Raleigh Magazine has a very good 23 minute Podcast on Raleigh MLB Project. Publisher Gina Stephens & Associate Editor Lauren Kruchten mentions Lou often & also David Meeker/Tom Dundon. Their title is “Batter Up- Big Leagues Coming To Raleigh-?”. They also use Raleigh Insider as part of their magazine name.Their email address is raleighmag@gmail.com.
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I hope we get it stadium plan seems to fit.
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Here is the link, and here is a fact check:
- They said (that we said) Raleigh had more visitors to the city than Nashville. That is incorrect, we said that WAKE COUNTY had more visitors than Nashville last year.
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Thanks for that clarification. I was a little confused by that comment. Thought the rest of the podcast was good though!
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The Charlotte Knights Baseball Team & Stadium are up for sale.
The interesting thing here is that Nashville IS Davidson County…meaning their population is almost identical.
So comparing Wake County to Nashville is more apples-to-apples than it sounds.
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Wake is substantially more populated than Davidson. Wake also continues to grow at a rapid rate while Davidson was down from its 2020 Census estimate (per 2022 estimate). I’m supposing that has to do with its over weighted hospitality economy and the pandemic.
Wake: 1,175,021 (+45,628)
Davidson: 708,144 (-7,731)
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This article came across my news feed this morning and I haven’t seen it posted here yet, so…
Also just to add to the above discussion re: Wake v Davidson population numbers, remember that Wake County is geographically quite large as well. Based on those 2022 estimates, the Wake population density is 1,477 people/sq mile, while the Davidson density is at 1,475. That difference is a complete wash. When the 2023 estimates come out in March we’ll see if there’s any increased separation between the two but for the time being there are justifiable ways to claim either Raleigh or Nashville as “bigger” than the other. It’s pretty much a wash. And frankly, that’s good for Raleigh, given the vast difference in perception between the two.
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Draw a circle around Raleigh and anywhere in Nashville, and the population is greater in Raleigh. We just look wonky since East Wake is empty because the city grew north towards Durham/RTP.
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Raleigh is similar to Atlanta, being landlocked by suburban towns (+drinking watersheds, here). This contains the growth of the city to within the existing city limits. Nashville encompasses all of Davidson, as does Jacksonville/Duval FL, Virginia Beach/Princess Anne, VA. These consolidations give big population number totals, but are misleading when comparing City Limit numbers. 
and 
. Demographers know, but does MLB?
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Dundon said they think they’ve got the stats to prove it. I think this was as eye-popping of a sight as I’ve seen in terms of sports in the local area:
Very little marketing between two club hockey teams gets 25,000+ attendees. You can try to leave out Durham+Cary+Chapel Hill all you want when it comes to the makeup of the local area, but they impact turnout. If the MLB chooses Raleigh, I have no doubt that it’ll be considered some sort of against-the-odds success story in the same vein as the Hurricanes are and have been.
The evidence has been there the whole time. Baseball will be successful here.
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Fortunately, the government actually has useful stats for this comparison. Because the Triangle is split between two MSA’s, it’s probably better to use CSA. People will surely come from surrounding counties to go to an MLB game. (Like me!)
Nashville and the Triangle both have a CSA of 2.3 million people. That’s the same as Vegas, which is about to get the A’s, and it’s bigger than 2 existing MLB markets (Milwaukee and Cincinnati).
That being said, Charlotte (3.3 million), Portland (3.2) and Salt Lake City (2.7) are all bigger and they’re all serious contenders as well. MLB is going to move to 4 team divisions if they do this, so Portland seems like it would be the top contender (to make a 4-team AL West) and they have 1 million more people and only a NBA team, but the other one is anybody’s guess. Based on the numbers it seems like Raleigh has as good a chance as any, especially since we only have one “big 4” league here.
Seems like we’d logically be in the same division as Atlanta and as a Nats fan I already hate the Braves so that’d be an easy transition for me 
If we DID actually get an MLB team I’d buy a crapload of merch as soon as the store opened, and I’d be first in line for a mini plan, but you know we’d be the 3rd smallest market in MLB and strapped for cash.
And you also know we would not be called the “Raleigh” anything. It would be called “Carolina” like the Hurricanes and Panthers.
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I was enjoying your post until that last sentence…
Portland… I just can’t imagine the political will to support public money in a stadium currently.
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TBH I didn’t like writing that sentence.
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Hey Steve,
The problem with using CSA is that it’s still not a good apples-to-apples comparison.
The best thing we’ve found to give a true comparison is to simply recombine Raleigh Metro and Durham Metro and just call it the Triangle Metro.
If you use CSA then:
Salt Lake City gets to count 23k square miles. Nashville gets to count 7k square miles. Meanwhile, Raleigh’s CSA is only 4.5k square miles.
If you do what I was saying above and use metro area (but combine the Triangle), it’s a little closer…
Salt Lake City: 7.6k square miles
Nashville: 5.7k square miles
Triangle: 4.3k square miles
Despite our metros combined still being smaller in sq. miles, we still win in population over both Nashville and SLC.
It’s complicated to tell this story concisely, but it has to be done to change the narrative on the size of the Triangle. We have more density and we have a stronger TV market than any of the current expansion contenders.
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The Hornets would like a word! I’d love a “Raleigh ______” MLB team just to even our cities out a bit 
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You make an excellent point. I was trying to simplify something that is pretty complex.
That being said, the TV market size is really more important than the actual local population. MLB has some weird TV rules that will likely be different by the time this expansion actually happens. With the way the RSN’s are going, I’m certain the expansion teams will be required to let MLB control their broadcasts and streaming rights and MLB wants to get rid of the blackout rules, so the TV “market” is not as simple as how many people live in a particular place.
NC is also a weird state because over 50% of the residents were born outside the state borders. So, many of us are used to cheering for teams outside of NC in other sports, even when NC has a team in that sport. (This is one of the reasons that Tampa has such a hard time selling tickets, the other one is their awful stadium).
So, my point is just that this is a really complicated question and I don’t think any of us really has a good answer.
Raleigh would be so awesome if we had an MLB team. I predict, It would be incredibly successful too… Raleigh-Durham is one of the most undercounted metropolitan regions in the nation.
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Yeah agreed.
The TV market thing is in flux bc of RSNs, but will always be an important metric. MLB teams make 23% of all revenue from local media deals (more than any other major sport). Meanwhile, we are the 22nd largest market and on the cusp of passing Charlotte for the 21st. At that point, we’ll also be able to say that we’re the largest media market without an MLB team.
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Population comparisons are difficult apples to apples. However, that same comparison game can be played out in a variety of ways. For example, Nashville proper is “quite large” and Raleigh proper density blows it out of the water. Raleigh’s MSA and CSA are also more densely populated than Nashville’s.
Nashville’s and Raleigh’s UAs (Urban Areas) rank 42nd and 43rd respectively with Raleigh’s being every so slightly more dense (but nothing to write home about).
Raleigh’s UA excludes Durham and Nashville’s excludes Murfreesboro…though Durham’s is much larger than Murfreesboro.
By CSA, the two sit at 31 and 32 with Raleigh’s CSA higher ranked higher and growing at a faster clip. Raleigh’s also not an “island” as much as Nashville either. Raleigh’s surrounded by more metros that push potential fan base/attendance higher with the Triad to the west, Fayetteville to the south and Wilson/Greenville to the east.
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