Now that the QC's Metro Population is at 2.3 Million . . . .

Isn't now the time that Charlotte start getting serious about landing MLB ? ? ? ? Jerry Reese constant lawsuits delaying the Knights new Uptown Ballpark has kinda helped in this regard (Noooooo, Im not counting his plan to build an Uptown Retractable Roof Ballpark as a legitimate plan to bring MLB to town; He has no money and no team lined up to move here . . . I wish WBTs Tara Servatius would stop kissing his butt and find out the real reason for his continued lawsuits agains the Knights Uptown Ballpark !!!!).

I think the smallest 3 team market now is Tampa Bay (Rays, Bucs, Lightning) which had a Metro Population of 2.8 million 2 years ago (I couldn't find a preliminary number off of the 2010 Census).

I think you have many folks here who would spend money for baseball season tixs if a MLB Ballpark was built Uptown (no bigger than 35k IMHO). Of course, how the city would pay for a new MLB Ballpark is another topic for another day (PSLs again anybody ? ?). Could one be built at the Knights site Uptown O-R would another site have to be picked (Southend? SE Corner of Uptown near I-277?).

I'm thinking that between now and the next 10 years max, Charlotte could launch a serious bid to bring MLB here (either via expansion or relocation). Yessssssssssss, the regions growth has slowed down due to the recession but I think we are in a better position to grow again once the economy does turn around. I hated what Jerry Reese did, but on the flip side it might've pushed Charlotte close enough to the line now where we can seriously think about MLB here in the Carolinas (vs. the pipedreams George Shinn had in mind when he first built Knights Stadium in 1990 and the QC got dumped out of the preliminary NL Expansion Round later that year).

 

Charlotte sucks as a sports town. They would never support a MLB franchise and even if they got one they would be bottom feeders like the Pirates or Royals. I do think that it would be wise to move the Knights uptown and out of South Caro-freak-in-lina.

 

Agreed. Charlotte is not the biggest sports town and MLB would flop IMO. I mean who wants to see an expansion team or any team that would move here (chances are they would suck) on a Tuesday night verses the Pirates? As far as the Knights moving downtown I am ALL for it. I live in SC but would be more than happy to drive into town to see a ball game. You only have to look up the road in Durham to see the effect of a down town ball park on the local economy. The Durham Athletic Park is down town in the old tobacco warehouse district. Lots of cool restaurants, bars and shops.

 

I think that I read that by the end of the decade Charlotte would have a metro population around 3 million. That would be the time to go after it. Our attendance would probably be somewhere at the bottom of the league, but somebody has to be there. As long as the team could survive, I wouldn't care how "bad" we looked as a sports town to everybody else.

I would have liked to see the Knights move uptown, but I think that ship has set sail. There's no way they can get a stadium done in this economy.

 

bring it on

 

With Mark Cuban trying to be a MLB Owner (Cubs, Rangers) maybe he can be convinced to be the owner of a Charlotte team . . . I think its plausible to recruit him as a lead owner; He would have no problem getting investors !!!!

 

Charlotte has a pop of 700,000 or so, metro about 1.5 million. only when you include Albemarle, Lincolnton, Shelby, Statesville, Mooresville, Lancaster and Chester do you get 2.5 mil. thats a stretch to rely on those people to fill the seats. plus thats why they have minor league near those areras.

 

AAA is about as much as Charlotte would support. A MLB team would be a flop unless it won 90 games a year and that's not a likely scenario. I do think a AAA team downtown would be a big success though. Make it so!

 

NC/SC is College sports centric... pro sports just dont do that well. Just look at basketball.