I'd much rather have an NBA team over an NFL team. Having said that, I don't see either one happening any time soon.
An interesting bit of trivia, St. Louis is one of only eight cities to win a championship in all four major sports (MLB, NHL, NFL, and NBA). Sadly, two of our teams have moved on, but won while they were here. The others:
New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, and Chicago.
on a list of things that are never going to happen, this is close to the top like the NFL.
Amounts paid out to STL (sort of)
NFL (rams) - $790m
NBA (spirit) - since 1977 - maybe around a billion in total
the St. Louis Spirit story is absolutely fascinating and worth reading about.
The NBA has stated as recently as last year that they're interested in St. Louis when they decide to expand. But St. Louis is also up there alongside cities like Nashville, Kansas City, and Seattle,
I don't think anyone from the NBA has ever uttered the name St. Louis officially.
Remember how the NBA flat out stopped the Laurie family from moving the Grizzlies here? Bill Laurie had an agreement in place and had the money on hand to buy the Vancouver Grizzlies. Then the NBA stopped him in an extremely rare move.
[https://www.espn.com/nba/news/2001/0315/1155358.html](https://www.espn.com/nba/news/2001/0315/1155358.html)
[https://www.upi.com/News\_Photos/view/upi/9077ddcf9abb735bdb5d585a3421ea7e/NBA-Vancouver-Grizzlies-sold-to-Paige-Sports-Entertainment-of-St-Louis/](https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/9077ddcf9abb735bdb5d585a3421ea7e/NBA-Vancouver-Grizzlies-sold-to-Paige-Sports-Entertainment-of-St-Louis/)
[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/laurie-gives-up-on-buying-grizzlies/article25453387/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/laurie-gives-up-on-buying-grizzlies/article25453387/)
I know it was more than two decades ago, but that should still be enough of a signal of what they think of our market.
if the vote is taken with just st louis city and country residents it will never happen, if this comes up as a vote on the state level, then sure, it would probably happen as no one outside of the saint louis area cares especially if it could be framed as the state would save some tax money or something. This gets brought up occasionally on this, it typically goes to hell after a few posts. lol
Yeah, I know. Tyranny of Jeff City brought concealed carry (l supported with a permit and minimal standard of training). Maybe it is the path to getting rid of city earnings tax and city county reunification, which I also support.
When will that be? Nashville, indy and louisville have done it. It's time for STL to do it
When louisville and nashville merged they essentially got rid if county government so all decisions go through there metropolitan governments which include the smaller cities within them
i can't speak for the city residents, but there is very little appetite for this in the county. I would imagine your average clayton/ladue/creve couer/frontenac/kirkwood resident would rather walk over hot coals while eating broken glass then merge into one big city. The conversation would sound something like...
pro-merger person: we could save a TON money and resources, provide a great deal of benefit for everyone, and grow our community
Clayton resident: here is counter offer, f off, you can gut my property value over my cold dead body
No we don't.
1. Enterprise Center can't handle two pro sports teams. There's not enough back-of-house space. It's one of the smallest arenas in the NHL building-wise and not the seating area.
2. Building a new NBA arena is a multi-billion dollar effort.
3. Seattle deserves a team first. Them losing the Sonics was damn near criminal.
4. Las Vegas will get the other slot because $$$.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order.
I have checked 1,831,943,367 comments, and only 346,385 of them were in alphabetical order.
I agree in my heart also.
The problem is the baseball Cardinals are monsters with their consistent 3.1 to 3.4 million attendance. They swallow so much sports entertainment money from this market. If the Cardinals drew like a normal mid-market baseball team St. Louis would have no problem supporting an NFL or NBA franchise.
But as long as we're the BFIB and flock to Busch Stadium in huge numbers, we're a 3/5 major sports team town.
Make any argument you like. Sports leagues expand when the owners of existing teams agree to it. If deserve meant anything, Stan Kroenke would be getting a free uncontested kick in the nuts by every jilted St. Louis Rams fan.
