Article in The Athletic today about the sorry state of the Cleveland Indians' finances and their ownership situation:

The Indians’ future in Cleveland: Relocation questions, ownership status, payroll and more in the spotlight

Apparently there is no imminent threat to move the franchise, and the majority ownership is local. But attendance is very bad and the payroll scrapes the bottom of MLB.

Quote:Cleveland is the 19th-largest media market in the country, per Nielsen, and the smallest to field an MLB, NFL and NBA team. Pittsburgh, the 26th-largest market, does have MLB, NFL and NHL representation. The Pirates and Indians own MLB’s two lowest payrolls.

Quote:“The biggest lever,” a source said, “is still and always will be winning. … In reality, (the front office is) operating as well as any human being could ever operate. The danger, or if you’re looking for a warning, is the fact that they’re operating that way and still haven’t drawn that many people. That’s not a criticism of Cleveland. It’s a reflection of the size of the market.”

"The size of the market." There's the big problem for MLB owners: There are no can't-miss markets to move to. Cleveland's market is too small? Oops -- it's a larger media market than every possible relocation or expansion market.

Nielsen market sizes for the largest markets without MLB:

Orlando -- 1,731,360 households with TV
Sacramento -- 1,459,260
Portland (OR) -- 1,315,470
Charlotte -- 1,290,660
Raleigh/Durham -- 1,237,230

Indianapolis -- 1,182,500
Nashville -- 1,102,340
Salt Lake City -- 1,100,260
San Antonio -- 1,031,180
Hartford/New Haven -- 1,002,710

Columbus (OH) -- 999,300
Greenville -- 940,000
Austin -- 912,400
West Palm Beach -- 870,720
Las Vegas -- 833,510

Grand Rapids -- 781,080
Harrisburg (PA) -- 772,810
Jacksonville -- 756,960
Oklahoma City -- 755,340
Birmingham -- 730,440

Norfolk -- 725,580
Greensboro -- 717,110
Albuquerque/Santa Fe -- 716,800
Louisville -- 696,070
New Orleans -- 663,520

Memphis -- 619,610
Providence -- 619,140
Buffalo -- 612,780
Ft. Myers/Naples -- 608,640
Fresno/Visalia -- 607,200

Orlando and Sacramento are in italics because they're not possible candidates as long as the Rays and A's are where they are. The Rays could conceivably move to Orlando, or the A's could conceivably move to Sacramento, but otherwise those markets aren't candidates. Columbus is also not realistic with the Indians and Reds already in Ohio, maybe unless the Indians move there, but that doesn't seem to be an option. Many of the other markets listed above are also too close to current MLB clubs to ever get approved as either relocation or expansion cities.

So when an established market like Cleveland that already has a solid MLB ballpark is "too small" to support three "major" pro franchises, the realistic options (or threats) are very limited. Many of the smaller-than-Cleveland markets listed above already have at least one "major" franchise, and some already have two.