Big League City: Small Cities

Past entries on professional sports and cities include:

-- "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities," 2021

-- "Revisiting "Framework of characteristics that support successful community development in association with the development of professional sports facilities" and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team + Phoenix Coyotes hockey," 2022-- "Stadiums and arenas as the enabling infrastructure for "money-making" platforms," 2014
-- "Good quote on arenas and stadiums as "performing arts centers" attractions for cities," 2024
-- "Sports facilities and the reproduction of retail space often doesn't work for the locals," 2025
-- "You get what you plan for: the multi-use Miami Hard Rock Stadium versus typical football stadiums | Washington Commanders," 2025
-- "Another example of RFPs versus plans and letting developers set the agenda: stadium projects in Chicago," 2025

While I write a lot about government and how it makes decisions, it's been very rare that I've ever been an insider on specific acts.  (It happens but not very much.)  

The book Big League City by David Holt, formerly chief of staff to then Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett, is an insiders tale of how Oklahoma City entered "the Big Leagues" by having the Seattle SuperSonics team move to OKC, renamed as the Thunder. 

(Unfortunately, the book is out of print.  I paid a lot for my copy.  Now I'm p*** there is a much cheaper copy available today on Amazon!)

Note that as of 2018, Holt has been serving as the Mayor of OKC.

While reading it, I was struck by a couple points I identified in the culture-based revitalization series I wrote in association with a project that the EU National Institutes of Culture Washington Chapter did in Baltimore ("Richard Layman Reflects on EU in Baltimore and Blog").

Liverpool and setting bold goals.  Writing about Liverpool, I noted that they were bold and visionary in their master plan by declaring their aim to be named a European Capital of Culture in that EU program, years before the UK was even slated to host the event ("Liverpool regeneration as a process for regaining relevance at the regional, national, and global scales").  

That gave them years of additional preparation time over cities that only answered the call once it became official and so Liverpool had a big advantage.  They held the event in 2008.

Bilbao and action in the face of unplanned opportunities.  Similarly, I wrote about the value of being open to serendipity, having a plan and framework in place, but the flexibility to respond to new opportunities as they are presented.  

The example I used was Bilbao and its recruitment of the first international location of the Guggenheim Museum.  Graz, Austria was the city that the Guggenheim approached, and the citizens said no.  

Bilbao leapt to action, having a broader plan, implementation organization and financing mechanisms already in place.

Getting the Museum repositioned Bilbao as an international destination for architourism--but it was a lot more than that, see "Why can't the "Bilbao Effect" be reproduced? | Bilbao as an example of Transformational Projects Action Planning."

Oklahoma City: Metropolitan Area Projects.   OKC is no less bold than Liverpool and Bilbao in having created and is continuing to implement a robust plan for building its core.  

I've mentioned a bunch of times that OKC is one of the most innovative cities in the US because of how it continues to invest in big infrastructure projects through a program called Metropolitan Area Projects, funded as pay as you go with sales taxes ("Change isn't usually that simple: The repatterning of Oklahoma City's Downtown Streetscape").  

Former Mayor Mick Cornett has written a book, partly on MAPS, called The Next American City about investing in the nation's smaller cities.  I highly recommend it.

MAPS has been through four cycles formally, but they have used the same process for arena investments, and they don't call it MAPS. 

Oklahoma City: determined to get a professional sports team

Chesapeake Arena: Ready for action.

Building relationships with the leagues.  Mayor Cornett leveraged his participation in the US Conference of Mayors to set up appointments with the leaders of the NBA and NHL, and was able to do it without drawing publicity.

Building an arena.  Hoping to land a pro team, one of the MAPS initiatives was building a suitable arena.  The city's hired consultant said maybe they could land a hockey team, but basketball was out of the question, due to OKC's small media market.

Building a reputable ownership group.  While Cornett had been a tv sports reporter, he knew little about ownership circles.  To make a credible effort to land a team, a group of well monied people with connections to sports had to be constructed.  

(Note that this is why Nashville's efforts to land an MLB team are likely to fail.  They don't have money behind them.  They are pushing their bid based on sentiment, when dollars and cents are what matters. See: "MLB expansion: Nashville group led by Dave Stewart makes a pitch for Music City," NYT.)

