The Rams are back in LA

As you probably no by now, the Los Angeles Rams have been reborn at the cost of the good taxpayers of the city of St. Louis, who still owe quite a bit of moola on the stadium that the Rams are abandoning.

Fair or not, these are the breaks in the world of professional sports today.  However, as good as St. Louis was for the Rams, it was really a comedy of errors and it can be argued that the Rams should not have moved there.  St. Louis is the 19th largest CSA in the United States.  That puts them just ahead of Pittsburgh, Charlotte and Sacramento and just behind Portland and Orlando.  Out of these six areas, only Pittsburgh is now the home of 3 sports teams from the 5 major sports leagues in the United States.  St. Louis is still the home of Baseball's Cardinals and Hockey's Blues.  Where Portland and Orlando have Basketball and Soccer.  Charlotte is the home of Basketball's Hornets and Football's Panthers.  Sacramento is only home for basketball's Kings.  It seems that in a city the size of St. Louis, two sports teams seems like enough, where three might be too much.

Not having football in LA has mostly been negative.  Sure there are some positives, for example, you could walk into a sports bar in LA wearing any teams colors you wanted to on a Sunday in the fall and not worry about offending the home crowd.  However, anywhere from nine to thirteen current NFL franchises have held their own cities hostage for new stadiums with the threat of moving to a vacant Los Angeles market.

However, it will not really be all that difficult to get new stadiums built in the United States.  There are plenty of other cities that teams can threaten to move to, such as Portland, the 17th largest market in the US, and now the largest without an NFL franchise.  St. Louis, which would gladly risk getting burned a 3rd time by an NFL team, now the 2nd largest market without the NFL.  Sacramento, which only has the Kings to compete against, now the 3rd largest market without an NFL franchise.   Las Vegas has no professional sports and is not much smaller than St. Louis. Oakland, blocked from going back to LA seems willing to find another city as getting a new stadium in Oakland seems far-fetched.  The Jaguars are another teams that is struggling at the gate, and could be looking for a new home in the near future as well.

Times change in the US.  Cities are growing and others are shrinking.  As of now, other than Green Bay, Buffalo is the smallest city in the US that hosts a major sports franchise.  Yes, and efforts are underway to provided both the Bills and the Sabers with new, up to date homes.  However, smaller cities are going to have to build new facilities as a faster rate than larger cities, and the burden on the taxpayer in those cities will be greater and greater.  While larger cities, with larger tax bases are going without.  The Rams are moving to a new stadium, in 2-3 seasons, that is not financed by taxpayers at all.  The new stadium will be surrounded by offices, shopping and condos.  The former Hollywood park site will become a new model for sports facilities in the future if we are lucky.  That is bad new for cities that want to hold on to their teams, but good news for tax-strapped cities of the future.  With this model, it won't be long before someone moves to Las Vegas or another city that has lots of empty real-estate, where a new venue could be the center of a shopping/office space/residential mecca.

I am not saying that the Buffalo Bills should move to Harrisburg.  And I'm sure that there isn't the talent for the NFL to grow larger under the current NFL talent development model.  However, the NFL should look at how to grow their talent pool and expand.  One thing that keeps baseball and hockey growing, and keeps soccer the most popular sport in the world, is they way that they develop talent.  The NFL could look at this model, have teams in LA and keep a team in St. Louis and other places.  With the LA model that keeps taxpayer dollars out of sports venues, teams will move at a faster pace.

For us who are fans of that Utah Jazz, this is a warning.  It might be time to look into a new home for the Jazz.  The Vivint Home Solutions arena is one of the oldest in the NBA.  There are markets larger than Salt Lake that do not have an NBA franchise.  Five of them, to be exact.  And there are a couple of cities that are going faster than Salt Lake and will pass up SLC as SLC has passed up several cities in the past 20 years.  Yes, the Jazz are struggling on the court right now.  And no, no one is looking to buy the Jazz and move them.  And I know that the Miller family will never move them, and I don't believe the Miller family is looking to sell them.  But lets not take the matter lightly.  If we are not careful, we could end up rooting for the Kansas City Jazz.  However, to our credit, in spite of the futility on the court in recent seasons, being in one of the smaller markets in the NBA, being in one of the older arenas in the NBA the Jazz are still in the top 10 in NBA attendance.  This is not a team that you move.  There are plenty of places around the Salt Lake Valley where an LA-type development, where you have the NBA arena at the center of a mixed-use facility with shopping, offices and residential units will work.  One place that comes to mind is where the Cottonwood Mall used to be in Holladay.

Age of the venue isn't the only consideration, however.  Its all about the fan experience.  How else do you explain Fenway Park or Madison Square garden?  The mistake that St. Louis made was managing to build a modern stadium that lacked a good fan experience.  That is why the Rams were the lowest attended team in the NFL.  That is why you no longer have a team there.  That is why the Jazz you may find only 600 or so empty seats when you want to see the Utah Jazz.  The fan experience is still positive.  Any new venue, as much as the focus is on luxury suits and revenue, needs to provide a good fan experience as well.  Otherwise, 15 years later, you have to build a new home before the old home is paid for.  St. Louis is an example of how not to do it.

