i know people who say they should be getting rid of teams in the MLB instead of adding them. by adding teams it diminishes the pool of minor league players, making it much tougher for the small market teams to compete
Please dont expand any more leagues. The talent is watered down enough. However, I think that the Jags should be moved somewhere. Been to two games there and there is no fan support. As much as I hate LA, they should have an NFL team. Austin is a college town. Keep it that way. I think it will suck if the Sonics leave Seattle.
I did not know that- see how much hockey is on the pro sports radar? DD- it makes sense about UT running the sports scene in Austin. I do think that there's room for a pro franchise- and Hockey wouldn't conflict with the Longhorns...unless they have a hockey team?
Population by city is deceptive. Mid size cities that stand alone like Austin appear larger than they actually are, while the Dallas area, for example, which is ridiculously large, looks smaller than it really is because it's really a combination of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington. Comparing by the size of the metropolitan area is a better representation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_metropolitan_areas That drops Austin down to 37, which is exactly where it should be. As far as supporting a franchise, the only major metropolitan areas who don't already have a major sport are share reasonable proximity to areas who do, and for the most part they're coast-hugging areas. For example, the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario area is basically Los Angeles. They're fine. San Jose has the Sharks, but if you don't count the NHL they're pretty close to San Fran. Providence–New Bedford–Fall River is pretty close to Boston. San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo? Putting a team in Puerto Rico would be interesting, a baseball team at least. Las Vegas–Paradise and Columbus are next. Then you've got Virginia Beach–Norfolk–Newport News, which is far enough from D.C. and Charlotte to make a case. Then Austin. Louisville–Jefferson County comes in at 42, five slots below Austin. Seems to me that Vegas and Columbus are your obvious choices, but probably Vegas first because of the name recognition.
I always thought that Kentucky should have a pro NBA team. They had an ABA team and had a ton of fans. Not sure why it didn't work out.
On a related topic should pro-leagues consider contraction. IMO the NHL shouldn't be anywere that ice doesn't naturally occur.
Virginia Beach/Norfolk/Newport News/Portsmouth - The largest population metropolitan area without a major league franchise. Over a million folks and nothing to cheer for. Edit: just looked at the above list. I guess Las Vegas and Columbus passed them up.
This is going to make it really hard for an owner who wants to move to pass up Vegas. I think the NBA (and possibly NHL) would and wouldn't work here in Vegas. It would work on the level that all of the transplants living here (a large number) would actively support their teams by going to the games when their hometeam is in town. I don't think it would work due to the same fact. I don't think any locals would care about a team here other than the fact that they get to cheer for their team whenever they get to come to town to play the Las Vegas SuperSonics (or whoever). No matter what, I think this will put Vegas at the forefront of getting an available NBA/NHL franchise very soon. ~~~~~~~~~~ http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2986775 LAS VEGAS -- Casino giant Harrah's Entertainment announced Wednesday it is partnering with AEG, the company that brought David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy, to build a 20,000-seat arena capable of housing an NBA or NHL team. The arena, behind the Bally's and Paris hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, is projected to open in 2010. It's a step toward attracting a pro sports franchise to a city that has tried to convince reluctant league officials to look past its legalized sports betting. The deal puts a major dent in Mayor Oscar Goodman's plans to have an arena built downtown. The site for the arena, a block east of the Strip, is in unincorporated Clark County, outside city limits. Gary Loveman, the chief executive of Harrah's, which is being bought by two private equity firms in a $17.1 billion deal, said the development was "very much a part of our master plan for Las Vegas," a long-awaited vision that is expected to link or redevelop its nine hotel-casino properties in Las Vegas, including Caesars Palace, Flamingo, Harrah's and the Rio. "This arena is being developed with the capability of hosting an NHL or NBA franchise from day one," said Timothy Leiweke, the president and chief executive of AEG, which owns the Galaxy and the Staples Center in Los Angeles. "We continue to have productive conversations with potential owners and are optimistic that either basketball or hockey, or both, will be played in Las Vegas when the venue opens," he said in a statement. The arena to be built on 10 acres of land that Harrah's owns is to be privately financed. Construction is set to begin on the project in the summer of 2008.
