Expansion is coming to MLB in the next few years, and cities are lining up to make their case to current commissioner Rob Manfred for one of the expected two franchise expansion slots.
Nashville wants in. The cities of Raleigh and Charlotte in North Carolina are both interested. Canadian cities like Vancouver and Montreal seem to be in the mix. And most recently, we’ve seen new efforts from Portland and Sacramento to bring another franchise to the Pacific.
On the other side of the country, though, another city is trying to build its case why MLB should come to their town: Orlando, Florida.
Under the “Orlando Dreamers” project, a group of investors hopes to bring another major sports franchise to a city that already has the NBA’s Orlando Magic.
The team has already reportedly secured over $2 billion to bring a team to the city, with hopes that Manfred and the other owners will choose them.
And while I have nothing against the “Dreamers” group or their desire to bring an MLB franchise to their city, I’m going to be straightforward here: No.
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No to the Orlando Dreamers. No to the Orlando Sunshine. No to the Orlando Mickey Mouses. I don’t care what they are called; I don’t want an Orlando team in MLB.
MLB currently has two Florida teams, the Miami Marlins and the Tampa Bay Rays, and attendance for both is abysmal. We can talk about how the Rays play too far from the city center or about the Marlins’ bad ownership, but it doesn’t matter when attendance for both has been atrocious for decades at this point.
“But if there was a good ownership in Florida, the fans would show up! Didn’t you see the World Baseball Classic?”
I did, and the WBC was fantastic. And if Orlando wants a team, then let’s move the Rays there. Or the Marlins. Flip a coin. I’m not fully anti-Orlando, but I’m more against the idea of a third Florida team in the state when one of them has a half-destroyed stadium, while the other looks half-destroyed because it’s always so empty.
Orlando Rays or Orlando Marlins, maybe.
An expansion Orlando franchise?
I’d rather they put a team in Mexico City or London.
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