Saw Adam Silver talking about expansion on a broadcast recently. I hear a lot about Vegas, Seattle, Vancouver. I really feel people are ignoring Montreal as a possible NBA market. Here are reasons why Montreal is an attractive market for the NBA.
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Infrastructure: Montreal already has an NBA worthy arena with the Bell Center and would a have one of the largest stadium capacities in the league (nearly 22 000). It also has great public transit for visitors and touristic appeal.
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Market size: A metro pop of 4 million, nearly twice as Vegas and Vancouver. Add to that the entire province of Quebec and the maritime provinces. You could also consider parts of Vermont/Maine/New York into the wider Montreal market.
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East coast: Proximity to markets such as Toronto, Boston, New York City, Chicago and Detroit. Natural rivalries with some of those markets (NHL’s Maple Leafs and Bruins)
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International appeal: Montreal is a bilingual city with a European flair. We are seeing more and more players coming out of Europe and Africa, some of which speak French. Montreal would be a great testing ground for international expansion of the NBA. Safe to say if players can’t tolerate playing in a city like Montreal, you can forget Europe!
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Homegrown talent/ BBall culture: Despite not having a proper development system, Montreal has provided quality NBA talent in the last decade. A lot of Montreal neighborhoods have prominent basketball culture, and Montreal has huge African and Caribbean communities that could maintain a healthy fanbase. Not to mention that french-canadians also tend to go wild when it comes to sports.
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Sports market: Montreal has one of the highest valued NHL franchises, the Canadiens. Montreal also supports MLS and CFL franchises, which have both found success in the city with their passionate fanbases. The city has a long history with baseball, many all star players having played in the city in both minor and major leagues: Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Pedro Martinez, Gary Carter and Vlad Guerrero to nam a few. Obviously Montreal had an MLB franchise for nearly 4 decades (Expos from 1969-2004) and despite what the narrative may be in regards to that team, it is clear that the city still mourns that loss and should never have lost the team. Incompetent ownership and lack of funds drew that team away, lack of fan support was simply a symptom of that (see current Oakland A’s situation). Finally, Montreal hosts F1 annually and has sold out multiple MLB and NBA exhibition games.
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Strip clubs (If you know, you know)
Anyway I rest my case, Montreal needs to be considered as a possible NBA market.
Curious to hear your thoughts.
Vegas is 100% going to happen. NBA wants to follow the rest of the sport leagues going into Vegas. With NHL, NFL and now MLB with the relocation of the Athletics.
IMO if the NBA would want to create two new team. They would make a smart move to have a team relocate to Vegas instead of creating a new team there.
Seattle will happen. People want the Supersonics to come back, and they have a good establishment of a NFL, NHL and MLB team there.
A possibility of an international team like Montreal and Vancouver is something that is being considered. However you really need to consider the balance of the team. Adding two more teams means there are 32 teams in the league. That would make it easier to work out the division and schedule. They can look into mimicking the NFL's division structure. However, if they really wants to add more team, they need to add in pairs.
I think it may be Vegas and Seattle for the first expansion and then Montreal and Vancouver for the second and some Mexican cities for the third expansion to add up to a total 36 teams.