NBA Expansion

[Sothron]

Why force an expansion to Seattle and another team, when we really need less teams in this league.

Fewer teams.

New Orleans and Memphis are barely viable as things are now so you do have a point. It remains to be seen whether OKC can be viable either if they have a team with a losing record. The other teams are in decent shape though.

Yeah let's get rid of the cities with actual personality and history like Memphis and New Orleans and relocate to big corporate cookie cutter cities like Seattle and Vancouver These cities are nothing but carbon copy cities and would be bad for the league.

I don't want to contract and I understand wanting to fire back when someone takes a shot at your team Memphis but there's no such thing as a carbon copy city. Every city has its own flair and personality.

[LakerLegend]

SAN DIEGO!!! PLEASE PLEASE SAN DIEGO!

All would be right in the world of SDANNIE. But I would still be a Thunder fan first.

Dear god please let us have an NBA team. Leaving the 7th largest city in the country with only the Padres is cruel and unusual punishment.

California has like 10 teams gtfo with that crap. Pick one in the second closest city. Big deal. There are some areas where there won't be an NBA team for 3-4 states at a time. You're just showing how spoiled rotten people from your crappy stare are.

California has a population and economy which justifies that many teams. California would be like the 5th largest economy in the world if it was a country. I don't think we need another but your post is absurd.

[Cactus Jack]

Why force an expansion to Seattle and another team, when we really need less teams in this league.

Fewer teams.

New Orleans and Memphis are barely viable as things are now so you do have a point. It remains to be seen whether OKC can be viable either if they have a team with a losing record. The other teams are in decent shape though.

Yeah let's get rid of the cities with actual personality and history like Memphis and New Orleans and relocate to big corporate cookie cutter cities like Seattle and Vancouver These cities are nothing but carbon copy cities and would be bad for the league.

Triggered are we!?

Btw, the league can keep moving to smaller markets, but the fans will continue to complain about their respective stars when they leave those markets for bigger ones. Can't have it both ways.

[zronv7]

Las Vegas Escorts

[LakerLegend]

How are the pelicans doing in New Orleans?

[memgrizzlies000]

Fewer teams.

New Orleans and Memphis are barely viable as things are now so you do have a point. It remains to be seen whether OKC can be viable either if they have a team with a losing record. The other teams are in decent shape though.

Yeah let's get rid of the cities with actual personality and history like Memphis and New Orleans and relocate to big corporate cookie cutter cities like Seattle and Vancouver These cities are nothing but carbon copy cities and would be bad for the league.

Triggered are we!?

Btw, the league can keep moving to smaller markets, but the fans will continue to complain about their respective stars when they leave those markets. Can't have it both ways.

Don't take away my NBA team I will go CRAZY.

[Shock Defeat]

I still don't think OKC should have a team. Market is too small

[Cactus Jack]

Yeah let's get rid of the cities with actual personality and history like Memphis and New Orleans and relocate to big corporate cookie cutter cities like Seattle and Vancouver These cities are nothing but carbon copy cities and would be bad for the league.

Triggered are we!?

Btw, the league can keep moving to smaller markets, but the fans will continue to complain about their respective stars when they leave those markets. Can't have it both ways.

Don't take away my NBA team I will go CRAZY.

But, you sure don't seem to have an issue with taking Vancouver's.

[Sothron]

Triggered are we!?

Btw, the league can keep moving to smaller markets, but the fans will continue to complain about their respective stars when they leave those markets. Can't have it both ways.

Don't take away my NBA team I will go CRAZY.

But, you sure don't seem to have an issue with taking Vancouver's.

To be fair, that's not the fans in Memphis fault. That was the owner that stole the team from Vancouver that did that. You can't blame fans in or around Memphis to cheer for a suddenly new local team.

[Cactus Jack]

To be fair, that's not the fans in Memphis fault. That was the owner that stole the team from Vancouver that did that. You can't blame fans in or around Memphis to cheer for a suddenly new local team.

