The race for the two possible expansion teams has not yet started.
It does not seem that it was all that long ago that Portland, Oregon investors were hotly pursuing a Major League Baseball expansion franchise. Portland baseball backers seem to have fizzled in what really is a non-existent race to land two non-existent Major League Baseball expansion franchises. Sure, Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has discussed the possibility of adding two teams but MLB’s focus has been on addressing stadium needs in the Oakland and Tampa Bay markets. Las Vegas emerged as a relocation market and Nashville investors led by John Loar have been attempting to build an organization and find a plot of land where a baseball stadium could be built by 2027 in that city. The goal was to have a stadium built by 2027, the year that Nashville baseball backers think that MLB will be putting new teams on the field. That 2027 date is approaching quickly and if MLB was to expand in time for 2027, the bad stadium situations need to be resolved as soon as possible. In other words, expansion by 2027 might not be attainable.
In the mythical race for an MLB expansion team, Portland seems to have lost ground to Salt Lake City if flashy announcements “we want a team” matter. Montréal seems to have been deserted by MLB once again after a plan for the Tampa Bay Rays’ business to split home games between the Tampa Bay market and Montréal was abandoned. The Portland Diamond Project group is looking for a stadium site around the city. In 2019, the group claimed a Portland team would draw people from Bend, Medford and La Grande and people would go to Portland between Memorial Day and Labor Day to take in a game. Looking for tourists to come to town to see a baseball game is not a winning strategy for Portland.
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Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
