Grand Rapids is One of the Largest Cities in America Without a Major League Team

If you stop and think about it, there are major league-level teams in cities that might make you do a double take. Some of these cities seem about the same size or smaller than Grand Rapids. Of course there is little Green Bay, home of the NFL's Packers. How about Sacramento? Portland? Columbus?

This Venn diagram, shared recently on reddit, shows graphically all the cities in America with a major league team (in football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer). The diagram also lists the 10 largest cities without a major league team. Among the also-rans like Virginia Beach, Providence, Louisville and Hartford (R.I.P. Whalers), is Grand Rapids.

Will there ever be a major pro sports league that calls Grand Rapids home? If the community continues to grow as it has, it will soon pass a shrinking Buffalo, New York, and be on-par with major league caliber cities like Salt Lake City, New Orleans and Memphis. So with all due deference to the Drive, the Whitecaps and Griffins, if the region continues to grow will West Michigan join the major leagues someday?