Sports teams and their effects on cities' reputations

[wanderer2575]

On the other hand, Detroit has all four (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) within a quarter-mile of each other downtown, and right now all of them suck.  Does that have any effect?

[tdindy88]

Nashville recently just built a new baseball stadium, would that have any bearing on them being an expansion for MLB team in the near future.

As for my hometown, I'm sure most in Indianapolis are satisfied with the Colts and Pacers at the current moment.

[Beltway]

I was rooting for the Baltimore Orioles as the team local to Richmond, before the Nats arrived.  The Orioles have done poorly for the last 20 years or so and now I don't really pay much attention to MLB.

We scored the wild card in 2012, American League East in 2014, and wild card again in 2016. There was a 5 year period this decade that we were awesome. I blame GM Duquette being courted by Toronto in 2015 and the contentious management between him, Buck, Brady, and Angelos for our sharp descent back to crapdom in 2018.
iPhone

They have had more recent success than I thought.  I was excited by them winning the 1983 World Series (I-95 series with the Phillies), but it seemed over the next 20 years or so that why bother following their seasons.

[Jmiles32]

The sports teams of the DC area definitely affect the city's reputation. For example, thanks to decades of relatively poor play and irrelevancy by the Redskins and Wizards resulting in low/mediocre attendance, DC in both the NFL and NBA is often thought of as a weak sports town. However, for the Nationals and Capitals, it is quite different. Thanks to about a decade of postseason collapses by both the Nats and Caps(before they won the Cup), DC was often referred to as Choke City. In fact, last year after the Nats lost to Cubs in NLDS, I was so pissed that I designed/bought a shirt on Custom Ink that said simply "Choke City" with a picture of the DC skyline. About 90% of all the people that talked to me about my shirt knew exactly why.

[Bruce]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

[MantyMadTown]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

I don't think many Americans who don't follow the Premier League know where those cities are.

[hotdogPi]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

I don't think many Americans who don't follow the Premier League know where those cities are.

I've heard of Leeds, but I've never heard of Watford or West Bromwich, and to me, Blackburn is a politician from Tennessee, and Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Likewise, in Spain a good search for men and a wise usage of avalaible money has made several teams to promote to La Liga, and thus making the following otherwise middling cities known to the international audience:
Eibar: in the Basque Country between Bilbao and Donostia/San Sebastian. Arguably one of the ugliest cities in Spain.
Leganes: suburb of Madrid, neighboring Getafe (which also has a team in La Liga).
Girona: in Catalonia between Barcelona and the French border. Worth a visit.
Huesca: in Aragon (ergo in the middle of elsewhere) between Zaragoza and the French border. Oh, and I've said this is where I've lived for all of my existence so far?

However the ultimate example of this is Hoffenheim, Germany. A 6000 inhabitant village in Sinsheim municipality near the Rhine-Neckar area, it would be otherwise unknown beyond the local area if it wasn't for its team promoting all the way to the Bundesliga. This is exactly what I miss in the closed American leagues, thus preventing lesser known cities to have international recognition through sports like European cities can.

I've heard of Leeds, but I've never heard of Watford or West Bromwich, and to me, Blackburn is a politician from Tennessee, and Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston.

I know where Watford (just outside, and to the North of, Greater London) and Brighton (on the South coast of England) are, but the exact location of Blackburn and West Bromwich escapes me at this moment.

[SP Cook]

In North America, the era of expansion, born of the end of the democrat/Jim Crow system in the South, which made black athletes able to travel and live anywhere; the invention of air conditioning and construction of the interstates, which made much more of the country livable and thus caused the Sun Belt to develop; and the age of jet travel, which made truly national leagues possible (obviously once-a-week football could do this earlier) is over. 

Yeah, you can find this or that town and say it is the same size as some major league city.  Doesn't really matter.  The leagues are too big now.   Especially in baseball, regional loyalties are a strong contraindication to expansion.

