Relocation

[Herk]

Why isn't major league baseball considering replacing the expos with a top drawing AAA team? It seems like more sense as there facilities and fan base is already established they would just have to make only minor changes while Montreal could replace the minor league team that moved up.

[patmc16]

It seems like more sense as there facilities and fan base is already established they would just have to make only minor changes

I've visited somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 minor league stadiums around the US and Canada, and none of the facilities that I have seen are major league calibur. Some are very nice but the biggest and best I've seen (not necessarily one in the same) are nowhere near any of the major league parks. The closest that I can think of (that I have been to) in a city big enough to support major league baseball is Dunn Tire Park in Buffalo, NY.

That being said, Herk's idea is not a bad one. The city moving up would need to build a major league stadium. I vacationed in Virginia Beach recently. Apparently there is a push to do just that in Norfolk, VA. The Mets AAA team, the Tides, are there now. Harbor Park would not hold a major league franchise and they couldn't expand it much as it is right on the water. I don't think the Tidewater region of VA is big enough to support the cost of major league baseball.

The places I see the Expos ending up would be either DC (after they pay off Baltimore's owner to shut up), or Portland, OR. Portland could be the scenerio Herk suggested, maybe with a new stadium. I've never seen the one there, so I don't know if it could be renovated to major league status. Somewhere in the Carolinas might work too, but I've never heard anyone suggest that. One I've heard that I don't think would work is Las Vegas. Most people there are looking to spend their $$ elsewhere. I've been to Cashman Field in LV. It falls in the nice but not major league nice category.

[Pounder]

Portland - http://www.pgepark.com/ Current seating for 20,000, held about 28K for Women's World Cup soccer, and can easily be aligned for 25,000 to maybe 30,000 for a TEMPORARY baseball setup while a new ballpark is being built. Luxury suites are already present there.

That reminds me: http://www.oregonstadiumcampaign.com/ should answer your questions (and then some) about the plans in Portland.

The reason Memphis and Louisville aren't being considered is that nobody in baseball wants to deal with puny television markets. MLB wants to make sure that the market that does win the Expos builds a new ballpark... luxury suites may not ensure financial success, but they generally do keep the team from losing lots of money vs just "some" money. In this case, MLB had required a new stadium proposal with secured public funding in order to play in the Expos sweepstakes; they've dropped to "have funding in the pipeline" to apparently pull D.C. through the hoops.

Since West Sacramento built a 12K seater, it probably isn't worth the investment to expand that stadium right now. It doesn't help that they're only 80+ miles from Oakland and another 8 from Pac Bell / SBC / Willie Mays Park. The base of a long-proposed stadium next to Arco Arena, last I looked, was already prepared for a stadium, but it appears those plans have washed away.