Which city most deserves a pro sports team? (San Antonio Spurs, Jazz, Panthers)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Kansas City is still trying to get an NHL team. They have a big, beautiful new arena waiting for NBA or NHL.

I think, as far as baseball, a lot of Arkansasans are St. Louis Cardinals fans.

[bradly]

Originally Posted by Nameless

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)

ok wow u really did ur research didnt u.. however ur population numbers are uhhhhhh wrong hahahah albuquerque took a population count for the year 2008 already!.. now take a guess the city was at 514,000 at the last poulation count in 2006 do u wanna know exactly how many ppl live in abq to date acoring to the albuquerque planning and zoning commission abq has 529,918 its metro has 895,279 ppl isnt that one hell of an increase? next time do better research and dont say stuff that u cant back up cuz i know my uncle is a city councilor..and i ahve been to OKC its not better than albuquerque i will tell u that much. and of corse abq has ghettos! ....central is ghetto do i have to go into details the older parts of the city are ghetto we all know that ...as well as the fact abq is the 2nd fastest growing city OKC couldnt grow this fast or match up to abq's population booommmm! and of corse a metro area of OKC is going to have 1,172,000 its been growing for years ...abq barley started to grow again..and were talking about CITY LIMITS not metros obviously abq will pass OKC in the next two years, now i dont really care if they do put major teams here or not were still going to grow! and OKC doesnt have growing space...not like albuquerque ....OKC has sourounding cities to make it look big but thats whats blocking OKC to grow... havent u beeen to the west side of ABQ?

it has so much land they could build houses in abq for the next 40 years and still have space...

and oh another thing i know why abq doesnt have tall buildings.. to match up to this so called okc area...in a study taken abq couldnt build a building over 20 stories cuz of were the down town is located, its located on a 20 square mile swamp so there is skyscraper answer.

[Nameless]

Originally Posted by bradly

ok wow u really did ur research didnt u.. however ur population numbers are uhhhhhh wrong hahahah albuquerque took a population count for the year 2008 already!.. now take a guess the city was at 514,000 at the last poulation count in 2006 do u wanna know exactly how many ppl live in abq to date acoring to the albuquerque planning and zoning commission abq has 529,918 its metro has 895,279 ppl isnt that one hell of an increase? next time do better research and dont say stuff that u cant back up cuz i know my uncle is a city councilor..and i ahve been to OKC its not better than albuquerque i will tell u that much. and of corse abq has ghettos! ....central is ghetto do i have to go into details the older parts of the city are ghetto we all know that ...as well as the fact abq is the 2nd fastest growing city OKC couldnt grow this fast or match up to abq's population booommmm! and of corse a metro area of OKC is going to have 1,172,000 its been growing for years ...abq barley started to grow again..and were talking about CITY LIMITS not metros obviously abq will pass OKC in the next two years, now i dont really care if they do put major teams here or not were still going to grow! and OKC doesnt have growing space...not like albuquerque ....OKC has sourounding cities to make it look big but thats whats blocking OKC to grow... havent u beeen to the west side of ABQ?

it has so much land they could build houses in abq for the next 40 years and still have space...

and oh another thing i know why abq doesnt have tall buildings.. to match up to this so called okc area...in a study taken abq couldnt build a building over 20 stories cuz of were the down town is located, its located on a 20 square mile swamp so there is skyscraper answer.

My statistics aren't wrong, they're the July 2006 estimates. Albuquerque had 504,949 at that time, the census doesn't lie http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/...EST2006-01.csv

How exactly did I say stuff I can't back up? I checked the stats straight from census.gov, it doesn't get more factual than that. If you're going to come in here and criticize my stats, the least you could do is use proper grammar.

OKC hasn't been growing that long. It was settled on April 22, 1889 during the land run. Albuquerque was founded in 1706 according to the chamber. So don't say we've been growing a lot longer.

For f-ing crying out loud! OKC doesn't have room to grow? What a bunch of BS! You realize that less than half of our city limits are developed and we don't have other towns all around us sucking up the population. Read a map. I want to see Albuquerque try to grow to the east.

We have surrounding cities to make us look big? Yes, that's true. In that case lets take your precious Rio Rancho out of the equation and look at the Albuquerque growth stats after that. It's only fair if you disregard our suburbs do disregard yours. Saying that you have the bigger "city" is so off base when all that really matters is the metro.

This is amazing to me, I present an objective argument (even compliment your city) and you come in here and trash everything I say. Not to mention use, quite possibly, the worst grammar I've ever seen. That's very mature, you must be 13 years-old.

