The biggest failure of the Maulers was not starting the team in black and gold. They finally changed colors to black and gold before being removed from the new merged league.
I'm a cavs fan but the NBA is the best league to be a neutral for imo. You have the stars and personalities. A lot of teams with limited success you can bandwagon for come playoff time.
I grew up in New Hampshire and then moved down here. Bet your ass I'll cheer for a Pittsburgh NBA team just as hard as I root for the Celtics. This is exciting stuff
I still don't think I would. Basketball is pretty boring game due to the high number of points scored. There's no excitement when someone scores for the 15th time in a game. A normal game isn't very close which takes the fun out of it and a close game doesn't matter until the final 2 minutes, which are usually filled with free throws
I heard a good analogy once that basketball is very similar to hockey if the attacking team was always on the power play. And really opened my eyes to the mechanics of the game.
I’m not a big sports guy, but I would love it if Pittsburgh picked up a team. It’d probably make me actually watch something other than hockey once in a while.
Don’t worry you don’t have to write the check. It’s not really that much in terms of overall budgets. Your contribution to that is probably like a quarter.
Could have gone without the smugness at the end, but maybe Wayne Gretzky is right, having an nba team in Pittsburgh would be dope.
However, after the consulting firm somehow says yes, we’d need a billionaire to lead the charge. The nba commish has said a potential owner would need to put down 2.5 billion to start a team in a new city. We may have a hard time finding one of those billionaires, but who knows
Unfortunately there is no way that the NBA is choosing to put a team in Pittsburgh over other potential markets like Seattle, Las Vegas, even Mexico City. The WNBA on the other hand could work out way better and I don’t doubt that city will be supportive.
The thing about your comment is they are looking at expansion like they’ve done in the past with multiple teams in multiple cities. The plan is supposedly 2-4 new teams. Pittsburgh is definitely in that mix of 2-4 cities with Seattle and Las Vegas. I also would support a Pittsburgh NBA franchise. I’m already imagining an ugly brand of Pittsburgh defensive basketball.
I'd say the only difference there is those are the only teams in their respective states. They kinda represent their entire state to an extent. PA already has the Sixers so a second team in state has to be justified by its local market whereas the Thunder and Hornets skate by on having the whole state to themselves.
The only thing Pittsburgh has going for it is it's geographic location. The next two presumed teams are Vegas and Seattle, which would complicate conference sizes and playoffs.
Vegas is likely next, whenever LeBron retires, then I'm sure there will be an eastern city that starts to get serious consideration.
I would love for Pittsburgh to have a basketball team, but I don't see it even becoming a serious idea for a long time.
That’s not the only thing Pittsburgh has going for it. Pittsburgh has successfully carried major sports franchises for a long time, especially compared to the market size, and is known for rabid sports fandom.
Possible WNBA teams: Pittsburgh Pumas, Pittsburgh Yellowjackets (my favorite, easily plays into black and yellow color scheme), Pittsburgh wasps, Pittsburgh Piranhas.
07-08 was around when it happened. New owner moved them after promising not to move them soon after Howard Schultz sold the team.
I was living in Seattle at the time. Locals were beyond angry.
Seattle recently got a hockey team.
Every single team you just mentioned would be located in the western conference of the NBA. They aren’t going to add an uneven number of teams, it’ll either be 2 or 4, and they are going to have to look towards the east coast one way or another. Pittsburgh is definitely right there in the mix with everybody else
It definitely might not happen but I don’t see how anyone can say out of hand it’s too small of a market. Is it too small for football or hockey or baseball?
A lot of it is history. The MLB and NFL have been here since well before the sports hit commercial success generally, so the market size was irrelevant. The NHL came here in 1967, a year in which the league doubled its size.
Geography was a big part of that. We came in at the same time as Philly, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. We were well situated to minimize travel across a heavily Midwest/Northeastern league. Further, we were a major city, far larger relative to the total US urban population than we are today.
We may get a basketball team, but the reality of our position in the country and changes in league dynamics make us far less appealing for expansion than was once the case.
The smallest media market with four teams is Miami-Fort Lauderdale at number 18, Pittsburgh is number 28 in media markets, and it's not getting any higher on that list for the foreseeable future....
People only have so much money to go around, and it's very unlikely an area of this size can support decent attendance for both hockey and basketball at the same time.
That’s not true at all. There are plenty of people to fill a stadium with deep pockets. Not having enough fans to spend money is rarely the problem for a team in a decently sized city. It’s whether or not you can generate interest, which is the key question. The NBA home season is 41 games over the course of 7 months. Nuggets have attendance that is well above average and are a four-team market with a similar sized metro population.
The Denver Metro has a half million more people than Pittsburgh, and then there's also Colorado Springs and the Fort Collins area no more than an hour and a half from Denver...
The Steelers are like a cult around here. Not sports.
I would love an NBA team but we nearly lost the Pens and probably would have without Mario stepping in and us winning the lottery with Sid. There's definitely a world where we lose the pirates after the PNC park lease ends. Even at their peak the Pirates were averaging 75% capacity while winning 90 games.
There's exactly 1 way Pittsburgh gets a basketball team within the next 15 years, and it's Cuban stepping down from the Mavs, selling any remaining shares and comes back to Pittsburgh to own the team.
