Baseball Fans Overwhelmingly Want Nashville To Be The Next Expansion City: New Survey
If Major League Baseball is considering expansion in the near future, there's an obvious choice: Nashville.
Rob Manfred has been open about wanting to have relocation issues determined before discussing adding additional teams. And with the recent owner's vote approving the Oakland A's pending move to Las Vegas and the Brewers massive handout from Wisconsin taxpayers, there aren't many relocation issues remaining. Meaning that relocation could be on the league's list of priorities sooner rather than later.
And if so, there's a clear favorite from fans AND players: Nashville.
READ: MLB PLAYERS VOTE ON FAVORITE EXPANSION CITY, WITH NASHVILLE THE CLEAR WINNER
The Athletic completed a massive fan survey, with respondents asked about major questions facing the sport and MLB specifically. And when asked where they'd like to see an expansion team, Nashville took the win with a whopping 57.3% of the vote.
Montreal, Charlotte/Raleigh, Portland, and Salt Lake City took the 2-5 spots.
But these results, combined with the vote from current players, certainly seems to indicate momentum favors moving Major League Baseball into the Music City.
Aerial Point of View of Music City, Downtown Nashville, Tennessee from the North Side of the Cumberland River near Nissan Stadium. (Getty Images)
Nashville Makes Sense As MLB Destination
If MLB does decide to move to 32 teams, Nashville clearly makes sense as one of the two potential destinations.
It's a relatively central location within the country and would expand the league's footprint in the South outside of just Atlanta and the Florida teams. It's also one of the fastest growing regions in America, with a metro population that now exceeds 2 million people.
Nashville's also clearly demonstrated it can support professional sports teams with the Titans and Predators, as well as one of AAA's most popular teams.
Salt Lake City has done more to create concrete plans for a new stadium, but where there's a will, there's a way. And many around the sport are clearly showing that the will is there.
So when will MLB clear the way?