Detroit should have a MLB National League team.

[Danny]

Since Detroit has the Tigers and doing well in the American League, what if Detroit should have a MLB National League Team. What would the team be named? What stadium should the NL team play? And this NL team make it to the play-offs and maybe the World Series. Maybe These two Detroit MLB teams could a Motown Showdown Series.

Any thoughts?

[mtburb]

I don't think Detroit is big enough to support two MLB teams at the moment.

[Danny]

So is Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. Those cities can handle two MLB teams. Detroit can do the same, too.

[mtburb]

So is Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago. Those cities can handle two MLB teams. Detroit can do the same, too.

They are all a lot bigger than Detroit though.

[dtowncitylover]

Proud Tigers fan. But also love to watch National League play so I root for the Phillies over there [[familial connections). I'll just stick with that thanks!

[Spartan]

They are all a lot bigger than Detroit though.

"a lot" might be a bit of an understatement. They're the 3 largest cities in the USA [[and only Houston is within 1 million of them). You could fit almost 4 Detroits in Chicago.

[Hermod]

Boston, St Louis, and Philadelphia once had a team in each league. The cities weren't big enough for both of them and one left town [[Braves, Browns/Orioles, and Athletics).

[mikeg19]

I'd say Kwame has a better chance of being reelected then Detroit getting a NL team. Very few markets in the US can handle two teams in any sport. Toronto is the Meca of hockey and even they have reservations of adding a second NHL team. Plus you have to believe that most owners of professional franchises don't want any other competing revenue stream in their area of operations.

[DetroitPlanner]

"a lot" might be a bit of an understatement. They're the 3 largest cities in the USA [[and only Houston is within 1 million of them). You could fit almost 4 Detroits in Chicago.

While that might be true, the Detroit Market if you include Essex County, Toledo, and Flint is well over six million and is not that much smaller than the Metropolitan Chicago. That being said I don't think we need another billionaire making money off of the money Detroit area taxpayers put into the system.

[Bham1982]

"a lot" might be a bit of an understatement. They're the 3 largest cities in the USA [[and only Houston is within 1 million of them). You could fit almost 4 Detroits in Chicago.

Chicago is slightly less than twice the size of Detroit. Around 5 million in the metro area vs. 9 million.

But sports markets tend to be bigger than the metro area. Detroit's sports "catchment" is probably around 7 million or so, and that of Chicago considerably larger. In any case, there's no way in hell Detroit could support a second baseball team, and Tigers attendance has historically been pretty mediocre.

[nain rouge]

I saw a graphic once that illustrated the reach of the country's sports team. Generally, Detroit teams only managed to capture the Lower Peninsula and Toledo. That was it. Maybe in an alternate universe where Toledo had kept growing, this would've been a possibility.

[iheartthed]

"a lot" might be a bit of an understatement. They're the 3 largest cities in the USA [[and only Houston is within 1 million of them). You could fit almost 4 Detroits in Chicago.

Metro Detroit is roughly half the size of Chicagoland... but yes, it's still a far cry. I think the smallest market with two MLB teams is the San Francisco Bay area, which is closer to Detroit in size than it is to LA or NYC, but obviously is a far more affluent place.

[renf]

We had a National League team here in Detroit and then the owner got tired of baseball and
sold it. For eight years, from 1881 through 1888, the Detroit Wolverines played their home
National League games in Recreation Park where the DMC is now located. There is an historical marker commemorating their park and their 1887 World's championship.

When you think about the efforts the Giants made to keep Oakland from moving to San Jose and the successful efforts the Mets made to keep the Yankees from shifting their AAA franchise to Newark for just one year, you realize that the Tigers would likely block any professional team that might try to locate very near Detroit. I see the Illitch family arranged for the state to raze Joe Louis Arena. Was part of their motivation to get rid of another venue for professional hockey in Motown?

[nain rouge]

Metro Detroit is roughly half the size of Chicagoland... but yes, it's still a far cry. I think the smallest market with two MLB teams is the San Francisco Bay area, which is closer to Detroit in size than it is to LA or NYC, but obviously is a far more affluent place.

Also, if you look at San Fran's CSA - which includes San Jose - suddenly the area jumps to #5 in the country in terms of population. Detroit's CSA only puts it at 12. And yes, the San Fran CSA is ridiculously wealthy at the moment. San Jose's metro is practically as big as Greater Cleveland and is growing at a nice clip.

