While this is awesome, the Bananas are a totally different situation and I don’t think their success selling tickets tells us much about how those same markets would react to an MLB franchise.
The proof of that is the fact that they just sold out 65k-seat Raymond James Stadium (TB Bucs stadium in Tampa proper).
Meanwhile the TB Rays were bottom 3 in attendance in 2024 while playing in The Trop (St. Pete) and aren’t selling out the 10k seat Steinbrenner Field this season (Their temporary home in Tampa proper)
I’ve never met this Dr. Mike Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor Emeritus at North Carolina State University, but he makes some excellent points!
“My conclusion is it appears both Charlotte and Raleigh are viable candidates for an MLB team. But what will be the economic impact, will the economic impact be worth the cost, and who will pay for an exclusive MLB stadium? Should these questions be answered before we begin picking names for an MLB team in either city? You decide.”
Great question! For the record, proposed names for this as-yet entirely fanciful team include Captains, Reapers, Oaks, Hounds, Capitals, Q, Brigade, Nobles, and Revenge. Discussions about what the economic impact would be, and how much a stadium would cost, and how in the hell we would pay for a stadium subsidy that could cost almost a billion dollars has been almost non-existent in this thread, on the other hand.
One very, very minor quibble. He notes that “Between 70% and 80% of the new Las Vegas MLB stadium is being financed by the Athletics’ owner,” which is what owner John Fisher keeps promising, but so far this private funding keeps failing to materialize and as a result no meaningful work has been started on the stadium construction, and it’s not a sure thing that the Athletics will ever move to Las Vegas at all. (It’s not clear how that might affect MLB’s expansion plans if they don’t, except that it will delay those plans even further.)
Why tf they talking about expanding the knights’ stadium… they literally can’t do that. They can’t expand beyond 15K and they’re using it as a pricing estimate
It feels like in cities across the country the era of high tax payer appetite for stadium funding is beginning to diminish. I’m sure Doug Wharf and the Hurricanes team are thinking through the various scenarios around stadium funding.
81 home games is a big boost during our entertainment dead zone that MLB mostly would fill. Suddenly we’re on national TV 162 times a year. People start seeing Raleigh as a major-league city, not just “a nice place in the Triangle.” That helps with tourism, talent recruitment, and even business investment.
So yeah, Walden’s right to ask the hard questions. But if we get the structure right, it’s a win for Raleigh.
I feel like a stadium of this size is extremely important for Raleigh and would be worth the price tag. Obviously not entirely publicly funded or anything, but it could bring large concerts & events to Raleigh. P!NK stopped at a bunch of baseball stadiums on her last tour.
I’m just here to tell ya… if this was anything truly worthy of note, we’d already have an idea … and MLB Raleigh wouldn’t be the first to break it, no offense to anyone involved lol
Probably just a local beer-league starting or something.
Right. Although it would be a pretty cool recognition of the work they have done to-date around creating local momentum if Dundon’s team allowed them to be the outlet that broke a major story (stadium proposal, etc.).
Dundon is a billionaire - he will absolutely not allow a local grassroots organization any recognition to steal his thunder and break the story, let’s be real here (I know you’re just saying that’d be cool, of course)
I just mentioned it as for reference to one of the artists who could’ve played there. Foo Fighters, Taylor Swift, blink-182, Green Day, Def Leopard & Journey, Blackpink, the Jonas Brothers, Brad Paisley, Ed Sheeran, Tyler the creator, Usher, Elton John & Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez, and Gabriel Iglesias have all toured in the past 3 years and stopped at a baseball stadium in North America.
I mean, it definitely has a lot of advantages beyond the EIGHTY PLUS days a year it would be used for MLB. College baseball tournaments, soccer matches, hockey games, boxing/mma, wrestling, plus a larger venue for our winter ice skating (the red hat rink is very small)
Event coming with a big local sports team as a partner. New merch collabs only available at the event.
Others are right. If Raleigh is awarded a team we (MLB Raleigh) wont be the one to break it. Nobody involved in the Rays deal broke it. Sportico leaked it. When Raleigh gets a team, it will come via leak from a company like Sportico or Front Office Sports most likely. Thats how this usually works.
Lastly, the Rays being sold puts Raleigh’s MLB bid back to where it started, as a push to win one of the two expansion bids. The Rays situation made relocation a real opportunity, and one day we’ll be able to go into detail on how close this was to happening. MLB wanted the Rays in Tampa, but they were realistic that things may not work out there. In the end, Sternberg (Rays owner) seems to have gotten the money he wants and MLB have gotten what they want.
(This Rays deal is still not finished and Sternberg has backed out of deals last minute. And its still unknown where the Rays will play long-term. Maybe the Trop for a few more years while they try to work out a deal with the city. Lots of unknowns, but its trending as if the Rays stay in Tampa and Raleigh is now back focused on expansion)
Lol:
(I know you’re just saying that’d be cool, of course)