re: If you could own a sports team, what city would it be? (small market only)

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Its the 17th largest metro, 8th largest city in AMERICA. That isnt small market.

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Yet the San Diego market is too small and too sophisticated to ensure the Padres prosperity, even as the only game in town. The Padres cannot pack Petco Park unless they win, but they are too smart to swap their superstar for three minor leaguers and proclaim they are a better team.

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"We were a small market in that facility, in that era of baseball," said president and CEO Mike Dee, who during the last decade served as COO of the Red Sox. "But given the economic reform and the fact that we play at Petco Park, that's what catapults this market into a mid-market."

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The San Diego Padres are attempting to operate like a mid-market franchise.

"We've sort of banned the word 'small-market,'" Peter Seidler, the Padres' lead investor, said. "We don't look at ourselves like a small market. I think it's clear now that we don't behave like a small market."

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The Padres are a small market team with only a small market payroll. They can't afford to spend money like other teams do.

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The club's top executives insist they are operating as a mid-market franchise or, at least, one in the making. And despite the geographical constraints of playing in San Diego, the Padres say they intend to remain in that tier.

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Astros Rockets Texans w

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