Sports teams: Cities that need one, Cities that should lose one

San Antonio wanted to keep the saints after Hurricane Katrina.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers is the most populous city in Florida, but all they have is Twins and Rded Sox spring training plus the MiLB Mussels. (It's too fucking hot, anyway).

I’m a huge baseball fan and this is a frequent topic of conversation in some of the sports groups I belong to.

Because of baseball’s schedule, mostly night games and few days off, a much larger population is needed to support a MLB team compared to the NFL or NBA. A study was done several years ago and the absolute minimum required metro population living within 30 minutes of the stadium is 2 million people.

Sure there are other factors involved, but using population alone, Charlotte would the best choice in the US. I will discuss Montreal later.

The only other cities meeting that criteria would be San Antonio, Las Vegas, Portland, Indianapolis and Nashville. (Nashville as of the last count didn’t quite make it but they may be there now). And to be precise, there are a couple of California Statistical Metropolitan Areas also like Sacramento and Riverside that are 2 mil plus but I didn’t include them because Cali is already saturated with teams.

Montreal is a unique situation. Their popular warrants it. I believe it’s higher than US city without a team. But in book they had their shot and blew it. I was around when the team started in 1969. They built their fan base during the 70’s and 80’s but then things really went south. Look up their attendance the last 4-5 years of existence. Less than 10,000 fans per game. You can’t support a baseball team today with attendance like that. There are high school football teams in Texas that draw more than that. A hard NO to Montreal.

A city that often gets overlooked is Mexico City

Personally I think baseball is at a good level now. Interest in the game is declining among younger kids which is a shame because I think it’s the best game around. Two more cities max. Las Vegas abd Charlotte would be my predictions

I think there is a cornfield in Iowa somewhere that supposedly would support a baseball team…

Other than that, I’ve wondered if the A’s might move to Charlotte.

Vegas shouldn't have any. I can't stand the fake fans. Acting like they've been hockey fans their whole lives. None remembering the vegas thunder even lmfao. The raiders and As will be the same.

I'm a huge football fan and I enjoy most all sports mostly root for NYC area teams, I think one most important factor is whatever area get's either a moved franchise, or a new expansion team, the location where whatever team moves to should not ever consider using taxpayer's funding or loan guarantees to fund any team that is a private business entity, and any team that receives any tax breaks at all needs to pay a dividend to the municipality in which it locates.

In Vegas the hockey team is worth 4 times what was paid for it R years ago. That’s 2 billion with a B. Raiders more than doubled their value even before playing their first game. You better believe the A’s have seen these numbers and are betting that of the 4 million tourists to Las Vegas each month ar least many of them would like to have an option of what to do in the daytime. Hands down the best fit.

Nobody will contract and nobody will move because there is too much money in expansion. Houston will get hockey. Baseball will go to Charlotte or Nashville. And shit attendance franchises like the As, Diamondbacks, Coyotes, Rays, and Marlins will remain as that (sucks being an AZ sports fan... often).

I don’t see the need for more expansion in pro sports. There are locations underserved by pro sports, but I don’t think expansion is necessary.

In addition to population, a city must be able to demonstrate the potential for local corporate support to be considered a “major league city”. How many Fortune 500 companies are in the local market? And how many of them are willing to shell out for hospitality suites and advertising at the stadium? Individual ticket sales are important, but don’t move the meter for major league franchises like the hospitality suites do. This is why you see the newer stadiums being built with more sky boxes and fewer individual seats. Also, what are the demographics of the local market? Is there enough wealth in the local population where families have sufficient disposable income to shell out several thousand dollars each year for season tickets?

Las Vegas is an interesting example. One could argue both sides of whether or not Las Vegas vacationers and convention goers will choose to attend a football game that will take them away from the casinos for several hours. Only time will tell.

In baseball it's all about the real estate opportunities. Time Warner, who owns the Braves, also owns all the surrounding real estate, which all white Cobb County paid a bunch of $ for. That is also the situation in Oakland. The owners want $1 BILLION from the city...not for a new stadium, but for real estate improvements surrounding it which has nothing to do with the team. So the standoff is if they don't get it, the owners are taking their proverbial ball and going to Vegas. And of course MLB is 100% on the side of the owners.

The result is it doesn't really matter if a team wins or loses..the $ is made elsewhere. Makes it much tougher to be a fan for sure.

Having stayed in Charlotte for the last four years, I sure as hell hope they don't try to put another team in the uptown area, traffic was bad enough. More south like Ballentyn or north towards Huntersville.

San Diego deserves to get NFL football back.

Los Angeles doesnt need any teams. Beautiful weather and women means you should be at the beach or on a boat. They should make the jaguars play their once a year instead of London.

Just one final thought, I did read that actually the most viable markets were yes, a third baseball team in either NYC or LA but I just don't see that happening though.

Portland could be another spot but I don't if it feels big enough for a baseball team.

If Oakland does move, just keep those uniforms for the love of God. With the white shoes, that green and gold looks sharp, best uniforms in sports. To me the Austin A's could be a thing in the future.