http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2012/05/10/downtown-doubl...
Too bad the NBA isn't expanding and the only team looking to relocate is Sacramento to Las Vegas or Anaheim. Plus outside of NY and LA, the only teams in the NBA that close are Milwaukee and Chicago I think. Indiana, Cleveland, Detroit - there's already a bunch of teams within a 3-4 hour drive. It doesn't make a lot of sense for the league to have a team relocate to a smaller-ish market.
I don't see an NBA team coming to Columbus. I know a lot of people are anti-NBA, but I love it, and I've been a Cavs fan my whole life. I just don't see why a team would move to Columbus or the league would expand into Columbus. I think it would be a mistake. In many ways I also think bringing an NHL team was a mistake.
I think the NBA would do better than the NHL in Columbus. With the Blue Jackets, the hockey fans in Columbus were already Redwings or Penguins fans, and hockey isn't popular enough around here to pull in that many new fans. I doubt that any pro team will ever come to/do well in Columbus, because we all love the Buckeyes too much!
The Cavs could move to columbus and do well. They would have to be an Ohio name team though and could draw crowds from Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati but I'm not a huge fan of pro teams especially when they want publicly funded arenas and subsidies.
Given population shifts, in 20 or 30 years, it may make sense for the Cavs to move to Columbus.
Columbus will NEVER get any other major pro sports team. We have hockey (kinda) and OSU football and basketball are considered better entertainment than NBA and NFL, to the vast majority of Central Ohioans... and being centered between the Reds and Indians we are too close with too many loyal fans of those teams to push for the MLB...so in essence we already have all that most people in this area want.
D. Anthony
To me, Columbus is a college town. Ohio State runs the city - pretty apparent when their football team can sell out a 105,000 seat stadium, but other teams can't sell out stadiums less than half that size. I'd personally love to have an NBA team, but I don't think it would get nearly enough support. Too close to Cleveland, too. If you thought Red Wings and Penguins fans were stubborn on changing their allegiances - I think even less Cavs fans would change their allegiances to a new Columbus team because the Cavs are an Ohio team. Some Red Wings/Penguins fans may have changed because they aren't Ohio teams. You don't get that advantage with an NBA team here.
Class of 2010.
Jason - your population shift thought is interesting. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective.
I wonder about the Blue Jackets. When I heard an NHL team was coming to Columbus, I thought it was a big mistake. But do you all think if they were actually a good team and consistently won and went to the playoffs that they would draw more and be more 'accepted' in the Columbus sports landscape? Some places, even if a team is good, they have a hard time drawing fans.
I'm sure there were people in 1945 Phoenix saying that town would never have pro teams, too. It's hard to know what's going to happen decades out, but I do know that Columbus is the only major city in Ohio (and one of the few in the Midwest) that's growing.
Absolutely. The losing has sunk the Blue Jackets. They're not beyond salvage, but Columbus is a solid hockey town.
Population shifts won't change the fact they Columbus already has major basketball and football with the nations biggest fan base...yes, anything can happen and OSU might move it's main campus to Cleveland in 100 years so I should've said, not in our lifetime vs "NEVER".
D. Anthony
Never say never. Columbus has grown considerably in the last 25 years. With the population shift from northeastern OH to central OH due to the loss of the manufacturing base, C-bus will continue to grow in the coming years. I remember when i moved to C-bus in 1986 that New Albany, Powell, Westerville and the Polaris areas were mostly cornfields. Things change over time. Having lived in Milwaukee after moving from C-bus for work in '05, I've noticed how the Bucks have become an afterthought in this town. The Brewers and Packers are the top draws here. No one here would lose any sleep over the Bucks leaving town from what I've gathered since living here. No way they approve a tax to finance a new arena here. I could see this franchise in C-bus in 5-7 years.
Let's just trade the Bluejackets to Cleveland for the Cavs.
"It's just another case of there you are". ~ Doc (1918-2012)
One thing about the people who say that pro sports is a bad fit here because Columbus is all about the Buckeyes--remember that Minnesota football was a significant national power in the days before the Twin Cities got their own professional teams. Fact is, plenty of people in Columbus have no affiliation with the Buckeyes, and would likely welcome a local team to call their own. (Case in point: spend any time on a Blue Jackets site, and it won't be long before you see evidence of anti-OSU resentment.)
I don't really see the NBA working here at the present time (and I assume the NBA has been seized upon because no way Ohio would ever get a third MLB or NFL team), but it's something to keep in mind for the longer term. If current trends continue, Columbus could be the largest metro area in Ohio within 20 or so years.
The most "loud mouth, disrespect" poster on 11W.
Columbus is the only place in Ohio gaining population. It's the 16th largest city in the U.S., though only the 32nd largest metro area (1.9 million).
I don't think the combo of the NHL/NBA would work right now. If we did get say the Kings or Hornets, what do you think CBJ attendance would drop to? 5,000? Maybe? It would effectively kill off the Jackets until they made a playoff run.
Sorry to say, Ohio State doesn't "run Columbus." At least not anymore. 50,000 students in an area of nearly 2,000,000 people. A lot of alumni stay, but we have 5 Fortune 500 companies and a growing corporate presence downtown. If this were pre-1990 then I would agree.
Remember this, when the Cavs host a preseason game in Columbus in recent years, the arena was SOLD OUT. For Preseason. Granted, LeBron brought a lot of buzz to that but I think Columbus would be a better NBA city than an NHL city. There's probably 9,000 you can take for granted to show up to a Blue Jackets game. I would bet there would be a solid 12,000 - 15,000 minimum with an NBA team for at least the first 7 or 8 years, more if they win with anything better than the CBJ winning %.
CBJ, Crew, Clippers, had the Destroyers for a few years. Put that with OSU football and basketball and I think it's hard right now to find room for another pro sports team. Maybe in 10 years if Columbus keeps growing.