.
Too bad no water transit or we would HAVE ALL THE BASES COVERED 
Wonder if they could extend Centennial Pkwy to S. Saunders if that would help spread out some congestion?
8 Likes
Will the city have the money that is the concern.
1 Like
I’m just worried about the stadium it’s the #1 panic button for me. We’ve had this problem before so pure lessons should be learned. I believe the hurdles would be the rezoning and who will fund it. Corporate support, and the expansion fee don’t bother me at all, that other NC city doesn’t bother me either. I’m for Raleigh getting aggressive and taking action early.
1 Like
There are three of us. Ryan doesn’t frequent this site as much, but you can see him here
Lou and Ryan have the faces for TV, so I stay a bit more in the background lol.
@OakCityDylan is right in that we are not involved in any of the major funding that goes into this (stadium, expansion fees, etc). Our goal from the beginning was to educate and energize the community to build a groundswell of support so that when a potential ownership group came along, the community backing would be baked in and the country would see our market as legitimately viable. And if it didn’t work out, at least some local charities would benefit from the work (Boys and Girls Club, local HBCU scholarships, Miracle League, etc).
So @Yimbyforlife this thing is in the right people’s hands at this point. There’s a lot that still needs to happen, but it will be fun seeing how it plays out no matter what!
13 Likes
I’m just waiting for the flags to show up in the store so we can show support.
3 Likes
I’m worried about the monsters of Tim Niles and Livable Raleigh fighting against a stadium and all these annoying political equity folks fighting against it.
1 Like
We have to know our NIMBY enemies
Enemy list:
Tim Niles
Livable Raleigh
Mary Black xk
Christina Jones
Keep Raleigh Boring
Any more should I put on the list.
Neither of these metros are materially larger than Raleigh…which means additional sports teams & the ability to support them comes down partly to basic math. “There are only so many discretionary spending dollars to go around by the public…”
The college teams around here have been an achilles heel for the Raleigh area for years in that regard. It was reportedly ONE of the reasons Raleigh pulled out of the NFL expansion a decade or so ago. In reality the math nor the corporate support was there.
Raleigh is a MUCH different City & metro today. Baseball & Soccer to a degree would compete for the same dollars that might go to season UNC football tickets or Carolina Hurricanes tickets. The nuance here is many of the UNC, NC State, & Duke ticket holders are coming from all over the State…not just absorbing Raleigh area citizens disposable income.
This concern is the same issue charlotte usa & Nashville have…there is only so much money to go around and the populations are not that different. Add Fayetteville into Raleigh’s MSA (which is the case for Television) for instance.
Corporate support & a stadium however…are hurdles Raleigh has yet to demonstrate the ability to execute on historically…but maybe that’s changing too!!!
2 Likes
40 stories and entertainment district for downtown south
2 Likes
Appreciate the clarification and additional color, @wmgadd!!!
Also, thank you so much for your part in this very successful effort to date!
#RaleighOnDeck
4 Likes
Appreciate your kind words @OakCityDylan! Honestly it’s just a cool thing for the community at large. So many people have poured so much effort into this project, so it’s exciting to see where it’s gotten. Btw, I think we may have met back at one of our pre-covid MLBRaleigh events. Looking forward to more in the future!
4 Likes
Either Little City or maybe Transfer? I think you’re right. Hope all is well!
3 Likes
The Triangle Business Journal did a poll today asking , “ Should Raleigh Pursue A MLB Team”! The Poll results were 70% Yes, 14% No, and the rest was split up between The Durham Bulls and NFL Team. 
9 Likes
Well yes, but we all remember the Downtown South Stadium project, right? It was supposed to cost $200M when they planned to lure MLS and they claimed they had secured investors willing to privately find a large portion of the construction. I can imagine some of them would be willing to fork over for the larger MLB
1 Like
I’d say corporate presence is not an issue. Look at the Canes… they’ve got their own Pepsi flavor and had 6 companies competing for arena naming rights. Lenovo allegedly won at $8M, but they had a financial crisis and had to pull out, hence the temp deal with PNC, however, Lenovo is back on the helmets this year.
The big thing about us having colleges here is that if the college team were to play in the venue too, the school may be willing to pay a little for construction/pay back through fees, and guarantees usage.
3 Likes
Hopefully these are on the options also. So many pathways here need to be exhausted.
Probably most likely, this is the most sensible area.
Can someone get me that link please?
I am currently in the car driving to my 10th anniversary vacation and promised the wife I’d put MLBR on hold for a few days….
Butttt… a major local publication with a survey that shows 70% approval is something we gotta share. I think/hope she’ll understand lol.
4 Likes