Which cities should have an NBA Basketball team?

[SunsFanVegas]

How about El Paso and El Paso Mariachis?
Yes,Vegas team might be fun but not sure there ll be a lot of supporters.
Maybe they don't have Vegas team because of game betting stuff?

I live in Las Vegas and there has been buzz for a while now about getting a professional sports team here. The betting would be an issue and is one thing Stern was heard to say to the Mayor when the NBA Allstar game was here last year, that there could be NO gambling, but that won't fly, (It's Vegas for God's sake..lol) so I'm sure they are working on a 'compromise'. For example, the Maloof brothers own the Kings, and at no time will you find any NBA or WNBA lines up at their Palms Casino. It would seem more likely that if we were to get a pro team, that the sports books just would not be allowed to put up lines for the home team. The Mayor here is really hot to trot on getting a pro team here and has even gotten the funding from private contributors for a new stadium/arena. I hope it happens. It would be cool to be able to watch the Suns in my home town and maybe even be lucky enough to attend a game live.

 

[Milgod]

Can somebody break this whole 'betting issue' down for me. I live in the UK and can't see what the problem is.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

How about El Paso and El Paso Mariachis?
Yes,Vegas team might be fun but not sure there ll be a lot of supporters.
Maybe they don't have Vegas team because of game betting stuff?

They'd be the Los Mariachis...

Oklahoma City and Vegas should get a team.

 

[Louis]

Vegas, Lincoln, NE (they can 100K to 6-7 football games per year), Boise,

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Can somebody break this whole 'betting issue' down for me. I live in the UK and can't see what the problem is.

Gambling is so prominent in vegas that the NBA thinks it will be too easy: for bookies to get in the players heads to affect the game, for athletes to be too tempted on a regular basis to affect the spread/etc, that gambling on games would be too overwhelming and hard to control.

I say, the closer they are to danger, the farther they are from harm. No bookie or sports betting venue gains anything from throwing games except for the one time. After that its tainted and big gamblers and investors will take their money elsewhere. It is in the sports betting world's best interest to keep it as clean as possible.

 

[Milgod]

Gambling is so prominent in vegas that the NBA thinks it will be too easy: for bookies to get in the players heads to affect the game, for athletes to be too tempted on a regular basis to affect the spread/etc, that gambling on games would be too overwhelming and hard to control.

I say, the closer they are to danger, the farther they are from harm. No bookie or sports betting venue gains anything from throwing games except for the one time. After that its tainted and big gamblers and investors will take their money elsewhere. It is in the sports betting world's best interest to keep it as clean as possible.

Cheers for the reply. Another question then, are there not bookies in all towns? We have bookies everywhere in the UK so its hard to imagine there not being them all over.

 

[abomb]

They all ready are.. Jay-Z is moving his Nets to Brooklyn..

Shawn Carter actually only owns 1.47% of the team, despite what the media would have you believe.

 

[abomb]

It would be cool if the Clippers were back in San Diego.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Shawn Carter actually only owns 1.47% of the team, despite what the media would have you believe.

Usher owns about the same percentage of the Cavs, no? I thought it was around 1%.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Cheers for the reply. Another question then, are there not bookies in all towns? We have bookies everywhere in the UK so its hard to imagine there not being them all over.

Im far from an expert on the topic, but I cant think of any sportbook(bookie) that takes bets in Phoenix. I know some casinos used to, but that was before I was old enough to gamble. I could be 100% wrong though.

I know some bars are still licensed to take off track horse and dog race bets. Thats aboot it.

 

[Milgod]

Im far from an expert on the topic, but I cant think of any sportbook(bookie) that takes bets in Phoenix. I know some casinos used to, but that was before I was old enough to gamble. I could be 100% wrong though.

I know some bars are still licensed to take off track horse and dog race bets. Thats aboot it.

Wow, that's wierd to me. There are three bookies within a 5/10 minutes walk from my front door. I don't really gamble much but the occasional soccer or dogs bet is fun.

 

[elindholm]

Wow, that's wierd to me. There are three bookies within a 5/10 minutes walk from my front door. I don't really gamble much but the occasional soccer or dogs bet is fun.

Gambling on sporting events is illegal in most of the U. S., except in many cases for parimutuels like horse and dog races. Generally, the only way to bet on an NBA game is over the internet, through a company based in Las Vegas or out of the country. (Even that might be illegal, according to some interpretations of the law, but the consensus seems to be that the feds won't go after small-time individual "offenders.")

Broad gambling is legal only in Nevada, Atlantic City (New Jersey), on Native American reservations (who are authorized by treaty to set some of their own laws), on a few "riverboat casinos" (where the water on which the casino sits is outside the jurisdiction of either bordering state), and maybe a few other places.

