{"id":2918,"date":"2026-06-21T12:05:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:05:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2918"},"modified":"2026-06-21T12:05:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T12:05:37","slug":"what-tom-dundon-said-about-canes-success-massive-parade-turnout-and-mlb-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2918","title":{"rendered":"What Tom Dundon said about Canes success, massive parade turnout and MLB hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Triangle sports fans riding high off the Carolina Hurricanes\u2019 Stanley Cup victory now have another reason to dream big.<\/p>\n

Read more ‘Dutton Ranch’ Star Recalls When They Thought They Were Getting Killed Off<\/a><\/p>\n

After he watched 150,000 people pack downtown Raleigh for the Canes celebration parade and rally on Saturday, Tom Dundon said his hockey team\u2019s success and support shows the region is ready for another professional team.<\/p>\n

Dundon has expressed interest in Raleigh\u2019s bid to get a team should MLB decide to expand. He\u2019s confident baseball owners will respect hockey\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the numbers that we\u2019ve done, and the amount of the amount of interest, the amount of economic activity this has generated,\u201d Dundon said Saturday. \u201cI also have to pay for the team, you know, at some point, and I have – I was already pretty confident. I have way more confidence now, and if I do, they will, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dundon\u2019s comments came after two of North Carolina\u2019s most powerful politicians said it\u2019s time to bring Major League Baseball to Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Senate leader Phil Berger, a longtime Yankees fan, told reporters Thursday he\u2019d love to see an MLB team land in the Triangle, and that lawmakers could help make it happen. Democratic Gov. Josh Stein voiced similar support a day earlier, making the case that the region has earned its shot at the big leagues, according to The News & Observer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, Charlotte has two, three major professional sports: the MLS, NBA and NFL. Of course, Raleigh and the Triangle has now the NHL and World Champions, Stanley Cup champions, Carolina Hurricanes,\u201d Stein said.<\/p>\n

He went on to say the Triangle \u201cis a lucrative and potential market for the MLB \u2014 baseball \u2014 and we\u2019re going to be working to do all we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The numbers Stein and Berger are citing should sound familiar to anyone who\u2019s watched this region grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the region really showed out, the viewership on this NHL playoffs were the highest in like seven or eight years. People care about what happens here. One of the fastest growing metro areas in the country, 22nd largest media market, which places them bigger than any other potential expansion site in the country. So we\u2019re eager for this opportunity to be considered, and we\u2019ll do all we can to support it,\u201d Stein told reporters in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

Berger pointed to a different stat that should grab MLB\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll projections are we\u2019re going to be the seventh most populous state when the next census comes out. We\u2019re the largest state that does not have a major league baseball team. \u2026 If someone had told you 20 years ago that a professional hockey team drew the kind of response that we\u2019ve seen \u2014 not just in Raleigh and not just in Wake County, but across the state of North Carolina \u2014 you wouldn\u2019t have believed it,\u201d Berger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I just think sports has a way of doing that, and if there\u2019s an opportunity for North Carolina to get an expansion baseball team, I\u2019d love to see that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berger said he\u2019s \u201cagnostic\u201d about exactly where the team would play, but argued the Hurricanes\u2019 success makes a strong case for the Triangle.<\/p>\n

Asked whether the state budget could include money for an MLB project, Berger said, \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d But he suggested the General Assembly could play a role in authorizing local taxation to help finance a stadium, like other states do. He pointed to the Centennial Authority \u2014 which includes the state, Raleigh and N.C. State \u2014 as \u201ca starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n

That stadium piece is no small thing. A 2025 study from N.C. State Professor Emeritus of Economics Michael Walden estimates a new MLB ballpark would cost roughly $1-2 billion, with tax dollars likely covering most of the construction, The News & Observer reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has been the loudest voice behind the Raleigh push, and he\u2019s not backing down after winning a second Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re gonna put ourselves in a really good place, and if they decide to expand, we\u2019ll have a compelling offer,\u201d Dundon said Sunday on the ice in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

Hurricanes CEO Brian Fork \u2014 who happens to be Berger\u2019s former chief of staff \u2014 has said the team would need public financial support too, though no specific numbers have been floated.<\/p>\n

Now another deep-pocketed investor is circling. Marc Lasry, a former Milwaukee Bucks owner and current investor in the North Carolina Courage, told WRAL he\u2019s interested in investing in an MLB franchise here. Lasry\u2019s Avenue Sports Fund launched in 2023 and has raised more than $1 billion, with stakes in the Baltimore Orioles, a NASCAR team and the PGA Tour, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cMLB is going to pick the city they think has got the best finances where people will be able to build a new stadium, where they\u2019re comfortable with ownership,\u201d Lasry said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard. Getting a city to get a team is just hard. I\u2019m not going to tell you it\u2019s easy. Raleigh has as good a shot as anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lasry said he\u2019d be willing to partner with Dundon to bring big league baseball to the Triangle.<\/p>\n

Raleigh isn\u2019t the only city in line. Nashville and Salt Lake City are widely considered the consensus frontrunners.<\/p>\n

Music City Baseball has been working since 2019 to bring a team to Nashville, proposing the name \u201cNashville Stars\u201d in honor of the Negro League franchise that played there from the 1930s to the 1950s. Nashville is the No. 25 media market.<\/p>\n

Salt Lake City\u2019s bid, led by Big League Utah and backed by the Miller family, already has plans for a $3.5 billion mixed-use development built around a stadium. SLC ranks as the 28th-largest media market.<\/p>\n

Sacramento, Portland, Charlotte and Montreal are also in the mix. Charlotte\u2019s bid has some advantages \u2014 it\u2019s the 21st-largest market with a metro population of about 3 million \u2014 but the 250-mile distance from Atlanta and the location of Truist Field in Uptown raise questions.<\/p>\n

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to add two teams before he retires in 2029. The current collective bargaining agreement ends in December, and expansion is expected to be a key focus once a new deal is settled.<\/p>\n

Even in a best-case scenario for Raleigh, opening day is still a few years away.<\/p>\n

But Berger, whose term ends in December after losing his primary, said he isn\u2019t done with baseball yet.<\/p>\n

Asked if he might want a role if MLB does come to North Carolina, Berger said he\u2019s made no plans for life after the Senate, \u201cbut if they\u2019d allow me to manage a major league baseball team, I\u2019ll apply.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Senate leader Phil Berger and Gov. Josh Stein say Raleigh should land an MLB expansion team after the Hurricanes' Stanley Cup win. Tom Dundon confident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Tom Dundon said about Canes success, massive parade turnout and MLB hopes - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=2918\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Tom Dundon said about Canes success, massive parade turnout and MLB hopes - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senate leader Phil Berger and Gov. 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