The Expandables

[The Gipper]

Just for shits and giggles, the following are the largest markets in the USA without a team in each particular sports:

Largest  Dozen  US  Metro areas with no Major League Baseball Team:

1. Orlando     2. Portland   3.  Charlotte   4. Salt Lake City  5.Sacramento   6. San Antonio   7. Columbus  8. Indianapolis   9.  Las Vegas  10.  Raleigh/Durham  11. Nashville  12.  Virginia Beach

Largest Dozen US Metro areas with no  NFL team:

1. Orlando  2. San Diego 3. Portland  4. St. Louis  5. Salt Lake City  6. Sacramento  7. San Antonio  8. Columbus  9.  Raleigh/Durham  10. Milwaukee  11. Virginia Beach  12. Greensboro NC  

Largest Dozen US Metro areas with no NBA team:

1. Seattle  2. San Diego  3. St. Louis  4. Pittsburgh  5. Columbus   6. Kansas City  7. Las Vegas  8. Cincinnati  9. Raleigh   10. Nashville   11. Virginia Beach  12. Greensboro NC  

Largest Dozen  US Metro areas with no  NHL team:

1. Houston  2. Atlanta  3. Orlando  4. Cleveland  5. San Diego 6. Portland  7. Charlotte  8. Salt Lake City   9. Sacramento  10 San Antonio  11. Kansas City  12.  Indianapolis  12.  Cincinnati.

[The Gipper]

Notes:

A.  Notice that  neither Buffalo nor Green Bay.....current "big league" cities  are  present.   Green Bay is notorious for being a "small town".....and the Buffalo area is just smaller than all of those other areas listed above.

B. This was spurred because  Toronto will not allow the Blue Jays to play their games in their home stadium, and they are looking for a place to play here in the US.  Charlotte has been mentioned as a possible place to have them play, and there is some thought that it may be looked at as a location for a future expansion team....if/when that ever takes place. 

C. While Orlando tops 2 of these lists and is #3 on another....those leagues...NHL/NFL/MLB  consider that market serviced by the teams they have in Tampa Bay....which is only  80 miles away.  In a sense  Tampa/Orlando can be considered one big sports market, even though they are demographically separated. 

[mjp28]

Now may be a precarious time to pursue an expansion of a major professional sports franchise into your city with the team, stadium and everything else that goes along with a mega million or billion dollar investment.

But then again with the pandemic still hot is it a good opportunity for some bold investors to make a move like that.

Taxpayer funding might be scarce or virtually not available so it might have to be done with private investments and maybe tax incentives.

I guess this is what separates the big money risk takers from the rest of us.  

[The Gipper]

8 hours ago, mjp28 said:

Now may be a precarious time to pursue an expansion of a major professional sports franchise into your city with the team, stadium and everything else that goes along with a mega million or billion dollar investment.

But then again with the pandemic still hot is it a good opportunity for some bold investors to make a move like that.

Taxpayer funding might be scarce or virtually not available so it might have to be done with private investments and maybe tax incentives.

I guess this is what separates the big money risk takers from the rest of us.  

NHL is expanding to Seattle, giving that league 32 teams....just like the NFL.    MLB and NBA still at 30.   32 seems a good number for all  leagues. 

[Dutch Oven]

I think Portland, Oregon and Montreal would be good locations for expansion teams in MLB. 

[Browns149]

I would like to see Columbus get a MLB team. Then they could realign and make a division with:

Cleveland, Pittspuke, Detoilet, Columbus, and Cincy

 

[Browns149]

I would also like to see the Cavs traded for the Blue Jackets. To me NHL is a FAR FAR better product then the NBA

[Dutch Oven]

6 minutes ago, Browns149 said:

I would like to see Columbus get a MLB team. Then they could realign and make a division with:

Cleveland, Pittspuke, Detoilet, Columbus, and Cincy

 

So you want to make the Indians "territory" even smaller by adding a team in Columbus? They already have a relatively small area to draw from. 

[Bob806]

20 minutes ago, Browns149 said:

I would also like to see the Cavs traded for the Blue Jackets. To me NHL is a FAR FAR better product then the NBA

The Gunds screwed us forever with the NHL, that's why the NHL went with Columbus.

[Browns149]

18 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

So you want to make the Indians "territory" even smaller by adding a team in Columbus? They already have a relatively small area to draw from. 

Yes. It would be easier for fans of any of those teams to travel to an out of town game on a weekend. Not easy to drive to Minneapolis or Kansas City

[Browns149]

1 minute ago, Bob806 said:

The Gunds screwed us forever with the NHL, that's why the NHL went with Columbus.

I figured that the NHL didn’t stay in Cleveland because Cleveland can’t support both NBA and NHL. 
 

NHL is a much better product IMO

[The Gipper]

10 minutes ago, Browns149 said:

I figured that the NHL didn’t stay in Cleveland because Cleveland can’t support both NBA and NHL. 
 

NHL is a much better product IMO

The issue is how well  supported will when the teams be not how good of a product it is. Another words it comes down to money

[The Gipper]

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken 

[gumby73]

42 minutes ago, The Gipper said:

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken 

Ok.. this is cool & welcome back major sports!! 

