Could Paul Foster Bring Professional Sports to EP?

[HIGH!Lonesome]

It was'nt Stan Roberts or maybe it was but I still think it was someone else,I called him at city hall and we had a good discussion he had just as much right to get that stadium built there as Robert "did nothing" Candelaria did for the Lower Valley he did'nt really even try so NE was easily awarded the stadium site, none the less a stadium bond issue was brought before the voters that also included some zoo expansion, but Paul did not tell mayor Rogers to put the stadium in NE El Paso, Rogers was never an easy person to sway.

[Muhnay]

I dont care how it happened I am damn glad it did.. back when we had the real Diablos here, you could see streams of lights coming over the mountain to attend games... now nothing. Its sad really. Wish they would do something about that.

[EnjoyEP]

Guys...again here...

While a lot of my opinions in the EP forum are kind of maligned because "you (meaning me) don't live in El Paso", this is one subject that I have a lot of experience with. I worked in the front office of an NBA ballclub in business operations for over a year.

I posted some of this info much earlier in this thread, but it bears posting again:

Here in Milwaukee, WI, it is a metro population of about 1.7 million people, and we have two major league sports teams - the NBA (Milwaukee Bucks) and MLB (Milwaukee Brewers) - this metro population is nearly 1-million people great than El Paso's UNLESS you count Ciudad Juarez (then that would change things immensely...I will get to that in a second); the Bucks in particular are owned by a billionaire (US Senator Herb Kohl - D WI) - Senator Kohl might be akin to Foster in El Paso.

And frankly, while I will always love these two teams because they are my "hometown" teams, Milwaukee at 1.7 million metro is REAALLLLY close to being too small to viably support big league sports. They are just a really pricey endeavor and you need a big base of not only affluent supporters to buy tickets, but you need a really big corporate base (most importantly) which really pays the bills - they buy the luxury suites, they pay for the sponsorships and advertisings, etc. Really, it is hard to count many big league sports franchises that are economically thriving in populations of towns that are less than 2, 2.5 million people. You've got Buffalo NY for the Bills and, for a short time, Oklahoma City when they were housing the Hornets, but there aren't many.

And remember here for Milwaukee...one saving grace is that 10+ million metro Chicago is only 80 miles away - we draw A LOT of business from their northern (very affluent - I mean VERY affluent) suburbs where it is easier to get to Milwaukee than Downtown Chicago.

I really prefer El Paso strongly to Milwaukee in most regards, but there is just so much more money / jobs / corporate headquarters in the Milwaukee area than El Paso in addition to people that it isn't funny. Plus we have 10+ million metro Chicago a stone's throw away. And yet, we are STILL very close to being too small for big league (meaning one of the "big three": NBA, NFL, MLB) sports.

When you see the individual game prices for major league sports teams anyway, sometimes it is better to have a nice stadium / nice stable team in a high echelon minor league for more mid-sized big cities like El Paso.

El Paso is sizable, but at a metro population of 712,000, you would have to draw a whole heckuva lot from Juarez which I guess is somewhat feasible but also would be unconventional.

I know Juarez actually certainly does have pockets of affluence / money, etc., but you would have to draw a WHOLE LOT of business / corporate support / money from Juarez to even have a prayer of being viable, successful, etc. and with international logistics, I am not certain that would be terribly realistic.

It takes so far, far more than a billionaire owner. Frankly, if one looks around sports, they are a dime-a-dozen shockingly today. Again, with the case of Senator Herb Kohl and the Bucks...he loses hand over fist with them and they struggle economically - many owners would've moved them already that were a little less patient. Fortunately, they also have some wealthy corporate sponsors, and their arena was GIVEN (unheard of in sports) to them by another extremely wealthy donor (Lloyd and Jane Petitt).

Take the Brewers...they wouldn't barely be hanging on in Milwaukee if here at all if not for their recently built state-of-the-art ballclub. The name? Miller Park. Why Miller Park? Because Miller Brewing Company - a corporate brewing giant - with headquarters in Milwaukee (although that may not last for long with a recent merger with Coors Brewing) funneled and continues to funnel a LOT of money into the ballpark.

Things like that.

Sadly - you all know just how much I love El Paso - (and I don't even know how sadly this is) - El Paso just isn't anywhere near realistically supporting a viable "big three" sports team.

Honestly though, this is one of those things that I really feel if you have lived in El Paso your whole life, I can see why you'd want it, but once it would hypothetically happen, you'd be "hmmm...no big deal" after a while. And this coming from a guy who LOVES sports, has worked in them, and loves going to Brewers / Bucks games. When I lived in Albuquerque, I actually preferred going to the triple A Isotopes games in their beautiful stadium and paying $5, $10 for seats (with free parking) over $30 (and tons for parking) for so-so seats. I could go more often, I could afford to buy a brew or two and a dog, and I could enjoy sitting in nice, close seats.

I think El Paso's much more realistic option would be to pump up the Diablos (a long-time farmclub for the Brewers) or maybe sometime get up to a triple-A level squad, maybe add an D-League team, etc., and continue to support the heck out of UTEP athletics. Honestly, I think that for El Pasoans would be a great bet.

(If I am able to join you all in El Paso sometime as residents, I will look forward to hitting Diablos games!)...

[HIGH!Lonesome]

They way I would judge if El Paso is capable of supporting professional sports I would start off first with how El Paso supports the UTEP Miners, as soon as Bob Stull tells tailgaters to chill out they start boycotting the games.

You could have two three million people in El Paso, and the results would still be the same.

[Muhnay]

El Paso isolation does not help in the Sport arena either.. You need to have other metro areas of a comparable size to draw from. El Paso does not have that.

Phoenix Has That.. plus a larger population to support the Cardinals.

[HIGH!Lonesome]

Even if El Paso was the same size as Phoenix, I doubt the people there would be at the same level as those in Phoenix when it comes to supporting the local teams.

[Muhnay]

Thats true.. there are also more people in the Phoenix area that are wealthy, than El Paso.. its a richer city. I am not saying its better.. just has a better cash flow, and wages than El Paso does... and many more retired wealthy people. I was offered a job out there, but turned it down.. because as much as I like heat, it was too hot for me there. =) 111 degrees at midnight.. I don't think so.