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Major League Baseball enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in its history with the 2025 campaign and that could soon drive some significant changes to the sport. MLB sponsorship revenue rose nearly 10%, surpassing $2 billion this year, according to SportsPro. And a dramatic final World Series game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, two of the biggest media markets in the world, averaged a combined 27.3 million viewers, far more than the latest NBA Finals’ Game 7, per Front Office Sports. The growing success has motivated MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to tease some upcoming expansion and realignment for the sport. Manfred has been eyeing expansion for years and has said that he hopes to grow the majors by two more teams before his retirement in 2029. Any number of cities will be vying to add an MLB team, with Salt Lake City, Portland, Nashville and Charlotte often named among the top contenders. But a Hall of Fame infielder is leading an effort to land an expansion team or relocate an exiting one to another one of the biggest cities in the country and he noted a distinct economic advantage for his group in his latest pitch for the plan. “I am committed to being strategically involved in the Orlando MLB initiative because of the attributes of the city and the market,” Barry Larkin, an 11-time All-Star shortstop for the Cincinnati Reds, told Forbes SportsMoney in an exclusive interview. “Demographic studies show that an MLB franchise in this location will generate in excess of $100 million more in annual revenue compared to any other market pursuing a team.” Larkin, who raised his three children in Orlando, touted the city as the largest media market without an MLB team and noted that it will host close to 80 million tourists this year. The leadership group for the proposed team, to be known as the Orlando Dreamers, has advanced a stadium plan that would place a 45,000-capacity dome in the city’s tourist corridor. MORE FOR YOU “I am convinced this metro area will have a franchise,” Larkin added. “The excellent leadership group has made great progress in the key areas such as team and stadium financing, as well as generating over 15,000 requests for season tickets with no marketing.” The Dreamers, led by co-founder and hedge fund president Jim Schnorf, announced that it had secured $2 billion in financing shortly after one of its top investors left the group to pursue a bid to buy the Tampa Bay Rays and another, personal injury attorney John Morgan, left as he lost confidence that Orlando could win an expansion bid. “There will not be a challenge in replacing this capital, but we will be very methodical in assuring an ideal match for our group, Orange County, and MLB,” Schnorf said in a statement following those exits, according to Ryan Gillespie of the Orlando Sentinel. In addition to finding that match, the Dreamers are focused on building their stadium, then luring an MLB team to the city, Gillespie added. That might have meant convincing the Rays to relocate to Orlando, but the team has recently agreed to stay in Tampa Bay. Still, with some significant support in one of the country’s largest markets, Larkin and the rest of the Dreamers’ leadership can make a strong economic case as a suitable home for baseball’s next major league club.
