What are the odds of a MLB franchise coming to Vancouver?
For those of you who follow closely to Major League Baseball, you’ve probably heard about the interest by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred on expanding the current league to include two additional franchises. This makes a lot of sense when the league, marking their 13th year of consecutive record growth, increased their revenue to $9.5 billion dollars. As many cities are fighting over to enter the ‘party’, barrier to enter the major league has become higher than ever. It is common to see franchises (team owners) demand for various financial supports such as public funding, tax incentives, and sometimes even the construction of a new stadium that would accommodate the team. As Montreal, the largest metropolitan area without a MLB franchise in US or Canada, is now one step closer to bringing the major league back to its city, many government advocates, businesspeople, and of course, baseball enthusiasts from the city of Vancouver have started to wonder what are the chances of bringing a franchise to the city. As of now, all the baseball fans here in Vancouver can only express their love for the Blue Jays – a Toronto based team. The love for baseball in the West Coast can be shown in many pre-season games and away games, such as the game that took place Tuesday, September 20th, 2016, where the Blue Jays played against the Mariners – just down south of the border in Seattle. Reported by the The Province, as many as 50 to 70 percent fans at the stadium were supporting the away team (Blue Jays). Quoted from the article:
“I think Major League Baseball would be supported here as evidenced by what happened in Seattle” – Mike Gill.
The hunger for major league baseball in Vancouver might be signalling the direction of the expansion. As Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his interest in expanding the current league from 30 to 32 franchises, some top expansion possibilities have included the lower mainland – city of Vancouver. Being the second largest city metropolitan area in North America without an MLB franchise, placing a new team in Vancouver could be a potential solution. As stated by the former Blue Jays assistant general manager, there are several reasons to believe why the city has the potential to host a league team, including:
“Strong attendance across a breadth of sports [as well as] a strong diversified economy.”
“I’m gaining confidence Vancouver would embrace MLB beyond the traditional new franchise honeymoon phase”.
At first, it might seem that a new MLB franchise could be supported in Vancouver due to the high level of enthusiasm and passionate for sports, as shown in regular sellouts of The Vancouver Canadians, a Minor League Baseball team based in the city. Moreover, the high level of participation during the Canucks playoffs and NBA pre-season games has demonstrated a strong fan base f0r sports in Vancouver. I was very lucky to witness this:
Here is a video of me at the NBA Preseason Game at Rogers Arena, where the Toronto Raptors played against the Golden State Warriors. Giving the chance to physically attend the game, I was surprised by the participatory sports culture in Vancouver. Fans of different age, sex, and background all come together to enjoy the game. Seats were completely filled (I was very fortunate to have a pair of tickets) as fans from all of the Greater Vancouver Region rushed into the city center in support for the home team.
- Photo taken by me during the NBA Preseason Game on October 1st, 2016.
However, is this just one of those games that has drawn in a large audience due to its rarely occurences in Vancouver? Could Vancouver support 81 regular home games a year, with such a big and exciting crowd? Or is this just one of the rare scenes that is taken place only several times a year (such as during the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup Playoffs)? It is possible to fill up 30,000 seats in one night, but when there are over 80 games span across many seasons, can the attendance to those games still be guaranteed? These are some of the challenges to consider if Vancouver really wants to facilitate a major league team.
Let’s dig a little deeper
As I look deeper into this issue, I started to question: Can the Lower Mainland (Vancouver) really support a MLB franchise? As shown in the above examples, developed metropolitan cities, such as that of Vancouver and Montreal, “compete strongly with each other for inward investment, especially baseball leagues”(Thornley, 2002). Therefore, it is not surprised to see high involvement and participation by local governmens in providing such infrastructure to attract major league teams into their city (Thornley, 2002). Even with a strong attendance across different breadth of sports, introducing a new franchise would mean that Vancouver will need to conduct thorough planning to support the idea. This includes gathering support from various governments, corporate leaders, and local community – which often times can cause conflicts as each stakeholder is trying to fight for what is best for them. And in order to successfully win the bid, Thornley noted in his editorial that:
“Governments have to be very focused, often using an elite growth coalition, and create decision-making mechanisms that can achieve results to tight deadlines” (2002).
“This raises many questions over the degree of democracy and involvement and how any opposition movements may be diffused”(Thornley, 2002).
