New Arena

[JasonS]

UC gets under 8,000 fans most of the time...no way the city could/would support an NBA team for over 40 games per year. It just isn't realistic.

You're thinking too small. You will have fans from Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, and Lexington all within a couple hours drive. Basically, your fan base for the Reds (minus Indy) would be your fan base for an NBA team. There would be enough interest.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

You're thinking too small. You will have fans from Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, and Lexington all within a couple hours drive. Basically, your fan base for the Reds (minus Indy) would be your fan base for an NBA team. There would be enough interest.

The Blue Jackets made the playoffs and averaged under 15K per home game (27th out of 30 teams). They have similar regional interest that NBA in Cincinnati would draw, no? We may have to disagree but Cincinnati imo is very far from even being considered as a 3 team sports town. I think NBA or NHL would struggle to survive in Cincinnati, even assuming a new downtown arena happens anytime in the near future.

 

[Bearcat_NTS]

You're thinking too small. You will have fans from Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, and Lexington all within a couple hours drive. Basically, your fan base for the Reds (minus Indy) would be your fan base for an NBA team. There would be enough interest.

Amazing how wrong one person can be. You have blown away my expectations.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

The NBA was here once and didn't succeed. Granted that was a long time ago but this town just doesn't scream NBA or NHL support. The problem with these sports is its pretty expensive to attend games and there's no already built in fanbase. Baseball is still relatively cheap and has such a long history of supporters and fans and the NFL is in a whole different ballgame as far as fan support and interest. We are a college basketball town. One thing for certain is an NBA team would definitely be bad for our Bearcats. We already have a hard enough time drawing the casual fan as it is. Losing some of that interest to a pro team could be serious trouble. I often wonder what support for the Bearcat football team would be right now had the voters not approved the tax hike and given Brown a new stadium and the Bengals had left as he was threatening to do. Also assuming we didn't get a replacement franchise. This city should've tried to coax whoever won the bid to build the casino here into a joint venture in building a new arena to go along with it. Not sure if that would've been allowed per the state rulings on giving casinos, but with the stupid money that these casinos have they could've easily made the investment and had ownership rights to it. The city doesn't own USBank as it is so what would be the difference?

 

[BearcatNation54]

We would need some big investment group to make a push? Who would invest in a team that has enough money?

 

[jacobkdoyle]

The NBA was here once and didn't succeed. Granted that was a long time ago but this town just doesn't scream NBA or NHL support. The problem with these sports is its pretty expensive to attend games and there's no already built in fanbase. Baseball is still relatively cheap and has such a long history of supporters and fans and the NFL is in a whole different ballgame as far as fan support and interest. We are a college basketball town. One thing for certain is an NBA team would definitely be bad for our Bearcats. We already have a hard enough time drawing the casual fan as it is. Losing some of that interest to a pro team could be serious trouble. I often wonder what support for the Bearcat football team would be right now had the voters not approved the tax hike and given Brown a new stadium and the Bengals had left as he was threatening to do. Also assuming we didn't get a replacement franchise. This city should've tried to coax whoever won the bid to build the casino here into a joint venture in building a new arena to go along with it. Not sure if that would've been allowed per the state rulings on giving casinos, but with the stupid money that these casinos have they could've easily made the investment and had ownership rights to it. The city doesn't own USBank as it is so what would be the difference?

I agree David. Cincinnati is also a little different than most cities bc of the High School sports scene. There just isn't demand for new, substantially more expensive, professional sporting events.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I agree David. Cincinnati is also a little different than most cities bc of the High School sports scene. There just isn't demand for new, substantially more expensive, professional sporting events.

The NBA survives in towns that are in really big markets or markets that don't have other professional sports. Cincinnati is a Reds town. We support the Bengals because the love for football is insane. There is a love for basketball in this town but it's rooted in UC and X. I don't think anyone in their right mind would invest in an NBA team for Cincinnati or NHL for that matter. It failed once and there's nothing to suggest it would survive. The NBA and NHL both have their share of struggling franchises. The NBA survives because it is so marketable and because the salary cap actually gives the smaller markets a better chance. I'd be interested to see a ratings share in Cincinnati for the NBA. We can watch pretty much every Cavs game on FSN and there's ESPN and TNT that show NBA regularly. I would venture to guess the ratings are very low. Also when they have had some preseason games here they haven't drawn much interest.

