Could Raleigh eventually host a Franchise?

[Sam Mills Fan]

Only Raleigh homers can argue they're a superior sports city to Charlotte. The Hornets have never done anything and are one of the irrelevant dumpster fire franchises of the NBA. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have actually won a Stanley Cup pretty recently. Guess which team regularly has a higher attendance? Hell, almost as many people go to Charlotte Knights games as go to Hurricanes games. I know it must suck having one of the most irrelevant schools in D-I there (I'm a UNCC grad so I don't have room to talk), but you're stuck with just college and a hockey team nobody cares about for the foreseeable future.

 

People are stuck in this 2002 thinking about the Charlotte sports scene for some reason. All of our franchises are doing well and we have a great fans of every team here.

[csx]

9 hours ago, Nails said:

I repeat-I have never spent more than a couple days at a time in the Triangle, don’t have immediate family that’s graduated from a Triangle school, and have spent a lifetime enjoying all sports at all levels in all regions of this country and beyond.  My undergraduate degree was earned at a non-ACC school, but one that has won championships in multiple sports at the D1 Level.

I am not alone in saying I’m done with college sports.  It may take a generation or even more to bleed out, but bleed out it will.  The repercussions of the sham ruling are unrecoverable.  Enjoy the inferior product that is “amateur sports”, ill-gotten gain, played under the farce of a so called “association” while it exists I guess.

I think college sports have a much stronger base. It's not going anywhere.

[ImfromClayton]

I have lived in both areas for extended periods of time. 

Raleigh/Durham is an awesome sports market, but it's the most fickle sports market I've ever seen.  UNC football fans didn't consistently fill Kenan Stadium the year they went to the ACC title game.  In bad years... yikes.  NC state is better about this (in football).    In hoops, when any of the big 3 struggles, attendance drops significantly, thankfully this isn't often a concern. I'm a diehard canes fans, and I understand the issues, but attendance isn't good there either.

This is gonna sound bad, but Charlotte has been kind of raised on bad sports teams, and it's made Charlotte a pretty dedicated sports town.

The NFL could succeed anywhere, even without fans.  The Chargers have proven that.  The NFL won't split up this market though.  It's a lost cause there. Raleigh needs to focus on getting us a soccer team, because I want another sport in which to dominate Atlanta, and MLS is only trending upward. 
 

[csx]

This is the most juvenile argument. 

[TNPanther]

The Triangle is a lot like Atlanta but on a much smaller scale. It has a great college scene and is very transient with the influx of white collar transplants who relocated for better jobs with the tech companies. I spent the better part of my childhood in Cary so I know from experience.

Pro teams here in ATL, the 9th largest city in the country, struggle to fill the seats. How in the world then could you expect a franchise in a culturally similar area 1/5th of the size to attract a reasonable following?

[kungfoodude]

21 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

Only Raleigh homers can argue they're a superior sports city to Charlotte. The Hornets have never done anything and are one of the irrelevant dumpster fire franchises of the NBA. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes have actually won a Stanley Cup pretty recently. Guess which team regularly has a higher attendance? Hell, almost as many people go to Charlotte Knights games as go to Hurricanes games. I know it must suck having one of the most irrelevant schools in D-I there (I'm a UNCC grad so I don't have room to talk), but you're stuck with just college and a hockey team nobody cares about for the foreseeable future.

 

People are stuck in this 2002 thinking about the Charlotte sports scene for some reason. All of our franchises are doing well and we have a great fans of every team here.

You realize that the Hurricanes currently have the longest streak in the NHL without a playoff appearance, right? The decline in attendance isn't really an accident. "Pretty recently" was actually 11 years ago. Hard to ride that wave very far when the following years include a streak of 8 seasons without a playoff appearance. The Hornets/Bobcats have had struggles with attendance for similar reasons within the last 15 years. If you stink for long enough, people don't want to come to games. 

I certainly remember some of the sparse crowds during our 1-15 season, especially the latter half. It's hard to knock any city for not showing up for a loser(see: Oakland, Raiders as a good past decade example). Atlanta is a poo pro sports city, for instance, because they have a rep for not even showing up when they DO have good teams, really in most of their sports. Now that is the hallmark of a poo pro sports city. And, if I am being honest, North Carolina is still a work in progress as far as being a good pro sports area, even almost 30 years after getting it's first professional franchise. I travel quite extensively and we don't see anywhere near the levels of statewide support for any of our professional franchises as many of the longer tenured professional sports cities/areas that I have been to. 

The Raleigh versus Charlotte bitterness is pretty stupid. 

[coralreefer_1]

17 hours ago, ImfromClayton said:

I have lived in both areas for extended periods of time. 

