Fort Worth is 12th largest city in United States, but 112th as a pro sports town
Everything about Fort Worth’s latest attempt at fielding a professional sports team says this should work, save for one fractionally small detail.
Fort Worth.
No big city in the United States has a worse history of supporting pro sports teams quite like this major city that, when it comes to sports, functions like a suburb of Dallas.
The city is the 12th largest in the United States, by far the largest without a major pro sports franchise.
For years potential investors have salivated over the potential opportunity of owning a big market that is heavily invested in teams east of Fort Worth: the Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Stars.
The idea is solid, and it’s also never quite worked.
The latest to take a shot is the Panther City Lacrosse Club, which made its home debut at Dickies Arena on Friday night.
Despite its size, Fort Worth missed its chance to become a pro sports city years ago. Depending on your point of view, that decision by city leaders was a great idea or a blown opportunity.
It’s also a chance for the “other leagues” to move in.
The National Lacrosse League has existed since 1986, and participation and interest in the fast-paced, high-scoring game is growing. The product should appeal to a younger audience, and Dickies Arena is ideal for the new age of sports. It’s not too big, and it’s cozy.
And while the National Lacrosse League may not have the mass appeal of, say, Major League Baseball, it is also not the minor leagues. The NLL is the highest level of its sport, a fact the other pro sports ventures into Fort Worth have not been able to boast.
For the home opener on Friday night, the attendance was under 5,000. No telling how many of those in attendance actually spent their own money for a ticket.
If 2,500 were here, call it a success.
The team wants to average 5,000 for its home games, which feels ambitious.
On Friday, the City of Fort Worth declared Dec. 10 as “Panther City Lacrosse Club Day.”
The Panther City Lacrosse Club can work, but it will require the patience of a single-parent with triplets, and investors who are OK with losing money for a (long) while.
Ventures like these take a good decade or so before a franchise is on solid footing in a town.
Panther City faces the same challenge as the other teams that have tried to make Fort Worth a viable home.
The standard for pro sports in this market has been established by the Cowboys, followed by the Rangers, Mavericks and Stars. Throw in the occasional TCU football game, a NASCAR race and now FC Dallas games, too.
A pro sports game has a look and feel that makes it an event.
At least for the first game, Panther City doesn’t feel like those.
With music blaring throughout the entire game with no break, the presentation felt minor league-ish. But major league respect for the team’s use of AC/DC after every home goal.
The presentation, and that music, is something the league regards as a point of sale. The NLL sells its game as one giant party.
The trick/challenge for Panther City is the same for the Fort Worth Cats (baseball), Fort Worth Fire (hockey), Fort Worth Cavalry (Arena Football), Fort Worth Flyers (NBA D League) — convince fans to invest, and to care, the same as they would for the established franchises they have followed since birth.
All of these franchises flamed out because fans never saw them as anything more than something cheap to do on a weekend. There was no emotional investment.
Earning that emotional investment takes a generation of followers before the outcome matters. Once the game’s result matters to the fan, they’re hooked.
Fort Worth currently has two lower level minor league teams in town: The Vaqueros (soccer), and the Lone Star Brahmas, a hockey team that plays out of North Richland Hills.
There has been continued talk that the Cats will return, but this project remains stuck in the discussion phase.
Indoor lacrosse, known more affectionately as box lacrosse, is a good product. It’s a hockey game on turf.
“It’s faster,” Panther City coach Tracey Kelusky said. “It’s hockey and basketball mixed.”
The rules are simple, and the fan isn’t going to be bogged down asking, “What just happened there?”
The 14-team league has some real money behind it. The NLL will air every game this season as part of its multi-year TV contract, with most contests streaming on ESPN+. Locally, the sport is growing all over North Texas.
The Panther City Lacrosse Club can work, provided it can be patient and overcome Fort Worth’s dubious history with pro sports.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