My issue isn't with the fans. Same goes for fans in OKC. Never has been. My issue is with the poster I was responding to.

[Kurosawa0]

Seattle obviously needs a team, but we need another team in the East then. I've always thought it was weird that St. Louis doesn't have a team. What would actually make sense is to give a team to Seattle and then maybe San Diego or wherever and then move Memphis and either Oklahoma City or Minnesota to the East.

[TdotRap4Lyfe]

I'd like one in Montreal, would be a good place for a team in the East coast.

[Collymore]

Get rid of Charlotte, Memphis, Orlando, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Sacramento and move Clippers to Seattle. Oh, and ofcourse OKC and Atlanta. The league would be pretty damn nice after this.

[DoItALL9]

Triggered are we!?

Btw, the league can keep moving to smaller markets, but the fans will continue to complain about their respective stars when they leave those markets. Can't have it both ways.

Don't take away my NBA team I will go CRAZY.

But, you sure don't seem to have an issue with taking Vancouver's.

LoL

[wonkrazyz28]

Seattle is in the West so either they expand an east team or move the TWolves over to the East.

I hope either Mexico City or another team in Canada where the market is big enough like Ottawa for example

Memphis or New Orleans would have to move east since it makes more sense geographically.

[Village Idiot]

Why force an expansion to Seattle and another team, when we really need less teams in this league.

Fewer teams.

New Orleans and Memphis are barely viable as things are now so you do have a point. It remains to be seen whether OKC can be viable either if they have a team with a losing record. The other teams are in decent shape though.

Yeah let's get rid of the cities with actual personality and history like Memphis and New Orleans and relocate to big corporate cookie cutter cities like Seattle and Vancouver These cities are nothing but carbon copy cities and would be bad for the league.

Seattle and Vancouver have plenty of culture and personality although the latter isn't all that corporate.

By viable I mean that the markets are both small in terms of population and economies. Below is a table of US Metro GDP's. That gives a good idea of the economic power of each market. The number next to the metro name is the 2015 GDP. New York, including all of its suburbs in NY, NJ and CT had a GDP of 1.828 trillion US$. The next number is the GDP figure for 2010. The number to the right is the change from 2010 - 2015.

As you can see Seattle is at 11th and not all that far behind Atlanta which has a larger population. In fact the GDP of the Seattle metro is twice as much as Memphis and New Orleans combined. You'll see that both New Orleans and Memphis are way down the list.

FYI, in 2014 Mexico City had a GDP of 272 billion US$, slightly below Detroit but more than half of NBA markets. I don't have the Canadian numbers readily available.


NEW YORK ----------------- 1,828,524 --- 1,532,223 -- 19.3%
--- New York ------------- 1,602,705 --- 1,340,859 -- 19.5%
--- Bridgeport ------------- 101,385 ------ 82,351 -- 23.1%
--- New Haven --------------- 45,091 ------ 41,021 --- 9.9%
--- Allentown --------------- 36,968 ------ 31,337 -- 18.0%
--- Trenton ----------------- 30,815 ------ 25,853 -- 19.2%
--- Kingston ----------------- 5,701 ------- 5,179 -- 10.1%
--- East Stroudsburg --------- 5,769 ------- 5,623 --- 2.6%

LOS ANGELES -------------- 1,119,674 ----- 917,666 -- 22.0%
--- Los Angeles ------------ 930,817 ----- 762,565 -- 22.1%
--- San Bernardino --------- 140,637 ----- 114,960 -- 22.3%
--- Oxnard ------------------ 48,220 ------ 40,141 -- 20.1%

SAN FRANCISCO -------------- 758,501 ----- 569,998 -- 33.1%
--- San Francisco ---------- 431,704 ----- 333,830 -- 29.3%
--- San Jose --------------- 235,222 ----- 163,836 -- 43.6%
--- Santa Rosa -------------- 26,052 ------ 20,296 -- 28.4%
--- Stockton ---------------- 24,606 ------ 20,291 -- 21.3%
--- Vallejo ----------------- 19,646 ------ 15,088 -- 30.2%
--- Santa Cruz -------------- 11,908 ------- 9,619 -- 23.8%
--- Napa --------------------- 9,363 ------- 7,038 -- 33.0%

WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE ------- 698,378 ----- 607,691 -- 14.9%
--- Washington ------------- 491,042 ----- 432,364 -- 13.6%
--- Baltimore -------------- 181,419 ----- 152,820 -- 18.7%
--- Hagerstown --------------- 8,936 ------- 7,683 -- 16.3%
--- Lexington Park ----------- 6,069 ------- 5,430 -- 11.8%
--- Winchester --------------- 5,911 ------- 5,125 -- 15.3%
--- Chambersburg ------------- 5,001 ------- 4,269 -- 17.1%

CHICAGO -------------------- 648,435 ----- 540,708 -- 19.9%
--- Chicago ---------------- 640,656 ----- 533,825 -- 20.0%
--- Kankakee ----------------- 3,905 ------- 3,302 -- 18.3%
--- Michigan City ------------ 3,874 ------- 3,581 --- 8.2%

BOSTON --------------------- 550,840 ----- 462,556 -- 19.1%
--- Boston ----------------- 396,549 ----- 330,024 -- 20.2%
--- Providence -------------- 78,694 ------ 67,754 -- 16.1%
--- Worcester --------------- 39,257 ------ 34,216 -- 14.7%
--- Manchester -------------- 25,442 ------ 21,483 -- 18.4%
--- Barnstable Town --------- 10,898 ------- 9,079 -- 20.0%

HOUSTON -------------------- 503,311 ----- 401,087 -- 25.5%

DALLAS --------------------- 489,633 ----- 380,909 -- 28.5%
--- Dallas ----------------- 485,683 ----- 377,500 -- 28.7%
--- Sherman ------------------ 3,950 ------- 3,409 -- 15.9%

PHILADELPHIA --------------- 459,496 ----- 392,648 -- 17.0%
--- Philadelphia ----------- 411,161 ----- 348,749 -- 17.9%
--- Reading ----------------- 17,503 ------ 15,119 -- 15.8%
--- Atlantic City ----------- 13,261 ------ 13,098 --- 1.2%
--- Dover -------------------- 7,104 ------- 6,121 -- 16.1%
--- Vineland ----------------- 5,735 ------- 5,263 --- 9.0%
--- Ocean City --------------- 4,732 ------- 4,298 -- 10.1%

ATLANTA -------------------- 355,914 ----- 288,113 -- 23.5%
--- Atlanta ---------------- 339,203 ----- 274,874 -- 23.4%
--- Gainesville -------------- 8,569 ------- 6,470 -- 32.4%
--- Athens ------------------- 8,142 ------- 6,769 -- 20.3%

SEATTLE -------------------- 340,064 ----- 271,994 -- 25.0%
--- Seattle ---------------- 313,654 ----- 248,203 -- 26.4%
--- Olympia ----------------- 10,796 ------- 9,270 -- 16.5%
--- Bremerton --------------- 10,201 ------- 9,124 -- 11.8%
--- Mount Vernon ------------- 5,413 ------- 5,397 --- 0.3%

MIAMI ---------------------- 335,305 ----- 265,870 -- 26.1%
--- Miami ------------------ 317,986 ----- 250,639 -- 26.9%
--- Port St. Lucie ---------- 12,446 ------ 11,153 -- 11.6%
--- Sebastian ---------------- 4,873 ------- 4,078 -- 19.5%

DETROIT -------------------- 285,308 ----- 232,992 -- 22.5%
--- Detroit ---------------- 245,607 ----- 197,973 -- 24.1%
--- Ann Arbor --------------- 21,212 ------ 19,145 -- 10.8%
--- Flint ------------------- 13,876 ------ 11,939 -- 16.2%
--- Monroe ------------------- 4,613 ------- 3,935 -- 17.2%

