Major League Baseball

[PoliSciGuy]

Yeah baseball is a huge regional sport, just not much of a national one.

Now whether or not an OKC team could get 35-40k to show up on a nightly basis when they're winning, could be a bit of a stretch. Also, any stadium here would almost have to be domed given our heat, which increases either the public money outlays (please no) or increases the cost of private funding.

[BoulderSooner]

Yeah baseball is a huge regional sport, just not much of a national one.

Now whether or not an OKC team could get 35-40k to show up on a nightly basis when they're winning, could be a bit of a stretch. Also, any stadium here would almost have to be domed given our heat, which increases either the public money outlays (please no) or increases the cost of private funding.

yep ..

also as much as people want to cheer the nba on the national level .. ... really it gets about the same ratings as MLB for the playoffs (sometimes baseball wins)

[Southsider2]

Agree w you Boulder. I think when you look at the rumored relocation spots for the A's we're just not quite on the same level yet. I think Vegas, Portland, Montreal, and Nashville are all superior baseball markets. I actually think a team in Nashville would kill and they have a group that's highly motivated to land a team.

[mugofbeer]

You’re right about that, my friend!

The 68.5 million who attended MLB in 2019 and tens of millions more that watched games on TV would say otherwise. The only thing about baseball that is dying is radio but there are even people who listen while doing other things.

[mugofbeer]

Agree w you Boulder. I think when you look at the rumored relocation spots for the A's we're just not quite on the same level yet. I think Vegas, Portland, Montreal, and Nashville are all superior baseball markets. I actually think a team in Nashville would kill and they have a group that's highly motivated to land a team.

I think OKC would have a much better chance of NFL.

[PoliSciGuy]

Yeah Charlotte, Vegas, Nashville, Vancouver, Portland all have a leg up. I'm a huge baseball fan but I just don't see OKC pulling in an MLB team without a local billionaire basically doing it single-handed. Enjoy the AAA Dodgers, the feeder team for one of the best teams in the majors and a pretty darned good facility.

I think OKC has a better chance at the NHL and MLS as their next professional team in the short term.

[Jersey Boss]

^ Agree with this. Nothing wrong with AAA. I doubt MLB has 10 buck Tuesday.

[HOT ROD]

I think OKC should go after MLS next and then NFL for the next major league franchises. We obviously could go after the MLS as part of the new MAPS stadium and then in 10 or so years go after the NFL. That to me would be the natural maturity of OKC as a major league market and likely the perfect amount and type of sports OKC and it's market will support.

AAA baseball and the return of AAA Hockey would complete the circuit making a well rounded sports city that once was just OU and (to a much lesser extent) OSU 15ish-years ago.

[Dob Hooligan]

I think OKC should go after MLS next and then NFL for the next major league franchises. We obviously could go after the MLS as part of the new MAPS stadium and then in 10 or so years go after the NFL. That to me would be the natural maturity of OKC as a major league market and likely the perfect amount and type of sports OKC and it's market will support.

AAA baseball and the return of AAA Hockey would complete the circuit making a well rounded sports city that once was just OU and (to a much lesser extent) OSU 15ish-years ago.

I think MLS has a pretty well defined "pathway to the bigs" as it were, and OKC is between number 36 and 40 IIRC. I think the Funk group has been working carefully for about 10 years to that end, but it is a long and expensive process.

I would suggest that OU football is a "major league" football franchise today. I think it has greater brand recognition and enterprise value that a half dozen NFL teams.

Much like Columbus Ohio with The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets NHL team; OKC has the Thunder and OU football that make us a 2 league city.

[SEMIweather]

Yeah, OKC is never getting an NFL team with OU football such a big deal in the state. MLS is maaaaaybe possible as I expect that they'll eventually expand to 40 teams, but the Energy need to get their act together, as the days of drawing 5k/game to Taft are long gone, they're lucky to get more than 2.5k these days. It's not hopeless though, the key will be capitalize on the momentum that happens whenever the MAPS 4 stadium gets built.

[Laramie]

What would it take to lure the Oakland A's to Oklahoma City IF we decided to bring MLB to our community:

Oklahoma Athletics


Rivals: Texas, Colorado, Kansas City, Houston & St. Louis.

Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark could be expanded to be used as a temporary home with 20,566 maximum seating capacity adding 7,500 seats in the outfield and removing the tarps on the current 13,066 venue. Parking and shuttle we could accommodate.

Oklahoma City would need to build a new 40,000 plus seat facility on city owned land extending MAPS 4 (2028) to pay for a new $600 million (bare bones) minimum) facility that could open in 2030.

In 2030, Oklahoma population will exceed 4 million, our metro area projected 1.6 million, Urban City Population 750,000, County 821,230 at the current growth rate. These demographics are similar to Milwaukee's current numbers--smallest MLB market.

Question: Would MLB impact and retain resident population, although the game itself isn't changing. Could our state support both MLB & NBA...

Oklahoma City/Tulsa would probably be the smallest market TV and population wise which would include state's two largest markets, currently there are 755,340 OKC and 552,980 TUL; represent 1,308,280 current TV households Nielsen https://mediatracks.com/resources/ni...rankings-2021/ Population Metro OKC 1,425,375/Tulsa Metro 1,006,411 Combined total 2,431,786. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

Ideally you need 1 million per major sport (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL).

