10 Problems Only People From London Ontario Will Understand

7. We Are Too Small For Major Pro Sports

If you're a sports fan you have to live with the fact that we aren't the kind of city that will have a major pro sports team. By major I'm referring to NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL and we never will get any of those major teams. The city does a great job of supporting the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights. The games there have a great atmosphere with about 9,500 fans filling the arena (Budweiser Gardens is a great facility) to capacity every week. However, it's still a bunch of teenagers hoping to get into the NHL. There are some former Knights that have gone on to have great NHL careers like Rick Nash, Corey Perry and Patrick Kane, but we get to see them when they're young instead of in the prime of their careers. There's a professional basketball team that shares the arena called The London Lightning, but the quality of play is pretty bad and there are several leagues around the world that are much better. A few years ago a guy passed on playing here because they paid him more money in Singapore. It's not like we're that small compared to some other sports cities. A city like Green Bay has less people than us (about 200,000 people), yet they are one of the most powerful teams in any sport thanks to the NFL's Packers. Their team has been around for nearly 100 years, though, so it's not like they are going to lose them and the way the NFL is set up means a smaller market can do just fine. If you live here, you have to settle for the fact that we'll only get to see minor league or junior sports teams. That's all well and good, but if you want to see sports at a higher level you need to hit the road to head to Toronto, Detroit or elsewhere.