That imaginary pro sports team in Louisville is the cause of UK and UofL games having empty seats in the upper arena! Yep...pro sports has caused it!
NBA in Louisville
- Thread starter BBBLazing
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I don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about. Hot take?
Okay?
It’s something that is known around West Tennessee and people here talk about it all the time. You have a personal bias and you want the nba in Kentucky. That doesn’t mean it also can’t create apathy for college teams. Maybe it will or maybe it won’t, I’d rather kentucky basketball not have the issue all together.
If that’s a hot take, then burn it up bro.
Maybe Coach Fulmer's thugs had something to do with that decline. UT has not been good except when they play UK.
Punch line to an old riddle many years ago. Who played for St. Louis Cardinals AND the St. Louis Blues? Ernie Hays was as much St. Louis baseball as Jack Buck. And Jack was a great part of my childhood. Clear channel KMOX.
I mean pro sports and apathy can go together....
But I've been living in the Nashville market for quite a while...pre and post Titans. An hour north. I'd say Hoptown is a Titans town. It's also a BIG UK town too. Pro sports came to Nashville with the Preds and Titans right after...and I'll go by my person experience. (Also lived/worked in Jackson TN)
Now when the Titans first arrived...everyone loved the Titans. McNair, Eddie George, Kearse, Jeff Fisher, and even Chris Johnson later on.
From 1999-2009...The Titans were among the best NFL teams and Tubby Smith and Billy Gillespie had made UK basketball boring and not relevant by the end. At the start of 2009...the Titans were the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs and Kentucky went to the NIT. The conversations around town were about the Titans, but UK was still strong....just not as much passion to talk about them not doing well.
Starting in 2009...the Titans went 8 straight years without a playoff appearance. Also in 2009...John Calipari arrived. Immediately the conversation turned to John Wall and UK2K shirts were everywhere. Until this year...the Titans talk had died down quite a bit. It's all about WINNING. The passionate fans stay...the band-wagoners and casual fans show up for city/state pride when winning happens.
The apathy for Tennessee Vols comes from the fact that they haven't finished in the top 15 in the polls since 2007. I'd also say that Nashville is unique because there are so many dang transplants that have arrived over the last 20 years. It's not the same city. Those people probably aren't SEC or college sports fans anyways...they just love pride in their "new" city. They love the Titans and Preds.
The Vols still have brought 100k for games and still garner MASSIVE ratings in the Nashville market. The apathy that you're talking about is 20 years of not doing anything great...not inspiring a new generation of fans...and nothing really to get excited about. "You thinking we can win 8 or 9 games this year and maybe win a title in the next 40 years...." that's what creates apathy.
As long as Kentucky keeps winning games and is competing for titles every year...an NBA team won't create apathy. Louisville may stand to lose some attention because their big city transplants are just cheering for the local guys...not too much about history or a long fandom.
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anon_hvdd36eg5u05l
Guest
This sounds like the worry is that in case kentucky starts sucking, fans will stop going to the games? But if they dominate, the fans will return just as Memphis’ fans did? That’s why we should not want an NBA team? That’s not a good enough reason.
And that's also MEMPHIS not Lexington. A school that's never won a title and has been relegated to being a mid-major for most of it's existence. They also are....in the same CITY & ARENA as the Grizzlies.
Last I checked....UK is in Lexington not Louisville. They won't share an arena...and UK has a history of idk...8 titles, most all-time wins, generations of fans....etc etc etc
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anon_hvdd36eg5u05l
Guest
This almost reads like a parody of a bad argument. “I experienced something in one situation and therefore I will never change my mind no matter what”
I hate the St Louis Cardinals, but that’s a cool song
Louisville is a great town and the rest of the state is beautiful. I don’t understand the animosity with people. Anyway, if Memphis, St Lake City, and Oklahoma City can support a team, so can Louisville.
I don't like pro bb so my opinion doesn't count for much. But, it makes sense that a new activity that takes sports fan's time and money will make less of both available for other sports activities. If pro bb doesn't get its fair share of both assets its not going to be able to keep the lights turned on.
There's just as many Cowboys and Steelers fans as Titans fans in Hoptown. Most of us didn't change allegiances just because the Oilers moved a little closer.
No, what I'm saying is whether or not it would or wouldn't, I believe it would, and I'd rather not risk it. So I'm not changing my opinion on it because of that. It's not that complicated. You obviously want the NBA team, just say it. You want to risk it I don't.
