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if not the cities at the top of the list for each of the sports should be Canadian because of their size.
nhl quebec city, winnipeg, hamilton (all are similar to oklahoma city, memphis for size but have no teams in any league)
nba vancouver (bigger than denver only a hockey team), montreal (close to detroit or boston in size (doesn't even include Ottawa which is only an hour drive from Montreal and has 1.5 million people) and only a hockey team which it supports with the highest attendance)
mlb vancouver (the mlb talent from british columbia rivals mexico)
nfl Toronto (the cfl has made football very popular there. there are lots of nfl fans.)
the calgary, edmonton corridoor has 2.5 million people, has a population that's growing extremely fast. maybe by the next census it will have over 3 million people. the per capita gdp there is almost twice that of the US. could support a team in a league other than the nhl.
Québec city and Winnipeg have already had their chance at the NHL. Les Nordiques de Québec existed from 1979 to 1995 then moved to Denver and are now called the Colorado Avalanche. The Winnipeg Jets existed from 1972 to 1996 then moved to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes.
Montréal used to have the Expos of the MLB from 1969 to 2004 but then moved to DC to become the Washington Nationals. And even though McGill University in Montréal was the scene of some of the earliest games of American football (against Harvard), Montréal doesn't really support football that much (les Alouettes play in the smallest stadium in the CFL). Montréal is a fabulous city, easily one of the most cosmopolitan in this hemisphere, but it's full of immigrants and francophones who are much more interested in soccer and hockey than football and baseball.
Québec city and Winnipeg have already had their chance at the NHL. Les Nordiques de Québec existed from 1979 to 1995 then moved to Denver and are now called the Colorado Avalanche. The Winnipeg Jets existed from 1972 to 1996 then moved to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes.
Had their chance? You mean like Denver, Atlanta, Ottawa and the Twin Cities?
Québec city and Winnipeg have already had their chance at the NHL. Les Nordiques de Québec existed from 1979 to 1995 then moved to Denver and are now called the Colorado Avalanche. The Winnipeg Jets existed from 1972 to 1996 then moved to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes.
Montréal used to have the Expos of the MLB from 1969 to 2004 but then moved to DC to become the Washington Nationals. And even though McGill University in Montréal was the scene of some of the earliest games of American football (against Harvard), Montréal doesn't really support football that much (les Alouettes play in the smallest stadium in the CFL). Montréal is a fabulous city, easily one of the most cosmopolitan in this hemisphere, but it's full of immigrants and francophones who are much more interested in soccer and hockey than football and baseball.
There was talk about moving the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes franchise back to Winnipeg recently--after the idea of moving them to Hamilton, ON didn't really pan out (Hamilton is too close to Toronto). Winnipeg would make sense--you had a hockey team there for 24 years and it'd be the only NHL franchise in the huge central prairie region of Canada--all the way from Edmonton to Toronto.
Also, a lot of the newer NHL franchises in the Sunbelt haven't been doing very well financially--the Nashville Predators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers all have lackluster support and financial issues. So maybe the future will see one of these teams relocating to a Canadian city. However the issue with bringing hockey back to Winnipeg and/or Quebec City is both of these metros are fairly small. Each has a population around 750,000.
I also remember hearing that part of the reason that the Nordiques and Jets moved back in the 90s was that while revenue from ticket sales was in the (at the time) weaker Canadian currency, salaries were paid out in American dollars. Now that the Canadian dollar is stronger(although not as strong as a couple years ago), it might be more feasible that smaller Canadian metros could sustain a team; however, NHL salaries have markedly increased too.
With the bad economy and a number of struggling franchises, I don't see the NHL expanding any time soon. Which is good--honestly the league was a lot more exciting when you had 21 teams instead of 30 and the talent was much less spread out. However, I'd love to see an NHL franchise relocate to a Canadian city (I'd also love to see Portland or Seattle get a relocated team too). Hockey is much more fun to watch in Canada anyways. I grew up going to Edmonton Oilers games in the late 80s, and while I've loved going to San Jose Sharks games since moving back to the states, nothing beats a real Canadian hockey crowd. I even saw Don Cherry in person a few times.
I find it very revealing that no one has mentioned El Paso in this thread, because of all cities that lack a pro sports team, El Paso has the second highest population, after Austin, yet, El Paso is never, ever considered, and likely never will be.
Some of the cities / metros listed may have the population base, but do they have the disposable income required to support one or more teams?
Canada's nominal gdp per capita is higher than California's, not sure why anyone would think wealth would be a problem.
the currency is almost at par (it should really be a lot higher than the US's but it is being kept artifically low to encourage trade).
and median household income nationally is very close, especially now with the currencies nearly at par.
canadian median income is higher than it is in the UK, France, Australia.
when the Canadian dollar is at par families in Calgary are earning about 2.5 times more than they are in Detroit. Montreal is low for Canada but it still isn't lower than Detroit's median income.
Winnipeg is close to the national average. Ottawa is higher, Toronto is higher, not sure about Quebec city but with a million people, no sports teams, and being capital of a province with an economy as big as Minnesota or Washington does it matter ?
I find it very revealing that no one has mentioned El Paso in this thread, because of all cities that lack a pro sports team, El Paso has the second highest population, after Austin, yet, El Paso is never, ever considered, and likely never will be.
Poor El Paso. It's just all the way out there and gets ignored every time, but I remember hearing about how they wanted an NBA team and the possibility.
I find it very revealing that no one has mentioned El Paso in this thread, because of all cities that lack a pro sports team, El Paso has the second highest population, after Austin, yet, El Paso is never, ever considered, and likely never will be.
That's because they really aren't that big; the city population is just overinflated. The metro is somewhere around 700K, less than half of Austin's metro population.
That's because they really aren't that big; the city population is just overinflated. The metro is somewhere around 700K, less than half of Austin's metro population.
Not if you include Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Then your talking about metro population of over 3 million.
Québec city and Winnipeg have already had their chance at the NHL. Les Nordiques de Québec existed from 1979 to 1995 then moved to Denver and are now called the Colorado Avalanche. The Winnipeg Jets existed from 1972 to 1996 then moved to Phoenix to become the Phoenix Coyotes.
Montréal used to have the Expos of the MLB from 1969 to 2004 but then moved to DC to become the Washington Nationals. And even though McGill University in Montréal was the scene of some of the earliest games of American football (against Harvard), Montréal doesn't really support football that much (les Alouettes play in the smallest stadium in the CFL). Montréal is a fabulous city, easily one of the most cosmopolitan in this hemisphere, but it's full of immigrants and francophones who are much more interested in soccer and hockey than football and baseball.
i put Montreal in for basketball not football or baseball.
Charlotte had their chance in basketball but that didn't stop them from getting a second one. a city with what could be 5 million people in its cma and over a million in a wealthy city largely ignored by sports an hour drive away can't be judged by the expos mismanagement.
looking at city growths, sizes, wealth cumulatively Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary-Edmonton corridor have to lead the list. if El Paso is in the discussion then Hamilton (center of an area with 2.2 million people) and a part of Canada that is densely populated but is largely ignored by sports teams (relatively small area in southwestern ontario that includes cities like London (could be well over 500,000 by now), St.Catherines (400,000), Kitchener (533,700) windsor (380,000)) , Ottawa should also be considered.
Last edited by grmike; 12-09-2009 at 07:48 PM..
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It's just all the way out there and gets ignored every time, but I remember hearing about how they wanted an NBA team and the possibility.