Could North Carolina support a MLB team?

[8993]

The Miami Marlins are struggling once again, not only on the field, but in fan support too. I believe North Carolina would be an obvious candidate should a team need to relocate, along with Las Vegas and maybe New Orleans, but do you think North Carolina could support a MLB team?

If you think so, where would they be based? Charlotte? Raleigh? Greensboro? Elsewhere? Also, a rebrand would probably be a must, so what would you call them?

[asu1978]

Probably not,although...The Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg TV market is the largest TV market in the US WITHOUT a major league sports franchise.

[AppinVA]

Probably not,although...The Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg TV market is the largest TV market in the US WITHOUT a major league franchise.

Hmmm. I would've bet the farm that it was Virginia Beach/Norfolk.

[asu1978]

Probably not,although...The Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg TV market is the largest TV market in the US WITHOUT a major league franchise.

Hmmm. I would've bet the farm that it was Virginia Beach/Norfolk.

A.G.S. #36 Norfolk,associated swampland,#43

[AppSt94]

Given that Miami just built a brand new park, I don't see them moving.

[Rekdiver]

NO!

[AppinVA]

Probably not,although...The Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg TV market is the largest TV market in the US WITHOUT a major league franchise.

Hmmm. I would've bet the farm that it was Virginia Beach/Norfolk.

A.G.S. #36 Norfolk,associated swampland,#43

Learn something new, every day. In answer to your question, with the new stadium, I doubt Miami moves any time soon. I also doubt that NC could support a MLB team at this time. There are a lot of people along I-85 between Charlotte and Raleigh, but nobody is going to drive from Charlotte to Raleigh, or vise-versa, for a Wednesday night game.

[moehler]

I live here in South Florida, and basically, the owner threaten to move the team to Vegas if he didn't get a new park, like idiots Miami officials caved in, razed the Orange Bowl, built him a retractable dome stadium.... they are averaging about maybe 10 thousand a game, in a stadium less than 2 years old. Becouse they just built the stadium I don't think the Marlins are going anywhere for atleast 5 years, and, this I don't really understand, Vegas seems to be high on the list of where they might end up.

[asumike83]

The Charlotte Knights (AAA) open a new downtown stadium next season right next to BOA. If they draw well, could help Charlotte's case.

[appmaj]

The Charlotte Knights (AAA) open a new downtown stadium next season right next to BOA. If they draw well, could help Charlotte's case.

I agree.

[Maddog1956]

With the new Charlotte Knights stadium I doubt if Charlotte can support both teams. Also Charlotte couldn't handle the parking and traffic during the day so I think the stadium would have to be out of town, which is not very popular for the charlotte movers and shakers. Downtown might work for the the Knights because minor league games are at night, but I think daytime games would be a killer. It could work I just think it would have to be outside charlotte and there is a huge investment already in the Knights.

Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg maybe a TV market but greenville and spartanburg are over an hour away with really nothing in between. Would ppl in SC watch the Marlins over the Braves on TV, I think that would be a hard sell. Also Asheville has the Tourists.

Raleigh might would work, but it's got such a young (what we use to call yuppie) demographic and they're not the largest BB fans. However they do have lots of industry that could buy in. Would Greensboro and WS fans go toe Raleigh during the week is a big question.

The thing with MLB is tradition (I don't think ppl grew up on the marlins), lazy day games (which is hard in downtown charlotte) and having ppl during the week and NC's population is so spread out.

[hapapp]

Probably not,although...The Asheville,Greenville,Spartanburg TV market is the largest TV market in the US WITHOUT a major league franchise.

Hmmm. I would've bet the farm that it was Virginia Beach/Norfolk.

A.G.S. #36 Norfolk,associated swampland,#43

The VB/Norfolk market is far more densely populated than the AGS market and Richmond is a little more than an hour away. Virginia is the largest state in the union without a major league franchise. Of course, it's proximity to DC likely precludes one landing any time soon despite the efforts of VB to land an NBA team.

[asumike83]

If Charlotte got an MLB franchise (which I agree is unlikely), I'd think the White Sox would relocate their AAA team and the franchise would just expand the existing stadium downtown. Charlotte metro is currently right at 2.3M. That is the same size as Pittsburgh metro and bigger than a few areas that have a franchise (Milwaukee, Cincinnati, KC, Cleveland).

One obstacle would be parking, although weekday afternoon games are not nearly as common these days and the stadium is an easy walk from the light rail. On evenings and weekends, they could use the same parking lots that the Panthers use for game days. From a scheduling standpoint, they'd have to make sure they don't schedule home weekend series at the same time as a Panthers home game but that would just be the last few weeks of the season.

It is a long shot and the chances would have been much better if the stadium had been moved downtown years ago but I can still dream.

[kiddbrewer]

If the Reds are in town, I would go just about anywhere in NC to see a middle of the week game.

[bcoach]

There is an awful lot of competition for sports dollars in NC. Will they support one more?

[appdaze]

As far as have physical space/paking/traffic issues I could see one being placed just north a charlotte in the harrisburg/concord/kannapolis region of 85. Putting it there would piss off the money makers of charolotte but I think it is the only way for fans to have a more enjoyable drive/atmosphere to see a game in. It also means its not a hassle for triad fans to hit 85 and be at the stadium without having to deal with charlotte. The knights would have to move because I don't see a AAA team and a mlb team being able to share a city.

The other issues is that most of NC are Braves fans all the way. They are seen as the team of the south and are practically part of southern tradition. Farther east towards raleigh you actually have some Baltimore fans because of the tv stations that get picked up that way. It would be a challenge for a team to succeed here. If you want to put another team in the south I think it would have to be Nashville.

[mtnjax]

If a team were to move to NC, it would be Tampa

horrible attendance, horrible stadium, no signs of a new stadium coming anytime soon. also, i believe there is some rule that a MLB team can't be in the same city as a minor league team, so I think Raleigh would be your best bet, unless as mentioned above, the Knights were moved by the White Sox.

I still think Raleigh or the triangle area over Charlotte. McCrory said himself said Charlotte couldn't support MLB with the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and PGA all here already

[AppSt94]

I don't think there is a rule regarding minor league teams in major league cities. There are 4 Florida State league teams within 30 miles of Tropicana Field. Two in the same county. The Braves AAA team is in the Atlanta superb of Gwinnett.

[ASU-FTW]

I still think Raleigh or the triangle area over Charlotte. McCrory said himself said Charlotte couldn't support MLB with the NFL, NBA, NASCAR, and PGA all here already

I like that attitude only because it may ensure that Charlotte never acquires a MLS team, for the forseeable future.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

If a team were to move to NC, it would be Tampa
i believe there is some rule that a MLB team can't be in the same city as a minor league team,

NY Yankees have a minor league on Staten Island.

Though different cities the Tampa-St Pete-Clearwater metro area. They do have
the Rays in St Pete
Tampa has the minor league Yankess
Clearwater has a minor league teams and Dunedin is a few miles away and part of the metro area.

I am not including the 4 no admission charged to watch GCL teams in the same metro area. But the GCL is a different sort of minor league setup of course.