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Location: The Greatest city on Earth: City of Atlanta Proper
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Originally Posted by CanuckInPortland
Isn't there some sort of double jeopardy or three strikes and your out law in regards to franchises? If a city couldn't keep one hockey team, okay--if a city lost two though, maybe you're not a good hockey market.
Then again since their last two teams left for Calgary and Winnipeg, maybe it's just another potential future team relocation to Canada--and lord knows, people in Canada really want more hockey teams.
No, the owners and the NHL screwed Atlanta.
The Coyotes were ready to be sold to the Winnipeg group, but the deal broke down at the last minute. At the same time the owners of the Thrashers were caught in a legal fight over control of the group. One half wanted to sell, the other did not but they didn't have the majority owner on their side. The league came up with what it thought was a great solution: Move the team to Winnipeg.
In terms of fan base, it was quite health and games were always well attended. Just ask someone in the Atlanta forum how they feel about the Thrashers and you'll get an earful.
I selfishly want Charlotte to get an MLB team. But I think we are still about a decade away from being able to properly support one. We should have about 3 million in the metro by 2025, which would be optimal. And I think the city can "sort of" justify bringing in a team at that point 11 years out from helping build the minor league BB&T Stadium in uptown.
Hopefully that'll be right in time for the Rays agreement with the Trop to expire...Charlotte in the AL East would be perfect. We wouldn't step on the toes of the Braves, Reds or Nats (all NL teams) and get the nice boost of attendance from hosting the likes of the Yankees and Sox throughout the season.
The Coyotes were ready to be sold to the Winnipeg group, but the deal broke down at the last minute. At the same time the owners of the Thrashers were caught in a legal fight over control of the group. One half wanted to sell, the other did not but they didn't have the majority owner on their side. The league came up with what it thought was a great solution: Move the team to Winnipeg.
In terms of fan base, it was quite health and games were always well attended. Just ask someone in the Atlanta forum how they feel about the Thrashers and you'll get an earful.
Hopefully Atlanta will be considered for an NHL expansion in the future. We have a good fan base in this city and, with the right ownership, could have a successful team.
Let's start with this: how many of you guys actually watch all the sports?
I barely just got into MLS, but it still looks pretty amateurish (though better than me, that's for sure) than international soccer leagues. Soccer is gaining traction in American parlance, but it's still a huge niche sport.
NHL: Definitely more popular in the Northern climates than the Southern climates. People were relying on the fact that LA is a large market to get viewership for the last Stanley Cup run, when it was in fact the 4th lowest viewed Stanley Cup clincher ever, despite it involving NY and LA.
I know this is CD and we're supposed to boost our cities to no end, but think about it from an Sports Owner POV: would that team actually be popular in that market? Or are you simply just going to try to fleece some ad exec for some inflated media contract?
Florida could stand to lose a few pro teams. They have highly populated cities, but they're all transplants and few people care. Even when their teams are good, the fans are horrible (I'm looking at you, Miami Heat).
Move the Jags or Bucs to LA.
Move the Rays somewhere else that could support a team, likes baseball, and doesn't have a team nearby. Charlotte/Raleigh, San Antonio or Austin, Richmond/Hampton Roads, Birmingham, Indianapolis, Memphis, or OKC/Tulsa (I think it's isolated enough despite its size). Now that I think about it, Memphis or Charlotte/Raleigh both seem like good options. Both states have large populations and they don't have MLB teams, plus those cites are at least a 3-4 hour drive form any other city with an MLB team.
Move the Panthers to somewhere north that cares about hockey. Maybe Salt Lake, Seattle, Milwaukee...they'd probably have more success in a place like Fargo than Miami.
And please, no teams in Vegas. The atmosphere and fan-base would suck there largely for the same reasons that pro sports largely suck: too many transplants and too many other entertainment options. Give teams to a city that will care.
Albuquerque is pretty isolated from other major cities, so it could pull it off much easier. Sort of similar to Denver' scenario, as the city has 5 major league franchises with a MSA of only 2.7 million. The reason it works there is because the Denver sports market is so isolated that people understand that it's either support Denver sports or nothing at all when it comes to reasonable driving distance.
This is a good point, however another factor to consider is disposable income, and there's not that much of it in Albuquerque.
Considering size, isolation, and income, I think I'd go with Virginia Beach-Norfolk.
I don't know if I would include areas with a strong college sports presence like Louisville, Austin, Columbus or Raleigh, to be honest due to competition.
College and pro are like comparing apples to oranges. Many cities have both major league sports teams and major college teams. For example Chicago has the Bears for football and also the Wildcats from Northwestern a major Big 10 school located in Evanston right out the city limits and Minneapolis has both the NFL Vikings and also the Gophers from the University of Minnesota another Big 10 school located right in the city of Minneapolis. Also Red John I would add Columbus and maybe Louisville as honorable mention for the NFL
College and pro are like comparing apples to oranges. Many cities have both major league sports teams and major college teams. For example Chicago has the Bears for football and also the Wildcats from Northwestern a major Big 10 school located in Evanston right out the city limits and Minneapolis has both the NFL Vikings and also the Gophers from the University of Minnesota another Big 10 school located right in the city of Minneapolis. Also Red John I would add Columbus and maybe Louisville as honorable mention for the NFL
Atlanta has Georgia Tech right on the edge of downtown...I'm sure there are other examples.
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Hopefully Atlanta will be considered for an NHL expansion in the future. We have a good fan base in this city and, with the right ownership, could have a successful team.
