By: Matt Rappa, managing editor 
CHICAGO — It has been a common theme in professional sports, most profoundly seen in the National Football League in recent seasons with scheduled games overseas at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Major League Baseball is looking to do the same, only on a permanent basis through expansion of its current 30-team league.
"I think baseball's a growth business, and growth businesses tend to expand," said Commissioner Rob Manfred during Thursday night's White Sox television broadcast at U.S. Cellular Field. "For us, I think there's a couple things that we need to get through (first). We need to get a new labor deal."
The league's current labor deal is set to expire on Dec. 1, 2016 — a little over 200 days from now. ESPN's Jayson Stark notes some of the issues that could be discussed during negotiations, which include: tanking, qualifying offers and compensation picks, luxury tax thresholds and revenue sharing, shortening the 162-game season, fixing the schedule, the international draft and even roster size.
"We (also) have a couple of franchises — Tampa and Oakland — that need to get their stadium situations resolved before we move ahead," Manfred said.
The A's and Rays play at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum (opened September 1966) and Tropicana Field (opened March 1990), respectively. Both venues have undergone renovations in the past, but are no longer considered viable, long-term locations for either franchise.
Through contractual obligations, however, the A's and Rays are not be able to relocate or build new stadiums until 2024 and 2027, respectively, according to CBS Sports.
That buys Major League Baseball time to consider all of their options and to potentially expand, to where Manfred hopes could be either north or south of the country.
"Once we're past that, I would love to see us expand. I think there are international locations," Manfred said. "My personal, sort-of 'frontrunner' would be either Montreal or Mexico City where we could go, play on a sustained basis, and I think would be great for the growth of the game. I think Mexico City in particular would be new ground for us."
The once-existing Montreal Expos still has a fan base, despite the team being defunct for now over a decade. This past spring, the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres played two spring training exhibition games in Mexico City, where a combined attendance of 11,745 saw MLB action for the first time in 12 years.
It appears international expansion is all but inevitable.
