Every so often, I like to look at the rankings for media markets in the US and compare them to the teams in every major sports league. Media markets are major cities, or a group of minor cities put together, ranked by number of viewers. Every individual media market must have its own broadcast television stations (NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and maybe CW and PBS) to be counted. For example, Lancaster is part of the central PA market (with Harrisburg and York) because it has its own NBC station, and Harrisburg has CBS and ABC and so forth. It is NOT considered an outreach of Philadelphia, even though that's the major city nearby. Allentown and Bethlehem do count for Philly, however, because they don't have their own local channels (save for a PBS or indy station).
These rankings include suburbs and surrounding areas, so television executives, marketers, and sports officials look at them more than just pure population for determining which cities have the most potential fans. There are a million other factors that go into where they put teams, of course, but this is a big one, and I like to check the media market rankings to see if they match up to teams. With 30 teams in most leagues (and 32 in the NFL), we would think that most sports would try to only try to have teams in the 30-35 biggest markets. But that's not always the case.....
Let's take a look at the biggest media markets and what teams they have. Cities with a Big-4 next to them mean that they have a team in all four major sports (NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL), although I don't really put hockey on the same level as the rest of them, and football is usually worth the most.
Here are Nielsen's 55 biggest media markets in 2010:
1. New York (big-4) (9 teams overall)
2. Los Angeles (not a big-4 right now, but soon, and they still have 6 overall)
3. Chicago (big-4) (5 overall)
These are the big three; they can hold multiple teams in one sport, have boatloads of money, and spend a lot. They get the goods.
4. Philadelphia (big-4)
Surprised? Yes, Philly, you are next in line after the big boys. I know it seems hard to believe sometimes, and it really pisses me off that it took so long for the Phillies to start spending cash, but my beloved city is 4th in the nation, ahead of many big names.
5. Dallas (big-4)
HATE, but they have money and they use it.
6. San Francisco - Oakland - San Jose (big-4, combined, overall 6 combined)
This study puts all three of these Bay Area cities together, which says something about how maybe they're overrated individually. Baseball and football have tried to cram 2 teams into this market, with sketchy results. Other than the Giants, they all need to find new stadiums. And they've ignored San Jose and the south land strip (Silicon Valley and such) of the Bay, which contributes a ton of people. If Philly and Dallas couldn't support more than one team in a sport, and they're ranked higher.... well, maybe having 2 teams in the Bay is not a great idea.
7. Boston (big-4)
They seem like one of the top 3 or 4, but they're actually a little lower on the list. They always have cash though.
8. Atlanta (big-4)
The old south's biggest city never seems to have great fan support, but it is big. A lot of these numbers are transplant yuppies, I'm guessing.
9. Washington (big-4)
This study puts San Fran and Oakland together but separates Baltimore and Washington. (This is true for their major TV stations). Our nation's capital is still decently ranked, but seems like the weakest fan support of all the major northeast cities. Again, I think it's transplants... and certain undercover communists working to keep the Steel Curtain manifesto in power.
10. Houston (3 major)
As much as I hate Texas, I didn't think they deserved to lose the Oilers. They do well in other sports; you know they're gonna show up for football.
11. Detroit (big-4)
Still big, but they used to be higher. One of the great Big-4 cities of old has gone downhill. They still support everyone well, but that might change soon.
12. Phoenix (big-4)
People like going to Arizona. They keep rising in population. What's interesting is that they have a lot of retirees and transplants, yet they have better fan support then other cities of the same make-up such as San Diego and all the Florida towns. The only sport that suffered was football, but that was when they played in a college stadium and had horrible owners. But the Suns have always done well, baseball is a new hit, and the hockey team impressed Wayne Gretsky enough to buy it. My hat's off to you, Arizona, even though I have no interest in ever becoming part of that.
13. Seattle (2)
This is a travesty. One of the smartest, most-moved-to, and yet still sports-crazy cities has gotten shit on constantly throughout the past few years. Just look at where Oklahoma City is on this list and ask yourself why David Stern thought if was fine for the Sonics to move. Atrocious.
