How Moving an NFL Team Affects Sports Tourism Part 1

There have been huge changes in the NFL lately. First, the St. Louis Rams made the move to California and are back to being the Los Angeles Rams. Now the Oakland Raiders are moving to Las Vegas. These are obviously big changes for football fans in these cities, but what will it do for sports tourism? Sports Facilities Management is analyzing the sports tourism implications of these changes and how they affect the community. Today, we’ll discuss how these changes affect the cities who are losing their team, stay tuned for our next blog where we analyze the sports tourism implications for the cities who are getting a new team.

Cities Who are Losing a Team

First, we’ll look at St. Louis and Oakland. These cities are losing their teams, so will their sports tourism numbers be taking a huge hit?

St. Louis, Missouri and the Rams

In the case of St. Louis, it doesn’t look like it. Luckily, for them, they have historically talented baseball and hockey teams in the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues. Being that these teams tend to be playoff contenders in their respective sports and they have well-maintained stadiums and facilities, sports tourism will continue to thrive. The fact is the St. Louis Rams haven’t performed well in the city for years, not since they were the Greatest Show on Turf winning the Super Bowl in 2000. People weren’t exactly clamoring to visit their football stadium, which is one of the reasons for the move.

Oakland, California and the Raiders

When looking at Oakland we have a slightly different story, but one that ends in relatively the same fashion. The thing is, Oakland has never been much of a sports tourism destination in the first place. They have the Raiders and their baseball team the Oakland A’s who, while talented, aren’t the first sports tourism destination you think of when going to California. In fact, keeping the Raiders may have been worse for the city in the long run. They would have had to come up with the money for a new stadium, which would fall on the taxpayers. Now, they have plenty of real estate where the stadium used to be to build something that could benefit their city.

Contact the Sports Tourism Experts

Here at Sports Facilities Management, we know how much a good sports program can affect the community and the sports tourism for the area. Contact us today for more information or view the Sports Facilities Management website. Don’t forget to come back to our blog to see Part 2 of our NFL sports tourism analysis!