Orlando:small market

[Black and Blue]

the tax thing is legit, but not as much as you think. You pay taxes where you work, so whenever you play in TX, TN or Florida, you dont pay taxes. but you said ORlando has more to offer, but they really dont.

sidenote: i also live in Cobb county.

Well you raise a good point. With your note that the tax difference is legit (but not as huge a swing as some may think) it made me think about what people personally value when it comes to cities. I may have been rash in my assessment that Orlando has more to offer because I was looking at it through a personal lens. Orlando has less violent crime, cheaper schools, access to a warmer climate and (believe it or not) less traffic...but that very well may not be what matters to other people. Atlanta does have more to do, and the size of the city may factor better into egos.

I think that when you get to cities outside of the biggest markets you start to get more in the subjectivity of the players themselves. I still believe the market size doesn't matter as much as it did 10 years ago, but quality of life certainly will factor in.

does it have cheaper schools? i will say i rented when i lived in Orlando, so i dont know the property tax level, which likely pays for the schools. Atlanta property tax is fairly low and schools are good. but lets be real too, any athlete is sending their kids to private schools

Yeah schooling is cheaper, but again everything is on this bizarre otherworldly scale as you just mentioned with millionaire athletes. Each time you and I say "this aspect would be better" there is likely some alternate super rich reality we don't even know about. Like when the 1994 Orlando Magic roster all decided to buy mansions around a lake to live near each other and proceeded to have parties/race jetskis against each other.

[drsd]

Big market = Amazing centralized night scene with a large concentration of female models.
Small market = Not as desirable of a place for young, single millionaire males to live.

I’m not sure how to quantify the above but Orlando still falls squarely in the ‘small market’ definition.

The winner by any definition:
(( OKC is 200+ miles from Dallas; and there is NOTHING anywhere near it ))

[Black and Blue]

And almost to prove how much stars prefer joining successful teams over market...Durant is now saying he wants to be traded to Phoenix.

It's been so fun to watch this Nets team fall to pieces.

[OrlandoSaban]

This has changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Market overall isn’t as confined to geographic location as it once was. So my answer would be yes Orlando is still a “smaller market” than your big guys in NYC and LA, but this matters less than it ever has.

Winning trumps everything, as it should. It’s rare to walk around Toronto these days without seeing Raptors gear everywhere and I see it on the subways in New York. -and it was scarce everywhere before they won that championship.

You’ll see, once this team returns to being a contender suddenly the Magic will be a prime free agent destination again. It certainly has more to offer than an Atlanta or Memphis, that’s for sure.

Memphis? Yes. Atlanta.. not even close. Atlanta was an Olympic City for crying out loud

Take out the theme parks and hour drive to the beach, Orlando is the same type town as OKC

Atlanta has turned into a cosmopolitan city and has 100 times more offerings than Orlando

I grew up in both cities and love both cities but Orlando is nowhere close to Atlanta except for theme parks

[pepe1991]

I would say Celtics are "bigger " than this, mostly because they are one of two most decorated basketball nba teams in history.

Where i don't see Wizards as "big market" at all.

And Warriors recent history, new ownership, massive new arena ( $1,4B cost ) makes them bigger than they look/are

[[whistler]]

While "large market" could be decided by a lot of different factors, I think the general idea is which market provides incentives outside of their NBA contract (endorsements). For example I believe companies like Nike pay more money to a player if they are a Laker or Knick.

[Skybox]

There's so much more to this...the duration and tradition of a franchise...Celtics for example have been there forever...you just don't see people walking around BOS with any other team's gear. A 'new' franchise could be 30 years old because you have generational loyalty...obvious example is ORL, this would be the first generation of ticket-buying adults who might have grown up as Magic fans. Most ORL people grew up rooting for other teams...Jax Jaguars run into the same thing-locals love having a franchise, but Dolphins might still hold their hearts...growing up watching Marino or even Griese....I just think this translates to fan enthusiasm. It probably sucks, especially for a swaggy young star, to come into their own arena and hear cheers and see jerseys for the visitors. A few "troublemakers" is fun, a near-majority of Knick fans, even when they're not good, isn't.