14. Tampa Bay (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater) (3 inc. hockey)
You may wonder why the hell there are 3 teams in Tampa. It's actually a decent-sized market, the biggest in Florida. It was almost in the top 10 at one point this decade. Yet no one goes to games, except the Bucs, and that's mainly because Florida loves football and they win games now. (They used to get sparse crowds in the old Big Sombrero.) No one cares that the Rays turned the corner, and I'm sure most people aren't even aware they they have a hockey team and that it won the Stanley Cup a few years ago. No matter. It's a big market, and so it gets teams.
15. Minnesota Twin Cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul) (big-4)
People seem to think of the Minnesota teams as small market, but they're not so bad. And they have all 4 sports. I think it's just because the Twins owner is/was such a cheap ass.
16. Denver (big-4)
Good sports town, not huge, but it helps to be the only major city for a lot of rocky mountain area.
17. Miami (big-4)
Possibly the most overrated place on this list. They're not huge - as we saw earlier, not even the biggest in Florida anymore - and their fan support is downright awful. They can't sell basketball tickets even with a big name team that spends, and they can't sell baseball tickets even with a large Cuban population and lots of local talent and good weather. They act like a major player and somehow have a hockey team even though the numbers suggest otherwise. We'll see how they do with future years of the Heat project and a new Marlins stadium due soon.
18. Cleveland (major 3)
I thought they'd get number 13, but hey, it's not like Seattle has has much better luck. Cleveland is a decent sized town that gets a lot of crap. Note that LeBron turned down his hometown to move up just one place on this list, to a city with MUCH worse fans, (and also turned down New York and Chicago), but considered it a good business move. Sucker.
19. Orlando (1)
This may be another big surprise for you. Orlando doesn't inspire much imagination besides boy bands and theme parks. Well, it's almost as big as Miami, and bigger than a lot of more famous cities. The NBA took advantage of this and put their second Florida team here instead of Tampa, and it's worked out well for them.
20. Sacramento (1)
Another surprise. No one thinks of Sacto as a major city, but this is California's third largest market, not San Diego. With this area, comprised of Sacto, Modesto, and Stockton, along with another one nearby in Fresno, there are actually a lot of people not on the coast in CA. The NBA once again took advantage of this fact and, instead of putting a second team in the Bay Area, had a team move out here, where it received more attention. Unfortunately, it looks like the Kings may be moving soon. I'm surprised more teams don't consider this, especially as an alternative to the Bay, although I hear that the A's are looking to move so that they are in between Oakland and here to tap into this market. That's a good idea for them.
21. St. Louis (3 inc. hockey)
We're in middle range here. St. Louis seems like a classic sports town, but it's not that huge. They support their teams and spend well though.
22. Portland (1)
One of the nicest cities is also one of the largest with only one team - and unlike Orlando or Sacramento, there isn't another major market nearby to squelch off of. Portland is a mid-sized city but seems to be forgotten in the Northwest behind Seattle. They should have more.
23. Pittsburgh (3 inc. hockey)
Western Pennsylvania's big city is not as big as you might think. I had to spend a half hour convincing my annoying neighbor, a diehard Pitt fan, that it was not nearly as big as Philly. When the Pirates and Penguins claimed hardship, they weren't kidding, although the Pirates could do better. They're not the smallest, exactly....
24. Indianapolis (2)
Indiana has been mocked, and isn't huge, but is not a terrible market. This is a decent spot for them, and they only have 2 teams.
25. Charlotte (2)
26. Raleigh-Durham (1)
Maybe the biggest surprise for me was how the Carolinas had not just one, but several decent sized markets on this list. These two are individually bigger than some well-known cities, and put together, they'd be formidable. That's why North Carolina has 3 teams, in everything but baseball. Yet the Carolinas don't seem that big individually as states.... weird... (and look at numbers 36 and 46....)
27. Baltimore (2)
Separated from Washington, Baltimore is a medium market. 2 teams sounds right. Maybe they shouldn't have expected so much from Peter Angelos.
