Bigger than Dallas! If ownership/stadium issues are worked out (big if), MLS should be there! Story on latest Census Bureau Release
"At around 1.7 million in population, the San Antonio metropolitan area remains far smaller than that of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, which stands at about 5.6 million and is climbing heartily."
It's not really bigger than Dallas in terms of overall metropolitan area. From the article: But I like San Antonio as an MLS city, too. - Paul
You don't really want to start comparing attendances compared to market size, Mr. I-Live-In-A-Metro-Area-With-20-Million-People.
That's a good one, the 8th largest city, San Antonio!!! Either that or you've been hitting the crack a little too often.
It would make a nice cross-state derby though. What sucks is that Dallas, Austin, and Houston are all about as the same distance away from where I live, so I don't get a cut in drive time.
So if you're saying that San Antonio should get an MLS team just because of its population size, then shouldn't Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and San Diego get one frist since they have larger populations than San Antonio? Not quite. Not a very good arguement.
Well, I can think of one major Texas city that didn't annex out the wazoo when they had the chance. It's a pretty big reason why they're now dropped to #3 in population in the state.
Phoenix first. They just passed Phili to claim being the 5th largest city in the US and have 3.4m in their metro.
Thank you all for your supportive comments (comments, anyway ), especially from the Texans out there. Living in NJ, the notion that SA is 8th in terms of city population (at least as far as the US Census Bureau looks at things) took me a little bit by surprise. Do Houston, Philly, San Diego, and Phoenix deserve MLS clubs? Of course they do! San Antonio, has a few things, however, that make the city an attractive expansion candidate as well: 1) SA has few pro sports teams competing for the family entertainment dollar, unlike HOU, PHI, PHX and SD. 2) SA has a mayor that is actually courting MLS. 3) SA has a temporary stadium solution where MLS can be the primary tenant. 4) SA has a strong hispanic population (yes, I know other candidate cities do as well). Enjoy your afternoon.
The important number is the size of the TV market. That's defined by the number of people (technically TV households, but it's a similar number) within broadcast range from the center. That also usually coincides with the reasonable driving distance to where the stadium would be. In that respect, San Antonio is ranked 37th. Dallas is 7th, and Houston is 11th. Maybe when the TV market studies are updated, they will reflect the census growth and boost San Antonio as high as 32nd, though that would be a close to unprecedented growth in one year for a market already in the 30s. http://www.tvjobs.com/cgi-bin/markets/market2.cgi
Thanks, Cobblestone. Interesting that press reports have Salt Lake City (36th on the list, one ahead of SA) as a very strong candidate for the 2nd 2005 franchise.
Someone like me who is lobbying (or at least posting on message boards) in favor of an MLS franchise in the state that is near the bottom in terms of per capita income should not throw stones at San Antonio's business climate. But if I understand correctly, San Antonio is a Company Town and that Company is the US Air Force. Sure, the US Air Force is probably not going to go bankrupt any time soon or lay off all their employees and outsource everything to Bangalore or Shenzen. But does San Antonio have enough corporate sponsors to support an MLS team?