 

[Black Jesus]

Baltimore, Glendale

 

[Skumbag]

City / Population
Baltimore, MD - 640,000
St. Louis, MO - 353,837
Kansas City, MO - 447,306
Virginia Beach, VA - 435,619
Omaha, NE - 427,872
OK City, OK - 537,734
Chandler, AZ - 240,595

 

[MigratingOsprey]

SEATTLE

cincy used to have a team that didn't work out - that team then went onto Kansas City where it didn't work out as well

Cincy seems like it would be a good fit. Near the basketball crazed areas of Indiana & Kentucky and with a decent metro area - could pull a fairly regular crowd from dayton and a special occasion crowd from toledo in state

definitely not boise or lincoln - way too small to support a team for 50 games a year (incl pre-season) - college following does not equal professional support

I like vegas as well. Clippers in SD would be ideal as well. The NBA seems to of done a good job in spacing it's teams and doesn't need to expand as the population centers shift. In the western portion of the US they currently have Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, LA X2, Oakland, Phoenix, SLC & Denver - where else is there from the rocky mountain region west?!

Any thoughts on Pittsburgh?

 

[NightHawk11and81]

City / Population
Baltimore, MD - 640,000
St. Louis, MO - 353,837
Kansas City, MO - 447,306
Virginia Beach, VA - 435,619
Omaha, NE - 427,872
OK City, OK - 537,734
Chandler, AZ - 240,595

Metro population:
Baltimore: 2.65 million
St. Louis: 2.8 million
Kansas City: 1.94 million
Virginia Beach: 1.795 million
Omaha: 829,000
OKC: 1.17 million
Chandler: City is a suburb of Phoenix, which already has a team. Chandler has no metro area, it is part of Phoenix's.

Nice try.

 

[cobbler]

Vegas would be a great spot.

I think San Jose as well, create a semi cross town rivalry with the warriors.

 

[BC867]

I'd also move the LA Clippers (who will always be 2nd fiddle to the Lakers) back to San Diego. I know it didn't work out initially with them there, but San Diego has grown a ton, and could definitely use a team to bridge the gap between the Chargers and Padres season.

I was going to post the same thing. Los Angeles has two NBA teams playing in the same building. But L.A has no NFL team. It makes no sense.

And the Clippers originally played in Buffalo, NY. (Anyone remember when Bob McAdoo won three consecutive scoring titles?)

And I agree that St. Louis should have an NBA team again.

The Baltimore/Washington Bullets/Wizards have been shifting back and forth, but it's pretty much the same metropolitan area. It can't support two NBA teams.

Here's a list of the top 50 cities by population. (I know it's not a perfect list. Rankings by metropolitan area would be better. For example, our city is not the sixth largest metropolitan area in the country. But it is still a major city.)

New York, N.Y. 8,143,197 1
Los Angeles, Ca. 3,844,829 2
Chicago, Ill. 2,842,518 3
Houston, Tex. 2,016,582 4
Philadelphia, Pa. 1,463,281 5
Phoenix, Ariz. 1,461,575 6
San Antonio, Tex. 1,256,509 7
San Diego, Calif. 1,255,540 8
Dallas, Tex. 1,213,825 9
San Jose, Calif. 912,332 10
Detroit, Mich. 886,671 11
Indianapolis, Ind. 784,118 12
Jacksonville, Fla. 782,623 13
San Francisco, Ca.739,426 14
Columbus, Ohio 730,657 15
Austin, Tex. 690,252 16
Memphis, Tenn. 672,277 17
Baltimore, Md. 635,815 18
Fort Worth, Tex. 624,067 19
Charlotte, N.C. 610,949 20
El Paso, Tex. 598,590 21
Milwaukee, Wis. 578,887 22
Seattle, Wash. 573,911 23
Boston, Mass. 559,034 24
Denver, Colo. 557,917 25
Louisville, Ky. 556,429 26
Washington, DC 550,521 27
Nashville,Tenn. 549,110 28
Las Vegas, Nev. 545,147 29
Portland, Ore. 533,427 30
Oklahoma City 531,324 31
Tucson, Ariz. 515,526 32
Albuquerque,N.M.494,236 33
Long Beach, Ca. 474,014 34
Atlanta, Ga. 470,688 35
Fresno, Ca. 461,116 36
Sacramento, Ca. 456,441 37
New Orleans, La. 454,863 38
Cleveland, Ohio 452,208 39
Kansas City, Mo. 444,965 40
Mesa, Ariz. 442,780 41
Virginia Beach. 438,415 42
Omaha, Nebr. 414,521 43
Oakland, Calif. 395,274 44
Miami, Fla. 386,417 45
Tulsa, Okla. 382,457 46
Honolulu Hawaii 377,379 47
Minneapolis, Mn. 372,811 48
Colorado Springs 369,815 49
Arlington, Tex. 362,805 50