Franchise moves in the NFL are rare, baseball, hockey and basketball have had moves since the Raiders and Rams both left LA.  Personally, I'm not disappointed to see the Rams back in LA.  To me, in my late 40s and old enough to remember Jack Youngblood and Vince Faragamo almost beat the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV, it seems like the Rams belong there and that all is right with the world.

Largest CSA (Combined Statistical Areas) without an NFL Franchise that are larger than Buffalo, the 2nd smallest NFL city.

1.  Portland/Vancouver (Home to NBA Blazers and MLS Timbers)
2.  St. Louis (Home to MLB Cardinals and NHL Blues)
3.  Sacramento (Home to NBA Kings)
4.  Salt Lake City/Provo (Home to NBA Jazz and MLS Real)
5.  Columbus (Home to NHL Blue Jackets and MLS Crew)
6.  San Antonio (Home to NBA Spurs)
7.  Las Vegas
8.  Raleigh/Durham (Home to NHL Hurricanes)
9.  Virginia Beach/Norfolk
10.  Greensboro/Winston-Salem
11.  Louisville
12.  Hartford
13.  Grand Rapids
14.  Greenville/Spartanburg
15.  Oklahoma City
16.  Memphis
17.  Birmingham
18.  Harrisburg

Largest CSA without a MLB franchise that are larger than Milwaukee, Baseball's smallest market.

1.  Portland/Vancouver
2.  Orlando (Home to NBA Magic and MLS Orlando City)
3.  Charlotte (Home to NBA Hornets and NFL Panthers)
4.  Sacramento
5.  Salt Lake City/Provo
6.  Columbus
7.  San Antonio
8.  Las Vegas

Largest CSA without an NBA franchise in the US that are larger than Memphis, the smallest NBA Market

1.  Seattle
2.  St. Louis
3.  Pittsburgh
4.  Kansas City
5.  Columbus
6.  Las Vegas
7.  Cincinnati
8.  Raleigh/Durham
9.  Nashville
10.  Virginia Beach
11.  Greensboro
12.  Jacksonville
13.  Louisville
14.  Hartford
15.  Grand Rapids
16.  Greenville/Spartanburg

(No comments on NHL or MLS, as the percentage of teams in Canada is higher.  Canada doesn't track a CSA.)

Largest CSA without any major sports franchises that are larger than Buffalo

1.  Las Vegas
2.  Virginia Beach/Norfolk
3.  Greensboro/Winston-Salem
4.  Louisville
5.  Hartford
6.  Grand Rapids
7.  Greenville/Spartanburg
8.  Birmingham
9.  Harrisburgh

Oldest NFL stadiums that were built before Rams and Raiders moved out of LA in 1995

1.  LA Colosseum, Rams** (Temporary home of the Rams--replaced by 2019)
2.  Soldier Field, Bears (Renovated in 2003)
3.  Lambeau Field, Packers (Renovated in 2015)
4.  O.co Colosseum, Raiders* (Renovated in 1995)
5.  Qualcomm Stadium, Chargers**
6.  Arrowhead Stadium, Chiefs
7.  Ralph Wilson Stadium, Bills
8.  Superdome, Saints (Renovated 2006)
9.  Sunlife Stadium, Dolphins** (Currently undergoing renovations)
10.  Georgia Dome (New stadium under construction)

*Shared with MLB team
**Shared with NCAA college team

Oldest 10 arenas in the NBA

1.  Oracle Arena, Warriors (New arena under construction)
2.  Madison Square Garden IV, Knicks* (Renovated 2013)
3.  Bradley Center, Bucks
4.  Sleep Train Arena, Kings (New arena under construction)
5.  The Palace of Auburn Hills, Pistons
6.  Target Center, Timberwolves
7.  Vivint Smart Home Arena, Jazz
8.  Talking Stick Resort Arena, Suns
9.  Quicken Loans Arena, Cavaliers
10.  United Center, Bulls*

*Shared with NHL team

Oldest 10 arenas in the NHL

1.  Madison Square Garden IV, Rangers* (Renovated 2013)
2.  Rexall Place, Oilers
3.  Joe Lewis Arena, Red Wings
4.  Saddledome, Flames
5.  Honda Center, Ducks
6.  SAP Center, Sharks
7.  ScottTrade Center, Blues
8.  United Center, Blackhawks*
9.  Rogers Arena, Canucks
10. TD Garden, Bruins*

*Shared with NBA team

Oldest 10 stadiums in Baseball

1.  Fenway Park, Red Sox
2.  Wrigley Field, Cubs
3.  Dodger Stadium, Dodgers
4.  Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Angels
5.  O.co Colosseum, Athletics
6.  Kauffman Stadium, Royals
7.  Rogers Centre, Blue Jays
8.  Topicana Field, Rays
9.  US Cellular Field, White Sox
10.  Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Orioles

Teams that are in danger of moving

NFL:

Raiders
Chargers
Bills
Jaguars

NBA:

Pistons
Grizzlies
Bucks
Timberwolves
Nuggets

MLB:

Rays
Athletics

NHL:

Predators
Panthers
Blue Jackets
Hurricanes

MLS:

Crew