Zack Kellogg
The city of Portland, Oregon, has plans in the works to add yet another pro team to their already impressive lineup of professional clubs. Backers within Portland are currently trying to show Major League Baseball (MLB) the potential sites for bringing a new expansion team to the Northwest.
This would add onto the current MLS team, the Portland Timbers, and the NBA team, the Portland Trailblazers. And who knows, maybe in the years to come, there could potentially be an NFL team expansion if the right cards fall into place. But, with the movement to bring teams to the northwest, why not give Idaho a shot?
Idaho has never really had a great foothold in terms of professional sports leagues, the closest thing to a pro team being the Boise Hawks, who are a single A baseball affiliate for the Colorado Rockies. Among the others are the Idaho Steelheads, an extension of the Dallas Stars and the former D-league affiliate for the Trailblazers, the now gone Idaho Stampede. Although there is credit due to the Broncos from Boise State who, through the late 2000’s and early 2010’s, have become a household names in terms of college football.
University of Idaho has also had recent success in college football, winning the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl just two seasons ago and also the basketball team has done a great job recruiting, becoming one of the best teams in the Big Sky conference.
If a professional league such as the MLS, MLB, NHL, NBA or NFL would even consider granting a team to Idaho, a few things will need to happen first. There would need to new facilities for the team to play, practice and train in, there would also have to take place in a somewhat large market and there would have to be a dedicated base of fans who would support the club.
Luckily, for Idaho, some of this is already occurring.
If there is going to be any kind of pro sports team, it will have to be in the most populated and appealing city in the state of Idaho and that would have to be Boise.
Boise is already currently working on plans and construction for a new soccer and baseball stadium hybrid for the Boise Hawks and maybe the BSU soccer team or an MLS affiliate. Plus, Boise already has CenturyLink arena, Taco Bell arena and possibly the Idaho Center, all of which could house a team.
According to Forbes magazine, in terms of a growing market is the fastest growing city in the U.S. in 2018. With this surge of new residents not only this year, but in the near future, this would be the perfect opportunity to implement a new team for Idaho to support.
And you want to talk about a dedicated fan base? Go look at the attendance of the Idaho faithful, filling up the Kibbie dome all season long, no matter the matchup, or for a Boise State football primetime football game in December. There would likely be thousands of fans coming out in droves to support their team.
This isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take years of planning and case pleading in order to get a pro team in the state.
The NFL is an entirely different topic since not only would the NFL see Boise as a market that could rival the likes of Seattle or Vegas in the west, but there would have to be brand new construction on a state of the art football stadium that could take years to approve and build. But I’m not saying there is not hope.
It will be a slow process that will take years to form into something real, but as Boise continues to grow and starts to have a larger footprint in the national and a larger population asking for a team to rally behind, leagues could see Idaho as a viable option to expand their horizons and continue to grow as an industry.
Zack Kellogg can be reached at [email protected]