AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics - Page 120

ILUVSAT · #**2381** Posted **Apr 23, 2021, 9:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Echostatic

I think in a decade or so the Austin-San Antonio market could definitely support a NFL team. The Cowboys are popular, certainly, but Texans love football. San Antonio's AAFL team was the most attended for the few weeks that league existed. The problem of course is that no teams are ever being added, so somebody'd have to relocate here, which I doubt Jerry Jones would be happy with/allow.

I wish people would stop talking about the Austin-San Antonio as a "market." It's not a single economic market and in terms of a professional franchise, it will never be considered one. The cities are too far apart from one another to be able to support one team - located in-between.

Each individual city (Austin/San Antonio) will have to be able to support a team on its own - and maybe hope to get a fan or two to attend a game or two from the other city.

In any case, an NFL franchise, in either Austin or San Antonio, will be the most difficult to secure out of all the top professional leagues.

sammyk · #**2382** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 12:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novacek

Plus there's way more Canadian teams (expectedly so) in the NHL, leaving fewer US spots.

There are only 7 Canadian hockey teams. Most are in the US. The NHL's HQ is even in the US.

Novacek · #**2383** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 12:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sammyk

There are only 7 Canadian hockey teams. Most are in the US. The NHL's HQ is even in the US.

Right, but that’s compared to 1 Canadian MLB team, 1 NBA team, no NFL teams.

If all the leagues stop at ~30, unless the NHL has a huge move away from Canada there will never be as many US cities as the other leagues.

H2O · #**2384** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 12:36 PM**

Maybe Austin could get a CFL team. They did try a US expansion once before. The Canadian fans hated that Baltimore won the Grey Cup two years in a row.

ahealy · #**2385** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 2:31 PM**

Glad this sparked some lovely ideas! Austin does support more niche sports and oddly I think MLB kinda falls into that category. I could totally see NHL thriving here as well.

It will be very interesting to see the marriage of college football with our first MLS team. I guess there's a part of me that would love to see a giant baseball stadium built adjacent to downtown someday wayyyy down the road. hehehe

ATX2030 · #**2386** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 3:25 PM**

5 years out.

MLB is bullish on Austin. I think the next two cities, be it through relocation or expansion, to get a franchise will be Austin and Nashville. I've always told my friends it would take the backing of the Ryan group, Nolan and Reid, to really have any chance of landing a franchise. For those not familiar with baseball they own the triple AAA RR Express. Everyone knows who Nolan is and Reid has had extensive experience in MLB with both the Astros and Rangers. They have a lot of pull and with the right backing should have a great shot. I've heard they have a group in place that is actively working on bringing a team to the area. I've also heard that they would like to locate the stadium around the Domain near the Q2 stadium. Here's a good video put together about MLB expansion and what cities are candidates. Austin was top two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02DNqy0GSnY

paul78701 · #**2387** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 4:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATX2030

5 years out.

MLB is bullish on Austin. I think the next two cities, be it through relocation or expansion, to get a franchise will be Austin and Nashville. I've always told my friends it would take the backing of the Ryan group, Nolan and Reid, to really have any chance of landing a franchise. For those not familiar with baseball they own the triple AAA RR Express. Everyone knows who Nolan is and Reid has had extensive experience in MLB with both the Astros and Rangers. They have a lot of pull and with the right backing should have a great shot. I've heard they have a group in place that is actively working on bringing a team to the area. I've also heard that they would like to locate the stadium around the Domain near the Q2 stadium. Here's a good video put together about MLB expansion and what cities are candidates. Austin was top two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02DNqy0GSnY

This is the first rumor I've heard of an ownership group working to bring a team here. I really hope this is true. There are other ownership groups that have long been active in courting MLB to their cities. So those groups may have a leg up on a race that will have a lot of competition. MLB would definitely be my top pick of all the leagues to expand here. I really miss going to games in Chicago.

Broadmoor might be a good place to put a stadium, but the Statesman site would be even better. I'm afraid that ship might have already sailed though. Somewhere on East Riverside might work also. Any way you slice it, the stadium will have to be near a rail stop.

ATX2030 · #**2388** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 5:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by paul78701

This is the first rumor I've heard of an ownership group working to bring a team here. I really hope this is true. There are other ownership groups that have long been active in courting MLB to their cities. So those groups may have a leg up on a race that will have a lot of competition. MLB would definitely be my top pick of all the leagues to expand here. I really miss going to games in Chicago.

Broadmoor might be a good place to put a stadium, but the Statesman site would be even better. I'm afraid that ship might have already sailed though. Somewhere on East Riverside might work also. Any way you slice it, the stadium will have to be near a rail stop.

Perhaps the State and UT would lease a portion of their 475 acres at The J. J. Pickle Research Campus like the city did with Austin FC to build a privately funded stadium. That land has become extremely valuable and the State and UT could make a pretty penny. Never say never right! Fun to speculate.

