Sports Analysis
Many U.S. cities of comparable size and prestige have obtained a professional sports team — why not Des Moines? I mean, it’s perfectly fair to assume that if cities like Green Bay and Regina (Saskatchewan, Canada) can even have semi-professional teams, why couldn’t Iowa?
For starters, Green Bay, Wisconsin, is the smallest “city” to be home to a Big 4 league team. The “Big 4” leagues are the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. While the metropolitan area of Green Bay has a higher population, the city limits themselves are home to only around 107,000 people. Compare this to Des Moines, which has a population of around 214,000, and it’s easy to argue that Iowa also deserves a team. This doesn’t even account for the metropolitan area of Iowa’s capital, which, based on the 2020 U.S. Census data and current estimates, is likely home to roughly 580 thousand people.
Most people assume that Des Moines could never attract a Big Four team, especially in today’s sports climate of huge contracts and the need for sky-high revenues. A more realistic preposition would be a team from the two additional sports leagues that make up the “Big Six” major leagues in the United States and Canada. The Big Six includes the aforementioned four leagues in addition to Major League Soccer and the Canadian Football League. Teams in these leagues range from huge metropolitan cities to smaller, lesser-known towns like Regina.
Regina is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is the second-largest city in the province with a population of approximately 226,000. It is also home to the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, who have won four Grey Cup championships — the CFL equivalent of the Super Bowl.
Although they play in the smallest market in the CFL and the second-smallest major-league market in North America, they have been noted for having one of the best fan bases in the league. In 2010, MSN Sports described the Roughriders as having the largest following of any team in the CFL. They attracted a record attendance of 55,438 in 1995, which is more than 25% of Regina’s population. If a Canadian Football team in a small market can be renowned for its sizable and committed fanbase, a team in Des Moines could as well.
The culture of sports in Iowa has grown in recent years, especially with the prominence and phenomenon of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark, who brought about a sizable increase in attention toward women’s basketball and college sports overall in Iowa. If Iowans can support Clark and the University of Iowa as much as they have, there is no reason that a professional team couldn’t do just as well. Potentially, if a WNBA team were to come to Iowa, fans would show up to see games in which Clark would play. We can’t rely on a single person to bring fans to games in Des Moines, but the culture of sports is strong, especially involving college teams like the Hawkeyes, Iowa State University Cyclones, and the Drake University Bulldogs. People go crazy for their favorite college sports. They would do the same for a pro team and support them vigorously.
It’s true that many Iowans already have favorite football, basketball, or baseball teams. Therefore, a Big 4 team, which likely wouldn’t get enough financial support in a small market like Des Moines, would also not get enough traction with the fans. It’s difficult to start a new team in a market that has other professional sports nearby. The last and only time Iowa had a professional sports team was from 1948-1951, when the NBA’s Waterloo Hawks played at The Hippodrome in Waterloo, Iowa. Although they were a founding member of the NBA when it merged with other professional basketball leagues, they struggled to attract a fan base and folded in 1951. Since then, Iowa has not had a professional sports team.
Although it would be nice to have a team in Des Moines, we have to be realistic. We have several semi-professional sports teams, like the Iowa Wolves basketball team and the Iowa Barnstormers indoor football team. However, although these teams may have had large followings at one point in time, they have steadily fallen off over the last 15 or so years. Several teams have tried and failed to survive in Iowa, but these smaller leagues have had little to no success.
So while it would be lovely to have a professional sports team in Iowa, it feels like that will never happen. The market is too small for a Big 4 team, and people would rather watch college sports over smaller leagues like the CFL and MLS. Maybe one day, in the far future, Des Moines will be big enough to support a professional team. Until then, we will just have to hope Drake basketball can keep us sports fans entertained.