28. San Diego (2)
My favorite city to visit is not all that big and not all that caring. It's too bad, because this is one of the finest places to be, and to watch games. It might be the best baseball experience in the country. Apathy may be due to beaches nearby and transplants, and the population isn't as grandiose as LA (and other cities with transplants) to overcome it. Sad, but I don't think these teams are going to move, because their owners would probably lose a few bucks just to stay there. It's hard to leave.
29. Nashville (2)
I don't know why they have hockey, and I wouldn't take them over Houston, but I would say they are big enough to warrant a football team, given their college history and pro support. I think most teams factor in the other cities in Tennessee when deciding to come here, although they need to realize that Nashville and Memphis don't really like each other and have very different populations.
30. Hartford
Well, well, well. Connecticut has something besides highways connecting New York to New England. Hartford-New Haven is, in fact, the biggest market not to have a pro sports team. New York gets 3 hockey teams and they have none? That's messed up. Bring back the Whalers! LONG LIVE THE MIGHTY WHALE!
31. Salt Lake City (1)
They've grown a lot, which makes sense because half their population is obsessed with having as many pasty babies as possible. SLC used to be a small market the NBA capitalized on, but at this spot, they're not that terribly small. Would anyone else dare to come here? They're bigger than some other name cities.
32. Kansas City (2)
Like their brother on the other side of Missouri, this is a classic sports town that is not really that huge.. and they're even smaller than St. Louis. They've been trying to get an NBA team, but this would be a small market to support 3 teams, especially when the Royals are barely hanging on.
33. Cincinnati (2)
34. Columbus (1)
Yikes. All the jokes about how Cincinnati makes Cleveland look good, and yet the numbers show they aren't nearly as big as their Ohio rival and are, amazingly, very close to being passed as number 2 in the state. That hurts. To be fair, even though the numbers are similar, I think still think of Columbus as a big college town, rather than a pro sports city, and I know Cincy still gets a lot of support from nearby Kentucky. They support 2 teams, but they're lucky they have them. Tradition helps. I do appreciate the NHL's logic in going for Columbus over Cincy and Cleveland. They couldn't do hockey. Then again, that team could disappear and I don't think anyone would notice.
35. Milwaukee (2)
The birthplace of many beers is on the smaller side, but seems to draw people. Don't forget that they essentially have the Packers as well. They're the main NFL team in this city. This is not a huge market, right on the cusp of being really small, but it's another classic Midwestern city with good fans.
36. Greenville, South Carolina- Asheville, North Carolina
I had to look this one up on the map. This is an area of Western North Carolina and Northwestern South Carolina that groups 4 cities together - Greenville, Asheville, Spartanburg, and Anderson. I have no knowledge on any of them. But, in this metro area, there are more people put together than in same famous cities. I wasn't aware South Carolina had metro areas, but add them to the Carolina total.
37. San Antonio (1)
Here's where the markets really get small and questionable. San Antonio has been a nice home for the NBA, and they might have a shot at a football team someday, but given that they have to fight with Houston and Dallas, it's tough.
38. West Palm Beach, Florida
Isn't this part of Miami metro? I guess not for this study. Well, that's probably where they would go. I'd count them for Miami for fans.
39. Harrisburg-Central PA
DISTRICT 3 REPRESENT!
When I was graduating high school, my one English teacher told me that I should look into interning at Lancaster's NBC station, which is not that far from my parents' house. I replied that I was going to school in Philly so that I would never have to work in this godforesaken town again, and that I'd rather see what happens in a real city. She told me that Lancaster was actually a very good market to start out in, and that most newly hired communication graduates don't even come close to starting out in a market this size. Well, she was right. It didn't matter because I never wanted to work in live broadcast TV, but her point was made - Lancaster-Harrisburg-York-Lebanon, put together, has more people than a lot of cities.
I guess this makes sense, given how much my home area has grown. There are so many burbs popping up between Chambersburg and Reading, and they're appearing without a lot of major cities or towns to be structured around. Harrisburg isn't that big, but the population in Dauphin and Cumberland counties keeps going up. I did not come from the sticks, as many people have incorrectly noted. I came from middle and upper class burbs in an area that has been booming for nearly 30 years. Now it's bigger than some famous places.
