Atlanta’s triple-A affiliate is in Gwinnett. The Twins’ is in St. Paul.
Latest on MLB ambitions for the Triangle
- Thread starter BenSherman
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A problem that a light rail system would fix, but alas…
Neither of those teams have the history of the bulls and they are much larger areas
It's not Charlotte's fault that the Hornets were horribly managed for years and that the Panthers largely have been too since Cam Newton's shoulder got exploded by TJ Watt.
Both teams are on the up now. Charlotte is one of the hot young teams on the rise and the Panthers just made the playoffs for the first time in a while (and have clear improvement in front office and coaching compared to the Rhule era).
Fellas, all of my comments were meant to be sarcastic jokes. Nothing serious against our beloved CLT.
Get ready for the Raleigh Red Wolves…
jk jk
personally I think Carolina Copperheads would be a great name plus great potential colors but with how professional teams get named these it will be something generic and unimaginative.
jk jk
personally I think Carolina Copperheads would be a great name plus great potential colors but with how professional teams get named these it will be something generic and unimaginative.
Everything you said is true until the last sentence. Panthers when they are bad the stadium is empty or it’s the road team fans and the Hornets had a jump in attendance this year but still ranked in the bottom half of the league. As a pro sports town both Raleigh and Charlotte are pretty weak given the heavy transplants and a lot of local fans care more about the college teams that have been around way longer. If the team is good the fans will show up but I wouldn’t call either a great sports city.
Agreed. The Canes had terrible attendance for a long time. They’re not one of the franchise that can garner heavy support even when they’re not great.
A few things:
1) This expansion stuff is pretty much totally iced until the CBA issue is played out. Many are saying that is probably at least a year off if not more. Total cluster with no end in sight at the present.
2) This is a battle between Raleigh and Nashville. Charlotte is not in play for a number of reasons. The State and local Govt are both already committed to funding for MLB in Raleigh. Charlotte is tapped with the improvements its dumping into BofA stadium and Tepper has every incentive to not want baseball as its a direct drain from his MLS investment. Charlotte also much more Braves adjacent then Raleigh. Finally the Knights are in Charlotte with a long term deal and MLB would not work with both in competition. Bulls while close are not in Raleigh. Charlotte has no real organized effort or govt funding support.
3) Nashville is 'sexier' and everyone nationally will just assume its theirs to lose, but Raleigh makes a lot more sense for many reasons. Bigger media market then Nashville, Raleigh is growing faster with a larger CSA population, and NC is TWICE the size of Tennessee. As someone already mentioned Triangle CSA is already bigger than at least 6 existing MLB markets. NC is also by far the biggest gap in the MLB market when you look at the map. We dont get Braves games here and nobody to speak of here cares about them anymore. Nashville much closer to ATL and even Cincy and St Louis. Nashville with no ownership group and the City is already on record as saying they are totally tapped out on funding with new Titans stadium.
Nashville still may get it, but Raleigh is gaining momentum every month and has the metrics in its favor. There is a very legit chance the team lands in NC, and if it does it will be in Raleigh. .
1) This expansion stuff is pretty much totally iced until the CBA issue is played out. Many are saying that is probably at least a year off if not more. Total cluster with no end in sight at the present.
2) This is a battle between Raleigh and Nashville. Charlotte is not in play for a number of reasons. The State and local Govt are both already committed to funding for MLB in Raleigh. Charlotte is tapped with the improvements its dumping into BofA stadium and Tepper has every incentive to not want baseball as its a direct drain from his MLS investment. Charlotte also much more Braves adjacent then Raleigh. Finally the Knights are in Charlotte with a long term deal and MLB would not work with both in competition. Bulls while close are not in Raleigh. Charlotte has no real organized effort or govt funding support.
3) Nashville is 'sexier' and everyone nationally will just assume its theirs to lose, but Raleigh makes a lot more sense for many reasons. Bigger media market then Nashville, Raleigh is growing faster with a larger CSA population, and NC is TWICE the size of Tennessee. As someone already mentioned Triangle CSA is already bigger than at least 6 existing MLB markets. NC is also by far the biggest gap in the MLB market when you look at the map. We dont get Braves games here and nobody to speak of here cares about them anymore. Nashville much closer to ATL and even Cincy and St Louis. Nashville with no ownership group and the City is already on record as saying they are totally tapped out on funding with new Titans stadium.
