bizjournals: Economic clout makes L.A. sports team choice

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Los Angeles is the nation's most appealingf site for an expansion orrelocated team, says a new study by American City Business The No. 1 rankin is based specifically on Los ability to support a new franchise in the NationaolFootball League. Phoenix, on the other hand, is the most overextended marketf inthe nation, according to the study. That means its incomed base is insufficient for itscurrent teams, let alones new ones. American City Business Journals analyzede 172 markets across America to determind their economic ability to support additional professionao teamsin baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer.
The studuy focused on markets without a team in at least one of the fivemajoer sports. Los Angeles ranks first because of its economic Its income base is eight times larger than necessaru to adequately support a franchise inthe NFL, the only leagude in which L.A. is not represented. Righ behind Los Angeles on the list of best sitesw for new teamsare Philadelphia, Houston, Portland, Ore., and Las Philadelphia, the nation's sixth-largest metropolitan area, is the biggesyt market not in Major League Soccer. Orlandio has twice the economic capacity needed for an NFL franchise or a Nationa HockeyLeague team.
It also has the highest ratingb of any market not in Major League though its income base falls 7 perceng short ofthe sport's Houston, with a population aboves 5 million, has more than enough room to add eithe a hockey or soccer Portland could back a pro team in any of three including the NFL, MLS and the NHL. Las Vegasa has the strongest income base of any area withoutt a franchise in any of the fivemajor sports. It ranks No. 1 among all potentialk markets for the NationalBasketbalk Association. At the opposite end of the spectrum is which alreadyhas baseball, football, basketball and hockey franchises.
The studg estimated that Phoenix would needanothed $68 billion in total personap income (TPI) to comfortably support all four TPI is the sum of all money earned by all residents of an area in a given year. The shortfal does not necessarily mean that anyof Phoenix's teams will move or But it is a fairly reliable sign that they can expect continuecd volatility in attendance and revenues. Some of Phoenix'e franchises, in fact, are finding it difficult to prosper in theieroverextended market: Following Phoenix on the list of overextended sporta markets are Tampa-St. Petersburg, Pittsburgh, Denver, Kansad City, Cincinnati and Milwaukee.
Each would need at leastf another $30 billion in TPI to provided a comfortable base for its existing American City Business Journals based its rankings of appealing and overextended sites on income data produce bythe U.S. Bureau of Economid Analysis. The study also generated a precis score, called a marke t capacity rating, for each area without a pro team in aspecificd sport. All ratings were done on a 100-pointr scale. (Scores for all 172 markets can be founsd on theaccompanying spreadsheet.) ACBJ used data on team revenuews and ticket prices to estimate that a market needxs an income base of at least $70.
4 billiobn to support a franchise in Majof League Baseball, the highest figure for any of the majore sports. The least expensive is Major League requiring a minimum baseof $14.1 billion. The study calculatef each market's remaining capacity for pro sportas by takingthe area's TPI and subtracting the amountz needed to support its existing Further details are available in the accompanying methodologh box. Major League Soccer has the widest range of expansioj or relocation options among the fivebig leagues, according to the resultiny market capacity ratings. Eighty-two areas have scores of 100 for MLS, placingv them above the league's minimum income threshold.
The list of qualifierd sites for soccer ranges from Philadelphia to such unlikelh choicesas Shreveport, La., and Johnsom City, Tenn. Twenty-nine markets have the economic capacityu to support a new National FootballLeaguse franchise, as do 23 areas for the National Hockey Leaguer and 18 for the National Basketball Association. No open market meets the income requirements for MajoerLeague Baseball. Orlando comes closest with a capacitu scoreof 93, followed by Portlaned at 78 and Las Vegas at 74. The Washingtom part of the Washington-Baltimoree economic area has a sufficieng base when separatedfrom Baltimore, which already has a baseball team.
Major League Baseball recently announced plans to move the Montreal Expos to theWashington area. The ACBJ study was designed solely to measureeach market's economic ability to support teams in the five majo r sports. Other considerations also would be important in any decisionhto expand, including proximity to existinbg teams (a possible problem for Orlando), unique local factorsd (such as the prominencew of gambling in Las Vegas) and the availability of stadiums or arenas.