If the Canes were not selling out every game the way they have been for several years now, you can guarantee they would have used that information as a mark against Raleigh.
Remains to be seen if they will take it into consideration as a positive.
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Interesting that they’re completely discrediting Nashville like this. Surely the MLB would have to expand with 1 east coast and 1 west coast team, which would give Raleigh good odds if this is based on anything other than hope
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No, it’s typical. Rob Manfred has said that MLB is going to add one team in the west and one team in the east. (It’s hard to make the geography work any other way.) SLC and Portland are competing against each other. They won’t both get expansion teams, although one of them almost certainly would, if MLB expands. Neither is competing in any meaningful way against Raleigh. (There’s some real sterling analysis in the comments, too.)
That said, Portland is literally just across the Columbia River from Clark County, Washington, which has over half a million residents and would be a crucial part of Portland’s fan base, and this graphic intentionally omits that. The SLC media market really is quite small for MLB, and this has actually been talked about a lot! But SLC also has, far and away, the most well developed stadium plan, and that’s something MLB cares about a lot, and that’s why they’re rightly seen as the leader in the clubhouse right now. And I could go on and on with this stuff, but I won’t, at least not today.
I watched the whole interview, and Fork does not say anything even remotely close to this.
Fork did say a lot of perfectly sensible, reasonable things. It’s obvious that any stadium would require a large taxpayer subsidy, but it’s refreshing to hear him say that part out loud. The four things he mentions repeatedly that a bid needs–an ownership group, a stadium, a season ticket holder fanbase, and corporate support–are spot-on. He strongly downplayed the hosts’ suggestion that the Rays were some sort of missed opportunity. They weren’t, and he’s right about that.
When asked where a stadium could go, he mentions the PNC district, other land near the PNC district, Cary, Downtown South, and “eastern Wake county.” The land could also be state-owned, or maybe it could be privately owned, he said. That’s a lot of places! Interestingly, one place he did not mention was downtown Raleigh. All the places he mentioned were, however, along I-40 (presumably he’s thinking about the parts of eastern Wake County that are alongside the freeway.) So location is not an issue in the sense that there are a lot of locations out there, and surely they’ll figure something out, but there is currently no plan. The hosts repeatedly tried to steer Fork back to the idea of a stadium in the PNC District, and he said that there was certainly room to build an MLB stadium, but development plans are not contingent on one.
Another point that Fork belabored was that there is absolutely no timetable for when anything might get rolling, and the Dundon group “just wants to be in a position to be ready should any opportunity arise.” Again, it’s all perfectly reasonable, sensible stuff. But there wasn’t any major news dropped in the interview.
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I guess my point is that they’re ignoring Nashville/Charlotte here. Not super concerned what happens out west as it relates to Raleigh’s chances. Seems like this post is implying that Raleigh is the favorite for the eastern expansion. Don’t know if the post is based on anything though, just thought is was interesting
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This campaign for an expansion MLB team is EXACTLY why our MSA designation matters, and why it being split damages the region. If not reunited into one MSA with Durham & Chapel Hill, it’s not difficult to imagine the region being ignored until the Raleigh MSA alone reaches or annexes its way to 2M.
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Is any part of eastern Wake County alongside I-40? I assume he’s talking about the 64 corridor (the future I-87).
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I’d consider the stretch of I-40 between 440 and 42 to be eastern Wake County because it’s east of DTR. Maybe that’s more south than east, but it’s a very vague description and there are lots of highways in eastern Wake County you could put a stadium next to. #ZebulonOnDeck
They could put it where 5 Coubty stadium is. 
GREAT interview. You and Fork both had lots of good stuff to say about MLB and Raleigh’s efforts to land a team. Everyone on this forum (EXCEPT FOR ONE) will likely agree.
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I’m the one. It’s me. Hi! 
I actually went to great lengths to say, repeatedly, that I thought Fork’s were quite reasonable and sensible. It’s all right there in my summary of the segment.
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Right there in Chapter 14, part 3. Didn’t you read it???
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It’s really hard for me to imagine a franchise east of DTS. It would seem to me that having it any further east really starts to push it beyond the center of fan gravity for the greater Triangle region. Sure it would put the team closer to points south and east of Raleigh, but that’s not where the majority of the people are.
