Sacramento Kings to VIRGINIA BEACH?!?!

This makes zero sense. It'd put 16 teams out East, and 14 in the West. Virginia Beach is a dump, and defiantly doesn't need a professional sports team.

Seattle or St. Louis are both way better choices. Seattle deserves their Sonics back.

MDLT said:

VA Beach is a dump.

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No it isn't. Have taken family vacations there several times.

Now Norfolk is a total dump, but VA Beach is awesome.

That being said, why? Washington isn't far away and I don't think VA Beach is close enough to Richmond to pull in any fans from there. Oh, and the Bobcats. Not sure I understand the NBA and their decision behind that.

Seattle will get their team back.

Thankfully for them, it won't be the Kings.

move them to Columbus

SRStark20 said:

This makes zero sense. It'd put 16 teams out East, and 14 in the West. Virginia Beach is a dump, and defiantly doesn't need a professional sports team.

Seattle or St. Louis are both way better choices. Seattle deserves their Sonics back.

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Can then bump Chicago or Milwaukee into the west. Conferences are flexible (New Orleans was considered an eastie a few years ago) and divisions are very flexible (Toronto, Atlanta and Charlotte, along with New Orleans, were considered "central" back when there was Atlantic/Central/Midwest/Pacific. Even though the divisions have never made perfect sense; Phoenix has always in my memory been "Pacific" rather than "Southwest," to say nothing of the "central," "midwest," and "northwest" divisions -- OKC northwest? Maybe because Seattle was?)

in the 70s ABA had the Virginia Squires

in 2012 the Virginia Kings

I lived in VA for close to 30 years , great college basketball market, can't see them supporting an NBA team

STAT said:

According to Nielsen's Television Market Estimates, Virginia Beach is not one of the 100 biggest TV markets in the US. That's right, it's a smaller TV market than Toledo, Chattanooga, Des Moines, and Wichita.

Seattle, Tampa, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and lots of other cities make a ton more sense even if not all of them are quite as pretty as Virginia Beach.

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Virginia Beach is part of the area called Hampton Roads, which includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News (where I was born - I grew up watching Dr. J and George Gervin and the Virginia Squires), Yorktown, Williamsburg and other cities. The Hampton Roads metro area is 36th in the country, 80% the size of the Cleveland metro area. The city of Virginia Beach also has a larger population than the city of Cleveland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas#United_States

Perhaps there are other areas without NBA teams that have larger populations. But most of them do have some professional sports teams. And the Hampton Roads area does have a history of basketball.

KI4MVP said:

Virginia Beach is part of the area called Hampton Roads, which includes Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News (where I was born - I grew up watching Dr. J and George Gervin and the Virginia Squires), Yorktown, Williamsburg and other cities. The Hampton Roads metro area is 36th in the country, 80% the size of the Cleveland metro area. The city of Virginia Beach also has a larger population than the city of Cleveland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas#United_States

Perhaps there are other areas without NBA teams that have larger populations. But most of them do have some professional sports teams. And the Hampton Roads area does have a history of basketball.

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You're absolutely correct in that the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area has a substantial metropolitan population, but franchises are typically more interested in the size of TV markets or "media markets" because it helps to increase revenue via licensing and TV deals while also allowing for the creation of a wide fan base.

Basically, it's important to have more TV and media consuming people than more people in general, especially with league wide decreases in revenue coming from ticket sales and increases coming from licensing and media rights. This is one of the reasons Virginia Beach does not seem like a top shelf candidate for an NBA franchise.

Honestly, St. Louis seems like a no brainer to me for an NBA franchise. The city puts diehard support behind the historically rich Cardinals, and has seen the Rams and Blues enjoy enormous success in past years. If you include it's entire metropolitan area, it ranks around the 10-15 range for population amongst US cities. Plus you're far enough away from Chicago and Milwaukee to warrant a very large fan base.

STAT said:

You're absolutely correct in that the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area has a substantial metropolitan population, but franchises are typically more interested in the size of TV markets or "media markets" because it helps to increase revenue via licensing and TV deals while also allowing for the creation of a wide fan base.

Basically, it's important to have more TV and media consuming people than more people in general, especially with league wide decreases in revenue coming from ticket sales and increases coming from licensing and media rights. This is one of the reasons Virginia Beach does not seem like a top shelf candidate for an NBA franchise.

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it's the same TV market. People from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg get the same local television coverage.

Lee said:

Cant blame them for moving from a small market team with an out dated arena. They are losing millions of dollars in revenue a year and 100's of millions of dollars in value.

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Yeah by drafting shitty.

TheKing23 PK said:

Honestly, St. Louis seems like a no brainer to me for an NBA franchise. The city puts diehard support behind the historically rich Cardinals, and has seen the Rams and Blues enjoy enormous success in past years. If you include it's entire metropolitan area, it ranks around the 10-15 range for population amongst US cities. Plus you're far enough away from Chicago and Milwaukee to warrant a very large fan base.

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Like others, I do not think Virginia Beach is a good spot for ANY pro franchise, and that St. Louis IS a great spot for an NBA team. The support would be outstanding, very passionate fans. St. Louis or Seattle best choices, and a distant third is Pittspuke (IMO).

Kansas City would be before St Louis, especially because St Louis is a HUGE hockey town.

I want Missouri to have a freaking NBA team so bad.

VA Beach's proximity to DC is a non-factor. Nobody is going to drive 5 hours through bloody I-95 traffic to watch a Wizard's game. I wonder if people will drive from Hampton Roads, Williamsburg, and Norfolk to watch a game in VA Beach even with light rail being added, but it at least makes sense as it creates a reason for people outside VA Beach to go to VA Beach during the off-season.

However, if VA Beach is in the Wizard's TV market area, then they'll have to come to some sort of accommodation.

btw, it's 208 miles from Washington to VA Beach, and 342 miles from Charlotte to VA Beach. So, if you're going to complain that they're too close to DC to deserve a franchise, then Cincinnati/Pittsburgh/Detroit are all too close to Cleveland.

And no, it's not a dump. It's a typical east coast beach/resort town with a nice boardwalk, clean beaches, and a family friendly environment.

Anyway, this is what happens when a team owner needs leverage ... they find a sucker. Sometimes the sucker, actually ends up with a team, though...