D-Rays Owner: M.L.B. no Longer Believes in Tampa Bay Area

[OFFNY]

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Rays owner Stu Sternberg stated that, "At this point, Major League Baseball no longer believes in the Tampa Bay area."

A) http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/danny-knobler/21610391/rays-owner-mlb-no-longer-believes-in-tampa-bay-area

B) http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/tampa-bay-rays-major-league-baseball-no-longer-believes-in-the-tampa-bay/1272064

However, Sternberg also stated that if the team can begin exploring new stadium sites soon, he thought that could generate enough new corporate support and fan excitement to convince other owners that baseball "can be here for another 50 or 100 years.''

http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/tampa-bay-rays-major-league-baseball-no-longer-believes-in-the-tampa-bay/1272064

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[luismatos4prez]

Good. Get that team to a city that will appreciate it. It's depressing as a baseball fan seeing 7,000 people at a crucial game in a pennant race.

[Can_of_corn]

Has there ever been a team "saved" by a new stadium?

[BirdFlipper]

Is 30 too many? Have we run out of markets that will support a major league baseball team?

Where else would the MLB flourish?

[Dipper9]

Is 30 too many? Have we run out of markets that will support a major league baseball team?

Where else would the MLB flourish?

[luismatos4prez]

Buster Olney says Nashville would work. I'd personally like Montreal to get a team back.

Just thinking of franchises that are well-supported in other sports, New Orleans or Carolina maybe?

[Can_of_corn]

Buster Olney says Nashville would work. I'd personally like Montreal to get a team back.

Just thinking of franchises that are well-supported in other sports, New Orleans or Carolina maybe?

Carolina would create friction with Baltimore and Washington. If they got a team it would significantly cut into the MASNCASHMONEY.

[crissfan172]

It would be nice if Tampa had a team.

[isestrex]

It would be nice if Tampa had a team.

Resident Tampa Bay citizens disagree with you. They don't seem to enjoy having a team at all.

Personally I think San Antonio is growing enough that they could afford a baseball team.

[crissfan172]

Resident Tampa Bay citizens disagree with you. They don't seem to enjoy having a team at all.

Personally I think San Antonio is growing enough that they could afford a baseball team.

I imagine that's because they don't have a team...St Petersburg does.

[skanar]

Las Vegas, Portland, San Antonio, New Orleans, Montreal (with a decent owner if might work), Vancouver, New Jersey, Connecticut, Nashville, Memphis, Carolina, Salt Lake City...

Or to go out of the box: Puerto Rico, Mexico City, Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)...

Here's a list of the top 40 (radio) markets in the US (albeit it's a sketchy source: http://www.radio-media.com/markets/main.html), with the current non-MLB locations bolded:

#1 	New York, NY 	15,340,000#2 	Los Angeles, CA 	10,609,200#3 	Chicago, IL 	7,612,100#4 	San Francisco, CA 	6,012,000#5 	Dallas, TX 	4,576,700#6 	Philadelphia, PA 	4,291,700#7 	Houston, TX 	4,165,000#8 	Washington, DC 	4,041,300#9 	Boston, MA 	3,888,800#10 	Detroit, MI 	3,859,700#11 	Atlanta, GA 	3,750,700#12 	Miami, FL 	3,489,800[b]#13 	Puerto Rico 	3,264,900[/b]#14 	Seattle, WA 	3,150,300#15 	Phoenix, AZ 	2,801,300#16 	Minneapolis MN 	2,550,200#17 	San Diego, CA 	2,485,600#18 	Nassau, NY 	2,353,600#19 	Baltimore, MD 	2,236,800#20 	St. Louis, MO 	2,210,800#21 	Tampa, FL 	2,194,600#22 	Denver, CO 	2,150,300#23 	Pittsburgh, PA 	2,019,400[b]#24 	Portland, OR 	1,905,700[/b]#25 	Cleveland, OH 	1,800,600#26 	Cincinnati, OH 	1,691,100#27 	Sacramento, CA 	1,651,800#28 	Riverside, CA 	1,571,100#29 	Kansas City, MO 	1,506,400[b]#30 	San Antonio, TX 	1,496,600[/b][b]#31 	Salt Lake City, UT 	1,467,800[/b]#32 	San Jose, CA 	1,466,800#33 	Milwaukee, WI 	1,420,300[b]#34 	Providence, RI 	1,383,300[/b][b]#35 	Columbus, OH 	1,382,600[/b][b]#36 	Middlesex, NJ 	1,372,700[/b][b]#37 	Charlotte, NC 	1,355,800#38 	Orlando, FL 	1,340,500#39 	Las Vegas, NV 	1,335,300#40 	Norfolk, VA 	1,298,500[/b]

Carolina has the problem of interfering with the minor league teams that are there. Connecticut or New Jersey steps on some serious toes, though those two teams are by far the richest and could probably survive without too much trouble. Montreal would be good, except for the history there.

Las Vegas, Portland, and San Antonio make the most obvious sense. Mexico City or Puerto Rico (in the USA, remember) would be bold and interesting.

[lovetoaster]

Buster Olney says Nashville would work. I'd personally like Montreal to get a team back.

Just thinking of franchises that are well-supported in other sports, New Orleans or Carolina maybe?

I don't think Nashville or Carolina would work. To me they just would not be able to support 81 major league games. I live in Charlotte, and have spent plenty of time in Nashville. I just don't see it. But I have been wrong before.

[Morgan423]

Buster Olney says Nashville would work. I'd personally like Montreal to get a team back.

Just thinking of franchises that are well-supported in other sports, New Orleans or Carolina maybe?

It would rock to have an MLB team here in Nashville. Particularly if they were an NL team so that they don't clash with my O's fandom (the O's always come first).

[NewMarketSean]

The population in Portland sounds like it could support a team but its proximity to Seattle might hurt and the hippy population there may not be able support another pro sports team.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I wouldn't mind seeing a team in Brooklyn, but I guess the Rays wouldn't work since that would put two AL East teams in the NYC area. On the other hand, you'd have the same problem in the NL East, and it wouldn't make sense to put a Brooklyn team in the Central or West, so who knows?