that follow other major sports team like the NHL’s Canadiens, CFL’s Alouettes and the USL’s Impact and would be ideal to draw fans from the Atlantic provinces giving the league and even larger audience. Plus, the city and region have a robust corporate community for sponsorships which is very important to the success of any franchise and oodles of wealthy surrounding suburbs. We believe that it is a matter of when and not if Portland, OR, USA will be the home of an MLB team. The MLB has flirted with Portland for years now, and for good reason. The city is wealthy with deep-seated sports allegiances that include pas- sionate support for the NBA’s Trail Blazers for decades, and MLS’s Timbers since 2011. Portland would make an excellent market for the MLB with the region having over 4.0 million people and close proximity to other regions and Canada’s West Coast, it is a top U.S. market, and reportedly has already submitted a letter of intent to build a ballpark to MLB, that shows that they want a time and we think it is only a matter of time before they will be saying “Play Ball” on Portland. We would say that San Antonio, TX, USA is also one of the front runners The city is fast growing, both literally and in the eyes of Major League Baseball. SanAntoniohasbeenhome to theMissions since1964, a Double-A team until 2019, when the city became home of theMilwaukee Brewers’ Triple-A club. San Antonio also would check a bunch of MLB boxes as it looks for expansion cities. It is a top-10 television market in the U.S., with about 2.5 million people in its metro region. It is far enough from Houston (about 200 miles) to not compete directly with the Astros and has the Alamodome, where a team could play until a more suitable MLB park were built.
U.S. cities without a Major League Baseball team, which is crazy considering how well the Triple-A Knights do along with other professional sports team in the region? The Charlotte Knights, which is the affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, ranked first in minor league attendance in 2018, averaging nearly 9,000 per game. Plus, Charlotte is a banking-industry hub, meaning there are tons of sponsorship opportuni- ties to go around even with other leagues calling the city home like the NHL’s Panthers (since 1995) and the NBA’s Hornets (since 1988, with a name change along the way) Not the city itself is among the fastest growing, with population rising nearly 20 percent since 2010 to just under 1 million people within the city limits. Yes, so will that this is Braves country, but there is something to be said about have your own team to cheer for and hopping on board a new fran- chise is a great way to change fan loyalties, just look at what the NHL has done in Las Vegas. Speaking of Las Vegas, NV, USA As we have mentioned you just have to look at the success of the NHL’s Vegas Knights going to the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season to know that Major League Baseball missed a glorious opportunity to be the first pro league in Las Vegas. Yes it is hot in the desert but that doesn’t mean MLB should abandon the thoughts of a team in the future and are thoughts are if you can play hockey there in the heat, the summer heat should not be a
Then there is Charlotte, NC, USA Did you know that Charlotte is one of the biggest
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • APRIL 2019
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