I think East Downtown Raleigh would be prime for something major in 20 years but would require a major investor to buy a lot of land and sit on it. Once the BRT is up and running it would be the next big development region in DTR.
Building a stadium could require redesigning and removing some of the streets to make more space for a stadium.
The MLB ballpark with the smallest footprint is Target Field in Minneapolis, and it takes up 8.5 acres, which is significantly smaller than the majority of ballparks. Thereâs absolutely no way you could fit an MLB-sized ballpark on 6 acres. (The seats take up most of the land.)
The Minneapolis site had an exceptional number of things going for it; a good rule of thumb is to budget at least 10 acres for a ballpark, and thatâs before you account for a single parking space. mapfrappe.com is a good resource for seeing how a ballpark would fit (or not) on a particular plot of land. Target Field (which, again, is probably even better than a best-case scenario), is way bigger than the DMV parcel.
You also absolutely, positively could not fit an MLB stadium on the Southern Gateway site. Itâs just not physically possible. @wmgadd Of the four ideas listed, Penmarc is the only one that wouldnât present insuperable challenges. Thatâs definitely the most/only promising site in Raleigh as it exists today.
Channel 11 WTVD web page has a article tonight on Raleigh MLB as a future possibility ! Thank You Lou !
In an effort to not be snarky, it looks like some guys who bought a website, like to drink beer and dream of baseball. If a multimillionaire, who has a pretty solid business plan, willing to put up 150 million to build, owns an existing men and womenâs professional soccer team and on a first name basis with the MLS and national team canât do it⌠Iâll let yâall finish the sentence.
How do you you suppose they became billionaires in the first place? Of course they will ask for public money; they want to stay billionaires.
I stand corrected. I guess i was way underestimating the amount of space the seating would take up
You absolutely could fit a stadium there. Mapfrappe was used to confirm this. Eliminating the ramp in the NE corner of MLK/McDowell would certainly help, but it could still be done.
Behemoths like Turner Field, Dodger Stadium, etc., are a thing of the past. MLBRaleighâlike other new ballparks in small marketsâshould be exploring smaller parks with lower capacities anyway. And with any confined space, the best, most creative architects thrive.
Speaking of creative ballpark architecture, this article about architect Philip Bess and his vision for Comiskey Parkâs replacement should be required reading. Constrained space breeds good, interesting design.
I would love to see a stadium at the 10 acre Cargill Site ! What a skyline view from the outfield wall ! Especially now with FNB Tower !
Wouldnât the prison site be better? Thoughts, please!
I just mapfrapped the DBAP, and it would be a very tight squeeze on that lot, and itâs not MLB sized.
Oy vey. My point of comparison wasnât Turner or Dodger Stadium. The smallest ballpark by footprint in MLB is Target Field at 8.5 acres on the ground (but more than 10 acres of airspace); the next smallest is Fenway at 9 acres, which has dimensions that you couldnât get away with building today. The space between the road and the railroadâs right-of-way (which you definitely would not be able to intrude upon, either on land or in airspace) is barely six acres. So Iâd be curious to see how you used mapfrappe to suggest this would be feasible. If youâre not budgeting at least 10 acres for a major league ballpark, youâre not being realistic.
Also, the website references the cityâs ten-year plan for that parcel as part of the argument for building there, but it conveniently glosses over the fact the the plans for the land to the northeast of the railroad tracks would be incompatible with the proposed ballpark. And a small âcultural/entertainment/sporting centerâ with a roof is not interchangeable with a major league ballpark, so itâs kind of disingenuous to suggest that the latter would be at all consistent with the ten-year plan (and this stuff would very likely be well under construction long before an MLB team even reached the drawing board).
Also, every single one of these plans proposes building expensive new infrastructure, on top of the cost of building the ballpark itself. Yes, I know, I know. âWeâre just starting a conversation! This is just intended to start a conversation!â Awesome, excellent. Then letâs start a conversation about who would pay for this stuff, and how.
@RobertSanderlin The only artery for automobile traffic in or out of the site would be Western Boulevard. Putting a stadium there would be an absolute nightmare.
Dang itâŚyouâre right! 
Some day, some way, some body, it going to get Central Prison to move/relocateâŚ
My suggestion would be to relocate the facility to Butner NCâŚhome of lots of wide open space and already to a well known federal prison!
Then we can get that parcel back into paying taxes again!
Did you get my email on this ?
JMO ! I think that it will be a long time for this to happen , if by chance it does !
Well of course, the chances of this happening are pretty slim. Not only is Raleigh behind other cities in line for a team purely based on the corporate $, most cities have wizened up to spending exorbitant sums of money on sports facilities. If all we get out of this are cool t-shirts, money for charity, and civic pride, I still think itâs worth it. Plus itâs a fun thought exercise for us urbanists.
@Kevin you are on point with this comment. Iâd encourage everyone to see this for what it is, which is Raleigh getting organized around baseball, showing support for baseball and proving there is a hunger and a market here for it. (while giving back to our community at the same time).
Baseball wonât expand for likely 5 years and The Rays wonât move for 9 years. What does our area look like then? Based on the current statistics and the growth projections, it will be a mid-market region for pro sports.
This is simply injecting our area in the conversation and saying âHey, weâre a potentially viable (but risky) region right at this moment, but in 5 to 9 years that is all going to change.â and if/when itâs time for MLB to make a choice, we donât want to be playing catch-up, we want to be in a position to be a serious contender from day 1.
BINGO! I look at it like recruiting a blue chip college athlete. If you wait til the kidâs a high school junior, youâre 4-5 years too late.
Another thing to point out is that the team comps the website listed for Raleighâs case are Pittsburgh, Cincy, Milwaukee, and KS. Only the Royals can be truly considered an expansion city. Pittsburgh and Cincy are original chartered teams. Milwaukee is a historical baseball city that had the Braves till 1966 and after they left for Atlanta, they were awarded with the Brewers franchise, with the help of the future commission Bud Selig.
None of these franchises in the past 30 years were really that successful. Milwaukee had a brief earlier this decade and the past 2 years are looking better. Royals won 1 WS in 2015 but mostly bottom dwellers since 1985. Cincy was good for 2-3 years but havenât done anything since their Big Red Machine days in the 70s. And Pittsburgh had a good 2-3 year stretch run in 2012-2014 but again back to being non-competitive. If comparable, but historically rooted baseball cities canât compete, does a team in Raleigh have any chance to be able to do so and sustain the fan base necessary even if we get a team.
