Much More MiLB in Canada

Particularly Ontario.

Greater Toronto has about 6.5 million people.  7th most populous on the continent.

I've posted before, listing a fictional farm system for the Montreal Expos future affiliations, and I coined the Ottawa Internationals as their Triple-A club.  What other Trip-A and 'Dub-A clubs could be housed in Canada, the International and Eastern Leagues respectively?
Winnipeg      Quebec City        Mississauga*  Brampton*   Hamilton*

*Toronto suburb (cities hooked to T-town pretty much)  

             What about a team called the Halifax Citadels?
London, Ontario is halfway between Detroit and Toronto.  Good place for a ball yard.
Windsor is across the divide and Detroit.

Winnipeg's Shaw Park, American Association League (non-MLB affiliated).  Goldeyes Baseball.  Over 7,400 seats

wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_in_Canada

In the Pacific (AAA) and Pioneer (rookie-advanced) leagues, cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver (who already touts a team in Northwest short-season-A ball league)
                                                                                   Current basepads in country

Here AA stands for the Amer.Assoc. independent league, 
where a Milwaukee team is expanding into

The suburb of Surrey, then Saskatoon and Regina on top of those sound good?

Okay, so there's like 30 municipalities that could easily house a pro baseball squad with their nearly a million, half a mil' and hundreds of thousands populations.  Let me pick a few with some breathing room from or in the big metros.

London Ontario could house the Ontario Horsemen.
                                                      or Gold Shoes
Windsor Casinos
           Quebec Nordes 
BC Westerners
          Edmonton Fielders
Calgary Coldies
             Halifax Citadels
Hamilton Zambonis
           Winnipeg Winnies or Manitoba Manshees sound funnier than BC Banshees
Brampton Boaters           Saskatchewan Big Feet             Sudbury Suds                     ...what else ?

Cities like Vancouver standing to gain the big leagues eventually.
In the meantime, thoughts can be had toward some creation of a northern division in triple-A

MLB New Orleans Parades affiliates et al. ....Teams I Missed ?

Did I snub your city on the previous post concerning the MLB/milb expansions?

click   Is this my Minor League Expansion ?

So I've been talking shit about a whole lot of "who's next" 20 years after the last MLB expansion.
You should try.  When there are 40 big league teams, who do you think they'll be?

Let me throw these cities in there.

Vancouver Mounties ?                                                     *shared stadium of existing pro team

Buffalo Bisons

And who are their affiliate farm clubs?

Sacramento even it out?

                    NEW ORLEANS PARADES
AAA: Quebec Nordes
AA:  Louisiana Whodats*
A-adv:  St. Pete Waves*
A:  Sudbury Suds
Rookie:  Tennessee Treble*

BUFFALO BISONS

AAA:  Ontario Gold Shoes
AA: New York Meese' (Mooses)*
A-adv:  Halifax Harborers
A:  Manitoba Manshees*
Rookie:  Halifax Citadels

VANCOUVER MOUNTIES

AAA: Edmonton Fielders
AA:  Hamilton Zambonis
A-adv:  BC Westerners*
A:  Winnepeg Winnies*
Rookie:  Calgary Coldies

                  soon to be dated after this post in April:   Much More MiLB Canada

Is this my Minor League Expansion ?

*shared stadium of existing pro team

***imagined stadium of expansion occupied by more than one imagined franchise 

PORTLAND Pioneers
Pacific:  Vancouver Mounties (*, and/or BC Place)
AA: Waco Roundtrippers 
A-Advanced:  Washington County HillKings (*Hillsboro (Portland))
A:  Tri-State Riders (*Florence, KY(Cincinnati area))
Rookie-Advanced:  Bakkan Field Outlanders in Williston, North Dakota

CAROLINA Cougars
AAA: Carolina Lumber Co. *home of the Knights
AA:  East Coast Colonials (*Myrtle Beach)
A-Advanced:  Fort Bragg Bad Boys *
A: Greenbrier Windfarmers***
Rookie-Advanced:  Greenbrier Green Cougars***