As much as I personally would like to see MLB in OKC which I would support; we don't have the corporate base and this would be a gamble that could impact both NBA and MLB if the Oakland A's were to relocate as early as 2022-23 season using Bricktown as a temporary home.

[Laramie]

It's neat that our city is being mentioned as a possible relocation site for the Oakland Athletics.



Link: https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2021/5...ial-relocation

.

[OKCDrummer77]

It's neat that our city is being mentioned as a possilble relocation site for the Oakland Athletics.



Link: https://www.crawfishboxes.com/2021/5...ial-relocation

.

I read that last line like a Family Feud question: "Top four answers are on the board. We surveyed 100 people. If the Oakland A's moved somewhere..."

[Laramie]

I read that last line like a Family Feud question: "Top four answers are on the board. We surveyed 100 people. If the Oakland A's moved somewhere..."

OKC only has 1.4 million in our metro area (includes Norman), 3.97 million in our state (69,899 square miles land area); however we are poised for future growth. An MLB team would be a strain on our city which hasn't reached 2 million in our MSA and our corporate base.

Portland completely reconfigured its largest multipurpose venue (Providence Park) for MLS Soccer and dropped AAA baseball. With 2.5 million MSA, Portland appears ripe for the Oakland A's. Portland supports the NBA Portland Trailblazers and the MLS Portland Timbers.

The Rose City has a good retirement base. Does Portland want MLB is the unknown variable. This city IMO should be getting prepped for the NFL. You have two major universities Oregon State (Corvallis) & Oregon (Eugene) some 80 - 105 miles away. The State of Oregon boast 4.27 million (98,381 square miles land area).

[mugofbeer]

I wonder if, to get a team, a retractible dome would be necessary for beginning and end of year? Are they willing to pony up that much for sports when there are homeless to feed and house?

[BoulderSooner]

Does Portland want MLB is the unknown variable. .

it is not "unknown" the A's have already visited portland .. and they have a stadium plan in the works

[Laramie]

it is not "unknown" the A's have already visited portland .. and they have a stadium plan in the works

Great news. BTW do you have a copy or a link to those plans...

[Laramie]

Here's a link of a rendering that is most recent on Portland MLB Stadium plans: https://ballparkdigest.com/2021/04/2...plan-unveiled/

Not only are they talking about the relocation of the Oakland A's and a new home for the Rays, there are further talk of expansion of MLB to two more teams reaching 32 franchises.

You're going to hear more talk involving cities like Brooklyn (NBA), Nashville (NFL, NHL), Charlotte (NFL, NBA), Las Vegas (NFL, NHL), Indianapolis (NFL, NBA), Montreal and some markets under 2 million MSA like Louisville (1,268,993), Memphis (1,348,678), Oklahoma City (1,425,375) & Raleigh (1,420,376).

Louisville would be the favorite among small markets because Memphis, Oklahoma City have existing NBA franchises & Raleigh (NHL).

[kukblue1]

I'm not trying to trigger anyone here but I will point out that Portland right now is a mess of a city with the riots and protest. Crime is through the roof. Until things get cleaned up Portland might be a hard sale. I know other cities have crime too but Portland is a mess right now.

[Brett]

Could Salt Lake City, UT be an option for the A's relocation?

[BoulderSooner]

Great news. BTW do you have a copy or a link to those plans...

here is there official website

https://portlanddiamondproject.com/

[Mississippi Blues]

I'm not trying to trigger anyone here but I will point out that Portland right now is a mess of a city with the riots and protest. Crime is through the roof. Until things get cleaned up Portland might be a hard sale. I know other cities have crime too but Portland is a mess right now.

This would obviously have been true at one point within the last year, but Portland is by all means back to “normal” right now. It might seem like a mess if places like Oklahoma City or Indianapolis or Nashville are your main reference point for normal but as far as Portland (really the entire west coast) goes, things are fairly routine right now. Either way, I don’t think any of that stuff is of concern to the MLB or the PDP group. There are some voices in the local media that would prefer the PDP project be put on the back burner for now to focus on more looming issues and there isn’t any major political voices looking to expedite the MLB to Portland, but from the aspect of it possibly missing out on the A’s over recent discourse, that really isn’t even in the discussion.

[GoGators]

I don't understand the narrative that Portland is some dangerous place now. Portland's number of homicides doubled from 2018 to 2020 and OKC still has more homicides per year than Portland. Burglaries, robberies, assault, all higher in OKC than Portland in 2020. This has been the case for several years. If "crime" was going to keep the MLB out of a city it would scratch OKC off of any list well before Portland.

[jedicurt]

I don't understand the narrative that Portland is some dangerous place now. Portland's number of homicides doubled from 2018 to 2020 and OKC still has more homicides per year than Portland. Burglaries, robberies, assault, all higher in OKC than Portland in 2020. This has been the case for several years. If "crime" was going to keep the MLB out of a city it would scratch OKC off of any list well before Portland.

because the narrative right now is that Portland is like Baghdad circa 2003.. narratives are often not true but still many people want to believe them

[Mississippi Blues]

I would agree, it seems to go back to rhetoric mixed with unfamiliarity more than reality. It does also have a grittiness that can be off-putting if you aren’t acclimated with it but perception can be misleading.