Quote:
Originally Posted by Buster Cherry
Not really. The NHL Hurricanes haven't drawn all that well since moving to Raleigh from Hartford. They would have been better served moving to Charlotte which has a history of strong support for minor league hockey. Also, college sports are very big in the Raleigh area. Fans support UNC, NC State, and Duke fanatically and will likely continue to spend their dollars there over an expansion MLB franchise. I just don't see Raleigh being a viable option for baseball expansion. It would be like putting an NBA franchise in Pittsburgh.
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Good observation.
New Orleans is a Saints town and an LSU town... minor league sports wouldn't do well... I am surprised that the New Orleans Pelicans are doing fairly well... but I would think they will eventually leave, if they don't have winning team soon.
Baton Rouge is not a good minor-league town because of the LSU Tigers football, baseball and basketball teams.
We had two very good independent league teams, the Blue Marlins and the Riverbats, but they did not draw well... they won the pennants...good talent.. good level of play... Single A or Double A level... had ex-LSU players... and still didn't draw well.
However, it might have been a different story if LSU had allowed them to use their baseball field... but they didn't... even though the independent league would not have overlapped the college season very much.