Vancouver’s MLB expansion bid faces significant obstacle

Whenever rumors swirl around Major League Baseball expanding to a new market, a few things happen.

The residents of the city in question who count themselves as baseball fans get excited. The feasibility of financing a stadium and bankrolling a big league franchise is explored by prospective owners. And the city in question explores whether it has the necessary land — and the political will — to develop into a stadium site.

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Only one of those boxes is already checked in Vancouver, British Columbia, where professional baseball has been played for more than a century. The Toronto Blue Jays’ Class-A affiliate has been located in Vancouver since 2011. Not since 1977 has the city been without a pro team.

Vancouver mayor Ken Sim reportedly told Business in Vancouver that he will introduce a motion at an April 22 council meeting that directs staff to initiate a process that attracts potential ownership groups interested in pursuing an expansion franchise.

Besides its baseball tradition, Vancouver offers commissioner Rob Manfred some strong selling points if and when MLB is ready to expand.

It’s the third-largest media market in Canada behind Toronto and Montreal, and slightly smaller (approximately 2.7 million in the greater metro area) than Denver (approximately 3.0 million), the 17th-largest media market in the United States.

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Just one problem.

Prospective MLB cities in the U.S. have been lining up to plead their case to Manfred. One in particular is effectively three steps ahead of Vancouver.

“From a national perspective, I think a lot of people don’t realize all that has been going on in Salt Lake City,” the Athletic’s Stephen Nesbitt told KSL.

A self-described “community coalition,” Big League Utah, reportedly has “up to $900 million in public funding” ready for ballpark construction and an ownership group — the Miller family, which owns the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees — prepared to launch if Manfred gives the green light.

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Salt Lake City isn’t alone.

The Athletic listed Orlando, Austin, Portland, Nashville, and Raleigh, N.C. as the most feasible expansion markets in March. Vancouver was nowhere to be found, and would effectively be playing catch-up the moment its City Council takes up the cause.

Manfred hasn’t set a specific timeline for expansion bids to be submitted, only that they won’t take place before a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and media-rights agreements are place. That pushes the timeframe until 2029 at the earliest.

Vancouver has time to make a competitive bid. But it must hurry.