It turned out that a member of the Gaylord Family--they owned the Daily Oklahoman and hospitality interests including the Grand Ole' Opry in Nashville and convention hotels around the county--had been a part owner of the San Antonio Spurs.  When meeting, the NBA Commissioner suggested that Cornett meet with him, Clay Bennett.

The arena as an available venue | demonstrating the potential for success.  Then, in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for the pro basketball team the New Orleans Hornets to play in their city, OKC was able to jump in and offer an already outfitted arena to host--and the minor league hockey team there had few conflicts when it came to the already set 2005 basketball schedule. 

The Hornets ended up in OKC for two seasons, 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. 

It was very successful, the arena mostly was sold out and the team had better attendance than most of the league.  So the Hornets owner wanted to stay in OKC but couldn't because of other commitments.  The 2007-2008 season was dark in Ford Arena ("Looking Back: the Oklahoma City Hornets," Daily Oklahoman),

Hockey as the next step after the Hornets?  Even after the great success of the Hornets, OKC's Mayor didn't think the city had a strong enough case based on the local market size and the potential for television revenues to host an NBA team permanently.  

Therefore they were prepared to settle for a hockey team.  But by the time the Hornets returned to New Orleans, the window for hockey expansion had closed.

Seattle SuperSonics wanted a new arena, were rebuffed.  While OKC had an arena capable of hosting a team, owners in Seattle needed a new "platform" as the KeyArena was aging, and the city and state weren't willing to subsidize it.  

Disappointed, the Seattle-based owners sold the team to a group of OKC businesspeople that had been constructed to buy a team.  They agreed to continue to make the case for a new arena in Seattle, and then only after rejection, could they move the team.  Subsequently the city and state didn't offer subsidies, and despite a strong effort by fans to keep the team, and later, lawsuits, the team was free to move ("10 years ago today, the Sonics moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City," Seattle Times).

FWIW, 12 years later the Seattle Kraken hockey team began play, after a new arena was constructed under the old KeyArena roof ("Seattle Kraken put community first, hockey second in lead-up to inaugural season," USA Today).

In the mean time: more improvements to the OKC arena.  In the meantime, OKC used the MAPS process to put more improvements into the arena and to build a standalone practice facility.  (More recently the city has voted to tax itself again for yet a newer arena.)

We know how it turned out: OKC got the team.  With sound leadership, since their launch in the 2008-2009 season, they made the NBA Championship Finals once while losing, made it into the playoffs a number of times.

In 2025, after 16 years, the team won the NBA Championships for the first time, with analysts saying they will continue to contend for years to come.

Becoming a big(ger) league city.  Sports as popular culture.  Holt's thesis is that in the post-industrial economy, culture is key, athletes and teams and the fanfare around teams keeps sports top of mind, and therefore having professional sports teams helps to define, position, and bring attention to your community.

No question that since the NBA is increasingly a worldwide phenomenon, people all over the world are aware of Oklahoma City and they likely wouldn't have otherwise but for the team.

He admits that perhaps pride in having city "membership" in the "guild" of cities with professional teams matters more to cities originally without a team or with a limited number of teams. That in the case of OKC and Seattle, the latter wasn't as motivated to come up with public funds for an arena, because they already had professional football and baseball teams, for which they already provided hundreds of millions of dollars, and that OKC, without any professional team at all, was highly motivated.

How much does a professional sports shape local identity and national positioning?  Does a pro team matter more to smaller cities?  I just don't know.  

Partly the city is a massive suburb because of wanton annexation.  By the 1980s, it no longer had a strongly defined Downtown core.

MAPS was a response to United Airlines rejecting the OKC airport as a site for a major maintenance facility, because executives couldn't see wanting to live there because of the lack of amenities.  

The city definitely was shattered moreso in 1995 when the Murrah Federal Building was blown up by a domestic terrorist.  

Such an act would have a major effect on any city and its self-confidence and sense of worth.  OKC was no exception.

Yet the city continued to push forward and overall, MAPS changed the reality and the narrative, and provided a multitude of reasons for locals and visitors to go Downtown--a watercourse on the Oklahoma River, a revitalized Bricktown neighborhood--or to live in the city--MAPS2, called MAPS4Kids rebuilt schools across the city, attracting new residents to the core.  Etc. 