(Hey David Stern, we have more people than Oklahoma City! Maybe you should give us a team with Kevin Durant, you fucking prick.)
40. Birmingham, Alabama
41. Grand Rapids - Kalamazoo, Michigan
...then again, maybe we shouldn't be so proud of ourselves.
42. Las Vegas
Some have speculated that Vegas will get a pro team soon. They're not big, although they are bigger than some pro cities. I want to see it just for the hilarious scandal potential. It's a bad mix waiting to happen.
43. Hampton Rhodes, Virginia
I expected this area, which includes Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Newport News, Virginia Beach, and Hampton, to be a little higher. My brother lives in Virginia Beach and it seems like a fast-growing area. They're bigger than they used to be, but I don't think they will get a pro team because they have a lot of transplants (especially for the Naval Base) and most locals root for the D.C. teams anyway. But it's a nice place for minor leagues.
44. Albuquerque - Santa Fe
They still have the Isotopes!
(No, really, they do.)
45. Oklahoma City (1)
And here we are, David Stern! This city has rabidly supported the NBA, but it's just not that big, and it's gotten a really promising team with a superstar in place. It's not a fair deal. The NBA has done well in small markets with no other pro team in town, but this is really low on the list.
46. Greensboro - Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Okay! North Carolina! I get it!
47. Jacksonville (1)
Maybe the most puzzling expansion choice ever? Seriously, I know Florida loves football, but they don't support other sports, and they already had 2 teams. People were just starting to accept the Bucs when the NFL awarded an expansion team to Jax, which is way below the other Florida cities. Orlando maybe, but here? They've had decent fan support, but this is now universally seen as a college town with no business having any pro teams. It was a major problem during their hosting duties for the Super Bowl; they just weren't big enough to hold everyone.
What's even more astonishing is that they were chosen over Baltimore and St. Louis, two much bigger cities with plenty of tradition. Those snubs allowed owners from other teams to later jettison their teams to fill in those heartbroken towns. If the NFL had just given the second spot to St. Louis in 1993, the Rams would still be in LA, the divisions would make a lot more sense, and the league wouldn't have to come up with an excuse for why they didn't have a team in the second biggest market. I'd be more angry but it seems like this team is gone soon anyway, so things will eventually even themselves out. They'll probably switch divisions with the Rams, or others will be moved, and it will be ok. But they could have avoided all of this.
Sorry Jacksonville, you're just in a weird place.
48. Austin
Too bad the only cool city in Texas is too small to have any teams.
49. Louisville
I think the NBA considered going here.... I wouldn't do it. But then, they've been in smaller places. Such as...
50. Memphis (1)
Tennessee has been a hot place for teams, but Memphis is significantly smaller than Nashville. Even if they do get people from other parts of the state, and from surrounding states like Arkansas and Mississippi, they're awfully small. Memphis is a great college basketball town with local talent, but it's been hard for the NBA. They actually had a decent team a few years ago before they gave up Pau Gasol just to save cash. Now they have a nice foundation again, but who knows how long they will keep it together. This is a really questionable spot.
51. Buffalo (2)
This seems like a really low place for anyone to have a team, let alone two teams. But I give hockey a pass because this is the kind of place that should have hockey. And I give the Bills a pass because they're trying to draw fans from Toronto, which doesn't show up on any list because it's Canada but has potentially more fans than anyone outside the top 5. They're tried to play a few games in Toronto to get fans there to watch and make the trek across the border. I don't know if they've really benefited from that, but even if they can get a small percentage of Canadians to watch, that would be a big gain.
Upstate New Yorkers are worried that this team will leave or move to Toronto for good, but I don't think the NFL wants to deal with actually being in Canada. They just want Canada's English-speaking, American-football-accepting fans to watch and buy stuff. It may work. If so, they'll probably stay where they are and try to score deals with Toronto TV stations.
