NBA G-League Still Needs to Expand

[4_tattoos]

6 hours ago, dfwabel said:

Barring any unforeseen delay, the 76ers Fieldhouse will open on January 4.

Are the Sixers supposed to be doing anything at that venue? If not, it's kind of a weird choice to name the place after the big club.

[dfwabel]

5 minutes ago, 4_tattoos said:

Are the Sixers supposed to be doing anything at that venue? If not, it's kind of a weird choice to name the place after the big club.

Well if they name it after themselves, they brand themselves to Wilmington, as an actual community partner from the start. They can sell naming rights later.

 

http://www.delawarebusinesstimes.com/76ers-fieldhouse-breaks-ground-on-wilmington-riverfront/

 

Quote

The heart of the $25 million development is a 160,000-square-foot building visible from both I-95 and I-495. The sport facilities include a court for the Blue Coats, with 2,366 bleacher seats (convertible to three NBA-regulation basketball courts), and a 100- by 70-yard indoor turf field.

 

The main tenants include the Blue Coats; youth sports teams; the Titus Sports Academy, a firm moving from Newark to continue athletic training programs and baseball teams; the Future Soccer Stars Foundation, a free program that uses soccer to “inspire kids to believe and invest in themselves”; and the Nemours Physical Therapy Clinic, moving from the hospital’s main campus in North Wilmington to provide rehabilitation and therapy for young athletes.

 

The site will have 521 parking spaces. McGlinchey, executive director of the Riverfront Development Corp., boasted easier pedestrian access from the Riverfront’s busier west side due to a foot bridge that opened last year. “It will be a magnet on the East Side,” she said.

 

 

Again, you could answer your own questions we before posting.

[dfwabel]

1 hour ago, BringBackTheVet said:

Has it been proven that there's any benefit to having an affiliated team in this league?  Do guys regularly get sent up / down like in baseball?  It doesn't seem the kind of place that you'd put a prospect, since anyone with any identified potential is going to be with the NBA team, right?  Is Portland or whoever really at any kind of competitive disadvantage from not having a team?

Yogi Ferrell is the best example of getting a big contract from moving to the NBA.

 

Because there's now two-way contracts, teams now would like to possess more control over talent in terms of system, training and diet. Real two-way contracts in the NBA started with the current CBA

[4_tattoos]

Went to Capital City's season opener against Greensboro tonight in DC. The new arena is nice for a small venue. The attendance is about what I expected it to be for a G League game. Eye balled it to be about 40% of the arena's capacity. Enjoyed the game despite the Go-Go losing in overtime.

[GDAWG]

 

[walkerws]

36 minutes ago, GDAWG said:

 

Awful logo.  They would have been better recycling an old Hawks logo

[Pharos04]

I miss the BayHawks already

[TBGKon]

14 hours ago, Pharos04 said:

I miss the BayHawks already

They'll still exist, but as a New Orleans affiliate for the next season or so, until Birmingham's arena is ready.

[GDAWG]

An update from last month about the two NBA Teams without G League teams, Denver and Portland:

 

 

[Wings]

Paul Allen never seemed interested in it, so now that his sister Jody has the team, she'll probably continue the status quo. 

[GDAWG]

1 hour ago, Wings said:

Paul Allen never seemed interested in it, so now that his sister Jody has the team, she'll probably continue the status quo. 

 

yeah, it doesn't seem likely that they will be joining the G League until they are sold, which may not be for a long time.  I think Denver's case is more of trying to figure out which market works best. 

[gosioux76]

10 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

yeah, it doesn't seem likely that they will be joining the G League until they are sold, which may not be for a long time.  I think Denver's case is more of trying to figure out which market works best. 

I'm not sure the situation in Portland has a whole lot to do with lack of interest. The big issue, as I understand it, was finding a home for the franchise that was close enough to Portland. From what reporting I've read on the situation over the years, GM Neil Olshey had expressed an interest in having an affiliate close by so those players could still practice with the NBA squad. Not sure if that's still the case, but if so, it makes finding a location particularly problematic. 

 

Unless the Blazers are OK being among the five-or-so franchises with a franchise in their same city, their choices are limited. Portland has a great example right in its back yard of the challenges of having a big-league affiliate in the same city. The Timbers' T2 franchise in the USL Championship has never been much of a draw, and just yesterday they farmed out business operations of that club to the Hillsboro Hops, the single-A baseball franchise in the suburbs.

 

When the big club is in the same city, watching the B team isn't all that appealing, and professional sports organizations aren't necessarily in the business of launching a franchise if they don't think there's an audience to watch it. 

