It is expected that Major League Baseball will look to expand from 30 to 32 teams at some point in the future. Several cities have been floated as possibilities over the years, including Nashville, Salt Lake City, Portland and Orlando. In recent weeks, Vancouver and Sacramento have thrown their hats into the ring. Gary Mason of The Globe and Mail provided many of the details on the Vancouver situation last month while Evan Drellich of The Athletic amd Maury Brown of Forbes reported on the Sacramento bid this week.
A group led by real estate developer Zack Ross is pushing a Vancouver proposal that seems to have the backing of mayor Ken Sim. City council recently approved a motion directing staff to start a procurement process for the unsolicited bid proposal.
Vancouver is already host to the Canadians, the Single-A affiliate of the Blue Jays. Per Mason’s piece, Ross was asked by that club to look for a spot to build a new stadium. Nat Bailey Stadium, where the Canadians play, was built in 1951. While undergoing that process, he had the idea of potentially pursuing a big league club. The group is targeting a 20-acre plot of city-owned land on the south shore of False Creek. He is now looking for investors. The architecture firm Populous, which designed the Las Vegas Sphere, has put together a stadium rendering.
The piece says that the owners of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers have expressed an interest, as has actor Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds was born and raised in Vancouver and is already the co-owner of Wrexham A.F.C., as documented in the TV show Welcome to Wrexham, which raised the profile of that club. Jed York, principal owner of the 49ers, is also a co-owner of the football clubs Leeds and Rangers. Mason also mentions the owners of the NHL’s Seattle Kraken as being interested.
It’s hard to tell exactly how much money would be needed for a new club, but it would be a total in the billions. As noted by Drellich, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred threw out a figure of $2.2 billion as a possible expansion fee back in 2021. That was before Steve Cohen bought the Mets for $2.4 billion and José E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones agreed to purchase the Padres for $3.9 billion. Presumably, the price has gone up since Manfred made those comments.
The viability of Vancouver as a market is somewhat in debate. As Mason points out, Major League Soccer is looking to move the Whitecaps from Vancouver to an American market, something that might not bode well for investor confidence in the city. Vancouver does support the NHL’s Canucks and got an expansion franchise in the NBA in 1995, but the Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001. The Lions have played in the Canadian Football League since 1954. The popularity of baseball in the area can be seen whenever the Blue Jays play in Seattle, as Canadian fans stream across the border for those contests.
Though Vancouver is nowhere near Toronto, most of Canada is considered Blue Jays territory. That doesn’t seem like it will be much of an issue. Per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has said the Jays would support a team in Vancouver. “We are supportive of any effort to grow baseball in Canada, and that would include the opportunity to bring MLB to Vancouver,” Shapiro said.
Nicholson-Smith also quotes Manfred, from the 2025 postseason, broadly supporting the idea of a second team in Canada. “There’s no place you’re going to go where you’re not splitting the market,” Manfred said. “I’ve got probably four clubs that think Nashville’s part of their market. I’m not being funny. Literally, they do. So whenever you expand, you’re growing the business, you’ve got another revenue-generating point. You’re going to get a big payment on the way in and one of the things that happens is somebody’s market gets nicked a little bit. So this market, Canada, is no different. The advantages that Canada has is there are places you can go that are distant geographically from Toronto.” The Montreal Expos and the Jays co-existed in MLB for many years, starting with the creation of the Jays in 1977, but the Expos struggled to make that arrangement work. They were moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Nationals.
Geographically, Vancouver is closer to Seattle, but it’s possible the Mariners would be on board. As noted by Tim Booth of The Seattle Times, the Mariners would probably be more concerned about Portland having a team, since they would view that area as part of their current territory. Since Vancouver is seen more as Jays country, the M’s may not be too concerned about a team there, and might even welcome the travel impacts. Seattle is so isolated on the MLB map that they currently have to cover large distances for every road game. A team in Vancouver would lead to a few road games with modest travel, while not dramatically impacting the club’s territorial rights.