[Hermod]

San Francisco/Oakland and Baltimore/Washington are the two areas where the sports markets overlap.

[nain rouge]

Like I said, only Toledo reaching juggernaut status could've pushed Detroit over the hump for more sports teams. But it feels funny even using "Toledo" and "juggernaut" in the same sentence.

[Bham1982]

Metro Detroit is roughly half the size of Chicagoland... but yes, it's still a far cry. I think the smallest market with two MLB teams is the San Francisco Bay area, which is closer to Detroit in size than it is to LA or NYC, but obviously is a far more affluent place.

And Oakland Athletics historically have horrible attendance, and regional sports "catchment" is enormous, including Sacramento and other Northern CA metros not part of the Bay Area metro. Bay Area should probably just have one team.

[nain rouge]

Honestly, when you have the weather and geographic features of California at your doorstep, sports just aren't as exciting. There's a reason the Rust Belt is known for its rabid support of its sport teams.

[Hypestyles]

Who knows. At this point it’s “spilled milk”, but if some of the Negro League teams were grandfathered into the major leagues instead of simply cherry-picking players to bring into the MLB ball clubs, then there might be some more diverse ownership among today’s ball clubs as well as more towns having two “major” teams—and even some non-“major” cities having an MLB team.

[nain rouge]

...and even some non-“major” cities having an MLB team.

Having a team in Green Bay is really cool. And imagine that, Milwaukee only has two pro sports teams. Makes you wonder how they survive. That's only two stadiums!

[mtburb]

I saw a graphic once that illustrated the reach of the country's sports team. Generally, Detroit teams only managed to capture the Lower Peninsula and Toledo. That was it. Maybe in an alternate universe where Toledo had kept growing, this would've been a possibility.

Here's the graphic you're talking about.

This graphic shows that the Tigers' catchment covers nearly the entirety of both peninsulas, as well as far northwestern Ohio, the Toledo area and far northeastern Indiana.

I say "nearly the entirety of both peninsula" because the Cubs' catchment includes parts of the southwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula and the Brewers' catchment includes much of the western Upper Peninsula.

Oddly enough, placing your cursor over many of the Detroit-area zip codes on that graphic reveals that at least the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox and Braves are also a bit popular here too.

[Bill Simpson]

Since Detroit has the Tigers and doing well in the American League. What if Detroit should have a MLB National League Team. What would the team be named? What stadium should the NL team play? And this NL team make it to the play-offs and maybe the World Series. Maybe These two Detroit MLB teams could a Motown Showdown Series.

Any thoughts?

I agree we need an NL team. They could be called the Detroit Stars. One potential stadium location is in Plymouth, next to the Compuware Arena. They would have a cluster of stadiums that would support new neighborhoods, restaurants, and a distinct atmosphere far enough from the current downtown location that it would pull new fans from Ann Arbor and Jackson. I would always root for the Tigers in a World Series though.

[1953]

I seem to recall that when the Expos were about to move/fold, it was proposed that they be brought to Detroit. Kind of wish that would have happened, but - alas - we are probably not big enough for two baseball teams today. Maybe in a few years

[jackie5275]

Here's the graphic you're talking about.

This graphic shows that the Tigers' catchment covers nearly the entirety of both peninsulas, as well as far northwestern Ohio, the Toledo area and far northeastern Indiana.

I say "nearly the entirety of both peninsula" because the Cubs' catchment includes parts of the southwestern corner of the Lower Peninsula and the Brewers' catchment includes much of the western Upper Peninsula.

Oddly enough, placing your cursor over many of the Detroit-area zip codes on that graphic reveals that at least the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox and Braves are also a bit popular here too.

Was this supposed to represent just the U.S.? I see nothing for the Blue Jays up around Toronto. I think there are a fair number of Tiger fans in the Windsor area too.

[jackie5275]

...Tigers attendance has historically been pretty mediocre.

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/detatte.shtml

Not really. 2014 numbers aren't in yet, but based on this chart, the Tigers' attendance has been above league average for 70% of their years in existence. What makes up the 30%, most years from the early 1900s when MLB itself was just getting started, a few years during the depression, and of course years when their playing was really bad. Depsite that, they've never failed to draw 1 million plus fans every year since 1965.