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Nashville as MLB Expansion/Relocation Market


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They wouldn't have to do anything, but strategically, they may look into moving to a new market. Perhaps to Franklin, M'boro... or Cookeville... or Chattanooga if the Lookouts are forced out of the league. But a bigger question would be what would happen to First Horizon park? 

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7 hours ago, jmtunafish said:

Would the Sounds remain a AAA franchise?  If so, it would be awesome for Chattanooga to have a AAA baseball team, particularly if the Chattanooga Sounds could be the AAA farm team of the Nashville Stars.  (And I love the name Nashville Stars, by the way.)

Yes---they would remain Trip A.  Currently the Sounds are the primary farm team fro the Oakland A's.  There needs to be one AAA team for every MLB team. If the Nashville Stars were an expansion team, then a corresponding new AAA market would need to be named.  If the Stars were a relocation from another MLB market, then they would retain the Triple A team of that franchise.  These relationships between Major League and AAA franchises change often, so there's a chance that the Stars would want to have their AAA team be nearby for easier shuttling of players for call-ups, etc.  

Louisville is already tied-in with the Reds. Memphis is tied-in with the Cards. Indianapolis is tied-in with the Pirates. New Orleans is tied-in with the Marlins.  Charlotte is tied-in with the White Sox.  Gwinnett is tied-in with the Braves.  The most attractive in that group would be Memphis and Charlotte.

AA cities that are near Nashville include Birmingham, Chattanooga,  Jackson (TN), Jacksonville, Pearl (MS), Montgomery, Pensacola, Huntsville, Knoxville, and Little Rock.  The most attractive of that group would be Birmingham. 

 

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51 minutes ago, markhollin said:

I believe the territory rulings are in regards of one minor league city to another, and one MLB city to another.  If an MLB team comes into a minor league city, there is not much a the minor team can do about it. 

I hope you are correct, but the Sounds owner appears to disagree. 

https://tennesseelookout.com/2020/07/27/why-metros-deal-with-the-sounds-is-a-major-hurdle-for-mlb-to-nashville/

Under MLB rules, the owner of a minor league franchise controls the rights to baseball within a territory.

First Horizon Park triggered other development, Ward says

That means in order to bring MLB to Nashville, Music City Baseball would have to buy out Ward’s territorial rights and Metro would have to navigate walking away from an expensive financial commitment that has helped spur development.

“We control the rights to professional baseball in Nashville and the immediate vicinity,” Ward said. “I’ve been told in discussions with (MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office) and an owner who owns a major league team that if expansion happens, they think they’re probably five years away. Even if it happens, there’s no guarantee that Nashville is going to be one of the expansion cities.”

Ward said that in order for a major league team to enter the Nashville market, the new franchise would have to acquire his territory.

“I would have a seat at the table,” Ward said. “And clearly, if it is economically feasible we would want to be the ones to bring a major league team to Nashville, and by having a seat at the table it may give me a leg up economically to accomplish that goal.”

 

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In my 5 decades of baseball fandom and following things like MLB expansion/relocations pretty closely, I cannot recall a minor league team in a city holding up a major league team's arrival.  This includes Montreal, Toronto, Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Dallas, and Miami.

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1 hour ago, nashvylle said:

I hope you are correct, but the Sounds owner appears to disagree. 

https://tennesseelookout.com/2020/07/27/why-metros-deal-with-the-sounds-is-a-major-hurdle-for-mlb-to-nashville/

Under MLB rules, the owner of a minor league franchise controls the rights to baseball within a territory.

First Horizon Park triggered other development, Ward says

That means in order to bring MLB to Nashville, Music City Baseball would have to buy out Ward’s territorial rights and Metro would have to navigate walking away from an expensive financial commitment that has helped spur development.

“We control the rights to professional baseball in Nashville and the immediate vicinity,” Ward said. “I’ve been told in discussions with (MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s office) and an owner who owns a major league team that if expansion happens, they think they’re probably five years away. Even if it happens, there’s no guarantee that Nashville is going to be one of the expansion cities.”

Ward said that in order for a major league team to enter the Nashville market, the new franchise would have to acquire his territory.

