scotchex
Registered User
- Oct 30, 2008
- 569
- 1
The reputational value of pro sports is probably greater for middle-sized, lesser known metros than the giant alpha cities. LA hasn't been hurt by not having the NFL. Everybody already knows about LA and what it offers.
A medium-sized city has a lot of other medium-sized cities it's fighting against to attract people and business. And there are often political dynamics within a state as metros battle it out to become known as the dominant city within the state.
Oklahoma City isn't that much bigger than Tulsa. But it's national reputation has grown a great deal since it got the NBA. Frankly, I bet many Americans don't even know where Tulsa is.
The underlying attractiveness of the economics, business climate, weather, demographics, industry clusters, etc are much more important to a metro than the presence or absence of pro sports, of course, but it helps on the margin.
A medium-sized city has a lot of other medium-sized cities it's fighting against to attract people and business. And there are often political dynamics within a state as metros battle it out to become known as the dominant city within the state.
Oklahoma City isn't that much bigger than Tulsa. But it's national reputation has grown a great deal since it got the NBA. Frankly, I bet many Americans don't even know where Tulsa is.
The underlying attractiveness of the economics, business climate, weather, demographics, industry clusters, etc are much more important to a metro than the presence or absence of pro sports, of course, but it helps on the margin.