East7thStreet · #**2389** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 6:08 PM**

An MLB stadium would fit nicely in Butler Park ... or the area around Auditorium shores when the city ever decides to replace the Palmer Events Center and the giant parking garage attached to it.

StoOgE · #**2390** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 7:38 PM**

Austin FCs success is going to lead to another serious stab at a pro team in Austin. Austin FC has financial support that rivals the top teams in the league.

MLB makes a ton of sense here. It's a sport with a relatively high median income of the average fan (as is the NHL and MLB). NBA is a non-starter with the Spurs and NFL will be difficult as long as Jerry Jones is alive and powerful.

It won't just be expansions though, expect some relocations as well. Remember Austin FC was originally a relocation attempt.

StoOgE · #**2391** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 7:40 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by East7thStreet

An MLB stadium would fit nicely in Butler Park ... or the area around Auditorium shores when the city ever decides to replace the Palmer Events Center and the giant parking garage attached to it.

I hope we get a nice urban stadium integrated into central Austin with street level interaction. If it happens expect the NIMBYs to come out in force.

SproutingTowers · #**2392** Posted **Apr 24, 2021, 9:57 PM**

Austin Coyotes?

https://www.statesman.com/news/20190...score-nfl-team

ahealy · #**2393** Posted **Apr 25, 2021, 2:57 PM**

From ABJ IN 2016-- https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...-get-your.html

"Major League Baseball’s commissioner said recently he would like the league to eventually expand from 30 to 32 teams after 2020, prompting a Fox News columnist to speculate that Austin would be among the best markets for one of the possible new franchises.

But unless Austin’s economy dramatically expands by 2020 — and other metros essentially stagnate — it’s unlikely the region could support an MLB franchise better than other U.S. metro areas, according to an analysis of major North American sports markets conducted by the American City Business Journals, the parent company of the Austin Business Journal."

Might be a paywall, but notice the bold text lol. I've read our market might be a little warm right now, no? hehehe

wwmiv · #**2394** Posted **Apr 25, 2021, 3:12 PM**

Quote:

Montreal stands out as a potential landing spot given the club's interest in playing games in the city, though ballpark issues exist there as well. Austin, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Nashville, Portland, and San Antonio are other possible destinations. I'd call Montreal the favorite to land the Rays right now, but it's hardly a lock.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...-baseball/amp/

ohhey · #**2395** Posted **Apr 25, 2021, 5:57 PM**

Vice covered Austin homeless situation. The funny part is when the guy says "no one wants to live here anymore" because of the homeless camping.

• Video Link

H2O · #**2396** Posted **Apr 26, 2021, 11:39 AM**

To paraphrase Yogi Bera "Nobody wants to move to Austin anymore because we have such a severe housing shortage".

StoOgE · #**2397** Posted **Apr 26, 2021, 3:17 PM**

If the homeless actually stopped people moving here from other parts of the country the prop 2 people would become this meme:

Riverranchdrone · #**2398** Posted **Apr 26, 2021, 5:34 PM**

Yes. Nothing has stopped the huge number of people moving to Austin. That person just wants to blame the homeless for a nonexistent problem. High housing prices, a few homeless people, Covid, nothing has stopped Austin's explosive growth.

StoOgE · #**2399** Posted **Apr 26, 2021, 7:13 PM**

Remember on some of these older MLB/NFL articles there were a few things happening around both leagues:

1) MLB was pressuring several teams/cities to build new stadiums to improve attendance (A's and Rays especially) that have since happened.

2) The Raiders were using San Antonio/Austin to get Vegas to do what they wanted.

MLB is very likely to expand and Austin may be a name that sneaks into consideration but I would assume these next 2 teams are going to Montreal and one of Nashville/Charlotte. Portland and Austin are probably in the tier below that conversation if only because of time the league has wanted those markets.

Austin is an important media market, but the fact that we have a decent number of Stros (and Rangers to a lesser extent) fanbase and a HUGE cowboys contingent means we don't do as much for them to gain new eyeballs on TV deals. I'm really not sure an Austin or San Antonio team would affect TV eyeballs on the NFL at all. There would be *an* impact for MLB but maybe not as much as Montreal or Charlotte would nab them.

ILUVSAT · #**2400** Posted **Apr 26, 2021, 8:21 PM**

MLB requires the most mean household income and thus, available disposable income to be successful. Remember, one must try to fill a 35,000-45,000 seat MLB stadium 81 times a year.

Austin has a tremendous amount of disposable income. And the city is getting wealthier by the day. If I'm not mistaken, Austin may have a higher mean and more disposable income to spend on MLB tickets than Charlotte, Nashville and Las Vegas (as these cities already have more than one major league sports franchise). The more you have, the more the money gets spread around.