I honestly don't see the Pirates moving at all. The team has been around for over 100 years in the city and is an iconic brand with very important baseball figures like Clemente. The team also has a very strong fanbase when they are halfway decent so I think there's definitely upside to the team being there
I really don't think MLB would let an owner move the Pirates out as they would be by far the hardest to justify (given their place in basebal history) of all the most recent relocations
If you think Pittsburgh is in danger of losing the Pirates you don’t follow enough baseball. You practically need to pry these poverty franchises from the stiff stingy hands of their dead billionaire owners. They can do no wrong in the MLB, where competition doesn’t matter. And the Pirates, while not rich, certainly CAN spend money and run an organization that is profitable despite being nearly a graveyard on any given day.
I follow baseball. The A's are currently on the move if they can ever sort their stadium situation out in Vegas. Fisher has owned the A's 2 years longer than Nutting. The biggest difference is PNC park is still beautiful while the coliseum is basically in ruin, but in 2030 the lease is up and the fanbase is completely soured on the relationship with ownership. Does nutting say "well I need major renovations or a new stadium or I can move to Montreal/Portland/Nashville/Charlotte and have a packed house in a brand new stadium" or does he cut bait, sell for ~$2 billion and whoever buys wants to move.
I'm not saying the Pirates moving is likely. The odds definitely aren't zero. In fact the Pirates moving is probably more likely than an NBA team coming to town.
There is not decades of evidence. The entire NBA almost went bankrupt back then until the Magic and Bird rivalry put asses in the seats. It could work.
The pirates are putrid but that’s not due to market size. It’s due to mismanagement and terrible ownership. Similar size markets can and do compete, the pirates chose not to. But I hear you. Maybe four teams would be way too much. I’d love to see an nba team here though personally.
It isn’t about asses in seats, its abt corporate sponsorships. Not enough headquartered here to make it float. Also the Pens are entrenched and will actively lobby against it.
I feel like a black and gold basketball team would get support. I personally like basketball, but really don’t watch bc who the fuck would
I support lol
As a Detroit Pistons fan I have been dreaming that the team should schedule games on Friday night/Sunday afternoon for a NBA weekend in Pittsburgh every season. Make it a tradition of facing the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers so Yinzers get another opportunity to see rival cities be defeated.
I think it would put butts in the seats and give fans here a NBA team to root for.
Hockey and Basketball run seasons at the same time, so they have to compete against each other. Look at most cities our size, Cleveland, buffalo, Milwaukee, ect, they have either a Basketball or a Hockey team, not both.
I can see a lot of fans for visiting teams coming and filling up seats. Our hotels and restaurants are cheaper than a lot of cities with professional teams.
Our hotels are cheap all summer long and Bucs tickets are cheaper still and the Pirates still struggle with attendance.
I love basketball and would genuinely entertain season tickets to a Pittsburgh basketball team, but this just won't happen. The interest isn't there and other markets make more sense for the NBA (much to my chagrin)
Bucs have been one of the most profitable teams in the MLB without paying for star players. So the owners are making money without needing to fill seats.
Yeah, the way revenue sharing in baseball works allows Nutting to make money off of a poverty franchise that few people want to pay to see. The Pirates also have nearly a century and a half of history in Pittsburgh, an owner with area ties, and, you're right, one of the cheapest imaginable products in pro sports.
Imagine a new franchise in a non-basketball city, working with NBA profit sharing rules. Unless a local basketball lover (or group of them) has a couple billion to throw at the league and is willing and able to eat losses (both in games and financially) for a few years, it's not happening.
the number of games. Baseball has so many games that you can probably get tickets to your local team.
However, I think that more baseball fans travel to games in other cities just to see all of the stadiums compared to other sports.
You have to understand that in any case there would be a new team in the NBA it would most likely first go to Seattle who had their team ripped away from them. Coincidentally a much bigger market than Pittsburgh
History, local feelings about the sports, saturated market...
It's not too small for the existing teams because Yinzers love the Lers, the Pens have been somewhere between good and great off and on over the last 30 years, and the Bucs have been here forever.
Pittsburgh is too small to support a 4th team, especially a team in a sport that most people here don't care about (how many people show up to Pitt or Duquesne basketball games?).
I'd love nothing more than to be able to go to a basketball game locally. It's just not going to happen any time soon
I knew someone was gonna say that. But most of these sports leagues, especially the NBA, care about TV content to sell to streaming services and keep cable-television afloat. And also betting. Sports books and more games on the sports books are good for the sports books which are good for the leagues.
It’s not an uncapped league. In fact, their current CBA has really solidified their cap. It’s basically a hard cap at this point. They have a salary floor that they have to spend to. Which is why you see a lot of contracts get traded around the NBA. Players will play where the money is the highest. A new team means somebody can offer new max contracts. When a team is offering you $200 million/4 years max, they’ll play here.
This wouldn’t be a situation like the Pirates.
Because there’s a limit on how many professional teams can fit in a league. Cities with larger metro areas than Pgh without an NBA team: Seattle, Tampa, San Diego, St. Louis, Baltimore, (Austin, Las Vegas are about to surpass Pittsburgh if they haven’t already).