MINNEAPOLIS ---------------- 258,178 ----- 207,282 -- 24.6%
--- Minneapolis ------------ 248,779 ----- 199,606 -- 24.6%
--- St. Cloud ---------------- 9,399 ------- 7,676 -- 22.4%

DENVER --------------------- 227,058 ----- 181,870 -- 24.8%
--- Denver ----------------- 193,172 ----- 155,598 -- 24.1%
--- Boulder ----------------- 23,414 ------ 18,722 -- 25.1%
--- Greeley ----------------- 10,472 ------- 7,550 -- 38.7%

SAN DIEGO ------------------ 220,573 ----- 175,903 -- 25.4%

PHOENIX -------------------- 219,968 ----- 182,494 -- 20.5%

PORTLAND ------------------- 184,627 ----- 165,558 -- 11.5%
--- Portland --------------- 158,770 ----- 141,233 -- 12.4%
--- Salem ------------------- 14,069 ------ 12,611 -- 11.6%
--- Corvallis ---------------- 4,409 ------- 5,436 - -18.9%
--- Longview ----------------- 3,809 ------- 3,220 -- 18.3%
--- Albany ------------------- 3,570 ------- 3,058 -- 16.7%

CLEVELAND ------------------ 180,287 ----- 151,380 -- 19.1%
--- Cleveland -------------- 128,448 ----- 109,365 -- 17.4%
--- Akron ------------------- 34,419 ------ 28,628 -- 20.2%
--- Canton ------------------ 17,420 ------ 13,387 -- 30.1%

ST. LOUIS ------------------ 155,077 ----- 133,888 -- 15.8%

CHARLOTTE ------------------ 152,447 ----- 114,500 -- 33.1%

INDIANAPOLIS --------------- 143,886 ----- 118,893 -- 21.0%
--- Indianapolis ----------- 134,081 ----- 111,084 -- 20.7%
--- Columbus ----------------- 5,890 ------- 4,448 -- 32.4%
--- Muncie ------------------- 3,915 ------- 3,361 -- 16.5%

PITTSBURGH ----------------- 142,832 ----- 121,421 -- 17.6%
--- Pittsburgh ------------- 138,873 ----- 117,895 -- 17.8%
--- Weirton ------------------ 3,959 ------- 3,526 -- 12.3%

ORLANDO -------------------- 138,766 ----- 116,533 -- 19.1%
--- Orlando ---------------- 121,329 ----- 101,307 -- 19.8%
--- Deltona ----------------- 15,124 ------ 13,450 -- 12.4%
--- The Villages ------------- 2,313 ------- 1,776 -- 30.2%

KANSAS CITY ---------------- 135,401 ----- 115,695 -- 17.0%
--- Kansas City ------------ 125,618 ----- 107,265 -- 17.1%
--- St. Joseph --------------- 5,716 ------- 4,817 -- 18.7%
--- Lawrence ----------------- 4,067 ------- 3,613 -- 12.6%

TAMPA ---------------------- 133,838 ----- 110,187 -- 21.5%

CINCINNATI ----------------- 127,057 ----- 104,314 -- 21.8%

SALT LAKE CITY ------------- 124,675 ------ 99,961 -- 24.7%
--- Salt Lake City ---------- 78,950 ------ 63,831 -- 23.7%
--- Ogden ------------------- 25,014 ------ 20,722 -- 20.7%
--- Provo ------------------- 20,711 ------ 15,408 -- 34.4%

SACRAMENTO ----------------- 124,587 ----- 100,772 -- 23.6%
--- Sacramento ------------- 118,822 ------ 96,015 -- 23.8%
--- Yuba City ---------------- 5,765 ------- 4,757 -- 21.2%

COLUMBUS ------------------- 124,381 ------ 96,475 -- 28.9%

RALEIGH -------------------- 120,215 ------ 98,774 -- 21.7%
--- Raleigh ----------------- 75,756 ------ 58,652 -- 29.2%
--- Durham------------------- 44,459 ------ 40,122 -- 10.8%

