MLB relocation

[202_Cyclist]

Please delete if off-topic. There were like 14 fans in attendance for Friday’s Nats - Marlins game and as someone said, baseball Jesus dies every time a game is played inside. I think we can call baseball in Miami a failed experiment. Which city should get the Marlins if they relocate? I think either Charlotte, Austin, or Salt Lake.

[mrnyc]

friday’s ballgame ???

per espn —

Miami, Florida
Attendance: 12,070

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

friday’s ballgame ???

per espn —

Miami, Florida
Attendance: 12,070

That might be everyone who had a ticket (including corporate seats). I doubt actual attendance was that high.

[Steely Dan]

The Sox have been threatening to leave Chicago for whichever up and coming sunbelt city will cut them the biggest check since the '80s.

They're currently trying to build a new stadium on the near south side, but they want lots of public money that doesn't exist.

So you never know.

[202_Cyclist]

The Marlins have the second lowest attendance aside from the Sacramento A’s (maybe Reno or Eugene this season?), who play in a minor league stadium.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

[202_Cyclist]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

The Sox have been threatening to leave Chicago for whichever up and coming sunbelt city will cut them the biggest check since the '80s.

They're currently trying to build a new stadium on the near south side, but they want lots of public money that doesn't exist.

So you never know.

Well, the White Sox have the Pope on their side, so I think they are good for a couple of years.

I was reading there is a solid proposal to build a new stadium for the Sox on surplus Amtrak land.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

That might be everyone who had a ticket (including corporate seats). I doubt actual attendance was that high.

yeah thats always true, but it doesnt matter how many were in the park if that many paid, thats how attendence is counted. anyway much different than like 14 ticket buyers.

trust me, i know what an empty ballpark looks like from regularly sitting in massive 90k old cle muni stadium with 3k fans as a kid. bonus was you could go talk to the players, run around and sit anywhere you wanted — and the guy doing the radar gun thing on the pitchers would let me do it.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

I was reading there is a solid proposal to build a new stadium for the Sox on surplus Amtrak land.

The proposal for a new near south side railyard ballpark is real.

The hundreds of millions in public money the Sox want to build it is not.


So you never know.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

The Marlins have the second lowest attendance aside from the Sacramento A’s (maybe Reno or Eugene this season?), who play in a minor league stadium.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

Wow, those figures show Southern California is the epicenter of MLB attendance!

As for the Athletics, the greedy, grifting billionaire owner brought ignominy upon the team through his terrible decisions. He backstabbed dedicated A's fans by moving the team out of its longtime Oakland home, even though there was no major league stadium for them to play in. Meanwhile, he has combined his spite with apathy, failing to recruit potential new fans in their temporary home of Sacramento. And the current stadium-sharing situation has even reduced attendance for the beloved local minor league team.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

yeah thats always true, but it doesnt matter how many were in the park if that many paid, thats how attendence is counted. anyway much different than like 14 ticket buyers.

They probably gave away a lot of those tickets.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by craigs

Wow, those figures show Southern California is the epicenter of MLB attendance!

As for the Athletics, the greedy, grifting billionaire owner brought ignominy upon the team through his terrible decisions. He backstabbed dedicated A's fans by moving the team out of its longtime Oakland home, even though there was no major league stadium for them to play in. Meanwhile, he has combined his spite with apathy, failing to recruit potential new fans in their temporary home of Sacramento. And the current stadium-sharing situation has even reduced attendance for the beloved local minor league team.

The A's had such a storied history now all turned to shit by half assed moving them to Vegas.

[Velvet_Highground]

Originally Posted by JManc

The A's had such a storied history now all turned to shit by half assed moving them to Vegas.

Preach this man speaks the truth

[mrnyc]

^ yeah, it's really unbelievable and sad.

Originally Posted by iheartthed

They probably gave away a lot of those tickets.

maybe, but that would take some research.


edit -- here is what AI sez:


The official attendance for last Friday night's Miami Marlins game (May 8, 2026) was 12,070.While Major League Baseball teams generally do not publicly disclose the specific number of complimentary or "given away" tickets for individual games, the Marlins frequently use promotions to drive attendance.

The game on May 8 featured the following Promotional Events: The game included "Friday Night Live," featuring local bands at the Bullpen Bar & Grill, and a $5 Bud Happy Hour.Contest Giveaways: Local radio stations and community organizations, such as The Joe Rose Show and Serving With GRACE, gave away ticket packages to winners specifically for this May 8 game.

Context: The Marlins currently rank near the bottom of the league in attendance, averaging roughly 11,713 fans per game this season.

[xzmattzx]

The Marlins aren't going anywhere, because they have a pretty new stadium, and they signed as 45-year non-relocation agreement as part of their moving into their current ballpark.

If any team moves, it will be the Rays, who are still working on getting a new stadium. But I think they had been making progress in the Tampa Bay area somewhere.

Much more likely is that MLB expands. It seems inevitable. The Athletics' situation will be resolved in a few years when they move into their ballpark in Las Vegas, and if the Rays have their stadium future sorted out, you will see it come up. If/when it happens, it is most likely that Nashville gets a team, since they apparently have an ownership group already in place. The second team would most likely go to Charlotte, Portland, or Montreal. After those three choices, other very possible locations appear to be Raleigh, San Antonio, Austin, and Vancouver. But the commissioner has stated expansion isn't on the table until all relocation issues are resolved.

[dimondpark]

Originally Posted by craigs

As for the Athletics, the greedy, grifting billionaire owner brought ignominy upon the team through his terrible decisions. He backstabbed dedicated A's fans by moving the team out of its longtime Oakland home, even though there was no major league stadium for them to play in. Meanwhile, he has combined his spite with apathy, failing to recruit potential new fans in their temporary home of Sacramento. And the current stadium-sharing situation has even reduced attendance for the beloved local minor league team.

Everything in a nutshell. I hope he loses everything, goes bankrupt and is forced to sell the team for pennies on the dollar.

[Riverranchdrone]

Austin has been listed for awhile for an expansion. The minor league team does very well and has better attendance than some of these major league teams. Austin is pushing hard for a MLB team. https://www.atxmlb.com/

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by xzmattzx

Much more likely is that MLB expands. It seems inevitable. The Athletics' situation will be resolved in a few years when they move into their ballpark in Las Vegas, and if the Rays have their stadium future sorted out, you will see it come up.

Yeah, I think that's probably right.

When those two teams are finally settled, expansion will have to be discussed.

Because of its age, MLB is the most geographically challenged major league in terms of where national growth is occurring. Between the NL and AL central divisions, fully 1/3 of MLB teams (10 outta 30) are in the midwest/rustbelt, the slowest growing region of the country, and that's largely because of legacy - those two divisions are home to 7 of the 10 "Old School MLB teams*. The other three are in bos-wash: Phillies, Yankees, Red Sox.


(*) the 10 MLB teams that have been playing in the same city since the formation of MLB in 1903.

[Crawford]

I hope they don't expand. There are so many crap teams, talent is so diluted, and it will likely be hard for transient cities with no baseball legacy to fill a park 81 games a year.

[Age of Whamsies]

Truly insane that Miami has such poor MLB attendance considering that Latin America (and the Spanish Caribbean in particular) has such a strong baseball culture.

A low attendance MLB team in a city full of Cubanos and Dominicans? Talk about an epic fumbling of the bag

[Crawford]

I don't think Miami has a massive Dominican population. Cuban, obviously yes.