Which city most deserves a pro sports team? (Major League Baseball, fan, MLB)

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by Leana76

Back home in Houston, we used to have the Houston Oilers pro football team. But then we lost them just a few years ago and that was a real disappointment to us.

You may want to verify this but I believe the NFL returned to Houston a few years back. But it appears the disappointment is still there too.

Chap

[sweetclimber]

Originally Posted by maestro

I'm talking of the 4 major sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL), and the city can't already have a team in any of these leagues.

My picks:

1. Hartford, CT -- Plenty of disposable income in this city. Bring back the Whalers!
2. Oklahoma City, OK -- they've proved they are a major league city with their great support for the displace Hornets. I think MLB or NFL would be great here.
3. Louisville, KY -- NBA would be a good fit.
4. Virginia Beach, VA -- plenty of population, probably could support a MLB team.
5. Las Vegas, NV -- NFL in Vegas? Or NBA? It would awesome.

I would agree with the top four but replace Las Vegas with Rochester NY. Las vegas is kind of like LA, it would be good for a yr. or 2 then the novelty would wear off. Rochester metro is the same size as Louisville, OK city or Hartford, plus they have always supported their minor leauge sports very well.

[sweetclimber]

Originally Posted by tkx7

Technically, all of New England is covered with the Patriots which would mean Hartford does have a team. I'm going to go North of the border and Say Quebec needs an NHL team. I also think Anchorage, Alaska should have an NHL team. They are very far away from other teams so they especially deserve a team. I also think Las Vegas is a good idea for basketball. Albuquerque and Bosie are well deserving places for some team too.

NBA in Vegas? Don't you remember the total fiasco wiht then all star game there this past spring, with all the shootings? Not such a good idea in my opinion!

[happytown]

Looks like the Mukleshoot tribe or whatever in Sheattle is keeping the Sonics via private money. Its best for the region if it happens. Nothing is in stone yet but I have a feeling they will stay. So relocation for any pro team will probably not happen for some time. Darn it- I knew something would **** on OKCs parade.

[DCNative]

Louisville, KY is derby territory and I think they want to keep it that way.

[stx12499]

Originally Posted by DCNative

Louisville, KY is derby territory and I think they want to keep it that way.

Not really. Some do, some don't. I assure you there is a lot more to sports in Louisville than Derby, though. Louisville has had serious looks from three NBA teams relocating: Hornets, Grizz, and Rockets (when they wanted to move from TX).

In fact, it is well known in underground sports circles that the Hornets preffered Louisville to New Orleans, but Louisville did not have a major new arena and the mayor at the time was not willing to work with the local attorney and other power brokers wooing the team. All this information is in a book called Airball. I am not sure how Memphis ended up getting the Grizzlies over Louisville, but it came down to these final two areas (mostly had to do with Fedex steppping in and building the new Forum, even though the Pyramid was only 15 years old).

Louisville had one of the original ABA teams in the 1970's when some of its members, notably the Pacers and Spurs, left for the NBA.

Interesting trivia: Louisville had one of the orginal National League baseball teams in the 1890s along with Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis. They were known as the Cyclones and the Greys, and at this time Louisville was around the 12th largest city in America.

[Angry Aspie]

Louisville is not on your list, even though its population is 1.4 million

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by Angry Aspie

Louisville is not on your list, even though its population is 1.4 million

I thought Louisville had a population of around 250K?

[Kabluey]

Originally Posted by stx12499

Not really. Some do, some don't. I assure you there is a lot more to sports in Louisville than Derby, though. Louisville has had serious looks from three NBA teams relocating: Hornets, Grizz, and Rockets (when they wanted to move from TX).

In fact, it is well known in underground sports circles that the Hornets preffered Louisville to New Orleans, but Louisville did not have a major new arena and the mayor at the time was not willing to work with the local attorney and other power brokers wooing the team. All this information is in a book called Airball. I am not sure how Memphis ended up getting the Grizzlies over Louisville, but it came down to these final two areas (mostly had to do with Fedex steppping in and building the new Forum, even though the Pyramid was only 15 years old).

Louisville had one of the original ABA teams in the 1970's when some of its members, notably the Pacers and Spurs, left for the NBA.

Interesting trivia: Louisville had one of the orginal National League baseball teams in the 1890s along with Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis. They were known as the Cyclones and the Greys, and at this time Louisville was around the 12th largest city in America.

You're right, FedEx had a lot to do with it. Besides that, Memphis had a number of advocates and statistics on its side (advocates such as sports consultant Max Muhlman who assisted Charlotte in landing the Panthers, Ray Woolridge, then-co-owner of the Hornets; statistics such as sports business journal rankings of top potential NBA markets, as well as the stats of number of companies with revenue > $100 million, etc). They also had a great minority ownership group that included the founder of Autozone.

Louisville, imo, got a little ahead of itself with all of the pomp and circumstance, while Memphis led a quiet charge, doing its due diligence and not revealing itself until it basically knew it had the NBA's support (smart strategy given its low civic self-esteem and history of getting screwed by leagues and the TN state legislature, as well as some very bad decisions on the city's part). Louisville, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Anaheim got all the attention, but Memphis had been in the race for months if not more before anyone knew about it.

Edit: BTW, I love how boosters of cities flock to posts like this to promote their towns. Even if they already have a pro sports teams, they still want to play too!! How cute. When the thread is entitled "Which city deserves ANOTHER pro sports team," Memphis should get a mention. Till then, this was a reply to what appeared to be a question.

[Crooklyn Lover]

Don’t forget in many cities college sports is the big ticket, and you will run the risk of these schools losing ticket revenue if a profession team moves in, a prime example would be Raleigh, N.C. NHL works great because you have a lot of people who have or are moving here from areas where hockey is big, but this city can not financially support Duke’s basketball programs, UNC’s basketballs programs, NC State’s football and basketball programs, a NBA and/or a NFL team. I don't see Hawaii, just the cost to field a competitive team with all the bells and whistles like training facility and field maintenance would be enormous. Plus every single team would have to fly in and out of the Pacific, an enormous expense would be put on smaller market teams.