Turning to Sacramento, West Sacramento mayor Martha Guerrero announced last week that the city would be pursuing an MLB expansion club. A local real estate developer named Mark Friedman is leading the charge to sell the area as viable for a big league club more permanently. West Sacramento, a distinct city from Sacramento but part of the same metropolitan area, is the temporary home of the Athletics. Ideally, that would give the region proof of concept, but the A’s haven’t drawn especially large crowds to Sutter Health Park.
The group isn’t deterred by that, expressing belief that turnout would be greater if the area had its own team, as opposed to one just passing through. The group doesn’t have a lead investor but claims to already have $800MM in place in terms of land and private investment. They also claim to have access to $1 billion in public money. They are targeting a 50-acre segment of land in West Sacramento, an area that includes Sutter Health Park.
“We may elect to build a new stadium next to the existing stadium, and then tear that one down, or we may choose to tear down the existing stadium and build a new one on the same site,” Friedman said. “We just haven’t gotten to the design part of this, and are waiting until we bring the lead investor on, because that person will undoubtedly want to place their stamp on what the project looks like.” Brown notes that Sacramento natives Dusty Baker and Derrek Lee are involved in the pitch, though the degree of their involvement is not clear.
As a market, Sacramento supports the NBA’s Kings. They also had the Monarchs in the WNBA starting in 1997 but that team folded in 2009. The River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants, are the more permanent host club for Sutter Health Park. They are sharing the stadium with the A’s for the 2025 to 2027 seasons while the A’s finish their stadium in Las Vegas. Sutter Health Park and the River Cats are owned by the Kings.
At this point, the possibility of expansion is still fairly theoretical. Manfred has consistently said that he would like the A’s and Rays to figure out long-term stadium plans before expansion could be on the table. The A’s are on track to be in Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 season but the Rays are still in a limbo zone.
The Rays have a lease at Tropicana Field through 2028 but don’t have anything in place beyond that. The new owners are in talks with the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County about a new stadium plan. Per Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times, the team and government officials have agreed to a memorandum of understanding about a plan to build a $2.3 billion domed stadium near Raymond James stadium, home of the NFL’s Buccaneers, but the MOU is nonbinding. Per the plan, the county would contribute $796MM and the city $180MM, with the Rays covering the rest as well as any overruns and maintenance. The team will also spend $8 to $10 billion on a mixed-use development to surround the stadium.
It’s unclear if they can get through the next hoops to proceed with the project. As Topkin notes, Tampa city council passed the nonbinding MOU 4-3 but councillor Bill Carlson plans to change his vote for the actual deal. He only voted “yes” on the nonbinding MOU to keep the discussion going for now. If something can’t be worked out in the Tampa/St. Petersburg area, it’s expected that a move to Orlando may be pursued.
Drellich notes that MLB would likely prefer that the expansion locations be split with one to the west and one to the east. If that proves to be true, then Vancouver and Sacramento could be competing with each other, as well as with Salt Lake City and Portland.
The current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA expires this coming December 1st and negotiations are ongoing. Expansion is something that would have to be collectively bargained between those two parties and it’s possible that it comes up in those talks. Manfred has said he would like to make progress on that front before his expected departure in January of 2029. On the other hand, there are bigger priorities in those talks and expansion may still be on the backburner until the Rays get a more concrete plan in place.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
I would think Seattle would be thrilled with Vancouver simply because it would be a road game that didn’t require such a long flight.
Also some additional ticket revenues from another nearby fanbase showing up for road games. Right now, they probably don’t get a ton of visiting fans buying tickets, outside of the usual big Blue Jays weekend series. A Vancouver team would likely be in the same division so plenty of chances for more ticket revenues.
And honestly, the Jays are normally weekend series and they lose some home fans because we don’t want to be surrounded by Canadians, nor have to put up with their smoking pot in our streets before and after the games!!
There is no way on earth Vancouver gets a MLB team.
