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Cowboys fans are not bound by any borders or measures of distance. Everywhere in America, no matter where you are, there is always a select portion of the populace that is... well for lack of a better word... awful. Truly, putridity awful. The dredge of society if you will.
For these certain undesirable few the location of their hometown or the favorite team of their elders is not important, because for them, from a young age they are drawn to the Cowboys like so many flies to sh*t.
Why? No one can explain. But the worst people in America are all indeed cowboys fans.
I take pity upon the people who actually live in Dallas and the surrounding area. Way back in the 1960s the emerging city of Dallas got a football team. Like good sports fans they began rooting for their hometown team. Unbeknownst to them as they rallied around their team in Dallas, all across America people crawled out of society's gutters and into their local sports apparel store to buy themselves a cowboys jersey.
For many years I thought these sickening human parasites were Cowboys fans simply because they won a lot of super bowls. Often the biggest losers attach themselves superficially to winners, in the awful tradition known as "front running". These "front runners' know no true allegiance, they simply support whoever wins because they themselves never do. But it's now been quite a long time since the cowboys have been to the super bowl... much less won one, and yet these cowboys fans remain plentiful. There seem to be just as many kids running around with cowboys hats today as there were when I was growing up. Just like back in my youth the kids who wear them look like by far the dimmest and most terrible children around, yet unlike the kids from my time, these kids today have seen the cowboys do nothing but lose, and so front running is clearly not responsible.
Others may posit that the human garbage that root for the cowboys are simply drawn to the team because of their shiny silver helmets.
I myself believe it's likely some type of genetic defect. Hopefully in the future doctors will be able to test for this defect in utero so that the unfortunate parents cursed with such a demon child will have the option to abort them.
Spoken like a true Eaglet...
I wouldn't start cracking on the 'Boys outward fanbase since your Dream Team suddenly has fans all around the globe with their 10 Super Bowl banners hanging over The Linc.
cowboys fans are not bound by any borders or measures of distance. Everywhere in america, no matter where you are, there is always a select portion of the populace that is... Well for lack of a better word... Awful. Truly, putridity awful. The dredge of society if you will.
For these certain undesirable few the location of their hometown or the favorite team of their elders is not important, because for them, from a young age they are drawn to the cowboys like so many flies to sh*t.
Why? No one can explain. But the worst people in america are all indeed cowboys fans.
I take pity upon the people who actually live in dallas and the surrounding area. Way back in the 1960s the emerging city of dallas got a football team. Like good sports fans they began rooting for their hometown team. Unbeknownst to them as they rallied around their team in dallas, all across america people crawled out of society's gutters and into their local sports apparel store to buy themselves a cowboys jersey.
For many years i thought these sickening human parasites were cowboys fans simply because they won a lot of super bowls. Often the biggest losers attach themselves superficially to winners, in the awful tradition known as "front running". These "front runners' know no true allegiance, they simply support whoever wins because they themselves never do. But it's now been quite a long time since the cowboys have been to the super bowl... Much less won one, and yet these cowboys fans remain plentiful. There seem to be just as many kids running around with cowboys hats today as there were when i was growing up. Just like back in my youth the kids who wear them look like by far the dimmest and most terrible children around, yet unlike the kids from my time, these kids today have seen the cowboys do nothing but lose, and so front running is clearly not responsible.
Others may posit that the human garbage that root for the cowboys are simply drawn to the team because of their shiny silver helmets.
I myself believe it's likely some type of genetic defect. Hopefully in the future doctors will be able to test for this defect in utero so that the unfortunate parents cursed with such a demon child will have the option to abort them.
I'm not sure the South will see another NFL team anytime soon. But for fun, let's examine the possibilities. For clarity, let's use the Census definition of the South, so we don't get in some stupid shouting match about what is or isn't Southern.
Southern TV markets with teams:
overall rank - market (# of tv homes) team
#5 - Dallas-Fort Worth (2,594,630) Cowboys
#8 - Atlanta (2,407,080) Falcons
#9 - Washington DC (2,389,710) Redskins (census definition, mind you...)
#10 - Houston (2,177,220) Texans
#14 - Tampa-St. Petersburg (1,795,200) Buccaneers
#16 - Miami-Fort Lauderdale (1,580,580) Dolphins
#23 - Charlotte (1,166,180) Panthers
#26 - Baltimore (1,108,360) Ravens (census definition, mind you...)
#29 - Nashville (1,039,430) Titans
#49 - Jacksonville (678,430) Jaguars*
#52 - New Orleans (635,860) Saints
*this is the team that many people assume will be relocating
The cutoff of the largest markets without a team will be only markets that are larger than the current smallest Southern NFL market (New Orleans)
Okay, so we have a list of 12 potential suitors. Let's examine them more closely.
Orlando - the current largest market without an NFL team. The only other major pro sports team in the market is the Orlando Magic (NBA). Orlando is definitely big enough in terms of size to support multiple pro sports franchises....but would they? It's a major tourist town...but that doesn't necessarily mean that it can't support pro sports (although I've seen that argument used on Vegas many times).
