How MLB's expansion timeline gives Salt Lake an edge
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Rendering of a stadium proposed for North Temple Street in Salt Lake City. Image: Courtesy of Big League Utah
Major League Baseball is closer to making expansion plans now that its high-priority location decisions for existing teams are squared away.
Why it matters: The more imminent MLB expansion becomes, the likelier Salt Lake is to become home to one of two new pending teams, ESPN's Jeff Passan reports.
Driving the news: The Tampa Bay Rays secured taxpayer funds late last month for a new stadium, ensuring the team will stay put.
- MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has signaled he would explore expansion once the Rays and the Athletics' locations were settled.
- The new A' stadium is under construction on the Las Vegas Strip, so the only step before MLB focuses on expansion is a new contract with the players' union, Passan says.
State of play: That means the clock has started for cities to make their bids convincing — and therein lies SLC's advantage.
Unlike the four other likely cities, SLC already has its most essential ducks in a row:
- An experienced owner in the Larry H. Miller Co., which previously owned the Utah Jazz and has pledged $3.5 billion.
- A $900 million commitment from the state.
- A firm proposed stadium location on North Temple.
Zoom in: Manfred is expected to select one Eastern city and one Western city, so Portland is SLC's only real competition.
- Portland has a site picked out and $800 million in state funding — but no owner lined up. With projected expansion fees in the billions, that's a big missing piece.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake stands alone on the high desert, with the nearest MLB cities 400 and 500 miles away (Vegas and Denver). That means there's little risk of a clash with other markets.
- Portland is just 175 miles from the Seattle Mariners.
Zoom out: Back east, Raleigh, North Carolina, has an owner but no stadium site or funding plan. Orlando has a stadium site but no owner or funding. Nashville has none of those three key details arranged.
The other side: Salt Lake's drawback is its market size, which would be on the league's smaller end.
Yes, but: In all other regards, SLC's bid is "the sort of thing that frankly every municipality looking for an expansion franchise dreams of," Passan said this week on his podcast.