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The MLB has 30 teams currently. There have been talks for years of a possible 2 team expansion but that thought is close to becoming a reality pretty soon. There are 8 cities currently in the race for a MLB team including Salt Lake City. These cities are Montreal, San Antonio, Nashville, Sacramento, Portland, Las Vegas, and Charlotte. These 8 cities are all fighting for an expansion. Many things come into play here like population the lowest population of the 8 cities is Salt Lake City with 1.27 million and the highest is Montreal with 4.38 million. Population factors a lot into this because the more fans the more money the team will bring in.
Another thing that will be considered is how far away the city is from an MLB team. Sacramento is only 88 miles away from San Francisco where the Oakland A’s used to play, but the A’s relocated. Salt Lake City is 521 miles away from Denver Colorado where the Colorado Rockies play. With the Oakland A’s moving to Las Vegas and possibly picking Salt Lake City as a temporary home, this would certainly help Salt Lake City’s case on the expansion. MLB commissioner Robert Manfred in early July 2023 stated there would be a confirmed timeline on the expansion once the A’s pick a new home till then there is nothing that is going to be made official. The front runners for the expansion are Nashville and Salt Lake City. The expected to be all planned out before Rob retires in 2029.