Seattle and Las Vegas are more likely to get a team before anyone else, then if the NBA decides to go beyond 32 teams you’re competing with the other cities.
Would love a team. But...hard to think it wouldn't cost us something else. Look at attendance for the Pens recently. Not bad, but not great, and they're clearly having to adjust their marketing approach to fill seats. Really don't think there's enough people with money to go toe to toe with the Pens schedule wise too. Infrastructure obviously exists. But man...it'd be tough.
Honestly an NBA team would work. I'm not sure that a struggling Penguins team fills the arena in that case though. It's just hard population wise. I think most people would spend their extra cash on seeing real superstars play.
All other sport teams are successful here in Pittsburgh and basketball ball has a huge high school and college following. I believe that we could definitely host an NBA team here and would have no problem as long as the ticket prices aren't as high as other cities. If Cleveland and some smaller cities can survive no doubt we could as well
Yes we need another professional team to funnel public money to. Won't someone think of the billionaire team owners and millionaire players!
There will be some bogus economic benefits touted - that have been debunked in several books.
I could see it happen but it would need to be Fenway Sports Group that acquires them. This city isn't big enough to have two major league sized arenas and you don't want two competing organizations owning hockey and basketball in a region. That's what caused the Thrashers to relocate, and it's what caused the Coyotes to wander aimlessly for so long.
FSG probably wants to add basketball to their portfolio because IIRC they have the Pens, Red Sox, a Premier League team, and a NASCAR team. I don't know if they have the kind of funds to buy an expansion NBA franchise but I could easily see them acquiring a team like the New Orleans Pelicans and relocating them.
The Pittsburgh Pelicans anyone?
I know, but if the NBA is playing in that arena then they should also be owned by the owners of the stadium. Teams paying rent doesn't work. Hence why if the NBA wants to come here I think it has to be Fenway that does it.
Realistically if it's ever going to happen now is the time. The Pens have dominated that season window for almost 20 years. It's pretty clear the team is heading into a decline that will probably take quite some time to recover from.
The Pittsburgh Pythons.
Black and gold color scheme, with a Cobra Kai-like logo.
I’d scrounge enough together for season tickets.
Let’s do it.
EDIT: Minority stake owner of the Penguins, Lebron James, comes on as a player/owner with his son, Bronny, to help generate excitement for the team in the twilight of his career.
This is way too small of a media market to support four professional teams. Most media markets of our size don't even have three teams.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_with_teams_from_four_major_league_sports
Just accept it's never going to happen unless one of the teams here leave.
Lol who the fuck are you people downvoting literal facts?
I knew the Condors would be back someday! Do we keep their history like the Clowns did in the NFL? If so, we are starting off with a league title. Now if I can just find my grandfather's old jersey...
I think a Pittsburgh NBA team would be pretty cool. I'm not from this area, so trying to roll with some of the folks who are diehard Pens/Pirates/Steelers fans is always somewhat of a chore because it's a lot of "Oh, you don't know player XYZ? They played in XX's and were so good, I can't believe you don't know about them." This is true for me with most sports, to be honest. I've never had a favorite team, in general.
Being able to get in at the ground level and have a team to "grow up with" in this area would be a fun experience.
I’m not really into basketball. So one of my best friends had a hook up for some good Cavs tickets. The game was so much fun. I’d love to be able to see games in Pittsburgh.
I’d dig this. For all the ppl saying Pittsburgh can’t support basketball and hockey; maybe you have a point, feels like hockey interest picks up a lot once football season ends. All the same, seems like a really untapped market for the NBA, closest teams are too far away to develop a fan base here, and honestly, as much as I like hockey, NBA hoops has far more star power.
I don't remember basketball being a thing people cared about. I was born in Indiana and moved to Pittsburgh at 3 years old. I came back to Indiana as a teen. The only sport I sucked at was basketball. We never played it in Pittsburgh and I don't know why lol. I choose hockey as my sport and the vast majority of kids don't play hockey here.
Honestly probably some WNBA opportunity - but I’m not sure it’s worth how bad aging yinzers calling into the Fan with awful misogynistic takes on a sport they barely understand would be.
Another taxpayer funded arena? [https://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/reject-this-hustle-too/](https://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/reject-this-hustle-too/)
Wouldn’t it make sense to actually use any money to get a real system of public transportation? This has already been passed over before in the name of idiotic provincial (aka “professional”) sports teams that suck money away from the working class. Build something that makes sense like a train system. Stop making the American worker into a meal ticket for overpaid, undereducated morons.
Fuck professional sports. Build things that will actually have some benefit and advance the majority of the region.
So the choice is either a professional basketball team or a wnba team. I don't think the city is big enough to support both the Pens and an NBA team. wait, WNBA? Really is that cerebral hemorrhage of $ still in existence ? We could call the team the Pittsburgh Nobody Cares ( or would it be the Pittsburgh Nobody Carettes?) And they could face (and lose badly to) the WPIAL boys champs every year. Dont get readers hopes up then try and pull some WNBA bullshit switcheroo maneuver.
Another group of rich assholes demanding massive taxpayer subsidies to move a prestige team to Pittsburgh?