[ET21]

On the other hand, Detroit has all four (MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA) within a quarter-mile of each other downtown, and right now all of them suck.  Does that have any effect?

Nationally yes, not a lot of coverage. Locally, not really. I'm sure if you were offered tickets you'd still go to games and watch them suck live rather than on the TV.

Same thing is going on with the White Sox. I'd rather watch them suck live than waste my time watching them lose on TV. Already been to 3 games and going to a 4th  in 2 weeks, 2-1 so far

[jeffandnicole]

If I refer to the actual subject title (and not another sports expansion thread, which this turned into real quick)...

Philadelphia's fans have given Philly a pretty lousy reputation.  Which is unfortunate, because it seems like the sports media is real quick to find something, anything, to say how bad Philly's fans are.  And there's no taking away that there's been some relatively minor incidents over the years.  But the media loves to pick up on these relatively minor Philly incidents.  More major incidents in other cities get a small nod by the media, but they won't be mentioned exhaustively for the next 50 years.

The city of Philadelphia did get a bit lucky though by beating the New England Patriots (you may think the Eagles beat them...no, the entire city and its fans beat them!).  Because people around the country were getting a bit tired of the Patriots winning, especially with several questionable events going on by the team over the years, the Eagles became kinda like a national favorite for this year's Superbowl which has definitely translated into a better overall perception of the city.

[Henry]

The last 33 years have been very good to Chicago sports fans, since all five teams have won championships in their respective sports, starting with the Bears, who won Super Bowl XX; then the Bulls, who did the three-peat not once, but twice (1991-93, and again in 1996-98); the 2005 White Sox, whose last championship was 88 years before that; the Blackhawks, who broke a 49-year drought in 2010 and then won two more in 2013 and 2015; and finally, the 2016 Cubs, whose 108-year drought was the granddaddy of them all, but was at last vanquished. It makes me truly thankful to one of those fans, because, as the old saying goes, hope springs eternal, and I'm so happy that I could see them all come out on top.

[Beltway]

Philadelphia's fans have given Philly a pretty lousy reputation.  Which is unfortunate, because it seems like the sports media is real quick to find something, anything, to say how bad Philly's fans are.  And there's no taking away that there's been some relatively minor incidents over the years. 

Lots of Redskins fans are quite nervous about attending Redskins-Eagles games in Philadelphia, when dressed in Redskins gear.   They don't want to get the crap beat out of them.

[jeffandnicole]

Philadelphia's fans have given Philly a pretty lousy reputation.  Which is unfortunate, because it seems like the sports media is real quick to find something, anything, to say how bad Philly's fans are.  And there's no taking away that there's been some relatively minor incidents over the years. 

Lots of Redskins fans are quite nervous about attending Redskins-Eagles games in Philadelphia, when dressed in Redskins gear.   They don't want to get the crap beat out of them.

I've been attending the games for the past 15 years.  The fans there today are basically the same fans there 15 years ago.  They're now older and more mellow.  Yeah, you're probably going to be called an asshole, just like any opposing fan visiting an opposing NFL stadium anywhere.  But unless someone does something extremely stupid, everyone will survive.  You can even wear Cowboys stuff into the stadium and be fine!

Oh, and speaking of reputations - the "jail cell" and "Eagles Court" that people still reference was there for the start of the first season in the Linc in Philly.  Hasn't been there for 14 years, yet people still act as if it's a regular thing.  It was basically a small storage closet.

As much as I've seen stuff like what you mentioned referenced, and try to say the same thing I just said to you, there's bound to be someone who's never attended a game in their life talking about how bad it is there and that just continues the myth/legend.

[Flint1979]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

I don't think many Americans who don't follow the Premier League know where those cities are.

I've heard of Leeds, but I've never heard of Watford or West Bromwich, and to me, Blackburn is a politician from Tennessee, and Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston.

I've heard of Blackburn only because of The Beatles song, A Day In The Life lol.

[bing101]

San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors they sparked China Basin and Mission Bay to become gentrified in San Francisco City Proper. 

