(10-02-2017 08:02 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  In baseball, for example, there are six teams in the top three markets alone as well as two in the Bay Area and the few teams in 20+ markets are in markets that have had teams for generations/centuries like St. Louis or places that share a common area with another market, like Baltimore. MLB's smallest market is ranked 36 (Cincinnati), NFL at 53 (Buffalo), not counting Green Bay (which is still only at 68) and the NBA at 51 (Memphis).

Yeah, small TV markets are not going to get expansion franchises. The existing small markets are already way too far behind in local TV revenue (and probably ticket revenue as well).

There's no non-NBA market other than Seattle that has the potential revenue of Seattle; none are even close. Seattle currently has neither NBA nor NHL and has 1.9 million TV homes, in addition to being a market with a lot of wealthy residents and businesses to support relatively high ticket prices. The only other markets with neither NBA nor NHL that have at least 1 million TV homes are Baltimore (1.1 million) and San Diego (1.0 million).