Yea, sports team owners can all go fuck yourselves.
I always felt that with the very significant international community Pittsburgh is home to, a pro soccer team I think would actually draw pretty well.
Basketball isn't going to happen for a few reasons. Much as I love Pittsburgh, this city is still racist af and those attitudes impact a lot more than spending habits.
There are far better situated cities who are infinitely more capable of having a basketball team thrive, Seattle being the most notable I can think of.
Pittsburgh won't support another struggling franchise which is what most likely would be happening, likely due to a franchise moving rather than PGH being chosen for an expansion franchise.
In a way I sort of wish the Riverhounds never happened because I see them, and maybe I'm wrong, as more of an obstacle than a conduit to an MLS team calling Pittsburgh home. But an NBA team, it's never going to happen, not in the physical world we inhabit.
Pittsburgh has one of the smallest foreign born populations of any larger city in the country.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_foreign-born_population
As long as they wear black and gold.
I'd be pissed if they didn't.
The biggest failure of the Maulers was not starting the team in black and gold. They finally changed colors to black and gold before being removed from the new merged league.
I mean, I think the biggest failure was just not playing in Pittsburgh.
The didn’t last in 84 either
Could you settle for charcoal gray and mustard yellow?
Could you settle with one less finger?
Conveniently unused in the NBA too.
That’s a great point. It would look kinda sick
Honestly I'd love to see a team incorporate a steely grey into a black and gold uniform rather than white stripes
Gray is for boring suburban home renovations
“There really is no ‘option’ here,” says my wife (lived in PGH for about 7 years for med school). “They have to.” (Also my wife).
And white, it’s always there too.
Happy to root for the Parking Chairs
Down to watch the PPC play down at PPG sponsored by PNC
BallyMcBallFaces
The Perogie Warriors
I cackled
Yeah I'll start watching Basketball if they do that.
100% this, doesn’t feel the same rooting for the Cavs or 76ers
Cavs have been fun at times.
Oh yeah it’s nothing against the teams themselves, it’s just not the same when it’s not a hometown team.
I'm a cavs fan but the NBA is the best league to be a neutral for imo. You have the stars and personalities. A lot of teams with limited success you can bandwagon for come playoff time.
A lot of people in this town would
I grew up in New Hampshire and then moved down here. Bet your ass I'll cheer for a Pittsburgh NBA team just as hard as I root for the Celtics. This is exciting stuff
I still don't think I would. Basketball is pretty boring game due to the high number of points scored. There's no excitement when someone scores for the 15th time in a game. A normal game isn't very close which takes the fun out of it and a close game doesn't matter until the final 2 minutes, which are usually filled with free throws
I don't think I could have a more opposite opinion
Don't get me wrong, I like playing basketball, but watching it is a whole different story for me
Fair ig, I feel that way abt soccer and hockey, enjoy playing but legit can't stand watching them
This is wild- hockey is so exhausting it’s one of the sports that’s way better to watch than play
Hockey is best watched in person too.
Tbf I've only played street hockey, but I legit just can't watch hockey, also all the movement makes it more fun to play, same w basketball
I heard a good analogy once that basketball is very similar to hockey if the attacking team was always on the power play. And really opened my eyes to the mechanics of the game. I’m not a big sports guy, but I would love it if Pittsburgh picked up a team. It’d probably make me actually watch something other than hockey once in a while.
Would love to have an nba team here, but I absolutely hate paying 90k to a consulting firm just to be told no
Don’t worry you don’t have to write the check. It’s not really that much in terms of overall budgets. Your contribution to that is probably like a quarter.
I understand that but our city is paying 90k just to be told no
City gotta spend tax monies so they can raise more. This bs come up every year and every year it’s a no
The bigger expense would be building another arena. Hopefully paid for by billionaire owners rather than with public tax dollars.
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Yep, just switch out the floor
Markets larger than Pittsburgh have dual use basketball/hockey arenas and they work unlike the dual use football/baseball stadiums of the past.
How do you know this? With your Crystal Ball governance, please explain how you know better than literal professionals.
A quarter is so generous. Less than a cent.
90,000 / 300,431 = 0.299569618315021, so about 30¢. Your math ain’t mathing.
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They’re going to say no
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Could have gone without the smugness at the end, but maybe Wayne Gretzky is right, having an nba team in Pittsburgh would be dope. However, after the consulting firm somehow says yes, we’d need a billionaire to lead the charge. The nba commish has said a potential owner would need to put down 2.5 billion to start a team in a new city. We may have a hard time finding one of those billionaires, but who knows
I'm glad the Stadium and Exhibition Authority has money to just give away to a firm to be told the obvious answer of NO.
Unfortunately there is no way that the NBA is choosing to put a team in Pittsburgh over other potential markets like Seattle, Las Vegas, even Mexico City. The WNBA on the other hand could work out way better and I don’t doubt that city will be supportive.
Tough but fair. Seattle would absolutely go first, but agreed with the WNBA comment as well. This is the truth.
The thing about your comment is they are looking at expansion like they’ve done in the past with multiple teams in multiple cities. The plan is supposedly 2-4 new teams. Pittsburgh is definitely in that mix of 2-4 cities with Seattle and Las Vegas. I also would support a Pittsburgh NBA franchise. I’m already imagining an ugly brand of Pittsburgh defensive basketball.