The area surrounding AT&T Park and Chase Center was once an industrial wasteland but is now the most expensive part of the City attracting biotech startup companies and Tech venture capitalists companies to the area.

Golden One Center the Home of the Sacramento Kings on J Street is built on a former downtown mall is now gentrifying Downtown Sacramento and its clearly meant to attract superpacs and Lobbyists to Downtown Sac.

[bing101]

Oakland A's will be the last Sports Team in Oakland as there was talks to move the team in San Jose at one point but the 49ers got the spot that the A's Initially wanted though and the territory debates came into play.


West Sacramento has the Raley stadium and it was built at the same time as the AT&T Park. Raley field is on a former warehouse. But the area surrounding West Sacramento started having newer houses and to a certain extent was made to attract a similar crowd as Downtown Sacramento Next Door.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raley_Field


http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB0478FA66ACC80&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

[MantyMadTown]

Oakland A's will be the last Sports Team in Oakland as there was talks to move the team in San Jose at one point but the 49ers got the spot that the A's Initially wanted though and the territory debates came into play.


West Sacramento has the Raley stadium and it was built at the same time as the AT&T Park. Raley field is on a former warehouse. But the area surrounding West Sacramento started having newer houses and to a certain extent was made to attract a similar crowd as Downtown Sacramento Next Door.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raley_Field


http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB0478FA66ACC80&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

I thought the stadium would be large enough to attract the A's to leave Oakland, but it turns out that's not the case.

[jp the roadgeek]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

I don't think many Americans who don't follow the Premier League know where those cities are.

I've heard of Leeds, but I've never heard of Watford or West Bromwich, and to me, Blackburn is a politician from Tennessee, and Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston.

I've heard of Blackburn only because of The Beatles song, A Day In The Life lol.

And I heard of Brighton from Brighton Rock by Queen (jk.  It was the Boston neighborhood)

[bing101]

Oakland A's will be the last Sports Team in Oakland as there was talks to move the team in San Jose at one point but the 49ers got the spot that the A's Initially wanted though and the territory debates came into play.


West Sacramento has the Raley stadium and it was built at the same time as the AT&T Park. Raley field is on a former warehouse. But the area surrounding West Sacramento started having newer houses and to a certain extent was made to attract a similar crowd as Downtown Sacramento Next Door.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raley_Field


http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SB&p_theme=sb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB0478FA66ACC80&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

I thought the stadium would be large enough to attract the A's to leave Oakland, but it turns out that's not the case.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrymbloom/2018/03/13/as-down-to-nitty-gritty-in-location-of-new-ballpark/#50f7cf5d2271

Well now the A's are talking about building a new stadium in where Oracle Arena is located. Basically right after the Warriors move next door to AT&T park and Raiders move to Vegas this will happen.

[sparker]

^^^^^^^^
Basically the MLB situation in Northern California is a settled matter; neither the A's nor the Giants are going anywhere.  But in the NFL things are more in flux, considering the Raiders' move to Vegas.  Jerry Jones (Cowboys' owner) has recently dropped the gauntlet when he called for an 18-game regular season, eliminating a couple of exhibition games (and lessening chances of veterans' injury).  At this point, IMO, it's only a matter of time before NFL expansion to what would logically be 36 teams is up for debate.  If that occurs, there are only a few places with the requisite aptitude to be considered for a NFL relocation; one of those would likely be the West Coast/Mountain extended region.  Eliminating cities that lost NFL teams (San Diego, Oakland) or where proximity to existing teams might be problematic (San Jose), that leaves Honolulu, Portland, SLC, and Sacramento.  Travel time and league expenses likely doom any Hawaii location; the chances for public funds' expenditure re a Portland facility are virtually nil.  But given the fact that there are at least tens of thousands of Raiders fans in Northern California with little to look forward to post the Vegas move, the scenario shifts to Sacramento over SLC for the Far West team expansion site.  And while the city of Sacramento itself might not be willing or able to financially or otherwise accommodate a 2nd major pro facility in a short time frame, there are other neighboring cities (Roseville/Lincoln, Elk Grove, West Sacramento) who would likely welcome a NFL stadium siting.  With an incorporated population of about 480K and a metro area exceeding 2M -- and a welcoming if limited record with pro franchises, it's likely Sacramento would at least make the final cut regarding NFL expansion.     

