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Its too bad that there are five cities within a four-hour drive of Louisville with at least two major league franchises. If it was located in the West, it would easily be considered as an expansion market. It's within two hours from the Pacers, Colts, Bengals, Cincinnati's soccer team, and Reds, within three of the Titans, Predators, and Nashville's soccer team, and within four hours of the Cardinals, Blues, Blue Jackets, and the soccer teams of Columbus and St. Louis. I'd still say that the NBA is the best bet for Louisville, with only one city of the five major cities closest to Louisville having an NBA franchise. But you never know; look at Baltimore, it's within four hours of DC, NYC, Philly, and Pittsburgh (and NYC effectively counts as two cities given its size) and has two teams, although Baltimore is a noticeably larger city than Louisville.
Its too bad that there are five cities within a four-hour drive of Louisville with at least two major league franchises. If it was located in the West, it would easily be considered as an expansion market. It's within two hours from the Pacers, Colts, Bengals, Cincinnati's soccer team, and Reds, within three of the Titans, Predators, and Nashville's soccer team, and within four hours of the Cardinals, Blues, Blue Jackets, and the soccer teams of Columbus and St. Louis. I'd still say that the NBA is the best bet for Louisville, with only one city of the five major cities closest to Louisville having an NBA franchise. But you never know; look at Baltimore, it's within four hours of DC, NYC, Philly, and Pittsburgh (and NYC effectively counts as two cities given its size) and has two teams, although Baltimore is a noticeably larger city than Louisville.
Totally agree.
The NBA should have been--and still should be--a no brainer for Louisville.
I think a few things hinder Louisville's ability to close a deal on a major league team--
1) No billionaire has stepped up providing financial commitment or interest in Louisville landing a team
2) Proximity of tv market and fan base plays a part. Louisville is the nation's 49th largest tv market https://www.mediamarketmap.com/louis...%20%2449%2C243.
Not big enough but not small either.
3) The city is not growing fast or rapidly with investment economically to draw attention to it.
Louisville has fallen behind many other cities that were once smaller than it, and the city overall is stalling or stagnant with growth. Cities like Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Salt Lake City have zipped past it, landing teams and booming. Cities that were once in Louisville's tier like Nashville and Austin have skyrocketed past it.
Louisville is now compared to slow growth/stalled cities like Memphis or Birmingham, and that does not help its case at all.
Right? That would've been a logical move. Just take the Colonels into the NBA.
My guess is Louisville was just too small a market for the NBA, even back then in the mid 70's.
But had the league stuck with keeping the Colonels as an NBA team, and in Louisville, it would've been one of the longer lasting iconic teams in the NBA league, had it still been there and thriving/playing, today.
I feel like either the NBA or MLS would be a good team for the Louisville area. If one ever lands there.
Another issue is competition from many smaller markets that are growing super fast today. Like Charleston, SC, Boise, Grand Rapids, Greenville, SC, Albuquerque and Tucson, and others. As these grow fast and semi-"boom," they can catch the eye of a billionaire investor, and if the stadium deal comes together, these smaller markets that are fast-growing can snag a team before a market like Louisville that has waited for a team forever.
Louisville is about the size of New Orleans or Memphis, but those are drags on the league due to revenue sharing. Maybe a billionaire can talk them into it with a relocation, but it seems really unlikely for an expansion team.
Last year's gate receipts, calculated by Forbes:
--Celtics: $116m
--Lakers: $99m
--OKC: $47m
--NO: $39m
--Mem: $34m
Replace NFL with MLB. The Angels are almost as much of a little brother to the Dodgers as the Clippers are to the Lakers. While the Rams are the bigger deal vs the Chargers, the Rams aren’t as dominate in LA as the Dodgers, Lakers, and even Kings (relatively speaking) are. Had the Raiders moved to LA instead the Chargers, they’d be the dominate team in LA similar to Dodgers and Lakers.
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