The superdome was originally a multipurpose stadium. They had a minor league team playing in there for years. The feild layout was kind of like how veterans stadium layed out it's diamond
I think Sacramento has a better chance than most of the cities on this list. Sacramento has been an up and coming place to live in the last 10 years. The Kings have been fully supported and selling out home games with mostly Kings fans even during the 16 years of misery. The Republic also had a deal for MLS before Ron Burkle backed out during the pandemic. This city loves its sports and will always show out. There have also been talks according to the mayor of Sacramento that there were negotiations between the city and Oakland to bring the A's here before Vegas started to catch fire. Vegas may not end up getting the A's if things keep going the way they are right now
I keep saying this, the As need to look at Sacramento, huge untapped sports market and the bay fans would still come out. Just look at the Kings this year. The city supports
@@imhappy5266 Sacramento is a small TV market and significant public funding is hard to get. Giants also looked at Sacramento both said it would not work.
lmao the delusion is crazy, there’s a ton of cities that are ahead of Sacramento in line to get a team. mlb didn’t move a team out of norcal just to add another one
They already have 5 MLB teams in California. True As are leaving but 4 is plenty with how big the Giants, Dodgers,Angels and Padres to a lesser degree are. You could argue because Sacramento isn't too far from Bay Area they could kina replace As. But it's not in the Bay area and anyway the time for 2 teams there has passed because if it hadn't the As would have gotten their stadium and wouldn't be moving to Vegas. Lastly MLB like to stretch their teams out so I don't see it happening. They're going to expand into the South more because it's more untapped
The Mayor of Sacramento just announced that if the A's were to commit to playing there, they would get FREE land, plus the NEW stadium would be constructed ... IMMEDIATELY! NOT waiting (3-4) YEAR'S WAITING ... like they would have to do in Vegas. Plus, if the A's went to Sacramento, they can STILL retain they're fanbase in Oakland.
I heard back in 1985 they tried to lure the Oakland A's to Sacramento by building a stadium next to the then ARCO Arena. Which never got finished. It was going to lure the Oakland A's and the then Los Angeles Raiders. It was around the same time the Kansas City Kings moved to Sacramento.
However, I thought it was when Raiders were looking at leaving Oakland the first time in late 1980's before going to LA at time. I could be wrong though too.
I would like MLB to make a proposal on the possibility of having 10 teams, a total expansion of 40 teams and this is the candidate Portland, (Oregon), Vancouver, (BC), Montreal, (Quebec), Austin, (Texas), Orlando, (Florida), Nashville, (Tennessee), Mexico City, Charlotte, (North Carolina), Indianapolis, (Indiana) and Salt Lake City, (Utah)
On San Juan, I think your a bit off, it’s far closer than Hawaii is. It’s a little over 1000 mi away from Miami. That would make it the most isolated team by 200 miles over Seattle, but being on the east coast it would also be way closer to a lot of other teams being on the east coast. The flight from Boston would be an hour plus shorter than to the West Coast and the time zone is the same as the east coast during the season. I think the biggest concerns with San Juan would be financial considerations.
I really hope Oklahoma gets a MLB team. We are known for having great football and baseball. I really think they should slightly construct the OKC dodger stadium to be bigger for an mlb team and turn the paycom center into a football feild for a nfl team. I think this would be a great idea and make the leagues a lot of money
I just saw this pop up, and you could do one for the NFL, for expansion. You can put in cities like Toronto, Portland, Mexico City, Louisville, San Antonio, St. Louis, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Honolulu, London, Vancouver, and so forth.
With the so called distance travel issue with putting a team in Puerto Rico, it’s a little more than 1,000 miles to Miami. In the NFL, the travel distance between Dallas and the rest of the division is crazy. The flight distance to New York is over 1500 miles.
One reason why San Antonio is being thrown around and not Austin is several reasons. One the San Antonio has expressed that they want more professional teams hence why the Alamo dome exists (But Jerry Jones exists so until he dies they wont be getting an NFL team) but if you were trying to make a case to get an NFL team or a team from one of the other professional leagues it would make sense to try and go for all options to prove you are a sports town. Two the land is cheaper than it is in Austin while they could make it work saving money wise to put more of it into the team or stadium you would want cheaper land and Austin is not it sure you could try to split the diffrence but i think San Antonio works better. Also everyone should keep in mind that the MLB has been wanting to expand since like 2010 so a single expansion is probably not in the cards more likely there would be two if not three. Portland on the other hand has one advantage if you made it an NL team you could make the Mariners the rival. Also while i dont think a team in Mexico city is not in the cards right now dont rule them out as sure it would have issues but there are ways around it now most likely it means making the outfield very big but the MLB wants to grow their brand and putting a team in Mexico city which is in the top ten most populated cities in the world is not out of the cards at all. Another Canadian team is a strong possibility and they would be an NL team getting hopefully a strong rivalry with the Blue Jays.