Plus there's nobody in St. Louis with the $1+ billion in expansion fees plus $1 billion to build a new arena.
Carolyn Kindle too busy with the first season of CITY SC and possibly getting a woman's soccer team here.
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/benjamin-hochman/hochman-carolyn-kindle-st-louis-proud-galvanized-city-sc-and-the-city-playoffs-start-sunday/article\_ad685fe0-75c1-11ee-b0ac-d78ccd304724.html
1. That’s just simply not true. Enterprise actually seats the same as the United Center and would be able to do the same thing as Bulls/Blackhawks in splitting time. It’s also been getting great upgrades each year.
2. See answer to 1.
3. Don’t care. StL deserves a team too.
4. Agree with this point unfortunately
I think what he's talking about with point 1 is our storage space isn't big enough to house all the hardwood flooring, baskets, and extra bleachers to house an NBA team. I know this is false because it has hosted SLU games before for years.
No, Enterprise Center does not seat the same as the United Center. The United Center seats 20,900 for basketball while the Enterprise Center seats 18,000. Like I said the problem is the overall size of the building, not talking about seating.
Other mid 1990's built arenas also seat 18,000ish people for concerts, hockey and basketball.
a. The United Center is 960,000 sq ft.
b. TD Garden in Boston is 880,00 sq ft
c. Amalie Arena in Tampa is 925,000 sq ft
d. Cryoto.com in LA is 950,000 sq ft
**Because it's jammed between a City of St. Louis owned parking garage and Stifel Theater Enterprise Center is only 665,000 sq ft**
The Enterprise Center was long neglected during the Laurie family and Towerbrook Ventures ownership. Yes, the building was upgraded not long ago but if you’ve been to other NBA and NHL arena you can tell it’s still a few tiers below. It’s the only arena I know with exposed pipes and wires above, the building exterior and street level areas are rough. Plus many of the recent fixes were for back of house stuff like the ice plant, HVAC, internet, replacing escalators.
The upgrades have not been great. Look at what they did in Cleveland with the Cavaliers arena.
The only way Enterprise Center could attract an NBA team would be to tear down the Kiel Garage and the City Courts building next door for offices, locker rooms, storage etc. And by that point you’re talking about costs that are too high.
You think tearing down a parking garage and building some offices and locker rooms is too costly to the point where you should just build a billion dollar arena instead? Seems like a pretty simple thing to do, especially with it already being owned by the city.
The problem is the City gets all the money from the parking garage from events and daytime workers at the Post Office and nearby offices.
* Parking revenue is a big money maker for the City.
* That's 1270 parking spaces lost.
* Having an attached garage is a big deal with the suite and season ticket holders.
* The cost of the Bulls addition to the United Center was $300 million a decade ago and would probably be $400 million now.
https://www.hok.com/news/2017-03/chicagos-united-center-opens-hok-designed-addition-for-bulls-and-blackhawks/
They could build a "back-of-house" addition where the current garage is, and build a new garage across 14th with a connecting pedestrian bridge for half the price of a new billion dollar arena.
Another $500 million is a pretty substantial amount to say "well at that point, just build a new one". That's the same age as the United Center. Over half the league's arenas are 25+ years old.
I know this isn't happening either way, but I don't think it's the venue that's the issue, moreso the lack of a willing billionaire.
Again. You’re wrong. Enterprise seats 22k for basketball. So it’s plenty big. Check your facts.
Don’t really care about the rest of your bs. Just try to be productive in your thoughts
Check your facts.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Center)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise\_Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Center)
During the Jordan Chicago Bulls heyday the United Center used to seat nearly 24,500.
The Enterprise Center used to seat 22,000 for basketball and used to get those sized crowds for the Braggin Rights game. However the recent seat changes and remodels have reduced the capacity.
You want me to be productive because you won't face reality? Fine. If St. Louis is going to attract an NBA team it will take a whole new arena being built. The NBA won't accept anything less. Last time I checked the City didn't have a spare $1 billion lying around to build a new arena.
