Jamaaliver wrote:uga_dawgs24 wrote:If Atlanta was to have a d-league team, any ideas where it could/should be located?
I've been advocating Louisville, KY. It's a huge market in a basketball state. The city already has massive support for the collegiate team there. One hour flight to ATL. A looong bus ride to other affiliates.
From a business standpoint, it'd be a perfect fit.
Hardwood Paroxysm did a
feature last year on potential locations:
Louisville, Kentucky
Background: There’s a notable amount of speculation that Louisville could one day become home to an NBA franchise– this Facebook page promoting the idea has over 11,000 likes. In 2012, the Louisville Cardinals were labeled the most valuable NCAA basketball team, proving that this city adores basketball
Arena: The KFC Yum! Center seats over 22,000 and is home to the Cardinals mens’ and womens’ basketball programs.
Proximity: Louisville is geographically friendly, too. It’s a three-and-a-half hour drive to Fort Wayne, five hours to Canton, eight-and-a-half hours to Des Moines, and Louisville is 10-and-a-half hours away from Oklahoma City.
A couple of behind the scenes items re: Louisville and the YUM! Center:
- The university was given total control of arena scheduling. That means Pitino and the AD, who both have fought against sharing anything NBA related will not be welcome to a proposal. Remember when Charlotte was considering Louisville when the Hornets were moving? UL put up a roadblock to prevent it becoming a reality.
- That city would definitely be able to support the NBDL.
The facility being discussed for 8 figure upgrades is Freedom Hall @ Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. This is the arena that UL had played in prior to its new facility.
This seems like a better fit, and will put 25 home games in the facility and provide jobs for locals to keep this open more often.
They are currently looking for new events to come to the city and justify their continuing need to upgrade.
Seating is set for basketball at approximately 18K when it was being used for basketball. The schedule appears to be light on major concerts events, so seems like this is a more doable option.
NOTE: Average 2014 attendance at NBDL games:
358 events / 931,928 official total @ 2,725 per game.
http://sportsfranchises.sportsblog.com/posts/285337/attendance_tracker_mls_nll_afl.htmlAlmost any arena can handle the event.........Gwinnett Center would be a good fit as well.
