What pro leagues would do well in Louisville? (Owensboro, Jackson: to live, moving to)

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Louisville would definitely support an NBA team, I do believe. When Louisville had an ABA team, if I remember correctly, Kentucky and Indiana usually led the league in attendence nearly ever year the ABA was in existence. The Pacers and Colonels had one of the best badketball rivalries in the sport. I never really did understand how the Kentucky Colonels were left out of the merger for Denver and San Antonio, 2 cities where basketball was not near as popular as it was - and still is - in Kentucky. New York, which already had the Knicks, and then they got the Nets, was picked over the Colonels. I always thought Louisville got screwed over how that merger played out.

You are correct. Louisville had one of the top teams in the ABA in talent and attendance. It was a blunder by the long time conservative local Brown family. Many have told me the old money Browns have held Louisville back since 1920.

[jtintheville]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

You got to be worth 5 billion plus"...."and one from China...that's all the hints I can give"

While we are waiting for the "secret Chinese billionaire" that is placing a NBA team in Louisville to come forward, let's make sure they understand we are talking about a net worth of 5 billion in US dollars, not 5 billion in Chinese Yuan.

[censusdata]

The issue isn't if Louisville could support a team. If Memphis can then Louisville can. The issue is how Louisville can leapfrog nearly 20 larger TV markets that also lack an NBA team in landing a franchise, including the 12th and 13th largest markets.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by censusdata

The issue isn't if Louisville could support a team. If Memphis can then Louisville can. The issue is how Louisville can leapfrog nearly 20 larger TV markets that also lack an NBA team in landing a franchise, including the 12th and 13th largest markets.

Please remember Louisville
's TV Market is artificially small. That can easily be deduced by the fact the CSA is top 35 and the DMA is barely top 50.

Why? Lexington and Cincy eat into it. Lexington and Cincy will be a part of the TV market. Effectively, Louisville needs to be viewed as a top 15 or 20 TV market when you consider the TV market is the WHOLE state pus Cincinnati and S. Indiana.

I am not sure why so many think this is a stretch? Nashville, even with its insane growth, can support 4 pro teams easily with under 2 Million metro but Louisville cannot support one team with 1.3 Million? It makes NO SENSE!

We all know the same companies support each pro team and each company can only rent so many boxes....

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Please remember Louisville
's TV Market is artificially small. That can easily be deduced by the fact the CSA is top 35 and the DMA is barely top 50.

Why? Lexington and Cincy eat into it. Lexington and Cincy will be a part of the TV market. Effectively, Louisville needs to be viewed as a top 15 or 20 TV market when you consider the TV market is the WHOLE state pus Cincinnati and S. Indiana.

I am not sure why so many think this is a stretch? Nashville, even with its insane growth, can support 4 pro teams easily with under 2 Million metro but Louisville cannot support one team with 1.3 Million? It makes NO SENSE!

We all know the same companies support each pro team and each company can only rent so many boxes....

Oh it makes a ton of sense Peter, but you choose to ignore the demographics of Nashville vs Louisville even though you call out the challenges that old school Louisvillians have, nearly all the time.

Louisville doesn't have the influx of Californians in prime earning age, or the entertainment business money that floods Nashville.

Conservatively, 30% of Louisvillians are UK fans, and I highly doubt they'd care to buy season tickets in an arena shared by their arch rival. I know I personally would never buy season tickets to see an NBA team at Rupp, and I'm 10x more tolerant of a fan than most who are natives and have the blood of the rivalry in their veins.

Louisville isn't attracting money and talent to the area in droves like Nashville is. That money and talent is what drives people downtown. Numbers have meaning - 1.3 million locals with 150k people who care about supporting the team AND may have money to do it isn't enough. Nashville also has a HIGH % more of transients AND transients from HCOL areas with the discretionary income to do things.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

Oh it makes a ton of sense Peter, but you choose to ignore the demographics of Nashville vs Louisville even though you call out the challenges that old school Louisvillians have, nearly all the time.

Louisville doesn't have the influx of Californians in prime earning age, or the entertainment business money that floods Nashville.

Conservatively, 30% of Louisvillians are UK fans, and I highly doubt they'd care to buy season tickets in an arena shared by their arch rival. I know I personally would never buy season tickets to see an NBA team at Rupp, and I'm 10x more tolerant of a fan than most who are natives and have the blood of the rivalry in their veins.