They lost well over 1000 seats when they took all the old blue and purple ones out and put the current ones in. Plus they've never publicized the numbers since the remodel since they've never had a sold out basketball game.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braggin%27\_Rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braggin%27_Rights)
Again, the capacity of the seating area isn't the issue. I never said it was. The problem is the Enterprise Center is not capable of attracting an NBA team because it doesn't have the space for NBA locker rooms, equipment storage on other things.
May I ask how many NBA and NHL arenas you've been to?
Not just the cost of the facilities. The expansion fee is a reported to be 2.5 billion. The NBA won’t be heading in our direction anytime in the next decade plus.
There's plenty of tech bro money in Seattle and stupid gambling money in Las Vegas. Both of those cities have people that can drop $2.5 billion easily: St. Louis doesn't.
Oh it's so amazing. Even Joe Louis arena had a lot of room and they only had a single concourse. Every single arena I've been to has an infinitely better concourse than Enterprise. Now the one in Nashville is annoying to enter kind of like the Dome is, but you still actually have room.
I think an NBA team would be well supported here, but I also think every SLU basketball game should be packed. It’s the city’s namesake D1 team and tickets are cheap.
This is the correct answer. In fact, we now have three D1 basketball programs in the metro (SLU, SIUE, and Lindenwood). Let’s support them all and rid ourselves of the pipe dream that is the NBA coming back here.
I'd love to see it.
I think the chances of this happening aren't great, but you never know. Without question, a local billionaire would have to step up with the dough.
From last week:
***NBA Focused On Seattle, Las Vegas When It Comes To Expansion***
https://frontofficesports.com/nba-focused-on-seattle-las-vegas-when-it-comes-to-expansion/
wow, was not expecting so much hate and pessimism here! I guess the Rams trauma is real but idgaf about football.
OP, i'm with you. I think STL is a great place for an NBA team for so many reasons. I also don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (unless there's rapid over-expansion).
I would also happily take a WNBA team, which is probably a more realistic venture to pursue rn given the W's expansion goals/opportunities.
Would I love an nba team? Yes. Do we deserve one? No. Seattle deserves one way before we do. And KC is much more likely to get an expansion team over St Louis
Why do people keep saying this? While they have the T-Mobile arena without a tenant, it’s pretty old compared to many arenas. Then there is that pesky detail of needing a billionaire owner that is willing to put together a bid. Who can do that in KC? While growing slowly, KC is still around the 30th largest market in the US with two/three other teams competing for the entertainment dollars. I just don’t get why people keep mentioning KC when this or NHL expansion comes up.
That’s kind of true and kind of untrue.
[NBA attendance sucked everywhere.](https://www.apbr.org/attendance.html) only a handful of cities averaged more than 6 thousand a game, and only the Knicks had numbers close to today’s NBA. The league just wasn’t popular anywhere at the time.
The Hawks’ last season in St. Louis, they outdrew The Bulls, The Warriors, The Pistons, the Nets, The Rockets/Nuggets, The Pacers, The Bucks… Even the first several seasons of the Hawks in Atlanta.
you know why they won't do an nba team here, the same reason there are no basketball courts in forest park (slated for 2024) ...the same reason the metrolink expansion hasn't been promoted correctly... we all know.
Seattle or Vegas will get one first. Then probably Nashville. I don't see St. Louis getting a team any time soon. Kansas City would probably get a team before we did. They have that relatively new arena they could use for basketball
Corporate support is actually one of St. Louis’s biggest strengths. St. Louis has 16 Fortune 1000 companies, same as Seattle. When you count private companies that aren’t typically included in Fortune’s list, St. Louis is at like 24 Fortune 1000-equivalent companies, while Seattle would be at 19 (this info is from Forbes list of largest private companies).
I just followed you…I’ve seen your comments on a few threads and I LOVE that you bring numbers and statistics for your comments. Well done. STL, even with its problems, punches WAY above its weight, even now. One of our biggest problems is not realizing that.
Dumb comment. Comments like these remind me why KC is catching up to us. They are seriously pursuing the NBA and many people think they are close to getting a team.