Raleigh/Durham is an awesome sports market, but it's the most fickle sports market I've ever seen.  UNC football fans didn't consistently fill Kenan Stadium the year they went to the ACC title game.  In bad years... yikes.  NC state is better about this (in football).    In hoops, when any of the big 3 struggles, attendance drops significantly, thankfully this isn't often a concern. I'm a diehard canes fans, and I understand the issues, but attendance isn't good there either.

This is gonna sound bad, but Charlotte has been kind of raised on bad sports teams, and it's made Charlotte a pretty dedicated sports town.

The NFL could succeed anywhere, even without fans.  The Chargers have proven that.  The NFL won't split up this market though.  It's a lost cause there. Raleigh needs to focus on getting us a soccer team, because I want another sport in which to dominate Atlanta, and MLS is only trending upward. 
 

This! The whole triangle area is mostly fans that will jump from team to team on a whim. the vast majority of people that live in Raleigh support Duke or UNC...even though a good portion of them never went to those schools. Guess why? Mofos support a consistent team over time.  Its the reason why our stands get filled with Steeler fans. 

]

[JakeDel5674]

17 hours ago, panthersphan said:

No.

 

Raleigh is a college sports/NHL kind of town. Eventually it could be a college sports/MLS. It is NOT an NFL or Major League Baseball kind of town. If you don't see that, you're a homer and can't admit it.

 

Metrolina is only continuing to boom. The money is there, the market is there, the Panthers are there. Raleigh will never, let me say that again, Raleigh will never get the Panthers.

 

They can't even fill their NHL games, let alone a 75,000 pro stadium. The "Caniacs" haven't supported the team since the Stanley Cup years over a decade ago. I know they suck , but it's bad, they continue to have games with under-10,000 in attendance. Why would any smart businessman move the CAROLINA Panthers farther from South Carolina and out of the most populated city, largest TV market and economy in The Carolinas?!

 

Plain and simple; moving the Panthers to Raleigh is a pipe dream for Raleigh homers and that's it.

Actually the Canes have averaged 12,000+ this season.  Just saying.  

[JakeDel5674]

48 minutes ago, Sam Mills Fan said:

All of our franchises are doing

LOLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.  The Hornets are doing well?  Most of us fans want them to tank.  But, they're doing well?  Alrighty.  

[kungfoodude]

8 minutes ago, coralreefer_1 said:

This! The whole triangle area is mostly fans that will jump from team to team on a whim. the vast majority of people that live in Raleigh support Duke or UNC...even though a good portion of them never went to those schools. Guess why? Mofos support a consistent team over time.  Its the reason why our stands get filled with Steeler fans. 

]

Plus, Raleigh has a lot of elements of the Atlanta explosion, which is a heavy Northeastern/out of state influx. The two biggest fan clubs in Raleigh that I have run across when I am sports bar trolling on Sunday's are the Patriots and Steelers. It's maddening and upsetting but those guys are going to tend to carry their allegiances with them when they move.

[kungfoodude]

12 minutes ago, JakeDel5674 said:

Actually the Canes have averaged 12,000+ this season.  Just saying.  

https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2017/12/5/16716870/carolina-hurricanes-attendance-tickets-pnc-arena

This is an interesting article on the Hurricanes attendance. Some things I was not aware of and also an interesting look at the strategy they are implementing currently. 

[ScreenPlay]

14 hours ago, MillionDollarCam said:

Having lived in both cities for over 10 years each.

Raleigh cannot support an NFL team. Individuals in The Triangle are fickle when it comes to athletics, if the team is not performing well the fans don't show. Whether it's the Hurricanes, Wolfpack basketball, or Tar Heel and Duke football; when the teams are playing poorly the fans don't come out. When you take into account how small Raleigh is, there is not a chance in hell The Triangle couple support an NFL team.

You clearly lived in raleigh in the 60’s or something bc to think the raleigh area won’t support a nfl franchise is flatout silly. And please don’t compare a nfl team to Wolfpack basketball or duke football. Which thousands of people have no connection to so why would they support them. 

[ScreenPlay]

Can’t believe y’all are in here using hockey as a valid point why a nfl team won’t get support in southern Virginia down to SC. lol. 

 

 

Dont nobody give a damn about hockey. Nobody. 

[PantherNation123]

5 minutes ago, ScreenPlay said:

You clearly lived in raleigh in the 60’s or something bc to think the raleigh area won’t support a nfl franchise is flatout silly. And please don’t compare a nfl team to Wolfpack basketball or duke football. Which thousands of people have no connection to so why would they support them. 

Dude, it just isn't going to happen... it's really that simple.  This thread needs to be put in the garbage