OT: Could an MLB Team in Buffalo be Successful?

[ZeroPT*]

Yeah the population increasing would be a massive boost. I think relocation will happen in the NBA within ye next 5-10 years, perhaps Tpegs can have the tri-fecta

 

[Myllz]

Yeah the population increasing would be a massive boost. I think relocation will happen in the NBA within ye next 5-10 years, perhaps Tpegs can have the tri-fecta

To Buffalo or in general? I doubt the NBA expands to Buffalo any time soon (or at all).

 

[brian_griffin]

To be fair, they were close but lost out to Miami/Denver back in 1991.

In 1968, the NL chose Montreal and San Diego. Was to be BUF instead of SD, but they didn't want to site both new teams in the East.

I think an NBA team would be very successful here. An MLB team? Nope. Everyone here is either a Yankee or Red Sox fan.

The existing allegiances of the population would seem to factor far less than the sheer volume of the population and the amount of disposable income they have.

Why would buffalo have to pay off the Yankees and Mets?

The Jays, Pirates, and Indians are all far closer to Buffalo than those NYC teams.

Add Detroit to that list, too.

This is the correct answer. MLB teams exist to provide opponents for the NYY and BOS. To a lessor extent LAD and STL.

There's no reason for Buffalo to get a team because other markets exist which offer more upside.

This answer is best. For example, the Carolinas lack a MLB team, yet have several cities with greater population, more income, better weather, and similar AAA history to either re-locate or expand a team.

Yeah the population increasing would be a massive boost. I think relocation will happen in the NBA within ye next 5-10 years, perhaps Tpegs can have the tri-fecta

The underlying factor is the WNY region (which, demographically has a high median age, and about net zero growth in both absolute numbers and in the target demographic age for pro sports fans - hint: it's not >/=65yo) lacks both the people and disposable income to support NBA or MLB, in addition to the NHL and NFL.

Even if WNY did have the demographics and income, there are several cities / metro regions with better numbers.

The OP question should be turned the other way. Why can't the Rays (or Marlins) get better attendance, and, if they did, would the franchise profitability / value be significantly greater?

 

[Gras]

Pegula could buy the Raptors and the Jays and move them to Buffalo

 

[Djp]

The Colleges draw nice crowds. But for an NBA team to be successful, like an MLB team, I think the population needs to increase and not continue to decrease.

Lower business taxes in WNY
Attract more business with good to excellent hourly wages/salaries
More people employed
More disposable income
More of the youth will stay in the area/more will move into the area
Population increases

MLB and/or NBA can be successful

This is the key and has been the problem.

I was born and raised in Buffalo. A UB grad. There are no jobs in the science/tech area.

I have seen Many people move away over the years to Philadelphia, DC area, Raleigh, and other cities across the country that have job markets for their skill set.

If you got those jobs to come back to Buffalo, people would stay in the area.

Even though property taxes are high, real estate is really cheap. The Education system is very good. The broad food quality(farmers markets) is very good compared to many places in the country.

My brother is a university profesor (top 20-30 college on the country). funny think UB is one of about 20 universities in the country he could work at because of his specialized field. He would not work at UB--Too much distractions professionally from family/friends. He once through some research grant was working with some UB folks and so he travelled to there for a research meeting. They didnt know he was born and raised in the area. He had some fun with it with them thinking he is from out of town and giving him some advice.

 

[buffswords]

I think an MLS team would be the most feasible at this particular time. The stadiums are 30,000 capacity at most and most newer stadiums are built for less than $100mil. It's also a slowly up and coming league that can grow with the city instead of a league that is slowly starting to decline. There are also no teams around that take fans from our area. An MLB team would takes decades to be the most popular here because everyone pretty much has a team to cheer for. An MLS team can come in and be the most popular here right away.

 

[SuperNintendoChalmrs]

Bob Rich walked around Cleveland, outside the MLB owner's meeting in 1990 or 1991 waving around a blank check. When he found out what the price was, he ate the check and drove back up the I-90.

That's all you need to know about any chance of MLB in Buffalo. It's not going to happen.

 

[Russ Tyler]

2014 Buffalo and 1991 Buffalo are two different things. Population in the Buffalo area by itself is down 100,000 since 1991.

The Buffalo Metro area and the city of Buffalo are two different things.

City of Buffalo:
1950 580,132 0.7%
1960 532,759 −8.2%
1970 462,768 −13.1%
1980 357,870 −22.7%
1990 328,123 −8.3%
2000 292,648 −10.8%
2010 261,310 −10.7%

Buffalo-Niagara Metro:
1950 1,089,230 13.5%
1960 1,306,957 20.0%
1970 1,349,211 3.2%
1980 1,242,826 −7.9%
1990 1,189,340 −4.3%
2000 1,170,111 −1.6%
2010 1,135,509 −3.0%

Just from these stats alone, you can see that while the population of Buffalo has been cut in half, the Metro area is trending upwards. Granted, not at the rate of a lot of other metro areas, but nonetheless, it hasn't dropped off that much in 60 years. The population moving out into the suburbs.

I think Buffalo could definitely support a baseball team or basketball team for that matter. It's just if a league would take the chance on our smaller market vs. a larger market. I think we're lucky to have a football team here. If we never had an NFL team, and the league was expanding in 2014 there would be no way they would choose Buffalo or Green Bay over larger markets.

Obviously it takes more than population to land a team and besides an interested owner, we don't have a premier MLB stadium.

If MLB were to come to Buffalo I think they would want a new stadium to consider us. Think about a new stadium that is built into the grain elevators ala the green monster and also situated so when you hit a home run it will splash into the buffalo harbor ala SF's AT&T park.

I think I saw Coca Cola Field rated as the best minor league stadium somewhere once, but it would probably be the last on a list of MLB stadiums.