Index Info Portland, OR Las Vegas, NV Crime Index: 55.99 55.90 Safety Scale: 44.01 44.10 😄Look past trendy head lines DG. Portland has similar crime numbers to most all cities on your list. Using that as a reason PDX won't get baseball is a bit nutty.
Crime might not be as high but the city is still an absolute dump. I don’t like Vegas much more but PDX does not have anywhere to put a stadium that wouldn’t be an hour away from downtown
You want to talk about businesses leaving in droves, the population shrinking? Who puts any credence in Portlands crime stats when the police are prohibited from making arrests or reporting many crimes? The lowest crime rate for a metropolitan area is Provo/Orem Utah you want to compare the fraudulent Portland crime stats with Provo/Oren or SLC?
Fun fact: there’s an old plot of land next to Sacramento’s former stadium where a baseball stadium was supposed to be. The stadium was originally meant to lure an mlb team. But the plan fell through. There were secret tunnels between the two venues and everything
Every once in a while I get in my recommendeds the video the local news outlet in Sacramento did about the project, always a decent watch. Imagine how different things would be had it been successful
@@travisn346 anywhere between 13-28 degree celsius so 54-82 in May, retractable is needed just like in Toronto or Montreal. Any Canadian MLB team would need a retractable roof since it is in... Canada haha
@@travisn346 Calgary is better any month of the year over Edmonton weather wise, that's for sure, plus they get the most sunshine out of any Canadian city annually. Calgary also gets chinooks so they have 20 plus degree days in the middle of winter while up in Spruce we at at minus 20
Or maybe Indianapolis, Louisville, Birmingham, Quebec, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Oklahoma city, San Antonio, Charlotte, providence, Hartford, Portland OR, Roanoke VA, New Orleans, Jackson MS, Boise ID, Milwaukee, Omaha NE, Des Moines IA, Calgary, Edmonton or Chattanooga TN as the new MLB franchise team.
I can't see Indianapolis working. There's just not enough people with the interest and disposable income to get the attendance numbers needed for big league baseball. They'd do better than Oakland, Tampa and Miami but that's not saying much.
I too can't see Indy working too. Indy is too close to Cincinnati and Chicago, which both cities have MLB teams that there'll be too much saturation in region. Plus, some in Indy maybe root for Reds and think from recollection when I was growing up, think Indianapolis AAA team use to be affiliated with Cincinnati in the 1990's before MLB expansion from recollection. Now the AAA team is affiliated with Pittsburgh Pirates.
My Top 10 cities where MLB expansion would be supported the most by their citizens: 1. Memphis or Nashville (Nashville has too strong of a fan base for the Braves and Reds. Memphis would finally bring MLB to west TN, Arkansas, and Mississippi. Memphis does a great job supporting the Grizzlies) 2. Charlotte 3. Oklahoma City 4. Portland or Vancouver (the crime problem in Portland could disqualify that city. Vancouver may be a better and safer substitute) 5. San Antonio 6. Buffalo 7. Salt Lake City 8. Jacksonville 9. Des Moines 10. Hartford
and I agree Portland is a hellholle btw but crime isn’t gonna be the factor that stops a city from getting a team. you ever walked around the cardinals, royals , or d backs stadium ?
