Quote:
Originally Posted by Comrade
You're ignoring the point about close proximity. It's not an issue if there's a significant population base to pull from. That does not exist currently between Salt Lake and Vegas. There is a pretty large difference between the Portland and Seattle region and the Vegas, Salt Lake region in overall population.
I remain skeptical the MLB is interested in putting another team in a relatively low-population area.
I'm not saying it's impossible, just that I do think Vegas getting a team this quickly might benefit Portland as they can make a compelling case of overall more interest in their region.
I'll also point out that adding another team to the general region before expansion now leaves two potential clubs opposing expansion into the Salt Lake market: Colorado and Vegas. Both have incentive to not put a team in SLC.
Back when the Expos relocated to Washington, it created a huge conflict with Baltimore that almost undid the move before a revenue sharing agreement was put in place for a regional sports channel.
The fact is, no team in SLC likely means more potential eyeballs for Colorado and Vegas and you're going to have to convince those owners that's not a better option than expansion into the region.
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Tbh comrade, I think you’re the one ignoring some of the details.
The map RC14 posted clearly shows Utahns are already fans of the Yankees & Red Socks primarily, not the Rockies. If Utahns haven’t embraced the Rockies yet, they’re not going to in the future, the same way Utahns don’t really embrace the Broncos. Therefore, the Rockies don’t really have much incentive to oppose the expansion.
The A’s in Vegas are most likely to retain their current fan base in N. California and the Bay Area, plus attract new fans in the Vegas area, Southern California, and perhaps fans in S. Utah like Washington and Iron Counties. I don’t really see N. Utahns embracing the A’s as their team, just as I haven’t seen northern Utahns rallying around the Raiders.
Conversely, putting a team in Portland would instantly halve the Mariners’ fanbase, and would give the Mariners reason to object to an expansion in Portland.
That being said, the 3M+ in the Provo/SL/Ogden region is plenty to support its own team, plus fans from Idaho and Wyoming who don’t really have a “home team” (like Utahns, those regions largely also support east coast teams)
And the last bit I think you’re disregarding is that the announcement specifies that the agreement between Vegas and the A’s was finalized last week. That is surely not a coincidence for the timing of Big League Utah’s announcement, and guaranteed the big players in Salt Lake’s announcement have been privy to the wheeling and dealing being done in those meetings. They knew it was happening. They knew the agreement had been reached and that the formal announcement was forthcoming. They knew that this deal being finalized was the key to making Salt Lake’s bid successful.
Portland widely has been reported as not having their plan sufficiently in place. They don’t have the full backing, they don’t have a solid stadium plan. Just because they’ve been asking for it longer than us doesn’t mean they have the means to make it happen, and they’re being widely reported as a weak candidate.
The powers that be knew what they were doing. The announcement we got about the power district stadium would not have been made if they didn’t have a clear path forward, and Gail Miller is on record saying that it’s not a done deal, but she’s confident it’s going to happen.
We will have a team here within 3 years.
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