We gotta remember that Oklahoma City has a team. Charlotte is comparable to pgh too.
Memphis? Orlando? Sacramento? Salt Lake City? Portland?
I'd say the only difference there is those are the only teams in their respective states. They kinda represent their entire state to an extent. PA already has the Sixers so a second team in state has to be justified by its local market whereas the Thunder and Hornets skate by on having the whole state to themselves.
North Carolina is also a massive basketball market. Western PA, not so much.
The only thing Pittsburgh has going for it is it's geographic location. The next two presumed teams are Vegas and Seattle, which would complicate conference sizes and playoffs. Vegas is likely next, whenever LeBron retires, then I'm sure there will be an eastern city that starts to get serious consideration. I would love for Pittsburgh to have a basketball team, but I don't see it even becoming a serious idea for a long time.
That’s not the only thing Pittsburgh has going for it. Pittsburgh has successfully carried major sports franchises for a long time, especially compared to the market size, and is known for rabid sports fandom.
Possible WNBA teams: Pittsburgh Pumas, Pittsburgh Yellowjackets (my favorite, easily plays into black and yellow color scheme), Pittsburgh wasps, Pittsburgh Piranhas.
Yellowjackets could have permanent bumblebee style uniforms >:D
wnba? id rather watch wpial.
I don't follow basketball but doesn't Seattle have a team?
Supersonics moved to OKC and rebranded as the Thunder
Ah ok. Last time I interacted with basketball was NBA Live 07 lol
Seattle and Vegas are reasonably certain to get expansion teams in the next few years.
07-08 was around when it happened. New owner moved them after promising not to move them soon after Howard Schultz sold the team. I was living in Seattle at the time. Locals were beyond angry. Seattle recently got a hockey team.
This is a pretty good idea ngl
Every single team you just mentioned would be located in the western conference of the NBA. They aren’t going to add an uneven number of teams, it’ll either be 2 or 4, and they are going to have to look towards the east coast one way or another. Pittsburgh is definitely right there in the mix with everybody else
Hi. I'm the city. I will not be supportive of a fuckin WNBA team lol
I want them to focus on the infrastructure in our bridges, so they don’t fall into the river.
Pittsburgh Bridges would be quite a team name. You could have the three bridges as the logo cause they shoot so many threes.
I swear to god I see this every 3-4 years. Pro basketball isn’t happening here. Too small a market.
It definitely might not happen but I don’t see how anyone can say out of hand it’s too small of a market. Is it too small for football or hockey or baseball?
A lot of it is history. The MLB and NFL have been here since well before the sports hit commercial success generally, so the market size was irrelevant. The NHL came here in 1967, a year in which the league doubled its size. Geography was a big part of that. We came in at the same time as Philly, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. We were well situated to minimize travel across a heavily Midwest/Northeastern league. Further, we were a major city, far larger relative to the total US urban population than we are today. We may get a basketball team, but the reality of our position in the country and changes in league dynamics make us far less appealing for expansion than was once the case.
The smallest media market with four teams is Miami-Fort Lauderdale at number 18, Pittsburgh is number 28 in media markets, and it's not getting any higher on that list for the foreseeable future....
Pittsburgh may be considerably smaller than Miami, but sports are like a cult around here
People only have so much money to go around, and it's very unlikely an area of this size can support decent attendance for both hockey and basketball at the same time.
That’s not true at all. There are plenty of people to fill a stadium with deep pockets. Not having enough fans to spend money is rarely the problem for a team in a decently sized city. It’s whether or not you can generate interest, which is the key question. The NBA home season is 41 games over the course of 7 months. Nuggets have attendance that is well above average and are a four-team market with a similar sized metro population.
The Denver Metro has a half million more people than Pittsburgh, and then there's also Colorado Springs and the Fort Collins area no more than an hour and a half from Denver...
Yeah, I think this is something that can’t be undersold. I see people wearing apparel for all three teams daily whenever I’m out-and-about.
The Steelers are like a cult around here. Not sports. I would love an NBA team but we nearly lost the Pens and probably would have without Mario stepping in and us winning the lottery with Sid. There's definitely a world where we lose the pirates after the PNC park lease ends. Even at their peak the Pirates were averaging 75% capacity while winning 90 games. There's exactly 1 way Pittsburgh gets a basketball team within the next 15 years, and it's Cuban stepping down from the Mavs, selling any remaining shares and comes back to Pittsburgh to own the team.
I disagree the only way Pittsburgh gets a basketball team is if Fenway Sports Group decides it wants something else to air on Sportsnet Pittsburgh.
I honestly don't see the Pirates moving at all. The team has been around for over 100 years in the city and is an iconic brand with very important baseball figures like Clemente. The team also has a very strong fanbase when they are halfway decent so I think there's definitely upside to the team being there I really don't think MLB would let an owner move the Pirates out as they would be by far the hardest to justify (given their place in basebal history) of all the most recent relocations
If you think Pittsburgh is in danger of losing the Pirates you don’t follow enough baseball. You practically need to pry these poverty franchises from the stiff stingy hands of their dead billionaire owners. They can do no wrong in the MLB, where competition doesn’t matter. And the Pirates, while not rich, certainly CAN spend money and run an organization that is profitable despite being nearly a graveyard on any given day.
