If/when Seattle builds an NBA-worthy arena, and the league returns, and assuming a 32nd team is added simutameously, which of these cities makes the most sense? (my picks marked w/*)
St Louis*
Kansas City
Las Vegas
San Diego
San Francisco
Assume Memphis gets moved to Eastern Conference
IMO, the Jacksonville Jaguars should/will move. Which of these cities is the best fit?
San Antonio*
Birmingham
Los Angeles
Portland, OR
Tulsa
Honolulu (if they expand Aloha Stadium)
Hmmm. David Stern had said that if the Sonics left, Seattle wouldn’t get another team. I guess with a new arena it is a possibility but ISTM that the taxpayers there are not interested in funding a new building after pitching in for new football and baseball stadiums recently.
As far as your list of other NBA cities, basketball has already failed in St. Louis, Kansas City and San Diego. The Bay area already has one lousy basketball team, I don’t think they’d want a second one. Las Vegas is a possibility but I don’t see it happening.
For football, San Antonio has a football ready stadium but it isn’t up to current NFL standards, not to mention the lack of a large corporate base - a problem for Portland as well. Los Angeles doesn’t have suitable stadium and was reluctant to support teams when they had them.
Birmingham and Tulsa, I have no idea. And Honolulu? I hope the Bucs never have to play there. Its over 4600 miles away.
I assumed SF wouldn’t be a candidate. All the cities the NBA has had issues in (save Seattle) were a generation ago. BTW, I assumed Stern said the exact reverse about Seattle.
I’ve sensed no groundswell of demand in St. Louis for an NBA team. Fans here seem to be content with college ball.
ST. Louis can still turn out crowds for college hoops, but the recent problems with the Rams and the Blues have shown that corporate support is weak. Also, while St. Louis has a suitable site for pro basketball, its primary tenant is the Blues, which would cause scheduling problems.
I don’t think either northern or southern California would support a third NBA team (neither would Florida IMHO). Actually my pick would be either Richmond or Norolk.
As for the NFL, I don’t think they really want a team in Los Angeles – it’s too valuable as a bargaining chip for the owners to use in negotiating with their own cities. My pick would be San Antonio.
Kunilou, ITA that San ANtonio is a sleeping giant NFL-wise. Texas can support a 3rd team, Florida can’t.
As a (transplanted) Jacksonville native, I don’t want to see the Jags move. Fortunately most of the alternatives listed probably would end up being even worse draws, and LA has its own issues.
Is baseball on topic here? Carolina seems to be the most logical IF they can get some serious intercity transit built (they have the population base but it’s all spread out over several metropolitan centers). I’ve seen the following other cities trotted out: Mexico City (iffy exchange rate, fan base which can afford tickets likely small, a bunch of other issues), Puerto Rico (even smaller viable fan base), Portland (which just lost its AAA team), & New Orleans (again with the fan base). They’ll need two expansion teams to balance the leagues of course.
John, my OP didn’t mention baseball, but I’m surprised Charlotte isn’t a more talked about city for relocation.
For either basketball or hockey, Kansas City has a brand new arena begging for a major tenant. The rumormill consistently tries to put whatever NHL team moves next there. More likely is a return to a former NHL city, which will be a disaster. (Why? Because the NHL is like the ScyFy network, all disaster all the time.)
Talking baseball, why there isn’t a major league team in the Carolinas or Tennessee can not be adequately explained to me. Charlotte, Raleigh, or Nashville would smother a team with love and affection.
I don’t think there is a really good candidate for an NFL team at the moment. San Antonino might be good. But the best spot outside of that is LA, and that ain’t happening. Neither Tulsa nor Birmingham are workable, nor is Oklahoma City. Despite a short schedule than other pro sports, the NFL requires a large fan base for ticket sales and tv viewing. Plus corporate sponsorship has to be a major player. I think the NFL’s very success is going to force it to wait for a few more cities to grow bigger before they can host a team.