MONTREAL Expos
AAA: Ottawa Internationals
AA: Ohio Oaks (*Dayton)
A-advanced:  *Ft. Lauderdale Florida Fleet (and *Jacksonville)
A:  Hampton Roads Heroes (*Norfolk)
Rookie advanced:  Charlotte (*NC) Internationals

TENNESSEE Truckers
AAA: Tennessee Mountaineers*,  
AA: Kentucky Wingers (Ft. Campbell, Lexington*, Louisville*, Bowling Green*)
A-advanced:  Salem Patriots (*Virginia)
A: Ohio Norsemen (*Columbus)
Rookie advanced: Greenville Fightin' Apps (Appalachians) (*Tusculum, TN)

INDIANA Farmers
AAA:  Columbia Beans *
AA:  Northside Bears * with the Indians theoretically as the affiliate of the Pirates if need be,                                                  or on my warboard these guys play in Indianapolis and Wrigley Field
A-adv: Riverside Niners*
A:  Savannah Army Sailors *
Rookie Adv:  Montanamen (Billings*)

Future posts should include New Orleans and Albuquerque areas.  And others like Vancouver.

OKLAHOMA Pilots
AAA: Sur Toros (*Monterrey, Mexico)
AA:  Temple Tankers in Texas                                                                       
A-Advanced:  Florida Sharks (*St. Petersburg)
A:  Lincoln Loggers *outside of Omaha

Rookie-Advanced:  Wyoming Truckers
                                                 or should it be the 'Pokes (Cowpokes)


OMAHA Oaks
AAA:  Tucson Sun Rays *
AA:  Central Texas Mustangs (***Temple)
A-advanced: Tallahassee Caps
A: Middletown Roadsters (Ohio)
Rookie advanced: Boise Band *

CENTRAL TEXAS Sidewinders
AAA:  Pensacola Beached Pandas *
AA:  Lubbock Bomb Squad *
A: Cincinnati Masters (Mason, OH)

Rookie advanced: Madison County 75ers (Richmond, KY*college (make refurbish))

LAS VEGAS Galaxies
AAA:  Nevada Javelins* at least 2 other teams play here with the Mets 51s affiliate.
AA: Little Rock Roadshows*
A-advanced: Vegas Rooster Dinners*
A: Las Vegas Chicks*
Rookie advanced: Reno Vegas Ranchers*

UTAH Lakers                                      ...it's a fish, not a saxophone

AAA: Austin Cattlemen*
AA: Texas Fishermen (Round Rock* (Austin) and San Antonio*)
A advanced: California Shipping (Stockton*)
A:  Brooklyn Trollies *
Rookie advanced: Clermont Eagles (Ohio)

 At what order do any of these, and in what pairs do these imagined squads enter MLB ?
Should the MLB squads in Austin and Salt Lake City switch out their Triple-A clubs?  The Sidewinders could have their AAA club split home-camp time between the Round Rock ballpark and the new Central Texas MLB stadium.

click:  MLB/MiLB growth could foot the Bill for Independent League Stadiums

MLB New Orleans Parades affiliates et al. ....Teams I Missed ?

Fictional new Pioneer League team at Bakkan Oil Fields

Future Big League Baseball Cities

No Two Teams - NHL

Them Islanders....
Should I send them to Connecticut again?  Or should I make them a two place team with Norfolk.  Yes!
Let's go with East Coast Whalers rebirth.  And brand for an Islanders name could land with Seattle.

Ducks ?
Seattle Ducks is cool.

It would only seem right with a second team already in Greater Toronto and talking this talk.  And of course in the spirit of my blog they'd carry the name Ontario.

Since Seattle seems well along its way, I'm moving the Mighty Ducks to Portland.  Seattle Islanders seems nice, but we can rename that team to Hampton Roads and Hartford as the East Coast Whalers, as tempting it is for me to have the franchise park in Milwaukee and Cleveland as the Great Lakes brand.