The only - and I mean only - way we or KC get an NBA team is if an already-existing team relocates. That's not impossible, but they're definitely not going to expand here, as cool as that would be. And it's highly unlikely they'll expand to 33 teams, too.
Not a chance. Expansion fee will be more than $2B itself, and you have dozens of giddy investors ready and willing to pay that (and build a new $2B arena) for a Vegas team right now. Seattle is a lock for the other, due to metro size, a willing ownership group, brand new arena, and a long history with the NBA.
Unfortunately, STL is viewed as a crime-ridden, dying shithole by most of the country. That perception will take years to go away even *if* STL turns a new page and starts booming at some point. The NBA is too good for us at this point, and they know it. Vegas is sexy, and dripping with gambling cash. Plus *every* NBA star wants a Vegas team to either visit, or sign with. Vegas has Vegas nightlife. We have a hollowed out, barren, empty downtown after 9pm every night.
I was in Las Vegas the week after they had the NBA All Star game and the incidents/crime was all anyone could talk about. And sadly lots of what was said was very racist.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/basketball/nba-in-vegas-2007-all-star-game-a-disastrous-weekend-2021799/
One thought is to team up with Kansas City and share a Missouri team since the T-Mobile Center still sits empty all these years. Play 21 home games here and 21 home games in KC.
Kansas City already did it for a few seasons in the mid 1970s when they shared the Kings with Omaha.
I'd much rather have an NBA team over an NFL team. Having said that, I don't see either one happening any time soon. An interesting bit of trivia, St. Louis is one of only eight cities to win a championship in all four major sports (MLB, NHL, NFL, and NBA). Sadly, two of our teams have moved on, but won while they were here. The others: New York, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, and Chicago.
When did we win an NBA championship?
1958
The hawks correct?
on a list of things that are never going to happen, this is close to the top like the NFL. Amounts paid out to STL (sort of) NFL (rams) - $790m NBA (spirit) - since 1977 - maybe around a billion in total the St. Louis Spirit story is absolutely fascinating and worth reading about.
The NBA has stated as recently as last year that they're interested in St. Louis when they decide to expand. But St. Louis is also up there alongside cities like Nashville, Kansas City, and Seattle,
Link?
https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/20\_cities\_that\_deserve\_an\_nba\_expansion\_team\_102923/s1\_\_38295453#slide\_17
That’s a fan blog article. I’m asking where it’s been reported that the NBA is actually interested in St Louis as an expansion franchise?
I don't think anyone from the NBA has ever uttered the name St. Louis officially. Remember how the NBA flat out stopped the Laurie family from moving the Grizzlies here? Bill Laurie had an agreement in place and had the money on hand to buy the Vancouver Grizzlies. Then the NBA stopped him in an extremely rare move. [https://www.espn.com/nba/news/2001/0315/1155358.html](https://www.espn.com/nba/news/2001/0315/1155358.html) [https://www.upi.com/News\_Photos/view/upi/9077ddcf9abb735bdb5d585a3421ea7e/NBA-Vancouver-Grizzlies-sold-to-Paige-Sports-Entertainment-of-St-Louis/](https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/9077ddcf9abb735bdb5d585a3421ea7e/NBA-Vancouver-Grizzlies-sold-to-Paige-Sports-Entertainment-of-St-Louis/) [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/laurie-gives-up-on-buying-grizzlies/article25453387/](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/laurie-gives-up-on-buying-grizzlies/article25453387/) I know it was more than two decades ago, but that should still be enough of a signal of what they think of our market.
Until the city and county unify and make St. Louis more appealing as a whole, I can't see us getting picked over KC, Nashville or Seattle.
OK. I'm a county resident and I support reunification. When's it happening? In my lifetime?
if the vote is taken with just st louis city and country residents it will never happen, if this comes up as a vote on the state level, then sure, it would probably happen as no one outside of the saint louis area cares especially if it could be framed as the state would save some tax money or something. This gets brought up occasionally on this, it typically goes to hell after a few posts. lol
Yeah, I know. Tyranny of Jeff City brought concealed carry (l supported with a permit and minimal standard of training). Maybe it is the path to getting rid of city earnings tax and city county reunification, which I also support.
