

“There’s tremendous growth from all across the country, people migrating here.” “This is a music hub, an entertainment hub,” Stewart said, noting that baseball has held its winter meetings in Nashville. A well-organized expansion group that includes Stewart, Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa and some big hitters from the music business. A trendy city that has shown it can support big league sports with the NFL’s Titans and NHL’s Predators. Pros: Instant rivalries with teams such as the Braves and Reds. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of the expected expansion candidates, who all must come to the table with a deep-pocketed ownership group and firm plans for a new stadium: “That’s really heartbreaking for me and heartbreaking for the community.”īut with Las Vegas set to be the new home of the Athletics, a strong challenger to Nashville and any other expansion bid has been eliminated.

“The history, legacy and tradition of the Oakland A’s is no longer going to be there,” Stewart said Friday in a telephone interview. Phillies slugger Harper expected to return to lineup Tuesday “It’s trying to get today’s generation back at the ballpark and in the game.

“The game is ready to grow its fan base,” said former big league pitcher Dave Stewart, one of the leaders of a Nashville expansion effort that already has nicknamed its potential team the Stars. When the Athletics tidy up the multi-billion-dollar details in Sin City, where they’re expected to reside by the 2027 season if not sooner, a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays will be the last hurdle to a 32-team major leagues.įor sure, the lobbying has already begun for cities like Nashville, Charlotte, Montreal, Portland and recently pitched expansion candidate Salt Lake City. MLB is now a significant step closer to expansion, which will bring two more long-overdue franchises into the big leagues while also necessitating the creation of eight new minor-league teams around the country. The Oakland Athletics will be packing their bags for Las Vegas, a long-expected move that will affect baseball’s fandom far beyond those two cities.
