Overview
- Ken Sim, who announced the plan Tuesday, set an April 22 council vote to direct staff to open an expression-of-interest for potential owners to pursue a Major League Baseball team.
- If passed, staff would run an open, roughly 60-day call for bids to find a qualified ownership group, a task that will likely require billions with expansion fees reported near $2.2 billion.
- Sim said groups have already approached the city and he called the interest credible, though he declined to name any parties.
- A new ballpark would likely be needed because BC Place’s 2011 roof and center-hung scoreboard make it ill-suited for baseball, and Sim said taxpayer money would not fund a stadium.
- Critics, including councillor Pete Fry, question the plan’s feasibility in an election year, and Vancouver would still face timing limits tied to MLB’s labor calendar and competition from Nashville, Salt Lake City, and Portland.