Louisville isn't attracting money and talent to the area in droves like Nashville is. That money and talent is what drives people downtown. Numbers have meaning - 1.3 million locals with 150k people who care about supporting the team AND may have money to do it isn't enough. Nashville also has a HIGH % more of transients AND transients from HCOL areas with the discretionary income to do things.

Completely agree....but Louisville doesn't have 25% of the people with disposable income as does Nashville? I refuse to believe that! If Nashville can support 4 teams, Louisville can support ONE! In Midsized towns, its the same people who support each team, and the same companies!

There's more money in Louisville than you are aware of. There's also more transplants than you are aware of. Hell, Norton Commons alone has 8,000 peolpe oozing and dripping with money, many of them transplants. Old Louisville is chock FULL of CA transplants.

No one is on Nashville's level since 2010 and that's ok. But to say Louisville will struggle to support NBA and these other cities won't is downright laughable, if not representative of Louisville's long standing "Detroit effect" mindset.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Completely agree....but Louisville doesn't have 25% of the people with disposable income as does Nashville? I refuse to believe that! If Nashville can support 4 teams, Louisville can support ONE! In Midsized towns, its the same people who support each team, and the same companies!

There's more money in Louisville than you are aware of. There's also more transplants than you are aware of. Hell, Norton Commons alone has 8,000 peolpe oozing and dripping with money, many of them transplants. Old Louisville is chock FULL of CA transplants.

No one is on Nashville's level since 2010 and that's ok. But to say Louisville will struggle to support NBA and these other cities won't is downright laughable, if not representative of Louisville's long standing "Detroit effect" mindset.

There's a singular reason why cities like Indy, Cincy, St Louis and Nashville are supporting multiple professional teams (and we have no idea whether those teams are actually net positive for the markets either). And that's because none of those cities have a major college team with all of those sports already in that market.

U of L is one of the largest, if not THE largest urban college sports entity in the country. The only people who aren't supporting either them or UK are basically the transients. With their football and basketball teams, that is roughly the equivalent of two major professional franchises in the area. Vanderbilt football and basketball just isn't anywhere near the same plane economically. Louisville basketball has been the most profitable in the nation in previous years across all of the NCAA.

I wouldn't suggest that Nashville could support an NBA franchise any better than Louisville (just that they do have more economic components that might support them), as there are quite a few small market teams across all of sports that are struggling (from an economic improvement standpoint - the owners are gaining equity just because of TV deals and other revenue sharing deals). Nashville is trying to get a MLB franchise and I am not sure if they can support that either - the reasons that people are attempting to expand to new markets isn't to truly bring a net positive to the market - it's a franchise appreciation thing. If you have enough money and can get approved by the league, you can just sit back, not even compete and watch your franchise valuation skyrocket.

I think Louisville transients like the soccer team, and seeing that elevated to MLS is probably the best chance at having a supported professional team in this area, as there's always been a soccer-loving element among the higher-income earners in the area as well, and there isn't the push-pull between UK and UofL with soccer either. The new Lou City stadium is reflective of their growth and potential there.

In summary, I would argue that Louisville is already supporting 3 major sports franchises, just not at the highest professional level, whereas those other cities are supporting the professional franchises and the collegiate programs are a distant afterthought.

[jtintheville]

Call me a skeptical naysayer, but.......it just seems a little far fetched to me that a ”secret Chinese billionaire” is going to pay a 2.5 billion dollar expansion fee and put a NBA team in Louisville, Ky.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by jtintheville

Call me a skeptical naysayer, but.......it just seems a little far fetched to me that a ”secret Chinese billionaire” is going to pay a 2.5 billion dollar expansion fee and put a NBA team in Louisville, Ky.

You DO realize there are several billionaires in KY don't you? That's all I am going to say here....

[jtintheville]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

You DO realize there are several billionaires in KY don't you? That's all I am going to say here....

Once again call me a skeptical naysayer, but........Supposedly Wayne Hughes is the wealthiest Kentuckian with an estimated net worth of 2.8 billion, so if he bought the team that would only leave him .3 billion to live on and also run the team. Seems like a really tight budget. Actually , of the two, the "secret Chinese billionaire" sounds less far fetched than the "secret Kentucky billionaire". If you google it, you will see that J. Bruce Miller has been talking about a "secret Chinese billionaire" since at least 2010. None, however, have ever come forward.