Music City Baseball has “spent years preparing its pitch” as an MLB expansion club, having "enticed local investment and partnered with some big names and heavy hitters in sports and entertainment," according to Gentry Estes of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. Former MLBer Dave Stewart has "played a leading role," and the Music City Baseball BOD has added Former NFLer and Tennessee State football coach Eddie George and Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick. The group’s public relations efforts have been “remarkably effective,” and by now, Nashville’s selection as the first of two MLB expansion candidates is “widely assumed as a foregone conclusion.” But Nashville’s effort "lacks a controlling owner to help cover" the $2B expansion fee and the price tag of a new stadium that "would have to be constructed between now and the team’s first pitch." Money will be an "essential part of this process," as getting a downtown ballpark "wouldn’t be a small feat." Asked about finding that owner (or owners) in 2024, Music City Baseball Managing Dir John Loars said, “I feel good about it ... I think there will be a lot of people interested in being involved in this opportunity in Nashville” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 12/3).
