I'm cross-posting this in the three Expansion forums. Forgive me. This is a list of the metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada that contain over one million population according to the 2011 U.S. and Canadian Census data. Additionally, I've added three markets closing in on one million, El Paso (which like other border markets only includes U.S. population), and other cities with professional clubs. Additionally I've noted how long each market has had a team at its current highest level. Hopefully this list is a good reference point when discussing various markets. The U.S. data is for Combined Statistical Areas for markets with multiple Metropolitan Statistical Areas. The deltas are between the 2010 Census data and the 2011 Census estimates. Extra note for the D3 posting: Obviously, the D3 level can support teams in much smaller markets. For someone who wants to pursue an exercise of extending this list, the base data I used (for the U.S.) come from this table: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Combined_Statistical_Areas adding in data from this table for "primary census statistical areas": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas Code: Rk Current Metropolitan Area 2011 Census change 1 D1 1996 New York 22,214,083 0.58% 2 D1 1996 Los Angeles 18,081,569 1.14% 3 D1 1998 Chicago 9,729,825 0.45% 4 D1 1996 Washington-Baltimore 8,718,083 1.69% 5 D1 1996 Boston 7,601,061 0.56% 6 D1 2008 San Jose (Bay Area) 7,563,460 1.27% 7 D1 1996 Dallas-Fort Worth 6,887,383 2.32% 8 D1 2010 Philadelphia 6,562,287 0.44% 9 D1 2006 Houston 6,191,434 2.31% 10 D2 2011 Atlanta 5,712,148 1.67% 11 D2 2006 Miami-Ft Lauderdale 5,670,125 1.90% 12 D1 2007 Toronto 5,583,064 13 Detroit (U.S. only) 5,207,434 -0.22% 14 D1 2009 Seattle 4,269,349 1.67% 15 Phoenix 4,262,236 1.65% 16 D1 2012 Montreal 3,824,221 17 D2 1995 Minneapolis-St. Paul 3,655,558 1.10% 18 D1 1996 Denver 3,157,520 2.16% 19 San Diego (U.S. only) 3,140,069 1.45% 20 St. Louis 2,882,932 0.16% 21 Cleveland 2,871,084 -0.38% 22 D3 2011 Orlando 2,861,296 1.53% 23 D2 2010 Tampa (Bay Area) 2,824,724 1.49% 24 Sacramento 2,489,230 1.12% 25 D3 2008 Pittsburgh 2,450,281 0.12% 26 D3 2004 Charlotte 2,442,564 1.66% 27 D1 2011 Vancouver 2,313,328 28 D1 2011 Portland 2,262,605 1.64% 29 D2 2012 San Antonio 2,194,927 2.45% 30 Cincinnati 2,179,965 0.36% 31 D1 1996 Kansas City 2,122,908 0.86% 32 Indianapolis 2,103,574 1.10% 33 D1 1996 Columbus 2,093,185 1.07% 34 Las Vegas 2,013,326 0.91% 35 Austin 1,826,636 3.84% 36 D2 2007 Raleigh-Durham 1,795,750 2.64% 37 D1 2005 Salt Lake City 1,776,528 1.81% 38 Milwaukee 1,757,604 0.36% 39 Nashville 1,698,651 1.66% 40 Virginia Beach 1,679,894 0.49% 41 Greensboro Triad 1,602,693 0.85% 42 Louisville 1,440,607 0.92% 43 Jacksonville, FL 1,360,251 1.09% 44 Oklahoma City 1,348,333 1.96% 45 Hartford 1,331,406 0.04% 46 Grand Rapids 1,328,440 0.52% 47 Memphis 1,325,605 0.72% 48 Greenville SC 1,281,394 1.14% 49 D3 2006 Richmond 1,269,380 0.88% 50 New Orleans 1,238,228 1.92% 51 Ottawa 1,235,324 52 Calgary 1,214,839 53 Buffalo (U.S. only) 1,213,871 -0.16% 54 Birmingham 1,212,800 0.36% 55 Albany 1,168,120 -0.03% 56 D2 2010 Edmonton 1,159,869 57 D3 2011 Rochester 1,150,469 0.07% 58 Fresno 1,095,829 1.34% 59 D3 2011 Dayton 1,075,683 0.26% 60 Knoxville 1,063,354 0.78% 61 Tulsa 998,438 1.01% 62 Tuscon 989,569 0.95% 63 Honolulu 963,607 1.09% El Paso (U.S. only) 820,970 2.54% D3 2004 Harrisburg, PA 687,222 0.61% D3 2010 Charleston, SC 682,121 2.64% D3 2011 Wilmington, NC 369,685 2.03% D2 2004 Bayamon, PR D3 2011 St. George, Antigua
When I get really bored at work and have nothing to do, I work on Mikey's grand list of markets in the US. I have a list of all the Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas in the US, along with all the Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations of Canada. I'll try and see if I can upload it to Google Docs, the problem is getting it through the work firewall. Basically, it has everything over 10,000 people in the whole of North America. EDIT: I also have Puerto Rico, as I wanted to get the cities they let into USL-Pro.