I hope the NFL doesn’t even think of expanding to Europe. I’m tired of the international game every year. Somehow, some way, the NFL will find a way to return to LA. Jacksonville would be the likely candidate as I think Minnesota will find a way to work a stadium deal.
I certainly don’t want to see any more expansion in the NHL. Ten years from now, the NHL will see more Canadian franchises and fewer of the southern USA ones. I know nothing about Kansas City, but I’m just not sure how much of a demand there is for hockey there.
I can’t see the NBA going to Las Vegas. The “NBA is fixed” rumors would be too much. Right now, the economy there is hurting and I can’t see tourists taking time away from the strip to see an NBA game. Not sure if San Diego is a good choice either. The Lakers will still be the king of the SoCal media market. Seattle seems to be the likely choice.
In MLB, the Rays are going to have to do something about their stadium situation. They’d be the most likely to move to the Charlotte area. I figure Oakland will eventually work something out and stay somewhere in the Bay Area. My solution has been to let the 49ers and Raiders have a joint stadium (similar to how the New York NFL teams do) and then have the A’s completely remodel the Coliseum like the Angels did when the Rams moved away. There aren’t any other MLB teams I can see relocating any time soon, but I"ll be interested to see what happens with the Marlins and their new stadium. MLB can’t like having a team which draws only 5000 fans a night and only draws when the Mets/Yankees/Cubs come to town.
Goodell’s already talked about it it. I get the sense that they’d love to do it, but there’s obviously a number of serious logistical hurdles (and I don’t see it coming about unless and until the global economy gets out of the tank).
The Kansas City situation is interesting. They built a brand new arena downtown (the Sprint Center) without a major sports franchise as a tenant. During construction there were efforts to woo the Sonics, who wound up going to Oklahoma City, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who wound up staying put and I believe getting a new arena out of the deal.
Speculation was that KC had screwed themselves by building the arena first - that any team that wanted a new arena would use the threat of moving to KC as a bargaining chip, but that in the end it would be very unlikely that any team would actually move there.
Then a funny thing happened. Sprint Center started hauling in money hand over fist as a concert venue, easily smashing revenue projections for the first couple of years. So now, having a sports team in there doesn’t seem nearly as important as it once was.
And I don’t know if this is a factor or not, but they just opened a brand new events center in Independence (just east of KC) last year with a minor league hockey team as a tenant, and that seems to have been pretty successful.
It should be noted that Jacksonville has the highest ratio of season ticket sales to population of any NFL city, including Green Bay. It’s a superb football town (although the locals are more into college football).
The problem is that the stadium is too big for the town, and the Jaguars are sandwiched between three of the best-supported teams in the NFL (Falcons, Bucs, Dolphins).
The Lakers, Clippers, and Kings all share Staples Center, I’m sure it could be worked out.
Similarly, the Rangers, Knicks, Liberty and St. John’s Red Storm all share MSG.
Conway, the Kings are clear up in Sacramento! Cool info about the KC arena.
Los Angeles Kings of the NHL.
I’m pretty sure he meant the Los Angeles Kings NHL team, which plays at the Staples Center during the same time of year (roughly) as the Lakers and Clippers.
ETA: What dale said.
I’m not sure that that’s really possible, given that the population of Jacksonville is around 800,000, while the population of Green Bay is about 100,000. Lambeau Field has roughly 73,000 seats, of which about 69,000 are season tickets. That gives a season-ticket/population ratio in Green Bay of 0.69. For Jacksonville to have a similar ratio (with their population), their stadium would have to have over a half-million season tickets. 
Now, it’s possible that whoever came up with the “Jacksonville has the highest ratio of season ticket sales to population” factoid was only counting the Jacksonville market for the Jaguars, while counting the entire state of Wisconsin for the Packers (since, really, the Packers’ fan base covers Wisconsin, and beyond).
I think the NBA could actually do better to lose a team or two rather than add any more. I’m pretty sure no one would miss the Clippers if they were to just stop existing. I wouldn’t shed any tears if the Wizards suddenly disappeared either.