We're used to it. 11 world series rings will do that.
Had Tim Couch succeeded in Cleveland....I may have been a Browns fan. So I went to the Titans.
Most young people don't realize that the NFL allegiance was built on who played on TV and won back in the day and everywhere didn't have a local team close by them to cheer. Packers, Raiders, Steelers, Cowboys, and 49ers built huge followings and most people did not turn back.
It's almost like baseball here...it's when you grew up. If you grew up in the 1940s-1960s in Hoptown....you cheered for the Cardinals who won a lot and were on KMOX. If you were late 1960s to mid 1980s you loved the Big Red Machine. A decent sized Braves following from the 1990s arrived in the 1990s. I think from McGwire/Pujols until now...the area has been becoming more and more Cardinals fans....only because they've been winning and the Reds have been losing. It's all about who is winning over time to pick up a new generation of fans and the casual support.
The Titans stretch of not making the playoffs and being flat out boring cost the Titans a decade of new fans I believe....although them being good when they arrived won over quite a few people.
Actually, the city begged UofL to go downtown. Jurich would have been happy to build an arena on campus, and had the means to make it happen.
He negotiated a deal with the arena authority that was advantageous to UofL, as anyone would. That no NBA team would play second fiddle to UofL isn’t his fault. There wouldn’t have been a downtown arena absent that deal.
That said, I’d love to see the NBA in Louisville.
Yea he had the funds, him & ul pres. are lucky they aren't in the pokey. Thieves & cheats!!
Ahhhh, what? Please do research before bumbling off at mouth. Television market size and population are 2 different things. New Orleans and Memphis are smaller then Louisville when it comes to television market size. But larger in population.They prosper in the NBA.
Penn State Football seems to thrive despite having a recent NFL champion (193 miles away) and a multiple championship team (139 miles away)in the same state.
Yall turn everything political, jeez. The amount of control they have over you mindless sheep is amazing.
Greenville is a bigger TV market and equal in population. So what are you talking about?
Greenville, SC is the 38th largest TV market and a CSA of 1,478,658. Louisville is the 48th largest TV market and a CSA of 1,488,015.
Greenville is not getting a NBA team, either. Las Vegas and Seattle makes more sense, so you could move a team from the Western Conference to the Eastern.
Who is "they"??
Anyone with 2 eyes, 2 ears and a working brain can see what a mess Louisville has become, all under "compassionate" brain-dead liberal "leadership."
You dont live in Louisville, like usual you're talking out of your *** about things you nothing about. Anyone who is a sheep can adopt BS narratives. There's a ton of people who post here who live in Louisville, experience Louisville on a daily basis, who say they love living here but you know better because you'rean expert. LOL, you're a joke.Who is "they"??
Anyone with 2 eyes, 2 ears and a working brain can see what a mess Louisville has become, all under "compassionate" brain-dead liberal "leadership."
You accusing anyone of talking out of their *** is hilarious.
Being a joke would be a big step up for you.
Louisville is a mismanaged mess, doesn't mean some people don't also enjoy living there.
Idiot.
How much time do you spend on Louisville ignorant sheep? Oh none because its liBrUl? Youre making all these broads claims but cant even explain them, you just repeat your talking points as usual because you're too dumb to think for yourself.You accusing anyone of talking out of their *** is hilarious.
Being a joke would be a big step up for you.
Louisville is a mismanaged mess, doesn't mean some people don't also enjoy living there.
Idiot.
Just a FYI, some people don't enjoy living in any place you can name moron. Louisville isn't for everyone, neither is any other place on earth. Doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of Louisvillians enjoy living here. Keep talking out of your *** tho polititard sheep.
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Wrong. Not trying to be disrespectful but please UNDERSTAND. Greenville SC as a city is very small in comparison to Louisville. Greenville has a population of roughly 70,000, Asheville 90,000 and Spartanburg 40,000. Do you know Asheville is almost 1 hour and 20 minutes from Greenville. So when you encompass that great of a size the market of viewers is higher. If that were the case we could include Lexington which now makes us the 15 largest viewing market. Louisville had a rough population of 600,000. If we can pull from the same distance as Greenville now our viewing size is over 2.5 million.
