NEW YORK – (AP) – Major League Baseball reportedly consider $ 2.2 billion in expansion fees for new franchises, although there are currently no plans to add teams .

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke on Tuesday during SporticoLive’s online discussion about his estimates of baseball franchise valuations. The company estimated the average value of the MLB franchise at $ 2.2 billion, led the New York Yankees to $ 6.75 billion.

Colorado and Miami paid $ 95 million each to join in 1993, and Arizona and Tampa Bay paid $ 130 million to join in 1998.

Manfred has said on several occasions that the MLB will not consider an expansion until the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays have secured new ball fields. The Athletics have proposed a stadium in the Howard Terminal neighborhood of downtown Oakland, and the Rays have said they will continue divisional seasons between the Tampa Bay area and Montreal from 2028, after the expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

No plans for these cities have been finalized.

Manfred mentioned as possible candidates for the expansion: Charlotte, North Carolina; Las Vegas; Montreal; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

“If in fact these assets are worth an average of $ 2.2 billion, I think that’s kind of a lodestar in terms of starting point in terms of assessing expansion opportunities,” Manfred said. “Expansion isn’t purely additive, is it, from the perspective of existing owners. There are huge shared revenue streams that are diluted by having 32 instead of 30 as the denominator, and if that was in fact the number of expansion, and that has to be factored in as well. “

Manfred also said the MLB made the right decision on April 2 to relocate its All-Star Game from Truist Park to Atlanta despite the league’s objections to changes to Georgia’s voting laws that critics condemned as being too restrictive. The MLB announced four days later that the July 13 game will be played at Coors Field in Denver.

“We have been injected into a very politicized situation. I think we did the right thing, “Manfred said.” We thought our players were going to find themselves in an extremely difficult situation given how politically charged it was. And we think the decision we made will actually be player protection. ___

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