Without looking it up, I'd say that there are some cities in India or Pakistan that are enormous, but don't have pro soccer teams. I hope not, since putting the title Biggest City In The World Without A Pro Soccer Team on Detroit might help convince someone with a big checkbook to step up, but I'd be sort of surprised.
I'm not sure which San Antonio you're talking about in all honesty. I'm talking about the one that is here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_San_Antonio and that doesn't even mention Niosa which is another Hispanic celebration. The city is lined with Hispanic notations and you can't go more than a block without something Hispanic in orientation jumping out at you. This city stands up, flaunts, and is proud of its culture. I know because I've lived there.
True, but I'm the kind of geek to get entranced by this and do some research. I'm going by the list given here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_agglomerations_by_population which consists of information drawn from the U.N. According to it, Atlanta's 58th in the world, and it looks like the best chance of not being #1 is probably going to be somewhere in India/Pakistan or Kinshasa, Zaire. Back in a hour or so with results.
Well, you got me curious, so here's a start (feel free to fill in). As far as I can tell, the largest city in the world (based on this list) without a top-division soccer team is Lagos, Nigeria. The largest city without any kind of professional team in a national league seems to be Hyderabad, India. All cities without a team in their country's top league are in bold: 1. Tokyo, Japan: J-League 2. Mexico City, Mexico: Primera 3. Mumbai, India: I-League 4. Sáo Paulo, Brazil: Serie A 5. New York City, USA: MLS 6. Shanghai, China: Super League 7. Lagos, Nigeria: League 1-B (second division) 8. Los Angeles, USA: MLS 9. Calcutta, India: I-League 10. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Primera 11. Seóul, South Korea: K-League 12. Beijing, China: Super League 13. Karachi, Pakistan: Pakistan Premier League 14. Delhi, India: I-League 2nd Division 15. Dhaka, Bangladesh: B. League 16. Manila, Philippines: Filipino Premier League 17. Cairo, Egypt: Egyptian Premier League 18. Õsaka, Japan: J-League 19. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Serie A 20. Tianjin, China: Super League 21. Jakarta, Indonesia: ISL 22. Paris, France: Ligue 1 23. Istanbul, Turkey: Super Lig 24. Moscow, Russian Fed.: Premier League 25. London, United Kingdom: Premier League 26. Lima, Peru: 1st Division 27. Tehrãn, Iran: Persian Gulf cup 28. Bangkok, Thailand: Premier League 29. Chicago, USA: MLS 30. Bogotá, Colombia: FPC 31. Hyderabad, India: None? 32. Chennai, India: I-League 2nd Division 33. Essen, Germany: 34. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: 35. Hangzhou, China: Super League 36. Hong Kong, China: HK First Division 37. Lahore, Pakistan: 38. Shenyang, China: 39. Changchun, China: 40. Bangalore, India: I-League 2nd Division 41. Harbin, China - 5,475,000 42. Chengdu, China - 5,293,000 43. Santiago, Chile - 5,261,000 44. Guangzhou, China - 5,162,000 45. St. Petersburg, Russian Fed. - 5,132,000 46. Kinshasa, DRC: Congo Premier League (in Brazzaville) 47. Baghdãd, Iraq - 4,796,000 48. Jinan, China - 4,789,000 49. Wuhan, China - 4,750,000 50. Toronto, Canada: MLS 51. Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) - 4,458,000 52. Alger, Algeria - 4,447,000 53. Philadelphia, USA: MLS 54. Qingdao, China: Super League 55. Milano, Italy: Serie A 56. Pusan, South Korea: K-League 57. Belo Horizonte, Brazil - 4,160,000 58. Almadabad, India - 4,154,000 59. Madrid, Spain: Primera 60. San Francisco, USA: MLS 61. Alexandria, Egypt: Egyptian Premier League 62. Washington DC, USA - 3,927,000 63. Houston, USA: MLS 64. Dallas, USA: MLS 65. Guadalajara, Mexico: Primera 66. Chongging, China: Super League 67. Medellin, Colombia - 3,831,000 68. Detroit, USA: None 69. Handan, China - 3,763,000 70. Frankfurt, Germany - 3,700,000 71. Porto Alegre, Brazil - 3,699,000 72. Hanoi, Vietnam - 3,678,000 73. Sydney, Australia - 3,665,000 74. Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. - 3,601,000 75. Singapore, Singapore - 3,587,000 76. Casablanca, Morocco - 3,535,000 77. Katowice, Poland - 3,488,000 78. Pune, India - 3,485,000 79. Bangdung, Indonesia: ISL 80. Monterrey, Mexico - 3,416,000 81. Montréal, Canada - 3,401,000 82. Nagoya, Japan - 3,377,000 83. Nanjing, China - 3,375,000 84. Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire - 3,359,000 85. Xi'an, China: Super League 86. Berlin, Germany: Bundesliga 87. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - 3,328,000 88. Recife, Brazil - 3,307,000 89. Dusseldorf, Germany - 3,251,000 90. Ankara, Turkey: Super Lig 91. Melbourne, Australia - 3,188,000 92. Salvador, Brazil - 3,180,000 93. Dalian, China - 3,153,000 94. Caracas, Venezuela - 3,153,000 95. Adis Abeba, Ethiopia - 3,112,000 96. Athina, Greece - 3,103,000 97. Cape Town, South Africa - 3,092,000 98. Koln, Germany - 3.067,000 99. Maputo, Mozambique - 3,017,000 100. Napoli, Italy - 3,012,000
Nope. Several teams in the Congo Premier League play in Brazzaville, the Republic of the Congo side of the Kinshasa-Brazzavill conurbation.
