Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The USGP sold 440k tickets this past weekend, and the MLS team has sold out every game in its existence. UT Football is also averaging 103k/game thus far this season. The Spurs will play two regular season games at the brand new Moody Center in Austin this season, it will be interesting to see if that ramps up over time.
I personally think there will be an MLB team coming within 10 years. NFL isn't completely out of the question, either (the Bills did make an empty threat to relocate to Austin, which was random). The biggest issue is that the city isn't going to ever be giving money for stadium construction, so any potential owner is going to need to pay for it privately.
I think MLB to Austin would be difficult. It would easily be the smallest market to have an MLB team. Austin could have an nba team if not for the Spurs being down the road.
Yeah OKC, definitely doesn't work. End sarcasm. A winning team will fill an arena in either of those cities.
OKC metro is more populated, and growing faster than, any one of the markets named in the post you responded to. It is also debatable whether or not a legacy city like Buffalo would even land major league pro sport franchises in today's climate. Among US metro areas, Buffalo ranks 50th in terms of population and as a metro area is stagnant at best.
OKC metro is more populated, and growing faster than, any one of the markets named in the post you responded to. It is also debatable whether or not a legacy city like Buffalo would even land major league pro sport franchises in today's climate. Among US metro areas, Buffalo ranks 50th in terms of population and as a metro area is stagnant at best.
Keep in mind that Buffalo is adjacent to a heavily populated area of Canada and has another 1 million plus population metro next to it(Rochester). It is the 3rd smallest 1 million + metro area in land area in the country(only Milwaukee and Hartford are smaller and not by much).
I think the NHL would be there and it works for the NFL, as it is a sport that can allow for people to come from decent radius for a handful of games. They tried to get a MLB team in the early 1990's, but that was when Miami and Denver got MLB teams instead.
Yeah OKC, definitely doesn't work. End sarcasm. A winning team will fill an arena in either of those cities.
You're not entirely wrong. However:
OKC is a bit bigger than Louisville at 1.44m metro vs. 1.28m.
OKC has poor attendance by NBA standards...#28 out of 30 last year. Most of the small markets grouped at the bottom. They did ok when they were winning but you have to draw when you're losing too.
Basketball has less of an issue than baseball because the games are much shorter and there are half as many.
OKC also benefits from not having a major university sports program in town.
Louisville is closer than I made it sound, but still too much of a reach for NBA. And not a chance in hell for MLB.
I think MLB to Austin would be difficult. It would easily be the smallest market to have an MLB team. Austin could have an nba team if not for the Spurs being down the road.
Hmm, how do you figure that?
Austin has a higher population than the following MLB markets:
- Pittsburgh
- KC
- Cincinnati
- Cleveland
- Milwaukee
Additionally, it has a smaller population but higher GDP than St. Louis and Tampa.
It'd be a smaller market for sure but so would any expansion candidate. If you think about Market size (and particularly dollars) divided by the # of major teams it'd be near the top of the list.
It's also growing extremely fast and by the end of the decade (a realistic timeline for an MLB team) will pass several other MLB markets.
Unless the NFL would be willing to make an accommodation to start even what would be considered a "late" game even later, I doubt that would work. On Sundays the NFL never starts games earlier than noon local time to allow for churchgoers, and noon HST would be the same as 2 PM PST or 3 PM PDT (remember that Hawaii does not observe DST). A normal "late" game kicks off at 1:05 or 1:25 PT - and they definitely wouldn't have a team play in prime time (mainland time) every week.
OTOH Alaska (as long as they continue to observe DST - there have been calls in that state to stop the clock changing) would fit within the normal NFL schedule for a west-coast team. (Of course there you have the issue of the small state population, and away from the southern coast the extreme winters.)
Another city that would probably in terms of infrastructure and lack of nearby teams be able to support an NFL team is Salt Lake City, but there you have the Mormon church culture which for a league where the vast majority of games are on Sundays could result in depressed attendance.
I don’t have time to read this very long thread, but has it been decided whether we are talking about metro areas or just city population? The two can be far apart. EDIT: I see the first post from 2008 stated metro area but some more recent posts are not congruent. I guess that can happen in a 14 year old thread!
Louisville had the Kentucky Colonels of the old ABA and that team should have been absorbed into the NBA like the then NY Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indians Pacers and San Antonio Spurs were from that league. They had great support and were stable franchise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonels
Yeah, good call out. I read about the Colonels.
Too bad the NBA didn't bring them into the fold, and keep them as a team in Louisville. I would think they would've done extremely well in terms of support.
I feel like Louisville really missed out on landing the Grizzlies when they moved from Vancouver in the early 1990s. They landed in Memphis, of course, where they do have really good fan support, after years of being in the city.
BUT, I don't know if Louisville can land a team anytime soon, since there does not seem to be a company that would sponsor them (UPS or the Yum brands??). And who would own the team there, is another concern.
Also, the big elephant in the room are the Pacers in Indianapolis, 90 miles away. Too close of a market, I think, unfortunately for Louisville. PLUS, Louisville and Kentucky in general--are known for their massive college basketball support. Not sure this could translate to NBA support.
Here are some cities I think might have good major league markets:
Hampton Roads, VA (or even Richmond) [NFL and/or MLB]
Charlotte, NC [MLB]
Louisville, KY [NBA, maybe MLB]
Birmingham, AL [NFL]
Memphis, TN [MLB]
Milwaukee, WI [NHL]
Cleveland, OH [NHL]
Seattle, WA [NBA]
Anchorage, AK [NHL]
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
