Why landing an MLB team is an "uphill battle" for North Carolina
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Major League Baseball has its sights set on expansion, with potential new teams in the Eastern and Western parts of the country.
Why it matters: North Carolina's bid is strong, but competing markets may have clearer momentum, infrastructure and branding advantages.
State of play: Nashville, the Triangle and Charlotte are the contenders in the east and Salt Lake City and Portland are making a push in the west.
What they're saying: Landing an MLB team is an "uphill battle" for North Carolina, Wake Forest economics professor Todd McFall tells Axios.
- North Carolina's ability to secure an expansion team is "strong," McFall says, but he's not convinced that North Carolina's case is stronger than Nashville's.
Music City Baseball is leading the charge in Nashville. The group consists of several Nashville business leaders, including John Loar, as well as former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
- The group has pitched Nashville Stars as its potential name, which is a nod to the former Negro League team. They're also working with the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, which is based in Kansas City, Mo.
- Having a team name and a logo helps with the marketing push. Music City Baseball is considering potential stadium sites.
- Nashville also has multiple professional sports franchises: Tennessee Titans (NFL), Nashville SC (MLS) and Nashville Predators (NHL).
- "Just the cachet of Nashville being the country music capital of the world is a difficult story to try to defeat if you're in the Carolinas," McFall says.
Meanwhile, in the Triangle, the Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) ownership group is leading the effort to bring a team to Raleigh.
- Potential Raleigh stadium locations include a downtown site or the land near where the Hurricanes play, though concrete proposals have not been put forward. Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and a group of investors recently bought the Portland Trail Blazers (NBA).
- The Triangle has previously bid and failed to win an MLS team, but they do have top-tier women's soccer with the North Carolina Courage (NWSL).
Charlotte, like Nashville, has multiple top-tier teams. Tepper Sports & Entertainment owns the Carolina Panthers (NFL) and Charlotte FC (MLS). There's also the Charlotte Hornets (NBA) and Carolina Ascent (Gainbridge Super League, women's professional soccer).
Yes, but: Charlotte hasn't had anyone step up to court MLB the way David Tepper did to secure an MLS franchise in 2019.
- It's also unclear where an MLB stadium would be built. The trend in professional sports facility development right now is to create a district around the facility, which is what Hornets Sports & Entertainment and TSE are doing on opposite sides of Uptown.
Go deeper: New indoor Uptown music venue planned at Bank of America Stadium
The intrigue: Each of these markets has a minor league baseball team. If an owner or ownership group has deep enough pockets to pay the league's expansion fee and build a stadium, buying the territorial rights is unlikely to be a key variable, McFall says.
What's next: MLB will focus on labor negotiations before turning its attention to expansion, McFall says. The league's current Collective Bargaining Agreement will expire this year.
- Plus league Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he wants the two expansion teams to have set locations by his retirement in 2029, SBJ reported.