They would have to pay $2.5 billion USD for expansion, $2 billion for a covered stadium, and the costs of the land.
Meanwhile Canada is in recession thanks to Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war.
Of all of the places in Canada, the Vancouver public is the least supportive of public money going into sports.
And they were unable to support the NBA, lost soccer and generally are a fickle fan base.
Orlando? Hasn’t Florida been proven to be a failure for regular season baseball? Charlotte needs to be up there as a top choice. I do like Nashville as a top choice as well
Only way Orlando should get a team is if they move Marlins/Rays there. FL shouldn’t have 2 team while the continue to be bottom 3 in attendance every year. Sure, a better home for Rays could make some difference, but it hasn’t with MIA after Loria conned residents into paying for his investment he made a billion off of.
It’s gonna be Nashville on Montreal for the East Coast. Nashville already has a name for a team. The Stars. Montreal would be an easy rebooting. Charlotte is the biggest city without a team though. I don’t know why they would look at Orlando either. Baseball is clearly a failure in Florida.
The Stars sounds like a wnba team.
Ok, well, that what it is. Sounds like a hockey team to me. Because it is.
Sounds better as a hockey name honestly
That would be The Star, not The Stars.
It was the name of their Negro League team.
Charlotte, yes. I also like the idea of Louisville, Memphis, and/or New Orleans as spots for the East Coast team.
Louisville is literally right across a bridge from Cincinnati so that won’t happen. Memphis is too small compared to the other cities.
Memphis is the dump of dumps.
The Vancouver Harold Snepsts – make it so.
Montreal
There was a reason Montreal lost their baseball team. Most people either don’t know or don’t want to admit it. If baseball worked in Montreal, they would still be there.
Montreal failed because of poor ownership, not because of their fans. Olympic Stadium (built for track and field) was depressing and had poor sight lines for fans.
Imagine a 36 team league with Portland, Sacramento, and Salt Lake added to the west, and Nashville, Charlotte, and Montreal added to the east, I know that would never happen but it would be cool to see
18 teams per league so, how do the divisions work out? Two 4-team divis and two 5-team divis? Interesting thought experiment for sure.
You could split it into two 9-team divisions in each league with 16 teams making the playoffs, you take the top 2 from each division, plus 4 wild cards from each league
How about a 3rd team in LA/NY?
I’d like to see the Angels replace their owner first.
MLB should be looking into contraction rather than expansion. There’s enough teams that exist solely to make money for cheap owners with no intention of ever competing. We don’t need two more teams further diluting the talent pool
It will be Nashville for sure. Sacramento is just a fling, so not there, as much as they pretend they have a shot. Montreal? Maybe Ohtani will fund a team in Japan.
Every team has players batting under .200, OPS in the .500s or worse; and pitchers with ERAs in the stratosphere. How about working on the current product on the field before diluting it even further?
I agree that depth is a huge problem right now, exacerbated by the fact that great pitching dominates average hitting. And MLB isn’t helping the situation with its contraction of the minor leagues, stifling developmental pipelines.
Typically, hitting improves with expansion. Maris hit 61 in an expansion year.
Sosa and McGwire beat Maris’s record in an expansion year too!
It’s all about the money for Manfred.
Looking at the candidates, Nashville and either Salt Lake City/Sacramento look to be the best sites. Vancouver on paper looks good, but, their history of support for their teams is not good. Portland and Charlotte are in the next echelon and Orlando should be the least attractive. Orlando could be the back up location for whichever of Tampa or Miami fail next. Nashville is a gold mine for a MLB team with strong support for their teams and Tennessee is sneakily a hot bed for baseball.
Sacramento is not a good location; California is losing population; I think it needs to be a place outside of California
Sacramento’s issue is that the businesses are all located in the very rich and successful Bay Area, so the corporate support is limited
Hard no to Portland or Orlando. Those are both unfettered crime holes. Don’t reward those mayors.
Maybe to Sacramento, SLC or Vancouver. I’m unsure about Nashville. Is there even demand there?
