Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

the lynching X miles from here statement was a killer. let me see if i can find it.

 

sorry. i warped ahead several years. they were just mediocre and terribly unexciting that season ... along with the fact they moved into the rose garden that year.

 

Could this be it? Maloofs want Sacto bid by 5 p.m. Friday:

http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/11/5333037/maloofs-serve-ultimatum-to-sacramento.html

 

Games at old Memorial Coliseum with the Drexler/Kersey/Porter Blazers that went to two NBA finals in three years were louder and more insane than any college basketball game. That community loved that team.

 

Maloofs have little power to demand anything right now; they're just posturing; they are indebted to the NBA on a line of credit for $125M, they need the league to OK the relocation of the franchise to make the Seattle offer binding. The NBA holds the cards.

The Sac offer does not have to match the Seattle offer because if it stays, there is no relocation fee and there is no lease termination fee to the franchise.

 

But aside from that everything's OK.

 

There's a lot of corporate dollars in Omaha -- Union Pacific, ConAgra, TD Ameritrade to name a few. A helluva lot more than there are in some current NBA cities. It would work there, though I think hockey would be a better option.

 

Interesting. Maybe it's the next big boom market.

Omaha Coyotes?

 

Not enough money to overcome the limitations of a small TV market.

 

Which are ... what exactly?

NBA teams in small markets -- Portland, Sacramento, Indianapolis, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Orlando and Salt Lake City have all thrived on and off-the-court in the big TV era.

Market size means less in the NBA, from a player contract standpoint, than MLB or NFL. You're only paying 15 players and only paying maybe half of those top dollar. Disparity in local TV/radio contracts shouldn't be as big of a deal unless the owner himself is completely skint.

 

Local TV matters. Look at operating income in recent years for individual teams.

http://www.forbes.com/nba-valuations/

 

For starters, people in our industry need to be smarter when they define TV markets.

When it comes to defining markets as viable for franchises, all of the markets that would be draws for a prospective franchise should be included.

Omaha's market is indeed 76th in the country. But that's because Lincoln, which is barely an hour down the road, counts as its own market. It's obvious that fans would be drawn from Lincoln, and maybe, Des Moines, as well. (FWIW, Omaha's ranked 59th in metro population)

Putting together Omaha and Lincoln's markets puts that region in the top 50. Add Des Moines and you're over a million and into the top 30. All of those three would likely have an Omaha franchise on TV in some capacity.

And none of that counts Kansas City, which could also be in the TV mix.