As Mayor Ken Sim puts forward a motion seeking to attract a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise to Vancouver, critics are doubtful the city can put forward an attractive enough business case and sustain a new franchise.
Sim said in a statement that the motion, set to come before council next week, would direct city staff to “launch an expression of interest process to identify a qualified ownership group” capable of advancing a bid for an MLB club.
But critics say the proposal ignores the reality of professional sports in Vancouver — which already saw the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies depart to Memphis, and the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team facing struggles of its own.
In addition, one mayoral candidate says significant taxpayer expenditures would be needed to construct a new stadium for the team — something that he sees as unlikely in the current environment.
Pete Fry, a current Green Party councillor who will challenge Sim in October’s municipal election, said the mayor’s proposal was simply an election gambit.
“Certainly, we have no shortage of really important expenditures in the City of Vancouver,” Fry said. “Is this the best bang for our buck?
“We didn’t have much luck with an NBA team and certainly Montreal couldn’t sustain a Major League Baseball team. So I don’t know,” he added.
The obstacles for a Major League Baseball team coming to Vancouver
Kareem Allam, mayoral candidate with the Vancouver Liberals and Sim’s former chief of staff, said he was working with a potential bidder for the last two years on a proposal to bring an MLB team to Vancouver.
But Allam said he was limited in what he could disclose due to a non-disclosure agreement.
“I’m very excited about the prospect of a Major League Baseball team coming to Vancouver,” he said.
Sim argues that the time is ripe for Vancouver to make the pitch for an expansion franchise, with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred indicating he would want two expansion teams before his term is up in 2029.
When asked whether a team could play in a stadium not supported by public money, Sim said it “absolutely happens all the time.”
“The economic impact would be immense, and we are not spending taxpayer dollars to subsidize the team,” he said.
“So, we are looking for credible partners who would come and bring it and … make this happen without, you know, subsidies from the government.”
Vancouver already has a professional baseball team — the Vancouver Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jays’ High-A Minor League affiliate who play at Nat Bailey Stadium.
The stadium, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, holds around 6,500 people. Fry noted that it needs significant renovation, and it’s unclear how much taxpayers would be paying for that.
B.C.’s biggest stadium, B.C. Place in downtown Vancouver, hosted several MLB exhibition series between 1984 and 1994.
However, a $500-million renovation in 2011 — including a centre-hung scoreboard and a cable-supported retractable roof — has made the 54,000-seat stadium less suitable for baseball.
Fry said it’s likely any new MLB team will demand a new stadium, which he said would be unlikely in a province that is fiscally constrained and is already committing millions to the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Ticket broker Kingsley Bailey also said that Sim’s proposal was an election ploy, and flatly said an MLB team in the city “is not going to happen.”
Bailey pointed to the Whitecaps, who have enjoyed recent success on the pitch, but say they struggle to make money in the city.
“I’d love to see baseball here, but right now we do not have the ownership that really cares about the fans in the city,” Bailey said.
Andy Yan, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University, said a recent report from Vancouver’s auditor general raised questions about whether the city was able to get appropriate compensation from its public-private partnerships.
With that in mind, he said the details of any MLB proposal and public funding involved would be key.
“I think that there are … ongoing issues when it comes to housing, cost of living, just the overall state of the city, through which Major League Baseball isn’t necessarily the solution,” he said.
