A friend and I had a very heated debate about this topic last night with me arguing that there is no chance and him arguing the opposite. What are everyone's feelings?

 

My prime argument was that the greater Cincinnati area already has their basketball money/interest/time vested in programs such as UC, XU, UK, UofL, OSU...and so on. Not to mention high school basketball.

They already tried and it didn't work. I don't think it would work but if it did ever happen to come I would greatly support it and now have a new favorite NBA team. Do you think a city as small as cincy would have enough support for 3 pro teams?

It wouldn't be a "regional draw" You have the Cavs in Cleveland and the Pacers in Indy, so you would only be drawing from the small cincy market, and that is an area that is usually pretty tight with it's entertainment $. Shelling out $80 for an NBA ticket wouldn't be a high priority here.

I'm suprised that shelling out that much is a high priority anyway. But I agree, do to the other two teams not to far away, the team wouldn't grow much popularity unless they landed a big star or two right away.

I'm suprised that shelling out that much is a high priority anyway. But I agree, do to the other two teams not to far away, the team wouldn't grow much popularity unless they landed a big star or two right away.

 

My friend argued this as well but even then, I don't see one or two all-star players alone being enough for an NBA franchise to survive.

I personally think it would be great, and would work very well.

I personally think it would be great, and would work very well.

What is your reasoning?

Cincy has to be a better market than Minnesota.

I didn't realize Cincinnati only had a population a little over 300,000. Not that I expected it to be near 2 or 3 million, but that's REALLY small.

 

I was going to make an argument FOR an NBA team. The Bengals have sellouts now since that they started putting a winning product on the field. It was frustrating watching the Reds last year have to literally give away seats to the big series against the Cardinals and STILL have a hard time selling out.

 

I'm sure if and when the Reds are good again year in and year out, they will sell better. Maybe the NBA could work if the team was good, there is a large area to draw from in Dayton, Lexington and so forth, I just don't know if that would be enough.

No way would Cincy sell enough tickets for 40+ home games per year at the prices of NBA games to even think about a team.

 

Pro basketball is way down the list for sports fan's priorities within a 100 mile radius of Cincy.

Yes PBS is sold out every week for 8 weeks, now that they are winning. Not enough people in this market able to afford the money needed to support a franchise.

I would like to see it happen. They need a much bigger and newer arena than US Bank though.

I didn't realize Cincinnati only had a population a little over 300,000. Not that I expected it to be near 2 or 3 million, but that's REALLY small.

 

I was going to make an argument FOR an NBA team. The Bengals have sellouts now since that they started putting a winning product on the field. It was frustrating watching the Reds last year have to literally give away seats to the big series against the Cardinals and STILL have a hard time selling out.

 

I'm sure if and when the Reds are good again year in and year out, they will sell better. Maybe the NBA could work if the team was good, there is a large area to draw from in Dayton, Lexington and so forth, I just don't know if that would be enough.

 

That's just within the city limits. The metro area has about 2.5 million people.

Cincy has to be a better market than Minnesota.

 

The Cincy metro area is about half the size of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.

NineOh, no chance in hell will there ever be an NBA team in Cincinnati. Good to see your debate skills are being sharpened.