Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

It's a nice area with a lot of money, but I don't know... Nothing about it strikes me as being a basketball town.

 

Is it a resort town? Vacation destination? Or do they have enough permanent residents and corporations?

What I always heard about Las Vegas was that it was large enough, but was so much of a tourist town with competing attractions that there were doubts how many people would attend consistently. More like a good place to hold an All-Star Game.

 

I actually think the NBA would do well in Vegas... I think it's the one pro sport that would. It will never happen though, for all of the obvious reasons...

 

Orange County really gets behind the Angels. The warm bodies are there to fill an arena. JUST WIN BABY!

 

Richmond...Drip calls it a "general apathy," I call it "no chance." I live in Richmond and love it, but the city is too small to support a major-league team. It's an AAA city.

Va Beach...Hampton Roads, on the other hand, does have the population to be a low-level major-league market. It is a resort town, yes, but the city and the nearby cities (Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth) have plenty of permanent residents. Corporations, not as much. The area is heavily military and, as such, dependent on government money.

 

There's a HUGE difference between the OC and Virginia Beach on many levels.

 

Richmond's not even that anymore. And if they don't get their shit together post haste with a new stadium (they're looking at Shockoe Bottom AGAIN?), they won't even be AA. Two Cup races and Atlantic 10 basketball are all they have to hang their hats on with team sports. Unless someone develops pro leagues for Civil War reenactments and drinking PBR.

Hampton Roads has two major issues (actually, their stupid name is a third, but sadly they'll never embrace Tidewater again). They don't have much corporate support -- Norfolk Southern and Amerigroup, which just got bought out, are the only Fortune 500 companies -- and per capita income isn't especially high. Is it enough to put butts in 18,500 seats 41 nights out of the year? I'm not sure. But the area desperately needs a decent arena, even if they don't immediately get a team.

 

The former Capital of the Confederacy deserves a better fate. Richmond's ebb and flow economically speaking leaves many scratching their heads.
I also don't think VB, Hampton Roads, Chesapeake, Tidewater or whatever you want to call it, can support an NBA team. But hey, I said the same thing about OKC so what do I know?

 

Again, it's a bigger market than at least eight other cities with major league teams. If towns like Milwaukee, OKC, Memphis. New Orleans and Salt Lake can support NBA teams, why would you assume that this larger market cannot? If you looked only at its demographics, I think one could make the argument that this is a market that's been overdue to get a team.

The place does have a marketing problem with the lack of an immediately identifiable big city name. Many have no idea how big it is simply because they don't know what's called. " Hampton Roads" means nothing to most people outside the region, and "the Norfolk/Va Beach/Hampton market" doesn't work either. The place needs a proper label.

 

Anaheim Ducks 26th in the NHL in attendance. No way in flaming hell they allow an NBA team in the arena (unless it's a co-ownership deal).

 

I bet they will probably go with Virginia for the geographical name. Maybe, like others have suggested, bring back the Virginia Squires name. Regionally, the are might be just as well known as The 757 these days, but you probably can't have that on a jersey.

 

The Virginia 757s? LOL