Will we ever have a modern Green Bay in sports?

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

Yes, I agree. The absence of football in Los Angeles went on for too long. The Rams were the perfect franchise to bring football back to LA.

I think the Rams have a much better fanbase in LA than the Chargers though, right?

Originally Posted by thoughtcriminal

the Chargers of course started in LA, then moved to San Diego, now back to LA. I have a low grade hunch that they may yet move back to San Diego. that's why they're only tenants of the Rams in the stadium and not co-owners, similar to the NY Giants and Jets arrangement. The Chargers have a 20 year lease, with two optional 10-year terms after that - an option exclusively for the Chargers to exercise or not. they pay only $1 per year in actual rent, but a lot of other revenue streams go to pay the rest of it. there's a whole breakdown of the lease here: https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/s...bout-stan-kroenkes-chargers-predicament/
For all the money Kroenke is getting from the Chargers out of this deal, why oh why can't he spend more on quality players for my beloved Arsenal, which Kroenke also owns? but I digress.
because so much is going into Kroenke's pocket from the Chargers, it wouldn't surprise me if they started looking back to the place where they made their name in San Diego and thinking about getting their own place.

Zero chance they move back to SD. 1) they play in the worlds greatest stadium for a dollar a year 2) undoubtedly the most important, the value of the franchise has probably more than doubled since they moved to LA 3) they sell out every game even though a large portion of each game is by visiting team fans.

Their trajectory will be like the Clippers, who have a solid fan base locally, sold out games for 10 years straight and now are building their own palace next to sofi

[pj3000]

Lakers are the Yankees... Clippers are the Mets (but not even)

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Zero chance they move back to SD. 1) they play in the worlds greatest stadium for a dollar a year

well as I just said, the rent is a dollar but the more valuable revenue streams that they could be getting for themselves they are instead giving to Stan K.

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

2) undoubtedly the most important, the value of the franchise has probably more than doubled since they moved to LA

imagine how much more valuable they would be if they had their own stadium, or at least were equity partners on sofi. Lots.

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

3) they sell out every game even though a large portion of each game is by visiting team fans.

and much of those ticket sales go, again, into the pocket of Stan K.

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Their trajectory will be like the Clippers, who have a solid fan base locally, sold out games for 10 years straight and now are building their own palace next to sofi

See, your own example is building their own stadium.
If the chargers had become equity partners with the Rams on sofi, then I would say that they were there to stay. but the lease terms clearly favor Kroenke. there's no way the chargers build their own stadium in LA, but going halfsies on sofi would have been the next best thing. they didn't do that. frankly, I'm surprised the Rams didn't make more of an effort to have the chargers be equity partners, with a $5 billion stadium. if they had their own place in SD, instead of renting in LA, they would be at least as well off. LA is a very crowded sports market, but in SD the chargers would be able to call all the shots if they had their own stadium there.

[mrnyc]

it would be cool if all sports teams were city teams like the packers.

that would probably reflect a dystopian city-state future of rollerball though.

[jmecklenborg]

The Chargers of course lost to The Bengals in 1981 in the coldest game in NFL history:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSNgmKgJCDE

[Shawn]

Bring back the Steamrollers!

[JoeMusashi]

Yes, it could maybe work but it requires a state with a decent sized population to support it. Wisconsin has nearly 6 million people. Every state with a larger population already has NFL, so you'd be looking at South Carolina and Alabama, which have 5 million. Green Bay is unique in the NFL because it includes Milwaukee as part of its TV market. So you could have a team in Montgomery or Huntsville that included Birmingham (smaller than Milwaukee) as part of its TV market? I doubt anyone would go for that but I suppose it is possible.

[JoeMusashi]

Bend, Oregon with a TV market including Portland? Probably a more comparable situation already having professional sports in the state but also popular college sports like Wisconsin.

[SIGSEGV]

Virginia is probably the largest state with no NFL team (though obviously NoVA is in the DC area). Maybe they could put a team in Roanoke or Staunton or something...

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by JoeMusashi

So you could have a team in Montgomery or Huntsville that included Birmingham (smaller than Milwaukee) as part of its TV market? I doubt anyone would go for that but I suppose it is possible.

Alabama already has two extremely high profile football teams, including the highest profile CFB team. It hardly needs more.

[SAN Man]

The NFL would probably be successful in the tiny state of Hawaii, population 1.4 million, 1 million on Oahu. I see it being popular with tourists and the natives. Travel times don't work for other leagues, but with the NFL schedule of 1 game per week it could be done there.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by SAN Man

The NFL would probably be successful in the tiny state of Hawaii, population 1.4 million, 1 million on Oahu. I see it being popular with tourists and the natives. Travel times don't work for other leagues, but with the NFL schedule of 1 game per week it could be done there.

i don't think that would work for the same reasons it didnt work for london.

so far anyway.

however, mexico city could more easily work and there has been talk about that too.

london or mex city would also sort of be city/state teams, albeit privately owned. throws another twist in it anyway.

[mhays]

Green Bay vs. Bend, OR?

Green Bay:
--CSA 373k in 2020
--119 miles to Milwaukee, all on interstate
--936k residents in 50-mile radius

Bend:
--CSA 223k in 2020
--164 miles to Portland by car, half on interstate
--251k residents in 50-mile radius

This sort of thing is much easier in a region with other population centers dotted in a tight pattern.

PS, I used a crappy tool for the radius pop. "Counties are included if their center of population point falls within the selected radius. The whole county is included and the data are not apportioned to exclude the portions falling outside of the radius." Oregon's counties are huge though, and its area was quite a bit larger than Green Bay's.

[Steely Dan]

^ and the biggest piece of the puzzle here is that if the NFL was trying to get into oregon today, in 2022, there is no way in hell that they would locate a team anywhere outside of Portland.

it just straight-up would not happen today.

end of story.




the green bay packers are a hold-over anachronism from a radically different era.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Yeah, my dad and I have been looking at trying to go to Lambeau for a game and everything I've seen recommends flying to/staying in Appleton (nonstops from IWA to Appleton, for example) if I don't want to go through Milwaukee or Chicago. What on earth is near Bend that's even remotely similar in size or stature?

Long story short, if there's one thing I miss about living back east, its the closeness to other cities and towns.

[Steely Dan]

^ Sun Country flies non-stop from PHX straight to GRB (green bay) itself.

the terminal is only 3 miles from lambeau.

ATW (appelton) is 28 miles from lambeau.

[SAN Man]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

i don't think that would work for the same reasons it didnt work for london.

so far anyway.

however, mexico city could more easily work and there has been talk about that too.

london or mex city would also sort of be city/state teams, albeit privately owned. throws another twist in it anyway.

Europe and American football is a stretch. The NFL did host games in London and there was a lot of interest in the novelty of those games there. I think the NFL would work in Monterrey or Mexico City. Mexico loves the Cowboys, Mexico City pollution would be a downside for the athletes that play and train there.

The good thing about Hawaii is, it's an American state and it would expose the NFL to the Asian market. Asian tourism in Hawaii posts large numbers. And American tourists football fans would love to travel there to see a game.