Phil Miller at The Sports Economist outlines an important reason why Los Angeles will probably not get another professional football franchise in the next few years. Short form: As long as LA doesn't have a team, any current team whose host city doesn't want to build a new stadium faces the very credible threat that their team will move to big-market Los Angeles.
Similar reasons probably lie at the heart of why Seattle won't get an NBA franchise so easily either. Until another potential Stadium of Damocles opens up, neither city is as useful to their respective leagues as franchise holders than they are as threatened franchise holders.
Yup. Fans are No. 1!
Yep. The Sacramento Kings flirted with a move to a Rainier area, but the league voted it down 22-8 -- and the very next day, they found a buyer who wanted to keep them right where they were. Who knew?
ReplyDelete(For the record, the vote to move the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City was 28-2.)
I'd read that before, too, Charles, and it seemed to me I'd read something by you on this issue, but I couldn't remember it. I was just glad you weren't telling me that I'd unwittingly stolen "Stadium of Damocles" from you or something ;-)
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