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eandslee

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Yeah, I think we're just too close to DC to be seriously considered for any major league team. I'm actually kind of against major league franchises in RVA, we're just not big enough to put up a good  fight/negotiation against the leagues (NFL, NBA, etc.), I think they'd walk all over us. HR has too large a transient population to really land anything IMO, a lot of their population comes from other markets and remain loyal to those teams. 

I'm all for minor league franchises though, they're much more affordable than a major league team (an NHL ticket can be a couple hundred bucks, but an AHL or ECHL ticket runs 20 bucks). This makes them much more accessible to RVA's population across economic lines. 

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Okay, come on guys...I know it seems far fetched, but Richmonders have to realize that it isn’t.  We need to start thinking like the big boy cities of this country if we are to grow and become a great city.  Most great cities have major league sports - it helps put the city on the map, gets media attention, tourism dollars, etc.  I can see how our region would qualify when you combine the Hampton Roads area since major league sports can draw from quite a distance away.  Plus, Virginia proper does not have a major league sports team!  Just because Richmond was a smaller city “yesterday” doesn’t mean that it isn’t in a big city trajectory and can become one!  Don’t laugh!  Charlotte was a small city once, then things started happening for it and now look at it!  I’m sure people back in the day laughed at the prospect of Charlotte becoming any thing great. Again, the negative, old-time thinking of citizens of the Richmond area is beyond out of control.  Just think what could happen if all the “it will never happen in Richmond” attitudes changed to “let’s make it happen” attitudes!

Edited by eandslee
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While I do agree that it most likely won’t happen without some sort of miracle. The population argument and the DC proximity argument are invalid. Louisville, which is considered by the NBA as the next destination after Seattle, has a smaller metro population than either RVA or HR, much less the 2 combined, and are in close proximity to Indy(just as close as RVA is to DC), which has the Pacers, yet they are very much in the running to get an NBA team. I do agree this is a long shot, but it isn’t laughable, and certainly isn’t impossible, as many claim.

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1 minute ago, blopp1234 said:

While I do agree that it most likely won’t happen without some sort of miracle. The population argument and the DC proximity argument are invalid. Louisville, which is considered by the NBA as the next destination after Seattle, has a smaller metro population than either RVA or HR, much less the 2 combined, and are in close proximity to Indy(just as close as RVA is to DC), which has the Pacers, yet they are very much in the running to get an NBA team. I do agree this is a long shot, but it isn’t laughable, and certainly isn’t impossible, as many claim.

Thank you!  You are so correct!  I hate the “we are too close to DC” attitude!  Totally not a valid argument!

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I didn’t argue that I think we are too close to DC to have a successful team.  DC franchises themselves would claim Richmond as part of their market and try to block one from being here. Whether they would be successful or not, depends on the sport, who owned the team, and how much influence they have. 

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7 minutes ago, vaceltic said:

I didn’t argue that I think we are too close to DC to have a successful team.  DC franchises themselves would claim Richmond as part of their market and try to block one from being here. Whether they would be successful or not, depends on the sport, who owned the team, and how much influence they have. 

That kind of threat is more toothless for NBA or NFL, because they don’t have MLB’s limited antitrust exemption. That said, the thought of Richmond getting an NBA team is beyond unrealistic. Hampton Roads would be slightly more realistic. I don’t see the NBA wanting to split a team among two markets - too ABAish.

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Baltimore (not a huge city) is 20 minutes from DC and both have major league teams. Baltimore didn’t just roll over one day and say, “oh it’ll never happen in Baltimore - we are only 20 minutes from DC and 1.5 hours from Philly.”  Sorry, I don’t buy “the two markets are too close” argument either. 

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4 minutes ago, eandslee said:

Baltimore (not a huge city) is 20 minutes from DC and both have major league teams. Baltimore didn’t just roll over one day and say, “oh it’ll never happen in Baltimore - we are only 20 minutes from DC and 1.5 hours from Philly.”  Sorry, I don’t buy “the two markets are too close” argument either. 

Their teams date back to a long-ago era when Baltimore was a much more important city.  

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2 minutes ago, jbjust said:

Their teams date back to a long-ago era when Baltimore was a much more important city.  

Okay, then Cincinnati - Cleveland-Indianapolis...these are all cities that are fairly close to one another.  Louisville May even enter that equation soon. My point is that even if Richmond doesn’t field a major league team now...we need to start thinking that we can do it or else it WILL never happen...solely because we think that it won’t. 

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I don’t get this whole, Richmond isn’t big enough argument. OKC got a team when they were smaller than RVA, we are approaching Milwaukee and they have an NBA team, and we are bigger than Louisville and they are most likely going to get an NBA team soon. Add to this the 1.7 million from the Hampton Roads area who would much rather drive only 2 hours to RVA as opposed to close to 5 hours to a DC game. Plus with the people who could come from Roanoke/Lynchburg/Charlottesville that would also have a 4+ hour drive to DC, you would be looking at a market of about 3.5 million, which is definently large enough to support a pro sports team. 

As for the argument that the wizards would block a team, they have a surprisingly small presence outside on NOVA. Introducing an official Virginia team would not do much to impact the wizards consumer base and would really just give the NBA an in, to a large, untapped, basketball friendly market.

Edited by blopp1234
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1 hour ago, blopp1234 said:

I don’t get this whole, Richmond isn’t big enough argument. OKC got a team when they were smaller than RVA, we are approaching Milwaukee and they have an NBA team, and we are bigger than Louisville and they are most likely going to get an NBA team soon. Add to this the 1.7 million from the Hampton Roads area who would much rather drive only 2 hours to RVA as opposed to close to 5 hours to a DC game. Plus with the people who could come from Roanoke/Lynchburg/Charlottesville that would also have a 4+ hour drive to DC, you would be looking at a market of about 3.5 million, which is definently large enough to support a pro sports team. 

As for the argument that the wizards would block a team, they have a surprisingly small presence outside on NOVA. Introducing an official Virginia team would not do much to impact the wizards consumer base and would really just give the NBA an in, to a large, untapped, basketball friendly market.

Not only that, but they snubbed us hard by building ANOTHER gym in DC for their G-league affiliate rather than locate in Richmond.  

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Have any you actually read the Market Insider article on the  Hunden Strategic Partners announcement on this subject?  It’s actually cool how many times Richmond is mentioned!  We are in the good company of many other cool cities!

Here it is - take a look:

http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/hunden-strategic-partners-announces-top-major-league-cities-1027365607

Edited by eandslee
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Louisville is a big basketball town though.  While not in Louisville, UK basketball has been at the top of the heap for decades, and they are already filling arenas one and half times  the size of the one proposed for Richmond. 

Edited by Brent114
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