(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.