CAA Flagship wrote:
It takes a combination of things to garner a lot of support and buzz. Winning is one of them, but being around for a couple of generations is important for the lean years, especially in "homegrown" towns. St. Louis has had football for a long enough time but it went from Cardinals to Rams and had limited success. And because of the popularity of the baseball Cards, a team that is often in the playoffs during football season, it is a unique case in St. Louis. Other perennial football losers in "homegrown" towns (Cincy, Detroit, Buffalo, KC, Denver, Carolina, Minnesota, Tennessee) have not had strong baseball franchises to draw interest away from football.
I can't speak for all of the other cities but there are some teams on that list that do not make any sense.
Cincinatti can't win in the playoffs, but since Marvin Lewis took over in 2002 they have just 3 losing seasons.
Denver has just 6 losing seasons since 1976, been to 7 super bowls, won 2, been to 9 conference championship games
Kansas City had the best win % of any franchise in the 90s. They hit a rough patch with the Todd Haley/Romeo Crinnel era but other than that have been solid.
Minnesota, with all of their Super Bowl failures and the absolute shit show that was Mike Tice/Brad Childress/Leslie Fraizier is a top 10 NFL franchise of all time. 9th best all time win %, 8th most playoff appearances, 10th most division titles won all time, 20 hall of famers. The shit years during the 2000s? Well, turns out the Twins were pretty fucking good, outside of being able to beat the Yankees, during that time. Twins won 6 AL Central titles between 2002 and 2009. The years the missed the playofs between 01 and 09 were 01 (85-77), 05 (83-76), 07 (79-83) and 08 (88-75). During that time the Twins went 888-733. I'd bet there are very, very, few franchises with a better record during that time. Yet, even during all of that the Vikings never struggled to draw a crowd. The reason they were always involved with the relocation issue is because Minnesota is extremely tough to get public funding in. Same reason the Twins, even winning all of those titles, were rumored to be on the move every year until Target Field opened in 2010
The reality is St. Louis is a 2 sport city. When the Blues are bad people still care about the Blues. When the Cards are bad people still care about the Cards. The last time the Cards were bad? Well, they had losing seasons back to back years in 94 and 95 and then in 58 and 59...
The Rams moved in 95. Since the Rams Super Bowl year the Blues have made the playoffs 13 times. They've also been in St. Louis since 1968
The Rams best years were when they were still new to St. Louis. First year 95 and 4 years later a Super Bowl? You bet people in town are going to love that. Those other cities you listed LOVE their teams and still show up when they are bad. St. Louis always viewed the Rams as a great ginger step-child. Don't give a damn about it 99.9% of the time. The .1% of the time is when they happen to do something noteworthy - like beat the Seahawks or win the super bowl
No matter what football team was in St Louis, they aren't going to be better than 3rd, unless they have one of the greatest offenses in the history of the NFL for a 2 year stretch.
But they care deeply about the Tigers. Attendance is certainly better when they are winning. But I don't think it ever is so bad that they would consider leaving.
