with the emergence of NBA cities like OKC and Memphis..

[651akathepaul]

You're damn right the verdict is still out on OKC. They couldn't have had better timing with their theft of the Sonics. Any market can sellout a crowd when you have two marquee guys like Durant and Westbrook and a Finals contender.

When this team starts falling off we'll see just how market friendly OKC is. Could be a long wait though.

 

[-Red-]

Y'all gotta take into account the economic situation in these cities as well as the size.  Given the declining size and economic plight of cities like New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis, it is going to be difficult for those cities to support a sports franchise, much less multiple sports franchises.  Not winning definitely compounds those issues because people are even less inclined to spend money when they're struggling to make ends meet for tickets to see their team lose.  Like pacmagic2002 said and anyone familiar with St. Louis could tell you, it would be extremely difficult for that metro area to support a basketball team.

Also, for those trying to compare fans across cities, you have to take into account not only the population of the city and metro area and the economic factors mentioned above, but also factors like how long has the franchise been in the city, does the franchise have a tradition of winning (at some point), is going to the game seen as a "showtime" type of event (NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami, etc.), etc.  For example, people can say the Knicks have great fans, but the Knicks have literally every single "intangible" factor in their favor to the highest degree that helps them sell out every game...

 

[-Red-]

Y'all gotta take into account the economic situation in these cities as well as the size.  Given the declining size and economic plight of cities like New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis, it is going to be difficult for those cities to support a sports franchise, much less multiple sports franchises.  Not winning definitely compounds those issues because people are even less inclined to spend money when they're struggling to make ends meet for tickets to see their team lose.  Like pacmagic2002 said and anyone familiar with St. Louis could tell you, it would be extremely difficult for that metro area to support a basketball team.

Also, for those trying to compare fans across cities, you have to take into account not only the population of the city and metro area and the economic factors mentioned above, but also factors like how long has the franchise been in the city, does the franchise have a tradition of winning (at some point), is going to the game seen as a "showtime" type of event (NYC, LA, Chicago, Miami, etc.), etc.  For example, people can say the Knicks have great fans, but the Knicks have literally every single "intangible" factor in their favor to the highest degree that helps them sell out every game...

 

[will068]

Originally Posted by DMan14

seattle and vancouver

This.

Perhaps it's best to max out on the world class cities first before the NBA moves into second tier cities.

 

[will068]

Originally Posted by DMan14

seattle and vancouver

This.

Perhaps it's best to max out on the world class cities first before the NBA moves into second tier cities.

 

[xbiker47]

Originally Posted by B1acMan365

Give Seattle their franchise back.

THIS

 

[xbiker47]

Originally Posted by B1acMan365

Give Seattle their franchise back.

THIS

 

[thunderup35]

Like i said before, in 08-09 OKC started the season 3-27 and their crowds didn't waiver. During the 2 seasons from 2005-2007 when the Hornets relocated to OKC is really when this city came together and made it's case as an NBA gold mine. Keep in mind, the Hornets suffered a losing record during each of those two seasons. Since that time, the Hornets have settled back into New Orleans. In 2006 while in OKC, they finished the season 11th in attendance while just this last year they finished 5th worst. 5th worst attendance for a team that made the playoffs!!

So far in the 5 combined NBA seasons in OKC (3 losing records and 2 winning records) the fans have showed their full support through the highs and lows.

 

[thunderup35]

Like i said before, in 08-09 OKC started the season 3-27 and their crowds didn't waiver. During the 2 seasons from 2005-2007 when the Hornets relocated to OKC is really when this city came together and made it's case as an NBA gold mine. Keep in mind, the Hornets suffered a losing record during each of those two seasons. Since that time, the Hornets have settled back into New Orleans. In 2006 while in OKC, they finished the season 11th in attendance while just this last year they finished 5th worst. 5th worst attendance for a team that made the playoffs!!

So far in the 5 combined NBA seasons in OKC (3 losing records and 2 winning records) the fans have showed their full support through the highs and lows.

 

[GTA 809]

Son,
Puerto Rico. Yes I'm serious.

