The Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays began play in the 1977 season, becoming the 25th and 26th teams in Major League Baseball.
Seattle and Toronto were included in a list of potential expansion cities in a survey conducted by the American League in 1960.
)[1] In the 1969 Major League Baseball expansion (which had been originally planned to take place in 1971, but said date was moved up two years when Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri demanded that a new team be placed in Kansas City at the earliest possible convenience), Kansas City, Montreal, San Diego, and Seattle were each granted franchises; the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots were added to the American League, while the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) and San Diego Padres joined the National League.
The Seattle Pilots only played one season, during which they faced financial difficulties owing to no television coverage, a poorly performing team, a stadium with problems, and the highest ticket and concession prices in the league.
[11] The team was owned by Jack Kent Cooke, who in the mid-1950s sought municipal financing of a major league baseball park on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition.
The stadium was renovated in anticipation of the city being awarded a Major League Baseball team, costing CA$15 million.
The most prominent was Labatt Brewing Company, who wanted to use ownership of a sports team as a means to establish a visible presence in the Toronto market.
[13] The Giants had failed to repay a US$500,000 loan from Major League Baseball, and had experienced declining revenues since the relocation of the Kansas City Athletics to Oakland in 1968.
[13] Of the sale price, US$5,250,000 was to be placed in escrow to "meet certain possible obligations with respect to the transaction", especially the lease of Candlestick Park, which would expire in 1994.
[15] This was the third scuttled attempt by Labatt to bring an MLB team to Toronto, after failures to acquire the Baltimore Orioles and the Cleveland Indians.
[16] Soon after, Godfrey received a phone call from Kansas City Royals owner Ewing Kauffman informing him that he supported a Toronto franchise for the American League.