What Chances Does Boise Have of Landing a Professional Sports Franchise?
Boise is home to a handful of great sports teams such as the BSU Broncos, the Boise Hawks, and even the Idaho Steelheads. However Boise lacks any professional sports franchises like the MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL.
There are several reasons why Boise currently does not have any teams. First, in order for a city to host a franchise in any major sport, it must have a large enough population.
Among all 32 NFL teams, the Green Bay Packers are based in the smallest U.S. market with a population of 104,068. Interestingly enough, Boise actually has a much higher population - almost double that but as you can imagine there are more factors for bringing a franchise team to a city than just population.
There needs to be an ownership group established that's willing to invest money - like A LOT of money. Hosting a franchise team is not cheap. Take the Las Vegas Raiders for example. It came down to the city of Oakland not being able to financially accommodate the NFL team before they left for Las Vegas. While it's true, a team can be profitable for a town, it's expensive to keep them around.
A strong fan base that will support a team is also required. I've heard it thrown around by locals that they believe there would be enough fans to actually support a professional soccer team! What do you think?
While it doesn't look like Boise will get a professional franchise anytime in the near future, we are growing faster than almost any other place in the country and it'll be interesting to see if this does happen in the next couple of decades or so.
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