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Cities that could use a professional sports team in NBA, MLS, MLB, NFL, NHL.
Which cities that lack a team in any of the 5 above professional leagues could stand to gain a team?
Support your reasoning, I guess, by supporting evidence of why that sport would be popular there or what the attendance figure would be like.
This thread is for all cities by the way, from as large as New York to as tiny as where ever is last in the continent (yes, thread is about North America). Obviously market size would be a deterrent for small cities but that not-withstanding all places are included.
You and I have talked about this at length, but I'll put everyone at speed here:
I'm not a big believer in 2 team markets for any sport given how mobile American society is and the lack of loyalty to a "neighborhood" like you see in European cities. There always IS a lead team that gets all the attention and resources and a junior team that, no matter how often they win, will never achieve the same fame as the primary team.
That isn't to say that a 2nd team in a market isn't profitable, because as the sale of the Clippers and Nets have shown, they can be. But in terms of actual fandom and fanbases, and not "projected media viewership", not even close. The Knicks haven't won anything since America was in Vietnam, while the Nets were perennial Finals contenders in the early 2000s, but yet this is what's going on at Nets playoff games:
- NFL: 1) Los Angeles, CA; 2) Toronto, ON; 3) San Antonio, TX; 4) Las Vegas, NV; 5) Portland, OR; 6) Sacramento, CA; 7) Raleigh, NC; 8) Virginia Beach, VA.
- MLS: 1) Phoenix, AZ; 2) Minneapolis, MN; 3) San Antonio, TX; 4) New Orleans, LA; 5) Las Vegas, NV; 6) San Diego, CA; 7) Saint Louis, MO or Kansas City, MO; 8) Austin, TX; 9) Sacramento, CA.
- NHL: 1) Seattle, WA; 2) Quebec City, QC; 3) Houston, TX; 4) Atlanta, GA; 5) Kansas City, MO [Sprint Center is ready].
Wanted to give more to Orlando and Austin but their location 80 miles from bigger sports markets like Tampa and San Antonio hinder them. Orlando is getting an MLS team though.
- NFL: 1) Los Angeles, CA; 2) Toronto, ON; 3) San Antonio, TX; 4) Las Vegas, NV; 5) Portland, OR; 6) Sacramento, CA; 7) Raleigh, NC; 8) Virginia Beach, VA.
- MLS: 1) Phoenix, AZ; 2) Minneapolis, MN; 3) San Antonio, TX; 4) New Orleans, LA; 5) Las Vegas, NV; 6) San Diego, CA; 7) Saint Louis, MO or Kansas City, MO; 8) Austin, TX; 9) Sacramento, CA.
- NHL: 1) Seattle, WA; 2) Quebec City, QC; 3) Houston, TX; 4) Atlanta, GA; 5) Kansas City, MO [Sprint Center is ready].
Wanted to give more to Orlando and Austin but their location 80 miles from bigger sports markets like Tampa and San Antonio hinder them. Orlando is getting an MLS team though.
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.
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.
Austin isn't a college town. I lived there during college and college students are contained to west of Martin Luther King Street to about 32nd Street. That is it.
It can stand to gain a team, most people in Austin are sports fans anyways, obviously the college kids will be into their school sports but most others could probably ditch having to support teams from Dallas, Houston, or even San Antonio. It wouldn't take away from college sports anyhow, most Austinites actively support the Spurs for example, even if they also support the Longhorns.
Las Vegas, like Austin, could stand to gain a team in any of the 5 but unfortunately gaming and gambling have slowed that down for it.
You and I have talked about this at length, but I'll put everyone at speed here:
I'm not a big believer in 2 team markets for any sport given how mobile American society is and the lack of loyalty to a "neighborhood" like you see in European cities. There always IS a lead team that gets all the attention and resources and a junior team that, no matter how often they win, will never achieve the same fame as the primary team.
That isn't to say that a 2nd team in a market isn't profitable, because as the sale of the Clippers and Nets have shown, they can be. But in terms of actual fandom and fanbases, and not "projected media viewership", not even close. The Knicks haven't won anything since America was in Vietnam, while the Nets were perennial Finals contenders in the early 2000s, but yet this is what's going on at Nets playoff games:
Seattle jumps out as a city that could use an NHL and NBA team. The Seattle Sonics leaving was a crying shame.
LA could also use an NFL team. It's Amazing to me that Jacksonville has a team but LA doesn't.
I do think the Hampton Roads area could use a team (NBA jumps out the most). I think that's a big enough region to support major league sports. My concern would be that the Military population is transient and that may not bode well for drawing new fans (transient people allegedly already support teams). Richmond could probably support a team too, but I think the Hampton Roads area is a more appealing option due to the size and relatively rapid growth.
I'm not as sold on Las Vegas. For starters, the metro area is pretty small. Second, it would be competing with a lot of entertainment options.
Austin might be able to, but I'm not sure what. It's a big enough city to support a team on paper, but it's also very much a college sports town. I don't know if an NFL or NBA franchise (or even an MLB franchise) could compete with Texas sports.
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