Hartford deserves a major league sports franchise based on its population and mean household income, a new report says, but the city hasn’t been able to land one since the Whalers skated off to Raleigh, N.C., in 1997.
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Hartford deserves a major league sports franchise based on its population and mean household income, a new report says, but the city hasn't been able to land one since the Whalers skated off to Raleigh, N.C., in 1997.
Despite data showing Hartford is a pro-worthy market, multiple factors contribute to the city's nearly 20-year lack of a major league sports franchise including being in the sphere of the Boston and New York media markets and the aging XL Center, experts say.
On the bright side, Hartford has recently attracted minor league franchises: The Hartford Yard Goats will play minor league baseball in a new downtown stadium in 2016 and Hartford City FC will play indoor minor league soccer at the XL Center beginning this fall.
SmartAsset, a financial technology company out of New York City, crunched population and median household income data for the 100 largest U.S. metro areas, creating a list of 10 cities with too many pro teams and 10 with too few among the big four men's leagues of the MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL.
Hartford tied with Providence as eighth most deserving of a team. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metro area was third.
SmartAsset looked only at numbers, in order to keep sports passions out, said AJ Smith, the company's vice president of content.
Based on population and income, Hartford can support a major league sports team, Smith said. SmartAsset didn't analyze which leagues made sense for cities short on teams.
SmartAsset did offer possible scenarios in what it coined a “purely hypothetical exercise, intended only for entertainment purposes.” To wit: Return the Whalers to Hartford by relieving Tampa Bay of its NHL team, and move the NHL Arizona Coyotes to Bridgeport, “where it actually snows.”
Michael Freimuth, executive director of the Capital Region Development Authority, which operates the XL Center, said the NHL is the most logical choice for a pro franchise among the big four leagues.
But Hartford can't start that discussion without an improved XL Center, he said.
Transforming the building, rather than building anew, is far more economical and less disruptive, Freimuth said, but still comes with a hefty $250 million pricetag.
The state still must approve a renovation, without which the building will slowly decline.
Improvements also are important to the University of Connecticut's ability to attract and retain basketball talent, he said.
“For those reasons, the building is critical to the long-term health of any kind of sports or entertainment venue downtown,” Freimuth said.
While the demographics may say Hartford is ready for a pro team, getting the team noticed in the national media and in the conversation among the professional leagues is the real challenge, Freimuth said.
Hartford and Connecticut have a strong corporate presence and more Fortune 500 companies than some of other the pro-sports markets, Freimuth said.
“The trick is to manifest that corporate presence to get it to sell Hartford, basically from New London to Stamford and up,” he said. “That's the task that's really before us. In selling a new XL Center, we need to activate that corporate presence and marketplace in the sense of seats and advertising and sponsorships.”
Overlapping Boston and New York sports allegiances also come into play, Freimuth said.
“We believe the market's there, but it's a real task to get that market to kind of look into the center of Connecticut as opposed to on the outer regions of the Boston or New York marketplaces,” Freimuth said.
Molly Yanity, assistant professor of journalism at Quinnipiac University and former Seattle Post-Intelligencer sportswriter, thinks the Boston-New York media influence is too much for Hartford to overcome.
“Those are big profitable markets,” in terms of TV, she said, citing the New England Sports and YES networks. “If Hartford had a team, those would take a hit.”
The NHL's expansion into southern cities probably wasn't that wise, but relocating teams to cities like Winnipeg, from Atlanta, helps restore some tradition, “and Hartford could do that, but I just think that now that you have regional networks that have eaten up this area, it's not going to happen,” Yanity said.
Chris Lawrence, general manager of the XL Center, said the market could support an NHL franchise.
“With the right group, the right message, the right situation, it certainly can,” he said.
But myriad factors are at play – from the right owners capable of paying the hefty NHL entry fee to an improved XL Center.
Recent improvements to the Hartford arena have made it a better facility, but it is not at a level yet for a major league franchise, Lawrence said. If the region is serious about getting such a team, then it has to commit to creating a better venue.
Building a major league facility using public money isn't in Hartford's best interest, especially when there isn't a team committed to play there, Yanity said, as stadiums typically aren't economic booms for their cities.
“Owners are expecting more and more, and the citizens are really getting less and less,” she said. “How many citizens can afford the games?”
