(03-06-2020 10:34 AM)schmolik Wrote:  

(03-04-2020 11:53 AM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-03-2020 03:06 AM)vandiver49 Wrote:  

(03-02-2020 12:18 PM)dbackjon Wrote:  

(03-01-2020 11:26 PM)GoodOwl Wrote:  Braves rule the South, man. Works best for all. Nashv and western Tenn belongs to the Cards. Rays need to move out and leave one team only down in Miami to have a go at it--bring back the FLA marlins.

But why should they?

When the south had a smaller population, it made sense. But why should Tennessee, North Carolina, etc be forced to support a far away Georgia team just because they were there first?

Because baseball IMO doesn't want to further dilute an already shirking fanbase

Having their own teams would increase the fan base.

Exactly.

Consider the Southeast (south of DC and East of the Mississippi, New Orleans counts). MLB has Atlanta, Miami, and Tampa Bay, 3 teams. The NBA has Orlando, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans, Charlotte, and Memphis, twice as many. The NFL has 7 teams, Miami, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, and Tennessee. We're not even counting the SEC, home of college football, and the ACC, home of men's college basketball. MLB has a much smaller presence than the NFL/NBA and college sports.

Atlanta is 245 miles from Charlotte and 248 miles from Nashville. If the Yankees could block every team within a 248 mile radius, forget no Mets, say goodbye to the Phillies, Orioles, Nationals, and even the Red Sox (Boston is 220 miles from the Big Apple).

MLB seems to care more about pleasing the Atlanta Braves than doing what's in the best interests of baseball. If there's a MLB team in Charlotte, MLB would gain many more fans in Charlotte than the Atlanta Braves would lose in Charlotte/the Carolinas. Same with Nashville. To a lesser degree, how about the A's and San Jose? San Jose has twice as many people as Oakland and you also have Santa Clara and a lot of the South Bay. The A's play in a sewage dump ... literally. But the A's playing in San Jose is bad for the Giants and they can block it because they have territorial rights. When owners are greedy, the fans (or potential fans) lose.

Expansion, as we've seen, leads to a talent dilution. Talent dilution leads to a LOSS of fan interest. How do the fans gained in smaller markets compare to the fans lost nationwide because the game is even more unwatchable?