As a North Carolinian, our best option for MLB is not Charlotte, but rather Raleigh. Charlotte does not have a large enough market to support a FOURTH big 5 team and the city doesn’t have the money to allocate it since they are already putting it elsewhere. Raleigh is the better option because the triangle’s metro population is 2.3M (Charlotte has 2.7M), yet only has 1 professional team and wouldn’t require the relocation of a minor league team. The city has money to invest in a team, and the corporate presence in Raleigh is just way larger these days. Raleigh has the likings of IBM, Apple, Google, Clorox, Invisalign, Cisco, Pepsi, Verizon, Delta Air Lines, Lenovo, MetLife, Advance Auto Parts, LabCorp, Microsoft, GSK, Pfizer, Siemens, etc. This is just the tip of the iceberg and tops the offerings of any other city, and many of the cities that already have teams
Longshots: Buffalo, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Memphis, Indianapolis, Sacramento, Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Mexico City, Seoul, Tokyo, and San Juan. Contenders: Salt Lake City, Raleigh, Montreal, Portland, Austin/San Antonio, and Vancouver. Favorites: Nashville, Oakland (if A's leave), and Charlotte. Nashville is a favorite due to its growth. Oakland is a favorite if the A's leave. Charlotte is a favorite as it compares favorably as a market with St. Louis, and Raleigh/Durham would be a higher income alternative to Charlotte. I will add an unmentioned contender, Northern New Jersey, if they can find a site that would overcome territorial restrictions imposed by the Yankees and Mets.
Nashville: 7 Las Vegas: 1 Charlotte: 10 New Orleans: 0 San Antonio: 5 Portland: 3 Mexico City: 0 Tokyo: 0 Montreal: 2 Oklahoma City: 0 Vancouver: 4 San Juan: 1 Memphis: 2 Jacksonville: 2 Seoul: 0 Virginia Beach: 6 Buffalo: 0 Salt Lake City: 5 Sacramento: 2 Indianapolis: 2 You forgot three important ones, Orlando, Austin and Raleigh. I'd give both Austin and Raleigh a 9 and Orlando a 7. So, in terms of which cities are best for expansion, Charlotte would be the best. 1) Charlotte- 10 2) Raleigh- 9 3) Austin - 9 4) Nashville - 7 5) Orlando - 7
I personally think MLB should expand to 36 teams instead of 32. If they only add two new teams they'd have to go to eight four-team divisions, and that could potentially break up some of the historic rivalries. If they expand to 36 teams they could keep the current 6-division setup (with six teams in each division) or go back to the old four-division setup with nine teams per division. Of course, with 32 teams they could also go back to four divisions with eight teams each, but I doubt they'd actually do that. I'd also propose Brooklyn as a possible site for an NL expansion team. Yes, there are potential issues with the Yankees and Mets' territorial rights, but NYC is a big enough market (about 24 million people in the CSA at the 2020 census) that they can easily support a third team. They were able to do it well until the 50s when the Giants began losing money (and that relocation was probably a necessity), and let's be real: the Mets will still be the most popular team on most of Long Island, and the Yankees will still be the most popular team in Manhattan, on Staten Island, and in most of Greater New York (not to mention most of upstate New York, barring a Buffalo expansion team). Plus, the success of the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA and the presence of three NHL teams in NYC (the Islanders, Rangers, and NJ Devils) proves it can work, and the population of the region has only grown since the last time they had three MLB teams. A new team in Brooklyn would excite Brooklynites who are still bitter about losing the Dodgers all these years later (whether they're old enough to remember having the Dodgers there or not), and considering that Brooklyn is the largest NYC borough with about 2.5 million people, it's not like they'd have much trouble attracting fans, especially since it isn't a huge part of either the Yankees' or Mets' fanbase. They could name the team the Robins, both after Jackie Robinson and a former nickname of the Dodgers from 1914-1931, and they could name the home field after Jackie Robinson as well.
@@chrisx9624 That would only work if they expanded to 32 teams. But I could get ln board with that if it preserves some of the historic rivalries (and maybe restores some old ones like Pirates vs. Phillies).
@hotwax9376 I think they'll be expanding to 32 teams first, like the NHL did, as opposed to going straight for 36. And yes, they'd 100% put the Pirates in the East.
I'd rule out Tokyo due to logistics and travel issues during the regular season, and Mexico City due to altitude. As a native, I'd also rule out Jacksonville - it's more a football town, and while it will support AAA ball, I'm not sure about major league level baseball. My top candidates would be Nashville and Salt Lake City. I'd love to see Montreal get another shot at having an MLB franchise. And yeah, the A's should stay in Oakland with new owners and a new stadium, and the Rays should move to Tampa from St. Pete. The Trop is awful, but the current location is horrible too.
Thank you! Most of them were talking about the A’s moving to Las Vegas and that makes me sad. Saying the A’s should stay in Oakland makes me happy as an Oakland native
You're patting yourself in the back, Depressed Ginger. Anybody could have predicted the A's were leaving for Las Vegas. The signs were all there once the Raiders relocated and it was only a matter of time before the A's would join them. Vegas is now Oakland in the Desert.
