NBA Expansion

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

I feel like if anything, the NBA should move to having less teams, not more teams.

If all the superstars are going to team up on the same 2-3 teams, then adding more teams is only going to water down the talent pool for the rest of the league, creating even less parity.

Less teams? Fine, do you nominate Indiana for one of those teams?

Sure. All small markets should probably go.

They have no chance in todays NBA climate anyway, so if the NBA's plan is to just dilute their talent even more, then well...whats the point?

[ATRAIN53]

Vegas and Seattle clearly make most sense if they do it.

I mean we know they want a team in Vegas. NHL and NFL there now.
Players want to play there.

Louisvile is too close to IND to poach that fan base.
Pittsburgh is a better call than that but these are not cities that players want to play in vs Vegas.

we really don't need expansion, just move someone to Seattle.
should have let Ballmer move the Clippers there.

[zeebneeb]

There will be no expansion for at least 5 years and it could possibly be even longer. The current business model the NBA is operating under is collapsing and until fundamental changes are made, the money just isn't there. When you add in no game revenue from fans last year, and horrific ratings that will more then likely affect future contracts(assuming the NBA stays a dinosaur)negatively, it is more likely to see a contraction, then an expansion.

The NBA will stand pat, and try and ride out the current situation for a few years before anything happens. Stability is needed.

[jimmy keys]

Would I be right in saying that San Diego would be a possible flop? With the Lakers and Clippers essentially just up the road in California, it'd be a huge gamble for a team based there to draw a supporter base. I may be wrong though.

Anyone here from San Diego want to chime in?

Not from San Diego, but I think it's a great city. Maybe not a great sports city like some more blue collar towns, but it has a couple of things going for it.

1. Only one major sports team out of the big three (NFL, MLB, NBA).
2. It would be a free agent hotspot as pretty much any NBA player would want to live there.

I think it could work well with good ownership & management.

[Cactus Jack]

When you add in no game revenue from fans last year

And how would they make that up? An expansion fee possibly?

Listen I'm skeptical as well...but this is the first sign that it's even been a consideration to this point. Seattle will open a brand new building in late Summer/Fall of this coming year for the NHL's arrival. The NBA must simply look at that & say, well...What are we waiting for? Now is the time to take advantage of the league's current financial situation. Especially when you have groups of wealthy folks competing for potential ownership.

[Soulyss]

I was thinking Seattle & Louisville... but having re-thought it, I would put both teams on the West coast and move the T-Wolves to the east who are in closer proximity with Chicago, Milwaulkee, etc.

Seattle + (Vancouver or San Diego) makes the most sense to me.

[dautjazz]

Would I be right in saying that San Diego would be a possible flop? With the Lakers and Clippers essentially just up the road in California, it'd be a huge gamble for a team based there to draw a supporter base. I may be wrong though.

Anyone here from San Diego want to chime in?

San Diego is one of the 10 biggest cities in the country and ita a little over 2 hours away from LA, so it's a pretty far drive for a regular season game IMO. I don't know how much into basketball people are in SD, but I'd imagine they could support an NBA team.

[D.Brasco]

There will be no expansion for at least 5 years and it could possibly be even longer. The current business model the NBA is operating under is collapsing and until fundamental changes are made, the money just isn't there. When you add in no game revenue from fans last year, and horrific ratings that will more then likely affect future contracts(assuming the NBA stays a dinosaur)negatively, it is more likely to see a contraction, then an expansion.

The NBA will stand pat, and try and ride out the current situation for a few years before anything happens. Stability is needed.

I'm sure you have sources to back up how the NBA is "collapsing" currently? When average franchise values are around a billion now compared to ~500 million barely a decade ago.

[jpengland]

It absolutely should happen.

Talent levels are significantly higher than the past.

[Saints14]

Since the NBA likes to operate in markets without other pro teams I like Louisville

[TheFutureMM]

I'm actually on team "Don't Expand". I think the talent level is diluted enough at the bottom as is but I would love to see Seattle and Vancouver (Canadian bias) get teams if they did expand.

Realigning the divisions & conferences could be fun though - geographically you could make a case for Minnesota, Memphis, and even New Orleans to be "Eastern Conference" teams:

Option A
Vancouver & Seattle join Northwest (West)
OKC joins Southwest (West)
Minnesota joins Central (East)

Option B
Vancouver & Seattle join Northwest (West)
Washington joins Atlantic (East)
Memphis joins Southeast (East)
OKC joins Southwest (West)

I think I would go with Option A but could be swayed. This doesn't even take into account doing 4 divisions of 4 teams per conference.