 

That's just my armchair analysis, and I'm not much good at sitting in armchairs, so take it for what it's worth.  

 

[Seadragon76]

If that's the issue with the Blazers... hmm... there isn't much that would work. Maybe putting the G League team in the other building next to the Moda Center would be their goal. BUT, since that seems to be an issue, I suggest that they start looking to a city in the Pacific Northwest that would be willing to be a host to their G League team.

 

There's plenty of options out here with Vancouver BC, Everett, Spokane, Boise, and even Seattle (which will never, ever, EVER happen... but you know, if you put the team in Kent at the ShoWare Center)

[4_tattoos]

I'm not familiar with Oregon, but could the state's capital city Salem possibly work for a Blazers' G League team? Are there any small venues there that could be a home arena? It's my understanding that Salem is about an hour or so drive away from Portland so it's still kinda close.

[dfwabel]

10 minutes ago, 4_tattoos said:

I'm not familiar with Oregon, but could the state's capital city Salem possibly work for a Blazers' G League team? Are there any small venues there that could be a home arena? It's my understanding that Salem is about an hour or so drive away from Portland so it's still kinda close.

You are either at Willimette's D-III gym, or Hoop Salem.

 

Remember, most folks work for the state, so incomes aren't that high.

[Frylock]

6 hours ago, dfwabel said:

You are either at Willimette's D-III gym, or Hoop Salem.

 

Remember, most folks work for the state, so incomes aren't that high.

 

The Willamette University gym is probably the best option, as the two venues I thought of were the Pavilion at the Fairgrounds (sizable, but no scoreboards or replay boards) or the Armory Auditorium, which might have scoreboards, but no replay boards, and has a stage on one side of the court. I graduated in that building 20 years ago - it was a dump then, and it still is, sadly.

[Burmy]

Personally, I think Southern Oregon (Medford area) is a truly underrated market...the Seven Feathers Event Center sounds like a perfect G League venue.

[Seadragon76]

There is also a wild card to think about here is this: Mexico City

 

(Be warned, though: The page is in Spanish.. so you may need Google Translate to pitch in)

 

The gist of this is that Mexico City has been a target for G League expansion since 2017 and they're hoping to get a team in for next season

[UnclearInitial]

From what I remember at the time the NBA was thinking of putting a G-League team in Mexico City that wasn’t connected to a  team, to expand the market and as kind of a trial run for a possible expansion team. No way a team would want to put their G-League team in Mexico City. 

 

If they could fix up one of the gyms in Salem, that might be the ideal location. Googling the Blazers practice facility, it looks like it’s a fair distance from Portland proper. Could a suburban Tigard/ Tualatin/ Lake Oswego team playing at their practice facility like the Wizards did work? Does Vancouver, WA have anywhere they could play?

 

Another consideration would be travel. As long as Seattle doesn’t have a team Portland is kind of on an island and they might not be willing to shoulder the travel costs for a G-League team

[gosioux76]

52 minutes ago, anythinglogos said:

From what I remember at the time the NBA was thinking of putting a G-League team in Mexico City that wasn’t connected to a  team, to expand the market and as kind of a trial run for a possible expansion team. No way a team would want to put their G-League team in Mexico City. 

 

If they could fix up one of the gyms in Salem, that might be the ideal location. Googling the Blazers practice facility, it looks like it’s a fair distance from Portland proper. Could a suburban Tigard/ Tualatin/ Lake Oswego team playing at their practice facility like the Wizards did work? Does Vancouver, WA have anywhere they could play?

 

Another consideration would be travel. As long as Seattle doesn’t have a team Portland is kind of on an island and they might not be willing to shoulder the travel costs for a G-League team

 

I'm not sure the team's practice facility is setup to be a spectator venue. And I've always considered VanWa to be a logical contender, though there really isn't an adequate venue that comes to mind.

 

If having a team right in the city, playing at Memorial Coliseum, isn't viable from a marketing perspective then the next best options would be Eugene or Corvallis. But while both of those cities have venues and are within a two-hour drive from Portland, it's questionable whether they'd have the interest of the scheduling flexibility to offer the space to a minor-league pro franchise. 

 

And yes, while B.C. and other parts of Washington might seem logical choices, they're impractical if the goal is having a team nearby that can engage directly with the parent club. 

 

I'm genuinely curious to see what the attendance figures compare for G-League teams sharing a city with their parent club and those that don't. Are there that many die-hard basketball fans in D.C. or Detroit that are willing to fork over some dough to see the B-team play?