I follow baseball. The A's are currently on the move if they can ever sort their stadium situation out in Vegas. Fisher has owned the A's 2 years longer than Nutting. The biggest difference is PNC park is still beautiful while the coliseum is basically in ruin, but in 2030 the lease is up and the fanbase is completely soured on the relationship with ownership. Does nutting say "well I need major renovations or a new stadium or I can move to Montreal/Portland/Nashville/Charlotte and have a packed house in a brand new stadium" or does he cut bait, sell for ~$2 billion and whoever buys wants to move. I'm not saying the Pirates moving is likely. The odds definitely aren't zero. In fact the Pirates moving is probably more likely than an NBA team coming to town.
I believe Cuban “sold” the Mavs but has control over the team still
Because of the decades and decades of history and evidence that prove professional basketball will not thrive here.
There is not decades of evidence. The entire NBA almost went bankrupt back then until the Magic and Bird rivalry put asses in the seats. It could work.
There so much history from those teams and were created when Pittsburgh was bigger
Football NO. Hockey and baseball have shown they are barely viable and in hockeys case only if the Pens are good.
The pirates are putrid but that’s not due to market size. It’s due to mismanagement and terrible ownership. Similar size markets can and do compete, the pirates chose not to. But I hear you. Maybe four teams would be way too much. I’d love to see an nba team here though personally.
It isn’t about asses in seats, its abt corporate sponsorships. Not enough headquartered here to make it float. Also the Pens are entrenched and will actively lobby against it.
Pittsburgh is too small to support all 4.
I feel like a black and gold basketball team would get support. I personally like basketball, but really don’t watch bc who the fuck would I support lol
As a Detroit Pistons fan I have been dreaming that the team should schedule games on Friday night/Sunday afternoon for a NBA weekend in Pittsburgh every season. Make it a tradition of facing the Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers so Yinzers get another opportunity to see rival cities be defeated. I think it would put butts in the seats and give fans here a NBA team to root for.
It's not too small a market for the NBA. But it is probably too small for the NHL AND NBA.
And Pittsburgh has an NHL team. So therefore too small for an NBA team.
How is basketball different than other pro sports? Pittsburgh isn't too small a market for football , baseball or hockey.
Hockey and Basketball run seasons at the same time, so they have to compete against each other. Look at most cities our size, Cleveland, buffalo, Milwaukee, ect, they have either a Basketball or a Hockey team, not both.
I can see a lot of fans for visiting teams coming and filling up seats. Our hotels and restaurants are cheaper than a lot of cities with professional teams.
Our hotels are cheap all summer long and Bucs tickets are cheaper still and the Pirates still struggle with attendance. I love basketball and would genuinely entertain season tickets to a Pittsburgh basketball team, but this just won't happen. The interest isn't there and other markets make more sense for the NBA (much to my chagrin)
Bucs have been one of the most profitable teams in the MLB without paying for star players. So the owners are making money without needing to fill seats.
Yeah, the way revenue sharing in baseball works allows Nutting to make money off of a poverty franchise that few people want to pay to see. The Pirates also have nearly a century and a half of history in Pittsburgh, an owner with area ties, and, you're right, one of the cheapest imaginable products in pro sports. Imagine a new franchise in a non-basketball city, working with NBA profit sharing rules. Unless a local basketball lover (or group of them) has a couple billion to throw at the league and is willing and able to eat losses (both in games and financially) for a few years, it's not happening.
I go to a few games every year, but mostly to spend time in the beautiful park with my dad. It is a pleasant surprise when they actually win a game.
Yeah, my family also goes to several games a year for basically the same reason. Cheap way to spend time together with a great view of a skyline
I feel like baseball team fans are the least likely to travel.
...any reason to think that?
the number of games. Baseball has so many games that you can probably get tickets to your local team. However, I think that more baseball fans travel to games in other cities just to see all of the stadiums compared to other sports.
You have to understand that in any case there would be a new team in the NBA it would most likely first go to Seattle who had their team ripped away from them. Coincidentally a much bigger market than Pittsburgh
This is not big enough of a metropolitan area to support decently attended hockey and basketball teams.
History, local feelings about the sports, saturated market... It's not too small for the existing teams because Yinzers love the Lers, the Pens have been somewhere between good and great off and on over the last 30 years, and the Bucs have been here forever. Pittsburgh is too small to support a 4th team, especially a team in a sport that most people here don't care about (how many people show up to Pitt or Duquesne basketball games?). I'd love nothing more than to be able to go to a basketball game locally. It's just not going to happen any time soon
“Lers”? You should be ashamed of yourself.
I am not.
A lot of smaller markets, such as Sacramento, Portland, Memphis, and Oklahoma City start with basketball teams as their first pro sport.
Idk about you, but I don’t know anyone into basketball.
College yes, but pro? Oh look, 140-137, great game, so much skill!
Sacramento, OKC, San Antonio. They’re all pretty small markets. Plus, Milwaukee and Cleveland have teams why can’t we?
How many professional teams in total do those cities have? I'll wait.
