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Originally Posted by TheGeographer
You are right Delts, Wasatch front is currently in and has been in an impressive growth cycle. Good points about Denver vs Seattle. The local fans and support make all the difference.
Atlas- I don’t disagree that Utah has great local support. I mentioned in my previous post that the Jazz have great fans. I just don’t see all the out of Staters who are moving here bolstering the population jump ranks and become a Utah pro football team fan. Would there be tons of locals who go to the NFL game? Absolutely. Would out of Staters who are adding to the growing population become fans. I think this is far from certain. This is why despite there being let’s say a couple million Chargers fans in the greater LA area half the stadium fills up with Broncos fans who travel/are living in the area. The NFL is different from college football when it comes to who goes to the game. Even at Broncos-Steelers or Broncos-Packers games that are in Denver there are plenty of Steelers or Packers fans. This is all beside the point though.. I don’t disagree that an NFL stadium could sell out in Salt Lake assuming consistency. That part is difficult. My overarching point is it’s not about what we want, it’s about what the leagues think is a good investment. Vegas beats out Salt Lake for baseball in my opinion given its reputation, and success with the Knights and Raiders. Would I prefer an MLB (the A’s) relocate in Salt Lake. Hell Yes!!!!! Of course. Just trying not to be biased. We all want professional sports teams here in SLC, I’d be crazy not to.
I’ve always thought NHL is the most realistic. We have an arena where they can play already...I think. Maybe some remodeling needs to be done to fit an ice rink but it’s there to remodel.. NHL also seems to embrace smaller metros than even Salt Lake -Columbus, Winnipeg, Ottawa. And the NHL seems to be more actively expanding. Low investment with a stadium already in place, and a better professional sport for smaller markets. NHL is what should be our target.
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You'd be surprised at how many local fans have grown up cheering for a specific team and consider themselves pretty diehard fans. I am not sure that fandom just evaporates because now Salt Lake has a NFL team. So, I think you're right that there would be a sizable segment of the population who wouldn't be fans of the local team. That type of fandom can take decades to build and frankly, as I said in another post, that just isn't a viable option for Utah at this point.
Why?
Because, unless the market gets an actual winner to relocate here, it's going to be the toughest market to get talent to. Then you run into a situation where the franchise struggles and no one cares.
Look at Jacksonville, which came in the league the same time as Charlotte. Jacksonville actually saw initial success, making the AFC Championship in 1996 (their second year in the league) but the franchise, at least in the 21st Century, has been one of the worst-performing franchises in the league.
Since 2000, they've made the playoffs three-times. They have 17 losing seasons in 22 years and have won three games total the last two seasons.
The Jaguars are constantly being floated around as a team looking to relocate because Jacksonville is not working for them - they don't have the fan support.
I think that's exactly what could face Salt Lake with a NFL team, especially with how difficult it is to get talent to want to come play in Utah. Add the fact you've got a lot of fans who've grown up cheering for Denver or the Niners or the Chiefs and the lack of instant success, and an ability to build a fan base of its own, probably dooms it too.
The best bet is, as you said, the NHL because it's a smaller league very similar to the NBA in the 1970s.
But it's just a pipedream to expect Salt Lake to get a NFL team. Not at this point in time.
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