With the sport season winding down, Pittsburgh should take serious consideration into looking for a sport team to make their city more marketable. With Pittsburgh faithfuls enjoying baseball, football, and hockey, it seems like there is one thing missing. Pittsburgh should get an NBA basketball team.
There are many questions to be answered when taking into consideration when talking about adding a sports team. Here are some Q&As:
Why will an NBA team be marketable for Pittsburgh?
With big name players like Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, and Carmelo Anthony all playing in the NBA, it is a well advertised sport and the third most popular sport in America behind football and baseball, respectively.
Considering that Pittsburgh supports a hockey team which is not well advertised and an arena football team which is an extinct sport, Pittsburgh should consider getting a little more bang for their buck. Although the NBA is a white collar run business and the city of Pittsburgh comes with the connotation of still being considered blue collared, this is not true.
Pittsburgh is now considered an information based city and has turned more white collared with the steel mills closed ever since the 1970s. Pittsburgh also would like to attract a younger demographic to the city, and why not give people the feeling of being one with an NBA basketball team being an attraction?
How could an NBA team attract a younger crowd to the city?
NBA has been increasing in popularity ever since the early 1980s when commissioner David Stern became in charge. He promoted and advertised the league while making the NBA worth billions of dollars, and he made basketball players more well known with Larry Bird/ Magic Johnson rivalry still being well known in today’s contemporary society, as well as the Chicago Bulls 1990s team, and the 1992 Dream Team.
Not only does the NBA have a popular following in the United States, but also internationally with many players coming to the NBA internationally and with Kobe Bryant being a universally known basketball player, the market for the NBA is bigger than any other sport in the United States.
Plus, with NBA comes style and flamboyancy. Whether it is Michael Jordan’s shoes or NBA players playing the game, the NBA has become well known for its attracting young people to its events. This would not be any different for Pittsburgh.
If you have not noticed, Pitt’s college basketball team has a pretty decent following and the Oakland Zoo goes crazy for basketball at the Peterson’s Events Center. Many of the fans in their youth love watching basketball with its high flying, high scoring, dunking fiesta; it is always a pleasure to watch for fans.
Let’s not forget the time when the United States is the most lazy is during March Madness due to the nature of the tournament as well as basketball being well liked in the United States.
Where will the team even play?
Consol Energy Center. If you think about it, other sports teams have one venue and share it with another team. The Lakers and Clippers share the Staples Center. For those who say that Consol is hockey oriented, The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics share TD Banknorth Garden.
It would be complicated, but it is feasible, which is the most important thing. There would be no point in wasting money on another stadium when you have a new building that can support multiple events.
Are there any NBA teams even selling right now?
The Milwaukee Bucks owner just put a price tag of $440 million dollars on his team and the Detroit Pistons are in a bankrupt city and Pittsburgh was tempted to get them before getting the Pittsburgh Power.
What makes those teams better for Pittsburgh is the location of the cities. They are in close proximity to their rivals. They share the same division with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, which are all close to Pittsburgh.
Now although they are storied franchises in their respected cities, Seattle Supersonics were also a well liked team in their city, yet they ended up being sold to Oklahoma City; now they are a loved team in Oklahoma City and have one of the best players in Kevin Durant.
On top of that, Seattle wants another basketball team due to the growing popularity of their old team, and almost took the Kings away from Sacramento a couple years ago.
How would Pittsburgh even get an NBA team if they were to go after one of those teams?
Unfortunately, I don’t think Mark Cuban would want another basketball team, but there are many other ways to get a team. The NFL team Green Bay Packers are city owned, which means the city runs how they work and have used that successfully for a long time.
The NBA team New Orleans Hornets at the time were owned by the NBA for a little until someone wanted to own them and changed their names to the Pelicans.
Or you can find someone who wants to own an NBA team in Pittsburgh. Business tycoon, Merv Griffin, wanted to make riverboat gambling allowed in Pittsburgh and was willing to pay for a new baseball park and football stadium to have riverboat gambling here, but the city did not allow it. A little over ten years later, Pittsburgh made Rivers Casino.
Concluding:
Ultimately, an NBA team would be the right step for Pittsburgh for both economic and population growth reasons. With adding a NBA team, it would give the sign to the rest of the country that Pittsburgh is more white collared and attract a younger crowd, as well as giving Pittsburgh a good market base with the NBA.