 

[WAITE HOYT 2]

As a former fan of the Cincinnati Royals I really can't see how a NBA team would draw in this town.The Royals had Oscar and Lucas who is from Middletown and Adrian Smith who was from KY. The team was good, the problem they had was having to play Celtics to advance.

 

[JasonS]

The NBA survives in towns that are in really big markets or markets that don't have other professional sports. Cincinnati is a Reds town. We support the Bengals because the love for football is insane. There is a love for basketball in this town but it's rooted in UC and X. I don't think anyone in their right mind would invest in an NBA team for Cincinnati or NHL for that matter. It failed once and there's nothing to suggest it would survive. The NBA and NHL both have their share of struggling franchises. The NBA survives because it is so marketable and because the salary cap actually gives the smaller markets a better chance. I'd be interested to see a ratings share in Cincinnati for the NBA. We can watch pretty much every Cavs game on FSN and there's ESPN and TNT that show NBA regularly. I would venture to guess the ratings are very low. Also when they have had some preseason games here they haven't drawn much interest.

So Cleveland is now a big town? And how many Cincy fans like anything Cleveland?

Also to whomever compared this situation to Columbus, a sports team that doesn't make the playoffs but once in 10 years or so is going to struggle getting fans. I bet they aren't 27th next year.

 

[Cataclysmo]

Amazing how wrong one person can be. You have blown away my expectations.

Perhaps you should provide an opposing viewpoint

 

[david aka the TYZ]

So Cleveland is now a big town? And how many Cincy fans like anything Cleveland?

Also to whomever compared this situation to Columbus, a sports team that doesn't make the playoffs but once in 10 years or so is going to struggle getting fans. I bet they aren't 27th next year.

Perhaps you misinterpreted what I said. I only mentioned Cleveland to say we can watch their games here talking about is there fan interest for the NBA in Cincinnati and I'm sure we don't. Cincinnati in the last census actually passed Cleveland in population for its metropolitan area. Cleveland is still losing population. The Cavs have been around awhile and Cleveland doesn't have any major colleges. I would venture to guess if Cleveland didn't already have an NBA team they wouldn't be an ideal candidate to land one. Cincy is bigger than several cities that have NBA teams. Cleveland is probably the only one that has all 3 major pro sports in it. And Cleveland up until 2010 was a larger market than Cincy.

 

[JasonS]

Perhaps you misinterpreted what I said. I only mentioned Cleveland to say we can watch their games here talking about is there fan interest for the NBA in Cincinnati and I'm sure we don't. Cincinnati in the last census actually passed Cleveland in population for its metropolitan area. Cleveland is still losing population. The Cavs have been around awhile and Cleveland doesn't have any major colleges. I would venture to guess if Cleveland didn't already have an NBA team they wouldn't be an ideal candidate to land one. Cincy is bigger than several cities that have NBA teams. Cleveland is probably the only one that has all 3 major pro sports in it. And Cleveland up until 2010 was a larger market than Cincy.

My point about Cleveland was that if they can support 3 pro sports teams, so can Cincinnati.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

My point about Cleveland was that if they can support 3 pro sports teams, so can Cincinnati.

Why would Cincinnati be a better fit than KC for a 3rd team? Not saying you said it would be, but those are the kind of cities Cincinnati would have to go up against...and they already have a beautiful downtown arena that seats more than OKC's.

And as far as the Blue Jackets...they have the 4th cheapest ticket, and 4th worst attendance. Will it be better than 27 out of 30 next year? Well, lets just say averaging 4,000 empty seats per night...you can't get much worse. Plus, if you count Columbus as a regional reason for Cincinnati to get a 3rd team...don't the Blue Jackets already kind of count as that?

 

[JasonS]

Why would Cincinnati be a better fit than KC for a 3rd team? Not saying you said it would be, but those are the kind of cities Cincinnati would have to go up against...and they already have a beautiful downtown arena that seats more than OKC's.

And as far as the Blue Jackets...they have the 4th cheapest ticket, and 4th worst attendance. Will it be better than 27 out of 30 next year? Well, lets just say averaging 4,000 empty seats per night...you can't get much worse. Plus, if you count Columbus as a regional reason for Cincinnati to get a 3rd team...don't the Blue Jackets already kind of count as that?

The problem for the Blue Jackets is that there are already established fan bases in Columbus. You have a lot of Detroit Red Wings fans and Pittsburgh Penguins fans. It has taken a while for the city to really form it's own fan base with this team. I don't think you find a bunch of Cavs or Pacers fans in Cincy so it's not a fair comparison. The Blue Jackets and a potential NBA team in Cincy would be apples to oranges.

