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Thats a bummer
NFL czar labels S.A. "small market"
Web Posted: 09/20/2005 12:25 PM CDT
Tom Orsborn
Express-News Staff Writer
NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has an opinion on the issue of San Antonio’s viability as an NFL city. Two words. “Small market.”
In an interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune published today, Tagliabue rejected the idea that San Antonio’s support for the displaced New Orleans Saints represents a chance for the city to prove its NFL worth. He inferred San Antonio isn’t capable of providing adequate support for an NFL team.
Responding to a question specifically about San Antonio’s qualifications, Tagliabue said the NFL has no plans to move “any teams into small markets.”
“We’re going to be moving up in market size, not down or flat,” Tagliabue said.
Tagliabue was blunt in his assessment of New Orleans’ chances, in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, to hold on to the Saints. He said the league has all but ruled out the possibility the Saints will be able to play in New Orleans in 2006.
He said the league’s initial plan for 2006 is to play all eight Saints home games at LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., although he said logistics problems could prevent that. He also reiterated the league’s goal of placing a franchise in Los Angeles, which is currently without an NFL team.
Tagliabue said the NFL “is going to do everything possible to make sure there’s a New Orleans Saints. But people larger than us and ins utions larger than us are going to have to succeed in making sure there is a robust, healthy New Orleans, you know, with fans and businesses and all the things hope a city can have.”
The Saints, who have relocated their training headquarters to the San Antonio, will play three of their scheduled 2005 home games in Alamodome. The Oct. 2 game between the Saints and the Buffalo Bills will be the first NFL regular-season contest ever played in the Alamo City.
Ticket sales for the three games have been brisk.
"We are going to prove him wrong," Christian Archer, special assistant to Mayor Phil Hardberger, said today. Tagliabue, who declined an interview request from the Express-News, was asked in the Times-Picayune interview if San Antonio is “dangerous territory” because local leaders have billed the three Alamodome games as an opportunity for the city to show it can support an NFL team.
Tagliabue alluded to comments from former mayor Henry Cisneros.
“They have got to be clear in what their motives are,” Tagliabue said of San Antonio civic leaders. “To be helpful in the contest of a national tragedy that grows out of an unprecedented disaster. And their motive is not to steal someone else’s team. He (Cisneros) said that.”
With regard to the city’s first-day sales of 50,000 tickets for the Saints games, Tagliabue was asked: “Might this turn into an opportunity for that city to prove that they should be in the mix?”
“Ever since we approved the move of the Raiders and the Rams, I’ve been saying that our goal is to get a team back to L.A., either through expansion or whatever, and we’re not going to be moving any teams into small markets,” Tagliabue said.
“We’re going to be moving up in market size, not either down or flat. That’s our goal. So that’s been my mindset. We’ve had enough teams move from large markets to small markets. So if … any teams are relocated in the future, the objective is going to be to concentrate them — put it this way — in markets that can really support them.”
Thats a bummer
he's a putz.
Well, that's that -- I expected a few more pla udes, but the embarrassment of no LA franchise must be keeping these guys up at night.Whose bright idea was that, dip ?Ever since we approved the move of the Raiders and the Rams
ing tagliabue is going to use this to make sure that L.A. gets the Saints. Who wants an expansion team that is going to struggle for a few years in the nations 2nd biggest market. Lets give them a bonafide playoff contender.
The Saints?
I think San Antonio is a great city for the NFL. S. Texas loves them some foozball. I know I do. The city is growing and doesn't seem to be slowing down. The city has embraced the Spurs as if they were family and the guys love to play here and call SA home. I don't see how this would be different if it were the NFL.
Curious that Tagliabue would not talk directly to the Express-News about that characterization.
It's also interesting to me that SA continues to be labeled "small market" when at least 3 of the Fortune 25 have headquarters here (i.e., corporate support) and, with a surrounding area (including Austin, Corpus Christi, the Valley, and Laredo) that is comparable in both size and population to other "markets" in other big sports.
What an idiot! Those are stupid comments to make at this particular time.
Yeah, I'd say a team that missed last years playoffs by 1 game is a lot more ready to make the playoffs than an expansion team would be. Wouldn't you???The Saints?
He's Jerry Jones bed buddy... they do coke at the dallas White house together I bet....
I don't want San Antonio to change because of labels like the one this jerk put on San Antonio. The people of San Antonio are the greatest. I love how we support the Spurs. We shouldn't change.
Well, this is a big shocker.
His salary is probably based on how much revenue the league generates. San Antonio viewership/merchandizing probably isn't going to bring in much revenue to the league, at least not with respect to what a team in LA might bring in.
It's not really his decision, but he can make it difficult.
Better get your tickets for the only three NFL games to ever be played in San Antonio.
already did.
I don't see how a city like Jacksonville can support a NFL team.
Brilliant logic. We couldn't keep a football team in a big city like LA but we won't give a team to the tenth largest metropolitan area in the country? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I know their thinking is probably that Texas already has two pro football teams, but come on! This is Texas, where football is damn near a state religion. The only problem I could see would be that the Spurs are so damn big here that once b-ball starts attendance could take a hit. , I'm not much of a football fan, and I currently live in Houston, but I would still get behind this idea.
If SA is a small market.
WTF is Jacksonville?!?!?
The only thing small is his penis....
What is the nearest pro team to Jacksonville?
Orlando Magic
Nearest Football teams?
Atl Falcons
Miami Dolphins
TampaBay Bucs
The Bucs always sucked until a couple years ago. The Dolphins were always good, so people in Jacksonville were probably Dolphins fans. (72 undefeated/80-90s Marino) Doubtful many people drive the length of Florida to go to Dolphin games.
Jacksonville has no other teams to support in any league. Southern Georgia and lots of Florida - its the closest they have to a pro team. Easy to support.
Why in the would anyone put a pro team in SA when you could put one in LA? Add to that that LA has grass and SA has turf (NFL hates turf.)
If I was looking at it from a business standpoint, I would fight tooth and nail to keep them from going to SA - a poor city that already supports the Cowboys without tons of industry and has astroturf over the second largest city in the nation which is also a rich city with a grass field.
Why is that so hard for SA residents to grasp?
Along with Green Bay.
New Orleans is not that much bigger than San Antonio....in fact it is much smaller in many regards.
Add to that, LA never really supported the teams it did have. They had their chances....plenty of them...it should now be ours.
How come no one buys my theory that Jerry Jones is the one objecting to SA town getting Saints?
So, it's L.A.'s motive (with Tagliabue's endorsement) to steal someone else's team?“They have got to be clear in what their motives are,” Tagliabue said of San Antonio civic leaders. “To be helpful in the contest of a national tragedy that grows out of an unprecedented disaster. And their motive is not to steal someone else’s team. He (Cisneros) said that.”
Got it.
I mentioned this in another thread in the NFL forum and was ignored.
If Mr. Jones were to field a more consistant team then he would not have to worry about other teams in the state. I have been a Cowboy fan but I am not a Jerry Jones fan whatsoever.
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