Baseball professionals in Nashville talk about MLB coming to the city.
Tommy Deas, Nashville Tennessean
Raise your hand if you think differently about Nashville as a Major League Baseball destination after reading Tommy Deas’ extensive piece on the matter. If you haven’t read it, start there. I have been dismissive of this idea – as dismissive as the mayor’s office was back in July when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred threw out Nashville among five other cities as possible expansion sites. And the questions of who’s paying for yet another new stadium and how this city would support another team remain massive.
Still, it’s at least fun to imagine, right? And there’s more than that happening. John Loar comes with more questions, such as who is paying him to analyze Nashville and other cities for MLB viability (he says he signed a non-disclosure agreement), and how he might be involved if things move forward. We know he has been involved in failed bids to purchase the Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins. We know he’s been able to attract some support and he’s in media blitz stage right now. I want to know more about how city leaders view him and how inclined they are to work with him.
Loar does bring up some good points, though. The idea of the Titans and the (fill in baseball team name) sharing space and financial benefits is intriguing and has worked in other cities. The tourism here offsets market size, at least to some extent. And the market size is growing. The landscape changes fast. I remember early in the days of Nashville’s MLS bid, asking Butch Spyridon to give his frank assessment of the chances of actually landing a franchise. He said 50/50 and I couldn’t believe it. It turns out he wasn’t confident enough.
By the way, soccer. That’s next. We’ll soon see how a city that has not been filling Nissan Stadium for its NFL team will support its MLS team. Baseball, that’s far away in many ways – though I imagine mine isn’t the only mind that’s a bit more open to the possibility today.
Contact Joe Rexrode at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.
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