Off-Topic Forum

I live in Orlando Florida. The guy who brought Orlando magic to Orlando Pat Williams wants to bring major league baseball to Orlando. But according to MLB the cities are Charlotte, Las Vegas, Montreal, Nashville, Portland and Vancouver as a expansion list. But according to the top tourist attractions and destinations Orlando ranks number 1. We have 2.5 million people who live in metro Orlando area with 75 million visitors annually and keep rising as more attractions coming we should get it. Who would support Orlando as a MLB team.

It's an interesting argument.  My guess is MLB sees two teams already in Florida that are struggling to attract paying customers.

Tampa seems to struggle with attendance. Maybe they would consider either moving them to Orlando or doing a split home games deal. I agree with Griff that 3 Florida teams seems like a bit of a stretch. Personally I don’t think they need to expand. I haven’t heard, is there serious talk of another expansion?

  Both Florida teams are struggling.    Also, a good percentage of visitors there don't go for baseball, obviously.

    While we're at it,  how does the Florida Panthers hockey team survive?   Every game I see on TV,  stands are bare.

I echo not needing a 3rd team in FL; not right now. Miami refuses to put a winning team on the field, or even try, so they are never going to generate the local support they need. Never mind the public was burdened with a bill they didn't want to foot. They are on the path to being a doomed franchise, past WS wins not withstanding. Moving Tampa to Orlando actually makes sense. The stadium location in St. Petersburg (not even in Tampa) stinks (nice words on the forum...) and the local governments there are being knuckleheads. Even if a new stadium deal did go through I don't think the ownership would open the purse strings. Tampa has one of the smaller paopulation support basis as it is. Moving to Orlando GREATLY expands the population base and all the tourists (at least it's something to escape the Disney/Universal trappings for a bit) also. They also have other professional teams (basketball, soccer) to share the area.

If there is going to be an expansion Montreal is still high up on the list, nostalgia first. I find it hard to see some of those other cities being able to support a franchise. Vegas maybe and thy'd build a stadium right next to the Raiders I'm sure. Harper can play there in his twilight years. Vancouver would have to deal with Seattle and don't think there is enough support for 2 franchises in that region.

Stevie..im in Orlando as well.. and as mentioned with Tampa, they are struggling because they don't have a dome. there was actaul talk of them sharing a stadium in tampa for part of the season and the other part in Canada. But with the Orlando team, it will take almost 8 yrs to build a new stadium at which point, Tampa bay team would be the better of the choices. FL has not been a good market for teams and although they say Tampa has the Bucs, Lightning which hinders baseball- remember, we have the Magic and soccar here too. 

there is really no place downtown area to build a stadium unless they demolish something, so it would have to be located in a more open area by one of the pay routes. This guy actually tried bringing a baseball team back in early '90s and it didn't go through. I can't see another addtional team here. The state is struggling as it is with the one's they have. Soccar is becoming more popular here because of the influx of Latin American personnel moving here. If anything, another soccar team would pan out better than another baseball team.

And we need to meet up!

Tampa isn't struggling because they don't have a dome.  Tampa is struggling because they have a crappy dome located in a crappy area too far from the population base you are trying to draw from. 

Moving to Orlando might be the best alternative for dealing with the Rays.  Tampa doesn't have a stadium(at least a stadium worth calling a stadium), so it will take at least as long to get a stadium in Tampa as it would in Orlando.  

Sharing with Montreal?  Montreal also doesn't have a stadium and the idea of splitting between 2 cities is an incredibly ridiculous idea.

If there is any city in Florida that might be able(which I seriously doubt) to support an MLB team it would probably be Orlando.  I wonder about such a deeply rooted tourist area actually having a big enough serious fan base to support MLB baseball(this might also apply to Las Vegas. You have plenty of people in the area but can you develop a true fan base.  Lots of transients that would have no true connection to the team(not a recipe for extended success).  Las Vegas has the same issues.

im just saying what the local news has been reporting. sharing with a Candian city has been in talks for all least the past year that i know of and mainly because of the amont of rain and high humidity (thats the excuse) Tampa experiences and yes, location on top of that. We're in an age where a rain delay isn't making money for the corporate people. 

And its more about just having a supporting fan base, its the geogrpahy/ layout here. Traffic is already herendous, so you're looking at building a stadium with ease to get too, which means away from the downtown and theme park areas along with building more highways/access ways. > not saying it can't be done. From what i've been listening too on morning talk radio has been 50/50 with opinions. Florida in general is expected to have 300k more people move to the state over the next 5 years (estimate census report)... so more people = revenue, but the logisitcs of things is already becoming a nightmare. 

I guess you guys don't know nothing about baseball ⚾ . What state has the most teams in the state. California has Oakland athletics, San Francisco giants, San Diego Padres, los Angeles Dodgers, los Angeles angels. Texas has 2 Texas rangers, and Houston Astros, New York had three back in the old days. Remember the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants (baseball). So if California can have with 5 teams with more people just lots less tourists. So why can Florida can have 3 teams

No reason to insult us. This has less to do with baseball than it does with economics.  As stated repeatedly, why add a third team to Florida when the first to struggle to get people to show up. You can have all the people in the world come to your state but if none of them go to baseball games it's kind of a moot point.