When Major League Baseball announced that expansion was a possibility, we wanted to check in with fans to find out which city they saw as the best fit for a new MLB team. At the time, four of the cities rumored to be in contention were Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Nashville. Note: The situation in Las Vegas has since changed (more on that below).

To do a quick pulse check, we teamed up with Stickybeak, a unique public polling platform, that allowed us to talk to baseball / MLB fans quickly and efficiently via Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The audience was made up of 140 baseball / MLB fans, with 35 from each of the markets under consideration (Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and Tennessee). Our goal was to hear from fans as to which market they felt should get a new MLB team and why they felt that way.

Unlike a simple social media poll, Stickybeak allows you to target any key audience you like, outside of your typical follower audience, and uses research methodology to determine results via an engaging, randomized comparative testing approach. So rather than a single multi-choice question with a graph, it’s a multiple comparison (A vs B) test to have all options considered against each other to determine the ‘best’ choice.

Unsurprisingly, most respondents voted for their own city / state as the ideal place for a new MLB team, however there was a slight overall preference for Las Vegas because it was the market most likely to get votes from non-residents.

Las Vegas: chosen by 32% of respondents

Reasoning:

  • Proximity
  • Interest in seeing a new sports team in the city
  • Belief that having a baseball team in the city would be beneficial for tourism, entertainment, and sports development
Nashville: 24%

Reasoning:

  • Proximity to where they live or where their family lives
  • Some cited Nashville’s tourist attractions and sports culture as reasons why it would be a good city for an MLB team
  • Desire to have an MLB team closer to home
Portland: 23%

Reasoning:

  • Bring more attention to the Pacific Northwest and draw people to the area for vacation
  • Portland is seen as a great city with friendly people
  • Oregon residents want a team in their state, specifically in Portland, to avoid having to travel to Seattle to watch games
Salt Lake City: 21%

Reasoning:

  • Proximity
  • Desire for more professional sports teams in Utah and a belief that having an MLB team would be beneficial for the city and community

 

Interestingly, this poll was conducted immediately before the April 20th news that the Oakland A’s were purchasing land in Las Vegas to be used for a new stadium, so kudos to the team and the city for anticipating this positive sentiment! Things have moved quickly since then, and now it looks like the A’s moving to Vegas is all but decided. What does that mean for the other cities on our list?

This is just a small example of how Navigate can leverage the power of Stickybeak’s public polling platform to get results in a matter of days rather that weeks. We’d love to see how we can leverage this methodology to help you quickly understand how your fans / customers are feeling on a topic.

Questions about this topic or the methodology? Feel free to reach out to Kelli@NVGT.com