WNBA Team is Coming to Rogers!!!!!

[KJW]

The paper's saying it could be the first true "major" sports franchise in Arkansas.

BTW, gotta love Christopher Talley's bravado:

Christopher Talley, one of 13 investors in a sports and entertainment arena in the works for southwest Bentonville, said that he has been in preliminary discussions with the league about a team being awarded to their group. Talley said he plans on taking a group of city and civic leaders to the WNBA’s championship game to meet with league officials.

“ This would be the biggest thing to happen to the state since the Razorbacks National Championship in 1994, ” Talley said. “ The WNBA would bring northwest Arkansas and the state to a whole new level. ”

...and the difference between him and the Springdale folks (not meaning to put either of them down) is...

[KJW]

To see the significance of this (and obviously, it ain't the NFL, NBA or MLB) go to wnba.com and "mouse" over the "Teams" link to see what other teams are out there...

[dimebag1980]

To see the significance of this (and obviously, it ain't the NFL, NBA or MLB) go to wnba.com and "mouse" over the "Teams" link to see what other teams are out there...

Maybe not the NFL, NBA, or MLB, but it IS still a true professional sports league.

But my question is this: would any true professional sports league be interested in a 9,000-seat arena? That said, I don't know much about the WNBA or the attendance numbers it draws for its games, so a 9,000-seat arena might be perfect for them. But I've not seen, in many years, an NBA arena with less than 17,000 seats. There could be one out there, but I don't know of one.

BUT if all this works out, the WNBA is probably enough of a well-known league to truly get NWA's name out there to the world, outside of college athletics.

[KJW]

Maybe not the NFL, NBA, or MLB, but it IS still a true professional sports league.

But my question is this: would any true professional sports league be interested in a 9,000-seat arena? That said, I don't know much about the WNBA or the attendance numbers it draws for its games, so a 9,000-seat arena might be perfect for them. But I've not seen, in many years, an NBA arena with less than 17,000 seats. There could be one out there, but I don't know of one.

BUT if all this works out, the WNBA is probably enough of a well-known league to truly get NWA's name out there to the world, outside of college athletics.

The article said the teams average 7,000-9,000. The Chicago Sky (expansion team?) averaged 3,000.

Now, SW Missouri, parts of which are assimilating into the NWA metro area, is a hotbed for women's basketball. The two secular universities in Springfield, Missouri State and Drury, have gone to the NCAA D-I final four and NCAA-II championship game this decade. In the past two years 3 out of 4 of the Missouri 4A and 5A girl's bball teams which have won the state championship at Missouri's highest high school levels have been from the Springfield metro area (Kickapoo high and Ozark high). (BTW, I don't think a WNBA team would work there because the arenas have the college games...it'd be too much of a competition between them for scheduling.)

I know girl's high school basketball has been hot in Oklahoma, too...don't know if Arkansas is as competitive but I'd guess there's lots of fans.

This is a bit stunning, still, to me, but not completely surprising.

[dimebag1980]

The article said the teams average 7,000-9,000. The Chicago Sky (expansion team?) averaged 3,000.

Now, SW Missouri, parts of which are assimilating into the NWA metro area, is a hotbed for women's basketball. The two secular universities in Springfield, Missouri State and Drury, have gone to the NCAA D-I final four and NCAA-II championship game this decade. In the past two years 3 out of 4 of the Missouri 4A and 5A girl's bball teams which have won the state championship at Missouri's highest high school levels have been from the Springfield metro area (Kickapoo high and Ozark high). (BTW, I don't think a WNBA team would work there because the arenas have the college games...it'd be too much of a competition between them for scheduling.)

I know girl's high school basketball has been hot in Oklahoma, too...don't know if Arkansas is as competitive but I'd guess there's lots of fans.

This is a bit stunning, still, to me, but not completely surprising.

I suppose if I'd actually read the article rather than skimming, I'd know that. Oops!

Anyway, with those surrounding areas being so into women's basketball, it seems that NWA would be a nice central location for that.

We don't have a WNBA team here, but we do have Alana Beard, who plays for the Washington Mystics. We also have a 15,000-seat arena that I wish would host more basketball games but it was built around our hockey franchise more than anything else.

Anyway, back onto the subject at hand... if a WNBA franchise were to fall into place in NWA and be overly successful, that could very well open the door for other professional leagues to look into the region. Don't forget that Green Bay, WI is MUCH smaller than your region.

By the way, does anyone have any photos of the arena in Bentonville? I'd be interested in seeing it.