I live in San Marcos. There’s land on the southbound side of I-35 between exit 200 and 195 that could be doable. IMO South Austin northbound I-35 exit 224/ 45 toll road meet would be ideal.
they could i just think San Antonio would probably be the better option as it already has a sports team and the city is looking to get more (an NFL team) also the land is cheaper than it is in Austin. Sure splitting it down the middle could work i just dont think it is the best idea
Between Austin and San Antonio, I would choose San Antonio. While Austin is the state capital, San Antonio is the heart of Texas. Plus I enjoy visiting San Antonio more, its Riverwalk with all of the clubs and restaurants isn't matched anywhere in the USA, especially during the summer... With both city metros are growing fast, it won't be long before central Texas is considered one metro instead of two... A combined metro approaching 6 million, significantly larger than any of the other American expansion metros...
@@ronclark9724 It’s already pretty much one big metro area as much as San Antonians hate to admit people travel back and forth regularly, but I still think Dallas-Fort Worth has us beat by a lot more
One sleeper I will mention: Havana, Cuba. We all know Cuba loves its baseball. Obviously the government is a problem, but that's about the only problem. When the Communist Government in Cuba is gone, I expect the MLB will have a team there within 25 years
My personal top 2 for MLB expansion would be Raleigh and Austin. Raleigh is the richest metro that doesn't have an MLB team within 100 miles, and has less pro sports at Charlotte's metro size, so I think they would make more sense than Charlotte. The MLB demographic has became richer due to ticket costs and the like. Austin is in a similar boat. To me, these feel like the two options that would give them the best odds of getting good attendance figures and simultaneously exposing the game to new demographics in a way that would grow baseball.
7 MLB cities have higher crime rates than Portland. Also, it's almost entirely property crime, the violent crime rate is less than the home cities of all but 4 teams. Portland has issues but they are greatly overstated and for a very nefarious reason.
As a San Antonio resident people here absolutely love baseball the only reason why San Antonio has poor minor league attendance is because the ballpark is a dump and is about 25 minutes away from downtown.
@@alexlackner1945 At the same time though, Austin has the Texas Longhorns as their big sports market. I’m sure they’ll express grievances if the NFL tried moving there, so doing baseball is much more convenient. Not to mention San Antonio used to have a Canadian Football team, so the market for football is there.
New Orleans is a long shot at best... the aging Superdome has hosted exhibition baseball before with success, but the area had problems with even supporting a Triple-A level team. Geographically, its a great fit, but that's about the only thing going for it ATM.
It wasn’t the area that caused the Zephyrs to become the baby cakes and then leave to Wichita. That fault belongs to the owner not the area. Also the Zephyrs averaged around 12,000 people for the time they were called that. The baby cakes on the other hand was just a dumb idea. Also New Orleans has 5 universities near by UL Lafayette, LSU, Tulane, Southern University, New Orleans University itself.
While Austin may have the better demographics, slash residential income, San Antonio has a county and city government WILLING to build a BALLPARK. Austin refused to build a new arena for a NBA D-league or a MILB Texas League teams, two of Austin's suburbs did, none of which are LARGE enough to build a MLB BALLPARK. Austin hasn't even conducted a study to locate a MLB BALLPARK site, San Antonio has TWO downtown locations sited on the Riverwalk adjacent to either I-35 or I-37. While Austin has the state government, San Antonio has two amusement parks plus the national park implying a larger tourism hospitality infrastructure especially during the summer months of a baseball season. Simply put, San Antonio is the heart of Texas, not Austin, not Dallas, and not Houston... Their combined metros though is approaching 6 million not too far apart for a 160 games baseball season... San Antonio's hunt for another major league team... They are WILLING to build a new stadium... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-DdOZ_1Kw8UA.html
@@larrysmith8926 Boise has a metropolitan area of about 800,000 people which is too small for MLB, but it isn't as small as you think. Boise is probably a AA sized city.
OKC needs a team i grew up in colorado and my travel ball team always went to Oklahoma for summer trips and baseball is huge in OK. Ou and osu alway lead ncaa in attendance for softball and baseball and u see ou or osu stickers on every car and nobody likes the rangers. Mlb would sellout nightly in okc with a 32k seat stadium. Okc 1.5m metro and tulsa is 95 miles away with 1m
@brycenewsom3014 okc is basically the size of denver and phoenix when they got expansion teams. Okc would be a wayyyy better option than portland Salt lake city new orleans or austin/SA
@@guccidan719 The combined metros of Austin and San Antonio is approaching 6 million with both cities growing quickly... Simply put, central Texas is MUCH TOO LARGE for MLB to IGNORE!!!