Some old posts concerning the subject:

If NYC Gives Up a NHL Team

East Coast Whalers of Norfolk and Hartford

No More Two-Team Towns for a Sports League

NHL - If each franchise had to camp in two cities... .

 Seattle's hockey name? click

MLB Las Vegas Galaxies affiliates

*shared stadium of existing pro team

AAA:  Nevada Javelins* at least 2 other teams play here with the Mets 51s affiliate.
AA: Little Rock Roadshows*
A-advanced: Vegas Rooster Dinners*
A: Las Vegas Chicks*
Rookie advanced: Reno Vegas Ranchers*

The one out of state affiliate is Little Rock's second team, 2 double-A squads in the capital of Arkansas. 

Two Ballclubs per Ballpark

Hot Stove like Hell !!!!!

Let's envision a time well down the road when big league baseball has expanded to cities now craving it, and a time which continually is saturated in the minor league landscape.

There's a solution, albeit overly simple.  And you'll be able to see how I play with it.  Just use parks in use now.  Instead of half the time being used, use it full time with two teams.  Logistically tricky for sure, but not impossible.

Let's do the Triple-A teams

Wikipedia, I love you.  Swap Colorado for San Antonio for up-to-date

Now, make up some new teams that share these stadiums.  Here are some.

Don't forget.  I talked about sharing the big club ballpark also.

MLB's Central Texas Sidewinders minor league Affiliates

*existing ball park

AAA:  Pensacola Beached Pandas *
AA:  Lubbock Bomb Squad *
A: Cincinnati Masters (Mason, OH)

Rookie advanced: Madison County 75ers (Richmond, KY*college (refurbish))

Question:

Can this be a more inclusive thing for El Paso,...or do the Rangers have that covered?

San Antonio and Austin otherwise would vie for the naming.

Outdoor Classics. Alternative Places

wikipedia.org/wiki/NHL_Winter_Classic

wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_outdoor_ice_hockey_games

In less than a year, at Notre Dame's football stadium, the Blackhawks will take on the Bruins - the NHL in Indiana.  College football has hosted before in Michigan.  Where else could you see or would you like to see such a game played?  Ohio State?  ECHL's Cyclones at Nippert.  The NHL is doing a good job with it, particularly the Stadium Series.  All the New York met teams got to play at Yankee Stadium over the series of two dates.

We can really screw around with the thought, and do baseball inside of football stadiums.  MLB's Rangers occasionally play in San Antonio's Alamodome, which was built to lure football, and landed the Spurs for years.  So, whatcha' thinkin'?
Brewers at Green Bay ?  Take on the Sox or Cubbies.  Would they do astroturf-like basepadding, as in just having sand near the bases?  Cubs at Soldier Field?  I bet it'd be too tough to do Reds baseball at Nippert.

Basketball has to do outdoor NBA sometime soon, right?  Bulls at Wrigley.  The Pacers could go with the old field that hosted the minors, as well as Negro League ball.  Now it's a neat apartment complex.

Celtics and Lakers at Wimbledon or the Nets-Knicks at the New York Open ?  Maybe the NFL can do something coy with the preseason.  Think like the Browns and Bengals playing at the Ohio State Fairgrounds at the Columbus Crew.