So, why do governments and elite group care so much about league teams? Well, the simple question is that major league sports, especially baseball, can generate a tremendous amount of money. So who wouldn’t be interested in such a big business, after all? Now, let’s think about the entire major metropolitan cities in North America, and their associated sports team. Is there one big city where you can’t name a sports team (whether it be NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL)? In the past decade, North American metropolitan cities are “investing huge sums of public expenditure into these facilities, in order to lure or retain a major league franchise”(Lee, 2002). Major megalopolis (such as Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto) hopes to attract sports enthusiasts and visitors from around the world, to reaffirm their image as vibrant, international ‘big league’ cities. In addition, cities that are interested in hosting major teams so must also come up with precise, well thought out plans on building the infrastructures to support the project, which means building a new stadium (or ballpark) that would accommodate its the team and fans. The millions of dollars poured into the making of mega stadiums are often times at the expense of local residents, those that are most vulnerable to the effects of such mega constructions. In what follows, I will aim to explore the pros and cons behind bringing a new MLB franchise to the town. As Vancouver faces many social problems such as shortage in land and increasingly expensive home prices, building (and more importantly, funding) a new sports stadium may seem to be a radical idea that would cause some uproar by local citizens. In this context, bringing a new team and building a new stadium would mean displacing local residents, increasing local taxation, increasing house (and rental) prices, and many other unpredicted economic and social problems. Therefore, introducing a new MLB franchise might actually help perpetuate an inequitable society, a ‘spectacle’ that helps mask Vancouver’s “rot beneath the glitter” (Andrews & Friedman, 2011).
The Beneficiaries of a New Stadium
On one hand, the building of a new sporting stadium often seems to have a positive correlation with economic development. As proved by the impressive profit (estimated of 250 million US dollars) generated in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, major metropolitan cities often hope leverage exposure in order to attract major international events. And to attract such events (as well as sports franchises), cities often turn to the creation of often luxurious, one-of-a-kind infrastructure that would support the idea, and
“to increase tourism income and outside business investment while encouraging the rapid development of supporting infrastructure that could be used more widely post-event” (Nauright, 2014).
In recent years, more advocates have been focusing on the cities’ developmental legacy, transforming them from an image that has been linked to the industrial past to a neoliberal, leisure economy focusing on consumption of goods and services (Thornley, 2002). The construction of a stadium therefore becomes an economic driver as jobs (such as engineers, contractors, social workers, etc) needs to be fulfilled for the project. Visitors from all over the world would also spend money in the city, which are often beneficial for local businesses. As BC place was constructed in the 80s, it helped sparked major developments around the False Creek area. Some of the noticeable events that took place, including the Expo 86′, was held in Vancouver at a time when BC was ‘searching for a new image‘.
With more than 22 million attended (far exceeding the expected 13.7 million), it could be said from that point up, Vancouver has gained recognizable pride and positive images as it transforms from a coastal industrial city to one of the major international metropolis. From this perspective, the construction of BC place can be viewed as:
“a symbolic gesture expressing great optimism about the future outlook of the British Columbia economy, and to articulate this message of optimism to the international community in order to lure investment”(Lee, 2002).
“Indeed, there are probably few things that can bring a community together like a local sports team winning a World Series, Super Bowl, or other major sporting event”(Bordson, 1998).
This all makes sense, when visitors who watch sporting events will generally spend their money at concessions, restaurants and bars, or merchandises and shops near the stadium, bringing in “an infusion of new dollars, enhancing the profile of a city, [and] spurring economic development through multiplier effect”(Lee, 2010). Local businesses will thrive from such a development, which translates to an increase in the number of local jobs and opportunities.
But…let’s hear from the other side
I think I can’t emphasize enough about the economic and intangible impacts of constructing a new stadium (in terms of image and pride it brings). However, we must change our direction and take a look at the problem from a different perspective, that is, how does such a building negatively affects the society, especially local citizens who are directly involved? Some advocates have been pointing out that publicly funded stadiums do not actually benefit the public. In fact, sports,
“while having the possibility of promoting resistance and individual and social transformation, has become more and more enmeshed in a global system based on growth and inequality at the expense of sustainability and social and economic justice”(Nauright, 2014).
