Message #1539581

[whytev]

here are the hardball times articles that I mentioned.

First, explaining the methodology:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/examining-potential-mlb-expansion-cities-part-1/
There's explanations for each of these factors in the article.  The caveat with older populations is that cities with more 65+ fans do well on TV but worse on live gate.  Hello, Tampa Bay.

The second article focuses on US cities without teams currently first, then discusses NYC/LA/CHI, and also international cities.
http://www.hardballtimes.com/examining-potential-mlb-expansion-cities-part-2/
Top 5 are San Jose, by a lot, then Vegas, Austin, Sacramento, and Providence.  He throws in the reality check of how the minor league teams draw. 

San Jose has it all.  But for the Giants blocking the city, it is ideal in almost all respects.  Overeducated is the main drawback. 
Vegas is heavily male, warm, and populous, but reality is that there may be too many distractions.   Austin does very well, and I think is the most interesting city that is not usually talked about.  Round Rock draws very well, Austin is one of 3 cities > 50% male (the others are #1 and #2), lots of money floating around, climate, and older but < 65.  Sac'to is something of a surprise because it is never mentioned as an alternative to San Jose.  In addition to the demographics, the River Cats are a great draw.  This could be an alternative landing spot for the As if San jose is not feasible. Providence is just a weird result, but it gets helped in part because median age is 39+ and it is, to say it directly, very white. 

There are some nice critiques of the analysis in the comments.  Many point to Charlotte as being close to a number of population centers outside the MSA.  Providence might be a result that should lead to skepticism about the methodology.  That said, the skepticism about some cities like Indy and Portland is interesting, and flagging Austin I think is a nice bit of sifting data to come up with an option that should get some attention.

Austin? I dunno if Texas can do 3 teams. That's football country.