Quote:
Originally Posted by Future Mayor
Another aspect to consider is our geographical location. Denver, whether right or wrong, looks at Utah as an extension of their market, and to some extent that is true. There is a huge number of Denver Bronco's fans here, simply due to proximity. The Bronco organization will continually fight to protect their turf. I am sure there are a good number of Rockies fans in Utah as well, again simply based on proximity.
Spence Eccles did a very extensive interview on 1280 the Zone in December and he had some interesting opinions on a new franchise. He is obviously a huge supporter or Utah Football, and played a key role in Larry Miller getting the financing to purchase the Jazz from Sam Battinstone in the 1980's in order to keep it in Utah.
To sum up the interview, while he thinks it would be exciting to have another pro level team in Utah, and the residents obviously show a passion for sports and support the teams we do have. He expressed a concern that there is still a limited number of people in the state and fears that a new team could dilute the support for the existing sports, ie, college, NBA, and MLS.
As you have pointed out several key wealthy individuals, set on bringing a team to Utah is crucial, but the corporate sponsorship dollars to pay salaries can only go so far. Eccles worried that another team could make it more difficult for the existing teams to maintain their sponsorship's and making it more difficult for them to be prosperous.
He also pointed out that the beauty of having the Bees as a Triple A affiliate is the the players salaries aren't dependent on the local sponsorship dollars, because all salaries are paid by the parent club. So we get quality baseball without the burden of those salaries.
While I too would love to see another pro level team, NFL, or MLB come to Salt Lake City, I think for a city and metro our size we are pretty spoiled with the level of sports that we have; 2 maybe 1 1/2 P-5 level College football teams, NBA, MLS, Triple A baseball, and minor league Hockey. Two of those are the from the top leagues in the country, and one just a step down.
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You touched on a few things that will keep a NFL and MLB team out of Utah.
It's All about the Benjamin's.
We as a city and Metro area do not have enough Billionaires in it. We do not have enough corporate money. We do not have the Tax base to finance a stadium. We have enough to support what we have now, barely.
The NFL wants LA for its "huge tracks of .....L̶a̶n̶d̶ Money" Lots of corporate partners. LA wants the Rams because a 7.5 billionaire is financing the stadium and the Tax that will be used will not be on the stadium but the Roads leading to it.
Even if San Diego ends up in LA and the Raiders leave Oakland. The Raiders could end up in London, Mexico City,Toronto or San Antonio before they choose SLC.
We have a nice city but we do not have the cash flow to house a NFL team. It will cost at a minimum $400 Million of Tax money to Build a stadium.
MLB is a little different but the same issues come up. The other issue is no MLB team is in a stadium that is older then 20 years except 2. Oakland and Tampa Bay.
We should feel very lucky to have the 2 Pro teams we have and the 2 minor league teams. All Pro teams are in top notch buildings despite what people say about Vivint Arena. There are some really bad NBA arena's out there that are newer but not kept up like the Jazz arena.
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