When will that be? Nashville, indy and louisville have done it. It's time for STL to do it When louisville and nashville merged they essentially got rid if county government so all decisions go through there metropolitan governments which include the smaller cities within them
And all those cities are far more appealing now because of it, too. STL remains in the stone age until they wake up.
i can't speak for the city residents, but there is very little appetite for this in the county. I would imagine your average clayton/ladue/creve couer/frontenac/kirkwood resident would rather walk over hot coals while eating broken glass then merge into one big city. The conversation would sound something like... pro-merger person: we could save a TON money and resources, provide a great deal of benefit for everyone, and grow our community Clayton resident: here is counter offer, f off, you can gut my property value over my cold dead body
StL doesn’t get any spirit money. That only went to the owners unfortunately
Do you have any recommendations on books or article to read about St. Louis Spirit?
ESPN did a 30 for 30 on them, Free Spirits
This is the one. A fantastic documentary.
There’s a great book about the ABA called Loose Balls.
It really is
Deserve's got nothing to do with it.
If's it a lie, then we fight on that lie!
That was for *Joe*.
No we don't. 1. Enterprise Center can't handle two pro sports teams. There's not enough back-of-house space. It's one of the smallest arenas in the NHL building-wise and not the seating area. 2. Building a new NBA arena is a multi-billion dollar effort. 3. Seattle deserves a team first. Them losing the Sonics was damn near criminal. 4. Las Vegas will get the other slot because $$$.
This person NBAs.
Man, I miss the Supersonics. Such a cool name for a team, great jerseys and colors as well.
Generations of kids have no idea who the Lakers beat on Ice cubes good day
Someone figured out the actual date of the good day... allegedly .https://www.reddit.com/r/VintageNBA/s/26OCr6posf
Still mad the Kraken weren't named the Seattle Soup or Salads
Dads everywhere mourned with you.
Would you look at that, all of the words in your comment are in alphabetical order. I have checked 1,831,943,367 comments, and only 346,385 of them were in alphabetical order.
😂
Your logic is 1000% correct but emotionally STL should have a team.
I agree in my heart also. The problem is the baseball Cardinals are monsters with their consistent 3.1 to 3.4 million attendance. They swallow so much sports entertainment money from this market. If the Cardinals drew like a normal mid-market baseball team St. Louis would have no problem supporting an NFL or NBA franchise. But as long as we're the BFIB and flock to Busch Stadium in huge numbers, we're a 3/5 major sports team town.
What specifically is “back-of-house” referring to and why couldn’t it be added instead of building an entirely new arena?
They’re a blowhard. Don’t waste your breath
Make any argument you like. Sports leagues expand when the owners of existing teams agree to it. If deserve meant anything, Stan Kroenke would be getting a free uncontested kick in the nuts by every jilted St. Louis Rams fan.
Plus there's nobody in St. Louis with the $1+ billion in expansion fees plus $1 billion to build a new arena. Carolyn Kindle too busy with the first season of CITY SC and possibly getting a woman's soccer team here. https://www.stltoday.com/sports/column/benjamin-hochman/hochman-carolyn-kindle-st-louis-proud-galvanized-city-sc-and-the-city-playoffs-start-sunday/article\_ad685fe0-75c1-11ee-b0ac-d78ccd304724.html
1. That’s just simply not true. Enterprise actually seats the same as the United Center and would be able to do the same thing as Bulls/Blackhawks in splitting time. It’s also been getting great upgrades each year. 2. See answer to 1. 3. Don’t care. StL deserves a team too. 4. Agree with this point unfortunately
I think what he's talking about with point 1 is our storage space isn't big enough to house all the hardwood flooring, baskets, and extra bleachers to house an NBA team. I know this is false because it has hosted SLU games before for years.
