Expansion Time

With everyone in Major League Baseball trying to find ways to improve or change the game in some form, I wonder why it hasn't occurred to someone to suggest another expansion? In the "Expansion Era" (1961-present), fourteen teams were added to the MLB. Now baseball has gone longer without expanding since the era started.

The last expansion draft was in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks being added to the MLB. That's sixteen years without adding a new team. Since the era started, the MLB has had expansions in 1961, 1962, 1969 (4 teams), 1977, 1992, and 1998. The biggest gap as you can see was fifteen years.

So why is expansion needed? First off, the AL and NL both have fifteen teams now. Because of this, every game day, there is an interleague matchup happening. Now I'm not exactly against interleague play, but it was supposed to be something special. Now it's common place and because of this, TV ratings and fan attendance will drop slightly. It takes the fun and mystique out of it. Adding two more teams in an expansion will create equal sixteen team leagues, which can be divided to into four team divisions. That's four first place teams that can go to the playoffs.

Second, there are markets that can flourish with MLB teams. San Jose has been trying to steal the A's from Oakland or Giants from San Francisco, but they're so close to the Bay area, that I think that they are best served by hosting a Triple A level team. Markets I think can handle a MLB team include Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, and Charlotte.

Third, with team's payrolls raising up so high, two more teams can spread out the cost to pay the players. The highest cost players would be spread among thirty-two teams instead of thirty. This would leave more room for teams to play/sign lower cost players, thus lowering their payroll.

I would split the divisions like this....
AL North: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles
AL South: Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros
AL Central: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers
AL West: ANAHEIM Angels, Oakland A's, Seattle Mariners, LAS VEGAS BANDITS

NL East: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates
NL South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Moonshiners, St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies
NL West: LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks

So as you can see, my expansion team cities would be Las Vegas and Charlotte. I think these areas would be most appreciative of an MLB team. Las Vegas is dying for a professional sports team in general and if they built a stadium similar to where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, it could work with the extreme temperatures. Also Las Vegas is larger than teams that already have teams such as Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

In the case of Charlotte, I believe that Charlotte can grow as a sports city. With teams like the NBA's Bobcats, NFL's Carolina Panthers, and NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, why wouldn't this be a city to host the MLB? Also many banks call Charlotte their headquarter city. It should be easy to find corporate sponsors for a stadium and with a growing population, a growing fan base can provide an even better financial backing.

So in what baseball historians still term "The Expansion Era" why has baseball still yet to expand? There's no reason not to. It could give the American and National Leagues a form of symmetry as both leagues could have an equal amount of teams and divisions could be split into an even 4 teams a piece. Baseball should start now since it tends to take several years for an MLB to set up. They need to find/build a stadium, develop a minor league system, and the season before, hold an expansion draft.

In my opinion, it's time to expand.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas deserves their own pro sports team. Yes, they have lower level teams such as a Triple A minor league baseball team, but I think it's time that the city gets to take on a top level team. The city has hosted the NBA All-Star game before to test the waters and all went well. The MLB has thrown Las Vegas into the hat of nominees for expansion cities during the nineties. Unfortunately, nothing has quite caught on.

Las Vegas has two million people in the metro area, which is the twenty-eighth largest metro area in the United States. That's not counting the tourist that come there. It's the largest tourist spot in the United States and I'm sure that a few of these people are sports fans. The MLB classified the city as a mid-sized market city at best, but I disagree. With the right marketing to tourists, they could bring in the same amount of fans that a large market team does.

One of the requirements of a city gaining a pro team, is an owner local to the area with a large amount of money to run a franchise. Las Vegas has plenty of people that fit this category. The Maloof family is based out of Las Vegas and currently own the Sacramento Kings. They are looking to move the team out of Sacramento, but have considered Anaheim to be the most likely option. The Kings then would become the Monarchs (the Maloof brothers reportedly copyrighted the name Anaheim Monarchs). Why not move the team to Vegas?

Also Steve Wynn lives in Las Vegas and owns a lot of successful projects out there including many hotels. Why not a pro sports team? Other notables in the Las Vegas area are Benny Binion, Andre Agassi, Larry Ruvo, and even Penn & Teller have mentioned during interviews about possibly investing in a sports teams as partial owners.

I doubt the NFL would be an option unless a team commits to moving to Las Vegas. I also don't believe the NHL would likely move there because of the lack hockey already there, except for a minor league hockey team. This is why I think the NBA or the MLB are the more likely options.

The NBA because of the successful All-Star game already there and the current resident/NBA team owners, the Maloofs already residing there. Another reason is that the NBA seems to be more open to their teams moving with the Sacramento Kings rumors, the Seattle Sonics becoming the Oklahoma Thunder, and the Charlotte Hornets becoming the New Orleans Hornets, all in recent years.

The MLB would be another option with the American League West being short a team compared to the other divisions. Nearby in Phoenix, the Diamondbacks play in a great stadium built for nearly the same weather that Las Vegas has. With a retractable roof, it's great for sunny, nice weather games, but also air conditioned for hotter weather.

I say bring on another expansion. Let me introduce my proposed team, the Las Vegas Outlaws. With red, black, and white colors and a cool logo, I can see their apparel selling to tourists and locals alike. With the right marketing and the right investors, I believe this franchise can be very successful.