Nashville could possibly see yet another professional sports team! (Portland: crime, stores)

[shinestx]

^^ I actually like that idea. That's also where John Angelos (Orioles owner) owns a home.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by N.Cal

They had Dave Stewart and the other guy on yesterday on ESPN 102.5 The Game. Willy and Darren are huge baseball fans but even they said that people shouldn’t get too excited about this happening, at least in the near future.

Well there's your problem. You're listening to second-rate sports talk.

[N.Cal]

Originally Posted by nashvols

Well there's your problem. You're listening to second-rate sports talk.

I only care about the Preds and they are the Preds radio station. I have also gotten to know a few of guys who are on the radio so therefore, that’s the station I listen to. That is, when I’m not listening to Lightning 100.

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by KY_Transplant

This is an honest question, and I don't mean to offend any hardcore Soccer fans, but is the MLS really on the same level as an MLB, NFL or NHL franchise. I hear a lot of comments about how an MLB team would not succeed in Nashville, with there already being three Pro Sports, but in my experience, MLS is a smaller league and with less attendance, appeal, etc.

I could be wrong, but just curious.

I think Nashville could support another team, but the MLB, like the NBA, is hard to swing for a lot of cities due to the sheer volume of games in one season.

Although, there is definitely a void of MLB teams in the South outside ATL and Florida.

I really don't know how the MLS will do here in Nashville, but I think they are hoping that the trend in Atlanta will carry here in Nashville to a degree. I think MLS is picking up steam as far as popularity goes. I believe, if executed well, it can really catch on here. Will it be bigger than the Preds or Titans...I highly doubt it ever will. But it certainly could be profitable and hopefully they will have some success early on to get folks on the fence fired up about it. I, personally, am excited about it and am looking forward to having the franchise here. I think it's a sport that appeals to a younger demographic that grew up playing the sport...I just hope the level of competition in the MLS improves to get close to the level you see overseas.

I have a harder time seeing how MLB works here. I fully admit that part of it is that I'm a Nashville lifer that has heard for XX years that "It can't work here" and have come to accept that as fact. A lot has changed since the days of Larry Schmittou's pitch to get a team to relocate here (or was it the Rockies/Marlins expansion phase?).

But I'd also argue that this is a city with divided MLB loyalties: Braves (always the Braves), Cards, Reds all within a 5 hour driving distance or less. We're a pretty saturated market for fans' sports dollars (though the counter-point is that the Titans and Preds won't be playing during the majority of an MLB team's games). And drawing a decent crowd for a 81 home games in a 40,000 + seat ballpark is a much taller order than selling out 17,000 seat Bridgestone Arena for 41 regular season Preds games.

And, it pains me to say this, but MLB is struggling in some historically solid markets for the sport. Now, part of that is because of poor ownership in those markets and bad management decisions. It just seems like much less of a sure bet to me.

Finally, MLB seems to want to move more overseas. I think a Mexico City franchise makes sense, for example. Las Vegas (with some obvious issues aside) makes sense. Same for Portland. Nashville...less so to me.

Make no mistake, I am a baseball fan through and through. If we had an MLB team, I'd certainly consider buying a ticket package each year before I'd buy one for any of the other sports. But I am reluctantly skeptical that it will work here. If it happens...great! I'll still be a Reds fan first and a (still unsure how I like the name) Stars fan second.

Originally Posted by septimus

you know who needs a MLB team... Willco. Let them pay for it.

I agree with this. Namely because it's what the Braves recently did in moving the team to a more affluent area and building up a truly impressive baseball village around it.

[nashvols]

Originally Posted by DonCorleone

I agree with this. Namely because it's what the Braves recently did in moving the team to a more affluent area and building up a truly impressive baseball village around it.

I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, so I'm not going to bother to quote it. Well said.

I just want to bring up that in the case of the Braves moving to Cobb County, Braves ownership made out like bandits, and the taxpayers really got screwed hard.

I don't like suburban ballparks in general, but if it were to work, Cool Springs is probably where it would have to be. I wish that all the metro counties could share the costs and benefits of a pro team and/or stadium, but I think we know that the counties will never agree to that.

[DonCorleone]

Originally Posted by nashvols

I pretty much agree with the rest of your post, so I'm not going to bother to quote it. Well said.

I just want to bring up that in the case of the Braves moving to Cobb County, Braves ownership made out like bandits, and the taxpayers really got screwed hard.

I don't like suburban ballparks in general, but if it were to work, Cool Springs is probably where it would have to be. I wish that all the metro counties could share the costs and benefits of a pro team and/or stadium, but I think we know that the counties will never agree to that.

Oh I definitely agree that it was a shady deal and one that clearly benefitted ownership. There ain't a sports deal made that doesn't benefit ownership the most.

Counties sharing costs and benefits...unlikely as you said but more likely for a sports team than for something else that is radically needed. *cough*mass transit*cough*

[jjbradleynyc]

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is all for an MLB team in Nashville.

See article below:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashvill...-mlb-team.html

Although there would be a lot of work to do, and a couple year process, looks like support is growing for an MLB team to land in the Music City.

[jjbradleynyc]

MLB continuing to gain support and momentum in Nashville.

https://people.com/country/darius-ru...baseball-team/

[bayarearelocation]

I feel like a 4th franchise would catapult us up a tier.

We still need a good chinese spot and an ikea though.

[jjbradleynyc]

Originally Posted by bayarearelocation

I feel like a 4th franchise would catapult us up a tier.

We still need a good chinese spot and an ikea though.

It definitely would push the city up into a higher tier.

I think with all of the publicity and momentum, Nashville will get an MLB team--it will happen. It's just a matter of when: 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, etc. But I think there will be MLB in Nashville this decade.

In terms of Chinese, that is surprising, but I"m sure it is not far off from happening.

As far as IKEA goes, there was one being planned at the Antioch, TN site, but scrapped about a year and a half ago by IKEA. IKEA scrapped plans for all proposed stores in the US--one was cancelled in Atlanta, Nashville and a couple of other cities. I feel like Nashville may get a smaller urban IKEA store, which is the model for brick and mortar that I believe IKEA is exploring now for cities, rather than the massive stores of the past.