MLB expansion talks could happen ‘pretty shortly’ after Rays, A’s stadium disputes settled, says Rob Manfred

Major League Baseball intends to explore potential expansion to 32 teams “pretty soon” after the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics have resolved their stadium situations, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Manfred added that the A’s have started their relocation paperwork, a necessary step in their attempt to move to Las Vegas, Nevada in the coming years.

It should come as no surprise that MLB’s flirtation with expansion would come after the Rays and A’s reach resolutions. After all, as CBS Sports explained a few years ago, pro sporting leagues always like to leave viable markets open—that way, they can leverage potential relocation against existing markets.

Rob Manfred on expansion: "I hope" to establish an expansion committee "pretty shortly thereafter" A's and Rays situations are settled. He wants realignment questions settled before soliciting new cities.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) July 11, 2023

Why Mexico City faces an uphill climb toward landing a Major League Baseball franchise

The fluctuating nature of Mexico’s currency, the peso and its relative weakness against the dollar has also long been an issue. A study by Mexico’s Department of Labor released last year found that the average salary for a Mexico City resident fluctuates between 11,904 and 12,931 pesos per month, which converts to about $660 and $720 U.S. It would seem difficult to believe the market could produce a comparable amount of local revenue akin to any city in the United States.

That’s to say nothing of skyrocketing player payrolls in MLB, where the average for 2023 is $159,732,757. Eight teams, including the Padres, have blown past the $200 million mark. The New York Mets will spend over $344 million, more than twice the mean.

“It’s viable, maybe not in the short term, but later on,” said Eduardo Ortega, the Padres’ Spanish radio play-by-play voice. “Right now, economically speaking, such a thing is prohibitive to most countries outside the United States. In Mexico, specifically, I think it’s hard to say this generation or even the next will see a franchise located here.”

Salt Lake City group joins MLB expansion chase

A Salt Lake City consortium led by the former owner of the Utah Jazz plans to pursue a Major League Baseball franchise in the coming years, touting the area’s population growth, strong economy and baseball history as draws for a coveted expansion slot, people involved with the project told ESPN.

Big League Utah, a group headed by longtime Jazz owner Gail Miller, will join Nashville’s Music City Baseball and the Portland Diamond Project in lobbying to join the current 30 MLB organizations. Las Vegas, considered a prime destination for a franchise, has emerged as a strong candidate if the Oakland Athletics relocate.

While sources said MLB does not plan to expand until it figures out the futures of Oakland and the Tampa Bay Rays—both of whom have considered moving amid struggles to secure new stadiums in their current metropolitan areas—commissioner Rob Manfred told ESPN in July: “I would love to get to 32 teams.”

The Salt Lake City coalition includes the Larry H. Miller Company—the conglomerate founded by Miller’s late husband, Larry, an automobile magnate—as well as local business leaders and former major league players Dale Murphy and Jeremy Guthrie, both Utah residents. The group has targeted building a stadium in the Rocky Mountain Power District, a 100-acre mixed-use zone located between Salt Lake City’s new airport and its downtown core, an investment that would come on top of an expected $2 billion expansion fee.