But is there enough money in Puerto Rico, you have to have people willing to spend a lot of money on tickets to make it feasible if you want to have a payroll that will make your team competitive.
Indianapolis is kinda small and we already love our minor league team The Indians. We’re near maxed out on sports with our Colts, Pacers, Indy 500, and High School Basketball. I doubt we can squeeze out any more sport attendance 😂
Charlotte & Montreal Should have expansion teams ! Montreal hasn't had a MLB team ,since The Expos moved to Washington DC & became the Nationals Memphis would be a better city for a expansion team Tennessee already has the Smokies ( Chicago Cubs double A Team)
@@jondelmore3163 Vancouver has Money, Population and the massive attendance for their minor league team. I don't understand why they te the idea to the Jays, Seriously could you get any further away from Toronto.
@@jondelmore3163 Definitely NOT Montreal. There is a reason why the Expos left and it was mostly due to losing and lack of fans. Similar to why my Thrashers left Atlanta. There just wasn't a good market. Vancouver is the safest bet to get a team. Northwest U.S. only has Seattle and could possibly be adding Portland in the future. Wouldn't be against Canada getting Vancouver over Portland, though. They have a good sized population to handle a team.
Currency exchange makes any international franchise a non starter. Why Canada has issues, everything has to be paid in dollars. Nashville seems the most likely, MLB is not going to Portland after they burnt down the downtown and allowed all the riots. I doubt any owner wants to invest a team in that area.
Puerto Rico is one hour ahead of NYC, that isn't a Hawaii situation. The problem for Puerto Rico is that they have too low of income and not enough people to support pro sports
What About Salt Lake? There are NO professional sports teams there, other than the Utah Jazz! Which I think, should move to Kansas City. I hear the T-Mobile center, is ready and waiting for a NBA and/or a NHL team to call it home.
Cities: Corporate sponsorships & thriving upper middle class for season tickets. Then there is: Safe walking district, strong city relationship w/ police (crime), low taxes, and clean appearance. We all know what cities are cooked. No to Memphis & Portland, South Chicago etc.
Indianapolis will never have another mlb team again. They tried twice. Once in late 1890's and then again before 1910. And that is because people already have teams they cheer for and all are within 6 hours. Some cheer cardinals, tigers, reds, white Sox, cubs and guardians. Not many will support the Indy team because of that.
All interesting, but I still say no expansion teams will even break ground until 2030. The money just isn't there. When/if it happens... Nashville and probably San Antonio. Portland is... well, it's Portland. Enough said. What I would want to see would be SLC and OKC. Move the White Sox to Indy. Definitely more series outside the USA, but expansion outside of the contiguous 48 ain't NEVER going to happen.
According to US and World News, in 2020 Portland had a violent crime rate of 302.5 per 100k, while the national rate was 368.9. According to Statista, Portlands 302.5 is doesn’t even crack the top 50, with cities like Memphis (1358.8), Milwaukee (678.2), Houston (631.8), New Orleans (624.3), Nashville (616.3) all blowing it out of the water. The last entry on the list, Flint MI (577.6) is over 200 points higher than Portland. I understand being concerned about crime, but if you’re going to disqualify what I would argue to be the top expansion option in the West because of it you’d be best served to actually do some research to back up your claim.
Absolutely, it's a lazy narrative that always gets thrown around when it comes to Portland. The Timbers play right in the middle of downtown Portland and is one of the crown jewels of the MLS, for all this supposed "crime" going on the city sure does cherish their stadiums.
@@michaelbojorquez5354 I didn't even realize it when I commented but after doing more research it turns out Indianapolis, which he said is a "clean" city, is actually more dangerous than Portland crime-wise with a crime rate of 446.3 per 100k. Portland got a bad rap in conservative political circles during the BLM protests in 2020 and despite everything people still cling to the narrative even though it isn't really true
It's the rioting factor. Portland has just been an insane place the last five years. Lots of left wing lunatics rioting and causing chaos for their stupid causes will destroy a city.