We're 7th(ish) in the list of largest cities in the world without a soccer team. Note: I'm going by the list I posted the link to earlier. #22 - Lagos, Nigeria: They had a team in Lagos, Julius Berger FC which closed in 2008, leaving the city itself without a team, although several nearby cities supposedly have teams in the Nigerian league. #32 - Wuhan, China: Had a team in China's highest league until, "They quit the league due to unfair punishment". Your guess is as good as mine. #40 - Hyderabad, India #46 - Ahmedabad, India #53 - Khartoum, Sudan - Methinks Sudan has bigger issues than football. #57 - Dongyuan, China #58 - Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. - We supposedly have the Silverbacks, but I have yet to find a person who has faith that they're coming back. Note: I have no idea whether Detroit's numbers included Windsor. Either Detroit of Atlanta still can stake the claim that they're the biggest city on 5 continents (all but Asia/Africa) not to have a team.
Detroit's numbers usually don't include Windsor/London/Chatham and their metro areas because they usually don't count population inside Canada. However, if you include Windsor, it is bigger than Atlanta (according to this list), and if you throw in London's metro area, along with Chatham's, you have a metro area that is bigger than Dallas, Toronto, Philly, and Boston.
Julius Berger is still going; they've just dropped down to the 1st Division from the Premier League. Their most recent game was a 1-0 win against OUK F.C. on January 25. They got into a spat over a refereeing call in a game. Wuhan does still have a team in the Yi league, the third level of Chinese soccer, called Wuhan Yaqi. I don't know if they're professional or not.
Khartoum is represented in the 12-team Sudan Premier League by the Al Khartoum Club. There are also at least three Premier League teams in Omdurman, part of the Khartoum-Omdurman-Khartoum North conurbation.
Kinda brings up an interesting question. How far do people go to watch their home team in this country? I know for the Vancouver Whitecaps USL club, we have one lady who comes from just south of seattle. And do to work I have moved to Victoria (only 112 km, but half of that is water; although I can't complain I fly on the sea plane downtown to downtown half the time). I would find it interesting to see how far people are willing to go to
If the question is how far will people travel to watch the closest team, then it's quite a ways. In the Motor City Supporters, we have guys who travel to Crew games as well as TFC games. Some go to the occasional Chicago Fire game. However, we will never consider any of these teams our "home" team.
I am with the guy a few pages ago who proposes an Austin team. I love the city, and like he says, it is just begging for a professional sport franchise to be granted. It's a fast growing city, which is currently undergoing a huge renovation. There must be new projects breaking ground every month. It's kinda late for me, and I don't have much else to say right now, but I just wanted to get this down on 'paper' before I forget. I'll make a stronger case in a few days...
San Antonio, if heavily invested in MLS could be a good fit. Living here, I can tell you that the Spurs are everything here. They are huge in terms of following. The fact that MLS falls in the Summer months could be a huge charm. That being said, San Antonio could be a flop. The youth soccer program is only now starting to expand to a respectable rate here. 10 years ago it was quite poor in general. Austin in all actuality may be a better fit. Perhaps, putting a team in Schertz with a San Anotonio name would be a great idea to get both Austin and San Antonio supporters involved. Who knows for sure?
How about Hill Country Football Club, Athletic Club or Soccer Club HCFC HCAC or HCSC Talk about San Antonio and Austin markets. Personally I'd put it in San Marcos, and ask the BBQ barons from Lockhart to tailgate once in awhile. I'd commute from Chicago for the games.
This might be the right route. San Antonio has pretty much absorbed New Braunfels now (a city 15-20 miles away). New Braunfels is an hour away from Austin in bad traffic. San Marcos wouldn't be the ideal choice to "host" the club as they've shown time and time again that they don't show up for shit. Hell, they couldn't even sell out Bobcat Stadium when Texas State hosted a National Semifinal game telivised on ESPN (football). So yeah. The Shertz idea is pretty good as with New Braunfels those two places have the best space available. Combining the area (like Hill Country or Central Texas) would give that entire San Antonio to Austin area a sense of ownership.
Where's Ottawa on our list? Garber's use of the "inconceivable" word yesterday has put them one step closer to stop being soccer-teamless.
You could make a case for Windsor since it's just across the border, but London? London is over 200 km from Detroit and is actually closer to Toronto. So if you're going to add it to anyone's soccer market, it would have to go to Toronto. Of course, using a London-Toronto radius then TFC's market would include most of the population of southern Ontario as well as Buffalo and Rochester. That would make TFC's market about 13 million. Somehow I don't see it.
I'm thinking about London because there are a ton of Detroit sports fans in London. It is further away, but a lot of them identify more with Detroit sports than Toronto.
And how much of Phoenix and Miami's growth was based on the Housing Boom? I remember being in Miami and seeing like no less than 40 cranes building various high rises a year ago, now from what I've heard, theyre just sitting there..... Fastest sustainable growth? Goes to.....