Major American cities without major sports franchises (coach, golf, playoff)
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Like it matters what people who know NOTHING about this area thinks....
Regardless, Fort Worth is it's own city with a city population of over 740,000 and our side of the metroplex is about 2.4 mill. We could at least have an NBA team. It just so happens to be next to Dallas.
But I don't like to use that as an excuse. I want A team here...
That's interesting about Ft. Worth. I had no idea that part of the Metroplex was that big. Yes, you all should have at least an NBA franchise. I think it unlikely however that Ft. Worth will ever see an NFL team come to town though.
That's interesting about Ft. Worth. I had no idea that part of the Metroplex was that big. Yes, you all should have at least an NBA franchise. I think it unlikely however that Ft. Worth will ever see an NFL team come to town though.
Really? DFW's the 4th largest metro in the country.
I'm not askin' for NFL. I'm pretty sure alot of Fort Worthians would say the same. Espcially since the Cowboys are in OUR county now.
Hey, they may not have our city's name, but the stadium is on our side. At least we don't have to drive 30+ miles just to see a game.
San Antonio is a city that I have visited before and I LOVE IT , but it doesn't do very good with selling out Spurs Games , and selling out New Orleans Saints Games when they had a NFL team look at the links below.
San Antonio NFL Home Games ( New Orleans Saints )
National Football League
The Alamodome has played host to six NFL preseason games. Two each were played in 1993 and 1994, one in 1995, and one in 2001.
August 21, 1993 – Dallas Cowboys (20) vs. Houston Oilers (23) – Attendance: 63,285
August 6, 1994 – Houston Oilers (31) vs. San Diego Chargers (3) – Attendance: 29,815
August 20, 1994 – Buffalo Bills (18) vs. Houston Oilers (16) – Attendance: 40,504
August 26, 1995 – Dallas Cowboys (10) vs. Houston Oilers (0) – Attendance: 52,512
August 11, 2001 – Minnesota Vikings (28) vs. New Orleans Saints (21) – Attendance: 46,752
In 2005, the NFL announced that the Alamodome would host three of the New Orleans Saints regular season "home" games due to the damage caused to the Louisiana Superdome by Hurricane Katrina. The Saints played the Buffalo Bills (week 4), the Atlanta Falcons (week 6), and the Detroit Lions (week 16) at the Alamodome. Although there have been many NFL preseason and exhibition games held in San Antonio over the years, these games were the first NFL regular season games played in the city. The Saints also played one 2005 season "home" game in Giants Stadium (against the New York Giants) in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and four others in LSU's Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Overall, the Saints averaged 62,665 fans in the 65,000-seat Alamodome for the three games held there, a solid showing despite the short notice to sell tickets due to the hurricane. The Saints and the NFL announced that the team would return to Louisiana for the 2006 season even though at the time the NFL was uncertain where they would play their home games. Additionally, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue indicated that if the NFL expands again, San Antonio would be on the short list of candidate cities. Even though public opinion is that he would never let go of his team's presence in the San Antonio market, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his support for the city's efforts to become home to an NFL franchise.[10]
October 2, 2005 – Buffalo Bills (7) vs. New Orleans Saints (19) – Attendance: 58,688[11]
October 16, 2005 – Atlanta Falcons (34) vs. New Orleans Saints (31) – Attendance: 65,562 (attendance set the facility record for a sporting event at the time; it has been subsequently surpassed by two Alamo Bowl events)[12]
December 24, 2005 – Detroit Lions (13) vs. New Orleans Saints (12) – Attendance: 63,747[13]
The Dallas Cowboys held their 2002, 2003, 2007, and 2009 preseason training camps at the Alamodome, and will continue to do so through 2011.
Keep in mind that these game attendance numbers are for other cities teams and because of that fact are still very impressive. In fact the Saints games had only a mere few weeks for the organization to market the games to people in the city.
Now imagine when San Antonio will have its very own team to support. Ticket and skybox sales would be through the roof. Case in point this coming weekend's debut of the UTSA football program. San Antonians are so hungry for football that this game is nearly soldout at the Alamodome. A facility that holds over 65,000 for football. This is unprecedented.
The current record for a major college football program debut is 49,612 set by the University of South Florida in 1997. This record will very likely be shattered Saturday. And only helps to prove my point that San Antonio is a football hotbed just waiting to be tapped by the NFL.
If San Antonio would've sold out a expanded seating stadium when they had the New Orleans Saints , that's 72,000 a game all of this talk would've been "Moot" The NFL would've seen San Antonio in a much "Brighter Light" and dropped a NFL Franchise in San Antonio lap , the next location to get a Franchise is going to have to have GREAT ATTENDANCES and Pre-Season Advanced Sales of Tickets along with HUGE SEASON TICKET SALES.
