No, it just pressuring them to start a campaign to promote Raleigh as an MLB Team Major League Baseball Team relocation team. @UncleJesse you are an extremely cynical person, and you give me negative vibes…
Contact Tim Cook while you are at it.
You know I’m getting a little tired of the salty attitudes, on this part of the forum. I am an advocate for my town, as the MLB Raleigh people are we want the best for Raleigh. But when the best comes I feel like there a macho, hillbilly attitude, where nobody cares and is slow. Okay then when you talk about Raleigh having this or that you guys get mad when everyone looks over us or sleeps on it. We’ve got some big blessings like Apple announcing its East Coast Headquarters here, and the group wanting to bring an MLB Major League Baseball team in Raleigh, you got a committed Canes owner, you’ve got the owner of Epic Games literally to put a stable here, everything we got is right now, and you guys have macho attitudes like ahh. It like almost blocking your blessings, for example on the scene of the TV show Cheers when thereon Jeopardy and Cliff Calvin was leading in the game, but wagered everything in final jeopardy even if he could got the answer wrong he could’ve still won it, but made the stupid choice and wagered everything because his answer to the question that was “What are three people who’ve never been in my kitchen”. That’s exactly what Raleigh is doing wagering everything you worked for why do it, we complain were not in a big enough city to get all the good stuff we’ll do something about it, it’s like going to a foreign country and you’re hungry but didn’t speak the language of that country to order in a restaurant you’ll do everything to speak that language so you can get something to eat.
7 Likes
I was only being partially facetious. Contacting city officials is only part of the battle. Finding potential owners and corporate sponsors is the bigger challenge. Asking our newest corporate tenet who is headed by a guy with local ties seems an obvious extension of any letter-writing campaign.
3 Likes
Not sure I’m following…
EDIT: Some quick thoughts. Hopefully everyone in the forum feels like they’re being treated fairly. I’m sorry you don’t and I hope everyone tries to fix that. In a world where we need more equality and fairness, this forum should be an example of that. Second, pulling out names and lumping in the forum to the name calling probably isn’t going to have the impact you’d like. Emailing city council members and county commissioners is a great first step, and thank you for taking the time to post all of their contact info! Consider this forum as probably an even larger asset than even those commissioners as the collective contacts this forum has is probably pretty extensive. Calling the forum members hillbillies isn’t going to go far in encouraging them to jump on board. Just a few thoughts. Hopefully this doesn’t spark more off-topic banter.
On topic, I do agree CLT/RAL get an unfair lumping when looking at markets. How many people drive from CLT to Canes games? Not enough to make a decision based on and same for RAL to CLT for games (not counting NFL). RAL should be next, no doubt.
9 Likes
In your mind, why do you think Charlotte and Raleigh tend to get lumped when we’re talking things like this? Like I pointed out many of the California and East coast markets are actually much closer distance wise and don’t face this problem.
3 Likes
Not sure really. I think Charlotte has a much larger national presence/awareness and while Raleigh is certainly making massive strides to exist on it’s own as “another” NC city, not “the other” NC city, I just don’t think Raleigh (the Triangle) is given serious consideration. I think Apple helps that regardless of it’s direct economic impact. At some point, the investors/sports executives have got to pay attention to the data and Raleigh gets another pro sports team. Charlotte just can’t support a pro sports team for every US sport.
I think what @Loup20 and his effort have done a fantastic job of is prove that if you look at the data and not the perception, Raleigh and the Triangle demands a seat at the table and while the data is specific to MLB, it tells a bigger story.
14 Likes
Right or wrong - the entire Carolinas (N&S) get lumped together as far as pro sports markets. I grew up in SC and remember when the original Hornets and Panthers were first discussed, they were heavily promoted as “The Carolina’s” teams in SC. And Charlotte just happens to be more centered geographically for that market. Both Columbia and Greenville / Spartanburg areas are closer to Charlotte then Raleigh is.
5 Likes
The A’s have a proposal in front of the Oakland City Council for a waterfront stadium that the team has been working on for years. If the city council approves it, the team can get started on construction right away. Relocation would put the team literally back to square one, where they don’t even have a destination, let alone the beginning of a stadium plan, let alone an actual plan. This is pretty transparently an effort of put pressure on the city council to approve the existing plan so the A’s can stay in Oakland forever. And it might work!
If the city council votes down the plan, the A’s will look into the moving, but MLB would have a strong, strong preference for keeping the franchise in the Pacific or Mountain time zones. MLB is looking to add a team in that half of the country, and certainly not looking to lose one. I guess if you really want to be optimistic, if the city council votes down the plan and the A’s move to Portland or Las Vegas or Vancouver, then once the Rays get their stadium situation worked out–which very well may not happen until 2027–and MLB looks to expand, then Portland or whoever already has their team, so there’s one less city fighting for the 32nd franchise (because Montreal is almost certainly getting a franchise), and it makes it more likely that an east coast city could land that last spot. But this stuff moves very, very, very slowly.
