La Russa, Dombrowski And Stewart Want MLB Team In Nashville

[Mr KLC]

Former MLB general manager and team president Dave Dombrowski has joined the Music City Baseball group, which is aiming to land an MLB franchise in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dombrowski joins Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa and three-time World Series winner Dave Stewart. La Russa and Dombrowski are both listed as baseball advisors on the group's official site, while Stewart is a board member and advisor.

The Tennesseean's Tommy Deas reported in January 2019 that La Russa and Stewart had signed on with an advisory group focused on bringing the big leagues to Nashville. La Russa emphasized how the city was expanding to the point where it could accommodate another sports team.

"We had just always talked about, since I left the Cardinals ... that Nashville and what's happening in that town as far as the growth, the excitement, what's happening with the football team and the hockey team, it's a natural for baseball," he said. "And that's where we are."

The city is hoping to land an expansion franchise or have an existing team relocate to Nashville.

[hostile takeover]

Move the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Nashville.

Put them in the NL Central.

Ship the Pittsburgh Pirates off to the AL East.

[Hman]

Move the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Nashville.

Might actually happen

That Montreal experiment won't last

[Brock Landers]

Easy call on putting Tampa Bay there

They're too good to be shit on constantly in their home park

[stevenash]

It's a good idea.

Nashville Sounds of the AAA Pacific Coast League (how a Tennessee based team wound up in the PCL is a mystery to me, but I digress) have a history off winning and success and have always been a very good draw so there is no doubt they'd get support.

Not only that Nashville is a great tourism city with all that music history and they are a top 30 TV market as well.
Nashville is pretty much smack dab in the middle of Atlanta and St. Louis but there really isn't much of territory infringement with the Braves and Cards since the two cities are 300 miles apart in each direction or about a four hour drive.

It would make much more sense to put Nashville in the NL Central with the Cards than the AL East with the Braves.

Yeah, I'm all for a major league team in Nashville, fun city.

[pologq]

Move the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to Nashville.

Put them in the NL Central.

Ship the Pittsburgh Pirates off to the AL East.

great idea

[Mr KLC]

The group also needs a principal owner who could afford the hefty entry fee baseball would seek for an expansion team.

The Rays and Diamondbacks agreed to a $130 million fee in 1995. The price now would be at least $1 billion considering the NHL landed $650 million for its expansion team in Seattle.

That represents Nashville’s best hope. Given the revenue losses because of the pandemic, owners could see adding two expansion teams as a quick way to recoup their losses. A proposal is expected at the 2021 Winter Meetings.

Nashville also would need funds for a ballpark, preferably one with a retractable roof that could serve as a year-round entertainment venue.

The best-case scenario would be having a team by 2024 or ’25.

“It’s not going to be easy. There’s a lot of work involved. It’s high risk and may not happen. All those things,” Dombrowski said.

[DrunkHorseplayer]

MLB would be foolish to expand; move the Rays.

[Mr KLC]

Justin Timberlake has joined an investment group working toward bringing a Major League Baseball franchise to Nashville, Tennessee, The Tennessean reported Wednesday.

Music City Baseball, a collective of business and civic leaders as well as entertainers that has an impressive roster already, jumped at the opportunity to add another marquee name, and a 10-time Grammy Award winner.

"I am thrilled to be involved in the movement to bring Major League Baseball to the great state of Tennessee," Timberlake said in a statement to The Tennessean. "I believe in Music City Baseball's vision of linking baseball and music in a unique way to unite and entertain people and I am excited to help generate awareness throughout the community as we share our vision for bringing MLB to Music City."

John Loar, the leader of the Nashville group, said Wednesday that adding Timberlake to stand alongside members such as Dombrowski was a top priority.

"I reached out to Justin's management group and we've been working with Justin for over six months," Loar told the newspaper. "I think he's passionate about sports and he's interested in the entertainment angle that we're presenting in building a world class entertainment district, which includes a ballpark. Incorporating music and sports is interesting to him."

Dombrowski concurred.

"For us this is huge," Dombrowski told The Tennessean. "[He] is somebody that's world-known, huge in the area and the region and the state. He supports baseball and all of the other things that we stand for. Having someone like that involved speaks a lot for his interest in making this work and also gives us support in talking to other individuals of this ilk. It's extremely important to us."

The group also boasts a Music Industry Advisors committee, clearly tying itself back to a profession that is a staple in Nashville. Timberlake will be a part of that subset as well, joining Kix Brooks, Kane Brown, Eric Church, Luke Combs and Larry Gatlin, among others.

[stake1]

Easy call on putting Tampa Bay there

They're too good to be shit on constantly in their home park

Are you? Are you ever right about? Anything ever?

[pavyracer]

Either Whitesox or Mets have to move. These towns have 2 teams.