As the old adage goes, baseball is America's pastime. We love it. We breathe it. We live it. Why do we do all these things? We grew up watching it on the living room couch with our parents, screaming at the TV, and if we were lucky enough, we might even attend a few games a year. But what if you couldn't enjoy "America's Greatest Pastime"? Most likely, it's because the state you live in doesn't have a professional baseball team. In this article, I will discuss the economics, politics, incentives, and downsides of a city hosting a professional sports team ranging from the MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. Most often, a team is placed in a largely urban area. , like Los Angeles, New York or Chicago. However, not all teams are located in major cities. There are "low draw cities" (Fort & Quirk) that attract teams from all leagues, but many do not have the profit incentives to compete nationally, leading many teams to leave the city in in favor of a city with a strong profit incentive. In the NFL, for example, the season only lasts 16 games. This short season is an example of using a “championship model” (Fort & Quirk). A championship model shows a city's desire to retain a team based on the number of championships won rather than taking into account a high winning percentage and whether or not the team makes the playoffs. Because of this championship model that cities adhere to when it comes to the NFL, many teams are placed in high populations rather than lower populations. For example, Green Bay, Wisconsin has a population of only 305,000 according to the 2010 census, making it the smallest city by population to host a professional team. However, due to the championships won by the Green Bay Packers (as well as middle of paper ......A: Routledge.Danielson, MN (1997). Home team: professional sports and the American metropolis. Princeton, NJ , USA: Princeton University Press. Euchner, C.C. (1993). Playing on the Field: Why Sports Teams Move and Cities Fight to Keep Them. , R. and Quirk, J. (1995). » baseball and other sports Retrieved April 10, 2014 from Scott Lindholm blog: www.beyondthescorecard.blogspot.com Rosenberg, MT (2000, January 1) Retrieved April 10, 2013 from About Geography Web site: www.geography. .about.comStorey, D. (2011).. , 36 (2), 67-69.