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First SC metro to get a major league professional sports team


krazeeboi

Which SC metropolitan area will be first to land a major league pro sports team?  

58 members have voted

  1. 1. Make your selection

    • Columbia
      19
    • Charleston-North Charleston
      15
    • Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson
      15
    • Myrtle Beach
      5
    • Other
      4


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Which SC metropolitan area will be the first to land a major league professional sports team (e.g. NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, etc.)?

At first, I would think it would be the Upstate due to its population, but recently I've begun to change my mind about that. I actually think that it may be Charleston, since it is somewhat isolated from the two closest major league markets, Charlotte and Atlanta and is growing at a healthy clip.

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I voted "other" because I don't know. That would be far down the road and we've got a long way to go before we reach that level in this state. It was incredible that Charlotte won the Panthers, but that may have been the last major pro sports team to come close to being in SC for many decades. What would make me mad is if Augusta or Savannah were to get one first. :lol:

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I would guess that no city ever does! Charlotte wasn't "lucky" to get an NFL team, more like "prepared" to have one. They had the Hornets (now in New Orleans) and their attendance led the NBA for many years...that all helped persuade the NBA to award the Bobcats to Charlotte the year after the Hornets left. Raleigh landed the Hurricanes of the NHL when they relocated from up north and Charlotte is actively planning to pursue a MLB team if they can finalize plans for a downtown stadium in the future.

I doubt that any major league pro team would want to put a team in SC when Atlanta, Charlotte, and Washington all have teams in close proximity!

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Washington? You call Washington, DC "close proximity" to SC? I wonder what you consider distant then! :)

I say Charleston because it is 177 miles from Charlotte and over 300 miles from Atlanta. Personally, I think that's too much of a distance to reasonably pull potential attendees from.

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Washington? You call Washington, DC "close proximity" to SC? I wonder what you consider distant then! :)

I say Charleston because it is 177 miles from Charlotte and over 300 miles from Atlanta. Personally, I think that's too much of a distance to reasonably pull potential attendees from.

Ummm, in terms of sports SC is very close to Atlanta and Charlotte, even Raleigh (NHL)...then Charlotte and Raleigh (maybe 4-5 hours) are close to DC. Up north they can support teams because of the mass of people. The NY Giants aren'y fighting for fans with the NY Jets when you have 8,000,000+ citizens in NYC alone! Here in the Palmetto state aren't that lucky. Do you follow major league operations?

Let's put it this way, *before the Panthers, a lot of people in this area and also NC supported the Redskins or Falcons. Now we have the Panthers. So, if Charleston gets a team one day, are they only lucky to get the lower half of the state for fans?

* = EXAMPLE

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I never disputed SC's proximity to Atlanta and Charlotte, only to Washington, DC. It's about a 6 hour drive from Charlotte to DC. Raleigh is closer (~4 hours). At any rate, I don't think you can say that SC is in "close proximity" to DC simply because it borders NC which has some areas that can access DC in a relatively short time. If that was the case, we might as well say put SC in the NYC market since it's only about 4-5 hours from DC to NYC!

I wouldn't think that a SC team would get a pro football team, since the Carolina Panthers are....the Carolina Panthers, meaning the team belongs to both Carolinas. So SC already has a pro football team in that regard.

I think that NHL or MLB would be more of a possibility in SC, specifically Charleston.

Of course, we are talking about years down the road when the population of the Lowcountry can feasibly support such a team.

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Okay...whatever! I am trying to say that SC is close to Atlanta and to NC, which has 3 pro teams. In turn, these 3 teams are close to Washington in terms of franchise placement. All-in-all it does not help the state. When the Nationals were considering relocating to DC, one serious concern was the close proximity the team would share with the Baltimore Orioles.

Oh well, it is all IMO... :wacko:

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SC just doesn't have the population to support any kind of professional sports team no time soon. Its close promixity and overlapping market area between Atlanta & Charlotte makes it highly unlikely that any city in the state will see a team within the next 3-4 decades at least. Now, minor leaguers such as Arena football would be perfect for Columbia & Charleston...if they're not already in place.

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But Baltimore and DC are actually part of the same metropolitan area (technically consolidated metropolitan area), only about 30-45 minutes apart. This is why I'm saying that Charleston probably has the best chance of all of our metropolitan areas of landing a major league professional team, given the distance from the Charlotte, the nearest city that has one. Trust me, I understand what you're saying. I'm simply saying that the part of our state that is the most isolated from those cities contains the fastest growing metropolitan area of SC. I think that once that area becomes populous enough, it will indeed be able to support a major league professional team. To put it all in perspective, we're talking YEARS down the road.

By the way, I wonder if there are any statistics available about the amount of people from Columbia and Greenville-Spartanburg who actually travel to either Charlotte or Atlanta for major league professional sports and how often they do so.