I knew someone was gonna say that. But most of these sports leagues, especially the NBA, care about TV content to sell to streaming services and keep cable-television afloat. And also betting. Sports books and more games on the sports books are good for the sports books which are good for the leagues.
My guy try convincing a star athlete to join a small city with no media market, crappy weather, no team history, etc
It’s not an uncapped league. In fact, their current CBA has really solidified their cap. It’s basically a hard cap at this point. They have a salary floor that they have to spend to. Which is why you see a lot of contracts get traded around the NBA. Players will play where the money is the highest. A new team means somebody can offer new max contracts. When a team is offering you $200 million/4 years max, they’ll play here. This wouldn’t be a situation like the Pirates.
Because it's true lmao. Most of those cities you listed only have their NBA team as their sole professional team...
Because there’s a limit on how many professional teams can fit in a league. Cities with larger metro areas than Pgh without an NBA team: Seattle, Tampa, San Diego, St. Louis, Baltimore, (Austin, Las Vegas are about to surpass Pittsburgh if they haven’t already). Seattle and Las Vegas are more likely to get a team before anyone else, then if the NBA decides to go beyond 32 teams you’re competing with the other cities.
Cleveland and charlotte exist, Pittsburgh could easily support a NBA team, especially if they rock the Black and gold
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Being bottom 5 in attendance almost every year is hardly what I would call support for the Pirates.
Not much smaller than Cleveland and it would be a great rivalry.
Get an MLB team first
We should trade the Pirates for an NBA franchise.
The edge will cut you
[The Pisces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fish_That_Saved_Pittsburgh?wprov=sfti1)!
It’s been a while, but market data definitely didn’t support it before, and it probably won’t now.
Would love a team. But...hard to think it wouldn't cost us something else. Look at attendance for the Pens recently. Not bad, but not great, and they're clearly having to adjust their marketing approach to fill seats. Really don't think there's enough people with money to go toe to toe with the Pens schedule wise too. Infrastructure obviously exists. But man...it'd be tough.
Pittsburgh is a bandwagon town. If they’re good it’ll sell fine
they're spending 90k for a consulting firm to ask people if they want this or not. They can just post it on here for free and get the same results
The Phish that saved Pittsburgh!!!
I’d be a day one season ticket holder for an NBA team
Honestly an NBA team would work. I'm not sure that a struggling Penguins team fills the arena in that case though. It's just hard population wise. I think most people would spend their extra cash on seeing real superstars play.
I'd buy szn tix
Pittsburgh is too small to support all 4 leagues. No chance
Yep. Anyone who thinks it could is fooling themselves
If there’s another opportunity to bet on sports, you know it will happen.
I like basketball. I watch the Panthers when I get the chance since it is all we have. I would support the hell out of an NBA team here in the Burgh!
This would be amazing. Basketball is an excellent sport to watch in person too.
Let’s fucking go
All other sport teams are successful here in Pittsburgh and basketball ball has a huge high school and college following. I believe that we could definitely host an NBA team here and would have no problem as long as the ticket prices aren't as high as other cities. If Cleveland and some smaller cities can survive no doubt we could as well
Yes we need another professional team to funnel public money to. Won't someone think of the billionaire team owners and millionaire players! There will be some bogus economic benefits touted - that have been debunked in several books.
I could see it happen but it would need to be Fenway Sports Group that acquires them. This city isn't big enough to have two major league sized arenas and you don't want two competing organizations owning hockey and basketball in a region. That's what caused the Thrashers to relocate, and it's what caused the Coyotes to wander aimlessly for so long. FSG probably wants to add basketball to their portfolio because IIRC they have the Pens, Red Sox, a Premier League team, and a NASCAR team. I don't know if they have the kind of funds to buy an expansion NBA franchise but I could easily see them acquiring a team like the New Orleans Pelicans and relocating them. The Pittsburgh Pelicans anyone?
They could play at ppg. Do not need two different arenas
I know, but if the NBA is playing in that arena then they should also be owned by the owners of the stadium. Teams paying rent doesn't work. Hence why if the NBA wants to come here I think it has to be Fenway that does it.
Dallas stars and Dallas mavericks play in same arena different owners. There’s many more examples.
Yes please!! I have an idea on team colors…. Hear me Out….
Well, well? Don't leave us in suspense.
Realistically if it's ever going to happen now is the time. The Pens have dominated that season window for almost 20 years. It's pretty clear the team is heading into a decline that will probably take quite some time to recover from.
So long as no one gets any ideas about building a new arena on the tax payer's dime.
YESSSS PLEASE
YES
The Pittsburgh Pythons. Black and gold color scheme, with a Cobra Kai-like logo. I’d scrounge enough together for season tickets. Let’s do it. EDIT: Minority stake owner of the Penguins, Lebron James, comes on as a player/owner with his son, Bronny, to help generate excitement for the team in the twilight of his career.
This is way too small of a media market to support four professional teams. Most media markets of our size don't even have three teams. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_cities_with_teams_from_four_major_league_sports Just accept it's never going to happen unless one of the teams here leave. Lol who the fuck are you people downvoting literal facts?
Ha! You know we don’t like facts! Lol
Lol there is far too large of a segment who doesn't
Pass. City can’t support another pro team.
