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I was reading NYtimes the other day about Lebron James possibly leaving Cleveland. The author noted how he and the cavs were an economic boon to such a "small city market". This puzzled me as with a population over 400,000 Cleveland doesn't seem small, though it's no Chicago.
Likewise, the District of Columbia is only about half a million peeps but many call it a "big city".
Over looking the big 3, what population number do you think consitutes a "big city" in the U.S.
I consider anything above say 700K at the VERY least.
For me personally over 200,000 would be a pretty big city. However I could see placing the threshhold at over 600,000 as I sometimes feel like I've never seen a "really big" city even though I've been to one with around 500,000.
cleveland is the 40th largest city in the country... that means there are probably 15 cities that don't even have nba teams with bigger markets, considering some markets have multiple teams. Cleveland msa was 23 in 2000, but probably less now.
but yeah... compared to chicago, nyc, la, sf, houston, atlanta, boston, philly it feels pretty tiny.
I mean nyc is 20x bigger than cleveland if that gives you an idea OP how big of a gap there is and how big of a drop off after some of the bigger tier markets in the U.S.
If I was a star like him I wouldn't want to be playing in Cleveland either... I am just the average City Data schmoe and wouldn't want to live there...
^^ yeah, i agree. lebron needs a bigger stage just like kobe with la. it looks like he's loyal to his home state. not sure for how much longer though..
to the op - i'd consider 5+ mil (metro area) to be a big city
Well, in the context of sports, "Big Market" and "Small market" isn't a uniformed term across the spectrum. IMO, a big market, is any metro that has the 4 major sports teams, AND is home to at least 4 million people in the metro area. Cites such as: NYC, LA, Chi, Phi, Boston, DC, Miami, Atlanta, just to name a few.
A Small Market is a metro that have 1-3 teams in the metro, OR have anywhere under 3 million in the Metro. Cleveland, Orlando, Charlotte, Seattle, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, just to name a few.
Funny thing is, A "big market" can be a "small market" depending on the sport.
DC is a "big market" in Football ( Redskins )
but, DC is seen as a "small market" in baseball ( Nationals )
It can be vice versa for a "small market"
Pittsburgh is a "small market" in baseball ( Pirates )
but is seen as a big market in football ( Steelers ).
I don't think a city has to be over a million for it to be a "big market" or a "big city". Population can be misleading. Example: A native of Charlotte may think that Boston is the bigger city, where as Charlotte actually has a larger population.
^^ yeah, i agree. lebron needs a bigger stage just like kobe with la. it looks like he's loyal to his home state. not sure for how much longer though..
to the op - i'd consider 5+ mil (metro area) to be a big city
Bigger stage for what? He is proably the most famous player in the world.
You can't define the size of a city by its popluation within its set borders. boston "proper" only has 600k but its metro is near 5 mil and a csa of almost 8 mil
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