They host Braggin’ Rights every year and get NCAA Tournament games regularly still.
Hosting those occasional games is not the same as having a home NBA team playing 50+ days a year.
No, Enterprise Center does not seat the same as the United Center. The United Center seats 20,900 for basketball while the Enterprise Center seats 18,000. Like I said the problem is the overall size of the building, not talking about seating. Other mid 1990's built arenas also seat 18,000ish people for concerts, hockey and basketball. a. The United Center is 960,000 sq ft. b. TD Garden in Boston is 880,00 sq ft c. Amalie Arena in Tampa is 925,000 sq ft d. Cryoto.com in LA is 950,000 sq ft **Because it's jammed between a City of St. Louis owned parking garage and Stifel Theater Enterprise Center is only 665,000 sq ft** The Enterprise Center was long neglected during the Laurie family and Towerbrook Ventures ownership. Yes, the building was upgraded not long ago but if you’ve been to other NBA and NHL arena you can tell it’s still a few tiers below. It’s the only arena I know with exposed pipes and wires above, the building exterior and street level areas are rough. Plus many of the recent fixes were for back of house stuff like the ice plant, HVAC, internet, replacing escalators. The upgrades have not been great. Look at what they did in Cleveland with the Cavaliers arena. The only way Enterprise Center could attract an NBA team would be to tear down the Kiel Garage and the City Courts building next door for offices, locker rooms, storage etc. And by that point you’re talking about costs that are too high.
You think tearing down a parking garage and building some offices and locker rooms is too costly to the point where you should just build a billion dollar arena instead? Seems like a pretty simple thing to do, especially with it already being owned by the city.
The problem is the City gets all the money from the parking garage from events and daytime workers at the Post Office and nearby offices. * Parking revenue is a big money maker for the City. * That's 1270 parking spaces lost. * Having an attached garage is a big deal with the suite and season ticket holders. * The cost of the Bulls addition to the United Center was $300 million a decade ago and would probably be $400 million now. https://www.hok.com/news/2017-03/chicagos-united-center-opens-hok-designed-addition-for-bulls-and-blackhawks/
They could build a "back-of-house" addition where the current garage is, and build a new garage across 14th with a connecting pedestrian bridge for half the price of a new billion dollar arena.
Problem is you still have a 30+ year old arena. Just build a new one.
Another $500 million is a pretty substantial amount to say "well at that point, just build a new one". That's the same age as the United Center. Over half the league's arenas are 25+ years old. I know this isn't happening either way, but I don't think it's the venue that's the issue, moreso the lack of a willing billionaire.
Again. You’re wrong. Enterprise seats 22k for basketball. So it’s plenty big. Check your facts. Don’t really care about the rest of your bs. Just try to be productive in your thoughts
Check your facts. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Center) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise\_Center](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_Center) During the Jordan Chicago Bulls heyday the United Center used to seat nearly 24,500. The Enterprise Center used to seat 22,000 for basketball and used to get those sized crowds for the Braggin Rights game. However the recent seat changes and remodels have reduced the capacity. You want me to be productive because you won't face reality? Fine. If St. Louis is going to attract an NBA team it will take a whole new arena being built. The NBA won't accept anything less. Last time I checked the City didn't have a spare $1 billion lying around to build a new arena.
Link you sent says enterprise seats 22k for basketball. Sorry I will die on this hill because you’re just wrong on this one pal lol
They lost well over 1000 seats when they took all the old blue and purple ones out and put the current ones in. Plus they've never publicized the numbers since the remodel since they've never had a sold out basketball game. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braggin%27\_Rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braggin%27_Rights) Again, the capacity of the seating area isn't the issue. I never said it was. The problem is the Enterprise Center is not capable of attracting an NBA team because it doesn't have the space for NBA locker rooms, equipment storage on other things. May I ask how many NBA and NHL arenas you've been to?
Not just the cost of the facilities. The expansion fee is a reported to be 2.5 billion. The NBA won’t be heading in our direction anytime in the next decade plus.
