Quote:
Originally Posted by Casino
So I'm planning out an "alternate history" run with the MLB starting in 1901 with all fictional players, more or less keeping with the normal way that the league expanded and moved historically up until the early 2000's.
I'm thinking I'm going to keep the Expos in Montreal, give Washington the expansion team, bringing the league up to 31, but I'd like to round things out to 32. Question is, where?
So I was just curious as to what those of you who have expanded the MLB to 32 teams have done, and why. Vegas? Charlotte? New Orleans? That's probably my top three at this point.
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Ah, yes. This is my specialty. lol. I spend far too much time thinking about this kind of thing.
If you are looking for "realism" broadly defined, then there are a lot of factors to consider. Some of those factors include: metro area population (MSA), media market size (DMA), median family income, presence of other influential brands in the area (think the Braves' presence in the southeast USA), likely resistance from currently existing teams (think how MLB had to placate Angelos to move the Expos to Washington DC), how many other pro sports teams share the same space, whether to expand domestically or internationally. To name a few.
Of your top 3, I think Charlotte would be the best bet...
The problem with Las Vegas is that it is an itinerant town and has a relatively low income level due to all the service workers. Presumably, there wouldn't be a ton of disposable income to drop on ballgames. Although the gaming aspect provides and interesting avenue for selling luxury boxes that normally are rented by corporations. Vegas is also a pretty tiny media market even though it is growing.
The problem with New Orleans is pretty similar to that of Vegas. The median income is pretty low. There's also the problem of the Saints because the presence of a football team tends to depress baseball attendance all other things being equal. In some ways this makes intuitive sense because the dough that you spend on Saints season tickets can't be used to buy baseball tickets. Like Vegas, New Orleans is fairly small in terms of DMA/MSA stats. Plus, a retractable roof stadium is an absolute must down there.
Charlotte, on the other hand, has a sizable corporate base and a relatively affluent population relatively speaking. A growing population with DMA/MSA stats ahead of both your other contenders. The Carolina Panthers are present and I've heard that Charlotte has a decent amount of urban sprawl (a drawback) so it's not an uber perfect situation. Charlotte is decently far away from both Atlanta and Washington DC, but they'd still be contending with the reach of the Atlanta Braves.
Some other options I've kicked around that make some degree of sense...
Vancouver, Mexico City, Monterrey, Raleigh, Portland, New York/Brooklyn/Jersey City, San Antonio/Austin, San Jose
None of those are perfect options when considering all the criteria above, but some may make more sense than others depending on how you weight the criteria. It could also come down to how you want to align the divisions and where do you need a new team to make that work best.