Nashville is a lock , tho things could get a bit complicated after the atrocious bill they passed for the new titans stadiums Charlotte would be cool but it’s either Nashville or Charlotte . New Orleans is a one team city , I don’t even think they should have NBA . San Antonio isn’t pushing for ⚾️, they want 🏈. Austin is a good option , but they aren’t really pushing for any major sports . Portland would have been great five or Six years ago , today It could still be an option but there are other cities with a better shot at . A team in Mexico would be cool but logistically would be nightmare , altitude huge problem too , I wouldn’t say never but det not in the near - mid future . Montreal is only an option if relocation , expansion is just nope . A third team in Florida just not gonna happen , before put a third team in Florida go for New York or Texas . If Salt Lake City is serious about it , it could work , it’s a legit option . Indy isn’t pushing for any other profesional team other than ⚽️ MLS . If only San Jose woulda got the A’s , A’s weren’t in the horrible situation they are right now .
This is not the time to expand MLB. The A’s are more likely to be contracted as they have “burned their bridges” in Oakland, while the move to Las Vegas may be out of the picture. Could they share the Giants stadium for less than four years? Could they be a road team?
Riverside, Ca needs a team the county and the neighboring San Bernardino county is a combined 4m+ people which is more than all these teams you named, there’s probably only triple A and g league teams because it’s pretty much in between San Diego and LA and doesn’t make geographically
Well if the MLB does an expansion it'd be great if each division got an additional team added. Nashville is in a prime spot to be added to the Central. Another good option would either have to be Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, or Louisville, KY. I'd definitely want to see Louisville get a team but the population is a concern especially when you compare it to Indianapolis and Columbus, both of which have over 200k more people living in the area. Indianapolis might get it by default since Columbus would MAYBE cannibalize the Guardians. IDK. It's a toss up. Nashville would probably be better off joining the National League due to proximity with St. Louis and Cincinnati. For West it makes loads of sense to add a team in Portland, Sacramento or Austin. Leaning a bit heavier towards Portland and Austin solely because if the A's are leaving for Vegas, a discussion about Sacramento surely would have been inquired about when choosing a city to relocate to. Guess that Vegas just has the sexier location I suppose as well as a slightly larger population. Austin getting a team would be lovely. Massive city that is growing in population and is close to 1 million people. Portland would be a good spot but could also see Vancouver MAYBE getting a team. That city is likely to be the only city I can see Canada getting in an expansion. Of course if we get teams in Portland as well as Austin the NL and AL are going to have to swap some teams around for sure. It'd be cool if all the Texas teams could be in the same division but I don't think that'd be good of an idea even though from a geographical side of things it'd be perfect. What will likely happen is Portland joins the National League and Austin joins the American League. American League will have triple Texas plus Vegas, LA and Seattle. National has the current teams in addition to Portland. One division is mainly Texas and the other California. And the for the East there isn't a whole lot of wiggle room to add a team to the Northeastern side of the country. Only Buffalo is a good suggestion here. Charlotte would actually be a good city to receive a team as well. Could even go with Raleigh but if you really want to bring away some of the Braves fans that live in South Carolina as it is, then bringing over a team in Charlotte that is super close to being a border city, would be a good thing. I don't think you want to put this team in the NL but rather the AL instead especially since Toronto, Boston, New York and Baltimore have to fly ALL THE WAY down to Tampa and the next closest AL team is in freaking Houston which is over the better part of the Gulf of Mexico. At least with Charlotte existing there'd be a very good stopover or at least another team to visit that is within closer proximity. Lastly, Jacksonville is my pick for a city that definitely needs a team. They've got triple the population of Orlando and is easily one of the most rapidly expanding cities in the United States. They're close to 1 million residents and they turn out for even the Jaguars who haven't been superb by any means for a while now. You can also expect them to have a really good following especially since when it comes to proximity to other major cities in which to draw further fandom. Orlando, Gainesville, Savannah and Charleston would all be cities to bring in potential fans. Jacksonville joining the NL would be the best decision for similar reasons as to why Charlotte would join the AL. Jacksonville is along the Atlantic coast, just like the Nats, Marlins, Mets and sort of the Phillies. Only team that you have to actually visit for an major inland game is Atlanta, which isn't really all that bad.
Of the top 20 cities with the highest violent crime rate, at least 10 mlb teams call them home. With 3 more being on your list (none of which are portland) But nice try
Tell the whole truth Ace, most misdemeanors are ignored by the Portland PD as well as virtually all drug offenses. No one takes Portlands crime stats seriously.
