Does luring professional sports enchance a city's profile?

[mhays]

That was apparently just an analysis of disposable income in cities across the country. Whether it has any relevance to Austin apparently isn't covered....stuff like the UT effect and so on. Further, who knows if it was even a real study on disposable income...sometimes that sort of thing is laughably rudimentary, for example omitting any realistic take on cost of living.

[ThePhun1]

I say no way the NFL will work for ATX based on the UT factor alone. IMO, it's NHL or MLB since college baseball only lasts half the summer and isn't nearly as popular as basketball and football.

[dave8721]

They didn't list MLB as one of the sports Austin could support because Baseball is the hardest sport to support. Baseball requires filling 81 home games in large stadiums, and requires huge local TV deals to stay financially competitive. Baseball does not pool TV money to the extent that Football does. A football team could be anywhere and receive the same TV money and a football team anywhere should be able to sell out 8 games a year.

[Boisebro]

if i had to take a wild guess, i'd say the NHL is the most likely for Austin, though i'd prefer to see a northern city like Milwaukee, Cleveland or Seattle get a franchise before another southern city.

Austin has already graduated from AA minor league hockey with the Ice Bats to AAA hockey with the Stars, so it seems only natural that they'd eventually graduate to a full-fledged NHL team.

the NBA seems unlikely only because Texas already has teams in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by dave8721

They didn't list MLB as one of the sports Austin could support because Baseball is the hardest sport to support. Baseball requires filling 81 home games in large stadiums, and requires huge local TV deals to stay financially competitive. Baseball does not pool TV money to the extent that Football does. A football team could be anywhere and receive the same TV money and a football team anywhere should be able to sell out 8 games a year.

I know they didn't but no way is the NFL a better option than the MLB for Austin due to the UT factor. That said, the city is probably a couple decades away from being able to support an MLB team.

[jcchii]

I suppose Columbus sort of the model for Austin and NHL

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by jcchii

I suppose Columbus sort of the model for Austin and NHL

And Raleigh, another state capital with a sizable institution of higher learning.

[Comrade]

Salt Lake could probably support the NHL - as they had a pretty successful minor league hockey team back in the day (the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, who were a fixture in the city between 1969 and 1994 - now SLC is home to the Utah Grizzlies, a less popular team) and the city actually had plans to build a NHL-ready arena next to the Delta Center (now Energy Solutions Arena) prior to the Olympics. But then they lost out on the arena deal to a suburb, who built a much smaller stadium (10,000 - with no real ability to expand).

When the Golden Eagles played at the Salt Palace and then the ESA, they drew some of the biggest crowds in the WHL, CHL and IHL. But, like any minor league team, it wasn't as financially viable and Larry Miller, the owner of the Jazz, up and sold the team after purchasing 'em (with the promise to keep them in Salt Lake). In fact, for a few years in the early 80s, the Golden Eagles even out-drew the Utah Jazz.

I think having the Jazz in downtown has been a success - how could it not be? It brings in 20,000 fans every few nights or so between October and April. But the arena itself did nothing to spur any development. It's still located in an under utilized area of western downtown and while the Gateway opened up a decade later just west of the arena, that now is struggling despite having an active sporting and concert venue within walking distance.

The reality is that stadiums and arenas are unlikely to ever spur major economic development. If they're part of a larger development you have a better chance of that happening - but on their own? Even active arenas don't change much of anything.