Well that sucks. As a UK citizen about to emigrate to LA in a couple of weeks, I was hoping the Rams would be a road game next season!
It's the 19th largest metro area (wikipedia.) However, your point is a valid one because there are many successful NFL franchises in areas with less population, Denver and Pittsburgh are two examples.
St. Louis never really cared much about the Cards. The Rams abandoning the L.A. area for St. Louis was a mistake and I don't know why the league ever allowed it to happen (that and Jacksonville expansion) The Chargers and Raiders should stay put
The Jets will never be moved out of the area. There is no more fertile football ground. And now that the Rams are in L.A...there is nowhere else to take them. The NFL is essentially tapped out around the continent. What other market is dying for pro football that doesn't have it?
This source says Phoenix is the sixth largest US city: http://www.citymayors.com/gratis/uscities_100.html I think it interesting the same source cites St. Louis as the 58th largest city. Hm. But then Pittsburgh is 61, Cincinnati 65 and Buffalo all way down to 73. I would conceded metro area is the more useful metric, though. By that measure I see Phoenix at 12th, St. Louis at 19th, and let's not forget San Diego at 17th. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas
St. Louis isn't dying for a team. The Rams just left and nary a peep. San Diego...NYC is a much better market. Nobody is leaving a NY Football market for San Diego. Maybe the Jags end up there. Who knows...
Agree, but the way the fans feel about their team shouldn't enter into it. It's about money. It's all about owner jealousy. The NFL is a huge money making machine. No franchise in the NFL can claim they are losing money with all the TV and marketing revenue pouring in. Sure some teams are lucky enough to be in stronger markets. If an owner who, by the way, made his fortune in some other industry other than sports, decides to set up a franchise in a city, they should not be allowed to screw the fans by moving somewhere else. If the NFL wants a franchise in LA, then Kroenke should sell the Rams and start an expansion team.
Yeah I really don't believe a team will ever move out of the 'NY' market again, at least not in the big three sports. The market/money is just too big now in a post-every game on TV world. Where would Woody or anyone move the Jets and claim with a straight face they're moving to a better market, London? The NFL would lie in front of a moving van and approve expansion before that happened. Of course, the Isles might have moved if Wang wasn't a local guy set on keeping the team on the borough.
Yes. Your original post said metro area, so that's what I went by, but I thought you were referring to St. Louis and not Phoenix. I wrote a followup post to correct myself.
Isles are a good example. I always heard Kansas City brought up as a potential area for them before they made the Brooklyn move. And maybe this is just Long Island bias , but I really dont consider most of it as NYC. Its basically another state and its a lot further than most parts in Jersey. So I think a lot of that mindset went into Nassau County not wanting to build them a new arena. I do however think the Jets having their stadium in LI would be a tremendous success.
MSA's are the better indicator. However, they are driven by the Federal Government, who tend to skew numbers to their liking as MSA's drive where they have to dole out Federal Aid. For instance, Boston's MSA was expanded a few years ago to cover southern New Hampshire and all the way up to the Maine border, and parts of Connecticut. Very low minority/low-income populations in those areas. They basically merged those MSA's together to allow them to pull federal dollars from one area to help cover another that needed it more. Not a perfect system, but using MSA's is really the better option of the two. Especially when you consider the higher incomes in the Northeast.
lmao, you do realize NYC is constructed of 5 boroughs, and not just Manhattan right? Nassau county, where the Islanders played, borders Queens, and you don't have to cross the Hudson to get there. maybe 20min drive. going from E Rutherford to Queens takes between 2-3 hours on Sundays after a Jets game. it's anything but 'basically another state', like NJ is, based on geography if nothing else. i'm going to guess you've never been.
I dont wanna get into a geographically war lol. Nassau County is close enough to the city but anything further than that isnt. I didnt say there's anything wrong with Long Island though , its just not as close to NYC (Manhattan , aka the only borough that people think about when saying NYC) as some think. In fact its pretty far. So obviously its not going to command the same respect as teams that play in NYC or closer to it. During baseball season it takes me a very long time to get to Citi Field from North Jersey. So I imagine it takes fans just as long if not longer on LIRR to get to East Rutherford on Sundays. Im also going under the assumption that the majority of fans use public transportation to the games and not arent driving.
