The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

I think Soccer is the only pro franchise hat would make it here. Birmingham is a unique circumstance and unless you load whatever other pro franchise with Bama players it won't make it. It's sad because I enjoy the NBA and the NFL. I can't sit through five minutes of MLB.

(04-12-2015 10:55 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The only potential would have to come a franchise of new league and the people of Birmingham have been burnt so many times by touching that hot stove that they will not be caught investing their loyalty in that manner again.

Regardless, before we spend one once of energy getting interested in bring a major league pro team to Birmingham, lets make sure we are successful in bringing big time college football back to UAB and insure that it is properly supported for long term growth and success.

Some people can afford to go to any sporting event they chose to attend, but many people have only a fixed amount of income that they can allocate to entertainment, especially sports entertainment. Any additional sports entertainment that competes for those dollars has the potential to cut into UAB revenue sports such as basketball and football. (You can spout BS about how pro teams increasing the interest level in a sport, but I'll bet good money that you can't come with good statistical evidence to support that claim, and until you do, it is just BS.)

If you want an extreme example of college sports trying unsuccessfully to fully complete with their pro equivalents look at the City of Miami. Even in years when the Hurricane football was competing for national titles, their home attendance numbers were not at all impressive and their fans were not known for traveling well to bowls, even those where the national championship was on the line.

Again, Lets make sure what we know and love is back and assured of success before we get all excited about bring in pro completion. Right now the way feel is that if we are successful in bringing back UAB football, every extra dollar I might have that I might have to spend on sports entertainment is going to support Blazer athletics. I hope most of you feel the same way.

If Birmingham ever gets a pro sports franchise it's not going to hurt the effort to bring back or sustain UAB football. Using Miami is a terrible example. Miami is like Vegas. It's a city full of tourists and transplants and there's a million other things to do besides going to a sporting event.

Miami is a private school so it closely compares to Duke, Wake Forest, Vandy and Baylor in its sports following. Most fans go to bowl games to visit a more desirable location, they already live in one in south Florida. It was no accident that the earliest bowl games were in such places as Miami, NOLA, Pasadena and Dallas.

Before Howard Schnelenberger arrived, Miami's roster was filled with lower rated recruits from the northeastern states. There were more players on the Miami team from PA than on the visiting Pitt team one year. Miami even often played their home games on Friday to avoid competing with other Florida collegiate teams.

The demographic shift to Florida over the last 50 years has made all the difference to south Florida so that state now has three D1 programs in the Miami area alone and seven in all with five in the P5 type conferences.

(04-11-2015 11:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

The only viable teams for Birmingham would be the NBA or the MLS, and both of those would probably only happen for expansion teams, not relocations. But, you're right, even just getting an expansion team would require someone with serious money, and there's no Fred Smiths or Arthur Blanks in Birmingham.

Not sure what the minimum net worth of MLS owners has to be, but if it were say $250 mil, then you could easily find 10-12 (maybe more)potential owners in the area. Having the money to buy an expansion MLS team and wanting to risk that investment are two entirely different things.

Where in the heck would they play?

I can't imagine buying a MLS team & having them play in Hoover.

(04-13-2015 12:44 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 11:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

The only viable teams for Birmingham would be the NBA or the MLS, and both of those would probably only happen for expansion teams, not relocations. But, you're right, even just getting an expansion team would require someone with serious money, and there's no Fred Smiths or Arthur Blanks in Birmingham.

Not sure what the minimum net worth of MLS owners has to be, but if it were say $250 mil, then you could easily find 10-12 (maybe more)potential owners in the area. Having the money to buy an expansion MLS team and wanting to risk that investment are two entirely different things.

I would think their net worth would have to be higher than that unless they are going to sink a sizable portion of their wealth into buying a pro team. But for argument sake, let's say $250M would be enough. Of those 10-12 potential owners, how many of them with a that kind of money would stupid enough to invest the money necessary to bring a pro team to Birmingham. If they are smart enough to accumulate that kind of money, they are smart enough to make wiser investments.

How many of you would make that investment if you had the money? And how do you get local governments to put up the money to back up your investment by building for you the facility you would need to operate your team, or you going to pay for that as well.

Again we need to concentrate our efforts, and those of the local governments, on bringing back Blazer football.

Back in the days of the Stallions Marvin Warner had a ton of money & was the primary investor in the franchise.

Something happened & he lost his tail in his net worth & the city & other business people had to step in to keep the franchise afloat.

The amount needed for the Stallions probably was not even that which is mentioned in the scenario above for soccer.

Finding someone with that much money & a willingness to roll the dice in Birmingham today might be really hard.

(04-13-2015 12:51 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:44 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 11:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

The only viable teams for Birmingham would be the NBA or the MLS, and both of those would probably only happen for expansion teams, not relocations. But, you're right, even just getting an expansion team would require someone with serious money, and there's no Fred Smiths or Arthur Blanks in Birmingham.

Not sure what the minimum net worth of MLS owners has to be, but if it were say $250 mil, then you could easily find 10-12 (maybe more)potential owners in the area. Having the money to buy an expansion MLS team and wanting to risk that investment are two entirely different things.

I would think their net worth would have to be higher than that unless they are going to sink a sizable portion of their wealth into buying a pro team. But for argument sake, let's say $250M would be enough. Of those 10-12 potential owners, how many of them with a that kind of money would stupid enough to invest the money necessary to bring a pro team to Birmingham. If they are smart enough to accumulate that kind of money, they are smart enough to make wiser investments.