 

[GTA 809]

Son,
Puerto Rico. Yes I'm serious.

 

[winged wheel]

Originally Posted by I AM THAT DUDE

I have people from Detroit calling me talking !+## to me about how Oklahoma and Texas shouldn't have NBA teams and I'm like why? Your city looks like someone dropped a nuke on it and nobody there has any money.

  

 

[winged wheel]

Originally Posted by I AM THAT DUDE

I have people from Detroit calling me talking !+## to me about how Oklahoma and Texas shouldn't have NBA teams and I'm like why? Your city looks like someone dropped a nuke on it and nobody there has any money.

  

 

[cornzilla]

Warriors in the top ten

but how is Cleveland number 3 on the list.

 

[cornzilla]

Warriors in the top ten

but how is Cleveland number 3 on the list.

 

[blade br0wn]

They need to bring a team back to Baltimore...

 

[blade br0wn]

They need to bring a team back to Baltimore...

 

[ham city]

Originally Posted by I AM THAT DUDE

I guess that should be reevaluated then, because we/they can get 18k out to an NBA game nightly. It'll take A LOT to get OKC to the point of like a Memphis or somebody selling 80%. Bible belt, generally Republican population, so if we start signing a bunch of "thugs," I could see people getting turned off. But again, we have KD thanking the Lord to open his postgame interview tonight and kisses his mom and grandmom before every home game and talking about reading the Bible on his twitter. Westbrook is a knucklehead on the court right now, but by all accounts is a good guy. No player has ever had an off court incident, except there was something about Earl Watson not being admitted into a club and he felt it was because of his race.

It's just a lot of factors in what makes a suitable town and I think people put too much stock into how big of a name a city has.

St Louis is a city I keep hearing, mainly because of the Sprint Center. I don't know. But seeing how OKC did, I'm all for giving them a shot. "Small" cities want to do well supporting sports, because they want to therefore be able to bring more sports, and events, and business, and name recognition and prove they aren't just country, or "flyover" locales.

Does Vegas have an NBA caliber arena though? And not the Thomas & Mack center either.

I hope that we see the Europe expansion soon. I think the logistics of it will actually be quite easy. You just schedule a long @@% homestand for them of 41 games, then they do their stateside roadtrip for the rest of the season. For domestic teams before you go there, give them maybe like 3 days before and after their next game and it's easy money. NYC to London is only 7 hrs anyways

There's a Texas developer named Chris Milam with long money that's been making a lot of noise concerning a massive sports complex he wants to build just off the strip. He just recently bought the Last Vegas 51's and appears to mean business. 

The Las Vegas 51s (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) have been sold to developer Chris Milam,who plans on installing the team in a new $1.95-billion sports complex he's planning opposite Mandalay Bay on the south end of the Strip.                                        Milam heads International Development Management and is working with the city of Las Vegasand Cordish on a development that includes a new 17,500-seat arena potentially housing an NBA or NHL team, a 36,000-seat stadium for Major League Soccer (expandable to 50,000 for special events) and a 9,000-seat ballpark that can be expanded to an MLB-level ballpark (with 36,000 seats should a team move to Vegas.

Home team fan support would probably be the worst in the league but away support would be at the top. Imagine planning your Vegas excursions around your team or superstars that you rarely get to see.

 Hell I guarantee fans who don't live near NBA markets who already visit Vegas regularly would schedule their trips around games.

 

[ham city]

Originally Posted by I AM THAT DUDE

I guess that should be reevaluated then, because we/they can get 18k out to an NBA game nightly. It'll take A LOT to get OKC to the point of like a Memphis or somebody selling 80%. Bible belt, generally Republican population, so if we start signing a bunch of "thugs," I could see people getting turned off. But again, we have KD thanking the Lord to open his postgame interview tonight and kisses his mom and grandmom before every home game and talking about reading the Bible on his twitter. Westbrook is a knucklehead on the court right now, but by all accounts is a good guy. No player has ever had an off court incident, except there was something about Earl Watson not being admitted into a club and he felt it was because of his race.

It's just a lot of factors in what makes a suitable town and I think people put too much stock into how big of a name a city has.