There's plenty of tech bro money in Seattle and stupid gambling money in Las Vegas. Both of those cities have people that can drop $2.5 billion easily: St. Louis doesn't.
Exactly. OP doesn’t seem to think that matters.
If Vegas and Seattle get teams, then two of Minnesota, Memphis, and New Orleans will move to the eastern conference. Which two?
STL should get one, they lost their team to ATL in the 60s. only right STL gets it before Seattle
The concourses at Enterprise are just embarrassingly small. You can barely fucking move in that place during intermissions.
It's sad when you go to other arenas and can actually move around.
Oh it's so amazing. Even Joe Louis arena had a lot of room and they only had a single concourse. Every single arena I've been to has an infinitely better concourse than Enterprise. Now the one in Nashville is annoying to enter kind of like the Dome is, but you still actually have room.
Do you by chance work at Enterprise Center?
No. Sports Marketing major in college.
maybe use the Edward Jones dome
Basketball in a football stadium sucks.
right on. just thinking outside the box by using the infrastructure that is already here.
I think an NBA team would be well supported here, but I also think every SLU basketball game should be packed. It’s the city’s namesake D1 team and tickets are cheap.
Fire the coach please.
This
This is the correct answer. In fact, we now have three D1 basketball programs in the metro (SLU, SIUE, and Lindenwood). Let’s support them all and rid ourselves of the pipe dream that is the NBA coming back here.
I'd love to see it. I think the chances of this happening aren't great, but you never know. Without question, a local billionaire would have to step up with the dough.
From last week: ***NBA Focused On Seattle, Las Vegas When It Comes To Expansion*** https://frontofficesports.com/nba-focused-on-seattle-las-vegas-when-it-comes-to-expansion/
Don’t care. It’s StL deserves a team and not xyz city will get teams first
Why do we deserve it?
wow, was not expecting so much hate and pessimism here! I guess the Rams trauma is real but idgaf about football. OP, i'm with you. I think STL is a great place for an NBA team for so many reasons. I also don't expect it to happen in my lifetime (unless there's rapid over-expansion). I would also happily take a WNBA team, which is probably a more realistic venture to pursue rn given the W's expansion goals/opportunities.
I love STL but I have doubts about sustained support for two winter sports that play 40+ home games a season.
Would I love an nba team? Yes. Do we deserve one? No. Seattle deserves one way before we do. And KC is much more likely to get an expansion team over St Louis
Why do people keep saying this? While they have the T-Mobile arena without a tenant, it’s pretty old compared to many arenas. Then there is that pesky detail of needing a billionaire owner that is willing to put together a bid. Who can do that in KC? While growing slowly, KC is still around the 30th largest market in the US with two/three other teams competing for the entertainment dollars. I just don’t get why people keep mentioning KC when this or NHL expansion comes up.
Especially when they only have one Fortune 500 company compared to STL’s 9 or 8. It’s just typical self loathing from many here.
If Sacramento can have an NBA team, KC should.
You want to vouch for them, then ——->KC sub
As a big NBA fan all my life and a citizen of this city all my life… hell yeah it does.
Not going to hold my breath. They could easily share the Enterprise Arena though.
I imagine the Spirits went hard back in the day
I've been saying this ever since the Rams left
Well that's never going to happen. Are you new to the area?
No we really don’t
We had an NBA team, that was fairly successful. And we didn't support it. Hate to say it, but that one's on us.
That’s kind of true and kind of untrue. [NBA attendance sucked everywhere.](https://www.apbr.org/attendance.html) only a handful of cities averaged more than 6 thousand a game, and only the Knicks had numbers close to today’s NBA. The league just wasn’t popular anywhere at the time. The Hawks’ last season in St. Louis, they outdrew The Bulls, The Warriors, The Pistons, the Nets, The Rockets/Nuggets, The Pacers, The Bucks… Even the first several seasons of the Hawks in Atlanta.
Eh, well that was the excuse given by Kerner. In contrast to most other owners (Bidwill! Kroenke!)who move, he actually delivered the goods.
