Oct 13, 2016 via Sonics Rising // SB Nation http://www.sonicsrising.com/2016/10/13/13264264/multiple-sources-nba-expansion-seattle by Kevin Nesgoda | @KDN4 Oct 13, 2016, 8:00am The NBA is extremely close to finalizing their new Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the finalized details should be coming out in the next few weeks. During the announcement of the new television contract, we said that there are expansion escalators in the deal. In other words, if the NBA were to expand, they would get more money out of the deal. What does all that have to do with Seattle? Well, we know that the NBA is going to do their best to not move teams out of their current markets. They made that mistake back in 2008 with a certain team, they know they messed up big time and will not make that mistake again. The other night I reached out to a lot of media and league people in my contact list and simply asked, "Is expansion on the table?" I had 57 people respond, 14 of those either did not comment or said they didn’t know. That leaves 43 other responses. Some that really jumped out were: Those would be the four most pessimistic responses that I got. The rest were definitely a lot more, well I got goosebumps and it made me giddy. A couple of my favorites: How can you not be excited about those comments? I am not, however, going to get my hopes up too much. A lot can happen and things can change. The whole thing will come down to the Seattle City Council changing at least one vote and approving the street vacation of Occidental Avenue so that Chris Hansen can get a new arena built. If there is no arena, there is no Sonics, and it is simple as that. I’ve heard that once the CBA is finished, the expansion bidding could be announced as soon as December or as late as the All-Star Game in February. There are going to be numerous other cities competing with Seattle to get the expansion franchises as well. I do not know if there is just going to be one slot or two. Other cities I’ve heard that are going to be making a play for expansion are Louisville (they have all their affairs in order and ready to go), Pittsburgh, Omaha, Las Vegas, Vancouver, BC, and Mexico City. Kansas City and St. Louis have been brought up as well, but I can’t confirm the validity of their interest. Seattle is definitely on the radar and the city needs to get the arena passed or it’ll be about 2050 before we can ever hope of getting a team back in Seattle. If ever. @NBAsxn
Oct 13, 2016 Heard about this earlier, sounds like some other cities could be involved too. I'd like to see this cuz Seattle is only a few hours away and I could go to more games but I don't think it'd help the quality of the NBA product. We already have a ton of teams that have no real shot to compete each year and this would only make that worse. In the end it's all about the money though.
Oct 14, 2016 32 teams like the NFL. Bring back the Seattle Supersonics and give them their history back, making OKC a new franchise. And also have Las Vegas.
Oct 14, 2016 I feel like Connecticut should have an NBA team. They have a respected college basketball program, they're part of the Tri-State area which opens them up to fans in NJ and NY. I also think NJ should have kept the Nets and they should have created a new team for Brooklyn.
Oct 14, 2016 Vancouver's only like 3 hours from Seattle driving and a real short cheap flight, that's probably the closest Vancouver will get anytime soon tbh.
Oct 16, 2016 Vegas seems like a good idea. Jerseys would prbabably be cool. "Las Vegas Aces has a nice ring to it. However, it sounds like a s-----y idea when you realize their fanbase would be lacking completely in quantity and quality. I could see them doing Vancouver, but I hope they don't. I think they go 32. Seattle is a must. So that leaves one open for a city like KC or St. Loius. Louisville or just Kentucky in general would be a home run too.
