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Peter King MMQB


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http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ.../13/mmqb/1.html

 

Mostly about the Favre drams, but one little tidbit I found interesting (and sad)

 

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only MeThe 2007 census data came out last week, and there was continuing ominous news for three Rust Belt cities with NFL franchises.

 

Pittsburgh, the nation's 59th-largest city with 311,218 people, is now smaller than Aurora, Colo. (311,794). Pittsburgh has lost 7 percent of its population since 2000. I've noticed in recent visits the stark downturn in several city neighborhoods.

 

Buffalo (272,632) has dropped from 59th to 68th in the city-population standings and now is less than half the size of Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, Long Beach, Fresno, Mesa (Ariz.), and El Paso all outsize Cleveland (438,032), which has dropped from 34th to 40th. Worse news for Cleveland: No city has lost a bigger chunk of its people since 2000 than Cleveland -- 8.3 percent. Cleveland ... the nation's 40th-largest city. Shocking. Just doesn't seem possible. I should note that all of these figures are city populations only and don't include suburbs. Cleveland's are sprawling.

 

I'm not playing Taps for these towns, but that news underscores the importance of an NFL team for civic pride. When people look around their hometowns and find not a lot to get fired up about, they turn toward their civic institutions and say, "Give us something to make us feel good about our future. Please

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I should note that all of these figures are city populations only and don't include suburbs.

 

Well, that's kind of important, wouldn't you think? People have been flocking out of cities to the suburbs for quite some time, now, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't count toward those city's fan bases.

 

Salt Lake City's population is only about 181,000, but if you include the suburbs it's about 1.2 million.

 

If King wants to make a valid argument, I'd like to see him include suburban numbers.

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Well, that's kind of important, wouldn't you think? People have been flocking out of cities to the suburbs for quite some time, now, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't count toward those city's fan bases.

 

Salt Lake City's population is only about 181,000, but if you include the suburbs it's about 1.2 million.

 

If King wants to make a valid argument, I'd like to see him include suburban numbers.

 

That's huge. It's the size if the potential fan base, not just who lives within city limits, that has impact upon how well a franchise can survive.

 

Mesa, AZ may be more populous than Cleveland propper, but I doubt it has much in the way of suburbia - my guess is that Cleveland's potential fan base is several times larger than Mesa's.

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No biggy

 

I have a job and I pay my taxes

The economy doesn't hurt me - yet

 

As long as we have the Bills, Sabres, wings, and mighty taco - i'll love Buffalo forever.

 

 

Mmmmmm....Mighty Taco. Damn it Im stuck in South Florida hell. I have Taco hell here. :thumbsup:

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Here's a few numbers to crunch:

 

Erie County: Dropped from 950,265 to 913,338 in the past seven years

Monroe County: Dropped by about 6,000 in the past 7 years

Niagara County: Dropped about 5,000 in the past 7 years

Cattaraugus County: Dropped about 3,000 in the past 7 years

Chautauqua County: Dropped about 6,000 in the past 7 years

Genesee County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Orleans County: Dropped about 2,000 in past 7 years

Wayne County: Dropped about 1,500 in the past 7 years

WYoming County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Allegany County: Remained about the same, dropping about 200

Oswego County: Dropped about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Livingston County: Dropped about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Cayuga County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Oneida County: Dropped about 3,000 in the past 7 years

Seneca County: Rose about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Ontario County: Rose about 3,700 in the past 7 years

 

Link: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTa...-2&-_sse=on

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The facts are the facts and population in Western NY is in decline. However it is not fair to throw those number around. Oklahoma City's population is higher but it also covers area the size of Erie County, I'm guessing it is the same with the other western/mid western cities.

 

I remember reading somewhere, possibly in a Bills article of about the game in TO that the area from Toronto to Rochester is a top five most populated region in the Northeast.

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Well, that's kind of important, wouldn't you think? People have been flocking out of cities to the suburbs for quite some time, now, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't count toward those city's fan bases.

 

Salt Lake City's population is only about 181,000, but if you include the suburbs it's about 1.2 million.

 

If King wants to make a valid argument, I'd like to see him include suburban numbers.

 

It is all relative. If you include the suburbs of NYC, Detroit, Philly, etc, all of the population numbers would increase dramatically.

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I think this little tidbit from PK's MMQB is more telling:

 

8. I think it's easy for Wayne Weaver, the Frontiere heirs and the Wilson family to say their teams are not for sale. Technically, they might not be. But the real question is, "If you got 20 percent more than the current value of your team, would you sell?'' And I can tell you that at least one or two of the Jags, Rams and Bills would if that were the case.

 

hmmmm... :thumbsup:

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Here's a few numbers to crunch:

 

Erie County: Dropped from 950,265 to 913,338 in the past seven years

Monroe County: Dropped by about 6,000 in the past 7 years

Niagara County: Dropped about 5,000 in the past 7 years

Cattaraugus County: Dropped about 3,000 in the past 7 years

Chautauqua County: Dropped about 6,000 in the past 7 years

Genesee County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Orleans County: Dropped about 2,000 in past 7 years

Wayne County: Dropped about 1,500 in the past 7 years

WYoming County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Allegany County: Remained about the same, dropping about 200

Oswego County: Dropped about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Livingston County: Dropped about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Cayuga County: Dropped about 2,000 in the past 7 years

Oneida County: Dropped about 3,000 in the past 7 years

Seneca County: Rose about 1,000 in the past 7 years

Ontario County: Rose about 3,700 in the past 7 years

 

Link: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GCTTa...-2&-_sse=on

 

Where is that jagoff THE DEAN when you need his lameness to crunch & make some sense out of these #'s ?

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If King wants to make a valid argument, I'd like to see him include suburban numbers.

Make that 'have to include.'

 

I know King's just a sports guy, but even he must know enough from following the league to realize that metropolitan areas (and increasingly regions) are where the ticket revenue/fan base are coming from.

 

A slow news cycle makes for junk columns like this, apparently.

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Well, that's kind of important, wouldn't you think? People have been flocking out of cities to the suburbs for quite some time, now, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't count toward those city's fan bases.

 

Salt Lake City's population is only about 181,000, but if you include the suburbs it's about 1.2 million.

 

If King wants to make a valid argument, I'd like to see him include suburban numbers.

I think it would be even worse for those three cities if he did.

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I think it would be even worse for those three cities if he did.

Not at all. Many of the fastest growing U.S. metro areas area very geographically concentrated in terms of population, as opposed to the dense regions in the older smokestack metros. The Buffalo/Rochester/Southern Tier/Southern Ontario region makes a lot of up and comming metros still look like pipsqueeks.

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I don't live in Buffalo. Hell I live in another country... Canada... About 20 minutes from the WNY border. But I consider myself an honorary resident of Buffalo seeing how I go over all the time, especially for Bills games, since I hold seasons tickets. Go Bills. Go Buffalo Bills.

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I don't put too much stock in the size of an actual city. Buffalo is a tiny city in terms of sq. miles with no options for expanding while other cities have grown and incorporated suburbs. Cities like Oklahoma City can say they are larger but it's not. Oklahoma City is 718 Sq. miles. Buffalo is 52 sq. miles of which 11 is Lake Erie. If Buffalo were 718 sq. miles, it would have a population of 900,000 and be one of the largest cities in the country.

 

And he ignored regionalism.

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