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For all the people who do not think Hartford can hold a professional sports team. I am from Hartford and lived there and I truly feel that Hartford can hold a professional sports team. First off like mentioned early Hartford may not be a big city but there are a lot of people in the area. 1.2 million. Hartford and the state of Connecticut has proven that we will go out and support a sports team with UConn. Its impossible to get UConn Husky basketball tickets for both men and women. The football team even though they are god awful is avg. about 39,000 fans a game. Check the facts
Now I understand that many people say that NBA or NFL or MLB would not survive in Hartford. I do agree that the MLB is a no. We have Boston Red Soxs and New York Yankees and everybody here loves one or the other. NFL I think could hold the New England Patriots, although I don't see a team relocating here since we have the Patriots and there are many Jets and Giants fans in the area as well. NBA could work because the state of Connecticut loves basketball. We prove that with UConn teams and with the WNBA Connecticut Sun who avg. more then7,000 fans a game. Once again check the facts if you don't believe me.
Another quick thing about the Sun, they are located in the southern part of the state near New York. If it was located in Hartford attendance would sky rocket, however that would never happen since they are owned by Mohegan Sun, a casino and they play their games in the Casino's arena.
As for a Hartford Whalers return, It would be the best thing to ever happen in Hartford. First of all we currently have two Minor league Hockey teams in Connecticut. Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Hartford Whalers. Both teams avg. over 5,000 people.
If the Hartford Whalers return both teams fans would come out for the game which would be at least an avg. of 10,000 per night with just those fans alone and then many people who don't go to a minor league team would come. I think Hartford could have an avg. of 15,000 fans per night, which isn't bad compared to alot of the teams.
I hate Raleigh because of one reason only... they have an NHL team... with a CHAMPIONSHIP!!! How did a small, 300,000+ people town in NASCAR country get a pro sports team and we didn't ?!?!
Hartford is a small town, too. But it's more understandable that they have a pro hockey team because they're located in the part of the country where it snows more than it rains.
And I don't care if this city is 30 miles away from Dallas. I want Fort Worth to have a MAJOR leauge sports team. No more mini-minor leauge teams, ok...THIS AIN'T INDIANAPOLIS!!!! That should've been US celebrating the Stanley Cup finals victory last year with the FORT WORTH Hurri... er, I mean Twisters.
How about getting another team in San Antonio, TX. We are the seventh largest city in the U.S. We just passed Dallas and are still growing like crazy! I definitely think that Vegas should be seriously considered. Austin might not be a bad choice, even though UT is there. It's also growing like crazy and the population is big enough to sustain a fan base for both the UT and a pro team.
Hartford, CT??!! Are you crazy? The population is only 129,000 and is declining. Privodence has only abouth 180,000 but at least is still growing. Albuquerque, NM has almost half a million and Oklahoma City might not be bad either. Memphis is quite large, too.
I agree that San Antonio should get another major pro sports team. Obviously San Antonio's single major team is one of the most successful in all of sports, the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have won three NBA championships since 1999 and are favored to win the NBA championship again this season. I would presume with the phenomenal success that the Spurs have had in San Antonio, team owners of weaker teams in the other major leagues would seek to move their teams to San Antonio.
During the 2005 NFL season, the New Orleans Saints played some of their "home" games in San Antonio when they were evacuated by Hurricane Katrina. In 2006 the Saints returned to a renovated Superdome and sold out all of their home games and had their best season in team history. It appears that relocation talk of the Saints has subsided for now but relocation of the Saints may be considered again in the future if New Orleans fails to make long-term recovery from the hurricane and the Saints attendance slips.
I hate Raleigh because of one reason only... they have an NHL team... with a CHAMPIONSHIP!!! How did a small, 300,000+ people town in NASCAR country get a pro sports team and we didn't ?!?!
Hartford is a small town, too. But it's more understandable that they have a pro hockey team because they're located in the part of the country where it snows more than it rains.
And I don't care if this city is 30 miles away from Dallas. I want Fort Worth to have a MAJOR leauge sports team. No more mini-minor leauge teams, ok...THIS AIN'T INDIANAPOLIS!!!! That should've been US celebrating the Stanley Cup finals victory last year with the FORT WORTH Hurri... er, I mean Twisters.
Gotta agree with you about Fort Worth JJG. I don't hate Raleigh or anything, but Fort Worth has been getting the shaft for decades in the sports arena because of the proximity to Dallas, and Arlington (which is smaller than FW, but has the Texas Rangers). Fort Worth is one of the 20 largest cities (maybe top 15) in the country and doesn't even have a triple A baseball team. And the FW "Cats" stadium is a joke. I'm from Oklahoma, and have lived here in FW for 17 years. I'm glad OkC has a triple A team, and will probably get an NBA team soon, but come on Fort Worth is over 600,000 people and deserves much better than what it has, proximity to Dallas or not.
Back home in Houston, we used to have the Houston Oilers pro football team. But then we lost them just a few years ago and that was a real disappointment to us. But we do have the Houston Astros pro baseball team, but they're not as good as back in the days (more than 25 years ago). They kind of suck these days...
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The Carolina Hurricanes play in Raleigh
