Vegas is looking big time for NBA Team. There is talk that Rio will be torn down to put up an MLB field. Now that an NBA team is in play, they may go for that.
Arena sponsor - Moda Jersey sponsor - Biofreeze Seattle, Vancouver BC, and Vegas could all do better, much better.
If they aren't interested in winning first, I doubt the NBA Ownership group lets them past the door. You don't get into that club unless you're already a blue blood.
Dude, the Blazers are 16th in terms of value according to Forbes. It would be one thing if you were stating that about one of the bottom dwellers but they are right smack dab in the middle. Just because a team moves to a bigger city doesn't mean they will automatically be more valuable. The NBA also has to approve it and moving a team away from a city with a strong following isn't smart for their brand.
really you don't understand how stupid it is to suggest that the NBA wants to abandon a huge section of the country to avoid "scheduling hassles"
I doubt there is much appetite for a tax payer-funded arena in any of those markets. Per capita income in those areas is much lower than the West Coast.
I don't remember the details, other than I feel like it was something onerous like "pay off the Moda mortgage" or something.
5 years post-Portland Trailblazers, no one will even care outside of the die-hards. Just the marketing push of a new franchise, new branding, will get a city excited. Look at the NHL team in Vegas, out of no where, people don't even know the sport or rules and it because the hottest ticket in town. Look how many people are at OKC games when they were new and how big time it was. People there don't know SHIT about hoops.
Saved the team? Seems a lot more likely that Kobe would buy it and move it to Vegas. Not sure most of us would consider that saving the team, or that we'd hail him as a hero for doing so. barfo
im sure there is a process on both sides for this. but if the estate wants to sell im sure it'll be tendered out to interested parties and everyone will need to jump thru X hoops for both the estate and the NBA. cingers frossed it stays put in portland and that we get some highly competent new overlords.
A bit of a history lesson regarding the St Louis market. At the time of the NBA/ABA merger, the owners of the SL team agreed to fold their franchise in return for an annual % of NBA earnings and perpetual ownership of the market. A few years back, the NBA bought their way out of the deal and allowing SL to have a team. Strange that the NBA would do that if they didn't think SL was a potential market.
I wouldn't be surprised if one of the investors is from out of the country. A party who has his/her money outside of the US is just interesting in ownership similar to UEFA level football and the high profile it brings. It would be a way to guarantee the team stays in the city. Somebody from Dubai can't move the team to Dubai. Think about it.
