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By Jon Paul Hoornstra
Contributing Sports Writer
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The city of Vancouver, British Columbia faces long odds toward inclusion in Major League Baseball's expansion plans.
For now, at least, the team that has the most to lose if Canada gains a second franchise won't stand in Vancouver's way.
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An MLB team in Vancouver would effectively require the Blue Jays to relocate their Class-A minor league affiliate, while also cost Toronto some of its market share among baseball fans in Western Canada.
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Still, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro said he would welcome the possibility of a second team north of the border.
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“We are supportive of any effort to grow baseball in Canada, and that would include the opportunity to bring MLB to Vancouver,” Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.
Shapiro doesn't have much to lose by throwing his support behind a Vancouver MLB franchise — at least not yet.
Buzz began to grow in Vancouver when its city council approved opening an "expression of interest" process to find a qualified potential ownership group wanting to pursue an MLB expansion franchise in Vancouver.
"I want to assure everyone that this motion did not come out of left field," Sim said, via CBC news. "Our office has been approached by serious proponents regarding a potential bid for the MLB."
Sim's optimism might be grounded in reality, but other cities are already several steps ahead of Vancouver, if not more.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, one coalition 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 an expansion bid.
The Athletic ranked Orlando, Austin, Portland, Nashville, and Raleigh, N.C. as the most feasible expansion markets in March. More recently, Forbes' Maury Brown listed Vancouver as one of nine markets as candidates for MLB expansion.
To the extent having an MLB team in Vancouver undercuts the interests of the Blue Jays, that exists only in theory. As a practical concern for Shapiro and the Blue Jays' principals, expansion is years away from becoming reality.
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