AUSTIN --------------------- 119,949 ------ 87,473 -- 37.1%

NASHVILLE ------------------ 113,680 ------ 84,804 -- 34.1%

MILWAUKEE ------------------ 110,029 ------ 93,655 -- 17.5%
--- Milwaukee -------------- 102,209 ------ 86,569 -- 18.1%
--- Racine-------------------- 7,820 ------- 7,086 -- 10.4%

SAN ANTONIO ---------------- 108,879 ------ 81,722 -- 33.2%

LAS VEGAS ------------------ 107,189 ------ 88,653 -- 20.9%
--- Las Vegas -------------- 103,343 ------ 85,020 -- 21.6%
--- Lake Havasu City---------- 3,846 ------- 3,633 --- 5.9%

HARTFORD ------------------- 101,823 ------ 97,910 --- 4.0%
--- Hartford ---------------- 86,113 ------ 81,935 --- 5.1%
--- New London -------------- 15,710 ------ 15,975 -- -1.7%

NORFOLK --------------------- 95,680 ------ 82,685 -- 15.7%

NEW ORLEANS ----------------- 82,146 ------ 81,482 --- 0.8%
--- New Orleans ------------- 78,478 ------ 77,804 --- 0.9%
--- Hammond ------------------ 3,668 ------- 3,678 -- -0.3%

LOUISVILLE ------------------ 77,063 ------ 63,420 -- 21.5%
--- Louisville -------------- 70,782 ------ 58,012 -- 22.0%
--- Elizabeth Town ----------- 6,281 ------- 5,408 -- 16.1%

RICHMOND -------------------- 74,109 ------ 62,654 -- 18.3%

OKLAHOMA CITY --------------- 72,019 ------ 59,021 -- 22.0%

GREENSBORO ------------------ 72,990 ------ 63,643 -- 14.7%
--- Greensboro -------------- 39,316 ------ 33,894 -- 16.0%
--- Winston-Salem ----------- 28,599 ------ 25,331 -- 12.9%
--- Burlington --------------- 5,075 ------- 4,418 -- 14.9%

MEMPHIS --------------------- 71,278 ------ 62,142 -- 14.7%

JACKSONVILLE ---------------- 67,557 ------ 57,277 -- 17.9%

BIRMINGHAM ------------------ 64,083 ------ 52,834 -- 21.3%

GRAND RAPIDS ---------------- 59,680 ------ 46,072 -- 29.5%
--- Grand Rapids ------------ 53,949 ------ 41,221 -- 30.9%
--- Muskegon ----------------- 5,731 ------- 4,851 -- 18.1%

HARRISBURG ------------------ 58,547 ------ 52,159 -- 12.2%
--- Harrisburg -------------- 33,730 ------ 29,162 -- 15.7%
--- York -------------------- 17,150 ------ 16,164 --- 6.1%
--- Lebanon ------------------ 4,609 ------- 4,142 -- 11.3%
--- Gettysburg --------------- 3,058 ------- 2,691 -- 13.6%

BUFFALO --------------------- 56,456 ------ 48,644 -- 16.1%

ALBANY ---------------------- 55,861 ------ 47,562 -- 17.4%
--- Albany ------------------ 51,120 ------ 43,305 -- 18.0%
--- Glens Falls -------------- 4,741 ------- 4,257 -- 11.4%

ROCHESTER ------------------- 55,382 ------ 49,331 -- 12.3%

TULSA ----------------------- 54,604 ------ 46,343 -- 17.8%

GREENVILLE ------------------ 52,482 ------ 42,644 -- 23.1%
--- Greenville -------------- 38,306 ------ 31,234 -- 22.6%
--- Spartanburg ------------- 14,176 ------ 11,410 -- 24.2%

ALBUQUERQUE ----------------- 50,090 ------ 45,983 --- 8.9%
--- Albuquerque ------------- 42,673 ------ 39,043 --- 9.3%
--- Santa Fe ----------------- 7,417 ------- 6,940 --- 6.9%

