Which city most deserves a pro sports team? (Bruins, Cardinals, St. Louis Cardinals)

[AndyJ]

I've lived in Albuquerque almost my whole life. Each year, the Journal or some other news medium perpetuates the myth that we are getting a pro team and/or new arena. Suffice it to say that I'm not holding my breath

[Howest2008]

We have just about beat this dead horse to death this has to be my last post people. Now let me act as advocate for Cities That Don't Have A Professional Team NBA..MLB..NHL..NFL

1. Oklahoma City Three Fortune 500 company within the city limits Billionaires that lives within the city limits of O.K.C. proper which actually have ownership of a team from Seattle. Listen everybody stop being in denial the people of O.K.C. are going to vote for a tax increase sometime in March 2008 and if the tax increase passes the NBA is (In Like Flint) In Oklahoma City.

2.Hartfort CT. 1.2 Million Metro Area Wants to lure a team to CT. but the only way that's going to happen is for the three major Metropolitan Area In CT. To Ban together and form a ownership Group From Bridgeport Ct. New Haven Ct. And Hartfort Ct. Find A Neutral site somewhere central to all cities and build a State Of The Arts Venue. Or to just sit tight and wait until one of the three Metro have a 4 Million Metro Area To Co-Exist With N.Y.C..

3.Providences Rhode Island 1.6 Million Metro Area Not going to happen until Providences Has A 3 Million Metrropolitan Area That Can Stand Apart From BOSTON.

4.Louisville KY. 1.3 Million Metro Area This is the second city that's going to get a Professional Team After Oklahoma City...Unless the voters in O.K.C. reject that TAX increase then Louisville KY. This Is Your Once In A Lifetime Chance.The reason that Memphis TN. and Charlottre N.C. beat out Louisville in the Past in obtaining teams is the low State Population Of Kentucky 4.3 Million.

5.Virginia Beach(Hampton Roads) VA. 1.9 Million Metro Area forget About It..Theres 7 Cities in this Metropolitan Area and they all are at each other throats , plus theres no Fortune 500 Companies in the Area or Billionaires Movers And Shakers.

6. Albuquerque New Mexico an exotic and beautiful city but the only way Albuquerque is going to get a Professional Sports Team is to go the Salt Lake City Route , Promote their's Urban Metro Population Corridor Santa Fe N.M all the way down to the Suburbans in the south. Make sure that your future development follow your commuter train route. Albuquerque Metro Area By Itself Is Only (800,000. No Fortune 500 Companies No Billionaires Movers And Shakers in the state of New Mexico.

7.Wichita KS. Small Metro Area , 700,000-800,000 but the area has some of the Riches Billionaires In THe United States as a matter of fact the 17th Riches and has Fortune 500 Companies.Land is dirt cheap to build a State Of The Arts Sort Of Community ICON Sport Venue , owners would take a lost for the first 10 years at the very least.

8. Tulsa Oklahoma Metropolitan Area 940,000 Fortune 500 Companies Ranked 208 and 211 Some of the Riches People In America live there and the riches one is Ranked At 27th.A State Of The Arts Urban ICON Arena..BOK Arena..... That Could Be Used As A NHL..Arena.Tulsa is going to blow up when Washington,Muskogee,Nowata,Craig,May Counties Are Added To The Metro Area and all of a sudden become a viable Choice For Professional Sports Teams and the fact that it's located 75 Miles Down The Road On The Turner Turnpike From Oklahoma City Oklahoma.

9.Omaha Nebraska 870,000 Metro but draw a 50 Mile Circle Around Omaha and theres 1.5 Million people..America second riches person lives there Warren Buffett worth about 46 Billions Others Billionaires living within the city limits..The Lincoln Nebraska Metro Area 300,000 30 Miles from Omaha Build A State Of The Art Venue Half Way Between Omaha and Lincoln And Have Financial Backing From Some Billionaires Movers And Shakers And Look Out.

10. Last but not least Arkansas (WalMartville) Bentonville,Fayetteville,Springdale AR. with the 6,8,10,11 riches Billionaires in America living in the 450,000 rapidly growing Metro Area this place is going to be able to support A Major League Sports Franchise In About 8 to 12 years , but in the 3 to 5 years time frame Little Rock Would Have To Carry The Flame and do the same thing that Salt Lake City did and Albuquerque must do (promote a Urban Metropolitan Corridor) That Runs From North Little Rock Down Through Little Rock All The Way Down Into Metro Pine Bluff Arkansas , to ever be able to get their's hands on a professional sports team.

