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Originally Posted by Steely Dan
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Nashville White Sox here we come.
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I wonder if Nashville has the stomach to handle 3 pro-teams, especially after they pay out the nose for the new Titans stadium (I think nearly 1.25 billion of it is public money).
My bet is Austin. Tremendous growth in recent decades and projected growth in the near future. Largest US market without a pro-team? Pro baseball wouldn't fight for fans like UofT-Austin basketball or football would. There is lots of wealthy corporate tech money to draw from. They would be a natural rival for both the Astros and Rangers. Summer baseball in Texas does suck, though, so it would have to be an expensive, soulless retractable.
That said, I still hold out some cautious optimism for the 78. Part of that optimism is based on that I just can't figure out another US city that will be eager to give the Sox 500m-1b dollars plus to build them a new park. If the city/state would help pay to reorient the infrastructure (maybe a few hundred million dollars), and JR was to build the actual park (BIG IF), my hunch tells me that it could be politically viable even with the national backlash to these ballpark projects going on.