Orlando’s designated market area is now the 14th-largest television market in the United States, a jump that moves the city past Detroit and reinforces its standing as the biggest media market in the country still without a Major League Baseball franchise, according to new Nielsen rankings cited by the Orlando Dreamers expansion group in a Nov. 5 release.
The rankings, released by Nielsen and distributed by Orlando City Baseball Dreamers, LLC, place Orlando at 1.956 million TV homes. The group said that figure leaves it well ahead of every other market commonly mentioned as an MLB expansion candidate: roughly 52 percent larger than No. 23 Nashville, 39 percent larger than No. 22 Raleigh-Durham, 23 percent larger than No. 19 Sacramento and 52 percent larger than No. 24 Portland. Salt Lake City, another city in expansion discussions, does not appear in the top 25.
“The numbers make the distinction clear,” said Barry Larkin, an Orlando Dreamers MLB Ambassador. “Among the markets most frequently identified as potential MLB expansion candidates, Orlando is not simply the largest media market. It is the largest by a substantial margin.”
Population Growth Drives the Ranking Jump
The Dreamers said Orlando’s climb from No. 18 to No. 14 in recent years reflects sustained population growth across Central Florida. The group noted the market recently passed Minneapolis, Denver and Miami in the rankings, in addition to Detroit.
Orlando is the fastest-growing metro among the top 30 U.S. markets, the group said, with nearly 3 million residents within a 30-minute drive of the proposed stadium site, 4.7 million within 60 minutes and more than 13 million within a two-hour radius of roughly 150 miles. Florida is the fastest-growing state in the nation, according to the release.
Jim Schnorf, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Orlando Dreamers, said an Orlando franchise would anchor one of the largest population corridors in the country. “An Orlando MLB franchise would represent much more than the City of Orlando,” Schnorf said. “It would sit at the center of one of the largest and fastest growing population corridors in the United States, drawing from communities throughout Central Florida and beyond.”
Tourism Adds a Reach No Rival Market Can Match
The group argued that Orlando’s case rests on a combination no competing expansion city offers: a permanent TV audience of nearly 2 million households paired with the visitor volume of the most-visited destination in the United States. The release projects roughly 80 million visitors to Orlando in 2026, including more than 2 million tourists per week during peak season, which coincides with the MLB schedule.
Andrew Herdliska, the Orlando Dreamers Chief Marketing Officer, said that visitor flow creates a self-renewing national and international fan base. “Orlando continually welcomes new potential fans from across the United States and around the world,” Herdliska said. “For Major League Baseball, that creates something no competing expansion market can replicate at Orlando’s scale: a major permanent television market combined with an annual visitor total that will approach 100 million by 2030 which results in a constantly renewing national and international audience.”
The group pointed to Las Vegas as proof that destination markets can thrive in professional sports. Las Vegas, which ranks No. 40 in media market size and expects fewer than 40 million visitors this year — about half of Orlando’s total — has built prolonged sellouts across its sports teams at some of the highest ticket prices in the industry since the Athletics’ relocation was approved.
“Las Vegas provides an instructive example of the potential of destination markets in professional sports,” Herdliska said. “Orlando brings that concept together with the size and reach of a major American media market. As the region continues to grow, Orlando will greatly amplify the success of the Las Vegas model.”
What the Numbers Mean for MLB Expansion
By the Dreamers’ accounting, Orlando combines nearly 2 million TV households, about 80 million annual visitors, 3 million residents within a 30-minute drive, 4.7 million within an hour and more than 13 million within two hours — a mix the group says traditional DMA rankings alone cannot capture. The release concludes that Orlando already functions as a major-league market by virtually every measure: “Orlando is not waiting to become a Major League market. By virtually every measure that matters, it already is one.”
MLB has not announced an expansion timeline, and no franchise has been awarded to Orlando. The Dreamers said updates on the effort are available through the group’s website.
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