FRESNO ---------------------- 43,792 ------ 36,180 -- 21.0%
--- Fresno ------------------ 38,830 ------ 32,389 -- 19.9%
--- Madera ------------------- 4,962 ------- 3,791 -- 30.9%

DAYTON ---------------------- 43,417 ------ 37,774 -- 14.9%
--- Dayton ------------------ 39,206 ------ 34,226 -- 14.6%
--- Springfield -------------- 4,211 ------- 3,548 -- 18.7%

KNOXVILLE ------------------- 42,985 ------ 36,126 -- 19.0%
--- Knoxville --------------- 39,155 ------ 32,832 -- 19.3%
--- Morristown --------------- 3,830 ------- 3,294 -- 16.3%

CAPE CORAL ------------------ 42,093 ------ 32,068 -- 31.3%
--- Cape Coral -------------- 25,350 ------ 19,705 -- 28.6%
--- Naples ------------------ 16,743 ------ 12,363 -- 35.4%

TUCSON ---------------------- 36,193 ------ 33,110 --- 9.3%

EL PASO --------------------- 35,281 ------ 31,356 -- 12.5%
--- El Paso ----------------- 28,912 ------ 25,140 -- 15.0%
--- Las Cruces --------------- 6,369 ------- 6,216 --- 2.5%

[Det the Threat]

Ideally, the Los Angeles Clippers should be relocated to Seattle and the league should expand to Louisville & Vancouver.

Why would it be ideal to leave one of the two largest markets in the United States where they enjoy a lot of support for a much smaller market?

I know that the Seattle market includes Tacoma, Olympia and the other cities around Puget Sound; but that's still not matching the greater Los Angeles metro area.

That Clippers to Seattle thing is just some useless talk which will never happen.
Ballmer didn't pay $2B to move that team out of this market.

Though, why in the world would anyone move a team out of a market like Seattle to OKC?
Or from Vancouver to Memphis? Or Charlotte to New Orleans?

No offense to those markets, but those moves made no sense at all, at least just from a market perspective.

It's a big boys club and if someone in the city council doesn't do what those guys like some of them just might take their ball and leave...

Key Arena is being renovated & is expected to be ready by 2021.

That's not true and still in the works.
So far all that's happening is Leiweke parading around talking the talk, before he's walked the walk(actually struck an official deal with the city).

Though, I somehow still hope that Hansen's project wins, even though the lame duck major seems hellbent on making that KeyArena refurbish happen, so he can have a big project attached to his name after he leaves office.
Even though it would give us one of the smallest arenas in size and numbers, in a terrible spot(traffic wise) and could easily end up like the last renovation, which lasted about 10 years until the owners cried foul.

[LakerLegend]

Vancouver doesn't make sense. Both would be pacific west teams.

If they want to expand to a big city. Montreal in 19th biggest metropolitan in North America and have a ton of rich sponsors

Would people there support basketball?

Yeah I'm sure they would. Raptors had pre season games over the years there and they sold out every time

They only have 1 sports franchise, montreal hates Toronto. So it would definitely be a big rivalry in Canada for ratings here

If it's true there would be support then Montreal would be a no brainer to me.

It would be in the top 10 in metro population if it were in the US.

I don't think St. Louis is a good candidate as someone mentioned. They've lost two football teams in 30 years and don't seem to have a strong corporate base.

I'm not sure if Pittsburgh is a basketball town either but someone else can comment.

So I would do two rounds of expansion, Seattle and Montreal and then Vancouver and someone else.

[LakerLegend]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/nba-in-montreal-hoop-dream-or-reality/

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/05/16/canadiens-interested-in-nba-team-for-montreal

Watch on YouTube

[LakerLegend]

http://www.slamonline.com/nba/adam-silver-met-with-potential-montreal-ownership-group/#kEPKbrOPJz0j3MvM.97

https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/765522