Salt Lake City has entered the fray as a potential destination for an MLB expansion.
Big League Utah, an investor group led by former Utah Jazz majority owner Gail Miller, is leading the push for the expansion to Utah’s capital city, according to ESPN. Investor groups in Nashville and Portland also have their hats in the ring for a potential expansion team.
DON'T MISS: Miami Marlins GM: Baseball Payrolls Are Like “David and Goliath”
Other candidates that emerged last year, when the Salt Lake City group first inquired about a potential MLB expansion team, include Las Vegas, Charlotte, and Montreal.
However, reports have said that the MLB will not expand until it resolves issues with a pair of struggling franchises: the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays. Las Vegas may be a prime destination for the Athletics -- Sin City already adopted the Raiders NFL franchise from Oakland in 2020.
The pitch of the Salt Lake City collective centers on the city's sports history. Despite the Jazz being the city’s lone major professional sports team, Salt Lake hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics and a pair of NBA All-Star games including the most recent one in February. They also house the Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels.
The group also highlighted the presence of several markets considered smaller than Salt Lake City which have MLB teams like San Diego and Milwaukee.
Get exclusive access to portfolio managers and their proven investing strategies with Real Money Pro. Get started now.
