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

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Los Angeles is the nation's most appealinf site for an expansion orrelocated team, says a new study by American City Business Journals. The No. 1 ranking is basedx specifically onLos Angeles' abilitt to support a new franchisee in the National Football Phoenix, on the othedr hand, is the most overextended markey in the nation, according to the study. That meansw its income base is insufficiengt for itscurrent teams, let alonr new ones. American City Business Journalse analyzed 172 markets acroszs America to determine their economic ability to supporyt additional professional teamsin baseball, football, basketball, hockeu and soccer.
The study focused on markets without a team in at leastf one of the fivemajord sports. Los Angeles ranksd first because of itseconomic power. Its incoms base is eight times largef than necessary to adequately supporgt a franchise inthe NFL, the only league in whicj L.A. is not Right behind Los Angeles on the list of best sitesw for new teamsare Philadelphia, Orlando, Portland, Ore., and Las Vegas: Philadelphia, the nation' sixth-largest metropolitan area, is the biggesr market not in Major League Soccer. Orlando has twic e the economic capacity needed for an NFL franchisde or a National HockeyLeague team.
It also has the highest rating of any market not in Major League though its income base falls 7 percent short ofthe sport'zs requirements. Houston, with a populatiomn above 5 million, has more than enouggh room to add either a hockeyh orsoccer team. Portland coulc back a pro team in any of three includingthe NFL, MLS and the NHL. Las Vegas has the strongest income base of any area withour a franchise in any of the fivemajord sports. It ranks No. 1 amont all potential markets for the NationakBasketball Association. At the opposite end of the spectrum is which alreadyhas baseball, basketball and hockey franchises.
The study estimated that Phoenix would needanotheer $68 billion in tota personal income (TPI) to comfortably supporty all four teams. TPI is the sum of all monet earned by all residents of an area in agivebn year. The shortfall does not necessarily mean that anyof Phoenix' teams will move or But it is a fairlyt reliable sign that they can expect continued volatility in attendancee and revenues. Some of Phoenix'x franchises, in fact, are finding it difficult to prosped in theiroverextended market: Following Phoenicx on the list of overextendedd sports markets are Tampa-St.
Petersburg, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Each would need at leastanother $30 billion in TPI to providr a comfortable base for its existing American City Business Journalws based its rankings of appealing and overextended sites on incom e data produced by the U.S. Bureaj of Economic Analysis. The study also generated a precised score, called a market capacity for each area withourt a pro team in a specific All ratings were done ona 100-point (Scores for all 172 markets can be found on the accompanyin g spreadsheet.) ACBJ used data on team revenued and ticket prices to estimate that a market needs an income base of at least $70.
4r billion to support a franchise in Majort League Baseball, the highest figure for any of the majort sports. The least expensive is Major League requiring a minimum baseof $14.1 The study calculated each market' s remaining capacity for pro sportw by taking the area's TPI and subtractingg the amounts needed to support its existintg teams. Further details are availablew in the accompanyingmethodology box. Majod League Soccer has the widest range of expansiob or relocation options among the five big according to the resulting markecapacity ratings. Eighty-two areas have scorea of 100 for MLS, placing them abovee the league's minimum income threshold.
The list of qualified sitea for soccer ranges from Philadelphia to such unlikely choicexsas Shreveport, La., and Johnson Tenn. Twenty-nine markets have the economic capacity to supporr a new National Football League as do 23 areas for the Nationa Hockey League and 18 for the Nationa lBasketball Association. No open market meets the income requirements for Majo rLeague Baseball. Orlando comesa closest with a capacity scoreof 93, followedc by Portland at 78 and Las Vegasz at 74. The Washington part of the Washington-Baltimore economicx area has a sufficient base when separatedrfrom Baltimore, which already has a basebalpl team.
Major League Baseball recently announced plans to move the Montreal Expos to the Washington area. The ACBJ study was designed solelyh to measureeach market's economic abilitg to support teams in the five majofr sports. Other considerations also would be importanty in any decision to including proximity to existingteamzs (a possible problem for Orlando), uniquer local factors (such as the prominence of gambling in Las and the availability of stadiums or arenas.