Pure size is the best thing going for Orlando.
Proximity to another NFL team (Tampa is ~85 miles away) is the biggest drawback.
Raleigh-Durham - obviously a very large TV market, but not centralized (multiple large population centers -- including Fayetteville, I believe). The Carolina Hurricanes (NHL) are the other major pro sports team in this market.
Again, size is the biggest thing going for this market...
But the biggest drawbacks would be that the population is very spread out, and there is already another NFL team in the state (Panthers in Charlotte ~140 miles away)...though not nearly as close as Tampa/Orlando.
Greenville-Asheville - lots of people live in the market...but the cities themselves are rather small. This one really isn't feasible in any way, regardless of the fact that they have no other pro sports teams.
San Antonio/Austin - these markets are quite close (~80 miles), so conceivably they could feed off of one another. Combined, they are nearly the size of the Miami market, and only have one pro sports team (Spurs - NBA). Austin is obviously college obsessed with the Univ. of Texas in town...but the size of the market + San Antonio's proximity would likely make it feasible. The only real potential problem I see is whether local fan loyalties are already tied up with the other Texas NFL teams...the Cowboys and the Texans. It would be very hard to recruit fans when there are already teams in your state...the other two states with 3 NFL teams are California and Florida.
West Palm Beach - decent sized market....relatively dense population...but already solidly in Dolphins territory. It would simply be too close for a second team.
Birmingham - Birmingham is an interesting choice, for a few reasons. First of all, there are zero major pro sports teams in Birmingham...or Alabama as a state. The closest pro sports markets (Atlanta and Nashville - ~145 and ~190 miles away, respectively) are far enough away where the market could work. Secondly, considering its place in Southern history, it seems like Birmingham (and Alabama) should have a pro sports team (outside of the Auburn Tigers, of course). The only potential setback I see would be Birmingham (as a city/metro) is on the much smaller side of NFL markets, and the city is college sports crazy (between Alabama and Auburn).
Norfolk (Tidewater) - a collection of decent sized cities in the largest state without a major pro sports team. Despite it's population, this area is sort of "off the beaten path" in terms of location (not along a major east/west or north/south route) Also a region that, for its size, seems to not get the recognition/exposure you would think of. That's what makes me wonder if this would really work. Is area even sports crazy?
Oklahoma City - good sized town with a growing population...already one pro sports team (Thunder - NBA)...are they big enough to support a second? Aside from that...the big football team in the region will always be the Oklahoma Sooners, which are a short trip away in Norman.
Greensboro-High Point - LMAO
Memphis - already has one pro sports team (Grizzlies - NBA) and an NFL team in-state (Titans in Nashville)...but the Titans are more than 200 miles away (plenty of buffer), and despite its market size, Memphis could potentially draw off of fans in neighboring states Mississippi and Arkansas. The big problem is much like Oklahoma City's...there's already one pro team...are they big enough to support two? Possibly...
Louisville - like Birmingham, Louisville is a historically important Southern city with no pro sports teams in the city or the state (outside of Univ of Kentucky basketball). I'm pretty sure size is not the issue....Louisville as a city/metro is large enough to support a pro team...one of the questions would be "are they willing"...the other would be are they too close to Cincinnati and the Bengals (~105 miles) and Indianapolis and the Colts (~115 miles), not to mention the Titans in Nashville (~175 miles), who probably have some of the southern Kentucky markets locked up.
To me, the one that would make the most sense is San Antonio. Thoughts?
The downtown areas of San Antonio and Austin are 78 miles apart but the suburban sprawl is only minutes from each other and is developing in between at a fast rate.
Location: Cleveland bound with MPLS in the rear-view
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mikey1984
The downtown areas of San Antonio and Austin are 78 miles apart but the suburban sprawl is only minutes from each other and is developing in between at a fast rate.
If Chicago and Milwaukee aren't a CMA, Austin and SA shouldn't be either. Even if either/both were, it doesn't change much about the market data, just the way it's analyzed.
There's been a lot of discussion about TV markets recently. Is that really the driver for establishing a team? I'd think that the NFL (and any professional sport) would look at that metric among others. I'd think that they'd consider more than just one TV market. For instance, expansion to Charlotte was probably assuming two states worth of support for the team among a collection of TV markets. The Carolinas represented 12+ million Americans without a team to call their own. That number is now over 14 million. I can't think of a mega-market left in the South without a team. Alabama+Mississippi are too small. VA's fan base is tied to DC. Oklahoma isn't big enough either and the Cowboys are way too big in that part of the country. Frankly, I think Florida has too many teams. Jacksonville, really??? 3 teams in a state of 19 million is too diluted in my opinion.
I think the people of San Antonio would appreciate an NFL team more than the people of Los Angeles. L.A. had two runs with the NFL, maybe the third will be the charm.
San Antonio will embrace NFL like no one's business! the city will go fanatic watching an SA team play dumb Dallas or Houston. lol....The Spurs probably would be pushed a side a l'il, like a child with a new toy.
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