How many of you would make that investment if you had the money? And how do you get local governments to put up the money to back up your investment by building for you the facility you would need to operate your team, or you going to pay for that as well.

Again we need to concentrate our efforts, and those of the local governments, on bringing back Blazer football.

We're discussing a hypothetical, highly improbable scenario on a message board. I highly doubt that will weaken the effort to bring back Blazer football. Relax.

(04-13-2015 01:23 PM)BlazintheATL Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:51 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:44 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 11:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

The only viable teams for Birmingham would be the NBA or the MLS, and both of those would probably only happen for expansion teams, not relocations. But, you're right, even just getting an expansion team would require someone with serious money, and there's no Fred Smiths or Arthur Blanks in Birmingham.

Not sure what the minimum net worth of MLS owners has to be, but if it were say $250 mil, then you could easily find 10-12 (maybe more)potential owners in the area. Having the money to buy an expansion MLS team and wanting to risk that investment are two entirely different things.

I would think their net worth would have to be higher than that unless they are going to sink a sizable portion of their wealth into buying a pro team. But for argument sake, let's say $250M would be enough. Of those 10-12 potential owners, how many of them with a that kind of money would stupid enough to invest the money necessary to bring a pro team to Birmingham. If they are smart enough to accumulate that kind of money, they are smart enough to make wiser investments.

How many of you would make that investment if you had the money? And how do you get local governments to put up the money to back up your investment by building for you the facility you would need to operate your team, or you going to pay for that as well.

Again we need to concentrate our efforts, and those of the local governments, on bringing back Blazer football.

We're discussing a hypothetical, highly improbable scenario on a message board. I highly doubt that will weaken the effort to bring back Blazer football. Relax.

Don't you know that even discussing hypothetical scenarios on a message board weakens the effort to bring back football. It gives comfort and aid to the enemy. EVERY THREAD THAT DOESN'T DISCUSS THE RETURN OF FOOTBALL IS A VICTORY FOR WATTS. Damn him.

(04-13-2015 01:23 PM)BlazintheATL Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:51 PM)CajunBlazer Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:44 PM)backyardblazer Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 11:24 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-11-2015 10:47 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  The issue is that no one with a crap load of money would ever move a franchise to Birmingham.

The only viable teams for Birmingham would be the NBA or the MLS, and both of those would probably only happen for expansion teams, not relocations. But, you're right, even just getting an expansion team would require someone with serious money, and there's no Fred Smiths or Arthur Blanks in Birmingham.

Not sure what the minimum net worth of MLS owners has to be, but if it were say $250 mil, then you could easily find 10-12 (maybe more)potential owners in the area. Having the money to buy an expansion MLS team and wanting to risk that investment are two entirely different things.

I would think their net worth would have to be higher than that unless they are going to sink a sizable portion of their wealth into buying a pro team. But for argument sake, let's say $250M would be enough. Of those 10-12 potential owners, how many of them with a that kind of money would stupid enough to invest the money necessary to bring a pro team to Birmingham. If they are smart enough to accumulate that kind of money, they are smart enough to make wiser investments.

How many of you would make that investment if you had the money? And how do you get local governments to put up the money to back up your investment by building for you the facility you would need to operate your team, or you going to pay for that as well.

Again we need to concentrate our efforts, and those of the local governments, on bringing back Blazer football.

We're discussing a hypothetical, highly improbable scenario on a message board. I highly doubt that will weaken the effort to bring back Blazer football. Relax.

I'll "relax" when we have Blazer football back, not until then. Meanwhile we have had this discussion many times before on this board. I think that you underestimate the appetite of some folks to move Birmingham in the Direction of Atlanta, not there's anything wrong with that. However, I agree - it ain't gonna happen, so let's not pretend that it might, but if it did it would not be a good thing for UAB's revenue sports - which I hope would include Blazer football.

More shark jumping.

Either could be a realistic goal

http://www.nasl.com/teams-through-history

http://www.uslsoccer.com

IF an NFL owner should be interested in B'ham, it would require the construction of the MPF of suitable size to actually make it happen. Legion Field is only marginally suited for what is played there now.

MLS requires a natural grass field (last I heard) so a new stadium will be needed for it to come to B'ham. I doubt the city / county would be (fiscally) interested in footing that bill. Would minor league soccer be less demanding?

There is no way in hell the NFL would consider Birmingham.

(04-13-2015 12:45 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Where in the heck would they play?

I can't imagine buying a MLS team & having them play in Hoover.

One would assume that, NBA at the BJCC aside, any new pro team coming to town would include a venue in the proposal.

Not in my lifetime. (NFL)

(04-13-2015 02:56 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(04-13-2015 12:45 PM)the_blazerman Wrote:  Where in the heck would they play?

I can't imagine buying a MLS team & having them play in Hoover.

One would assume that, NBA at the BJCC aside, any new pro team coming to town would include a venue in the proposal.

NBA would not be playing in the BJCC. In order for the Grizzlies to come to Memphis, the Fedex Forum had to built. The Pyramid was too antiquated and it was build in 1991.

You are right. Any new professional franchise would require a new venue.

A venue paid for by the people & or/city via taxes, not the owners.

Yes. That's the way it works. This thread goes far in explaining why Birmingham will remain a minor city.