Shared Pro Sports Teams in Ohio?

cjb56

Well-known member
As Columbus continues to grow while NEO shrinks and SWO moderately grows would there be any benefit to some of the pro sports teams in Ohio to split home locations?

I don’t think it would ever happen with the baseball or football teams, but I can see something being possible with the Cavs and Blue Jackets.

The Cavs and Blue Jackets splitting their home schedules between Cleveland and Columbus is something I could see working. I think it would strengthen the fan base of both teams.

The Cavs splitting home games, or even having a quarter of their home games, in Cincinnati is another idea, though I believe the Pacers are actually closer to Cincy.

I doubt it would be popular among the players as it adds travel, but it’s been done in the past in the NBA (Kansas City/Omaha Kings...the Utah Jazz played a lot of home games in Las Vegas back in the 1980’s).

Just curious if anyone would actually want to see it happen in some form? I think CLE and CBus sharing the Cavs and Blue Jackets could work.
 
 
Maybe on a limited basis, but not a large 'share'. Like the Packers used to play one game in Milwaukee each year. Longer season like basketball, maybe 3-4 games at another in-state venue.
 
Maybe on a limited basis, but not a large 'share'. Like the Packers used to play one game in Milwaukee each year. Longer season like basketball, maybe 3-4 games at another in-state venue.
Actually the Packers were playing 3 to 4 games in Milwaukee through the mid-1990’s when they started playing all home games at Lambeau.
 
Probably not a bad idea IMO to explore the Cavs and Jackets playing 10-15 games a year in each other's markets. There's a lot of Cleveland fandom (especially the Browns) in Columbus, and I think pro hockey would drum up good interest in Cleveland on a limited basis. The NBA is the only additional major sport I could see working in Columbus.
 
Probably not a bad idea IMO to explore the Cavs and Jackets playing 10-15 games a year in each other's markets. There's a lot of Cleveland fandom (especially the Browns) in Columbus, and I think pro hockey would drum up good interest in Cleveland on a limited basis. The NBA is the only additional major sport I could see working in Columbus.
That’s kinda what I was thinking. You’re cutting down the season ticket investment each fan base has to make and you broaden your fan base. And as you said, I believe there is enough of an appetite in each city for both sports to make it work.
 
The cities of Cleveland and Columbus would never buy into this. Ohio is a very unique state. Ohio State's fan base is so large that it's impossible for a pro sports team to function there. I'll make people made with this but I don't count the Blue Jackets as a major pro sports team because hockey is way down the list from the other major sports.
Cleveland has a lock on the Browns, they are not sharing. And only bad teams could make this work, but as soon as they get good, the home city isn't going to want to share them.
 
The cities of Cleveland and Columbus would never buy into this. Ohio is a very unique state. Ohio State's fan base is so large that it's impossible for a pro sports team to function there. I'll make people made with this but I don't count the Blue Jackets as a major pro sports team because hockey is way down the list from the other major sports.
Cleveland has a lock on the Browns, they are not sharing. And only bad teams could make this work, but as soon as they get good, the home city isn't going to want to share them.
I think there would be enough interest in CLE for about 10 hockey games, for sure. And I believe CBus would support about ten Cavs games. They could always start small, with a couple a year and see how it goes. The OSU thing is a big fly in the ointment, though, because their sports have always been king in Columbus and I don't think they would want an intrusion of NBA basketball in their kingdom, especially with college hoops support down most everywhere.
 
I think there would be enough interest in CLE for about 10 hockey games, for sure. And I believe CBus would support about ten Cavs games. They could always start small, with a couple a year and see how it goes. The OSU thing is a big fly in the ointment, though, because their sports have always been king in Columbus and I don't think they would want an intrusion of NBA basketball in their kingdom, especially with college hoops support down most everywhere.
College hoops is big in a lot of places, but Columbus Ohio isn't one of them. I felt so bad for the Buckeye basketball team and Thad Matta. I mean they were in final fours/ won big ten titles and tournaments and were regularly in the top 20 and all anyone wanted to know was the football recruiting story and when the spring game was.
No doubt Cleveland could do hockey, and sure the Cavs could do a few games in Columbus, but think about when LeBron was in Cleveland and they were good, do you think the Cavs would want to ship 5-10 games to Columbus? Not on your life.
 
Columbus has to be the #2 market by far for all of Cleveland's pro teams, even with Ohio State's overwhelming presence in the market.

10 or so games going both ways I think would get a quality appetite in each market, although I agree that neither the Cavs nor the Jackets would want to play more than maybe a few games in the other market if they were any good.

The biggest problem with Ohio State basketball and attendance is that Value City Arena is too damn big and has zero atmosphere. It has over 5,500 more seats than St. John Arena and is the largest arena in the Big Ten. Hoops is second to football, but nearly every game and every league game would be a sellout at a renovated St. John's and the atmosphere would be significantly rowdier.
 
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