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SC just doesn't have the population to support any kind of professional sports team no time soon. Its close promixity and overlapping market area between Atlanta & Charlotte makes it highly unlikely that any city in the state will see a team within the next 3-4 decades at least. Now, minor leaguers such as Arena football would be perfect for Columbia & Charleston...if they're not already in place.

While I agree with this as a factual statement, the topic was which will be the first to get a team at anypoint in time.

I think it will be Greenville. Unless there is a major upset in the population distribution in SC, the Upstate is going to continue to be the most populous region in the state. Despite its proximity to Charlotte and Atlanta, there coudl come a point in time where we have enough population to support a professional team. YOu can alos lok at it this way- how may teams are in the Northeast? Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston? All of these cities are within an hour or two of eachother, much like Atlanta-GSP-Charlotte.

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SC encompasses about 3 major franchises: Atlanta, Charlotte, and (believe it or not) Jacksonville (not Washington!). The first 2 cities definitely have fans in the Upstate and Midlands. In the Lowcountry, there are a considerable amount of Charlotte fans, but there is some market sharing with Jacksonville with its proximity.

However, I chose Charleston because it is the most isolated city from other franchise markets. Many people have said that Charleston could support an NHL team in the future, provided that the area continues to grow like its doing. It currently has an ECHL team, a minor league baseball team, and pro soccer team. The funny thing is, I could see MLS coming to Charleston first before the NHL or NFL. The soccer fan base down there is strong.

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I voted for Greenville. The upstate has a much larger population. We have and have had numerous sports teams in the past, while some more successful than others, needless to say it's an attractive area for teams. I think any SC city has a long way to go before this happens, but Greenville will most definitely reach that point first :thumbsup:

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If it was to ever occur, it most likely would be based on a full 'state-level' support. It won't be [city] specific, but would be orientated around a region. Similar to the NFL team in Charlotte - it serves NC & SC primarily, not just Charlotte (we can thank Jerry Richardson for that). I think NFL is unique in that sense - due to the typical game day being Sunday & the high costs of operating a franchise, often teams serve large areas - not just the city.

As for NBA, NHL, & MLB - the games occur so often & are typically on a weekday or evening, the city host does require a population to support. NBA & NHL require smaller populations than MLB host cities.

Therefore - my pick would be Columbia for a NFL or MLB team. Columbia is accepted as a 'neutral' site, if the team name is 'South Carolina', otherwise no SC city will win a NFL team as long as Carolina Panthers exist.

Regarding the other cities, NBA or NHL could exist if any of the metro areas were 1 million to 1.5 million larger. Of course that is based on current metro sizes, so most likely it would require a metro the size of 3 to 4 million in 2020. And even then it isn't a given...

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What more of a perfect place to put a pro team in the middle of the state, so that everyone can have access to it. Columbia has a advantage because of it's centralized position in the middle of the state and it's the biggest city. I wonder how is it going to play out in the future? It would definitly be a big step for a s.c. city

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Columbia. It's in the center of 4 million plus South Carolinians and enough out of the way of Atlanta and Charlotte. In other words it's not just a run-through place on the way from one to the other. Charleston is too far to travel from Greenville and vice versa.

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I still believe Columbia would be a strong condidate for any posible pro franchise looking to start or relocate. (IN THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA)

Although its very close and sort of over shadowed by Charlotte, If there are some deep pockets in Columbia, things could happen. All you need is investors that are'nt scared to build a venue that would attract a team, then it up to the citizens if they would support it. The only factors that would potientialy inhibit ANY SC city from landing a team would be TV Market and overall make up of the fan base itself. It would be a risk that I believe would lead to reward. IMO, smaller franchises seam to support and appreaciate there teams a little more than some midsized markets.

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As I've mentioned on other threads, the only thing that would hold Columbia back from landing a major league professional team is USC's dominating presence. In this regard, I would liken Columbia to cities like Austin and Columbus, OH, sizable metros in their own right, yet essentially big college towns where college sports rule. As a matter of fact, as SC's population grows, the state could very well resemble Ohio: the other two large metros in the state landing major league teams (Cincinatti and Cleveland) with the capital catering to the university.

I guess it all remains to be seen...

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I look at it like this. The CAROLINA Panthers represent both Carolinas...They play in Charlotte which is a couple of minutes from the SC border and they practice in Spartanburg, SC...I mean...That's a good way to look at it...So I don't really think SC will ever get one but if we do it'll probably be Charleston because it's so far away from any other major city being Charlotte or Atlanta.

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I look at it like this. The CAROLINA Panthers represent both Carolinas...They play in Charlotte which is a couple of minutes from the SC border and they practice in Spartanburg, SC...I mean...That's a good way to look at it...So I don't really think SC will ever get one but if we do it'll probably be Charleston because it's so far away from any other major city being Charlotte or Atlanta.