       

[The Gipper]

Still.....kind of a stupid name. Orcas or Sockeye Salmon would have been better   

[Dutch Oven]

1 hour ago, The Gipper said:

Just announced today that Seattle NHL team will be known as The Kraken 

So will their arena be known as the "Krak House"?

Making their fans "Krak heads"? 

[Dutch Oven]

1 hour ago, Browns149 said:

Yes. It would be easier for fans of any of those teams to travel to an out of town game on a weekend. Not easy to drive to Minneapolis or Kansas City

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though. 

 

[Browns149]

1 hour ago, Dutch Oven said:

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though. 

 

Not sure the Indians are getting too many fans from Columbus. Knowing people that live there, most of them like Cincinnati 

[Icecube]

14 hours ago, mjp28 said:

Now may be a precarious time to pursue an expansion of a major professional sports franchise into your city with the team, stadium and everything else that goes along with a mega million or billion dollar investment.

But then again with the pandemic still hot is it a good opportunity for some bold investors to make a move like that.

Taxpayer funding might be scarce or virtually not available so it might have to be done with private investments and maybe tax incentives.

I guess this is what separates the big money risk takers from the rest of us.  

Bro, none of the old rules apply. All sports will nose dive in revenues. How can they not?

[ballpeen]

10 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

And you would eliminate the ability of the Indians to draw interest and fans from a city approaching a million people by putting a team there.

I am all aboard with trading the Cavs for the Blue Jackets, though. 

 

Another factor, many of those cities host a AAA team.  Then a team would have to find another location for its AAA team.

[ballpeen]

9 hours ago, Browns149 said:

Not sure the Indians are getting too many fans from Columbus. Knowing people that live there, most of them like Cincinnati 

It's a lot closer.  It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus.  Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

[Dutch Oven]

1 minute ago, ballpeen said:

Another factor, many of those cities host a AAA team.  Then a team would have to find another location for its AAA team.

I'm on record that I think the Dolans eventually sell the Indians, and the new owners will move the team. 

So Portland, Columbus, Montreal, etc might get the Indians instead of having to start up an expansion team. 

[Dutch Oven]

Just now, ballpeen said:

It's a lot closer.  It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus.  Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

Columbus has always been more of a Reds town, but used to skew towards the Browns in football. With the Browns being so bad for so long, that's probably changed. I know there are a lot of Steelers fans in CBus now. 

[Bob806]

12 hours ago, Browns149 said:

I figured that the NHL didn’t stay in Cleveland because Cleveland can’t support both NBA and NHL. 
 

NHL is a much better product IMO

There really was no trouble there.

Brief history lesson....Gunds move the California Golden Seals from SF to Cle. Cle supports the team (Barons). Gunds work out a backdoor deal with the Minnesota North Stars, merge operations and leave Cle. Eventually that team moves to Dallas. 

Gunds never truly gave Cle a great shot at the NHL. We would have supported it, the AHL Barons and WHA Crusaders drew fans just fine.

[ballpeen]

I don't think so.  Plus, Portland doesn't deserve shit.  

[Dutch Oven]

3 minutes ago, ballpeen said:

It's a lot closer.  It takes a little over a hour to drive Cincy to Columbus.  Takes nearly 2.5 hours to drive Columbus to the Land.

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer. 

[ballpeen]

9 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer. 

 

9 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer. 

 

9 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

Cincinnati is 106 miles away from Columbus. Cleveland is 141 miles away. I'm not sure that's a lot closer. 

It's more about traffic and highway patrol.  I drive up from Tennessee for Browns games.  From the stadium in Cincy up to say OSU stadium takes about a hour and a half.  Most of the drive is through rural Ohio.  You can hit the gas a bit.  The way up to Cleveland is populated.  Seems like Troopers are sitting about every 10 miles apart bodgering up traffic.  It takes nearly double the time.

[The Gipper]

1 hour ago, Dutch Oven said:

Columbus has always been more of a Reds town, but used to skew towards the Browns in football. With the Browns being so bad for so long, that's probably changed. I know there are a lot of Steelers fans in CBus now. 

Columbus is a FRAK town...when it comes to football and baseball.   Whichever...Cleveland or Cinci...that is doing good in either sport is who they tend to go for. 

[The Gipper]

2 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

I'm on record that I think the Dolans eventually sell the Indians, and the new owners will move the team. 

So Portland, Columbus, Montreal, etc might get the Indians instead of having to start up an expansion team. 

No...just no. 

[The Gipper]

2 hours ago, Bob806 said:

There really was no trouble there.

Brief history lesson....Gunds move the California Golden Seals from SF to Cle. Cle supports the team (Barons). Gunds work out a backdoor deal with the Minnesota North Stars, merge operations and leave Cle. Eventually that team moves to Dallas. 

Gunds never truly gave Cle a great shot at the NHL. We would have supported it, the AHL Barons and WHA Crusaders drew fans just fine.

This is correct.  The NHL Barons were only here like a year and a half.   And if you were around....be aware that there was almost NO promotion of their existence even.   I suspect attendance was a bit below league average....but hell, when no one knows you are there....who's gonna come?