April 12, 20197 yr I don’t see expansion or contraction ever happening. The MLBPA would go insane over the idea of contraction. Expansion doesn’t do anything to benefit current ownership groups financially. It has been fifty years since MLB expanded for reasons that didn’t involve avoiding a financial burden to the current owners. The two rounds of expansion in 1990 were done because there was a massive settlement awarded to the players union from collusion in the 1980s. Commissioner Vincent has said directly that the leagues expanded to collect expansion fees to pay that debt. The expansion into Seattle and Toronto in 1977 was done in part to avoid the legal burden that had been ongoing with King County when the Pilots left town (Toronto gave the AL the requisite expansion partner and the Canadian presence that the national league already had). With the way revenue is generated and shared, and with the markets already covered by baseball, there isn’t a logical place for baseball to go that would further enrich owners. That is what it is all about. Also, by adding two franchises you make them a little less scarce, and down the road scarcity impacts NAV. The more scarce a resource is the more valuable it is. Back to Marlins ownership, Bruce Sherman would never pay $1.2 billion for a team and then ask a retired shortstop to come in a run it into the ground to try and relocate.
April 12, 20197 yr Rob Manfred has talked quite a bit about expansion, though it's waiting for stadium situations in Tampa/Oakland to be finalized. Tampa's is back up in the air and Oakland's isn't set in stone, but they're working on it, so it'll be at least another 5+ years minimum before they'd consider expansion.
April 12, 20197 yr I don’t see expansion or contraction ever happening. The MLBPA would go insane over the idea of contraction. Expansion doesn’t do anything to benefit current ownership groups financially. It has been fifty years since MLB expanded for reasons that didn’t involve avoiding a financial burden to the current owners. The two rounds of expansion in 1990 were done because there was a massive settlement awarded to the players union from collusion in the 1980s. Commissioner Vincent has said directly that the leagues expanded to collect expansion fees to pay that debt. The expansion into Seattle and Toronto in 1977 was done in part to avoid the legal burden that had been ongoing with King County when the Pilots left town (Toronto gave the AL the requisite expansion partner and the Canadian presence that the national league already had). With the way revenue is generated and shared, and with the markets already covered by baseball, there isn’t a logical place for baseball to go that would further enrich owners. That is what it is all about. Also, by adding two franchises you make them a little less scarce, and down the road scarcity impacts NAV. The more scarce a resource is the more valuable it is. Back to Marlins ownership, Bruce Sherman would never pay $1.2 billion for a team and then ask a retired shortstop to come in a run it into the ground to try and relocate. expansion IS happening.
April 12, 20197 yr Hopefully the A's can get the needed approvals for Howard Terminal by end of year. The Rays... well if any team needs to relocate its that team. A lot of sense: Move the Rays to: Montreal Portland Monterrey ( i guess) Expansion in the other two cities. If not Monterrey then I'd go somewhere like a Nashville, Vancouver or Charlotte. I think Montreal and Portland are done deals whenever it all comes around again.
April 12, 20197 yr Hopefully the A's can get the needed approvals for Howard Terminal by end of year. The Rays... well if any team needs to relocate its that team. A lot of sense: Move the Rays to: Montreal Portland Monterrey ( i guess) Expansion in the other two cities. If not Monterrey then I'd go somewhere like a Nashville, Vancouver or Charlotte. I think Montreal and Portland are done deals whenever it all comes around again. Expansion opinion pieces are popular online. Even Fangraphs has published some. They all fail to adequately explain how the 30 owners that run the league would benefit. Those are the people that would be making the decision to expand.
April 12, 20197 yr I don't understand what you're getting at. The stadium is there and the team is here, both with contracts to be here. How would that suddenly turn into a year to year thing? That article didn't say anything about taking money from the stadium, which is already built. Sorry, I grabbed the wrong article but the idea behind it was- if the city of miami opens up the contract again - the marlins are free to leave because the contracts been broken. MLBPA wouldn't flip. They want to maintain jobs- not teams. If two teams are contracted and immediately replaced- they won't care.
April 12, 20197 yr Back to Marlins ownership, Bruce Sherman would never pay $1.2 billion for a team and then ask a retired shortstop to come in a run it into the ground to try and relocate. Not saying Expansion to go to 32 teams. Saying expansion after contraction to stay at 30 teams, to break leases and relocate. Unlike the NFL Cleveland/Houston issues, where they promised theyd be back- it would be - These teams revenues sucked and we needed 30 teams. As a private company they closed up shop, and the players contracts were reassigned to new cities.
April 12, 20197 yr The Rays... well if any team needs to relocate its that team. Moving them to Tampa Bay might be a good idea.
April 12, 20197 yr Moving them to Tampa Bay might be a good idea. Centrally located to Tampa and st Pete
April 12, 20197 yr Centrally located to Tampa and st Pete I've heard Jupiter and Broward can support a team better.
April 12, 20197 yr Moving them to Tampa Bay might be a good idea. Same song and dance for what? 20 years?
April 12, 20197 yr Expansion opinion pieces are popular online. Even Fangraphs has published some. They all fail to adequately explain how the 30 owners that run the league would benefit. Those are the people that would be making the decision to expand. There would be massive expansion fees for one, that would more than account for any lost share of national deals for the remainder of any contract if not re-negotiated right away. When the next national deals come out they will be for a higher amount of money.
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