Where Music City Baseball stands in MLB expansion talks

Major League Baseball in Nashville was a topic of conversation that included the voice of a former NFL player Monday during a Rotary Club meeting inside a Major League Soccer Stadium.

Tennessee Titans great/current TSU coach Eddie George was joined at Geodis Park on a panel representing Music City Baseball by managing partner/real estate developer/business executive John Loar and fellow board members Lee Barfield, a former antisubmarine warfare officer and lawyer, and Danielle Whitworth Barnes, president and CEO of Girls Scouts of Middle Tennessee.

The group made its pitch to Rotary Club members about its effort to bring baseball to Nashville should MLB expand, including what that might cost and who might pay for it, what kind of economic impact that might have and where that team — already named the Nashville Stars — might play.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he intends to have a two-team expansion plan in place by the time his term ends in January 2029, meaning a new team wouldn’t begin play until at least 2031.

How much would it cost to put an MLB expansion team in Nashville?

Manfred suggested in 2021 that $2 billion could be the expansion fee. That’s before taking into consideration the costs associated with buying land, developing it and building a stadium.

How much would a new baseball stadium in Nashville cost?

Loar said that number was around $750 million when Music City Baseball was formed in 2019. That number, Loar said, is easily at least $1.2 billion now. And that’s for a no-frills stadium.

Considering the amount of rainfall in Nashville, and the fact that a new stadium also would be a “365” venue, meaning its uses will go far beyond baseball and into the entertainment world, an expensive retractable roof seems like a must.

So take that $2 billion and add another $1.5 billion-plus.

“We’re looking at building more of a world-class entertainment venue that baseball is played at,” Loar said, adding that the Music City Baseball group is looking for a development partner for what he figures will be a 15-acre site.

What kind of economic impact could an MLB team have on Nashville?

According to an feasibility study done by Conventions, Sports and Leisure International (CSL) on behalf of Music City Baseball, a large one.

Based on a 30-year life expectancy of a new stadium, plus the estimated two years it would take to build it, CSL made the following estimates:

$12.2 billion net in new economic output

2,530 jobs resulting in $8.1 billion in personal earnings

$769 million in total tax impacts, including $212.5 million for Metro and $556 million for the state of Tennessee

Who is going to pay for all of this?

An investor or group of investors that has yet to be determined.

At least that’s the plan. With the Titans’ new stadium already partially in the pockets of taxpayers, it would be a tough ask for the public to fund a new baseball stadium.

“You have to sort of do it in stages, right?” Loar said. “If the billionaires show up Day 1 — not that we don’t have some financial wherewithal in our group — you still have to solve this. You have to figure out where it’s going to go, how that facility can be built.

“The ownership group will come together. There’s no shortage of people who want to own and want to be part of an investment of a Major League Baseball team.”

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.