[bing101]

https://whitecleatbeat.com/2018/08/23/oakland-athletics-stadium-fans-reboot/


Here is the latest on the Oakland A's Stadium talks.


I will make a bet that if the New Oakland A's is approved gentrification talks will come into play. Just like San Francisco and Sacramento a new stadium will spark gentrification talks.

[Desert Man]

The majors, minors and college sports are beneficial to a city, because people love to root for their home team. In my area, Palm Springs has the collegiate level baseball Palm Springs Power, the California Winter League (instructional) and not far is the California League's teams in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino and Lake Elsinore (this one used to be in Palm Springs 25 years ago). We have a proposed 12,000-seat sports arena broke ground in Palm Desert and I'm all for it, the project will lead to new sports teams in a place better known for golf, tennis and polo, but Im more interested in baseball and ice hockey though. IMO, the Arizona Coyotes NHL team should move here to have rivalries with the Kings, Ducks and the new (very good) Vegas Golden Knights. But, they rather have 15-20,000 seat arenas which larger Phoenix should approve for them to stay.

Further down in the desert, I recall Yuma had major league baseball spring training just like Palm Springs did in the 1990s (when a Japanese pro team the Yakult Swallows' held a spring training camp in Yuma). The Yuma area which includes Imperial county and Mexicali on the other side of the border, it's a low-populated and high-poverty economic market, however you can find basketball (Mexican league close to NBA standards), American football (US-based Indoor, yet Mexico has its own pro league) and soccer (division-2 Mexico). Mexicali has an arena and a stadium each, and the area has a million people on both sides of the border. It helps their area have something worth in entertainment. The basketball Soles, arena football Centinelas, and soccer Cachanillas represent the Imperial valley equally with Mexicali. There's a saying in Sacramento and Oklahoma City: you're not a farm town if you have a major league team.   

[ixnay]

I can say that internationally it does affect what cities are well known.

For example, Leeds is one of the largest cities in England by population (though the method is always in dispute) but its lack of a Premier League club (thanks to 20+ years of decline) has led international fans to have little knowledge of the place.

The Premier League presence in places like Blackburn, Watford, Brighton, and West Bromwich have inflated their importance to the international audience, despite being somewhat middling cities.

I don't think many Americans who don't follow the Premier League know where those cities are.

I've heard of Leeds, but I've never heard of Watford or West Bromwich, and to me, Blackburn is a politician from Tennessee, and Brighton is a neighborhood in Boston.

I've heard of Blackburn only because of The Beatles song, A Day In The Life lol.

Blackburn relative to Liverpool..

https://tinyurl.com/y84t7kzl

Not to be confused with Blackpool...

https://tinyurl.com/yb4cgjcy

West Bromwich relative to Birmingham...

https://tinyurl.com/y96fgbzx

Neither Blackpool nor Blackburn nor West Bromwich Albion are currently in the Premier League.  West Brom was relegated last spring.  Blackpool and Blackburn were demoted in 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_F.C.#/media/File:Blackpool_FC_League_Performance.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Rovers_F.C.#/media/File:Blackburn_Rovers_FC_League_Performance.svg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bromwich_Albion_F.C.#/media/File:WestBromwichAlbionFC_League_Performance.svg

ixnay

[ixnay]

I recall Yuma had major league baseball spring training just like Palm Springs did in the 1990s (when a Japanese pro team the Yakult Swallows' held a spring training camp in Yuma).

Didn't the SD Padres train in Yuma during the '70s and into the '80s?

ixnay