MLB in Vancouver?

EastVanMark · #1 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 5:18 AM**

In a Fox Sports article, Vancouver is identified as one of the top candidates for a MLB expansion franchise. (#3 to be precise, with Montreal taking top spot)

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/w...pansion-022816

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters recently that he’s interested in expanding from 30 to 32 franchises.

In another article from this past Summer, when asked about Vancouver,Commissioner Manfred stated he said,“Since I’ve been commissioner, I have not had any dialogue with Vancouver, but it’s a great city. I don’t see why it couldn’t be a candidate.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb...eam-in-canada/

excel · #2 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 8:45 AM**

That would be amazing but it is definitely still a long shot. I'll take any chance we got. So nice to have pro sports year round to watch and attend.

Vancity · #3 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 7:12 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by excel

That would be amazing but it is definitely still a long shot. I'll take any chance we got. So nice to have pro sports year round to watch and attend.

that would be amazing. would definitely support MLB team in Vancouver. But who would own the team? do we have any baseball fanatics who are also billionares who would invest in a team here in this city?

i know it's a long shot for MLB to come, but man, how wonderful would it be to have NHL, MLS, MLB, NLL and CFL in this town! all we'd be missing is the NBA

make it happen MLB COMMISH!

go_leafs_go02 · #4 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 7:42 PM**

Longer term if a team would come - but hope they wouldn't launch now. Jays are too popular nation wide and I think would cause issues in terms of support even in Vancouver right now.

Should the jays not be as popular, I think it will help.

Jays have done a great job branding themselves as a national brand.

Vancity · #5 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 8:35 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by go_leafs_go02

Longer term if a team would come - but hope they wouldn't launch now. Jays are too popular nation wide and I think would cause issues in terms of support even in Vancouver right now.

Should the jays not be as popular, I think it will help.

Jays have done a great job branding themselves as a national brand.

i think they jays have done a good job of that. i agree.

but i'm not a jays fan. and if van would ever have their own MLB team, i'd drop the jays (if i were a fan), and i'd be on board with OUR team here in our city! local support for local teams always! the reason, i think we have so many jay fans is because there's a lack of teams in canada. if your a fan of MLB, and have a desire to support a canadian "brand" or team, wouldn't have a choice but to choose the jays. i think vancouver would do well if they were granted an expansion team. MLB, though, can't put restrictions like they did with the Grizz (the first go around). we need several high draft picks in order to compete, and an owner with HUGELY DEEP pockets to make it work.

PLUS. stadium wise, we'd need a new stadium specifically for baseball. would love to bring my friends to a ball game in the summer. wow, that'd be amazing experience.

bluefox · #6 Posted **Mar 7, 2016, 11:56 PM**

Vancouver isn't a sports town. I'm a huge baseball fan and I would never expect to see a team here in my lifetime. Baseball is not a sport for fair-weather fans, which is exactly what the majority of the people in this area are -- like it or not.

excel · #7 Posted **Mar 8, 2016, 4:30 AM**

Vancouver isn't a sports town? All three of our professional teams have strong ticket sales.

bluefox · #8 Posted **Mar 8, 2016, 6:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by excel

Vancouver isn't a sports town? All three of our professional teams have strong ticket sales.

When they're doing well, sure.

Vancity · #9 Posted **Mar 8, 2016, 9:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluefox

Vancouver isn't a sports town. I'm a huge baseball fan and I would never expect to see a team here in my lifetime. Baseball is not a sport for fair-weather fans, which is exactly what the majority of the people in this area are -- like it or not.

then it puts pressure for the team to do well year after year. no coasting here in this city! the environment between the different franchises are different too. we've got the 'caps, and that's a pretty interesting environment. fans are engaged. i wonder if baseball has the capacity to be the same.

and realistically. any time you have teams doing poorly, attendance wanes. the colorado avalanche had sellout after sellout when they were doing very well. but when they struggled. fans struggled to come and attend as well. i don't think it's just our city. the exceptions are probably the MAJOR cities - like LA, NY, Chicago, etc, etc. those cities have strong attendance even when their teams don't do very well. but can't really say the same thing with every city.

Toronto struggles as well. but their teams survive because they have strong corporate sponsorships. something i think this city can offer as well.

EastVanMark · #10 Posted **Apr 24, 2018, 6:42 AM**

Well our neighbours to the south Portland, Oregon has gotten a group together to purchase some land and build a ballpark and go after an MLB expansion franchise. The proposed ballpark would have 32,000 seats (second smallest in the MLB).

Somewhat important to note Portland is a smaller market than Vancouver.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...oup_meets.html

Vancity · #11 Posted **May 8, 2018, 5:26 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastVanMark

Well our neighbours to the south Portland, Oregon has gotten a group together to purchase some land and build a ballpark and go after an MLB expansion franchise. The proposed ballpark would have 32,000 seats (second smallest in the MLB).

