The Data

North Carolina is the 9th largest state in the US, it’s also one of the fastest-growing states. We took a look at the data to see how we stack up against states that have successful MLB franchises and found that not only would it be viable here, but that it would thrive. Take a look at the numbers. They may surprise you. 
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Did you know that North Carolina is the 9th largest state in the US? Did you also know that we are the largest state in America without Major League Baseball? We took a look at the 10 largest states (based on population) and looked at which ones had one or more MLB teams.

Turns out, we are the only Top-10 state without a Major League Baseball team. In fact, 7 of the Top-8 have multiple teams.

California, the largest state in the US, has the 4 (or 5) teams. The Padres, Dodgers, Giants and Angels are all located in Golden State, and up until the end of this season, they also had the Oakland A’s (The A’s will play the next couple seasons in Sacramento, CA before moving to Las Vegas, NV).

The next six most populous states all have 2 MLB teams, with Georgia (7th) only having the Braves.

Then there’s North Carolina, the 9th fastest growing state in the country, sitting in the largest MLB dead zone on the east coast, without a team.

This is an important metric, because baseball, unlike all of the other major sports, pulls fans from further outside their direct region thanks to their 3-game series set-up. Fans come from all corners of the state to catch a couple of weekend games before driving just a couple of hours back home. This is why Raleigh is the most logical landing spot for MLB in North Carolina. It’s just 2 hours from the fast-growing coastline and just 3 hours from NC’s other most populous hub, Charlotte. Meanwhile, the Triangle is the second fastest-growing region in the country, and Wake County (where Raleigh is located) is now larger than Mecklenburg County (where Charlotte is located.)

This gives North Carolina a huge population to pull from. No matter where you are in the state, you currently can’t get to a Major League stadium in less than a 4-hour drive.

Media Market is important for Major League Baseball.

The revenue from local media makes up more than 23% of total team revenue. That’s more than any of the other 4 major sports, and a reason why having multiple large media markets within the state is a huge plus when the league looks at expanding to the southeast.

There currently are 6 states that boast 3 or more Top-50 media markets, with NC being one of them. However, we are the only one of those who do not have a current Major League Baseball team.

Florida has 5 Top-50 markets, and two MLB teams. California has 4 Top-50 markets and 4 (or 5, if you count the A’s) teams. Pennsylvania, Texas and Ohio have 3 Top-5o markets and each have 2 teams. Meanwhile, NC has 3 Top-50 markets and no MLB team.

This is a huge plus, as all of those other states have multiple teams that need to split up the revenue generated by MLB inside their state. North Carolina wouldn’t have that problem. With a single team, the entire state would be tuned in and rooting for the NC-based team, created an unprecedented population pool and then an unprecedented ability to create revenue from media.

North Carolina’s 3 Top-50 markets are Raleigh-Durham (#22), Charlotte (#21) and Greensboro (#47 Greensboro). However, the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson (#37) media market also overlaps into North Carolina as does the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News market (#44).

And when you look at the other current expansion contenders, they don’t come anywhere close.

Tennessee (Nashville) has only one Top-50 market, as does Oregon (Portland) and Utah (Salt Lake City).

The Triangle doesn’t just have massive population growth, a primed media market, and high individual wealth, it also has a strong and budding corporate climate.

Before we dive into the Triangle’s recent corporate boom, let’s talk about North Carolina as a whole.

North Carolina was ranked the #1 state for business by CNBC last year. They were also named the #1 best business climate in America, and took home the gold (#1) in the all-encompassing Site Selection Prosperity Cup in 2022, which factors in a host of variables, including the total new/expanded facilities, total capital investment in new facilities, total new jobs created, corporate real estate rank and state tax climate.

Speaking of the tax climate, there’s no better state to do business in than the Tarheel state. North Carolina has THE LOWEST corporate income tax rate in the country, coming in at 2.5%. The closest states to us in that category is Missouri and Oklahoma, both of which have 4% corporate income tax rates. But the state isn’t resting on its laurels with that number. In fact, the general assembly recently passed a law that tapers this number down, all the way to zero. You read that right, by 2030 North Carolina will be the only state in America to offer companies ZERO corporate income tax. So open up the floodgates folks, because companies will be heavily incentivized to bring their jobs to North Carolina over the next few years.

North Carolina’s strong foundation of incentives to bring corporations to the state means more sponsorship deals, more partnerships, and more boxes filled for a potential MLB team. But when it comes down to location, Charlotte has been the pick for major banking companies and corporate headquarters in the past. Howver, things are changing.

Today, the Triangle has become a hotbed for tech, innovation, biotech, and clean energy jobs. These are some of the fastest-growing job sectors in the country.

Over the past 5 years, Wake and Durham county added 10,000+ new jobs with a $121,000 average wage. Overall the region added $5.5 billion in private investment, none bigger than the Apple east coast headquarters which will begin construction shortly.

While Apple might be the biggest name, they join a host of companies who moving in or expanding in the Triangle including Wolfspeed, Fujifilm, Novartis, Lilly, Iqvia (Fortune 500), and more. Those new names join a host of companies with big-time presence currently here such as Advanced Auto Parts and Martin Marietta Materials, along with the big names with satellite offices here, including Google, MetLife, LapCorp, and IBM to name a few.

The old thought was that Raleigh’s lack of Fortune 500 companies would hinder it in terms of suite sales, but according to top MLB consultants, the league is moving away from suite-heavy stadium builds in favor of unique large-group seating options. This caters to smaller markets with more emerging mid-tier companies (such as Raleigh), and doesn’t rely as heavily on a market being filled with Fortune 500 headquarters.