Vancouver makes serious move toward joining Blue Jays on MLB map

Since the end of the 2004 season, the Toronto Blue Jays have been the lone Canadian team in Major League Baseball. Once the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, and became the Nationals, the Blue Jays had an entire country to themselves. They have marketed themselves as "Canada's team," for the last several years, but if the City of Vancouver gets their way, the Blue Jays might have to alter that nickname.

The city has chosen a prospective owner to pursue an MLB expansion franchise, The Show Vancouver Bid Corporation. That is a group that is led by CEO Zack Ross who said in a press release, "Vancouver is my home and it is one of the great cities in the world, and we deserve a Major League Baseball team.

Our vision is a world-class MLB franchise anchored by a landmark ballpark and mixed-use real estate development at an iconic site, creating a destination that generates economic activity, civic pride, and community benefit for generations."

There is still a lot that has to go into this before a major league pitch is thrown in the city of Vancouver. Part of the issue would be finding a space for a new ballpark. The Blue Jays' current High-A affiliate, the Vancouver Canadians, play at Nat Bailey Stadium, which holds only 6,500 fans.

BC Place holds 54,500 people and is the home of the CFL's BC Lions and MLS' Vancouver Whitecaps. But there are some logistical issues around converting a football / soccer purposed stadium into a baseball field - as the Blue Jays and Toronto Argos dealt with together for years. It's not impossible, but not ideal.

From a Blue Jays' standpoint, this could have an effect on what happens with the Canadians as their minor league affiliate. Could Vancouver support two professional baseball teams? Perhaps, but the Blue Jays might be better off finding a city that isn't occupied by another major league team. There would also be a ton of business issues to consider from team owners Rogers Communications.

Blue Jays team owners could see several Pros and Cons to another MLB team in the Canadian market

The telecommunications giant has the rights to air all Blue Jays games on their radio and television networks across the country, although they have closed and cut an number of them over the last few years, including Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. Still, as one of the major media outlets in the country, it would be interesting to see if they try to get the rights to air a Vancouver baseball team's games.

On one hand, they could run into an issue where they would be in direct competition for viewers against the Blue Jays. On the other, there would aslo be many nights where the Blue Jays game would finish around 10 p.m. EST which could then be followed by the network going right into game coverage of the Vancouver team on the West Coast with it being 7 p.m. for their local time.

However, Rogers wouldn't have an ownership directly in the team, and so complete coverage wouldn't be a guarantee. Losing fans could also be a concern for Rogers. As mentioned, they've billed the Blue Jays as "Canada's team," in part because there's literally no one else for Canadian fans to cheer for.

Although, there is a large segment on baseball fans in Vancouver who are also Seattle Mariners fans. It's only a two and a half hour drive from downtown Vancouver to T-Mobile Park in Seattle and for many B.C. residents, that's the team they most closely affiliate with since it's much easier to get to a Mariners game than it is to get to Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The idea of MLB expansion alone should be cause for excitement. The league hasn't expanded since 1998 when the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Tampa Bay Rays joined the league to reach 30 teams. It's stalled since that point and with the new CBA coming into place at some point (once the current one expires in December of 2026) there could be some real traction towards bringing in some new teams to MLB.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow