What's Left?

Roberto has seen every team in affiliated baseball. Melvin has visited every major and minor league stadium except for Atrium Health Ballpark, so for now, the answer to "What's Left?" is the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers. No new stadiums are expected to open in 2024, and no team relocations are anticipated this year.

Looking Further Ahead

Imperial War Museum image used through IWM Non-Commercial License.

The following are places we might visit in the next several years. When affiliated baseball reorganized during Covid, MLB instituted new minimum facility standards and set a 2025 deadline for compliance. At this time, it appears that the Salt Lake Bees, Chattanooga Lookouts, Tennessee Smokies and Hillsboro Hops will be the only teams to complete new stadiums in time for the 2025 season. (Many teams are renovating their existing ballparks using some combination of public and private funds.)

MLB


On September 19, 2023, the City of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, the TAMPA BAY RAYS and their real estate partner, Hines, reached agreement on a development plan, including a new stadium, on 86 acres in the Historic Gas Plant District (City of St. Petersburg). The City will pay for slightly less than half of the $1.3B cost of the new ballpark, which is anticipated to open in 2028. A community benefits agreement is being negotiated and the St. Petersburg City Council will vote on the stadium and development agreements early this year.

The OAKLAND ATHLETICS once had similar plans — 55 acres of mixed-use development on the Inner Harbor — but despite completing the environmental review and prevailing in every lawsuit, they broke off negotiations with Oakland in May 2023. One month later, the A's secured public financing (The Nevada Independent) for a new stadium on nine acres of leased land at the current site of the Tropicana casino. The owners of the other 29 MLB teams voted in November to approve the relocation plan. The team projects that a domed stadium can be ready for the 2028 season. (It has only one more year on its lease at the Oakland Coliseum.)

The KANSAS CITY ROYALS have stated that a new ballpark can be built for the same cost as upgrading Kauffman Stadium, the sixth oldest major league venue. The team is exploring two sites, one downtown, in the East Village, and another in North Kansas City (KCUR). The lease at "The K" doesn't expire until 2030 so the Royals have time to vet its options. However, if they want to put a funding proposal before voters in April 2024, the deadline to get on the ballot is January 23 (Ballpark Digest).

August 22, 2023 birds-eye view of a possible downtown stadium

The commissioner of baseball, Fred-somebody, supports expanding the MLB to 32 teams. However, he has stated repeatedly that expansion will not occur until plans for the Rays and the A's are settled.

TRIPLE-A


Larry H. Miller, the diversified holding company that owns the SALT LAKE BEES, purchased 1,300 acres in the Daybreak development, in South Jordan, Utah. The company broke ground in October 2023 on a new stadium for the Bees in Downtown Daybreak (press release), with plans to play there in 2025. (The Larry H. Miller Company is also part of Big League Utah, a coalition lobbying for one of the future MLB expansion teams.)

DOUBLE-A


The CHATTANOOGA LOOKOUTS' new stadium is part of a 140-acre mixed-use development proposed for the former Wheland Foundry and U.S. Pipe sites (South Broad Chattanooga). New renderings were released in July 2023 and construction began in January, with April 2025 the anticipated completion date. 

July 18, 2023 rendering of a group seating area

Following "value engineering" (cost cutting) in summer 2023, structural steel for a new TENNESSEE SMOKIES stadium in Knoxville started to go up in November (WBIR). The team anticipates finishing the new ballpark in time for the 2025 season. 

The RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS have been waiting years for a new stadium. In fall 2022, the city selected a developer for a 70-acre mixed-use development, requiring a new ballpark be completed for the 2025 season (Richmond Times-Dispatch). Nonetheless, the team is in the unenviable position of asking MLB for a one-year deferment (Richmond Magazine).

Talk about a new stadium for the SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS has also been a years-long conversation. When the team was sold in fall 2022 to a consortium that included seasoned baseball executives and a local real estate developer, that seemed like a breakthrough (Ballpark Digest). There has been little visible progress since.

HIGH-A

The HILLSBORO HOPS, who have played at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex since relocating from Yakima in 2013, are making steady progress toward a new ballpark at another location within the public park (City of Hillsboro).

The new stadium is planned to be north of the Hops' current home, replacing Recreational Fields 4-6.

One-hundred-and-twenty miles to the south, negotiations are not going as well for the EUGENE EMERALDS. When the team presented a $100.5M budget to the Lane County Board of Commissioners for a stadium at the fairgrounds, it revealed a $43M funding gap. The commissioners subsequently decided to discontinue preliminary design and permitting until the Ems secure additional funds (Lane County). The Eugene City Council considered a $15M bond measure in December (Oregon Public Broadcasting) but even if the city decides to help finance a new ballpark, a sizable shortfall remains.

Everyone agrees that Funko Field, home of the EVERETT AQUASOX, cannot be renovated to comply with the new facility standards. The State of Washington has earmarked $7.4M for a new stadium, roughly 10 percent of the estimated cost. A November 2023 article (Everett Herald) reported that the City Council hasn't even decided that a new ballpark is financially feasible.

SINGLE-A

When Diamond Baseball Holdings, the single largest owner of minor league teams, acquired the DOWN EAST WOOD DUCKS in May 2023, it announced that the team will move to Spartanburg, South Carolina. In September, the City approved a $425M mixed-use project downtown, including a publicly-funded baseball stadium (City of Spartanburg). Various sources report that the move "could be" as early as 2025, and the lease at historic Grainger Stadium runs through 2031.

The City of Wilson, North Carolina, reached agreement in December 2023 with the CAROLINA MUDCATS, the Milwaukee Brewers and development partner New South Ventures Wilson to move the team from Zebulon as part of a $287.5M development project next to Vollis Simpson Whirling Park (City of Wilson). "The goal would be for the team to start play in April 2026, although there's a chance it could be April 2027," the City reported.

With the MODESTO NUTS as its client, Larimer Design unveiled a plan in February 2022 for Great Valley Coliseum, a multipurpose venue that could serve as a new home for the team. There has been no news since.

The City of Visalia and First Pitch Entertainment, owners of the VISALIA RAWHIDE, filed cross complaints in early 2023, arguing that the stadium lease makes the other responsible for complying with the new facility requirements (Sun-Gazette). A Tulare County Superior Court judge declined in December to rule in favor of either party (San Joaquin Valley Sun), continuing the stalemate.

Perhaps the most curious news is that the owners of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are negotiating with the City of ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA to lease a minor league baseball stadium being constructed as part of the 200-acre Ontario Regional Sports Complex (City of Ontario). The Quakes are negotiating a long-term lease with neighboring Rancho Cucamonga and the team owner (also the owner of the Spokane Indians) states that he plans to acquire another team, not relocate the Quakes. Is this the future home of the Nuts or the Rawhide? The new ballpark is anticipated to be completed in time for the 2026 season.

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