NCAA-wise, my Bearcats need to play the hardwood on the football field.  Xavier and UC could do Great American Ball Park for the Crosstown Showdown Crosstown Shootout deal.  It would plainly be awesome as even as exhibition in the Summer.  The Aircraft Carrier stuff done in college bball is aesthetic as hell.  click:

Outdoor NBA Series

MLB's Utah Lakers minor league Affiliations

*shared stadium of existing pro team

AAA: Austin Cattlemen*
AA: Texas Fishermen (Round Rock* (Austin) and San Antonio*)
A advanced: California Shipping (Stockton*)
A:  Brooklyn Trollies *
Rookie advanced: Clermont Eagles (Ohio)

Or should we call these SLC bad boys the Utah Frontiers ???

click: The Pitch: Utah MLB

MLB's Indiana Farmers minor league Affiliates

*existing stadium

AAA:  Columbia Beans *
AA:  Northside Bears * with the Indians theoretically as the affiliate of the Pirates if need be,                                                  or on my warboard these guys play in Indianapolis and Wrigley Field
A-adv: Riverside Niners*
A:  Savannah Army Sailors *
Rookie Adv:  Montanamen (Billings*)

I got more use out of existing facilities and some cities promoted as such

Do you think my tractor is sexy?

indystar.com/story/life/home-garden/2013/12/01/lofts-give-new-life-to-historic-bush-stadium

MLB's Tennessee Truckers Farm System

In my fantasy land a major league franchise plays in two tidy 35k seat ballyards, one in Memphis, the other in Nashville.  They go by the name Truckers, and it's a killer apparel line nation-wide, especially for the generic apparel not necessarily yelling a Tennessee call.  Bonus for them bucks and the franchise.  By the way, Bucks, as I argue for any Milwaukee NBA relocation, would probably have much the same effect.  But hey, I'll be a touch more original for the sake of it.

In an event that any of these expansions didn't include Portland, ...that Oregon metropolis could use a Triple-A squad.  The Sounds could even transfer out of Nashville to there.  But I like this idea:  When the Truckers are away at their other camp in Memphis or at an away park, a Triple-A Tennessee brand of the Bucks or Mountaineers could play in Nashville.  Memphis to Nashville and vice versa, even spending some time in the Sounds stadium (which could also house Appalachian League teams or any other minor league really).  Tag-team the big ball and smaller ball clubs in the same facilities.

Logistically (schedule-wise), this is all easier said than done, but the Double-A's could be thrown in this absence mix. Between the two "ex" Triple-A ballparks in Memphis and Nashville this can be done.  4 high level pro parks in Tennessee.  Again, away games being other teams' home games.

Memphis

The Dragon's venue in downtown Dayton could host such any extra squad, perhaps another A-ball club.  The Ohio Pilots or Ohio Oaks sounds nice.  In my scenarios so far though, I have the Oaks as the Montreal's Double-A farm.  So, I'll move along.  But essentially, the Cardinals and A's affiliates don't necessarily have to vacate altogether.

Nashville

We can say their double-A ball brand could be the Kentucky Wingers, housed in a ball park at Ft. Campbell, much like the one that was standing for the Fort Bragg game.  The Wingers could play there and part-time at other places such as the existing structures in Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green.  Stretching this schpeal out more, I blog envision Appalachian League teams out in Eastern Kentucky.

So many A-ball facilitation possibilities.   But here's the overall for thought's sake:

   Here it is for the A-balls of the Tennessee Truckers

Tennessee Mountaineers*, Kentucky Wingers (some*) 
Salem Patriots (*Virginia), Ohio Norsemen (*Columbus)
The Greenville Reds rookie league team could share their rookie league yard with the Greenville Fightin' Apps (Appalachians)

*existing stadiums

No Two Teams - MLB *Expanded

This is a post concerning proximity.

Would the Mets go to Buffalo and keep the name ?
Would the White Sox shove on over to Indianapolis ?
Angels California again up to Sacramento or Portland ?
        West Coast Angels part-timing in Oregon...?

Okay, all that atop was from the first post.  For all intents and purposes the Giants/A's and Nats/Orioles are packed into vehicular contiguous metros.  And so, I'll pretend with cruelty to Oakland and Orioles land in a benevolent effort to spread some MLB love, I have to relocate those O' no's to somewhere else, presuming the ilk of Buffalo, Indy and Portland having been taken care of by this point.

Getty Images, Built for the Miami Marlins 20 years after the Florida Marlins started.