Covering more of the PNW would be better for the West coast baseball IMO. Vancouver is a nice option to add more Canada and still get more West.
Sacramento is like rest of California having issues; Nashville would make perfect sense it’s a big metro area just don’t know what team owns the rights to that area. Owning rights is what what kept the athletics from moving to San Jose as that was giants territory. The population of the USA is shifting move towards the south area so a team there would make a lot of sense
Sigh. I am sure it won’t change your mind to hear a Portland resident say it is in no way a “crime hole,” but here I am, saying it. Turn off the politics and watch some baseball.
Can’t imagine they would consider SLC saying as how the Rockies have fared with elevation.
*seeing
Well, SLC is about 1,000 feet lower, so it wouldn’t be quite as bad as Denver, but I had the same thought. That’s probably still too high in elevation.
Yeah, ball parks over 1200 feet above sea level need to be avoided: It breaks baseball, and ruins players careers.
terrible decision to expand
30 teams is alredy more than enough
so many garbage players as it is, and more pressing issues like upcoming cba which might cancel some or all games in 2027
manfraud has done nothing to improve the game. he needs to get the f out already
Re: Vancouver Whitecaps:
That sounds much more about a lousy stadium situation/lease than lack of support.
I also don’t think the Grizzlies got much of a chance. I got their games on TV, and I only remember Big Country Reeves. Not fair that after 6 awful on-court seasons, they were shipped off (and the rumors started after year 4). Love to see whether there’d still be hockey in Vegas if they had the Grizz experience!
The fans in Oakland got jobbed. I’d vote for Nashville and Oakland.
Problem is you go right back to the same stadium situation the A’s left over. Same thing with Montreal, who people think has a chance at getting a team again but probably really doesn’t
Dodgers are ruining baseball!!!!!
We can’t survive like this!!!!
Small market team (Padres) sold for $3.9b!
Let’s add more teams…
Baseball is obviously in shambles
Padres have the largest market among monopoly franchises in the Big 4.
I don’t see Tampa working out for the new owners. DeSantis wants to essentially eliminate property tax and that is where the majority of the city/county monies would be generated from. He gives the land with one hand and takes the financing with the other. Typical political maneuvering.
..
We’re about to start a war so Don Jr. can own an expansion team in Havana.
Havana would actually make a lot of sense.
The reason the A’s haven’t drawn well is, with limited seating, they shortsightedly cranked up the ticket cost. Minimum cost is $30, which isn’t bad, but that only gets you on the lawn beyond the LF wall. If you want a seat anywhere in the actual stadium, you’ll pay $110 to $170 per ticket.
Portland has been begging for a team for over a decade, and has had a stadium design ready for several years.
Yes, a Portland team would take some interest from the M’s. But if Portland’s team was NL, it’s definitely possible they could coexist.
I don’t see MLB expanding to Portland, OR ever, let alone anytime soon. They couldn’t even keep their AAA team from moving due to lack of support. Also, as a Mariners fan, I really don’t want another MLB team carving into the PNW market. My team likes to cry poor enough as it is.
Geographically if the league expands and Nashville gets a team, the second team needs to be a team closer west. Whether that is Salt Lake City, Portland, Sacramento, or Vancouver, to balance out the inevitable realignment that will come with expansion this is the region that will get the second team
I disagree with all the contraction/no expansion people. The typical MLB player is better than ever before. This generation has been developed from earlier in age, and many get much better nutrition and training methods than any preceding generation. The problem is the pitching has gotten better at a faster rate than hitting. It’s a false perception that hitters aren’t good currently.
30 is a terrible number for a league. 5 teams, in each of 3 divisions, in 2 leagues, is a terrible format. 32 (4, 4, 2), is ideal. Baseball needs to open new markets. If people can go to games in their cities they will be become fans or become bigger ones. If they wanted to lose fans taking a team away from a city is the best way to do that. Contraction is a way for baseball to become a niche sport at best, or even disappear eventually.