I've recently seen the thread about college basketball attendance for Kentucky and Louisville being in the top 3 of the nation (here's the link: [ame="http://www.bluegrassrivals.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87377"]http://www.bluegrassrivals.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87377[/ame]). At first, I heard the reason Kentucky didn't have an NBA team is because Kentucky didn't have enough fans (or at least fans with enough money) to go to University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, and Kentucky NBA games. (I heard that's why the NBA team that Kentucky had earlier was forced to end.) The recent economy is something to consider.
Now that it's been shown that Kentucky has two college teams in the top three with the largest attendance rate of the nation, can Kentucky have an NBA team?
Deathstar 80 Wrote:I've recently seen the thread about college basketball attendance for Kentucky and Louisville being in the top 3 of the nation (here's the link: http://www.bluegrassrivals.com/forum/sho...hp?t=87377). At first, I heard the reason Kentucky didn't have an NBA team is because Kentucky didn't have enough fans (or at least fans with enough money) to go to University of Louisville, University of Kentucky, and Kentucky NBA games. (I heard that's why the NBA team that Kentucky had earlier was forced to end.) The recent economy is something to consider.
Now that it's been shown that Kentucky has two college teams in the top three with the largest attendance rate of the nation, can Kentucky have an NBA team?
Louisville has the new arena to host the NBA teams
theVILLE Wrote:Louisville has the new arena to host the NBA teams
Are you mocking the Kentucky fans? :biggrin:
Deathstar 80 Wrote:Are you mocking the Kentucky fans? :biggrin:
lol...I actually like the idea of doming commonwealth and hosting NBA games there....Or just buolding a new arena for UK and making RUPP the NBA arena....OR do like Villanova and host both NBA and College games
Louisville as a city can, but I don't see an NBA team coming here.
Way too many things will keep a NBA team from being successful in the bluegrass.
I do think that an NBA team would be successful in Kentucky. I think that the citizens of Kentucky have big enough passion to support an NBA team. That being said, an NBA team will never come to Kentucky. The Hornets and Grizzlies were very interested and close to coming to Louisville a few years ago, rumor has it that Pitino and Jurich were against the NBA coming to Louisville because they did not want to share the new arena and Freedom Hall at the time, which messed up the negotiations.
I would love to see us have an NBA team in Ky. I imagine our fans would be just as supportive as OKC's has been to them. If not more!
If Kentucky could support an NBA team, then it would have an NBA team. Lexington is way to small to host NBA games and its infrastructure does not even handle the extra traffic of UK basketball and football games. Louisville is also too small to host a team and avoid cutting into the Pacers' attendance.
The best spot for a Kentucky NBA team would be northern Kentucky, which would require a new arena and would probably be known as the "Cincinnati" team. The metro Cincinnati area has a large enough population to support a team and it is the only metro area near Kentucky that does, IMO.
There used to be a professional basketball team in Kentucky known as the "Kentucky Colonels." The team was apart of the ABA and won the ABA finals in the 1974-1975 season. About two years later, the Kentucky Colonels had ended along with many other teams. A majority of those teams (if not all) ended as a result of financial problems. These are some other statements from wikipedia.org:
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Aftermath
The ABA had entered the 1975-1976 preseason with ten teams. After three preseason games, the Baltimore Claws were shut down by the league due to financial problems and unpaid bills. The San Diego Sails and the Utah Stars each folded shortly after the season began, the Sails after eleven games and the Stars after 16. The ABA was reduced to seven teams for the remainder of the season. Shortly after the regular season ended, the Virginia Squires were forced to fold because they could not meet a league-mandated financial assessment. The six remaining ABA teams began negotiations for the eventual ABA-NBA merger.
In the end, the NBA agreed to take in four teams—but the Colonels weren't among them. Although it has never been confirmed, it is likely that the NBA selected the Pacers over the Colonels because Indianapolis was a more lucrative market. However, the Colonels were on far stronger financial footing than the Pacers.
On July 17, 1976 the Kentucky Colonels ceased to exist as John Y. Brown, Jr. agreed to fold the Colonels in exchange for $3 million. Brown used the money to purchase the Buffalo Braves of the NBA.
Unsuccessful efforts were made to bring the NBA's relocating Charlotte Hornets and Vancouver Grizzlies to Louisville, along with the Houston Rockets at a time that they were demanding a new arena. However, professional basketball has not returned to Louisville since the demise of the Colonels except in minor leagues such as the Louisville Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association, the Louisville Shooters of the Global Basketball Association and the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA 2000.
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Here's the link: [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonels"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonels[/ame]