Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

Don't know much about the Devil Rays, but the A's owner definitely has the money -- in addition to being Selig's fraternity brother at Madison, he is well north of $1B. He just doesn't want to spend it in Oakland and hasn't been able to get clearance to move into alleged Giants territory in San Jose.

 

In fairness to Selig, it's not like NBA franchises didn't move before he took the job. Lakers, Pistons, Jazz, Warriors, Clippers/Braves, Royals/Kings, Rockets, Hawks, Bullets, and Nets (kinda). A total of 13 of 30. About twice the percentage of baseball and football.

 

PS: Contraction is the one thing that might arouse such fears of voters in bought and paid for Congresspeople as to mess with baseball's anti-trust exemption. For that reason alone it's too big a risk to run for MLB.
As for the NBA, moving from big markets (Vancouver, Seattle) to smallish ones (Memphis, Oklahoma City) is essentially strip mining, not the act of a strong brand.

 

I still question why they ever put a team in Vancouver.

 

Yeah, that was beyond idiotic.

 

Stern was trying to tap the Canadian market as the first step in his goal to have franchises in Europe, which he still somehow thinks is a possiblity.

 

There never was a team in Vancouver, not sure what you would call it.

Just one year after moving to Memphis, the attendance had dipped below what it was at the end in Vancouver.

I'm not sure it would have succeeded long term or not but it was never given a fair chance with the inept front office and the product that was put on the floor.

 

Leagues will never actually contract because their franchise value is built on the assumption that there are more cities that want teams than there are teams to hand out. Eliminate the myth of scarcity, and you can watch those franchise values plummet.

That's also why, not to crossthread or anything, Gary Bettman is fighting so hard to keep the NHL in Phoenix. If the Coyotes go to Winnipeg, it destroys the myth (sold to advertisers, anyway) of a truly national American league, especially because the chances of Atlanta going to Quebec or something now go up significantly.

 

A little late to this thread but ...

Absolutely wrong. In 2006, the city of Sacramento agreed to finance a new Kings arena, as part of a downtown revitalization project. The city put the measure on the ballot, but the Maloofs refused to campaign for it. In fact, the Maloofs opposed it, so of course it lost.

 

Not even close. Wolff is the front man for the A's. The money behind the team is the Fisher family, which made their fortune on the Gap. Wolff is an L.A. guy, but the Fishers are Bay Area people for generations.

 

Relocation costs don't go into the Maloofs' pockets. Those costs are essentially what the NBA will charge the Maloofs as a "relocation fee" (and possibly a "territorial fee" to compensate the Lakers and Clippers). Anaheim is basically promising to cover those costs for the Maloofs,

 

Well, the economy clearly hasn't changed at all since 2006. If it was the case then, how can it not be the case now?