[magellan]

Originally Posted by VM1138

I don't think Grand Rapids could survive with a pro sports team. Aren't there a lot of Detroit and Chicago fans there for every sport?

Yep. And agreed. Just like a lot of GVSU and Western grads are most likely to be MSU or UofM fans. Just the way it is.

[North 42]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

2011 numbers- American tv markets larger than Grand Rapids that have no major league sports teams:

30 Hartford-New Haven (and they used to have the Whale)
36 Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville
38 West Palm Beach (too close to Miami-Ft. Lauderdale for their own teams; effectively falls within the Panthers exclusive rights zone for hockey)
39 Harrisburg-Lancaster
40 Birmingham, AL

41 Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek

Smaller tv markets with major sports teams

45 Oklahoma City
48 Memphis
49 Jacksonville
51 Buffalo
52 New Orleans
71 Green Bay

Canadian NHL tv markets with a smaller population area than GR:

Edmonton
Calgary
Ottawa
(Quebec City)- one of the Phoenix relocation rumors, former home of the Nords
Winnipeg

Talk about out of touch with reality! Do you honestly believe that Calgary and GR are even remotely similar in any way? Scroll down and look at it's skyline.

Calgary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[magellan]

Originally Posted by North 42

Talk about out of touch with reality! Do you honestly believe that Calgary and GR are even remotely similar in any way? Scroll down and look at it's skyline.

Calgary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Exactly. Calgary metro area is over 1.2 Million. GR's is only just barely 1.0 Million and it's because they stretch it to include 7 counties. I love GR but I'm not in lala land.

Also, GR has the Griffins hockey team and an arena to play in with luxury boxes and the whole deal. If they wanted to go NHL, seems like they would have tried already.

[North 42]

Originally Posted by magellan

Exactly. Calgary metro area is over 1.2 Million. GR's is only just barely 1.0 Million and it's because they stretch it to include 7 counties. I love GR but I'm not in lala land.

Also, GR has the Griffins hockey team and an arena to play in with luxury boxes and the whole deal. If they wanted to go NHL, seems like they would have tried already.

GR to me is more like a Toledo or Ft. Wayne, or London Ontario than a real city of over one million. I hear lots of great things about GR, but I really don't think many people outside of Michigan and the general area even know it exists.

Edit: much nicer than Toledo though

[magellan]

Originally Posted by North 42

GR to me is more like a Toledo or Ft. Wayne, or London Ontario than a real city of over one million. I hear lots of great things about GR, but I really don't think many people outside of Michigan and the general area even know it exists.

Edit: much nicer than Toledo though

It's much nicer than either of those, but scale wise, yes about the same in my opinion too.

[MackOnMack]

Originally Posted by North 42

GR to me is more like a Toledo or Ft. Wayne, or London Ontario than a real city of over one million. I hear lots of great things about GR, but I really don't think many people outside of Michigan and the general area even know it exists.

Edit: much nicer than Toledo though

I live in Indianapolis, and I've told a lot of my buddies that I have a job interview in Grand Rapids this week. Based off of the reaction I've got from them, they probably don't realize GR is more populated than Ft. Wayne when you include the surrounding areas, and even if I tried to explain it to them, they wouldn't care. Unfortunately for me, and people like me, most people aren't demographics and population nerds when it comes to geographical areas.

But this is an interesting thread. I thought I'd weigh in... I am a fan of Detroit teams and U of M, so I am knowledgeable about the following content.

Go to any metro in the U.S. that doesn't have a pro sports team, or at least one of the 4, you will ALWAYS have people saying that they need an NHL, NBA, NFL or MLB team. Just the way it is everywhere. In Indianapolis I often hear people arguing for an MLB team and say that it will do great. BUT will it be great for the MLB? A lot of Cincinnati Reds fans are in Indianapolis and the Reds have a TV deal with the Indianapolis market, which gives the Reds a little over half of their overall TV money that they earn. If Indianapolis were to get an MLB team, the MLB would be loosing money when you look at the big picture. I'm assuming it's the same type of deal with the Detroit Tigers and GR, only that the Tigers get a lot less percentage of their money from the GR TV market. It would be GR struggling to get solid income, and especially with the MLB, playing in a tiny sized market would make it more challenging to be successful. One of the reasons why the Tigers have some of the most spending money for players in the entire MLB is because the state of Michigan is the 10th most populated state in the U.S., and the team has a long history.

Also, for anyone and everyone comparing GR to markets in Canada, realize this.....

CALGARY IS ISOLATED.
FROM ANY OTHER CIVILIZATION FOR HUNDREDS AND HUNDREDS OF MILES.
THE NHL IS CANADA'S MAIN FLING.
CALGARY IS TO CANADA AS DALLAS IS TO THE UNITED STATES.
CALGARY IS A LARGELY IMPORTANT CITY FOR CANADA.

Sorry for the all caps, it's just common sense to me.

[michigan83]

The only way it would work for GR to have a pro sports team is if Detroit was missing one of the four major sports, or if one of those teams moved. Pro hockey might work in GR if the Red Wings didn't exist. I couldn't see it being an NBA city, even if there wasn't a team in Detroit. It just doesn't seem like an NBA town. MLB would be a losing game, because small markets don't do well under that setup. So I couldn't see that happening even if the Tigers didn't exist.

I think the NFL could have actually worked in GR if a team had started there back in the 60s or something (only if the Lions didn't exist). I could see it being like Green Bay, where it's a small market but the fans are very loyal and passionate, and people from the larger market in the state (Milwaukee/Detroit) get on board as well. But of course we DO have the Lions. And even if the Lions moved or something, the NFL has become such a monster that there's no way a market like GR (or Green Bay) could ever get a team today.

So anyway, the answer is no. Not a chance.

Oh, and I am just thankful that we still have 4 pro sports in Detroit. Considering how bad the downfall of Detroit proper has been, we should all be thankful that we held on to those teams. There aren't that many places that have four solid, no-debate "home teams" like we do here. Add in MSU and UofM and this is a fun place to be a sports fan year-round. And to those Bears fans in southwest Michigan and the Packer fans in the western U.P.... please move already.

[Republic of Michigan]

Hockey or Football would work.

[actinic]

Originally Posted by Republic of Michigan

Hockey or Football would work.

^

From someone living in Northern Virginia.

[Bubby348]

Good city buts it's not big enough. Plus they don't have the space to build a downtown stadium and they money. I think the 3 minor league teams we have are good enough. We got to see Reggie Jackson play at deltaplex.