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Originally Posted by jhausner
So that is over 8 times the attendance just to reach the bottom of the MLB in attendance over Vancouver at its peak in 2013. To do that you need a stadium, infrastructure, and remember an MLB team's payroll would jump drastically.
As a side note, the owner of the Vancouver Canadians himself said even AAA baseball would have a difficult time in Vancouver. If AAA in his eyes, someone who I'd claim is an expert in running a baseball team, would be a difficult thing to make money with or a go of it, MLB would have no chance. This isn't baseball country as much as baseball fans would like to think.
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If the owner of the Canadians actually said that, he is pretty stupid. The salaries of minor league players are paid by the parent major league club by the way, so a AAA club in Vancouver would be quite profitable. We just need a proper stadium.
Quote:
Originally Posted by phesto
The population argument also holds true for the NBA to some extent.
There are a few reason I think the business case is far more difficult for MLB in relation to the cities you listed, irrespective of population trends.
For one, baseball is deeply rooted in the culture of most areas of the U.S. and most of those franchises, even in smaller markets are 40+ years old and are steeped in the culture of the City and corporate support.
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Although we don't have a major league team, this region produces world class baseball players because we have an excellent youth baseball program... a program that represents Canada at the Little League World Series almost every year, and there are softball leagues everywhere as well. I think a strong argument could be made that baseball is just as deeply rooted in Vancouver as it is in most American cities.
When you look at the smaller markets like Milwaukee (which is a lot smaller than Vancouver), Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the key to their success is an excellent game day and stadium experience. A waterfront stadium in Vancouver with historic Gastown close by would provide a game day experience second to none. The problem is, nobody is likely to spend the hundreds of millions to build such a venue. The only realistic route I see is a AAA stadium that is upgrade-able to MLB standards.
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