Salt Lake City Wants An MLB Expansion Team And I Can't Think Of A Worse Place To Put A Baseball Team
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."
"Salt Lake City is a major league city," said Steve Starks, CEO of the Miller Company. "We believe that as a top-30 media market in the fastest-growing state in the country with the youngest population, that's where our attention should be -- and that we could accomplish bringing a team to the Wasatch Front."
No....just no. Rob Manfred does ONE thing to make the game of baseball better with the pitch clock and now he wants to go crazy with it. No Rob, just no.
Salt Lake City doesn't need a baseball team. I can't imagine a worse place in the US to put a team. They mention that this process started a year ago and the other potential candidates for expansion include the usually suspects, Las Vegas, Nashville, Portland, Charlotte, and Montreal. Any of those places would make a much better home for an MLB team than boring ass Salt Lake City. No one just goes to SLC just to go, they go to ski and shit. It would be awful. Sure they have the Jazz, and the Angels Triple-A affiliate the Bees, but they were 18th in attendance last season according to ESPN. Nothing about Salt Lake City screams "WE DESERVE BASEBALL" if you ask me.
One of their main driving points is that Utah's population has grown by over 3 million from the 2010 census to the 2020 census. Ok? Cool! Why does that mean you should get a team? I don't know if anyone would ever want to willingly sign for a baseball team that plays in Salt Lake City. Opening Day and the first few weeks would be FREEZING, probably colder than Minnesota and all that. I get they would probably get a retractable roof dome but still, who wants to go to Utah in late March for Opening Day? I can't imagine a world where Salt Lake City gets a bid for a new team over Nashville, Montreal, and Vegas.
I think this is a hard no from everyone interested in this. No one is screaming to put a team in SLC, no one! Baseball doesn't need to get cute with their new franchises, stick to the script, move the As to Vegas and the Rays to Montreal or Charlotte. Let it be. We don't need baseball in Utah, I don't think anyone in Utah even knows that they want a team so just let it lie there.
I can't lie, this is a sick backdrop for the University of Utah baseball team.......but let's just leave it at this. Leave them Utah baseball, leave them with the Bees, leave them with the Jazz. Salt Lake City doesn't need a team, they just don't. Hardddddd pass here.