MLB in OKC????

[Tydude]

https://twitter.com/randyrenner/stat...69677351964672

RandyRenner: Wow, MLB Commish Rob Manfred says #OKC could be considered for MLB franchise, expansion or relocation

[dankrutka]

Here's the article: Rob Manfred sees expansion in MLB's future

It's pretty cool for OKC to be mentioned, but that's some pretty stiff competition for a team. I've always thought OKC would struggle to support both MLB and NBA teams. Most studies indicate a city needs a million people for each pro franchise to be successful. OKC falls well short of that mark, and baseball might be the most demanding sport for a city to support - 30,000 for 81 games?!?

I've always thought OKC could handle a MLS team or maybe even an NFL team with only 8 home games (but that could really hurt OU and OSU). Just remember, sometimes cities names are thrown out there as threats more so than legitimate destinations for a franchise.

[Jake]

I'd absolutely love that. Like you said though, I don't really think OKC could support an MLB team until the city approaches 2 million. Even then, a lot of cities with millions of people have problems filling the stands regularly.

I think OKC being mentioned as a potential expansion city (legitimate or not) is kind of cool, though.

[OKCretro]

Yea, i think it's cool, not sure how relastic in the next 5 years but maybe in 10 years who knows.

I know Tampa built there dome before they got a team. I wonder if we built a cool 30k seat stadium would they guarantee us a team?

[adaniel]

The OKC metro area is projected to add about 500K people in the next 25 years, it could certainly be a possibility then.

While highly unrealistic now, it's still pretty badass that we are even being mentioned by people so high up in MLB. Really shows this area's growing status.

I'll add if you think Mark Cuban threw a tantrum when the Thunder moved to OKC, just wait to see the reaction of the Rangers, Cardinals, and Rockies if this ever happened.

[OKCretro]

The cardinals would flip out. You forgot the royals too wouldn't be happy

[theparkman81]

That will be cool if we can get a MLB team here, I'll go to these games.

[chestercheetah]

duplicate

[Jersey Boss]

Right now MLB has 2 "leagues"( the concept of separate leagues was done away with in 2000, and interleague play is now the norm). Each league has 3 divisions with 5 teams in each division. This is quite a balanced set up and I don't see MLB expanding to 36 teams to keep this balance.

[OKCretro]

I think a relocation would be more practical but you never know. If they could add 2 more teams and charge those teams a 750 million expansion fee a piece (the nhl might get a 500 million expansion fee from Vegas and the Houston Texans had to pay $700 mil) the owners might not pass that up. Each owner could get a cool $50 million in that scenario. Wouldn't have to share any of that money with the players.

[dankrutka]

Two thoughts. First, regarding population, I suspect that a MLB team would draw really well from around the state and especially Tulsa. Maybe that helps bridge the population gap, especially if part of relocation required rail connections to Tulsa and the suburbs. Secondly, could the Bricktown ballpark be expanded to around 35,000 or would a whole new stadium be needed?

[Just the facts]

As much as I have enjoyed going to Dodger games, I just don't see OKC being able to host MLB baseball. I would rather see a focus on MLS.

[TU 'cane]

The least likely of all would be the NFL.
The proximity to markets such as Dallas, Denver, and Kansas City make it so. Oklahoma draws the most fans for those three organizations and it would by all means saturate this part of the country with Football. Secondly, we have the Sooners... And Cowboys of OSU.

MLS would probably be the next logical for both the league and the city. It doesn't require an absurd amount of ticket sales to be considered successful, for one. Oklahoma is still a Football state, but Soccer is certainly taking up interest every where rather quickly.

But, I just don't see the MLB taking this seriously. I would put this at the same level of seriousness as the Pittsburgh Penguins relocating to Tulsa - and yes, those talks seriously happened, but ultimately Tulsa was never really in the running as it was competing with the likes of Kansas City, and the host city, Pittsburgh itself. I think Oklahomans are content with the Cardinals and Rangers, and perhaps the Rockies to an extent. I don't mention the Royals because I don't count one or two seasons of bandwagoners.

OKC will need some good years of major population growth coming ahead, which will really only be driven by the economy, for it to really pop up (as in being a serious contender) on the radar for entities such as these. It's really cool though that OKC was mentioned, it's on the leagues radars for sure, but I think it's more of a tease. And here Tulsa is about to sell the Shock off to Dallas...

[blangtang]

Oakland and Tampa are the two teams that come to mind for relocation. Both have aging stadiums and reluctance from local leaders to find a solution.

[Snowman]

Here's the article: Rob Manfred sees expansion in MLB's future

It's pretty cool for OKC to be mentioned, but that's some pretty stiff competition for a team. I've always thought OKC would struggle to support both MLB and NBA teams. Most studies indicate a city needs a million people for each pro franchise to be successful. OKC falls well short of that mark, and baseball might be the most demanding sport for a city to support - 30,000 for 81 games?!?

I've always thought OKC could handle a MLS team or maybe even an NFL team with only 8 home games (but that could really hurt OU and OSU). Just remember, sometimes cities names are thrown out there as threats more so than legitimate destinations for a franchise.

