I would absoultely love it if Kentucky ever got a major league club (MLB/NFL/NBA) someday.

Estil

Now, don't get me wrong, I absoultely LOVE my Kentucky Wildcats, and they are one of the proudest and most storied college basketball teams in history. But I still think it would be nice if the great Commonwealth of Kentucky got a major league club to call their own. Here's who we've had so far:

MLB: Louisville's National League team (I don't know what year they started) was eliminated in 1899 along with three others (Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington; all of whom would get American League teams a couple years later) when the NL contracted from twelve to eight teams for the upcoming 1900 season.

ABA: The Kentucky Colonels were there for all of the ABA's existence, but instead of joining the NBA after the ABA's folding, the Colonels' owner John Y. Brown, Jr. chose to have his team bought out and folded for $3 million and used the money to buy the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) instead.

NBA: The Grizzlies had Louisville as one of their finalists when the team wanted to move from Vancouver after the 2001 season, and Louisville was even going to build a neat Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket arena for them, but in the end the team chose to move to Memphis for the 2002 season.

NFL: To the best of my knowledge, I don't think we ever got (or were ever really interested in) a NFL team.


Obviously the only city we have that could support a major league franchise would be Louisville, but maybe they're too close to Cincinnati for it to have a realistic chance as far as MLB is concerned (which is where I'd most like for us to get a big league club)? So I guess our only realistic chance right now is an NBA franchise. What do you guys think?

frankhardy

I think NBA may be doable.

As far as MLB goes, I wouldn't care if Paducah got a MLB team, the Cardinals would still be my favorite.

JeremyDie1

As a buisness stand point I dont think anyone would take the risk of taking on a professional team in Kentucky. Would not be enough revenue and nation wide interest.

Estil

Oh we have professional baseball teams in Kentucky (Louisville Bats, Lexington Legends) and the nearby Otters in Evansville, Indiana. It's getting a major league team that's the tricky part.

Minor league teams/players are also considered professional as the players are paid; this is mentioned also on baseball cards too. In fact, minor league players consider it an insult if asked "when they're gonna make the pros".

BobaFett72

unfortunately i just dont see it happening; the pro sports are over extended as it is (dilution of talent)

ziggy29

<< <i>MLB: Louisville's National League team (I don't know what year they started) was eliminated in 1899 along with three others (Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington; all of whom would get American League teams a couple years later) when the NL contracted from twelve to eight teams for the upcoming 1900 season. >>

Louisville was actually a charter member of the NL in 1876. In that first season, Louisville finished fourth out of eight teams. In 1877, they were in first place by a wide margin for most of the season. In the last month of the 1877 season, Louisville started losing games with alarming regularity and finished second. It was discovered that several Louisville players were throwing games, including star pitcher Jim Devlin. Several players were banned for life, and Louisville folded after this loss of players.

Louisville also had a major league team in the American Association from 1882 to 1891 (then a major league), including an American Association title in 1890. When the AA folded after 1891, the National League expanded from 8 teams to 12 by admitting four former AA franchises. Louisville was one of these four. They never had a winning season during their second stint in the NL from 1892 to 1899, but when they were "contracted" out of existence (and their best players sold to Pittsburgh) they were on the cusp of having a great team, In 1899 they were only one game under .500 and several of their players helped lead the Pirates to several NL championships in the first decade of the 20th Century, including a certain player named Honus Wagner. Had they not been contracted out, they could have contended for some NL titles with the young superstars they had on the 1899 Colonels roster.

<< <i>NFL: To the best of my knowledge, I don't think we ever got (or were ever really interested in) a NFL team. >>

The NFL had a team called the Louisville Brecks from 1921 to 1923. The NFL had a very erratic schedule in its first few seasons, and the Brecks never played more than 4 games in a season. They were 1-8 overall in those three seasons and they were the only NFL team to ever play a home game in Kentucky.

<< <i>Obviously the only city we have that could support a major league franchise would be Louisville, but maybe they're too close to Cincinnati for it to have a realistic chance as far as MLB is concerned (which is where I'd most like for us to get a big league club)? So I guess our only realistic chance right now is an NBA franchise. What do you guys think? >>

I would think the NBA would be most likely given the presence of a Cincinnati club in MLB and NFL. They don't have an NHL franchise nearby, but I'm not sure the fan base there would support hockey and they may be too close to Columbus anyway.

bishop

The Louisvile H&B bat museum is pretty neat