[oldncreaky]

Won’t happen sorry.

Why's that?

I feel as though they’d struggle to sell tickets. The excitement of a ball team wouldn’t last long. It’s a hockey city. Quebec should get another hockey team before ever coming close to getting a ball team. There are much more desirable places to expand before the league would even consider Montreal. Players wouldn’t want to play there either imo.

Montreal has a few good arguments for it, including:
- city pop (4M+) and TV market (9M+) would be in around 12th largest in league
- first french-language based team would help open up TV markets in France (66 million) and west Africa (300 million plus)
- Montreal fans will come out just to piss off Toronto, and many Ottawa fans would gravitate to MTL over TOR as well
- basketball has taken off, and there are a few Quebec-born players who've made the league recently (Boucher, Dort, Birch, etc.)

Montreal is probably more viable than Vancouver at this point -- and Mexico City would be the best international expansion option by far because it would open up a huge market in city/region of over 20+ million with broadcast rights to over 100 million.

That said, the two expansion teams that make the most sense are Seattle and Las Vegas. Domestic expansion is probably easier than international, and these 2 cities are the obvious choices because any other US-based locations (such as STL, PIT, LOU, or TB) would cannibalize a large part of an existing team's fan base, and that often leads to veto votes from other owners.

[BucksFanSD]

Would I be right in saying that San Diego would be a possible flop? With the Lakers and Clippers essentially just up the road in California, it'd be a huge gamble for a team based there to draw a supporter base. I may be wrong though.

Anyone here from San Diego want to chime in?

There was an article in my local San Diego newspaper in August as San Diegans were debating whether to pass the proposition to allow for over 30 feet coastal height limits in the Midway district, in order to consider to one day re-build the Sports Arena to a potentially major arena. The proposition passed last month and there were already city plans to fully revitalize the surrounding Midway area.

- The article stated that the NHL and NBA were not considering expansion at that time (August). This has changed based on what Silver just stated.

- The article mentioned that costs to build a NBA arena is over $1 Billion and that is a major factor. Although interest rates will be incredibly low for the next two or three years due to this pandemic.

John Moores and Joe Tsai are names to keep an eye on. San Diego is more of an outside city but we really need a 2nd major sports team here in this size of a city. Our AAA hockey team gets very good attendance as does SDSU basketball. Both sell out a lot.

[DoItALL9]

The NBA could add only Seattle and go with an odd number of teams if necessary for awhile. There's enough talent outside the NBA right now (Kenneth Faried, Dion Waiters, and others) to form an entertaining team for a city that is desperate for a squad. It'll likely take 5 years to truly become title contenders but that's fine. The league would be better for it.

Louisville should be the 2nd choice

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[Hillmatic94]

Seattle should be listed among the choices. They are my vote for the west.

It will likely never happen, let alone it be considered, but for the love of god please give Columbus, Ohio a team! I’d do somersaults in the event this ever became a reality.

[Cactus Jack]

Cuban was on Bull Simmons podcast last week go listen expansion ain’t happening at all it’s not on the table. Cuban is talking about the only way is if the new team pays 3 billion up front and still that might not do it since they’d be taking some of the pie

I'm not getting my hopes up but if the league wanted a cash infusion of $6 billion by adding 2 more teams, now would be a pretty good time.

Response from Leiweke himself

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[Ambrose]

Give me Seattle and Vegas, move the Wolves to the Eastern Conference.

[Bologna Smasher]

As much as I'd like to finally see an in NBA team in the Kentucky/Cincinnati area, I'd rather see Seattle get their team back first.

Seattle and Vegas seem like the main candidates right now.

[BucksFanSD]

Seattle and San Diego for me. Both of these big cities seemed destined for something big.

San Diego has an arena group and a recent height limit removal voted in favor of. The arena area is getting a full revamp of housing, community, and transportation upgrades over a long period of time.

[Jkam31]

The NBA could add only Seattle and go with an odd number of teams if necessary for awhile. There's enough talent outside the NBA right now (Kenneth Faried, Dion Waiters, and others) to form an entertaining team for a city that is desperate for a squad. It'll likely take 5 years to truly become title contenders but that's fine. The league would be better for it.

Louisville should be the 2nd choice

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What kind of case is this “waiters, faired and others”