What City Is Most Likely to Lose a Professional Sports Franchise? (baseball, president)

[returningtonepa???]

Florida: The Sunshine State is oversaturated currently with professional sports teams. This state is home to the Dolphins, Heat, Magic, Marlins, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Panthers, Lightning, Rays, and I'm sure I'm missing others. Yes, the state is heavily-populated, but all of its cities are located within an easy drive of one another. Orlanda isn't far from Tampa, for example, so why duplicate sports teams? I'd be an advocate of leaving most teams in Miami and then merging the teams in Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville into "Florida" teams with one each for the NHL, NBA, MLB, and NFL---the MLB Florida Marlins would move from Miami to this region in the northern part of the state. Doing so would free up franchises for other deserving cities that are large yet very isolated from other teams (Omaha comes to mind). [end of quote]

you are right on this---there continues to be talk of the lightning leaving,one of the mlb teams is leaving west fla for arizona after this spring training----there is continuous speculation about the marlins---frequent complaints being not enough fan revenue and general public not wanting tax increases to meet the frequent requests for bigger club houses,etc--despite poor showings in the leagues

[Frank the Tank]

I think it's hard to see Florida losing any teams since the demographics are way too good on paper - a state with a continuously expanding population with a lot of people with disposable incomes. The stadium situations for both the Marlins and Devil Rays are horrible, but I have a hard time seeing MLB leaving either of the Florida markets since they are pivotal ports of entry to Latin America, where MLB gets a disproportionate share of its talent from.

The towns that are in true danger of losing teams are the ones with the triple whammy of low support for a team or teams, metro areas with slow or no population growth. and outdated stadiums. The New Orleans Hornets certainly fit into that category. The Sacramento Kings, even though they have a pretty good fan base, aren't in the optimal location - if the Maloof brothers could move the team next to their Palms casino in Las Vegas, I think they'd do it in a heartbeat. The Milwaukee Bucks are a team I don't hear mentioned often but I wouldn't be surprised if they went to greener pastures - they have a tepid fan base in a relatively slow growing area with an older arena.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by marmac

Minnesota Vikings
The Twins are getting a new stadium and the Minnesota Gophers are getting one also.

A couple weeks ago a representative from the NFL came to St Paul to plead the owners case for public financing of a new stadium and was given a flat "no" by the Governor.
This did not make big news in the papers, but it should have .
Sportswriters from the MPLS Tribune pointed out that the NFL represents the owners and they are not going to stand by and allow Minnesota politicians to say," you want it,you pay for it" when it comes to owners seeking public funding for NFL stadiums as this could set a precedent in the future.

I guess we will see.

Personally, I hope it does set a precedent; namely, that government stops subsidizing the playgrounds for these filthy-rich twits.

[Ohiogirl81]

SWB, sweetie ... Please read what MiamiU08 posted about Cleveland. Over and over and over again.

We already lost a franchise, took on the NFL and its greedy owners, and won. Ain't nobody gonna mess with us again. Columbus, for all its charms, is a still wanna-be city and is obsessed with the Buckeyes anyway. That's the pro sports team there, if you'll pardon the insinuiation. And there will be "Ohio Bengals" over my dead body!!!!!!!!!

Metro population has little to do with whether or not a franchise moves. It's the owners wanting to line their pockets, and the other owners who support that so that they, too, can line their pockets in the near future.

Did that sound cynical?

[Steve-o]

Phoenix: sooner or later they will lose the Coyotes. Then I will be a happy man.

Florida: Marlins are questionable. Even with some WS victories, they still cant draw. Maybe if they built an air-conditioned stadium they could attract more fans. Who seriously wants to sit in Florida, outside, in mid-summer, in a football stadium??? UGH. One game this year they drew less than 1,000 visitors. Pathetic.

Florida: Panthers. I dont see them sticking around long. The Lightning have made a name for themselves, even though theyve also struggled, unlike the Panthers. The Lightning still continue to draw good crowds though, especially with their insane first line, also unlike the Panthers. Speaking of the Lightning, anyone want Khabibulin back?

[big daryle]

The Seattle Sonics are all but gone to Oklahoma City in the next year or two.

[statefan]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

Phoenix: sooner or later they will lose the Coyotes. Then I will be a happy man.

Florida: Marlins are questionable. Even with some WS victories, they still cant draw. Maybe if they built an air-conditioned stadium they could attract more fans. Who seriously wants to sit in Florida, outside, in mid-summer, in a football stadium??? UGH. One game this year they drew less than 1,000 visitors. Pathetic.

Florida: Panthers. I dont see them sticking around long. The Lightning have made a name for themselves, even though theyve also struggled, unlike the Panthers. The Lightning still continue to draw good crowds though, especially with their insane first line, also unlike the Panthers. Speaking of the Lightning, anyone want Khabibulin back?

I personally think Phoenix will be gone eventually, but like I have said before, as long as Gretzky has the team, it will not go anywhere.

The Panthers have my other favorite goaltender in net, Vokoun, so I watch them when the Predators are not playing.

Is it my imagination, or did I hear rumors about the Lightning ownership wanting to sale? With everything going on with the Preds this summer, I just can not remember if that rumor was real or imaginary!

[big daryle]

Steve-O, I am curious, what do you have against the Phoenix Coyotes?

[austinsmom]

[/quote] A biggie you haven't named might surprise you. Look at Charlotte. Its NBA franchise is down in the dumps. You never hear sports talk radio mention them. I would say the Hurricanes get more press which is pathetic. Popluation base is growing rapidly, but most residents are transplants and haven't taken to the Bobcats. It doesn't help that they stink also. Attendance is lousy overall (I think 25th overall). If the franchise continues to post losing or mediocre records into the forseeable future, watch out.[/quote]

I'm from the Charlotte area and as long as they don't take my Panthers, they can have the Bobcats. George Shinn turned us off to the NBA when he took our Hornets. I like going to the games but (and I am not trying to offend anyone when I say this) if you are pale, you are way out of place. I took my son to a couple games last year and the music was all HEAVY rap. You could tell the man who owns BET owned the team. I was uncomfortable and that is the way a lot of people felt and they stopped going. I don't know if it's different this year or not. The players are ok but too many get hurt and stay hurt. These whiny pro players kill me with their demands for more money and yet they can't stay healthy (yeah, Dan Morgan comes to mind and Sean May and Raymond Felton, but I digress.). Maybe Jordan is their savior but don't count on it. The Panthers are here to stay though!

[fischfan13]

I do not believe that the size of a city, and its population, has anything to do with a team staying in that city. Like one of the other posters said, LA has lost its share of teams.
The original poster mentioned Buffalo...
Buffalo is sports crazy. Have you ever seen a Bills game?
As a Dolphins fan I wonder how much longer the Dolphins can stay in Miami. The fan support is awful. Go to any Fins game that is against the Jets, Pats or Bills and their fans are much more vocal. Huizenga should have sold a long time ago.
The Florida Marlins cannot draw flies to their games. Again, when this Florida plays the Mets their fan support is not as vocal.