PNC/Carter-Finley/Fairgrounds area seems to be the most logical if you were trying to put it central to a fan base, but that also puts yet another obstacle between Raleigh and RTP for commuters. With MLB games happening on weekdays, you can rest assured that adding traffic to that location during afternoon rush hour will not be ideal. Then again, the Triangle has proven that it’s one of the most hybrid work metros in America and I can imagine that commuters will mitigate those days by WFH or leaving shortly after lunch to finish their workday at home.
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Well your read is wrong. He answered the question about how Raleigh is viewed by ‘the larger national media’ …
“I think it’s less important about how it’s viewed in the larger national economy; I think what is important is the other MLB owners believe it is a sustainable market…etc”
What he is saying is something I have personally talked with him about numerous times. They are not concerned with how this is viewed by the national media. They are concerned with getting the bid right and all the pieces put together for when expansion arrives.
Why is that noteworthy? Well because everyone keeps asking why there aren’t ESPN articles or CBS articles that dive into Raleigh as a finalist for expansion. Some may take it as the league doesn’t take Raleigh seriously as a candidate. But what I’m trying to point out to you is that the fact that Tom isn’t out here blowing a giant horn trying to get attention on Raleigh’s bid, or you’re not getting a play by play of how they view the timeline or what land they are focusing on, or how the financing could work…MIGHT just be by design.
Whose to say there hasn’t been national publications that have wanted to write in-depth pieces that would 100% put a spotlight on Raleigh as a contender in the national media.. but maybe the timing just isn’t right and the strategy isn’t to telegraph every move in the media.
This is a competition. There are other markets jockeying for the same spot we are jockeying for. Some groups may think being loud and very public give them the best chance of landing a team. Some may think doing that is counterproductive.
Look, I’m trying to say what I can on here while respecting the process that’s going on behind the scenes. I do that because most people on here have been supportive and have helped push this thing along in one way or another. So you can either read into the things I’m pointing out, or you can ignore them…or you could tell me I’m wrong. Honestly, I dont’ care.
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You didn’t care so much that you wrote a lengthy reply to my post.
Again, he doesn’t say anything close to the quote you attribute to him, at least not in the interview you were linking to. You could have just provided the actual quote, which is very different from the quote you made up for the first post. There’s absolutely no good reason to make up a quote when you could have just used the real one in the first place.
Wait, wait, wait. Have the media not figured out that Raleigh is the best expansion candidate on the east coast because they’re too focused on Nashville? Or are they knocking on Dundon’s door asking to write pieces that would spotlight Raleigh as a contender and Dundon keeps passing up the free publicity in the national media that his group is happy to take in the local media? Seems odd that it would be both at the same time.
FWIW, I absolutely believe you that the Hurricanes’ CEO is very bullish on Raleigh’s chances of landing an MLB expansion team, both in public and in private, and they have a strategy to try to make that happen. I don’t doubt any of that in the slightest. Everything I saw in the interview suggests to me that Fork has a good handle on things. In particular, I appreciate that he publicly acknowledged that a stadium to need a taxpayer subsidy in order to be viable. His thinking sounds very realistic.
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Man blah blah blah blah blah wtf are y’all evening arguing about at this point lmaoooo
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@Loup20 cares about the people on this forum and their support of the effort as he knows some of us. I appreciate his “lengthy reply” and in context, he said he didn’t care if you told him he’s wrong.
And I appreciate your input as well, @daviddonovan though I may not like or agree with it. It’s still constructive and an opinion (well some of it’s opinion).
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someone couldn’t help themself. Heroic response.
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just curious…when the money gets to being slung around does a govt produced MSA or a privately conducted “population circle on map-how far to drive-median income-decent road network-transit option to games, etc” start to have more significance?
Nashville has a very very strong case. The city’s Metropolitan Sports Authority has a proven track record of acquiring, maintaining, and operating professional sports venues, including a minor league baseball park. The public-private partnership model is already in place and functioning. Most importantly, Nashville has consistently supported professional sports development in its downtown, giving Major League Baseball confidence that a new stadium is unlikely to face political opposition. For example, the city government is financially supporting a new NFL stadium next to the one it helped fund in the 1990s. The same is true for the NHL arena. The proposed site also benefits from more than 10,000 existing hotel rooms within a one-mile radius, making it easier to generate tax revenue from tourism, something Nashville has successfully done in the past.
What you are pointing out is certainly a benefit for Nashville, but also one of the main reasons it may not work out. They have spent so much money in recent years on the NFL, MLS, and NHL that there likely isn’t money available for MLB.
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