On top of this, while any new pro team could be nice to have, MLB is structured in a way that generally puts teams from smaller markets at the worst competitive disadvantage from any of the other major leagues. Which makes supporting 30,000 for 81 games even harder than it would be supporting the attendance possibility of other leagues.

[borchard]

Nope

[Laramie]

Surprise to see OKC (1,336,767) among cities on the MLB radar list. Love the attention we received; it made me laugh & blush. Now, just how realistic this is makes me wonder if OKC & the state could support a MLB franchise in Oklahoma.

Kansas City (2,071,133) is currently the smallest MLB market in the U.S. They support MLB & NFL.

Oklahoma has produced its share of baseball's personality greats.

We're not ready for baseball on the MLB level.

[Zuplar]

I really think it's never going to happen. I really don't want us investing in bringing any additional sports here to be honest. Let's support and most importantly keep what we got. Who wants to be in the position to have to fend off a team from threatening to leave every 5 years cause they want the public to build them a new stadium when the teams make millions in revenue. I already have a feeling one of these days we will have that problem with the Thunder, so no sense in adding someone else into the mix.

[hoya]

Yeah this is cool from the sense of "we got mentioned and this raises the profile of our city". But I don't think it is realistic right now. Perhaps in 20 years we would be able to support them, but I don't think so today.

[shawnw]

Wow. I think that might be the first time I've seen Laramie say "no" to something for OKC. No disrespect intended. Was just surprised to see that. :-)

[Just the facts]

The thing with Tampa Bay , if we took the tarps off the 1st base upper deck and put in outfield seats they could play in the Brick and still maintain their current average attendance.

[gopokes88]

1st. Stop with the NFL talk. The NFL has 0 need for okc whatsoever. It's not even a question of could we support it, its a matter that we bring absolutely nothing to the NFL table. That's not so much even OKC's fault as it is the fact the NFL is just pure dominance. Think of it like Georgia Tech trying to get into the SEC, sure it might work but what's in it for the SEC? 0, nada, nothing.

2. The Rays actually only average 17,000 fans a game but still turn a profit of $7.9 million in an aging stadium in a town that couldn't care less about them.

3. Expansion isn't going to happen for us. The start up costs are massive.

4. But relocation could happen, and without any shred of a doubt in my mind it would succeed. Here's why.

I'm sure we would either heavily renovate Bricktown Ballpark or just build new (along the river for splash balls, urbanists figure out how make it nice and walkable). However, at max we would build a 35,000 seat park or an intimate park as they like to call them. It would function similar to how OSU football works. We may not have a ton of seats but cost per seat is way above average. That attempts to keep our revenue in line with other Big 12 schools. So the OKC MLB team would have expensive suites, club seats, and behind home plate. The second deck and outfield would be moderately priced for the average joe. Until we see that this sports obsessed state has a limit to money they'll spend on sports I'm not to worried about the ability to sell the high dollar tickets. (Seriously, OSU has the 2nd most suites in the nation behind Michigan and they are all sold out)

5. Baseball is unique because it has no salary cap and yet small market low spending teams have been finding success. It all depends on the farm system and how you develop your talent. This is why expansion wouldn't work for us. Starting a farm system from scratch is difficult and OKC would need the baseball team to be at least decent from the start. The A's and Rays are both teams that need new homes and could be relocated here. Both are successful enough the city would latch onto them easily.

6. Is there a group in OKC that is wealthy enough and connected enough to pull it off? The thunder's group is probably the best fit but most have their wealth from oil and gas the thunder is going deep into the tax the next few years (as they should to retain talent) they may not be as flush with cash as need be. However, maybe someone like Tom and Judy Love would be interested. The other flip of the coin is the connections, MLB has to like them, the team they are buying has to like them, and they need good relationships with the city because they will want some help from the city as well.

I think it could work.

It'd put OKC stature wise into a new level too. We would be out of the Jacksonville, Salt Lake City, Portland, tier of city. And go into the San Diego, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Seattle, KC, Tampa Bay (although if we scored the rays we would be ahead), and Charlotte tier. (there's probably some others I'm not thinking of, and I'm only counting the big 3((nba, nfl, mlb)), the drop-off from 3 to 4 is large)

Question is does someone with a pile of cash and a touch of boredom want an mlb team in okc?

[bradh]

How many cities out there have MLB and NBA but not NFL (besides Toronto and the LA teams, which have plenty more to offer)? Milwaukee (Packers should count, or at least the Bears).

[benjico]

How many cities out there have MLB and NBA but not NFL (besides Toronto and the LA teams, which have plenty more to offer)? Milwaukee (Packers should count, or at least the Bears).

I believe OKC would be the only city with a two-sport combination of MLB and NBA. (Milwaukee shouldn't count, they have an NFL team...their stadium just happens to be two hours north of downtown)

[benjico]

Here are the cities that have an MLB team and only one other big four team (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA). I did not include Oakland or Anaheim, because they are a part of the Bay Area and LA, respectively.

Baltimore - NFL and MLB
Cincinnati - NFL and MLB
Kansas City - NFL and MLB
San Diego - NFL and MLB
Seattle - NFL and MLB