[By the way, Toronto doesn't show up on this list but has 3 pro teams, and they spend money reasonably well, so technically they should be considered a very good market.]
[[And now that the Grizzlies are gone from Vancouver, and the Montreal Expos are no more, Toronto is the only Canadian city to have teams from leagues besides hockey.]]
52. New Orleans (2)
They've obviously dropped a lot in the past few years. But even before Katrina, they were not that big. I think they were around # 43 in the early part of the decade. Nawlins is one of the most unique and important cities in America, but it has never been that huge. Now, as the city struggles to rebuild, having 2 major teams seems like a lot of work. They are the smallest pro city on this list, and certainly the smallest to have 2 non-hockey teams BY FAR.
I hate to say no to New Orleans. They have good fans who have been through a lot. The Saints have a lot of history, even if much of it is bad, and a strong connection to the area. They should stay, and I think they will now. The Hornets have barely been there, and never should have left Charlotte in the first place, but their owner is a horrible dick and he decided to come here. I don't know if they will stay. If Chris Paul leaves, they might have to move on as well.
53. Providence
Boston fans with their own fun college teams.
54. Scranton
55. Fresno
I'm gonna wrap this up now. If you can't beat Fresno or Scranton, I don't think you should have a pro team in anything. The only pro city left on this list is Green Bay at # 70, but as I said, I think they should count with Milwaukee. The Packers have a monopoly on the whole state of Wisconsin, right? I have to think that at least 90 % of the locals in Milwaukee and Madison are wearing green.
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So what does this tell us? We can see certain trends amongst the different leagues. The NBA takes more chances with small markets, although the NFL supports a few as well. Baseball tries to go for major cities. The NHL takes the major American markets, but doesn't appear everywhere because they have to put a couple teams in Canada (and there really should be more).
But, focusing on the major three leagues, allow me to make a point about the schedules: the NFL plays 16 games a year; the NBA, 82; and baseball goes for 162. Because football is usually played on the weekends, it allows itself bigger crowds from a larger area. People can use their weekend to travel to the game, and so it might not matter as much if they are in a big city. Green Bay gets fans from not just all over Wisconsin, but all over the mid west. It's the same reason why college football can exist in places like Nebraska and Iowa and Oklahoma and Alabama: less people have work on the weekends and thus have time to travel to games. Baseball, however, has to attract fans every night. They like being in major population centers where they can bring in daily workers and occasional families making a special trip. The NBA also has to do this, having many weeknight games. It's why the Eagles can have fans from all over the Eastern seaboard but the Sixers get people who mostly live in or close to the city.
Knowing this, it's interesting to note that the NBA and MLB have very different plans. Look at how many NBA teams are in a market where they are the only major sports team - Orlando, Sacramento, Portland, Utah, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Memphis. They were also the first league to put teams in Phoenix, Indiana, Seattle (about the same time as that failed Seattle Pilots attempt) and North Carolina. They have tried to find new markets and capitalize on middle and smaller markets that had nothing else. Meanwhile, baseball refuses to be the only game in town. All of their teams are in a market with another major sports team. Since 1970, (when the NFL and AFL merged to make football super powerful and the NBA started adding a bunch of teams), the MLB has never placed a team in a city that didn't have any other major teams. They are the only league that doesn't have a team ranked lower than 40 (Milwaukee is the smallest at 35). Yet the teams low on their list often complain about being overlooked, while in the NBA, a lot of those smaller markets have done well. The salary cap helps, but it's worth noting.
It looks like most of these leagues are done trying expansion for a while. The NBA and MLB would probably drop a few teams before adding any soon, but they most likely won't. The NFL is making the most cash, but 32 teams works out so well for them mathematically that it would be hard for them to add 1 or 2 more. This means that we're probably stuck with the same number of franchises for a while, and the only way to get different markets will be moves. Which will happen next? The Jaguars to LA? The Vikings?? (I hope not). Sacto may become Vegas or Kansas City (which they ironically once were). Whatever happens, I hope this list gives you an idea on where we stand in regards to media markets and team locations.
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