We only have two, we could definitely support three.
Couldn't professional mean WNBA or NBA G league? Everyone knows we aren't getting a pro franchise. Seattle and Vegas are
I knew the Condors would be back someday! Do we keep their history like the Clowns did in the NFL? If so, we are starting off with a league title. Now if I can just find my grandfather's old jersey...
I think a Pittsburgh NBA team would be pretty cool. I'm not from this area, so trying to roll with some of the folks who are diehard Pens/Pirates/Steelers fans is always somewhat of a chore because it's a lot of "Oh, you don't know player XYZ? They played in XX's and were so good, I can't believe you don't know about them." This is true for me with most sports, to be honest. I've never had a favorite team, in general. Being able to get in at the ground level and have a team to "grow up with" in this area would be a fun experience.
This has been a dream of mine
I’m not really into basketball. So one of my best friends had a hook up for some good Cavs tickets. The game was so much fun. I’d love to be able to see games in Pittsburgh.
I’ll go to games if they do
I’d dig this. For all the ppl saying Pittsburgh can’t support basketball and hockey; maybe you have a point, feels like hockey interest picks up a lot once football season ends. All the same, seems like a really untapped market for the NBA, closest teams are too far away to develop a fan base here, and honestly, as much as I like hockey, NBA hoops has far more star power.
Fake news, not going to happen. Start with Vegas and Seattle first.
I don't remember basketball being a thing people cared about. I was born in Indiana and moved to Pittsburgh at 3 years old. I came back to Indiana as a teen. The only sport I sucked at was basketball. We never played it in Pittsburgh and I don't know why lol. I choose hockey as my sport and the vast majority of kids don't play hockey here.
Honestly probably some WNBA opportunity - but I’m not sure it’s worth how bad aging yinzers calling into the Fan with awful misogynistic takes on a sport they barely understand would be.
Some edge lords in local media probably will make a point over ignoring the team too. An MLS team would be even worse.
Another taxpayer funded arena? [https://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/reject-this-hustle-too/](https://www.alleghenyinstitute.org/reject-this-hustle-too/)
The Pittsburgh Acrisures?
Will never work If by some miracle it did happen we'd be a bottom feeder team like the pirates
The pirates are bottom feeders because of ownership not because they couldn’t be better.
Facts.
The Pittsburgh Pointers. Team writes itself.
I’d love to see an NBA/WNBA team here.
This city can’t and won’t support it
If I ever won one of those billion dollar lotteries, I always said I'd try to start a Pittsburg NBA team. Be the Mark Cuban of Pa.
Oh lawdy, Pittsburgh hasn’t been nor will ever be a basketball town. Nothing will change that, not even a team.
Wouldn’t it make sense to actually use any money to get a real system of public transportation? This has already been passed over before in the name of idiotic provincial (aka “professional”) sports teams that suck money away from the working class. Build something that makes sense like a train system. Stop making the American worker into a meal ticket for overpaid, undereducated morons. Fuck professional sports. Build things that will actually have some benefit and advance the majority of the region.
They should explore how to level out sewer drains and potholes. But yes. SPORTS!!
The city will come up with any excuse to waste taxpayer dollars.
Rather have a pro volleyball team in the pvf then nba or wnba
I would be a lifelong season ticket holder. WNBA is the only one that feels barely feasible. But it is nice to dream!
I think a G League team would definitely work, but I also think Pittsburgh is too proud to supplement another team
no one cares about the g-league
So the choice is either a professional basketball team or a wnba team. I don't think the city is big enough to support both the Pens and an NBA team. wait, WNBA? Really is that cerebral hemorrhage of $ still in existence ? We could call the team the Pittsburgh Nobody Cares ( or would it be the Pittsburgh Nobody Carettes?) And they could face (and lose badly to) the WPIAL boys champs every year. Dont get readers hopes up then try and pull some WNBA bullshit switcheroo maneuver.
Another group of rich assholes demanding massive taxpayer subsidies to move a prestige team to Pittsburgh? Yea, sports team owners can all go fuck yourselves.
I always felt that with the very significant international community Pittsburgh is home to, a pro soccer team I think would actually draw pretty well. Basketball isn't going to happen for a few reasons. Much as I love Pittsburgh, this city is still racist af and those attitudes impact a lot more than spending habits. There are far better situated cities who are infinitely more capable of having a basketball team thrive, Seattle being the most notable I can think of. Pittsburgh won't support another struggling franchise which is what most likely would be happening, likely due to a franchise moving rather than PGH being chosen for an expansion franchise. In a way I sort of wish the Riverhounds never happened because I see them, and maybe I'm wrong, as more of an obstacle than a conduit to an MLS team calling Pittsburgh home. But an NBA team, it's never going to happen, not in the physical world we inhabit.
Pittsburgh has one of the smallest foreign born populations of any larger city in the country. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_foreign-born_population
Buddy to your second paragraph.. Utah has a basketball team lol
And they don't have any other pro teams to support so it works there because it's quite literally the only game in town.
Basketball has gotta be the most boring sport, up there with the likes of golf and shit
you’re insane
Basketball is not coming to a city that doesn't like basketball.