This is why there won't be a team in Austin. For Pete's sake...Louisville is bigger than Austin in terms of population. The NBA knew that Louisville couldn't support a team...why would they think Austin can? Even if Austin could support a team... 1. The NBA is NOT going to expand to another small market. 2. The NBA will NEVER put a team so close to 3 other franchises.
I've live in Austin & would vote against it. The last thing any of the pro leagues is more expansion & the last thing Austin needs is more corporate subsidies. I really don't want my tax dollars going to a stadium wherein it would be too expensive for me to go to a game & hell I love basketball. It's an hour drive to SA & 2 1/2 to Houston. We have access to pro basketball in Austin.
I go to UT also, even though it would be cool, its not a good idea, i sorta believe it would draw crowds, but not throughout the whole season, im just gonna stick w/ my rockets GO UT!
I go to UT and disagree. Austin doesn't need any pro teams financially or generally speaking. The league is also pretty watered down as well, and I don't think they should be expanding. Now, GATER did make a good point about having an NBDL team in Austin. It would be nice if the NBDL became a farm league regionally, so Dallas, Houston, and SA would share one team, etc.
Austin is stuck on UT, and that's all it will ever be stuck on. UT would suffer so much from professional sports franchises, that's what UH has to deal with.. fighting for exposure with 4 pro teams, and 2 other minor league teams.
Dude...look at the standings...not that many teams win! Butts in the seats while losing is what makes it feasible. However, Michael Dell probably has some free cash around & could probably use a hobby.... Also, Cuban & Holt would prob. have REAL problems w/the idea.
Of course, that was the argument used against Dallas in regards to putting an NFL franchise there. Not that I'm supporting putting any franchises in Austin. I'm just noting the comments made at the time. And I think ewfd is right about the possibility of hurting UT athletics if there were a major league franchise there competing for the hearts and minds of the public.
I would think it would be the other way around. A pro team would be fighting with the University of Texas for attention in a town that UT absolutely dominates. Now, a pro baseball team in the suburbs might have been able to work, because pro baseball does not conflict with any college sports and would probably be able to draw well - if the Express hadn't already moved here.
I agree that, at first, UT would be the dominant player. But, over time, I think it would end up being like the situation in Dallas... barring the pro team being just a really horrible team. It would depend on the sport, too. An NFL team would take longer to break through than an NBA team... probably... just based on the relative popularity of UT athletics in each sport. But it's all conjecture. We're likely not going to be testing the theory anytime soon. As for the Express, I don't know that there's ever been a baseball team move to a city without there previously being a minor league team there. Having a minor league team currently doesn't preclude the possibility of a major league team sometime down the road. Not that I think that's going to happen (for one thing, it would be tough for a city the size of Round Rock, etc. to come up with the money to build a major-league facility), but I don't think having minor leagues means not having major leagues at some point. Some seem to believe that a city shouldn't have a shot at a major league team until they've shown proven support for a minor league team first.
It obviously wouldnt work not only becaue the scity roots for UT, but for pro sports, they just root for other Texas teams. I went to UT, and one of the fun things was the number of people from Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. When the Spurs, Rockets or Mavs played eachother, we all watched the game and rooted for our respective team. If Austin had a pro basketball team, I would have still rotted for the rockets and MAvs and Sprus fans would have too. Eventhough it is growing in population, poeple there already have a pro team that they already root for and support and wont change for a crappy pro expansion team.
By the way...Channel 51 has been receiving improving ratings! Yeah! That's good. The attendance is still not to its fullest. Hopefully it will improve. The Texas Three Step is already dangerous.