St Louis is a city I keep hearing, mainly because of the Sprint Center. I don't know. But seeing how OKC did, I'm all for giving them a shot. "Small" cities want to do well supporting sports, because they want to therefore be able to bring more sports, and events, and business, and name recognition and prove they aren't just country, or "flyover" locales.

Does Vegas have an NBA caliber arena though? And not the Thomas & Mack center either.

I hope that we see the Europe expansion soon. I think the logistics of it will actually be quite easy. You just schedule a long @@% homestand for them of 41 games, then they do their stateside roadtrip for the rest of the season. For domestic teams before you go there, give them maybe like 3 days before and after their next game and it's easy money. NYC to London is only 7 hrs anyways

There's a Texas developer named Chris Milam with long money that's been making a lot of noise concerning a massive sports complex he wants to build just off the strip. He just recently bought the Last Vegas 51's and appears to mean business. 

The Las Vegas 51s (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) have been sold to developer Chris Milam,who plans on installing the team in a new $1.95-billion sports complex he's planning opposite Mandalay Bay on the south end of the Strip.                                        Milam heads International Development Management and is working with the city of Las Vegasand Cordish on a development that includes a new 17,500-seat arena potentially housing an NBA or NHL team, a 36,000-seat stadium for Major League Soccer (expandable to 50,000 for special events) and a 9,000-seat ballpark that can be expanded to an MLB-level ballpark (with 36,000 seats should a team move to Vegas.

Home team fan support would probably be the worst in the league but away support would be at the top. Imagine planning your Vegas excursions around your team or superstars that you rarely get to see.

 Hell I guarantee fans who don't live near NBA markets who already visit Vegas regularly would schedule their trips around games.

 

[Nike Jordan]

St. Louis will never get a NBA franchise as long the Silna brothers are still alive and collecting royalties from the NBA.

 

[Nike Jordan]

St. Louis will never get a NBA franchise as long the Silna brothers are still alive and collecting royalties from the NBA.

 

[salbah3]

Originally Posted by Thunderup35

This is the third year for the Thunder to be in OKC. They have been almost top ten in attendance every year and have one of the rowdiest fan bases in basketball. Fortunately, we caught a break with a once-in-a-lifetime player such as Kevin Durant. Their first year in OKC they had an abysmal year starting the season 3-27 however the crowds never seemed to disappoint, however a large part of that is because it was the inaugural season. Year two, the crowds became even better and really broke out on the national scene when the Thunder almost upset the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Now it is year three and we have earned the respect from around the league as one of the best crowds in basketball. Fortunately, success looks to be on the horizon for many years to come so the jury might have to wait it out awhile (Durant is already locked in for 6-years) to make a fair judgement on this fan base in Oklahoma City. When the time comes when we don't always find success and these young stars start to part ways (hopefully not) then we will really see how this city will rally around a losing team. Hopefully this will not happen for many, many years to come.

++$* here, and yes I am mad 

 

[salbah3]

Originally Posted by Thunderup35

This is the third year for the Thunder to be in OKC. They have been almost top ten in attendance every year and have one of the rowdiest fan bases in basketball. Fortunately, we caught a break with a once-in-a-lifetime player such as Kevin Durant. Their first year in OKC they had an abysmal year starting the season 3-27 however the crowds never seemed to disappoint, however a large part of that is because it was the inaugural season. Year two, the crowds became even better and really broke out on the national scene when the Thunder almost upset the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. Now it is year three and we have earned the respect from around the league as one of the best crowds in basketball. Fortunately, success looks to be on the horizon for many years to come so the jury might have to wait it out awhile (Durant is already locked in for 6-years) to make a fair judgement on this fan base in Oklahoma City. When the time comes when we don't always find success and these young stars start to part ways (hopefully not) then we will really see how this city will rally around a losing team. Hopefully this will not happen for many, many years to come.

++$* here, and yes I am mad 

 

[cosmiccanon]

Originally Posted by B1acMan365

Give Seattle their franchise back.

THIS

 

[cosmiccanon]

Originally Posted by B1acMan365

Give Seattle their franchise back.

THIS