Expansion And Oversaturation In American Sports Markets

At first glance there seems to be only a few places left that can support a professional sports franchise, but there are actually more markets open then one may think. Plus, there are sports leagues -- looking at you hockey -- that are over saturated in areas.

↵The most surprising location out of all major sports is that Montreal is one of the locations that can support an MLB team. Yes, that is correct Montreal who used to have the now almost forgotten Expos is one of only three North America cities able to support an MLB franchise. The other two areas are the Southern California area and New Jersey.

↵The NFL has the obvious open market in Los Angeles as they are still a hot commodity even though they have failed at supporting two franchises, but they most likely will get a team in the future. Las Vegas is always mentioned, but the gambling aspect will most likely prevent a team from ever landing there. The only over saturation the NFL has is in the Bay Area with Oakland and San Francisco, but besides that the NFL is so popular they could literally place a franchise anywhere and be successful.

↵The NBA has both ends of the spectrum with many cities as Louisville, Kansas City, and Seattle as markets that have the socioeconomics to support a team. However, on the saturation end the NBA is stretched at eleven cities that have problems with fan support because of the lack of means to attend the games.

↵The NHL has their own problems in that it really helps to be located in a cold climate city which is why Houston, San Antonio, and Las Vegas while they have the means to support a team they are located in areas where hockey is not a natural fit. The same can be said from the last time expansion came around that put teams in Nashivlle, Tampa, Raleigh, and Phoenix. The only place feasible for hockey if it wants to expand is to head back north to Canada where they actually care about the sport.

↵In theory an affluent area could support many teams such as the New York area adding a third NFL franchise, but ultimately viability in an area really depends on fan support. So, while technically Montreal is capable of supporting an MLB franchise it really does help when there is fan support oh and being able to draw more then 3,000 fans per night.

↵(H/T: Portfolio.com)