Suns Owner Threatening to Move Team to Seattle/Las Vegas

Not sure I buy that. PHX is the 12th biggest media market in the country. Las Vegas is 39th. The US Census Bureau said in 2017 that Phoenix was #1 in the US for population growth...so it's not a shrinking economy and already has a solid corporate base.

Leaving PHX for Vegas has a similar feel to me as leaving Houston for Nashville. They might build you a new stadium, but the value of your franchise will be impacted by the size of the market you play in.

 

Well they have NHL franchises smaller cities not named Houston.

I think the NBA is different now that it's more global. The stadium is purely for increased revenues from suites and corporations.

The NFL is definitely more domestic.

 

Dude is stupid he should go to austin. Austin badly needs a basketball team they have people that live there that spends money.

 

My point is that Vegas deserves an NBA team, if Sacramento can sustain one, Vegas most certainly can.

 

I would surely travel to watch rockets and austin play only 2 hour drive and enjoy the food.

 

Austin is too much of a college town, UT sports rule this city and always will. Austin is at 2 million people, expected to be 4 million in 2040. That's a much more sustainable market for pro sports. San Antonio will get an NFL team before Austin gets an NBA team.

 

No arena

Vegas already has an arena.

Austin = Spurs/Rockets/Mavs fans

 

I'm suggesting that the bigger your media market that your team is based in, the more likely it is that your franchise is valued higher than franchises in smaller markets.

That's not a knock on Vegas, and it doesn't mean they couldn't sustain hosting a team there. I don't know if they could or couldn't. But if you're asking me to pick a market and my concern is franchise valuation at some point, I'm going with the bigger market every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

PHX downtown area is just starting to wake up and get built up a bit with restaurants, bars, and cafes etc. The infrastructure is there with the public transportation and the population can support it. But, Vegas with pro sports on the strip would be a game changer IMO. I won't even guess how many thousands of people will walk by those arenas on a daily basis. Couple that with local businesses, casinos, and residents and it's no wonder the Raiders can't wait to move.

 

The Raiders can't wait to move because they can't get any sort of a stadium at all in Oakland. They certainly tried..for a very long time.

Attendance isn't as important to franchise value as people think it is. Lots of other factors weigh heavier on franchise value.

 

The NHL franchise is doing dynamite business. Since i go frequently, I see that the games have a good amount of local support as well as fans from other teams.
Pre-gaming on the strip is also bonkers.

The attendance for NBA Summerleague has gone way up. Any NBA team on the strip will attract attendance for fans and tourists.

Nobody goes to Houston as a tourist and chooses to go to a Rockets game.

In Vegas you have tourists on the same street in hotels who want to go out and do things. It works for the NHL and the NBA is significantly more popular.

 

It's not exactly rocket science to design an arena that allows both NHL and NBA and still has seats right on top of the court. It's better for player safety if the first few rows of seats on every side of the court are not fixed anyway. Loudness would be far more affected by materials construction and overall air volume anyway. You could actually design a stadium that was dangerously loud, but it would be absolutely worthless for anything else like concerts and events.

 

good read

https://newpittsburghcourieronline.com/2018/10/11/column-a-glimpse-of-the-nbas-future-in-las-vegas/
Column: A glimpse of the NBA’s future in Las Vegas

 

This article says the CEO of MGM Resorts already knows which teams want to move there

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2018/may/11/murren-expects-las-vegas-to-have-nba-team-within-f/
Murren expects Las Vegas to have NBA team within five years

Murren sees an NBA team relocating like the NFL’s Oakland Raiders' pending 2020 move to Las Vegas, and not an expansion team being added, like in the case of the NHL’s Golden Knights.

“I think it’s highly likely that a team, or multiple teams, will be looking to move over the next three years,” Murren said. “We know who they are, that’s why I think it’s highly likely. I would expect that Las Vegas will have an NBA team within the next five years, if not sooner. That team would likely play at T-Mobile (Arena).”

 

It's not just a matter of scooting floor chairs closer for NBA games, the entire bowl has to be designed to accommodate 200' vs 94'. The sections for the corners and behind the basket just aren't where they would be if designed for basketball. That's one of the reasons why Utah and Kings were so loud.

Look at it this way, NHL seats all around the rink are closer....the whole bowl is designed for those dimensions.

 

Brother,

Don't the Lakers and the LA Kings of the NHL play at Staples Center?

 

What the Phoenix city council tried to do is unethical at best - everyone involved in trying to sneak a vote through with no economic analysis should be fired or voted out.

That said, Vegas doesn't follow any of the traditional rules for sports franchises. The only reason they haven't had them is because the gambling concerns - with that going away, they are going to be the #1 destination for new franchises. It's not surprising the NHL and NFL are already there and the NBA would be trying to get there. The tourism aspect of that city means market size, etc are all pretty irrelevant. All of those team will have mediocre homefield advantages since the fans are more there for the experience than the team, but the stadiums will be sold out and the atmospheres around the games will be crazy. It will also be great for the city just driving even more people to Vegas year round. Franchises would kill to be in Vegas, so I don't think valuation will be a problem at all.

MLB would be a bit different because I'm not sure their TV revenue would be great and MLB is so heavily focused on local TV deals.

 

Like I say, do you think Staples has better tight, lower-bowl seating for the Kings or the Lakers?

It's hard to convince me that old Arco and Delta Center aren't better designs for fan viewing all around the court.

 

Fans are on top of the court for Mavs games. Variable rise seating in Toyota Center makes it pretty palatable for both Hockey and the NBA. Same in Toronto. Detroit's new arena also designed to be a great hybrid arena.