The Gipper Posted April 26, 2021 Report Share Posted April 26, 2021 It appears that as a result of the Covid Pandemic, and the NBA desires to cash in after losses from that, that they are most certainly going to expand by two teams, to bring their total to 32 teams. Their primary reason is to cash in on about 4 Billion dollars of franchise fees to be split between the other 30 teams . But where? And how do they identify the expansion city candidates: They have put forth 4 factors that would be determinative: 1. Avid Fan Base that will support the team 2. Billionaire owner to own the team 3. Community Support....and by that I mean "Corporate" Community support....having companies that will buy up boxes and sponsorships etc. 4. State of the Art Arena available. To that end, they already have one certain market: Seattle. They are certain all 4 factors are met there. They have the fan base (which could include fans from the abandoned Vancouver market). They certainly have the billionaires, though it would be neither Gates nor Bezos nor the Paul Allen Trust, but they have other big money men there. Along with all those is a major corporate HQ base. And they are building or have built a new arena. As you may know, they have a new NHL franchise coming on board soon, so they had to get a new arena. That team will in all probability be named the SuperSonics as the old team was. FYI, there are actual plans for a new Supersonic Jet to be built. The other two primary contenders are: Las Vegas, and Kansas City. As I understand it, KCs biggest hurdle is to find a billionaire owner for any team there. Las Vegas seems more primed to find a person with the money to own the team. It seems to me, however, that they would need to consider putting a team in the east, or else they would have to move a team from the western conference to the east. Which, I think could be easily done by moving the Minnesota team in with the Milwaukee/Chicago/Detroit/Indy/Cleveland teams....all Big Ten country. Or move New Orleans or Memphis east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballpeen Posted May 29, 2021 Report Share Posted May 29, 2021 I don't think the billionaire would have to be from the city the team eventually locates. It didn't work in Seattle before. Why now? Las Vegas is a hot spot. That seem logical. I say Nashville. They could easily support a NBA team. Nashville is a hot spot as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted May 30, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2021 On 5/29/2021 at 12:09 PM, ballpeen said: I don't think the billionaire would have to be from the city the team eventually locates. It didn't work in Seattle before. Why now? Las Vegas is a hot spot. That seem logical. I say Nashville. They could easily support a NBA team. Nashville is a hot spot as well. Seattle's problem in the past was that the new owner that bought that franchise was NOT from Seattle, but was from Oklahoma, and was looking for any excuse to move the team to his home state....and he used the excuse of them having an outdated arena to move them. I don't think he ever gave Seattle a chance to build or renovate what they had. I personally think it is better to have a home town person own the team. We have had our issues with Haslam.....very partially because he is not home grown, but actually because he just had done a piss poor job of selecting GMs and HCs. Hopefully, it seems, he has corrected that issue. Of course, Dan Gilbert is not from Cleveland either. Maybe Haslam...the Tennessee boy, could be the owner of a Nashville NBA franchise. I suspect he still has a load of money left from his sale of Pilot/Flying J to Warren Buffet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballpeen Posted June 1, 2021 Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 I don't think we have had any real problems out of Haslam in so far as the team and location. He has invested a lot of his money in to the team and community. Any problems with ownership are the standard crap you can find with nearly any team if you are a fan of the team and follow the team. He and his wife bought a home in Bratanahl and live there pretty much full time. I don't think being born in the same city as the team is any kind of prerequisite that makes them good or not. I don't think any Browns owner was born in Cleveland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gipper Posted June 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2021 2 hours ago, ballpeen said: I don't think we have had any real problems out of Haslam in so far as the team and location. He has invested a lot of his money in to the team and community. Any problems with ownership are the standard crap you can find with nearly any team if you are a fan of the team and follow the team. He and his wife bought a home in Bratanahl and live there pretty much full time. I don't think being born in the same city as the team is any kind of prerequisite that makes them good or not. I don't think any Browns owner was born in Cleveland. I am pretty sure Randy Lerner was....Shaker Hts. In law school when I lived on Shaker Square I actually didn't live too far away from his Dad's house. Of course, despite being at most a mile away, it was also a world away, if you get my drift. But you make a certain point there. Despite being a native, he was clearly a disinterested owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATOM Posted June 28, 2021 Report Share Posted June 28, 2021 On 5/29/2021 at 9:09 AM, ballpeen said: I don't think the billionaire would have to be from the city the team eventually locates. It didn't work in Seattle before. Why now? Las Vegas is a hot spot. That seem logical. I say Nashville. They could easily support a NBA team. Nashville is a hot spot as well. Seattle got screwed ballpeen and it is a great sports town maybe some day you can make out this way to catch a baseball of football game side note I went to single A Hillsboro Hops game a couple of weeks ago and the support was through the roof good times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballpeen Posted June 29, 2021 Report Share Posted June 29, 2021 17 hours ago, ATOM said: Seattle got screwed ballpeen and it is a great sports town maybe some day you can make out this way to catch a baseball of football game side note I went to single A Hillsboro Hops game a couple of weeks ago and the support was through the roof good times I don't claim to know the details of why the sonics were moved, so I'll take your word. I guess the bottom line is I don't care if they get one or not. I do feel for fans. As for visiting, I have been to Seattle and the PNW, be it some time ago. Very beautiful. As for visiting again, I'll pass. That is my way of protesting the political movement in that area of the country. I am not ranting and raving, getting personal, pointing fingers at you, hate mongering or anything else. I just simply choose not to spend my money out there. Call it my loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickers Posted July 6, 2021 Report Share Posted July 6, 2021 Expansion is a really , really bad idea.. Talent pool is already diluted with the teams we have now... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballpeen Posted July 17, 2021 Report Share Posted July 17, 2021 On 7/5/2021 at 8:18 PM, nickers said: Expansion is a really , really bad idea.. Talent pool is already diluted with the teams we have now... That is a solid point Nick. One would think with NBA rosters being small that talent pool wouldn't be a problem. It is because the NBA is a game where a team with that one guy can go from pretty average to a top contender, but there aren't that many "guys" who can do that so you end up with the same handful of players who dominate the league for 10-15 years. Baseball pitchers can be like that, but they don't play nearly every game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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