[KJW]

SBCmetroguy, no problem.

We'd send you pics but there's a reason we can't...it's not built yet. It's amazing that we've talked about so much on these boards that I had to search for this thread (found it three pages back).

NWA UrbanPlaneteers, one thing I'll say for these guys at this arena.

While Springdale's mayor and city council twist and turn on this Wranglers deal (even though it was the Texas League Wranglers who apparently sought THEM out) these Bentonville arena guys, success or failure, are working hard at this and apparently doing it all on their own nickel.

[cowbreath]

Hard to believe! (I don't)

Why can't they just get some Razorback tickets? That's a lot more entertaining than hockey and women's basketball.

[Aporkalypse]

The paper's saying it could be the first true "major" sports franchise in Arkansas.

...and the difference between him and the Springdale folks (not meaning to put either of them down) is...

Realism. Springdale chose a realistic target, one nearly everyone thought was a bit high, and rather amazingly pulled it off. Furthermore, remembering that the WNBA season overlaps with baseball season in its entirety, I would wager the "lesser" Texas League baseball club would easily outdraw WNBA basketball, though probably diluting both enough to make them somewhat unsuccessful.

All this article says is that they are in talks with the WNBA, like the ECHL, NBADL, etc. I could talk with the NBA about bringing a team to, say, Texarkana, and the answer would be the same polite response if the media called to ask about it. I think the chances of it actually happening are incredibly unlikely. WNBA draws pretty pitifully in some of the best markets in the country and then usually because of a tie-in with the NBA team there and ticket giveaways.

Why can't they just get some Razorback tickets? That's a lot more entertaining than hockey and women's basketball.

Word.

[jcaruth]

I dont see a WNBA team being successful...sure we are growing, but bringing in women's basketball as our first professional league could ruin any chances of us getting a future professional franchise. The WNBA is already struggling. The only reason they are still around is bc they feed off the NBA's income. If Chicago is averaging 3,000, why would they want to expand to NWA?

[masons_dad1]

Hard to believe! (I don't)

Why can't they just get some Razorback tickets? That's a lot more entertaining than hockey and women's basketball.

I'm sure there's plenty of Razorbacks tickets being bought in Bentonville, but it's about time for Bentonville to start getting some professional sports and hockey is extremely popular... I have no opinion about womens basketball, but it's better than no basketball. I'm more looking forward to the other hundreds of events planned for the Bentonville arena like the monster truck shows and concerts.

[KJW]

Realism. Springdale chose a realistic target, one nearly everyone thought was a bit high, and rather amazingly pulled it off. Furthermore, remembering that the WNBA season overlaps with baseball season in its entirety, I would wager the "lesser" Texas League baseball club would easily outdraw WNBA basketball, though probably diluting both enough to make them somewhat unsuccessful.

All this article says is that they are in talks with the WNBA, like the ECHL, NBADL, etc. I could talk with the NBA about bringing a team to, say, Texarkana, and the answer would be the same polite response if the media called to ask about it. I think the chances of it actually happening are incredibly unlikely. WNBA draws pretty pitifully in some of the best markets in the country and then usually because of a tie-in with the NBA team there and ticket giveaways.

Word.

From this WNBA article, from Mayor Terry Coberly:

[slyder1]

Realism. Springdale chose a realistic target, one nearly everyone thought was a bit high, and rather amazingly pulled it off. Furthermore, remembering that the WNBA season overlaps with baseball season in its entirety, I would wager the "lesser" Texas League baseball club would easily outdraw WNBA basketball, though probably diluting both enough to make them somewhat unsuccessful.

All this article says is that they are in talks with the WNBA, like the ECHL, NBADL, etc. I could talk with the NBA about bringing a team to, say, Texarkana, and the answer would be the same polite response if the media called to ask about it. I think the chances of it actually happening are incredibly unlikely. WNBA draws pretty pitifully in some of the best markets in the country and then usually because of a tie-in with the NBA team there and ticket giveaways.

Word.

I will have to agree.

[mcheiss]

Realism. Springdale chose a realistic target, one nearly everyone thought was a bit high, and rather amazingly pulled it off. Furthermore, remembering that the WNBA season overlaps with baseball season in its entirety, I would wager the "lesser" Texas League baseball club would easily outdraw WNBA basketball, though probably diluting both enough to make them somewhat unsuccessful.