From a community pride and self-worth perspective, despite those setbacks, because of its place in the natural gas and oil industries, the city was already a major economic player.  Although the fossil fuel industry is known for its peaks and valleys ("Oklahoma City, Aubrey McClendon and Chesapeake Energy (now in bankruptcy)"). People from those industries were key investors in the Thunder and other civic ventures.

Nonetheless, many people didn't consider OKC a city in the same way as a place like Boston because of the swath of suburbs.  In fact, So there was definitely a lack of self-confidence, which to the city's credit, resulted in self-investment.

As metropolitan areas grow, economic acknowledgement comes from professional sports teams.  Charlotte has football and basketball ("Sports pumped millions into Charlotte's economy in 2024," Axios), although the first basketball team moved to New Orleans and was replaced, while Raleigh has pro hockey.  Jacksonville landed a football team.  Tampa Bay baseball and hockey, with the hockey team being especially successful.  Nashville, the Predators hockey team.  

Earlier rounds brought teams to cities like Atlanta, Dallas. Denver, and Houston.  Some owners even founded their own leagues, later merging with the established leagues in basketball and hockey, to form teams.

While the Denver Broncos were born in 1959 and Nuggets basketball team in 1973, the MLB didn't join the city until 1993.

Many say the Colorado Rockies baseball team sparked the revitalization of the LoDo district, but the reality is that it was more about accelerating what was already happening (maybe like with the Wizards and Capitals in DC ("S").  The Rockies merely took advantage of and credit for its success ("Is LoDo still thriving? Here’s how Coors Field helped shape a developing Denver neighborhood," Colorado Sun).

Of course, speaking to the veracity of Holt's points, Denver has received a great amount of national and international publicity as a result of its championship in 2023, and then and continued dominance of Nikola Jokić, winner of multiple MVP awards. 

DC: The arena and revitalization of the East End.  Even though I argued for years that the move by the teams to DC from the suburbs weren't the reason that the Downtown East End began revitalization, eventually I conceded that the move was a vote of confidence in urban living and commerce, and it helped reposition DC's image vis a vis the suburbs, just before residential choice trends began revaluing center cities after many decades of denigration ("Pollin: With Opening of MCI Center, 'I've Got Everything I've Ever Done in My Life on the Line'," Post, 1997, "Without Verizon Center, does Chinatown still thrive?," Washington Business Journal, 2016).  Like in Denver with the Rockies, no question it accelerated improvements.

Same with the Washington Nationals stadium in SE DC.  It didn't spark the revitalization there, it was already happening.  But it accelerated it, and like the basketball and hockey teams, provided another reason for suburbanites to visit and sample the city.

Not all small cities landing teams get a major boost to identity.  On the other hand, smaller cities like Salt Lake haven't been redefined because of pro basketball and hockey teams, nor Memphis and Portland with their basketball teams.  Memphis has its identity around music, Portland around its "weird" identity, and Salt Lake is branded by it being the home of the LDS Church.

But yes, the cities have more recognition worldwide because of the teams being based there.  How and if it pays off is the question.

Losing teams is often a blow.  As Baltimore shrunk relative to other cities, its Colts football team moved to Indianapolis, and in St. Louis, the Cardinals football team moved to Arizona.  Communities do express angst when teams leave, and often endeavor greatly to keep them. Back in the day, even NYC suffered a blow to city identity and pride as the Giants moved from the Bronx to SF and the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

My position on smaller cities and teams, and smaller cities and minor league teams has changed.  Because I have long been against subsidy of big league teams by cities, I've downplayed the value of those teams in terms of "community pride" and positioning.  

Definitely, All Star Games and Super Bowls don't make the localities much money ("NBA All Star Game in Salt Lake, economic development hype | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the Pirates baseball team economics") and the overall economic contribution of team is minimal, because households set a certain amount aside for entertainment spending, and dollars spent on sports events just mean less spending on other options.