Like it matters what people who know NOTHING about this area thinks....
Regardless, Fort Worth is it's own city with a city population of over 740,000 and our side of the metroplex is about 2.4 mill. We could at least have an NBA team. It just so happens to be next to Dallas.
But I don't like to use that as an excuse. I want A team here...
Good Luck with that , it's possible San Francisco has a football team ( Until They Move To San Jose ) and Oakland has a football team (NFL 49'ers and Raiders) , so who really knows. And by the way I know your area , was born in Tulsa OK before I moved to Cali.
Last edited by Howest2008; 08-30-2011 at 04:17 PM..
yeah ... credibility is lost when you try to say the WNBA and/or AFL is a major sports league
they just aren't .... they are niche sports that are a blip on the radar .... minor league at best
I even enjoy the AFL and we have a good team here in phoenix .... but you wouldn't even know they exist in a crowded sports landscape
tucson now has zero spring training teams left because they couldn't get stadium issues aligned - they've had trouble keeping minor league baseball
they have about a million people in their greater metro - which isn't a ton ..... a lot of business isn't exactly the kind that is going to support sports (military, medical, defense, tourism) .... it's also pretty isolated with a very robust sports market 2 hours away
they are going to try and maintain a team in the AIFA indoor football league - current teams are in baltimore, reading, harrisburg, erie, wasilla, richmond, ogden, fayetteville, etc
hopefully it's a good product that does well ..... but it will be a blip compared to UA basketball and even UA football
The WNBA season isn't even to the playoffs yet and they have a Attendances of around 1,400,000 and you call them MINOR LEAGUE SPORTS please give me a break , I'm not losing CREDABILITY , minor leagues don't average more than a MILLION ATTENDANCES and the AFL has over a Million Attendances also , so what's up ( give me some LOGIC) please will you?????
Good Luck with that , it's possible San Francisco has a football team ( Until They Move To San Jose ) and Oakland has a football team (NFL 49'ers and Raiders) , so who really knows. And by the way I know your area , was born in Tulsa OK before I moved to Cali.
It's one thing to live somewhat near DFW. But I've actually lived IN DFW my entire life...
Here are some attendance figures for minor league baseball:
The AAA level 14 team International League drew 6,942,737 last year.
The AAA level 16 team Pacific Coast League drew 7,032,525 last year.
The short season A ball league that I used to watch as a kid in upstate NY - the NY Penn League drew 1,825,442 over their 14 teams last year
NYPL teams play in stadiums that look like this:
http://mysite.verizon.net/charliesballparks/stadiums/ph/dwyer3.jpg (broken link)
the Phoenix Mercury have won championships here and no one cares - it's not even a blip on the radar out here ... same with the Rattlers .... they gave away pretty much the entire upper level of the Arena Bowl this year and still didn't fill the building
The WNBA has 12 teams with 17 home games a piece (34 total) .... even if the league pulled 2M that would still be under 10,000 a game ...... that is minor league
The TV ratings aren't much better .... less than 500,000 viewers to watch the finals? Playoff games pulling a .4 share. Regular season games much lower than that.
There are 18 AFL teams playing 18 regular season games (9 home games per team) .... that meaningless 1,000,000 attendance figure you threw out there would equate to 6,173 fans per game
Professional Bull Riding pulls in over 1.5M live spectators and a TV audience over 400M in their seasons
the WNBA & AFL are not major sports leagues ... the only reason why the WNBA exists is because it's a marketing tool for the NBA and the NBA has lost money on it since it came around .... despite the NBA clout they had to pay to have their games on TV for the first decade they existed ... yeah, that's major
This year the World Series of Poker on ESPN2 drew an average of 415,000 viewers over 10 telecasts, the prime time telecasts on ESPN drew an average of 615,000 viewers
The WNBA has never drawn as many viewers as 615,000 for one of their championship games .... they are getting beat by poker ..... again, not major league
Also, for their last season the NBA D-League drew 1,125,583 fans playing in places like Bismark, Bakersfield, Canton, Erie, Fort Wayne, Springfield, Boise, Reno, etc
So yes .... the 1,000,000 attendance mark isn't some magical figure that precludes you from being minor league
Especially when you factor in things like free/discounted tickets, lack of competition in the home market, ticket prices, etc
The WNBA isn't even major league by womens basketball standards ..... which is why most of the players go overseas to play where they earn the bulk of their money
In 2010 the most a veteran player in the WNBA could make was $101,000. The rookie minimum was $35,910.
The AFL is even worse .... they provide housing & meals to players, but the pay is less than $1,000 per game
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