“I would have a seat at the table,” Ward said. “And clearly, if it is economically feasible we would want to be the ones to bring a major league team to Nashville, and by having a seat at the table it may give me a leg up economically to accomplish that goal.”

 

I have never seen these contracts and have no idea about the nature of the rights that Ward is claiming here...

That said, the fact that he's anchoring his argument on the idea that the Sounds have helped spur development makes me think that it's not as cut and dried as he'd like us to believe. 

Further, in my experience, people who claim they 'should' or 'would' have a seat at a table where no seat for them currently exists - typically don't actually have a seat at the table.

Also, Ward's 'leg up' quote gives the posturing game away, in my opinion, as well. Ward claims he's got leverage, but does he actually think that he's going to put together a rival investment group to compete with the current group that's out there making waves, or is he just hoping to pressure them to carve off a little slice of equity for him to avoid the hassle? My suspicion is the latter.

And to piggyback on Mark's point, there's also the very practical issue that publicly attempting to stop an MLB expansion/relocation is unlikely to be viewed favorably by local baseball fans, the most hardcore of which make up a significant portion of the Sounds fanbase. That's not going to be good for business.

This all reads to me like a plea for the Stars to just give him something/anything to go away quietly when the time comes. 

Edited by ruraljuror
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41 minutes ago, markhollin said:

In my 5 decades of baseball fandom and following things like MLB expansion/relocations pretty closely, I cannot recall a minor league team in a city holding up a major league team's arrival.  This includes Montreal, Toronto, Seattle, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Dallas, and Miami.

 

25 minutes ago, ruraljuror said:

I have never seen these contracts and have no idea about the nature of the rights that Ward is claiming here...

That said, the fact that he's anchoring his argument on the idea that the Sounds have helped spur development makes me think that it's not as cut and dried as he'd like us to believe. 

Further, in my experience, people who claim they 'should' or 'would' have a seat at a table where no seat for them currently exists - typically don't actually have a seat at the table.

Also, Ward's 'leg up' quote gives the posturing game away, in my opinion, as well. Ward claims he's got leverage, but does he actually think that he's going to put together a rival investment group to compete with the current group that's out there making waves, or is he just hoping to pressure them to carve off a little slice of equity for him to avoid the hassle? My suspicion is the latter.

And to piggyback on Mark's point, there's also the very practical issue that publicly attempting to stop an MLB expansion/relocation is unlikely to be viewed favorably by local baseball fans, the most hardcore of which make up a significant portion of the Sounds fanbase. That's not going to be good for business.

This all reads to me like a plea for the Stars to just give him something/anything to go away quietly when the time comes. 

Valid points, and for the record, I was not saying I agree with Ward... I found it weird that I couldn't find anything online about MiLB territory over MLB... seems weird to me.

 

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Speaking of major-league affiliations, the Sounds today announced they are switching from the Oakland A's to the Milwaukee Brewers as their parent club starting in 2021.   They had been affiliated with the Brewers before from '05 to '14.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/09/nashville-sounds-milwaukee-brewers-affiliate-2021.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

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On 12/9/2020 at 12:49 AM, nashvylle said:

The history behind the name, and the opportunity to be the first MLB team to honor a negro league name, makes it very cool IMO. 

That I can not argue with. I did not realize the name has a storied history as such.

Edited by NashRugger
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16 hours ago, markhollin said:

Speaking of major-league affiliations, the Sounds today announced they are switching from the Oakland A's to the Milwaukee Brewers as their parent club starting in 2021.   They had been affiliated with the Brewers before from '05 to '14.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/09/nashville-sounds-milwaukee-brewers-affiliate-2021.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

This may be the only case where the minor league MSA population is larger than the major league MSA.

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21 hours ago, markhollin said:

Speaking of major-league affiliations, the Sounds today announced they are switching from the Oakland A's to the Milwaukee Brewers as their parent club starting in 2021.   They had been affiliated with the Brewers before from '05 to '14.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/09/nashville-sounds-milwaukee-brewers-affiliate-2021.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_34&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

As  Brewers fan, very happy they are going back to Sounds as AAA affiliate!

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