(05-11-2021 01:41 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  Personally, I kind of doubt that Las Vegas can support an MLB team on top of the NFL and NHL. It's the most expensive franchise to have and requires the most corporate financial support. I'd tend to think Portland is easily the best available market. Behind that, Montreal is obviously a player, and then I'd assume Austin and Charlotte are the next best US markets.

Three things will distinguish viable potential markets from fantasy markets:

1) Who's going to pay for a brand-new MLB ballpark -- how much taxpayer money will a city/county/state give to a club owner toward the $1 billion-plus cost of a ballpark.

2) How much local revenue is available -- ticket revenue, sponsorship revenue, local TV money.

3) Relocation costs -- The NFL has charged a relocation fee to each of the last three franchises to move, $550 million each for the Rams and Chargers and $378 million for the Raiders. Any place the A's or Rays move to that is more than about 100 miles from where they are now would take away a potential expansion city (and a potential expansion fee of $1.5 billion or more), so MLB would definitely want a relo fee.

The exception is a move that's close enough that it doesn't take away a new market -- e.g., the A's moving to Sacramento or the Rays moving to Orlando. For those moves, I think the club could persuade MLB to not charge a relo fee.

IMO the relocation fee factor means Sacramento would be the A's leading candidate unless other cities/states offer a ton of stadium money and Sacramento offers none.

Montreal has no chance -- can't see there being enough local revenue compared to US markets.

I'm skeptical about Vegas for the same reasons Citrus is. They're still ramping up to support new NFL and NHL teams, and the market is relatively small (half the size of Phoenix) and doesn't have a lot of wealthy people.

Portland is slightly larger than Vegas but a better candidate because there are more affluent people in that market and only one "major" pro team there now.

Part of what MLB and the A's did today is send the signal that any group who actually has that much money available should feel free to go public and let MLB and Fisher assess whether they are potentially legitimate purchasers. One such group might be an investment fund called RedBall that negotiated to buy a share of the Red Sox but then backed out last year. A's president Billy Beane is one of the RedBall investors.