Nashville still may get it, but Raleigh is gaining momentum every month and has the metrics in its favor. There is a very legit chance the team lands in NC, and if it does it will be in Raleigh. .
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I'm not changing my allegiance from the Cubs either, but I would get season tickets
Very glad to hear it . I have sort of been a Negative Nancy on this issue
Very happy to be dead WRONG
You're not wrong at all (nine of the top 10 teams by attendance have high urban density and convenient rail lines/public transit). The one exception, the Braves, are highly relevant though, as they also pull from a wide geographic area and don't have good public transit options.
appears it will come as a surprise to many but Raleigh proper is denser than Charlotte. 3300 people per square mile vs. around 2900 in Charlotte. Charlottes city limits are about 2wice the size of Raleigh's which is why the City itself appears so much bigger. Towns like Clayton, Cary, Apex, Holly Springs, Wake Forest, even Durham are in the same square mileage of Raleigh radius as the entire City limits of Charlotte.
People keep talking about all these afternoon weekday games. There aren’t that many on the schedule. It’s not like we’re building a Wrigley Field replica from back in the day without lights.
Anybody who wants to ride the Charlotte subway system better be strapped.
That's fair, but there's a reason the Braves did everything they could to resist MLB putting teams in other places in the South over the last five decades. Until Atlanta got big enough to support the team by itself, the Braves needed all those fans throughout the Southeast to tune in on TV. Now we're talking about putting a team in Raleigh, which has the population that Atlanta did 50 years ago, but without the advantage of the Superstation broadcasting games into every home in America nearly every night of the summer.
Weekday afternoon. Weekday evening. Doesn't matter. It still isn't like people from Fayetteville and Greensboro are going to be driving up for all the weekday games that MLB play teams play at home.
That's fair, but that density in Raleigh matters a lot less when you consider Raleigh's smaller population. If Raleigh continues to grow and maintains some population density, then we're in business.
And compare both to LA (8300 people per square mile) or even Atlanta (3850) with much, much higher populations.
Take that stuff to truth social
You seem to be suggesting none of Raleigh, Charlotte, or Nashville have any business with a team. It would appear MLB disagrees with you. Again, Raleigh (and the other two) are already bigger than several of existing MLB markets and rapidly gaining on the next batch of slightly larger ones.
Never said that. I think one of the three will definitely get an MLB team, and since I live in Chapel Hill, Raleigh getting a team would be a dream come true. If you go back and read my posts on this thread, my primary contention has been that if Raleigh is not selected, it's because the population of the Triangle is very spread out. It's one of the reasons that MLS was less favorable on Raleigh compared to Charlotte.
That said, as I also posted on this thread, I think this is ultimately going to come down to a battle of the billionaires, and MLB will go with whichever city has the richest backers who make the most convincing financial commitment to MLB.
I will say, though, that regardless of which city is selected, it will be a small market team that will struggle to compete in MLB unless its billionaire owners simply decide to operate the team at a loss. Even big MLB teams are having a hard time keeping up with the Dodgers these days. Let's hope that MLB expansion happens alongside significant reforms to improve competitive balance in MLB.
Only point Ill disagree with there is Raleigh losing MLS to Charlotte had little if anything to do with population/density. That was all because Raleigh's effort was poorly funded and was an organizational clown show. Tepper had cash and a stadium on the ground and just swooped in and bought it out from under.
You're right about what it ultimately came down to. That said, MLS' statements beforehand mentioned how spread out the Triangle is, as well as the limited number of Fortune 500 headquarters in the Triangle compared to Charlotte.
Nashville is a lock for one spot.
I got something on my phone the other day. Top 5 cities bad news
Raleigh was 4th out of 5
Charlotte Raleigh were lumped together guy gave them no chance.
I got something on my phone the other day. Top 5 cities bad news
Raleigh was 4th out of 5
Charlotte Raleigh were lumped together guy gave them no chance.
Raleigh has a hockey team. Hockey. Many of us living here don’t give a rats an about hockey but love baseball.
No one knows who is going to get a team. Nashville is probably in the lead, but no one is a lock at this point.
The stadium in Charlotte was actually build so they could expand. The MLB commish came out 5-6 years ago and actually singled out Charlotte.