Somewhat important to note Portland is a smaller market than Vancouver.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/ore...oup_meets.html

someone make a pitch to bring MLB to Vancity!

put in a 40,000 seat stadium. Burnaby? Vancouver has almost no space for a new stadium. Question would be which rich person would want to bring a new shiny sports toy into this beautiful city.

logicbomb · #12 Posted **May 8, 2018, 6:14 PM**

Two major issues right off the bat:

An MLB team in Vancouver would require a dedicated fan base willing to commit to years of mediocrity (their expansion draft process is a hell of a lot worse than the NHL's). The demographics in this City is continuing to shift, boomers are moving to the interior and being replaced by immigrants and career oriented youth moving back into the city.

The BC Lions have seen a huge drop off in interest and media attention. The Vancouver Giants opted to move because attendance was dropping. The Whitecaps are on the verge of losing fan interest (due to a stale product and cheap owners). Heck, the Vancouver Canucks have seen a massive decline in fan interest after 4 mediocre seasons.

Compounding matters is the high price of real estate for any lot to build the stadium. The Stadium would require a retractable roof as well... I would estimate costs to exceed over 1.5 bil for this reason.

Aroundtheworld · #13 Posted **May 8, 2018, 7:56 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by excel

That would be amazing but it is definitely still a long shot. I'll take any chance we got. So nice to have pro sports year round to watch and attend.

*Cough* Whitecaps *Cough*

twoNeurons · #14 Posted **May 10, 2018, 12:31 AM**

VanCity will get Basketball back before it gets Baseball.

A Basketball franchise would work really well in today's climate as there's a lot of Asian interest in the sport.

logan5 · #15 Posted **May 10, 2018, 12:47 AM**

We had plenty of Asians back in the Grizzly days. Didn't see hardly any then, why would it be any different now?

Asians like Baseball too. In fact, I'm willing to bet Japanese and Koreans would attend more MLB baseball games in Vancouver than Chinese would basketball games. Sports is just not a priority in Chinese culture the way it is in Japan and Korea, and Vancouver has a significant Japanese/Korean population. Then there's the Vancouver take-over of Safeco Field. Baseball woulod do well ion Vancouver.

Migrant_Coconut · #16 Posted **May 10, 2018, 5:47 AM**

My money's on an NFL expansion - we've already got a base (Seahawks fans) and a stadium for them, and the CFL's always been more of an eastern Canada thing.

WarrenC12 · #17 Posted **May 10, 2018, 3:32 PM**

LOL at NFL ever coming here. Requirements include a 80k+ stadium and ~$1.5B. Never happening.

Basketball, maybe. We got screwed by the NBA (who I think have learned their lesson), and the CDN$. But even more than that, players didn't want to be here. I don't know how much that has changed. If we ever end up getting a team, we'll have a hard time attracting the best talent.

twoNeurons · #18 Posted **May 10, 2018, 4:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

LOL at NFL ever coming here. Requirements include a 80k+ stadium and ~$1.5B. Never happening.

Basketball, maybe. We got screwed by the NBA (who I think have learned their lesson), and the CDN$. But even more than that, players didn't want to be here. I don't know how much that has changed. If we ever end up getting a team, we'll have a hard time attracting the best talent.

True in the mid-nineties. Players didn't want to be here because the Canadian teams both weren't that great and there was a bit of a cultural shock. Raptors have proven that wrong with sold-out crowds. Vancouver's on the shortlist and is a gateway into growing the sport in Asia, apparently.

I don't think we'd have as much of a problem with talent as in the early 90s and I don't think we'd have too much of an issue with players wanting to be here either.

Migrant_Coconut · #19 Posted **May 10, 2018, 5:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

I don't think we'd have as much of a problem with talent as in the early 90s and I don't think we'd have too much of an issue with players wanting to be here either.

Sure, but we still gotta work on shaking the No Fun City image.

Also remember that we're mostly talking about American players (Steve Francis, etc). They'd rather pull a watermelon out their nose than have an open mind about another country.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

LOL at NFL ever coming here. Requirements include a 80k+ stadium and ~$1.5B. Never happening.

What the hell - even FIFA only needs 35k+.

KPELLY · #20 Posted **May 10, 2018, 5:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Sure, but we still gotta work on shaking the No Fun City image.

Also remember that we're mostly talking about American players (Steve Francis, etc). They'd rather pull a watermelon out their nose than have an open mind about another country.

What the hell - even FIFA only needs 35k+.

Actually only 60k+. Half of the NFL teams have stadiums between 60k and 70k capacity. Only 5 teams have stadiums that are 80k+.