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Hartford and Quebec City had teams, they just moved to Raleigh and Denver respectively
That's because the Whalers and Nordiques were orginally WHL teams set up to compete with the NHL that we're abosbed, they were not exapansion teams like St Louis or Buffalo that opened up new markets. The NHL would not have placed a team in Hartford voluntarily.
San Antonio and Indianapolis were two of the 4 ABA teams that got to go to the NBA after the buyout in 76. (The other two were Denver and New Jersey), don't know if the Spurs or the Pacers would have existed otherwise
I don't think there's a ton of overlap in the fan base at all. If anything, Baltimore probably has a more dedicated fan base than DC, especially when it comes to MLB.
Nashville already has an NHL team: https://www.nhl.com/predators/ But I don't think it's big enough for three major league teams at this point.
There is very little overlap in MLB fanbase. There are still some O's fans in the MD suburbs of DC though. You are right about Baltimore having a more dedicated fan base though. DC Nationals are just not as established and DC is so transient that most fans are fans of other teams first. I'm a Nationals fan for example, but the Royals will always be my true team. I actually think the Nats have cut into the O's fan base which is one reason they have trouble drawing what they did many years ago even though they have been very competitive.
NHL and NBA have a ton of overlap though. The Caps have a ton of fans in Baltimore. I go to a lot of Caps games and they pull from the entire area. I don't think there are enough
As far as Nashville. I know they have an NHL team. That's why they couldn't support NBA. No way could a city that size support two major league winter sports teams.
Location: Live:Downtown Phoenix, AZ/Work:Greater Los Angeles, CA
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Originally Posted by kcmo
There is very little overlap in MLB fanbase. There are still some O's fans in the MD suburbs of DC though. You are right about Baltimore having a more dedicated fan base though. DC Nationals are just not as established and DC is so transient that most fans are fans of other teams first. I'm a Nationals fan for example, but the Royals will always be my true team. I actually think the Nats have cut into the O's fan base which is one reason they have trouble drawing what they did many years ago even though they have been very competitive.
NHL and NBA have a ton of overlap though. The Caps have a ton of fans in Baltimore. I go to a lot of Caps games and they pull from the entire area. I don't think there are enough
As far as Nashville. I know they have an NHL team. That's why they couldn't support NBA. No way could a city that size support two major league winter sports teams.
Trying to think of the smallest cities that have both NHL and NBA.
Cities that have them both:
Phoenix
Los Angeles
SF Bay Area
Denver
Miami
Chicago
Washington DC
Boston
Detroit
Minneapolis
NYC
Philadelphia
Dallas
I honestly think that Denver is the smallest metro on that list. The others are all top 15 I think
One thing to note is that the NBA likes to locate teams in emerging major metropolitan areas where there's less competition for sports dollars. This is why Orlando, Memphis, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Salt Lake City (Utah), Sacramento and Portland have NBA teams, because those cities have no other major professional sports franchises. The NBA also has teams in cities like Charlotte, Indianapolis (Indiana), Milwaukee and New Orleans, which only have one other major professional sports franchise. That's 11 out of 30 NBA teams in cities with little or no competition for sports dollars.
Otherwise, the NBA is found mostly in extra-large metropolitan areas. New York and Los Angeles each have two NBA teams, and Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis (Minnesota), Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area (Golden State) each have a team, so now 28 out of 30 NBA teams are accounted for in either emerging or extra-large markets. The only metropolitan areas with less than 3,000,000 people and more than one other major professional sports league aside from the NBA are Denver and Cleveland.
Knowing all this, here's how I'd assess the options above:
Mexico City and Montreal would have currency issues, and Mexico City would also be a culture shock. Vancouver recently lost the Grizzlies to Memphis, and Kansas City lost the Kings to Sacramento. Tampa, Baltimore, Austin and Raleigh are indirectly part of the Orlando, Washington, San Antonio and Charlotte markets, respectively. Pittsburgh is a saturated market with all three other major professional sports leagues present already. Omaha might still be too small to support a major professional sports franchise.
This leaves San Diego, St. Louis, Louisville, Richmond and Virginia Beach/Norfolk as options. Of those, San Diego, St. Louis and Las Vegas strike me as the most realistic. A team in Louisville would possibly infringe on the Indiana Pacers, and a team in Richmond would possibly infringe on the Washington Wizards. A team in the Hampton Roads region probably wouldn't infringe on the Wizards, but it would preclude a team in Richmond.
Not counting the Inland Empire of California, which is indirectly part of the Los Angeles market, San Diego is the second-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. without an NBA team (Seattle), and might soon lose the Chargers to Los Angeles, leaving the Padres as the only competition for sports dollars in a rather large metropolitan area. St. Louis has already lost the Rams to Los Angeles, and is a slightly larger market than Pittsburgh, which has proven capable of supporting three major professional sports teams, so the void created by the Rams' departure could be filled easily by an NBA team. Las Vegas is another viable option as well, though, ironically, the NHL has beaten the NBA to the market.
What some of you people don't understand is that sports franchises don't care about MSA size. What's much more important is the television market size and the proximity of franchises in other cities. The Cleveland and Denver TV markets are more than large enough to handle the teams that they have. You people need to get to get some help for your "MSA addiction"!!
the NBA likes to hold their games in large facilities that they call "arenas"
Seattle will not be getting an NBA team anytime soon
Seattle is by far the NBA's #1 choice. By far.
And Chris Hansen just purchased $25M more in land, totaling $125M. Soon enough a state of the art arena will be built. Soon...
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