Many of us think Montreal.  That's boring to me, and I'd be lying if I said I cared.  I'd personally only move have a team there as a share with Vancouver.  The O-birds are rebranded the North Country Lumber'Jacks.  The 'Jacks will be able to take on the San Antonio Athletics.  I want to say Austin Athletics.  But can I?

The likes of Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Omaha and New Orleans may live a life climbing up the century.
 

No Two Teams - NBA

If a city can't have two teams...

For snips and wiggles:

Clippers to Seattle.  West Coast Clippers

Nets go where?  Brooklyn seems fit, but we're arguing here ......
                 and so we'll argue for space and separation above population.....

      Louisville Nets

The Pitch: Utah MLB

3 Baseball Stadiums of Greater Salt Lake

And I'm looking to implicate the state of Utah, namely its capital and regional population hub of SLC, as a major league capable baseball home.

A stadium with over 8,250 seats and another with 5,000.
And Triple-A ball affiliate for the Angels of Los Angeles houses 14,500 seats at SLC for the Bees.

So, for 3 pro teams located in the state, to include the SLC Bees, that over 27,750 seats between 3 ballparks in a 70 mile stretch in a metropolis virtually in no-man's land.
The Rockies could use some competition in their backyard.  Salt Lake Mountaineers do the trick?  Maybe some fishy Utah Lakers?

Geographically, I spy Albuquerque in the neighborhood.  Well, region.  Utah is double the pop. of that of New Mexico.  So, there you have it.  I figure by the time New Mexico has a big league club, they have a robust enough population to house their own affiliates while the big leaguers are on a road trip.  Baseball could be world wide on a promotion-relegation system by then.

Back to Utah.  Building a slightly higher priced ticket in a 30k seat expandable-friendly construct'able (add additions) fashion in Salt Lake City, if it's a beauty to look at, is doable.  What complicates this fantasy is the pecking order, with metropolises like Omaha, OKC and population centers like San Antonio (double that of SLC).  And SLC doesn't have a city like Austin within a hundred miles.  Yet the heart of Utah has the edge of population and elbow room over greater Omaha.  And give or take it's the same population of Oklahoma, which could be in Royals territory (as is Omaha) or leaning to Ranger nation (more aptly to be called Ranger region in that regard).

If you're in Utah, you're no Vancouver.  Or Portland or Charlotte.  You are Olympic caliber a la the 2002 Winter games.

No, you won't be in the next round of expansion.  But long-term planning ahead of time can do some good for groundwork.  Have your pitch in your pocket.  Let others scramble.

Salt Lake City: Visiting the Possibility of more Pro Sports

MLB's Omaha Oaks farm Teams

*existing ball park
***imagined stadium of expansion occupied by more than one imagined franchise 

                                                                                 Sometime down the road
AAA:  Tucson Sun Rays *
AA:  Central Texas Mustangs (***Temple)
A-advanced: Tallahassee Caps
A: Middletown Roadsters (Ohio)
Rookie advanced: Boise Band *

MLB's Oklahoma Pilots minor league farm system

When all is right with the world, further into the future.


  Minor Leagues                                                                        *shared stadium of existing pro team
Pacific: Sur Toros (*Monterrey, Mexico)

AA:  Temple Tankers in Texas

                                                                        
A-Advanced:  Florida Sharks (*St. Petersburg)
A:  Lincoln Loggers outside* of Omaha


Rookie-Advanced:  Wyoming Truckers

The Oklahoma Dodgers (AAA) will vacate part-time into Los Angeles and be re-coined the California-Oklahoma Express as the LA Dodgers affiliate.   Imagine, C.O. Railroad taking on the Round Rock Express from Trip-A action.  Or maybe even swap out Monterrey for the Trip-A team in the future.  The fictionally created Temple Tankers could become the Tank Dodgers and that would be the switch for the existing Tulsa Drillers franchise which I'd like renamed Tulsa Aviation or the Tulsa Planes.