Why do everyone in sc thinks the panthers represent our state. That is North Carolina! People in North Carolina don't even think about us. We need to start seeing ourself as our own state or will always be #2. Charlotte knew they didn't have the population to support a franchise, that's why it's in Charlotte. It can make money off us and them. That's why they lost the hornets because the people of Charlotte was going to the games. If Charlotte didn't have half of s.c. attending their games bringing in revenue of probally hundreds of millions of dollars they would have survived. Charlotte doesn't even have a million people there. Do you know how much money they make off us, that can be in s.c. and in state money. If he had some great thinkers back then we would be capitalizing off our own money. But by Far as i see it sc would rather just be a shadow of N.C. or should i say Charlotte

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Ummm....the Carolina Panthers DO represent us; the team represents both Carolinas. Hence, the name...Carolina Panthers. I believe the team's owner is from Spartanburg and that's where the team practices much of the time. If you go to BOA Stadium, the flags of both NC and SC are flying. I don't think SC will ever get its own pro football team; we just have to settle on this regional team.

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Well its true the city limits of Charlotte is not 1 million but it shares Mecklenburg county with 6 other towns which is part of the reason. However current estimates have the county population right at 810,000 now which isn't that far from 1 million, and if you add Gaston & York (SC) then you are easily over 1 million. York county is only 12 miles from downtown Charlotte, so you can consider Charlotte to include parts of SC.

In other words there are more than 1 million people within 20 miles of downtown Charlotte and part of that is in South Carolina.

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As I've mentioned on other threads, the only thing that would hold Columbia back from landing a major league professional team is USC's dominating presence. In this regard, I would liken Columbia to cities like Austin and Columbus, OH, sizable metros in their own right, yet essentially big college towns where college sports rule. As a matter of fact, as SC's population grows, the state could very well resemble Ohio: the other two large metros in the state landing major league teams (Cincinatti and Cleveland) with the capital catering to the university.

I guess it all remains to be seen...

With all respect to my current city and its citizens, I have to agree with krazee. USC is far too dominant in the metro area along with its close proximity to Charlotte to have a major sports franchise. When sports organizations start searching for a new team, usually they want to tap a fresh market or independent market. Columbia's market is saturated with USC sports. Charleston, by far, is the most independent from any major sports market, including colleges. If my hometown acquired a major sports team, the market for it could be stretched from Savannah, GA to Myrtle Beach...maybe even Wilmington, NC. Inland, the market could include the Pee Dee and Florence areas to Orangeburg. Of course, we're not talking in the present, but in the future.

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I think Columbia would stand a good shot as well with its central location (becasue if SC gets a team it will more than likely be a regional team such as the "Minnesota Vikings", or "Tennesee Titians", and I believe that Memphis has a larger metro, but Nashville is the home city) and the Midlands population base is just around 1 million, and the Columbia metro is just over 700K so I think it's large enough that in a few more years of consistant steady growth It's possible to create a stink. With that being said I do realistically think that b/f any city in the state of SC gets a pro team our population would have to be at least twice the size to drown out the regional identiy of Charlotte, and Atlanta.

As far as minor league sports Columbia stands a shot at getting the AA baseball diamond jaxx team that tried to move to Greenville earlier this year. There is even talks again of a downtown joint use stadium with USC again.

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Now I'd love to see ANY of our major metros land a major league professional sports team, especially Columbia due to its central location, easy accessibility from all areas of the state, and capital city status. However, I simply think that its close proximity to Charlotte and USC's dominating sports presence work against it (although these may be positives in other areas). Charleston's relative isolation, high growth rate, and the potential to rein in a significant market (spanning SC and GA) will all bode well for it in the future, IMO.

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I am flip flopping between other and the GSA metro area. I did not vote because of this :D

I do not know the fan attendance statistics for the minor league sporting teams for SC's three major metro areas but if all metro areas are experiencing many sell outs (during the season, not playoffs), thats a great start. Average household income of that metro area is also very important, will people be willing to spend a lot of their spare income on sporting events? Finally, will the city be willing to use tax money (subsidiation) and/or private interest to fund the sports arena/stadium. If those three come out positive for a metro area, it stands a chance of getting a professional sports team. When i mean "stand a chance" i mean it will be competeting with other metro areas around the country to fight for that professional sports team. I believe there, the southeast stands a great chance over other regions in the country for a professional sports team.

About the earlier comments about the Carolina Panthers, there are represented by both North & South Carolina. They play in Charlotte and practice in Spartanburg. Hell, the panthers played in Clemson during the inauguration year before Ericcson Stadium (now Bank Of America Stadium) was built back in 1995. By heart, i always feel that i am a North Carolina resident but the truth is, im now a South Carolina resident though this dosent offend me but i can imagine the SC panther fans are!

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