[censusdata]

Las Vegas not in the Top 10?

[KanniJay]

Austin Tx!!! :d :d :d

[skytrekker]

Maestro

Hartford has been suggested as a city to be home to a Professional franchise for the last few years by Sports writers and owners- It would be great to have a Pro hockey team again.

[Nameless]

Originally Posted by bradly

These Arguments are pointless.

OKC is a great city i have been there before, how ever it also has its ghettos
and some areas are poorly taken care of.

Wow big deal OKC has a 36 foot tall skyscraper.
its not something to complain about!

By 2011 Three New Buildings will be nearly Compleated in ABQ
One of them 30 stories, 28 Stories And lastly Taller than OKC Building A 38 story building.

-Albuquerque is a way older city founded in 1706. It stopped growing in the 70's with a population of 294,998. Today its
-OKC has been growing for the last 40 years making it much larger.
-However now Albuquerque is now the 3rd fastest growing city in the country.
So dont compare, beacuse albuquerque barley started to grow.
And will be faster growing for the next 10 years.

OKC has a current population of 541,500
Albuquerque has a pop. of 514,099

-By the end of this year The City of Albuquerque is expected to have
535,191
-OKC? will only have 547,067? what a increase? huh?

Albuquerque will pass OKC in the next 3 to 5 years.

So dont say Albuquerque is not big enough to have a National team!

The Pit Area Holds Nearly 20,000 People!
There are 5 other areas they may not hold as many but at least we have!

Also Albuquerque is getting 3 new tv studios! were the next hollwood!!
does OKC have any movie or film industry? NO they dont even like to film there!

We were the #1 city for business in 2005 and now we are currently #2
is OKC on the top 5 or top top 10 or top 20 list? NO

Iam tired of people putting down Albuquerque!
ITS A GREAT CITY! Were i live its so damn peacefull.
And the schools and parks and the downdown is wonderful!

So dont say ****ty things about us! How about u move here for 3 years and get to know the place then u can talk all the **** u want!

So OKC has ghettos but ABQ doesn't? I was in ABQ this summer and there are many nice areas, such as those around Tramway, but the area around the airport where we were staying had me skidish.

OKC metro is much larger than ABQ. 1,172,339 compared to 816,811. Who gives a rip about city proper populations. Not to mention OKC has much more land to expand into than ABQ.

OKC has 4 likely markets it could cater too. Wichita, Tulsa,NW ARK/Ft. Smith and Lawton. Their metros sit at: 592,126 (2 1/2 hr drive). 897,752 (1 1/2 hr drive). 420,876 (3-4 hr drive). 288,818 (3 hr drive). and 109,181 (1 1/2 hr drive). respectively and maybe Wichita Falls at 145,528 (2 1/2 hr drive).

You also have many large towns nearby as well. Ardmore at 24,535 (1 1/2 hr drive). Enid at 46,514 (1 1/2 hr drive). Stillwater at 44,818 (1 hr drive). and Muskogee at 40,004 (2 hr drive).

The only markets is see ABQ catering to are itself, Santa Fe with 142,407; Las Cruses at 193,888 and maybe El Paso at 736,310.

Outside of those markets in NM you have Carlsbad at 25,410 (5 hour drive). Clovis at 33,258 (3 1/2 hr drive). Roswell at 45,582 (3 hour drive). Hobbs at 29,292 (5 hour drive) and Farmington at 43,573 (3 hour drive).

If you want a wonderful downtown look at OKC after the core to shore is completed. It's going to be state of the art.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are nice areas in ABQ but show me a place there that looks nicer than Edmond or Norman. It feels like you're getting real close to Mexico in ABQ.


I did try to make this post as objective as possible without favoring my home town. I did check census.gov for all my stats and looked at maps for the drive times.


Conclusion:

Metros: OKC
Nearby markets: OKC
Smaller towns nearby: OKC (ABQ has more but much farther away)

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by Nameless

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are nice areas in ABQ but show me a place there that looks nicer than Edmond or Norman. It feels like you're getting real close to Mexico in ABQ.

While I totally agree with your post that OKC merits a pro sports team more than Albuquerque, I just thought it should be pointed out that the bolded comment is an exaggeration. I would venture to say that as much of Okla. City resembles Mexico as does Albuquerque - i.e. very little, if any. I personally enjoy the culture and personality of Midwestern cities as much as I do the southwest culture here - part of the reason I think OKC is a great candidate for a pro team - but Albuquerque can definitely hold its own in terms of nice areas (Los Ranchos, Corrales, Sandia Heights, and numerous new developments, albeit some with a nauseating suburban feel to them).