Unless teams experience a large number of fans visiting from out of town ("Win or lose, Steelers playoff game scores millions for Pittsburgh’s economy," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette),

OTOH, when you're Greensboro, NC or Louisville, KY, having a minor league baseball team downtown can be a big deal, and in those cities and many others, minor league teams have helped to spark downtown reinvestment and visitation in important ways ("Ballpark Boom: New minor league stadiums spring up across the region," Federal Reserve of Richmond, "Funding ballfields: Some cities build minor league ballparks without using taxpayer money," ABC13, "How Baseball Revitalized a Venerable Mill Town," Temerity Capital Partners).

Note though that like the revitalization and investment framework deployed by Liverpool, Bilbao, and Oklahoma City, the most successful cities with minor league teams have developed those facilities as but one element of a broader program.  

More recently, the move of the minor league Red Sox team from Pawtucket, Rhode Island to Worcester, Massachusetts has been an issue ("The PawSox Moved, but Pawtucket Has Yet to Move On," New York Times).

Maybe in those cases, subsidy is more warranted because of actual revitalization impact, when it is much more ethereal when it comes to the big pro teams, which aim to capture as much of the revenue stream that is possible deriving from their presence and presentation of events.  Although, sometimes like in Greensboro, public funds aren't used, instead local foundations step in.

An aerial rendering shows a proposed $250 million mixed-use development that would bring housing, a boutique hotel, retail, restaurants and more to the area around Slugger Field in downtown Louisville

Interestingly, as private equity becomes a greater force in minor league baseball, with firms owning multiple teams ("A new group is buying up minor league baseball teams at a feverish pace. What’s the end game?," NYT), the firms are developing "sports and entertainment district" proposals comparable to those of professional teams ("$250M+ redevelopment would bring housing, retail near Slugger Field in downtown Louisville," Louisville Courier-Journal).

Maybe the difference is between small cities and really small cities.  Compared to Greensboro or Louisville, OKC is a metropolis. 

Hagerstown Boxcars ("Downtown ballpark reshaping Hagerstown’s image, draws fans and new development," Hagerstown Herald-Mail)

More than a decade in the making, the prospect of a downtown ballpark surprised many. A year and a half later, the roughly $90 million project draws rave reviews for its amenities and for reshaping perceptions of downtown Hagerstown. New businesses opened and housing proposals are surfacing, though many long-time owners and managers say the game-night effect on existing shops remains mixed.

Fort Myers, Florida.  After the Boston Red Sox moved its pre-season facilities out of the city and after failed efforts to land soccer teams, the city is tearing down the stadium ("Fort Myers To Demolish City of Palms Stadium, Salvage Historical Elements for New Development," ESPN).

Noblesville, Indiana, 27miles outside of Indianapolis, opened an arena with a capacity of 3,400 that hosts an NBA G Team ("A ‘Boom’ for Noblesville: The Arena at Innovation Mile to open Aug. 8," Current).

The facility is part of Innovation Mile, a 600-acre business and technology hub in Noblesville. The first public music event at The Arena at Innovation Mile will be a free concert Aug. 23 featuring Signs of Life: The American Pink Floyd. The group is a Pink Floyd tribute band.

Jensen said the Arena at Innovation Mile at 14157 CJ Way will create a $2 billion revenue stream for Indiana over the next 30 years.

The city has 75,000 residents and the arena cost $93 million.  That level of economic impact seems high.  Or another way, $2 billion over 30 years isn't that much on an annual basis.  Even $67 million per year seems like a high estimate.

Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Is building a new arena for the Kalamazoo Wings minor league hockey team and the hockey team from the local university ("‘A once-in-100-year opportunity’: Ground broken on $515M Kalamazoo Event Center," Kalamazoo Gazette).  

The new space will show off both the Western Michigan University brand and a true Kalamazoo identity, Johnston said.

“Today isn’t just about turning over a shovel of dirt or ice. It’s about turning a page in our city’s story,” said K-Wings GM Toni Will. “This groundbreaking represents the culmination of years of vision, dedication and most importantly teamwork across our entire community from city leaders and business partners to fans, families and volunteers.

“This project exists because so many people chose to roll up their sleeves and work together. … We are laying the foundation for a stronger, more vibrant Kalamazoo together.”

With double the capacity of the Noblesville arena, they are forecasting "only" $52 million per year in new economic activity