As many professional sports league team owners threaten to move their team in order to take advantage of bigger, more lucrative stadium situation, local governments often bid to provide the most incentives by publicly funding these expensive projects (Bordson, 1998, p.506). It is not rare to see many metropolis cities finance local stadiums through tax increases and by selling public bonds in order to bid for the exclusive chance of ‘owning a home team’ (Gesualdi, 2014). Instead of major league teams covering the cost of the stadiums, most stadiums are publicly funded, using taxpayer’s money. Contrary to the believe building a stadium would bring tremendous economic impact to a city, many scholars have been arguing that the jobs created are those consisting of low-wage, low-skill labour, and does not promote the growth of a strong economy. From this point of view, it is obvious that league teams are profiting at the expense of local citizens.
Thus, should our government really be prioritizing such funding? Does it make any sense to provide public subsidies for such a construction that will only benefit a certain members of the community (Lee, 2002)? Moreover, the cost of planning, land acquisition, construction and other unpredicted run-on fees can easily double or even triple over the course of the a massive project (Mistry, 2002). Again, who will be paying for the extra cost(s)? These are some of the questions that taxpayers should be concerned; as such a large amount of money is spent to support an extremely profitable industry (Gesualdi, 2014).
Studies have been wrong…very wrong
In Mistry’s research Why governments build stadia and arenas for professional sports teams (2002), he founded that although stadiums are able to generate some positive economic impact, most of the these spin-off activities actually represent only a small portion of the civic economy (Mistry, 2002). As noted in his study, many of the reports stating increased economic activity often uses gross revenue instead of net income. In addition, most of the economic projections by public officials rarely gets translated into actual figures. Since money generated from restaurants, hotels, and retail (or services) only accounts for a fraction of the whole economy, does it really make sense to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a stadium, or should that money be spend on other urgent public services such as affordable housing, education sector or the health care system? In Nauright’s study, he concluded that there are significant social consequences following many of the creation of new stadium. Some day-to-day impact he presented includes: traffic congestion and overcrowding of roads; increased potential of criminal activity, increased pollution as well as disruption to daily schedules (Nauright, 2014). These are just some of the main impacts that I want to point out, giving the chance that a MLB franchise do happen to choose Vancouver as its home location. Other possible social and economic impact may include dislocation of people, increase in housing prices, congested traffic…just to name a few. Therefore,
“Stadia developments should not be regarded as isolated projects but integrated into broader visions of local regeneration and strategic city policy, over issues such as social inclusion, sustainability and public transport” (Thornley, 2002).
Thus, there is a need to explore the broader social and economic impact of building a new stadium in urban environment. Here is my take. Since such a construction would remain for decades, the public must balance the global pressure and local effects (Thronley, 2002). Although Vancouver has the potential to be a great sports market, the very direct impact on local communities must be carefully assessed.
Works Cited
Bordson, B. (1998). Public Sports Stadium Funding: Communities Being Held Hostage By Professional Team Owners. Hamline Law Review (505), 505-535.
Davies, E.L. (2006). Sporting a new role? Stadia and the real estate market. Managing Leisure, 11:4, 231-244 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13606710600893726
Friedman, M.T. & Andrews, D. (2010). The Built Sport Spectacle and the Opacity of Democracy. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 46(2), 181-204.
Gesualdo, C. (2014). Sports Stadiums as Public Works Projects: How to Stop Professional Teams From Exploiting Taxpayers. Virginia Sports & Entertainment Law Journal, 281-296.
Lee, P. (2002). The Economic and Social Justification for Publicly Financed Stadia: The Case of Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium. European Planning Studies, 10:7,861-873, DOI: 10.1080/0965431022000013266
Mistry, J. (2002). If We Build It, Will They Come…Or At Least Stay?“Politics Matters”: Explaining Why Governments Build Stadia And Arenas For Professional Sports Teams. Simon Fraser University, 20-138.
Nauright, J. (2014). Sports and the Neo-Liberal World Order. Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies.6 (2). 281–288. DOI: 10.1386/cjcs.6.2.281_1
Thornley, A. (2002). Urban Regeneration and Sports Stadia. European Planning Studies, 10:7, 813-818, DOI: 10.1080/0965431022000013220
Images
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cmns324: Media, Sport, and Popular Culture 
