No plan at the moment.
There are people in Nashville and in Portland, Oregon who are planning to build state-of-the art 21st century Major League Baseball stadiums in part of a pitch to land a Major League Baseball expansion team. In Montreal baseball backers are trying to figure out if some sort of arrangement can be finalized that will allow the Tampa Bay Rays franchise to split home games between St. Petersburg, Florida and Montreal. There are numerous obstacles to getting a deal done with the St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman not on board with the proposal and a Major League Baseball Players Association not too thrill with the notion either. For those cities that might be interested in landing an expansion team including Nashville and Portland, Oregon along with Las Vegas, the Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has tossed cold water on their hopes.
“To be in a situation where we have unresolved franchise problems and the potential at least for a relocation, to have expansion talks going on at the same time, it’s just too much all at once,’ Manfred said in an interview with Sports Business Daily. Manfred was unclear about the relocation part. Was he referring to Tampa Bay where the owner Stu Sternberg seems to have hit a dead end in his pursuit of getting a new baseball stadium and is stuck in St. Petersburg until 2027? Is Manfred talking about the Arizona Diamondbacks ownership kicking the tires in Henderson, Nevada just 16 miles from Las Vegas? Is Manfred concerned that after a relatively smooth summer of sailing by getting approvals from various agencies, the Oakland A’s ownership could hit a reef in court cases in getting an Oakland waterfront stadium? Manfred has expressed a desire to find two cities which would bring the number of teams to 32 which was MLB’s goal 30 years ago. Problems need to be rectified.
