Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:01 am
"There is no place for them to move."
The solid answer is "someone will find a place."
However, if Ballpark Digest is to be believed, the PCL is trying to persuade the city of Boise to expand on their concept of a new downtown ballpark to accommodate them instead of upgrading the stadium situation for the Boise Hawks. Understand that donations and privately built facilities in Boise have been the norm. In other word, desperation...
Naturally, I found 27 markets out west where the PCL is not located, are "possible" for AAA ball, and are larger markets than Reno, the smallest market currently in the PCL. Most have a ballpark... most have a team in some league. Markets smaller than that really didn't impress me, even though Eugene had AAA for a handful of seasons.
6 are a special situation, but one Escondido nearly fulfilled.
Frisco. Sugar Land. Rancho Cucamonga. Scottsdale. St. Paul. Kansas City, KS.
Yes, all in MLB markets. The caveat is that the MLB owner in that market would likely have to buy the team. I think Cucamonga, St. Paul, and Kansas City would theoretically require stadium expansions... but I'm willing to bet that's something the PCL is about to overlook. Thing is, Frisco and St. Paul are probably non-starters. Since that's a different argument, leave that on the table for now.
Another non-starter on my list: Baton Rouge, not nearly the smallest remaining metropolis, but it's home to LSU. LSU draws very well for baseball. Smart money does not compete with that AD.
Folks, it's not going to happen within Portland's city limits. The consultants helping suburban Milwaukie have raised the possibility of their single A ballpark proposal being expandable for AAA. Problem is, they are going ridiculously slow with that process and don't have an owner in pocket to help. BTW, they're ridiculously slow... Boise is even slower.
San Antonio is the only other market over 1 million population. They happen to be over 2 million. They're probably passing up Sacramento as I write this and will catch up with Portland sometime this decade... which means they could easily start talking MLB soon. The history of western baseball reads "AAA attendance goes down in direct response to MLB to town talk going up.
More shortly...
The solid answer is "someone will find a place."
However, if Ballpark Digest is to be believed, the PCL is trying to persuade the city of Boise to expand on their concept of a new downtown ballpark to accommodate them instead of upgrading the stadium situation for the Boise Hawks. Understand that donations and privately built facilities in Boise have been the norm. In other word, desperation...
Naturally, I found 27 markets out west where the PCL is not located, are "possible" for AAA ball, and are larger markets than Reno, the smallest market currently in the PCL. Most have a ballpark... most have a team in some league. Markets smaller than that really didn't impress me, even though Eugene had AAA for a handful of seasons.
6 are a special situation, but one Escondido nearly fulfilled.
Frisco. Sugar Land. Rancho Cucamonga. Scottsdale. St. Paul. Kansas City, KS.
Yes, all in MLB markets. The caveat is that the MLB owner in that market would likely have to buy the team. I think Cucamonga, St. Paul, and Kansas City would theoretically require stadium expansions... but I'm willing to bet that's something the PCL is about to overlook. Thing is, Frisco and St. Paul are probably non-starters. Since that's a different argument, leave that on the table for now.
Another non-starter on my list: Baton Rouge, not nearly the smallest remaining metropolis, but it's home to LSU. LSU draws very well for baseball. Smart money does not compete with that AD.
Folks, it's not going to happen within Portland's city limits. The consultants helping suburban Milwaukie have raised the possibility of their single A ballpark proposal being expandable for AAA. Problem is, they are going ridiculously slow with that process and don't have an owner in pocket to help. BTW, they're ridiculously slow... Boise is even slower.
San Antonio is the only other market over 1 million population. They happen to be over 2 million. They're probably passing up Sacramento as I write this and will catch up with Portland sometime this decade... which means they could easily start talking MLB soon. The history of western baseball reads "AAA attendance goes down in direct response to MLB to town talk going up.
More shortly...