Providence Sports

[Baines]

As far as a baseball team in PVD goes, no way. First they'd have to compete with the Red Sox. Then they'd have to compete with the Yankees, who also have a fairly large following here.

Tampa/St. Pete: 2,587,967

Providence: 1,628,080

Miami: 379,724

St. Petersburg: 249,090

Providence: 178,126

Actually, I'm surprised how close the competition is (with, say, Milwaukee's metro). But proximity is key: Milwaukee survives as a baseball team almost despite their metro, not because of it. They live off their in-city population, which is several times ours, as you can see.

And then again, who wants a baseball team if it's just going to be a Milwaukee or a Kansas City? Yes part of the problem those franchises have is that they've been badly run. But on the other hand, both franchises have an extremely small margin of error. Neither franchise is well-endowed financially.

After thinking about it, I'm pretty sure that PVD can in fact support an AF2 (or AFL) team. But no way am I buying that PVD could support a MLB franchise.

I fully agree.

As I indicated earlier, while I wish much for PVD, the dynamics are not there for a MLB. PVD has, in effect, an NFL team (with much support fron the BOS Metro) but to expect MLB to place another team within 50 miles of BOS is unlikely for the reasons Lone Ranger as cited.

Let me comment on two cities close to PVD pop that I am very familar with that are not success stories. The Marlins want out of Miami (due to weak fan support and lack of city willingness to build a new stadium) and the Devils Rays (very poor attendance - the metro is much larger geographically so the 2.5 is effectively 1.6) are still here only due to a 25 yr lease and governments subsdizing the infrastructure.

It also goes to a reality - PVD does not have enough economic engines to provide a strong fan base, corporate support, and fiscally healthy governments to "subsidize" the team (stadium,infrastructure, etc)...all part of the formula.

On this one, I think geography and economics hurt PVD. If in 5 years the pop goes to 210K/1.8M it may be in a marginal position (like Miami, Tampa Bay, Milwaukee, KC) for MBL.

[Lone Ranger]

Does anybody else remember how, a couple of years back, Warwick made a bid to get the P-Bruins to come to Warwick ... umm, and presumably to become the W-Bruins?

I dunno how serious of an effort they made. Not very, I would assume, since I doubt Warwick has $100m just lying around.

Still, I was at the Rhode Island Mall today, which as you know is in a forlorn state at the moment. And the thought occurred to me as I walked the lonely floors of that cavernous place, if Warwick wants to build its own civic center someday, this is where they should put it.

I even wondered if they could use some of the existing structure.

Yeah I'm sure I'm pipedreaming. But that aside ... whaddayathink?

Edit: no seriously, lay it on me, on a craziness scale of 1-10, with 10 being most crazy, where am I with this idea?

[Cotuit]

Edit: no seriously, lay it on me, on a craziness scale of 1-10, with 10 being most crazy, where am I with this idea?

Not that I'm a big fan or anything, but I think the P's going to W would be horrible. That said, I think a public sports center with ice rink would actually be a good use of the RI Mall site. Add retail and housing around, build a walkway to the Warwick Mall...

Once on the bus back from RI Mall I was at the Warwick Mall and thought how neat it would be to put basketball courts and such on the roof. I just think it's such a shame that kids spend so much time hanging at the mall for general lack of anything better to do. Why not create sports opportunities at the mall so that you can get some of those kids to participate in stimulating activities, and in the process, keep them out of trouble.

[HartfordTycoon]

Its the entire State and area that would attend these games, not just the city. A sports team located in Providence would draw from the Cape to Hartford and up to Worcester (at least).

I'm pretty sure a team in PVD would get absolutely no support in Hartford Metro. Just my 2 cents.

[KRC]

I'm pretty sure a team in PVD would get absolutely no support in Hartford Metro. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks. It's the same 2 cents of jealousy we are accustomed to seeing from you.

[HartfordTycoon]

Thanks. It's the same 2 cents of jealousy we are accustomed to seeing from you.

No problem. I can admit that I'd like for my city to make the progress your's has. That is a fact. You guys know it's all out of love with me.

[KRC]

No problem. I can admit that I'd like for my city to make the progress your's has. That is a fact. You guys know it's all out of love with me.

We know. That's why we like you!

[CtownMikey]

aww! group hug for the next forum meeting! (i'll be there )

[runawayjim]

first reply to this post...

frankie... PC lost their baseball team right after they won the NCAA. go figure.

baseball... i'd desert my yankees for a providence MLB team. i think we could get some support for it. although the providence/boston metro has less than the NYC metro, but we would get support from hartford (even though hartfordtycoon disagrees). that support would only happen if we actually had a highway connecting prov and hartford.

i like the arena football idea, i don't know why we don't have it. i think a great place for a new stadium/arena would be the promenade area. tear down that crap and put something useful up. and make where the dunk is now more downtowny-type buildings (build up). although the dunk isn't in a terrible location with the convention center next door...

we have a football team. foxboro is closer to prov than boston, yet somehow gets more affiliated with boston. the visiting teams stay in prov when they play there.

[Lone Ranger]

Not that I'm a big fan or anything, but I think the P's going to W would be horrible.

Oh, I agree. Then again, though, if we were in fact going to get an AFL or AF2 team, that would leave The Dunk quite crowded. Between PC, the P-Bruins, and the other shows/events that take place there, scheduling is tight.

Who knows? If we got an AFL or AF2 team, there might be sufficient reason to try something like converting the RI Mall into an event stadium.

Add retail and housing around, build a walkway to the Warwick Mall...

I was thinking along similar lines yesterday, toying around with my idea.

The land is there. The parking is there. It's a place with easy access to the highway -- also a place where the whole complex (RI Mall Conversion + Warwick Mall) could be "easily" served by its own exit, if the engineers felt that to be a desirable option.

And it would be a win for Warwick, which (I think) feels it needs cultural attractions as the next logical step in its progression.

Further, I was thinking about it today, and it occurs to me that Rt. 2 is showing signs of being stretched thin. The loss of retail space in the current RI Mall might help fill up a couple of large sites that are, at present, sitting empty. The building that used to be a K-Mart (obviously a large building) has sat empty for several years: it's due to be filled again, but I forget what franchise it's going to become. And then there's a large building in the Stop 'n' Shop plaza at the intersection of Rt. 2 and Cowesett Ave., too. That's been empty for a while as well, as I recall.

In other words, no more sprawled. Rt. 2 is sprawled out.

Which reminds me. What happens to the Filene's store in the Warwick Mall? It can't become a Macy's, as most Filene's stores did, because the Warwick Mall already has a Macy's.

Anyway, as far as I know, that's yet another large retail space that's sitting empty at the moment.