Sports are wildly popular in the United States. Even worldwide, sports fans have their favorite teams and sports. And even though Americans are far more likely to root for Americanized sports like Baseball and Football, we know the importance of rooting for your home team.
For the most part, many fans aren’t simply “fans” of their favorite teams – they’re fanatics. There’s no questioning the passion of fanbases. Regardless of what major league teams may be present in your city, there’s a sports team to root for, and you’re expected to represent! In fact, one of the most outstanding things about many cities is their sports team allegiance. It would be seemingly impossible to find someone from New England who wasn’t tied to the New England Patriots, or an Atlanta Braves hater from Atlanta.
While some cities are lucky than others, only 12 cities in the United States have a sports team from all of the four major leagues (NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA). These 12 cities can’t be the only ones who are capable of supporting a complete set of sports franchises but there are many logistics to consider when bringing a new sports team or franchise to a city, of course.
Expansion teams are typically new teams in a league, typically at home in a city where a major league team has not been hosted before. Reasons for expansion are plenty, even if there are league guidelines as to their formation and inclusion. Obviously if there is local demand, franchise owners and pro league professionals work to meet that demand. A stellar and recent example of this is in the newest NHL team: the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Sin City’s hockey team is the best expansion team in the history of American professional sports.
The Vegas Golden Knights are the first expansion team (of all four major league sports) since the inclusion of Houston to the NFL in 2002. Unfortunately, for the sake of data and the longevity of trends, the Vegas Golden Knights are not the rule when it comes to expansion teams. For the most part, the first season or even multiple of the early seasons in a team’s history are not expected to be very successful – let alone Stanley Cup bound.
Though Las Vegas fans were tested early and their pride sent a ripple through the league, Sin City’s passion for sports (hockey in particular) has been questioned. There is no real television market in Las Vegas which is one of the factors influencing decisions of league expansion. A thriving television market is just one of the logistics to be considered during league expansion. On the other hand, the city’s thriving entertainment scene truly does leave it unparalleled in terms of stories of attending games, and even the stories athletes would be able to tell after playing in Sin City.
Needless to say, a thriving entertainment scene isn’t enough for most cities to host a major league franchise. Not to mention America’s less-than-warm relationship with gambling. That being said, there are other logistics necessary to contemplate or consider in terms of homebase for an expansion team.
Expansion teams are considered due to major population changes to an area where a team may satisfy local interest. Hosting a major league championship is another event where this consideration is important, because measuring the economic impact on a city’s population or demographic can help future franchises place a team appropriately. With population change comes demographic diversity as well – meaning that there may be beneficial financial opportunities existing in a newly shifted population to engage with the new market. The teams go where the money is.
Cities under consideration for a future major league professional sporting franchise include: a potential NBA return to Seattle, a new MLB foray into Charlotte, North Carolina, and an empty venue in St. Louis, Missouri is looking forward to having a new home team to root for.
