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San Antonio is one of the largest major cities in the USA(it's population os larger than Dallas, and especially Arlington,TX for that matter). For some reason, San Antonio only has NBA(the Spurs). When will MLB(or anything else such as NFL, NHL) be in San Antonio? And don't give me this metro area crap. The Milwaukee metropolitan area has less people and it has the Brewers, not to mention the fact there is Austin, Waco, and Kileen nearby.
"This metro area crap" is actually much more significant than you think. In effect, SA is not the 7th largest city in the US (and I wish people would stop saying that like it really means something), its actually the 28th largest city.
SA's failed efforts to lure an NFL team (namely, the Saints) and/or an MLB team (namely, the Marlins) are well-chronicled. In short, it didn't happen. It's probably for the best that it didn't, because this city has much more pressing needs than another team. For crying out loud, our 4-time championship basketball team can't even sell out playoff games! And then there's the matter of this "7th largest city" actually paying another city's NFL team to hold their training camp here - not to mention many, if not most, people here are rabid fans of said team. I actually saw a billboard the other day that called the Cowboys "Our Team". When you think about it, what franchise would want to relocate to a city like that??
My opinion? We need to show our unwavering support for our existing team, address our infrastructure and growth problems, improve our downtown, increase our median income by attracting more skilled/higher paying jobs, get a division I football program going, expand our TV market, and then worry about getting another pro team.
"This metro area crap" is actually much more significant than you think. In effect, SA is not the 7th largest city in the US (and I wish people would stop saying that like it really means something), its actually the 28th largest city.
SA's failed efforts to lure an NFL team (namely, the Saints) and/or an MLB team (namely, the Marlins) are well-chronicled. In short, it didn't happen. It's probably for the best that it didn't, because this city has much more pressing needs than another team. For crying out loud, our 4-time championship basketball team can't even sell out playoff games! And then there's the matter of this "7th largest city" actually paying another city's NFL team to hold their training camp here - not to mention many, if not most, people here are rabid fans of said team. I actually saw a billboard the other day that called the Cowboys "Our Team". When you think about it, what franchise would want to relocate to a city like that??
My opinion? We need to show our unwavering support for our existing team, address our infrastructure and growth problems, improve our downtown, increase our median income by attracting more skilled/higher paying jobs, get a division I football program going, expand our TV market, and then worry about getting another pro team.
San Antonio's metro pop is probably over the 2 million mark.1.6 million of that is centered around the San Antonio city proper and it's immediate suburbs and bedroom cities.The other 400,000 plus is in neigboring counties.Other metro's that are comprable in size have their 2 million spread out over several counties.So in essence San Antonio is bigger but technically on paper the same Size for example as Cincinatti Metro or Kansas City metro.
Kansas City ,Mo proper is over 400 square miles and has 400,000 people
San Antonio is 400 or so square miles and has nearly 1,400,000 people.
Hamiltion County,Oh (Cincinatti & major urban suburbs) 407 sq miles pop 846,000.
San Antonio is bigger where it counts, the urbanized core.
Of course Metro and TV market size is what they go by. San Antonio does feel bigger than other metros that have around 2 million.Some say Indianapolis is the same size as San Antonio.Indy proper is over 400 square miles and has 790,000 people or so.San Antonio is almost twice the size or twice as dense.
All these smaller cities has two pro teams.
San Antonio can easliy support another pro team, NFL or MLB.I think MLB would give San Antonio more notoreity.
"This metro area crap" is actually much more significant than you think. In effect, SA is not the 7th largest city in the US (and I wish people would stop saying that like it really means something), its actually the 28th largest city.
SA's failed efforts to lure an NFL team (namely, the Saints) and/or an MLB team (namely, the Marlins) are well-chronicled. In short, it didn't happen. It's probably for the best that it didn't, because this city has much more pressing needs than another team. For crying out loud, our 4-time championship basketball team can't even sell out playoff games! And then there's the matter of this "7th largest city" actually paying another city's NFL team to hold their training camp here - not to mention many, if not most, people here are rabid fans of said team. I actually saw a billboard the other day that called the Cowboys "Our Team". When you think about it, what franchise would want to relocate to a city like that??
My opinion? We need to show our unwavering support for our existing team, address our infrastructure and growth problems, improve our downtown, increase our median income by attracting more skilled/higher paying jobs, get a division I football program going, expand our TV market, and then worry about getting another pro team.
I agree with the fact that San Antonio, like all other major cities could have better roads, schools etc. But not having perfect infrastructure should not preclude the city from going after and landing a major pro-sports team. There isn't a city in the NFL or MLB that doesn't have roads that need improvement, creaking infrastructure or rampant poverty. As I said every major city has these problems to contend with. But they also have major league sports. And these teams are as important to these areas as any infrastructure need. So I say do both. Pursue major league sports with fervor and, fix the daily needs of a growing city simultaneously. It should not be an either or situation.
Regardless. If they would put it in New Braunsfels and it be a National League team called the Texas somethings. Then it would attract SA and Austin people alike. Together we have almost 4 million.
