My buddy Pat gets the credit for the topic of today's blog. Pat's our resident NBA guru, and I was telling him today about an article I read on ESPN.com.
It was about the fans in Seattle and how they have to be feeling weird during the NBA Finals. Are they still fans of the Thunder? Or are they so bitter about them leaving that they can't possibly root for them? They included a quote from one fan who said that Oklahoma City hadn't "earned" the team yet. He kind of has a point. He compared them to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Florida Marlins, who were expansion teams that won the World Series right away. Their fans never suffered. Seattle fans suffered with the Sonics, only to see the team relocate once they got good again.
I pointed out the irony that Clay Bennett is now the head of the NBA's relocation committee. From there, it turned into a discussion about the chances of the NBA returning to Seattle anytime soon. The Hornets aren't going anywhere. Saints owner Tom Benson is keeping them in New Orleans. But the Kings are probably going to leave Sacramento. The Maloof Brothers already tried going to Anaheim once (as if L.A. needs a third NBA team), so you know they're likely on the move. If Seattle isn't the NBA's preferred location for a team that's looking to move (like it should be), Las Vegas might be an option for the Kings, too.
It wouldn't be a stretch for the Maloofs to bring the Kings to Vegas. They already own the Palms. Furthermore, I think the NBA is the only major league that would be able to get away with putting a team in Las Vegas. They had the All-Star Game there a few years ago, and it was a tremendous success. I think a permanent franchise would be just as successful.
Like Oklahoma City, where the Thunder's fan base is so rabid in part because they're the only game in town, it would be the same thing with an NBA team in Las Vegas. They have a Triple-A baseball team, but that's nowhere near the same as a major league team of their own. Hockey simply wouldn't work. I think Vegas has an ECHL team, but if the NHL has learned anything about its great expansion into the Sun Belt, it's that less is more. And football wouldn't work simply because the Vegas sports books make way too much money on NFL games. They wouldn't be willing to part with that money. The NBA, however, is a different story. The NBA could work.
When I was in grad school, I had one class where our big project for the semester was to create a professional franchise from scratch. My group had the NBA. It didn't take us long to decide on Las Vegas. The selection was so obvious (keep in mind that the Sonics were still in Seattle at the time). And with that, the expansion Las Vegas Rounders were "born" (I came up with the name).
Las Vegas is the fastest-growing city in the country. Within the next 20-25 years, it'll probably be considered a "major" city. Las Vegas has become THE destination for all the big boxing matches. Every major fight takes place in Vegas. They host NASCAR at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the college bowl season traditionally starts with whatever they call the Las Vegas Bowl now. And, of course, Las Vegas is quickly becoming one of the entertainment capitals of the world. The only things it's missing is a major league pro team of its own.
That team may be coming soon. It seems inevitable that one of the Big Four will eventually take a chance on Las Vegas. It's just a matter of time. If an NBA team decides to relocate, they should go to Seattle. That city deserves its team back. But if the NBA decides its wants to adopt the NFL's 32-team model, my vote for the homes of the two expansion franchises are Seattle and Las Vegas.
nice written
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