How come there is no NBA in St Louis? (Kansas City: buying, school)

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by Dennis Amoakohene

Lets get back on track guys, this is about your city getting an NBA team.

And the answer is maybe. Bill Laurie tried several times on a few different teams. The issues were mostly with him and not STL getting a team. It would be a squeeze on local sports dollars....it won't happen soon, but down the road is always a possibility. The Blues current owner Dave Checketts has a lot of NBA experience.

[Babycakes22]

Originally Posted by Dennis Amoakohene

St Louis has a metro of 3 million people. How come there is no NBA team?

I asked the same question a long time ago cause Im a big basketball fan and I grew up in STL, plus hockey is so boring to watch... Anyway the answer I got was that there is no room in the city's budget for an NBA team. I say cut out the blues and get some better players for the Rams DAMNIT!

[blueatari]

Good Lord. STL is close enough to 3 Million to warrant the comparison. As for why there is no NBA, my guess would have to be the Cardinals. This is an old school sports town. Baseball is King, Hockey used to be Queen, and football is in a dome. What more to say?

[SiddharthaGautama]

People don't think an NBA team would go over very well in the area. I disagree and think it would do quite well. Even though the area is predominantly a baseball town. I mean if Oklahoma City is getting the Sonics, St. Louis could definitely handle a team.

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by california???

People don't think an NBA team would go over very well in the area. I disagree and think it would do quite well. Even though the area is predominantly a baseball town. I mean if Oklahoma City is getting the Sonics, St. Louis could definitely handle a team.

Living in Orlando, yet a longtime lover of St. Louis since living there as a kid, I can tell you that it's MUCH easier for a small metro (1 million) of Orlando to host one major sports team than a medium sized metro to host multiple teams. The Magic is all we have (don't mention Disney - most longtime residents here want nothing to do with the mouse), so aside from Arena League football and UCF college football games, either we're Magic fans or spend all our days playing golf.

As for the comment someone made about needing new basketball arenas, it's true. Orlando is currently building a $480 million arena for the Magic and arena football Predators, with the main purpose to keep the fan interest in the Magic (and especially keep them in town).

I suspect that's why the Sonics may move to Oklahoma City. The NBA will become the sole interest in the town, and it'll be much easier to sell out the games (and especially merchandise) without having to compete with the Mariners and Seahawks.

Just look at the trouble STL had in the past with fan attendance at the NFL Cardinals games, and even Rams games when they're not at the top of the division. Baseball is the only sport the fans continue to support during a string of losing years. That's why an NBA team owner would rather pick a city (like Oklahoma City) to be the sole face of the city than try to compete with 3 other sports. This is the issue that Miami has with baseball. Even when the Marlins have a fantastic team and win the World Series, fans have their Dolphins, Heat, and Hurricanes instead. Although doing better recently, MLB's Tampa Rays have the same problems competing for fan interest from the Bucs and Lightning.

Every city has a sports fan pecking order.. and no team wants to be last.

[boomster]

I can't see where there is enough money in St. Louis to pay the prices for tickets for an NBA franchise. Football and hockey ticket prices are, for most decent seats, very expensive. MLB used to be pretty reasonable, but that's changed the last 10 years. Having an NBA and NHL team in the same city is like having a MLB franchise, in that you have 80 home games in a 6 mos. period.

[Fishtacos]

Clay Bennett is form Oklahoma City. He bought Seattle's team a few years ago from Starbucks. He wants a team in Oklahoma City and happens to own a team. If Seattle cannot work out their lease situation and venue situation, he'd leave. Oklahoma City has 1.2 million people and more from outside of there. They have a newer 5 year old Arena with 20k capacity.

If you want to pony up the $350 million Bennett did, and put your team in St. Louis and negotiate dates at the Scottrade with Dave Checketts(since his group owns the Blues and the building, hockey gets first choice.) Or you could build your own venue as well. If you want an NBa team in STL and you are a billionaire and aren't afraid to lose some money, and can get approved by the league(no small task) then put your team in St. Louis. Right now it's questionable whether or not Checketts group can obtain enough money long term to keep the Blues in St. Louis. I'd put my money on yes, but to say it isn't an issue is not being realistic.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Originally Posted by Fishtacos

And the answer is maybe. Bill Laurie tried several times on a few different teams. The issues were mostly with him and not STL getting a team. It would be a squeeze on local sports dollars....it won't happen soon, but down the road is always a possibility. The Blues current owner Dave Checketts has a lot of NBA experience.

Checketts has said he doesn't think it'll happen.

[Fishtacos]

Originally Posted by STLCardsBlues1989

Checketts has said he doesn't think it'll happen.

And, I've said that on this forum previously.

It also doesn't benefit Checketts by saying an NBA team could work in St. Louis. He has a hard enough time selling the Blues, the team he actually owns. Another poor season and those sell outs will be going bye bye. It's been a few years since the Blues have been even competitive. And, the new management free pass is up. He's busy with that proposition and with revovated the other parts of Kiel.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

The Blues will most likely be better next year, considering how much youth they have. They also got the 4th overall pick this next draft.

But this is a baseball town. The Lauries stripped the Blues and sold them, so the fans were bitter for a while, and the lockout was hard on hockey as a whole.

The Blues average attendance in 2008 was 17k, and it holds 19,125 (I think) for hockey (more for basketball). That's not bad.