All this article says is that they are in talks with the WNBA, like the ECHL, NBADL, etc. I could talk with the NBA about bringing a team to, say, Texarkana, and the answer would be the same polite response if the media called to ask about it. I think the chances of it actually happening are incredibly unlikely. WNBA draws pretty pitifully in some of the best markets in the country and then usually because of a tie-in with the NBA team there and ticket giveaways.

I gotta agree with you on this one. There's no way were getting a professional sports team. Not enough people in the metro, and not enough people in the metro that would watch this.

[KJW]

I gotta agree with you on this one. There's no way were getting a professional sports team. Not enough people in the metro, and not enough people in the metro that would watch this.

Either that, or they've heard those crazy census rumors that we've now got 4,000 or more millionaires in NWA.

Someone needs to talk with these Demo-zette and Morning News writers (Hello, Diplodocus?) because respectfully said, these stories being reported this week aren't making it sound like we're going hat-in-hand to these people.

(Hey, Mith, remember the Kinshasa Sister City project? From what I understand a significantly large city in Scotland and also one in Mexico have approached Bentonville asking if they could be this fair town's sister city. (Don't blame them...I would too were I them.) The ambassador of Thailand was here earlier in the year and said he'd like for his country to have a similar relationship with this area.)

Folks...I don't ever expect former Arkie Jerry Jones to come up here and say "Guess what? I'm moving da BOYZ here!" Won't ever happen.

But people are starting to come to NWA now in more ways than one...

[mcheiss]

There's larger markets that need a WNBA Team more than NWA.

Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Memphis, Nashville, and Boston all don't have a WNBA team.

[KJW]

There's larger markets that need a WNBA Team more than NWA.

Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Las Vegas, Memphis, Nashville, and Boston all don't have a WNBA team.

Maybe they're looking for something in NWA that those cities don't have?

[mcheiss]

Maybe they're looking for something in NWA that those cities don't have?

May'be.

I'd like to hear an official announcement from a Marketing Director or something before I get my hopes up.

[KJW]

May'be.

I'd like to hear an official announcement from a Marketing Director or something before I get my hopes up.

I'm with ya, Matt.

In the meantime, the closing quotes from today's article on this:

Concerning which markets would be a priority, Orender said the league is looking for

[Aporkalypse]

Either that, or they've heard those crazy census rumors that we've now got 4,000 or more millionaires in NWA.

Someone needs to talk with these Demo-zette and Morning News writers (Hello, Diplodocus?) because respectfully said, these stories being reported this week aren't making it sound like we're going hat-in-hand to these people.

(Hey, Mith, remember the Kinshasa Sister City project? From what I understand a significantly large city in Scotland and also one in Mexico have approached Bentonville asking if they could be this fair town's sister city. (Don't blame them...I would too were I them.) The ambassador of Thailand was here earlier in the year and said he'd like for his country to have a similar relationship with this area.)

Folks...I don't ever expect former Arkie Jerry Jones to come up here and say "Guess what? I'm moving da BOYZ here!" Won't ever happen.

But people are starting to come to NWA now in more ways than one...

Remember, NWA's per capita income is right at the national average (Benton Co's slightly above, Wash Co's slightly below), which is higher than most of the state and region but doesn't make it a competitive market with places like Las Vegas or Raleigh-Durham. Multimillionaires have better things to do than attend an entire season of WNBA ball. The beneficiaries of sports franchises in NWA are going to be the middle class, which is ample.

4000 millionaries isn't such a crazy number anymore (in fact, I would've guessed higher). I'm not even sure if it definitively pushes you into the upper class. To retire with any kind of decent quality of life these days, you really need to have at least a million in net worth if not more. Pretty much any executive, doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, engineer, or professional of equal stature should easily be a millionaire by age 50-55. If not, they're doing something wrong. Those that are smart investors might push that back all the way to 35-40.

[KJW]

Remember, NWA's per capita income is right at the national average (Benton Co's slightly above, Wash Co's slightly below), which is higher than most of the state and region but doesn't make it a competitive market with places like Las Vegas or Raleigh-Durham. Multimillionaires have better things to do than attend an entire season of WNBA ball. The beneficiaries of sports franchises in NWA are going to be the middle class, which is ample.

4000 millionaries isn't such a crazy number anymore (in fact, I would've guessed higher). I'm not even sure if it definitively pushes you into the upper class. To retire with any kind of decent quality of life these days, you really need to have at least a million in net worth if not more. Pretty much any executive, doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, engineer, or professional of equal stature should easily be a millionaire by age 50-55. If not, they're doing something wrong. Those that are smart investors might push that back all the way to 35-40.

