The Rays operate on one of the tightest budgets in baseball, but relief could be within sight, writes Cork Gaines of RaysIndex.com. The team’s television contract is set to expire following the 2016 season. While Tampa Bay has a reputation for poor fan investment, they actually draw a strong viewership. Based on recent television deals, Gaines finds a roughly linear relationship between viewership and annual payment. That would put the Rays in line to earn about $80MM to $100MM per season, a large increase over their current $20MM payment. One cautionary outlier is the Twins, who earn just $29MM per season despite a viewer base that would suggest a $80MM yearly return. Gaines noted that ownership stakes were not factored into the analysis.
- Andrew Friedman and Joe Maddon might not be the only Rays stakeholders ready to abandon Tampa Bay, reports Bill Madden of the New York Daily News. Despite the impending television deal, owner Stuart Sternberg has discussed a possible relocation to Montreal with potential Wall Street investors. Montreal drew over two million fans four times during the Expos tenure. Tampa Bay has not reached that milestone since their inaugural season. To me, it seems like Sternberg is attempting to improve his leverage in stalemated talks with St. Petersburg, but there is some question about the Tampa area’s ability to support a major league franchise.
- As we prepare for Game 4 of the World Series, Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com notes starter Jason Vargas almost didn’t end up with the Royals. Vargas was expected to return to the Angels who coveted a stable veteran presence in their rotation. However, Kansas City was willing to guarantee a fourth year, which was a sticking point for the Angels. Vargas is quoted as having made the decision for his family, although I’m sure he’s quite pleased with how the first year of his contract turned out. Good luck to him in tonight’s contest.
I would think the Carolinas would be a better place to relocate than Montreal.
I’ve heard others state that. I don’t know… I’m not familiar with the area. I do think that Montreal is the most realistic.
I just read that a simulator for Charlotte generated 29,000 fans per game for them. Portland was the only market listed above them…and the article said that choosing between the two was splitting hairs.
Why is it not getting more attention?
It would cost a minimum of $250-300 million to build a major league park. Municipalities are not exactly flush with money in this economic environment. Furthermore, in this low-interest rate environment the Fed has had to buy up municipal bonds as investors see buying one as not keeping up with inflation. I very much doubt the Fed buys a bond to pay for a baseball park.
Maybe not just yet…but one day soon Oklahoma City might enter expansion/relocation conversation. Forbes named it one of two America’s Future City. Milwaukee was the other, which bodes well for the Brewers.
As part of the MASN agreement, MLB signed a contract stating that North Carolina is part of the Orioles and Nationals media territory. If MLB puts a team in North Carolina without the Orioles and Nationals permission then they can expect a lawsuit. Given the lack of trust between the Orioles and MLB at the moment it’s pretty much impossible that an agreement could be made.
Although maybe if the parties worked it in as part of a settlement…
Why not South Carolina then?
South Carolina’s media territory is controlled by the Braves. But realistically even if the Braves ceded all of SC to the new team then the new team would still have an extremely small territory. And I don’t think there’s a big enough city in SC to house a baseball team.
Sorry to ask what will sound like a dumb question, but why does the league need another team’s approval for a franchise to be moved within their area?
I think it might be premature to say Sternberg and associates are using Montreal as leverage. It sounds like Tampa will bring in a strong media package. But it seems reasonable to question the local economy. That’s a fact in many places right now. Montreal is a large market that was mistreated. Montreal was once a strong franchise. I’m not sure if MLB will ever like the idea of another team in Canada though.
Montreal is absolutely the best market outside of Las Vegas (which will not happen) as far as population and demographics are concerned. I’d like to see it happen but Montreal has to find the funding for a new stadium. I’m not a fan of public funding for stadiums as it’s a ripoff for constituents but that might be the ticket to getting a team back to Montreal. I actually think Las Vegas could work if they put a heavy effort into keeping the sharks away from players and managers. Montreal would make for a nice, closley located AL East while Las Vegas would call for realignment that would see Cleveland back in the East and Las Vegas in the central as to not break up Houston and Texas (Arlington).
I’ve read that baseball is skeptical of Las Vegas for more than gambling reasons. Something to do with the tourist/service economy.
That’s definitely true. I have a hard time seeing the owners or commissioners ever letting it happen but it would be cool to see what would happen. After all its the Team, league and players job to uphold the sanctity of the game, not the city even if it is Las Vegas……
I’m not sure its the gambling effecting the game that is of the greatest concern…but the economy being built on gambling. A place like Vegas can be boom or bust.
Las Vegas has been one of the growing areas of the country for 20 years. And it had nothing at all to do with the gambling industry.
What they should’ve done back in November of 2011 after the Rays Playoff exit and Stu Sternberg’s frustration over attendance was to move the Rays to Portland instead of moving the Astros to the AL for the 2013 season shifting them to the AL West,
Move the Brewers back to the AL Central
Move the Tigers back to the AL East and keep the Astros in the National League. Portland has been asking for a team for years in 2002 the Twins 2004 the Expos and in 2006 the Marlins reached out to them.
Wonder what MLB will do when they run out of viable markets to use as leverage
Portland, ME or Portland, OR? Need some clarification here, there’s a lot of Portlands.
I’m thinking it’s got to be Portland Oregon. It’s often mentioned in reports that speculate on potential future destinations for a major league team, while Portland Maine is well established Red Sox territory (as, of course, you would know).
Portland, Oregon. I did say AL West
Why does Tampa stink as a sports market?
It’s the 18th largest metropolitan area in the country and it can draw on the 26th (Orlando).
It’s hard to get to the stadium and even with those two DMAs in their media territory they still have one of the smallest in baseball.
People rather be spending time on the beach than go to a ballgame, I suppose.
Biggest reason is that there is an enormous number of northern transplants here, and nowadays things like the inernet and the Extra Innings package make it so easy to continue to follow your old team. Not many drop old allegiances for the local teams. Theoretically it should get better as kids grow up following the Rays, but that will take time. And with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, we can’t really afford to wait.
Rays have good television ratings. Maybe they just need a better stadium and a better location…
Rays have been working on this since they opened up. St. Pete won’t let them.
Are they really talking about returning to Montreal? Do they realize the Selig is retiring, and they might not have him there to save the day by using MLB money to engineer the ownership he wanted where he wanted it? Remember last time, where Henry owned the Marlins, but wanted the Red Sox, and Loria owned the Expos, but wanted out of Montreal. MLB threatened contraction, bought the Expos, Loria gets the Marlins from John Henry, using the money from MLB plus and MLB interest free loan, then gets the taxpayer to pony up for a stadium. Henry, if I recall, wasn’t even the highest bidder for the Red Sox, but Selig picked him. The only good thing that came out of this was the Nationals. The rest was, shall we say, not exactly on the up and up. And Montreal was not happy.
Montreal didn’t really care.
It’s a cultural city. As the Mayor famously said, he saw no reason for the public to build a stadium for millionaire players and billionaire owners, so that the 1st baseman would make 10 times more money then the 1st violinist in the world famous Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
Why isn’t Salt Lake City an option? There are plenty of families there and there is a lot of land available for a stadium. Not to mention there are no MLB teams anywhere near that city, they could draw from surrounding larger cities too.
No beer at ball games would be sacrilegious. (pun fully intended)
There is beer in SLC.
the combined attendance for the state of Florida was around 3 mil. The Giants netted more than that single handedly. I just think that Florida is more concerned with Spring Training than having a pro team. It makes sense to me to move the Rays for this reason alone.