The TV market includes Asheville but the population is taken from only the Upstate of S.C. and surprisingly the land area of the two markets are similar in size.
https://www.citypopulation.de/en/usa/combmetro/350__louisville_elizabethtow/
https://www.citypopulation.de/php/usa-combmetro.php?cid=273
Louisville is routinely top 10 in ratings in the country for NBA events, Draft, playoffs, Finals, and award shows. South Carolina is no where close, we're basketball people here.
You can take that take to the grave with you, but you're wrong, and there's no one here agreeing with it. I was living in Tennessee before you were ever born. Lived there most of my adult life there before moving to Florida when I retired. Your take is just flat wrong. People have listed examples of why you are wrong. Have the Packers and Bucks damaged interest in Bucky Badger's athletic programs? Of course not. Did the Carolina Panthers damage Clempson/USCjr football? Of course not. Georgetown and St John's are playing at the Garden today. It's a sparse crowd. Is that because of the Knicks and Nets? No, it's because they are both moribund. Patrick Ewing and Chris Mullin aren't walking through that door, but if Georgetown and St John ever have those types of teams again, the Garden will again be full when they play. Do the Falcons damage interest in UGA's football program? If you can't see how bizarre your take is, then that's on you.
Actually, Ewing is walking through that door. Mullin already walked back out though. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
I live and work in the metro Louisville area. I want Louisville and the Yum center to maximize profits. But if an NBA team came I really wouldn't care. I don't watch the NBA and don't follow it at all. It would just add 41+ days on the calendar that make my drive home more annoying.
Charlotte hornets or whatever haven’t hurt duke and UNC. What do they have 6-7 titles combined since the hornets arrived??
Btw Memphis always sucked
Looked at TV markets. Some interesting names/places.
28. Nashville
30. Salt Lake City
37. Cincinnati
38. Greenville
39. Las Vegas
43. OKC
44. Birmingham
48. Louisville
50. New Orleans
51. Memphis
61. Knoxville
64. Lexington
67. Green Bay
Louisville isn't a large market. I have no idea whether Louisville is on a short list for expansion in the U.S. A lot would go into that, I imagine. But just based on size, not sure why we'd be in front of some others. And even if it's true that Louisville is a finalist, expansion (if it happens at all) could easily be in an international market....
28. Nashville
30. Salt Lake City
37. Cincinnati
38. Greenville
39. Las Vegas
43. OKC
44. Birmingham
48. Louisville
50. New Orleans
51. Memphis
61. Knoxville
64. Lexington
67. Green Bay
Louisville isn't a large market. I have no idea whether Louisville is on a short list for expansion in the U.S. A lot would go into that, I imagine. But just based on size, not sure why we'd be in front of some others. And even if it's true that Louisville is a finalist, expansion (if it happens at all) could easily be in an international market....
so you lived in Tennessee before there were pro franchises? And that proves what exactly? I’ve lived in Tennessee 34 years, half before pro franchises and half without.
people on this board want a pro franchise in Louisville. They don’t consider anything other than that. So why you think any of this is relevant is beyond me.
you obviously don’t know much about the apathy the Titans and Grizzlies caused here. But MANY people in the areas around here will tell you it did. The nickname of Tennessee around these areas is the University of Eastern Tennessee. As I said, kids don’t wear UT or Memphis hats, they wear Titans and Grizzlies hats. Growing up it was all tigers in Memphis, through good seasons and bad. Memphis is all Grizzlies country now.
I’m not going to keep arguing this point to you. You don’t know anything about it, you aren’t from here, you just want an NBA team in Louisville.
Many of the places you mentioned are major market and support both, but are definitely majority pro areas. And the panthers aren’t in South Carolina lol.
Alabama and kentucky are unique because their college teams are the only show in town. I’d prefer it stay that way.
It certainly can happen but it doesn’t have to. Michigan football drew 110k plus fans for years while playing in the same metro area as The Detroit Lions. Just one example but there are plenty of others.
Ummmm...yes. I realize that. I also realize that the SC Upstate and Columbia area is only about an hour and a half or so drive from Charlotte, and in fact, the Panthers have held their training camp in Spartanburg since becoming a franchise. The reason they coined them the Carolina Panthers was because they wanted to include both states. There are lots of Panther fans in those areas, but they haven't hurt support for Clempson or USCjr. For that matter, they haven't hurt any of the colleges in NC either. Just like the Hornets/Bobcats never hurt college basketball programs in those states.
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