Yeah, Kevin makes an excellent point, and one that I’ve mentioned in previous posts but neglected to mention this time: In order to be successful, any major league sports team based in Raleigh would need to do a good job of attracting fans from Durham and Cary, and being on the east side of Raleigh would definitely make that more difficult, so teams will always have a strong preference to be on the west/Durham side of Raleigh. (For an MLB team in particular, it’s doubly desirable because the vista looking out from behind home plate, by rule, has to be looking to the east, so a stadium to the west of Raleigh would have a vista looking toward the city.) Of course, the problem you run into is that real estate conveniently positioned between Raleigh and Durham tends to be hella expensive.
It’s definitely a long shot, there’s no question.
As is probably clear, I would love to have an MLB team in Raleigh. But the problem that groups like @wmgadd will always run up against is that one necessary precondition for a team here is that we need to find at least one billionaire who has the money and wants to acquire a team and bring it to Raleigh. The only reason there’s semi-serious talk about bringing an MLS team to Raleigh is that there is a Local Rich Dude who is for idiosyncratic really jonesing to bring one here. But MLB and MLS don’t put teams in cities per se; Rich Dudes put teams in cities, with the league’s permission. So, no billionaires, no team, simple as that, regardless of how much fan interest there might be.
I haven’t harped on this a lot because this is a Raleigh discussion group rather than a sports discussion group, but the most likely scenario for bringing a team to Raleigh is that some Rich Dude who already owns a team, mostly likely in some declining midwestern city, becomes persuaded that the franchise’s future in that city would be bleak, and so he begins shopping around for another, more promising city to relocate to. That’s probably a way more likely scenario than Raleigh getting an expansion franchise.
All my posts concerning Cargill pertains to The Atlantic League , Shaw Football , Shaw Lacrosse , Concerts , Affordable Housing type of Project ! I think that we would have a chance with this type of project ! Also big baseball games with NCSU / UNC , ECU , Duke games !
I’m sure you know we don’t think something like this could just spring out of our ambitions and best wishes. For others though, please know we are not naive; we know we would need an owner/ownership group with very deep pockets and connections to MLB.
But what if that person(s) is out there and wondering, “man would anyone even support a Triangle team?” That’s the question we’re trying to answer in the affirmative with a social media presence.
do we have to tie affordable housing to everything?
Okay, so I held this question back as long as I could, but now I gotta politely ask: So, what’s with the exclamation points after every sentence in every post? Like, I mean, you be you, I guess, but I’m just really curious at this point.
Also, Shaw does not have a varsity lacrosse team (men’s or women’s), so far as I know there are no plans to add a varsity lacrosse team in the near future, and even if Shaw did someday add a lacrosse team, attendance for those games would likely be in the double digits, so I’m not sure how that would factor into a stadium construction project.
In most major cities there are affordable housing requirements and in places where there aren’t it’s often used by developers to help grease the skids for their projects. What do you have against 15% affordable housing being included in these projects?
@ Straggler & daviddonovan , A little less than a year ago two former Raleigh Mayors met with our mayor & with some Wake County Commissioners in regards to receiving some hotel & restaurant money towards a sports stadium in the downtown area . The County Commissioners was pretty much supportive of their request & Mr. West did mention his support of affordable housing being a part of the development . Mayor McFarlane also said that she would support this group in helping to receive some of the hotel tax money . At this meeting , the former mayors presented a stadium for Shaw football , track , lacrosse , & possible Shaw baseball . No minor league baseball possibility was presented at this first meeting . Minor League Baseball was mention at a latter date . I do not have any update of information concerning a sports stadium . I was told that The N&O would be doing a article about a stadium app. 4 to 5 months ago but the article never happen !
C’mon David. I don’t even agree w/ @nipper.dwight about the Atlantic League and stadium stuff, but let’s just converse like adults here. We all want Raleigh to thrive, we all just have different idea and are using this board to voice those.
A lot of your posts come across as condescending. I’m sure me making that comment is going to anger you, but no one on here has ever attacked you or done something to warrant the tone of your comments. In fact, people on here have taken some of your condescending comments, ignored the tone and answered you with respect.
So, I guess I’m just wondering, on a message board that is almost always friendly, open and civil, do you feel the need to comment with that type of tone? I’m just really curious at this point.
Seems a bit ridiculous. Baseball cannot and should not share a stadium with football, soccer, track, lacrosse, etc.
Thanks Loup20 ! I do appreciate very much your comment ! Mike , all I know is that next season , 2019 High Point will play their first Atlantic League game May 2nd unless some major construction problem happens . It will be a 5,000 seat stadium & the city says that concerts , soccer , football , & lacrosse will also play there .
@ Mike , AAA Rochester, NY for years had their minor league baseball & soccer in the same stadium .
Your post doesn’t anger me at all, actually, and I’m genuinely confused what would lead you to make that assumption.
Just as use of all caps is generally considered to be not a best practice for message board discussion, use of exclamation points after more-or-less every sentence is, I think, distracting.
I wholeheartedly support and appreciate the friendly, open and civil discussion that takes place here, and I apologize if the question about the exclamation points came across as being condescending, as that was definitely not my intention.
Hey @nipper.dwight do you (or anyone else) know of what’s actually planned for the old Cargill site.
Also, what are the actual boundaries of the property that would be available for redevelopment? In other words, are some of those properties (Cardinal Trucks, Recycling Mgmt, Raleigh Truck Leasing, Keeter Center) not going anywhere? I’m playing with some ideas, but don’t exactly know where the available land would be.
As far as I know, the property hasn’t been sold or anything. A developer would likely have to assemble several plots of land and then consider whatever remediation needs to be done before building anything. I was under the assumption that the Cargill-Stadium talk was just idle daydreaming.
It is, honestly, but still fun 
One of many reasons I enjoy this site.
Do you know if people liked this arrangement? I can’t imagine the fan experience for a soccer match would be as good as a soccer-specific stadium because of the seating layout. But, I could be wrong.
EDIT: Looks like the soccer team is trying to get a new stadium because of poor attendance. I’m all for maximizing use but baseball fields don’t match anything other than softball and kickball when it comes to shape. I could see something like a soccer-lacrosse stadium or soccer-ultimate Frisbee.
Baseball stadiums are used all over the nation to host concerts, football games, and basically any other event these days…
@ OakCityBaseball , I’m tied up until late tonight for replying but a short answer for now is Cargill Site is 10 acres with a City owned site next to Cargill which is 5 acres !