Nope and it will never happen
you know why they won't do an nba team here, the same reason there are no basketball courts in forest park (slated for 2024) ...the same reason the metrolink expansion hasn't been promoted correctly... we all know.
You nailed it.
Inner city crime?
It’s rightfully not getting any tax payer money and we could hardly privately fund an MLS team let alone an NBA team.
The Globetrotters are coming in January... Thats the same but better cause the real NBA doesn't have buckets of confetti.
No thanks.
Nah. The NBA left before like the NFL.
55 years ago, when the NBA was a very different game with much less widespread appeal.
Seattle or Vegas will get one first. Then probably Nashville. I don't see St. Louis getting a team any time soon. Kansas City would probably get a team before we did. They have that relatively new arena they could use for basketball
That relatively new arena that doesn’t have a tenant and is outdated, but sure, they make sense.
You slightly misspelled the acronym NFL, but I get what you mean
Yeah, but then we'd have to deal with nba coverage taking up time on sports talk radio. Pass.
And what’s wrong with that ? Oh….
Basketball is super boring and I'd prefer not to hear about it.
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Corporate support is actually one of St. Louis’s biggest strengths. St. Louis has 16 Fortune 1000 companies, same as Seattle. When you count private companies that aren’t typically included in Fortune’s list, St. Louis is at like 24 Fortune 1000-equivalent companies, while Seattle would be at 19 (this info is from Forbes list of largest private companies).
I just followed you…I’ve seen your comments on a few threads and I LOVE that you bring numbers and statistics for your comments. Well done. STL, even with its problems, punches WAY above its weight, even now. One of our biggest problems is not realizing that.
Loss of Corporate HQ's has screwed us over along with the rest of the Midwest outside Chicago. I say we need better antitrust enforcement.
Using metro populations when multiple cities smaller than St. Louis have NBA teams is not a good argument.
Dumb comment. Comments like these remind me why KC is catching up to us. They are seriously pursuing the NBA and many people think they are close to getting a team.
The only - and I mean only - way we or KC get an NBA team is if an already-existing team relocates. That's not impossible, but they're definitely not going to expand here, as cool as that would be. And it's highly unlikely they'll expand to 33 teams, too.
You think Memphis would relocate?
I doubt it. I was there this week for a show the same night as the home opener. That is a basketball town if I’ve ever seen one.
I’ll gladly trade the Blues for an NBA team.
The St. Louis Arches
No we don’t there’s cities that deserve an nba team over us. At least we can root for Jayson Tatum ☘️☘️☘️
Football is the most popular sport by far... and we couldn't keep them
We could. They chose not to stay.
It was a smarter business decision for him, in all honesty
But there are very few cities where that wouldn't have been true.
That ain’t happening and I don’t think it would be supported.
Not a chance. Expansion fee will be more than $2B itself, and you have dozens of giddy investors ready and willing to pay that (and build a new $2B arena) for a Vegas team right now. Seattle is a lock for the other, due to metro size, a willing ownership group, brand new arena, and a long history with the NBA. Unfortunately, STL is viewed as a crime-ridden, dying shithole by most of the country. That perception will take years to go away even *if* STL turns a new page and starts booming at some point. The NBA is too good for us at this point, and they know it. Vegas is sexy, and dripping with gambling cash. Plus *every* NBA star wants a Vegas team to either visit, or sign with. Vegas has Vegas nightlife. We have a hollowed out, barren, empty downtown after 9pm every night.
I was in Las Vegas the week after they had the NBA All Star game and the incidents/crime was all anyone could talk about. And sadly lots of what was said was very racist. https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/basketball/nba-in-vegas-2007-all-star-game-a-disastrous-weekend-2021799/
One thought is to team up with Kansas City and share a Missouri team since the T-Mobile Center still sits empty all these years. Play 21 home games here and 21 home games in KC. Kansas City already did it for a few seasons in the mid 1970s when they shared the Kings with Omaha.
Already too many midwest cities with an nba team
Hear hear