re: Some Trivia About City Size and Sports Teams

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Yep, the list goes Riverside, Austin, VA Beach (never would have guessed this one), Providence, Richmond, and Louisville.

CA is so tricky, but Anaheim is considered part of LA while San Jose is not considered part of SF and is instead its own MSA. I have no idea how these distinctions are drawn.

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Yea, the Norfolk/Newport News/VA Beach metro area is sneaky large - I want to say like 1.7 million people or something like that. It's what San Diego used to be (and somewhat still is) in that it is one of the true nerve centers of America's military and related industry.

Of those without a pro sports team:

Inland Empire: I can't believe there hasn't been at least one team to move here. An area with 4 million people that is mostly at least an hour or more away from LA would easily support at least one pro team and probably multiple.

Austin: I get why UT scares people away, but they're getting an MLS team here soon, I guess. There are already three NBA teams in Texas, and Austin is kind of already in the Spurs' orbit, so that's a no go. NFL doesn't want to compete with UT and doesn't want to add existing competition to the Cowboys and Texans. I think an MLB or an NHL (transplants) team could do well in Austin.

VA Beach: Kind of a nether-region market, but I could see any of the NFL, NBA, or MLB looking here. It might be difficult to get traction as the region has a lot of transplants.

Providence: Can't see any logical expansion here. The Boston and New York teams absolutely dominate this market, and none of the leagues will want to split loyalties like that.

Richmond: I could see something here. Definitely within DC's orbit, but there is a strong enough local identity that at least one team could do well. I think MLB is probably best-suited.

Louisville: Should be the very next metro after Seattle for the NBA. Probably would have an NBA team by now if not for Jurich and Pitino. The NBA would do very well here. This is a no-go for the NFL, as it's triangulated by the Colts, Titans, and Bengals. MLB could theoretically do well, but Louisville is 100% Reds territory, and I don't think MLB would want to break that. NHL is obviously out of question, but I wouldn't be surprised if they got an MLS team eventually. The level 2 team gets really good support there.