[statefan]

Thank you Nameless! I found his post along with his other to be full of grammatical errors, misspellings, and inaccuracies. No doubt he is not part of the "wonderful schools" there in ABQ.

I am still looking for evidence ABQ is the 2nd fastest growing city in the US. Maybe it is in New Mexico, but everything I saw has it outside the top 20.

But the point still remains skyscrapers, good schools, great parks really have no immediate bearing on a professional team coming to your area. The main factor is money, who has the most and who is willing to spend the most. Secondary factors maybe things like infrastructure (practice facilities, airport size, number of hotel rooms within a given area, and to even some extent whether a high paid athlete would want to live there).

[censusdata]

Median incomes in metro areas w/o a pro team

(rank - city- pop- median income)

97 Louisville, KY--IN MSA 1,025,598 $40,821

124 Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL MSA 921,106 $39,278

127 Albuquerque, NM MSA 712,738 $39,088

168 Oklahoma City, OK MSA 1,083,346 $36,797

SOURCE: Highest-income metropolitan statistical areas in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by statefan

I am still looking for evidence ABQ is the 2nd fastest growing city in the US. Maybe it is in New Mexico, but everything I saw has it outside the top 20.

You're absolutely right about that. The suburb of Rio Rancho, however, is in the top 10 or 15 for fastest growing cities.



This OKC vs. Albuquerque argument is silly. I've already posted in this thread once about how Okla. City deserves and can support a pro team more than Albuquerque; population statistics, as well as the great appreciation of OKC sports fans toward the Hornets during their stay there are evidence of that.

Seriously, just let it go.

[happytown]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Median incomes in metro areas w/o a pro team

(rank - city- pop- median income)

97 Louisville, KY--IN MSA 1,025,598 $40,821

124 Birmingham-Hoover-Cullman, AL MSA 921,106 $39,278

127 Albuquerque, NM MSA 712,738 $39,088

168 Oklahoma City, OK MSA 1,083,346 $36,797

SOURCE: Highest-income metropolitan statistical areas in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here are the City data stats, which are outdated.
Estimated median household income in 2005: $37,375 (it was $34,947 in 2000)

Oklahoma City $37,375
Oklahoma: $37,063



OKC keeps climbing in pop/income (close to 1.3 current MSA pop) and just to remind people- Oklahoma has a very low cost of living.

Another fact is that OKC has wealthy inner cities that arent counted in the stats. The median income should probably be around 38,000. Not to mention Edmond (very close sub) which has a high population with LOTS of money.

Again....ALBQs infrastructure PALES in comparison to OKC. Which is a big deal. This can count for buildings which include skyscrapers...So the skyline is at least somewhat important.

OKC might not even get the NBA in the end!....But ALBQ certainly wont get one for many years. Sooo many other cities that will be first in line....If I lived in ALBQ I would not be holding my breath for a Major League team.

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by happytown

If I lived in ALBQ I would not be holding my breath for a Major League team.

Believe me, most of those of us who have lived here for a long time aren't.

[desert sun]

This is what I think of Albq getting a pro team---

NHL-no or very very small NHL fanbase here except the small amout of locals and east coasters that attend the minor league hockey in Rio Rancho.

NBA-I dont think there is too much of a fan base here for it,I think the first couple years we would be selling out games,then after that people wouldnt really care anymore,expecially if the team were losing,and we have the Lobos which alot of people are devoted too,I would rather attend a Lobos game than an NBA game.

MLB-I dont see Albq filling up 40,000 seats so many times a year,and we have a minor league baseball team that does well already.But who knows.

NFL-I think if anything this would be the better choice for Abq. considering the amount of home games played and strong NFL fan base,everyone I know is a football fan,just not a college football fan,but I can already see it,everybody snatching up season tickets,People would come from all around the state and El Paso.

But I do not think there is enough money in the city or NM,so I doubt we will be seeing a team anytime soon,maybe in 15 years,and the fans here in Albq are the first to put down or insult their team.this is my opinion.

[66nexus]

Originally Posted by wpotsie

Providence and Hartford would dip too much into the Boston or New York markets. It would never happen. That's why the Whalers left Hartford. THe city and area were losing population and most of the people j ust rooted for the Bruins, anyway.

I think if Jersey could do it right across the water, then most definitely Hartford could do it. It probably wouldn't be like: 'Hartford Cannibals', but more of a Connecticut thing like the 'Connecticut Killers' or something. As long as they pick the right location...and not swamps