Aporkalypse, if indeed the WNBA is interested in talking with NWA as the article suggests, why do you think they'd have any interest here?

[Aporkalypse]

Aporkalypse, if indeed the WNBA is interested in talking with NWA as the article suggests, why do you think they'd have any interest here?

Honestly, it makes no sense. I suspect the talks are lopsided and the author used poor wording or that the WNBA is starting a minor league we don't know about and that would be a potential site.

I think Dallas, Boston, and Las Vegas would be my top three if I were the WNBA.

The other issue is that were the WNBA overwhelmingly interested, would NWA really want the WNBA?

[KJW]

Honestly, it makes no sense. I suspect the talks are lopsided and the author used poor wording or that the WNBA is starting a minor league we don't know about and that would be a potential site.

I think Dallas, Boston, and Las Vegas would be my top three if I were the WNBA.

The other issue is that were the WNBA overwhelmingly interested, would NWA really want the WNBA?

Then given those last four paragraphs in today's newspaper article, seemingly making a direct comparison between the San Francisco Bay Area, NWA and the $10 million price tag for an expansion WNBA team...someone made a WHALE of an interpretation mistake in their reporting.

As for NWA, yep...if "becoming known as a major metropolitan area" is what you're looking for (and it's hard to gauge how many people around here really want that) landing a major sports franchise (if the WNBA is indeed that) would be a large step toward legitimacy of that goal, especially given the other cities which have teams.

But again, with the seemingly imminent arrival of the Texas League, we're on a par with San Antonio, Tulsa, Little Rock and suburban Dallas/Fort Worth...all of which are "headquarters" of their own (with the exception of SA, which is basically the SA-Laredo-Corpus Christi-Brownsville/Harlingen area all in Texas) multi-state Rand McNally Major Trading Areas. Then again, fellow TL member Midland, TX isn't exactly thought of as a major city, so in some people's eyes the WNBA might bring NWA to a whole new league, no pun intended.

[Aporkalypse]

Then given those last four paragraphs in today's newspaper article, seemingly making a direct comparison between the San Francisco Bay Area, NWA and the $10 million price tag for an expansion WNBA team...someone made a WHALE of an interpretation mistake in their reporting.

As for NWA, yep...if "becoming known as a major metropolitan area" is what you're looking for (and it's hard to gauge how many people around here really want that) landing a major sports franchise (if the WNBA is indeed that) would be a large step toward legitimacy of that goal, especially given the other cities which have teams.

But again, with the seemingly imminent arrival of the Texas League, we're on a par with San Antonio, Tulsa, Little Rock and suburban Dallas/Fort Worth...all of which are "headquarters" of their own (with the exception of SA, which is basically the SA-Laredo-Corpus Christi-Brownsville/Harlingen area all in Texas) multi-state Rand McNally Major Trading Areas. Then again, fellow TL member Midland, TX isn't exactly thought of as a major city, so in some people's eyes the WNBA might bring NWA to a whole new league, no pun intended.

I think you overestimate our journalists. You and I probably know a good bit more about how these things work than the person that wrote the article.

Here's a couple of interesting articles I found:

WNBA Expansion June 2006

"There's also the question of where these expansion teams are going to land (especially since it seems likely that the Charlotte Sting will wind up in a new location sooner rather than later, and thus take up one new city). The San Francisco Bay Area would be a natural, but Warriors' owner Chris Cohan is one of the worst in the NBA, and he doesn't want a women's team. Philadelphia is another major market, but there is no strong base of existing fans there. Kansas City has been mentioned, and Toronto, but the league may be forced to resort to smaller markets like Albuquerque, or anywhere they can find an owner with access to an arena and an appetite for women's basketball that won't be spoiled by losing money and losing games."

2007 Expansion a possibility

The overwhelming negative about NWA would be the insignificance of its media market and the impact that would have on ratings and league sponsors. But these articles leave open the possiblity that the WNBA might have an opening in a small market for an owner foolish enough to spend the money. I kind of doubt the assumptions they make about attendance in Albuquerque would hold true, though.

[KJW]

I think you overestimate our journalists. You and I probably know a good bit more about how these things work than the person that wrote the article.

Aporkalypse, I've vented my concerns about journalists here before.

Nonetheless, I've been involved in at least four separate stories within that paper and the reporting has been very accurate each time.

[Aporkalypse]

Aporkalypse, I've vented my concerns about journalists here before.

Nonetheless, I've been involved in at least four separate stories within that paper and the reporting has been very accurate each time.

Sorry, I edited that post to include a couple of article.