Manfred realignment discussion

[ramfandan]

I have a few thoughts on how a Nashville team may affect St. Louis.
Note: Decades long Cardinal fan who lives 2 hours from Nashville.
1) Cardinal fans from Little Rock, Ark. would be about half hour closer to Nashv than St. Louis so Cardd lose some of Ark fanbase.
Southern Illinois and SW Kentucky area too.
In summer, fans that could travel to either would most likely pick Nashville. Downtown Broadway St. country bars . Also in June, they have huge Country Music Fest 4 days 95,000 people.
Also in August, baseball fans could take in pro football game Titans.In Sept. fans could see NFL football AND MLB game on same weekend. No longer true in St. Louis since Rams left. Brand new FL New Nissan stadium will open in 2027. Combine that with a new baseball stadium and big draw. Grand Ole Opry is in Nashville too.
Fans who have a similar driving distance IMO would find Nashville as much more inviting for things to do.
This is very long term but Nashville pro team may be smart to align with Memphis for Triple A team. So locals in that area would switch allegiance to their home state team and much closer too.. 200 miles ..a 3 hour drive. So bye bye Memphis Redbirds fans.
A Nashville team would shrink Cards fanbase resulting in more attendance loss.
Just a few examples.

You are ironically making the case for Nashville to get a team. (Nashville also doesn't have as good of a zoo, an arch, a world-famous brewery, a Six Flags, etc) It may be a slight hit to St. Louis, but likely worse for Atlanta if at all.

Fans aren't going to arbitrarily chose to go to a new team because it's an hour closer of a drive. The Cardinals lost Louisville back in 1998 or so, but managed to survive. The vast majority of attendance is from the metro area.

Maybe Memphis goes to Nashville, but we get Indianapolis from Pittsburgh? I think it's more likely that Nashville would bump Knoxville up from AA and take the Cubs affiliate there instead.

It's more likely that Charlotte and Portland get teams anyway, with Vegas and Orlando getting the relocated teams.

The demographics determines what attracts the fans. When in my 30’s living out of state from Mo., four of us went to multiple ardinsl games. Yes, first time we went to zoo, Arch, brewery , not Six Flags, did take them to Ted Drew’s though. On subsequent trips, no Arch ( thatis s one and done type draw.. been there done that ), same with zoo,
Brewery did return asthey wanted a couple free beers lol
So for mom,dad, and 2 kids St. Louis has some nice stops..for 4 adult young guys they would favor Nashville with Broadway country pubs, music places, NFL football venue, etc.

[The Nard]

Main point is: will such a move “save” baseball, and improve the viewership, both on tv and at the parks? Doubtful.

And it’s getting to be a more economic thing; most families may save up to go to a weekend game, once, maybe twice, a year. And you may no longer follow your preferred team on tv. Fix that, Mighty Manfred, and you’ll be doing good.

Revenue hit a record level in 2024 and has been increasing every year prior for a long time.

This would absolutely increase the sports revenue. Which is all they care about. Likely by $600M a year which is a little below the average revenue generated per team.

The revenue increase is purely due to inflation, in ticket prices, and tv revenue. And in the future, with 2 more teams. Struggling teams would continue to struggle.

[billybaseball]

3 expansion teams- Charlotte, Nashville and Utah

Combine the AL and NL divisions into one East, Central and West divisions.

Charlotte goes east, Nashville central and Utah west

3 divisions 11 teams each

Top team in each division gets a 1st round bye

2nd best record of non division winner gets 1st round bye

eight team WC round 3 game series

top 4 teams play doubke elimination round robin tournament with winner getting home field advantage and pick ofv1st round opponent

[PadsFS07]

Main point is: will such a move “save” baseball, and improve the viewership, both on tv and at the parks? Doubtful.

And it’s getting to be a more economic thing; most families may save up to go to a weekend game, once, maybe twice, a year. And you may no longer follow your preferred team on tv. Fix that, Mighty Manfred, and you’ll be doing good.

Revenue hit a record level in 2024 and has been increasing every year prior for a long time.

This would absolutely increase the sports revenue. Which is all they care about. Likely by $600M a year which is a little below the average revenue generated per team.

The revenue increase is purely due to inflation, in ticket prices, and tv revenue. And in the future, with 2 more teams. Struggling teams would continue to struggle.

The worst teams still generate $200-300M in revenue. With low payrolls and revenue-sharing...I don't think struggle is the word I would use. The Marlins received $70M after making $296M in revenue with an $86M payroll. Other employees, minor leagues, draft costs, and stadium upkeep can't possibly cost more than $280M (publicly funded stadium at that)