Raleigh is in the early stages of exploring the possibility of applying for an MLB expansion franchise.
Brian Fork, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes franchise, wants to see Major League Baseball place an expansion franchise in the Raleigh, North Carolina market. The Carolina Hurricanes’ business is getting money from North Carolina to renovate the Raleigh arena and for a village surrounding the building which will more than likely include retail, residential, office space, a music venue and hotel or perhaps a baseball park. Fork was once the chief of staff for Republican North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger, so he knows where to find public dollars for a stadium. But there is a long way to go and time might not be on Fork’s side as MLB could decide to expand in five years and that is not a lot of time to find an owner, find a spot that would be good to build a baseball park, then find a number of corporate partners. Raleigh is a small TV market although bigger than some MLB markets such as St. Louis, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. It is bigger than Las Vegas which could have an MLB team starting in 2028.
Raleigh is part of the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville Designated Market Area, the 22nd largest broadcast television market in the United States. The market has a population of 2,726,000 people. North Carolina does have 13 Fortune 500 companies but the most of the businesses are located in Charlotte which is more than 160 miles away from Raleigh. It is thought that Nashville is one of the favorites to land an MLB expansion franchise which will not help North Carolina as the thought is MLB will put a team in the east and one in the west. It is going to be an uphill battle for Raleigh to get an MLB team.
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