As for KC, that could be a possibility but considering OKC is in the Western Conference, I think the NBA would be looking further East assuming Seattle gets the team they deserve. I don't think it will happen that Cincy gets a team but I don't think it is as far fetched as some of you do.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

The problem for the Blue Jackets is that there are already established fan bases in Columbus. You have a lot of Detroit Red Wings fans and Pittsburgh Penguins fans. It has taken a while for the city to really form it's own fan base with this team. I don't think you find a bunch of Cavs or Pacers fans in Cincy so it's not a fair comparison. The Blue Jackets and a potential NBA team in Cincy would be apples to oranges.

As for KC, that could be a possibility but considering OKC is in the Western Conference, I think the NBA would be looking further East assuming Seattle gets the team they deserve. I don't think it will happen that Cincy gets a team but I don't think it is as far fetched as some of you do.

Ok. That's fair enough.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

My point about Cleveland was that if they can support 3 pro sports teams, so can Cincinnati.

In theory that in and of itself would make sense. I just think that with so many varying factors I don't see Cincinnati supporting an NBA team. Our basketball fans already have a rooting interest in the Bearcats and X. We're not clamoring for more basketball. I don't think a team here would necessarily go bankrupt so to speak, but it would be tough to be profitable. And to be honest when LeBron left Cleveland there was talk if the Cavs would survive. The NBA has a number of franchises that struggle. I think when considering expanding the NBA isn't really going to look into going into more cities that will struggle.

 

[JasonS]

In theory that in and of itself would make sense. I just think that with so many varying factors I don't see Cincinnati supporting an NBA team. Our basketball fans already have a rooting interest in the Bearcats and X. We're not clamoring for more basketball. I don't think a team here would necessarily go bankrupt so to speak, but it would be tough to be profitable. And to be honest when LeBron left Cleveland there was talk if the Cavs would survive. The NBA has a number of franchises that struggle. I think when considering expanding the NBA isn't really going to look into going into more cities that will struggle.

I hear you about struggling franchises but honestly, outside of Seattle, is there another city that would be considered for a team that would be a better fit than Cincy (assuming a new arena)? I think any other place they expand would be a "struggling market." Maybe there is some place I am not thinking of.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I hear you about struggling franchises but honestly, outside of Seattle, is there another city that would be considered for a team that would be a better fit than Cincy (assuming a new arena)? I think any other place they expand would be a "struggling market." Maybe there is some place I am not thinking of.

Conference alignment wouldnt be a reason to not give KC a team. They could easily move Memphis to the Eastern Conference. Hands down better choice and theyve been actively pursuing the idea for years. They are light years ahead of Cincinnati on this. They dont have the local college issue the same way as Cincinnati does either. Columbia and Manhattan are 2 hours away and Lawrence is almost an hour from downtown. This isnt even close no matter how much you want it to be.

 

[david aka the TYZ]

I hear you about struggling franchises but honestly, outside of Seattle, is there another city that would be considered for a team that would be a better fit than Cincy (assuming a new arena)? I think any other place they expand would be a "struggling market." Maybe there is some place I am not thinking of.

Maybe San Diego, but not really sure if they would be a basketball town. Baltimore possibly. They are bigger markets than Cincinnati at least but I think both of those cities have had teams in the past. People are mentioning KC on here, I think they are a similar market size to us. St. Louis is about the same as well although I think they're slightly larger. I honestly would be surprised if the NBA expanded any time soon. I think they are as big as they need to be. Same with MLB. Expanding into markets that could/would struggle and diluting the talent pool by adding rosters would not be good for either sport. I know they want to get a team back in Seattle but I would imagine moving a team there would be a more likely scenario.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Some cities are pipe dreams and some are real possibilities. The NBA doesnt necessarily have to expand, but I wouldnt be surprised to see a couple city switches in the next 10 years. I'd agree Seattle is first. I wont argue that. They have had an arena proposal in the works for 3 years. But KC has had NBA exhibition games every year, Big 12 Tournament every other year, and NCAA tournament games. The 19,000 seat arena is new and sitting right there. They have pursued the Hornets and 2 NHL teams. I have lived in Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Chicago...believe me when I tell you, Kansas City could handle a 3rd pro team and Cincinnati could not.