MLB's Portland Pioneers Farm System

Montreal Expos minor league farm system

 

Smart Space

I concede that I don't much mind the fact that the NFL and MLB aren't playing in the same spaces anymore.  It started with Camden Yard in Baltimore.  It started a beautiful revival to help us all get a little more Wrigleyville.  Oakland Coliseum is the last big league football-baseball stadium standing.  And it is a wedge of contention that drove the Raiders to Las Vegas.

How much it has done for taxpayers and the environment is probably another thing altogether.  It happened easily with baseball and football.  And though the square size barely changes with both kinds of football, a league is insisting upon soccer-only venues. FC Cincinnati at Nippert or Paul Brown Stadium is fine.  But it is what it is.

 As multipurpose stadiums were rarely ideal for both sports usually housed in them, they had fallen out of favor by the 1990s. With the completion of the Truman Sports Complex in Kansas City in 1973, a model for purpose-built stadiums was laid down. Since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, most major league sports stadiums have been built specifically for one sport.   -wikipedia below

Back in my boyhood, the Reds and Bengals played at the same stadium.  The Pirates and Steelers did the same.  Cards-Football Cards.  Mariners-Seahawks. Astros-Oilers.  You get the picture.  A lot of the big league cities did.

wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-purpose_stadium

Get some idea of how converting arenas and fields is done:  core77.com/posts/22530/how-do-they-change-stadiums-from-hockey-rinks-to-basketball-courts-in-90-minutes-and-move-an-entire-football-field

Yankee Stadium is used by NYCFC.

NHL-NBA space collaboration:

Take a look at some of these figures from a few years back of the 10 arenas touting these Big 2:
denverpost.com/avs/2015/11/29..10-buildings-with-both-teams/22718/

So, my questions:

Can we play soccer and football at the same stadiums ?   And, can we do indoor (arena) football, basketball and hockey in the same ones? -insert pic of Native American crying

For that matter, can we share the away game time with another team in "our" stadium, amounting to baseball about every day and football/futbol each week?  Check out my posts about sharing minor league (and independent league) and major league parks.


A parking area could be a sportsplex of 3 stadiums (2 stadiums and one arena).  Sure, in America, baseball stands alone indeed.  The Big Five could be housed in one area.  Imagine the Seattle tripleplex

In one fell swoop of arena dealing, Seattle stands to doubletap into the Big Five.

click:  MLB/MiLB growth could foot the Bill for Independent League Stadiums

American Attitude Change for Sports Facilities. The Environment !!!

 

NHL cities before Milwaukee

I love the combination of camps for Milwaukee and Cleveland in being called Great Lakes.
What would be a good moniker for that?  The Fleet?  Shoremen.  Armada (that sounds like an excellent MLS name).  Shippers?  Great Lakes SC ?

Expansion Inside the Park

Check out this baseballdigest.com index of ongoings inside the park.

ballparkdigest.com
/2018/03/01/2018-mlb-ballpark-upgrades-preview

While Miller Park upgraded concessions, nothing to say of a new American Association stadium and team for Milwaukee.

Check out other future ballpark plans in their right-hand side index.Mobile AL team moving to Huntsville area.  Click:

ballparkdigest.com/2018/01/30/  2020-opening-planned

Roving Training Camps a good Marketing Idea ?

Just look at all the Cowboys and Texans camps over the American landscape:

Footballgeography.com/nfl-training-camp-locations

nfl.com_______-nfl-training-camp-dates-and-locations

Where would you put your team's camp if it had to be other than the home city?
What about outside of the region ?

For my, err beloved Bengals I'll spitball Dayton regionally and for outside of the region....oh, I'll say Louisville since it looks like Colts Country could otherwise be more welcoming.  Pic below.

Gunning out west I might go for Boise out near Seahawks turf, but to be safer I might go for Salk Lake City for training camp.  Denver Broncos should audible at Omaha.