 

[ZeroPT*]

To Buffalo or in general? I doubt the NBA expands to Buffalo any time soon (or at all).

In general. There are a couple franchise which I think will move.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

The Buffalo Metro area and the city of Buffalo are two different things.

City of Buffalo:
1950 580,132 0.7%
1960 532,759 −8.2%
1970 462,768 −13.1%
1980 357,870 −22.7%
1990 328,123 −8.3%
2000 292,648 −10.8%
2010 261,310 −10.7%

Buffalo-Niagara Metro:
1950 1,089,230 13.5%
1960 1,306,957 20.0%
1970 1,349,211 3.2%
1980 1,242,826 −7.9%
1990 1,189,340 −4.3%
2000 1,170,111 −1.6%
2010 1,135,509 −3.0%

Just from these stats alone, you can see that while the population of Buffalo has been cut in half, the Metro area is trending upwards. Granted, not at the rate of a lot of other metro areas, but nonetheless, it hasn't dropped off that much in 60 years. The population moving out into the suburbs.

I think Buffalo could definitely support a baseball team or basketball team for that matter. It's just if a league would take the chance on our smaller market vs. a larger market. I think we're lucky to have a football team here. If we never had an NFL team, and the league was expanding in 2014 there would be no way they would choose Buffalo or Green Bay over larger markets.

Obviously it takes more than population to land a team and besides an interested owner, we don't have a premier MLB stadium.

If MLB were to come to Buffalo I think they would want a new stadium to consider us. Think about a new stadium that is built into the grain elevators ala the green monster and also situated so when you hit a home run it will splash into the buffalo harbor ala SF's AT&T park.

I think I saw Coca Cola Field rated as the best minor league stadium somewhere once, but it would probably be the last on a list of MLB stadiums.

That's the problems, not much happening in suburbs.

All said, Pegula makes anything possible. He has money, he's all heart and it leads his brains a bit.

 

[SackTastic]

The finances of baseball are much different now compared to 1991.

It would be very difficult for a Buffalo MLB team to generate the revenues required to be semi-competitive.

 

[buffalocupcrazy*]

I cant even imagine what it would cost a Buffalo ownership group to convince the Yanks and Mets to allow this to happen... Consider the raw deal the Nats got when they moved into Baltimore's territory and then multiply it handsomely... IMO, no team in Buffalo could be profitable enough to offset the expenses incurred.

uh, pretty sure Buffalo is not part of the NYC metro area lol.

DC to Baltimore is 40 miles.

Buffalo to NYC is 375 miles.

this would not be an issue.

 

[Myllz]

The Buffalo Metro area and the city of Buffalo are two different things.

City of Buffalo:
1950 580,132 0.7%
1960 532,759 −8.2%
1970 462,768 −13.1%
1980 357,870 −22.7%
1990 328,123 −8.3%
2000 292,648 −10.8%
2010 261,310 −10.7%

Buffalo-Niagara Metro:
1950 1,089,230 13.5%
1960 1,306,957 20.0%
1970 1,349,211 3.2%
1980 1,242,826 −7.9%
1990 1,189,340 −4.3%
2000 1,170,111 −1.6%
2010 1,135,509 −3.0%

Just from these stats alone, you can see that while the population of Buffalo has been cut in half, the Metro area is trending upwards. Granted, not at the rate of a lot of other metro areas, but nonetheless, it hasn't dropped off that much in 60 years. The population moving out into the suburbs.

That's an extremely generous way to look at it. If you're going to go back all the way to 1950, the city has lost 320,000 people and the suburbs have gained 45,000 people. That's a lot more than people just moving from the city to the suburbs. The metro area isn't trending upwards, either. It's been a steady decline since the '70's.

 

[Dex]

I'd love for Buffalo to get MLB. All due respect to the Bisons, but I'd go to 5 or 6 MLB games every summer. I usually try to take in at least 1 Bisons game.

The population here certainly would be a challenge - but there are a lot of people within 2 hour drive - I'm thinking Rochester, Syracuse, Southern Tier of NY. Canadian fans would be limited - I'm guessing just from very close to the border or people who don't like to go to games in the Rogers Centre.

The only way it could possibly happen is if Terry Pegula is also a huge baseball fan. Otherwise, unfortunately, there is no chance

I was telling my son a couple of weeks ago that it would be nice to see the Ralph be used for MLS once the Bills move. But again, I'm guessing a snowball's chance....

 

[Russ Tyler]

That's an extremely generous way to look at it. If you're going to go back all the way to 1950, the city has lost 320,000 people and the suburbs have gained 45,000 people. That's a lot more than people just moving from the city to the suburbs.

You can't compare those numbers and use that as a net loss because the metro area's population includes the population of the city of buffalo.

A better way to put it in perspective would be as a percentage:

1950: 1,089,230 Buffalo metro area population - 53.3% live within the City of Buffalo

2010: 1,135,509 Buffalo metro area population - 23% live within the City of Buffalo

The metro area isn't trending upwards, either. It's been a steady decline since the '70's.

If we compare Buffalo to Pittsburgh:

Pittsburgh Metro Area:
1970 2,759,443
1980 2,651,991
1990 2,468,289
2000 2,431,087
2010 2,356,285

Pittsburgh has lost 403,158 since 1970 compared to Buffalo's 213,702, both are roughly a 15% loss of their 1970 population.

It's just how it is, somebody has to move to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Austin, or Seattle.

I think the economy of Buffalo is definitely on the rise and I suspect by the 2020 census the population will increase for both the metro area and the city of Buffalo.

 

[mgeise]

I don't even want to imagine how ****** a Buffalo MLB team would be

That being said, I'd welcome it with open arms. I just think this area would have a really hard time supporting three professional teams.