Metropolitan Areas of North America Download it, tinker with it. Brief explanation though. In the US, Metropolitan Areas are anchored by at least 1 settlment with a 50,000 population. Micropolitan areas (µSA) are areas which show characteristics of an MSA (where the surrounding area relies upon one settlement) but the anchor settlement has 10,000-50,000. This is why Carson City is an MSA (it's basically just the city) and why Seaford, DE is a µSA. In Canada, all census agglomerations are essentially created equal. The difference is that the top 25 or 30 are called CMAs. Similar rules apply up there though. The region/division columns are based somewhat upon the US Census regions. In the Northeast and Northwest, I've included the relevant Canadian provinces also. Region 5 is for the Carribean so as to give Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Antigua a region. Finally, the Canadian census population numbers are from 2001 and 2011, the US population numbers are from 2000 and 2010. Best I can do.
Wow, very nice!! Edit: Damn, now I'm going to blow the whole afternoon finding data to support my conclusion that my hometown can support a D3 team.
Aren't Windsor ON and Detroit close enough to be considered for these purposes a cross-border combined metropolitan area?
In my list, they're never counted together so they stay seperate. The problem with MSAs and CSAs is that sometimes they're just clearly wrong. The Durham and Raleigh MSAs are seperate, though the CSA and general public consider them one area. I can't remember other examples right now.
Where's your hometown. I'm pretty sure my hometown of Butler, PA could not support a D3 team, but probably a PDL or NPSL team. Although we did recently make a list of top 20 (#7) small towns in the US to live in. But we could probably draw fans from such great neighboring communities as Mars, Slippery Rock, Saxonburg, West Sunbury and don't forget Hooker. LOL
Pay attention, chowder head Unfortunately, NPSL doesn't make much news... I'd never even heard of it until I joined this forum... And now I'm going to the San Diego Derby today. Who knew?
After making some mistakes recently, I looked on the chart for USL- Pro teams to learn more. The smallest market in the league is Antigua, the city there has less than 60,000 people. No businessman in the US would put a professional soccer team in a city that small. The government there made a team to compete in world cup qualifying. The next smallest city on the list is Wilmington, with just over 360,000 people. Big enough for D3, but not big enough to move up. Wilmington grew a lot over 10 years, however with the economy, it won't be likely to grow as fast as before. The Hammerheads are the only minor league team in town. The next smallest is Harrisburg, with just over 500,000. Harrisburg has a few minor league teams that have been around. After that is Charleston, with 660,000. Charleston has been a successful minor league market for a while. Dayton has about 840,000, but has lost a slight part of its population from 10 years ago. Rochester has just over a million in population. The highest populated cities in the league are Richmond, Charlotte, Orlando, and with the biggest population, LA.
No city in the US that I'm aware of is actually an island nation. Actually, the club itself has been around since 2008, it joined USL in 2010 and started play in USL Pro in 2011. The government and the FA back the club (and when they're toasted in their next two qualifiers, that'll be the end of that). But they didn't create the team to compete in World Cup qualifying. Actually, they have the Sharks, a baseball team in the Coastal Plain League. They're trying to get a new ballpark built to move the Braves' Carolina League team there, but the plan is meeting with public resistance.
The Coastal Plain League doesn't count any more than the PDL does. (Not much). The Carolina League, however, would be a big thing - with regards to competition for sponsorship an entertainment dollars. From 81-96? the A-Advanced Carolina League Braves were the Durham Bulls (before becoming the expansion Devil Rays AAA team). When the Braves left Durham they went to Myrtle Beach.
They do play right next door, though. Small parking lot. Very small. Carolina League, yes. That would be an issue.