On the whole, though, your post is a great comparison of the markets the two cities have to offer, and actually is probably a bit on the kind side to ABQ in terms of some of the smaller markets it could potentially attract. I honestly don't think that people will travel from places like Las Cruces and EP often enough to support a pro team here. Maybe someday, but not in the forseeable future, in my opinion anyways.

[happytown]

qoute from bradly...
"By 2011 Three New Buildings will be nearly Compleated in ABQ
One of them 30 stories, 28 Stories And lastly Taller than OKC Building A 38 story building.

The Pit Area Holds Nearly 20,000 People!
There are 5 other areas they may not hold as many but at least we have!

Also Albuquerque is getting 3 new tv studios! were the next hollwood!!
does OKC have any movie or film industry? NO they dont even like to film there!

We were the #1 city for business in 2005 and now we are currently #2
[color=black]is OKC on the top 5 or top top 10 or top 20 list?"

You also mentioned that ALBQ was found in 1706 as a reason why its 'better' than OKC.







I dont know what your complaining about. It looks like were in the same boat. People underestimate OKC more than they do ALBQ. They also cant help using hick comments along with hating OKC to the fullest degree.

Some of your opinions of OKC are wrong though.
1. OKC has what is called Film Row that was established in the 1930's.
OKC has the Dead Center Film festival deadCENTER Film - 9k - and shows independent/foreign films at an art deco movie theatre attached to a museum. OKC also has been recently filmed in a show called "Saving Grace". I dont like the show, but it has parts filmed here and the show is actually set in OKC.

2. I dont know if you were implying that OKC doesnt have an arena with the "at least we have".......OKC has an arena called the Ford Center that seats around 20,000 and another 16,000 seat convention center/arena across the street from the Ford Center. It has hosted the NBA and OKC hosts the Big 12 championships that are in a regular rotation with Big D and KC. Basically OKC plays and deals with the 'big boys' more than ALBQ.

3. OKC has been in the top 10 for biz, recently rated #13 and is consistently a great place to do business.

4. Good luck with the skyline. For once in my life I can honestly say that OKC trumps another city in this department. ALBQs infrastructure pales in comparison. OKC is the crossroads of America with 3 major interstates and 2 secondary interstates.
OKC V




ALBQ V...Tallest structure in the pic and all of ALBQ is 22flrs. The NW expressway business corridor in OKC is even larger/taller than ALBQs entire Downtown area.


5. Its significant that OKC had a huge amount of development in the very early 1900s. It created more than 9 historic neighborhoods and many old skyscrapers, with two that are the oldest/tallest in the SW and MW at 32-33fls.
So even after a few new tall buildings in ALBQ it still wont have the size or the appeal like OKCs well developed OLD Downtown. OKC will most likely recieve a couple of biggies also, which will probably be taller than 50flrs.

Its incredible that ALBQ was founded in 1706 with Old Town which is really cool and all, but OKC has WAY more old developments that give it more culture. There are more historic districts that include a small chinatown that gives it a lot of diversity in color and people. In the OKC metro a town called Guthrie is the largest historic city/area/district in the U.S. and OKC is very close to Norman which is a big part of the Metro. Norman has the University of Oklahoma along with 2 large nationally known museums and historic Campus Corner.

There are also no huge old mansions in ALBQ, where OKC is loaded with them in all of its large historic neighborhoods, along with large old trees. ALBQ is almost all new development with not a lot of real vegetation/trees or grass. It does have those desert mountains which are beautiful, but kinda worthless to climb.
Just a couple of them...




New development in OKC is also going crazy... Here is some serious future development called core to shore that would dwarf any kind of initiative or direction in ALBQ.
http://okc.gov/planning/coretoshore/...%20Meeting.pdf

All of this points to why OKC is a much better fit for the NBA/Major Leagues than ALBQ and why it would be picked for an expansion team over a lot of cities.

[JackedInPrinceton]

Las Vegas.... How about an NHL team there!

[HsvMike]

Damn happytown, OKC needs to hire you to sell your town to all of the pro sports teams. Not bad. Northern Alabama needs a pro sports team in between Huntsville & Birmingham. I am from Chicago and got spoiled with all my sports. AA baseball and Arena Football just aint cutting it.

Vegas will never or should never get a team. Players (home and away) would be busted for gambling all the time. Bad mix.