As far as the NFL goes, people are forgetting one major thing. The Cowboys. They own Texas fans. Always will. The Cowboys have owned fans in San Antonio for years and years and years. There are very few pro teams that have as wide reaching a fan base. Why on Earth would an owner want to relocate a team to SA where they have to kick, scratch and bite for every fan they could get? Just because SA would have a new team doesn't mean that everyone would automatically become die hard fans, and that's really what supports you. It's not like a new state getting their first team, where they've been looking for someone to stand behind.
Houston is feeling a little bit of a pinch from the Boys too, but it's a little different, as they had their own storied franchise for many years. When the Oilers left, a lot of the fans felt jilted. When the Texans moved in, they got all the Oiler fans back. They'll still never compete with Dallas for fans though. My opinion is that they screwed themselves by not drafting Vince Young. From a business aspect it was stupid. They had a guy sitting there that OWNED the hearts of most Texans because of what he did to win that championship. They had a great chance to steal some of Dallas' fanbase away because of the amount of people that would have followed our hometown hero. Stupid business decision. Even worse football decision, but that's not relevant.
For the MLB, we're just not a 2 sport town yet. We can have all the people in the world, but we need a better infrastructure to support a team. Yes, Austin, Waco and Killeen have a lot of people, but rarely will people drive that far to see a game. For football it's different because you only have 16 regular season games. People can commit to driving to see 8 games a year. Baseball has 162. That's 81 home games on all nights of the week. We may have some commuters, but not near enough to support a team every single night. Just like the Spurs depend on the local fans. Not commuters.
While we have a lot of people, only a small percentage are financially able to support a team. We don't have the type of large SA based corporations that would sponsor luxury boxes, which are a big part of revenue. There are a few cities that have a similar demographics as us that have teams. The difference is that those are storied franchises.
The best example of what might very well happen is the Florida Marlins. They're a newer franchise in a huge city (Miami). Have won two World Series. Have great young players and are fun to watch for true baseball fans. But they still can't get the stadium half filled. They have Hurricane football and the Dolphins (though they're probably losing a few fans this year). They're just not a big baseball community, which is especially weird with the amount of Cubans in Miami.
...As if Cubans were somehow predisposed to liking baseball
Quote:
Originally Posted by kevcrawford
As far as the NFL goes, people are forgetting one major thing. The Cowboys. They own Texas fans. Always will. The Cowboys have owned fans in San Antonio for years and years and years. There are very few pro teams that have as wide reaching a fan base. Why on Earth would an owner want to relocate a team to SA where they have to kick, scratch and bite for every fan they could get? Just because SA would have a new team doesn't mean that everyone would automatically become die hard fans, and that's really what supports you. It's not like a new state getting their first team, where they've been looking for someone to stand behind.
Houston is feeling a little bit of a pinch from the Boys too, but it's a little different, as they had their own storied franchise for many years. When the Oilers left, a lot of the fans felt jilted. When the Texans moved in, they got all the Oiler fans back. They'll still never compete with Dallas for fans though. My opinion is that they screwed themselves by not drafting Vince Young. From a business aspect it was stupid. They had a guy sitting there that OWNED the hearts of most Texans because of what he did to win that championship. They had a great chance to steal some of Dallas' fanbase away because of the amount of people that would have followed our hometown hero. Stupid business decision. Even worse football decision, but that's not relevant.
For the MLB, we're just not a 2 sport town yet. We can have all the people in the world, but we need a better infrastructure to support a team. Yes, Austin, Waco and Killeen have a lot of people, but rarely will people drive that far to see a game. For football it's different because you only have 16 regular season games. People can commit to driving to see 8 games a year. Baseball has 162. That's 81 home games on all nights of the week. We may have some commuters, but not near enough to support a team every single night. Just like the Spurs depend on the local fans. Not commuters.
While we have a lot of people, only a small percentage are financially able to support a team. We don't have the type of large SA based corporations that would sponsor luxury boxes, which are a big part of revenue. There are a few cities that have a similar demographics as us that have teams. The difference is that those are storied franchises.
The best example of what might very well happen is the Florida Marlins. They're a newer franchise in a huge city (Miami). Have won two World Series. Have great young players and are fun to watch for true baseball fans. But they still can't get the stadium half filled. They have Hurricane football and the Dolphins (though they're probably losing a few fans this year). They're just not a big baseball community, which is especially weird with the amount of Cubans in Miami.
Blah, blah, blah. Look I've heard the San Antonio isn't good enough line for decades now and it's just alot of baloney. Especially now with all the recent growth the area has enjoyed. There are plenty of cities in the NFL and MLB that are smaller than SA and still manage to support major league sports. Kansas City, Cincinnati and Green Bay are good examples. The fact is San Antonio is in fact big enough and rich enough to support all three major leagues. To suggest that San Antonio does not have enough affluent people to be able to buy sports tickets is preposterous. This is a city of over 2 million people and not all of them are dirt poor as you suggest.
Imo MLB and NFL football would fly here wonderfully despite the heavy concentration of Dallas fans. Also, to suggest that no other team could make it in Texas because everyone is a Dallas fan is also a misnomer. I'm a football fan but I hate the Cowboys and I'm not the only around here who feels this way. There are plenty of fans who would relish the idea of an NFL team in San Antonio. So get out of that negative, inferior can't do thinking and start supporting the idea of pro-sports in San Antonio. SA is different place than it was just five years ago and is changing and growing fast.
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Partially correct
