Major League Baseball in Vancouver. And the possibility of other Big Leagues.

And one of the first things sports fan think of is the Vancouver Grizzlies, now the team in Memphis.  It appears that you only really cared about your ice mercenaries and Lions CFL football to begin with.

About 0.6 million people inhabit Vancouver city proper with 2.4 million people in the area, much like Cincinnati metro.  And to tell you the truth, had my Queen City of Cincinnati not had the original franchise for the big leagues I'm not so sure it would be looked at these days.  It may just now be a consideration for expansion with the metro population and heavy business presence yet it might fall behind Charlotte because of the lay of the land in terms of northeast/midwest team density.  But it was the first and has a strong baseball lineage.  So what about a baseball lineage for Vancouver?

hellobc.com

Vancouver has been a farm for big leaguers going back about a hundred years.  They're now the only minor league MLB affiliate team in Canada.  The Canadians are triple-A for the Blue Jays.

If ever an expansion team, I'd say a shared travel team with Portland and Las Vegas for a "West Coast" franchise would be great.  If anytime soon, it would just be wonderful if Vancouver had a share of the A's with Oakland, Portland and/or Vegas.  Athletics regular season camp for home games.  Does that sound good?  BC Place looks like it's about in gear.

Ditto for the Raiders on the NFL's West Coast.
And as far as the NBA, you would've been a great share of the West Coast Clippers with the likes of Vegas and Seattle.
         Deep Cove area by Vancouver

flickrhivemind.net/Tags/deepcove/Interesting

Perhaps you could even take the lead over Toronto entering into the NFL and be the Vancouver Rams.  Of course Los Angeles would seem to have a crack at their old franchise but you can say you have the stadium ready, not waiting.  Plus they could just get the Raiders back.  And too bad the Coyotes aren't a bygone brand reborn in the form of the West Coast Wolves to take on your Canucks in places like Anchorage and Seattle/Portland.

Look into a few more big league games each year for Canada's western capital.

You were the Atlanta hockey for the NBA.  Maybe these franchises of American birth can toe tap the water before going full speed ahead. 

For other mentions, click:

Regional Major League Teams. Travel Teams for a New Sustainable Market Expansion Model 

Another Canadian MLB Franchise? Vancouver Athletics and Raiders? And the Norde Force Canadian NFL Team.

See more expansion, co-location and relocation talk for football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer on my blog http://prosportsexpansion.blogspot.com/