So Jacques Gilbert seems supportive of MLB, but I haven’t heard anything from Mayor Janet Cowell of Raleigh. She spoke on Downtown South, and she seems supportive what have you asked her about it.
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Jacques is very supportive. Prior to his post yesterday, he’s reached out numerous times about finding ways to show support and bring awareness. So he’s onboard (as are other mayors around the Triangle who will likely publicly show support at a later time).
Raleigh city council is supportive and we’ve been told by them that Janet Cowell is as well. Some on the council have gone public with that, and some have not as of yet, however we’ve talked with everyone and haven’t had an ounce of trepidation with bringing MLB to Raleigh.
I think it’s safe to say at this point, it’s up to MLB. If MLB selects Raleigh as a market they want to expand/relocate into, then we’ll have a team one way or another.
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I truly believe this Lou! I never thought in my 76 years that Raleigh would be in the running for MLB but I Believe!!! Thanks Lou!!!
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I think that’s good we have support for it on the city council level I’m glad they be willing to support it with there share of local funds. The only biggest challenge is simply corporate support and you’re right it’s up to the league to decide but as long as we’ve got the government support then that’s great. Still might be awhile before MLB expands but it good that steps have been made early in advance.
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From what I remember, the state has also said how they are also in support of gaining an MLB franchise. Knowing them, they personally prefer Raleigh of the options.
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I may not be remembering this correctly, but didn’t the Charlotte based legislatures play a role in stone walling the original MLS stadium efforts off Peace Street that would have involved state land?
Will they rally behind a Raleigh based MLB team?
To be fair, the state land was already being used by something the legislatures care more about than Raleigh… car parking. Honestly, it might’ve been a Malik thing and they were looking at state funding when it was entirely unnecessary when there was a stadium they could play in the next day essentially.
Plus, it’s not like there’s really a competing bid between Charlotte & Raleigh on this. It was Tepper vs Malik but now it’s Dundon (a guy who is personally investing $1B and gave us a good sports franchise to be proud of) vs nobody.
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Yes there was no state government involvement in Charlotte getting a MLS team. We just had a billionaire owner who offered to have them play at a NFL stadium. Only limited local government support too. As for MLB there is no effort whatsoever in Charlotte to bring a MLB team there. There is no money for it (like Nashville) from the local government available. This is Raleigh or bust for MLB in this state. I think MLB in Raleigh is likely to get some support from the state financially. Raleigh is so much bettter a location than Nashville with a similar population metro wise and already 3 major league teams. I hear all the time well Raleigh does not have lots of Fortune 500 companies headquarters. My response to that is that all the major corporations based in the state will get behind a Raleigh MLB team Lowes, Truist, even BofA. All the major corporations have lots of business in the Triangle area and statewide.
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Yeah corporate support is about key to this.
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Ballpark Digest is reporting that Portland has funding in place for a MLB 32,000 seat stadium on 31 acres in the city’s South Waterfront area.
Their proposal is pretty interesting. The funding would basically come from the players paychecks that play there. I still think if all this comes to fruition there will be two expansion teams - one in the West (Portland or SLC) and one in the east (Nashville or Raleigh).
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MLB is highly under-represented in the Southeast: the fastest growing region of the country. It’s over-reprented in the largely stagnant and sometimes declining Midwest.
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Well, this is interesting. Clearly there’s at least uncertainty with what’s going to happen with the Rays.
While there may be very few expansion teams in the future, I have to believe that Raleigh’s best chance to land a team is to move a team like happened with the Hurricanes. Look at Orlando’s push.
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Per Orlando: Anyone who is out in the media flaunting their funding isn’t at the table and is likely trying to get attention so they can get to the table.
MLB likes Tampa as a market and its very hard for me to see them trading it for Orlando. And that will have to be what happens. No way Tampa stays and Orlando gets a team while leaving out NC and Tennessee. Just won’t happen.
Orlando’s only play is the relocation of the Rays, but if MLB approves it, they are blocking Tampa from every getting baseball (my opinion). Hard to see MLB investing in Florida with a 3rd team when TB and Miami are both major markets who are failing.
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Agreed. And to restate the obvious, Orlando is less than a two-hour drive from Tampa. Baseball fans in Orange County arguably are already served by the MLB, at least to a significant degree more than competing bid markets, like Raleigh at 4.5 hours drive time to Nationals Park, Nashville at 3.5 hours to Truist Park or Portland at 3 hours to T-Mobile Park.
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And let’s not even start on MLB’s attendance issues in Miami and Tampa (errr St Pete?)
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Today’s Triangle Business Journal has an article stating Governor Stein has promoted MLB Raleigh ! I couldn’t read the article because I don’t have a subscription. Can anyone in our group pull this article up?
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He didn’t have much to say, just that he has talked to Dundon and is thrilled about the possibility and he’d love to have a team here, but we’ll have to wait and see.
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