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I think regardless of the team having a winning or losing record but just simply having a pro teams in general helps with the national perception of the city. For example take Buffalo (2 pro teams) vs Rochester (no pro teams). They are pretty similar in population but just because Buffalo has 2 pro teams they are viewed as a more "major" city than Rochester and much more recognizable nationally.
It’s more than that. When people get the concept of the city it’s based of an intergral of Importance over time.
That’s why people tend to overestimate the size of European cities. Paris is much smaller than NY for example. It’s alsp why during the 2018 World Series Houstonians complained about Fox catering to the Big market team despite Houston being about 30% larger than Boston. Or in general rust belt cities are seen as more major than Sunbelt counterparts.
Sure it helps the perception of a city. I see people right here talking about what the Giants did for New York, as if there's a football team in New York City.
There isn't. There are two footballs teams with "New York" in them in NEW JERSEY, though.
That's one thing I could never figure out. How come they couldn't find a stadium for the Giants and Jets to play in New York? Even if it wasn't in Manhattan, they could've found spots in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Long Island or even Queens. Why did they have them playing in New Jersey and in the same stadium?
Pro sports franchises that are well run and tourist attractions within themselves like St. Louis Cardinals & Dallas Cowboys can be an asset. Also for smaller cities to be awarded a franchise and build a multi billion dollar facility may be considered as a boost for a cities image.
For larger cities or mid sized legacy cities, it doesn't seem to be as big of a deal until a championship is won and when the stuff wears off, things go back to normal.
Recently, I was having a conversation with a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, who grew up in Pittsburgh but now lives in California. I'm a Cleveland Browns fan (I know a lot of you want to laugh), but we were having a talk about Cleveland and Pittsburgh. He replied to me, "Rust Belt is Rust Belt. It's just that Pittsburgh has a winning football team and hockey team, so it helps with the perception." I started asking myself a few questions. Does sports teams' success or failure help out a city's perception? How much do sports teams play a factor in a city's perception? Does winning or losing sports teams' play a factor at all beyond those cities? Or, am I looking at the whole thing wrong? Let me know.
San Diego has lost the Clippers and Chargers and still has one of the best reputations in the country. In short, no, it's a marginal difference.
San Diego has lost the Clippers and Chargers and still has one of the best reputations in the country. In short, no, it's a marginal difference.
Yeah, I can't think of a worse way to spend a nice Sunday afternoon, in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, stuck inside a hot stadium or a sports bar watching other people do active things when you can be active yourself.
And, as I addressed earlier, San Diego has one of the worst homefield advantages across all sports in terms of fan support. Las Vegas might be like this too, but SD always had a ton of away fans at their home games. Not good for optics, but it did show that a place that is highly transient and got a lot of tourists year round MIGHT not be the best place to park a sports team.
Yeah, I can't think of a worse way to spend a nice Sunday afternoon, in one of the most beautiful cities in the country, stuck inside a hot stadium or a sports bar watching other people do active things when you can be active yourself.
And, as I addressed earlier, San Diego has one of the worst homefield advantages across all sports in terms of fan support. Las Vegas might be like this too, but SD always had a ton of away fans at their home games. Not good for optics, but it did show that a place that is highly transient and got a lot of tourists year round MIGHT not be the best place to park a sports team.
Weather is such a bad excuse and one that is totally baseless.
Otherwise MLB attendance would be highest in March and September when weather was the worst.
But it peaks when weather is the best in nearly every city.
What are you even arguing? Huh? I'm just saying if I lived in a place like San Diego, sports wouldn't be #1 on my priority list either.
What "excuse" are you talking about? Even the San Diego posters here aren't denying they're a poor sports city.
As a former long time Charger season ticket holder I can find plenty to do on Sundays since they left, even before they did. This past Sunday after surfing in the morning I was out sailing on a mid 60’s day where I could see snow on the mountains about an hour away. Besides that, golfing, going on hikes with the wife and dog, and working in the yard fill up my Sundays when we’re in town. There’s still no shortage of Midwest and East Coast transplants out here that get all liquored in the sports bars on Sunday watching their team, and wanting to talk sh** and/or fight anyone that says anything against their team. It’s rather sad.
Also San Diego wasn’t always this like this in regards to home field advantage, or lack there of. If anyone went to a Chargers game in the 80’s & 90’s (or before) they’d know this was definitely not the case. Many fans, myself included, soured on ownership when they started jerking us around about moving to LA in the early 00’s. When the Padres have done well, which hasn’t been that often, it’s packed with fans. Why waste your time and money on an inferior product.
On that note, casual fans are actually the smart and probably the best fans when you think about? Seriously, what incentive is there for ownership to put a winning product on the field if the fans show up blindly like sheep? The owners of the Cubs for instance must of been laughing all the way to the bank all those years when they’d fill their stadium up for a losing team. Believe me I’ve been there supporting a subpar team year in and year out before wising up. Fans that support their teams no matter what aren’t the true fans, they’re the gullible ones.
I remember canceling my season tickets the second year the Padres moved into Petco Park because they didn’t spend any money in the off-season like they said they would after getting all this new revenue. I had no problems telling them that they lied and I won’t be giving them any of my money when they called asking why I cancelled. Ironically they made the playoffs that year, lol.
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