6 Likes
I definitely think Oakland would be a long shot. I would caution that the mess with Canadian teams and COVID travel may make future expansion for Canadian teams a bit more of a long shot than previously thought.
So maybe we could get the Rays one day. However I think with the new Water Street development, Tampa may end up working in a stadium there.
2 Likes
Like OakCityDylan has already said , Thank You for taking the time & effort to post all of the city council & county commissioners emails & phone #'s . In the past I have already gone some of this route for minor league Raleigh baseball , ALPB . I have met in person with then Councilor Baldwin , Sig Hutchinson , Vickie Adamson , Councilor Cox & I have emailed all of the city councilors , county commissioners concerning bringing baseball to Raleigh . I have written Russell Wilson & Josh Hamilton & I did get the opportunity to speak by phone with a family member of Josh concerning minor league for Raleigh . Some of this work did pay off because Raleigh has come Super Close to getting a ALPB Team twice , but bottom line , did not happen . I would love to elaborate more on this but afraid of a law suite , if I do . Lou’s past statement is for sure " Spot On " as bad as I hate this . Yes , My first love is Raleigh minor league baseball but I also strongly support MLB / MLS for our city .
6 Likes
Yeah, I think the chances of the A’s specifically moving to Raleigh is basically nil. But if, say, Portland gets the A’s and MLB eventually expands to 32 team, then somebody’s going to get a team that otherwise might well have gone to Portland. (Although if the A’s do leave, it’s possible that you could see a new ownership group step up to try to bring an expansion team to Northern California. The economics of having two MLB teams in Northern California are really compelling.)
I suspect that COVID-19 is going to be seen as a once-in-a-lifetime event and MLB’s not going to be thinking too hard about what happens if there’s another global pandemic or be deterred from putting a second team in Canada for that reason.
Yeah, the Rays are the toughest piece of this predict, but I would bet money they stay somewhere in the I-4 corridor. That’s another market where MLB really, really wants to be present. If they do move, I suspect they’ll go to Montreal, but it’s the same situation as with the A’s: If Montreal gets the Rays, then than opens up a slot for some other city to get the franchise that otherwise would have gone to Montreal.
4 Likes
I’ll be first to admit that I’m no big baseball fan so I don’t know the situations of each market and city. But, do you know if there are any other teams that may be facing a move within the next decade?
Tampa if they don’t ever get their stadium situation figured out
If they end up in Orlando and yet again, my home town has ANOTHER pro team will make me fume! They got MLS right before I moved to Raleigh and now have both NBA and MLS stadiums within very reasonable walking distance from the downtown core. Ugh.
3 Likes
One of my favorite out of town moments was leaving a Hawks game in Orlando and walking out into such a lively atmosphere with people out and about, street music, everyone just having a good ole time!
Can’t wait until we can have something like that going on here, whether it’s just our Hockey stadium being downtown or hopefully an eventual MLS / MLB.
Even leaving the Hawks game in Atlanta when I went down a couple weeks ago (only 3000 fans) had a great vibe around the stadium leaving the game.
I think if we strike out on MLB and MLS, we need to do everything in our power to get a Downtown Arena and Minor league team.
7 Likes
I felt the same way during & after a Durham Bull’s game . I thought , " Why in the world does Raleigh not have this downtown " , Just mind blowing !
7 Likes
Tampa and Oakland are the only two franchises that have any reasonable chance of relocating in the next ten years. In both cases relocation is a very real possibility, but in each case the most likely outcome is probably that they stay in the same media market they’re in now.
Looking long-term, as in well into the 2030s or beyond, it’s at least somewhat questionable whether Chicago (White Sox) or Cleveland will find it attractive to stay in their current markets, maybe even Kansas City, but we’re probably a long way off from even having serious conversations about relocations there, much less actually seeing any moves. Aside from Tampa and Oakland, there’s not another franchise that’s likely to move in the next 20 years or more.
5 Likes
Oh here the Cliff Clavin Cheers Reference:
As I recall, in the early ‘90s, James (Channel 5) Goodmon, chose Durham for a new ballpark, replacing the old Bulls stadium, and MLB enforced the ~35 mile rule which existed then ( & now), putting our stadium in a tobacco field 15 miles from DTR. The distance requirement was called to be enforced by Durham & Goodmon. Since then the 35 mile distance between MinorLB teams has been twisted like a pretzel. So Raleigh must go big - MLB. This effort needs one backer with $$$$ to be taken seriously. 25 years ago the Panthers expansion was a long shot - Jerry Richardson came with $$$$ and League connections. Voila!
8 Likes