Are you tired of watching a weak Eastern Conference? Do you miss the Seattle SuperSonics? Does a little bit of chaos brighten your day?
Then this post is for you!
Let's get the NBA up to 32 teams (making the number of teams in the playoffs less awkward) and simultaneously cut the dead weight:
CANDIDATES FOR CONTRACTION
Wherein we take a gander at franchise value and operating income (as of 2018), along with regular season home game attendance and performance for the past 8 years.
Teams | Value | Income | Avg. Attendance | Avg. Win/Loss% |
---|---|---|---|---|
Atlanta Hawks | $1.15 B | $22 M | 15,615 | 0.535 |
Charlotte Hornets | $1.05 B | $21 M | 16,229 | 0.396 |
Indiana Pacers | $1.175 B | $29 M | 15,867 | 0.561 |
Memphis Grizzlies | $1.025 B | $15 M | 16,274 | 0.556 |
New Orleans Pelicans | $1 B | $37 M | 15,761 | 0.442 |
-Most of the numbers for Value, Income, and Avg. Attendance rank in the bottom 10 for the NBA. --Revenue is roughly the same for all 5 teams.
For now, let's drop 2 of these teams from the NBA. Any of them will do. New Orleans seems like an obvious choice. I'll drop Charlotte as well so MJ can go silently into the night.
Now, our 4
CANDIDATES FOR EXPANSION
Seattle (yes yes)
Population: >3.8 M
Vancouver (Cascadia is complete again!)
Population: >2.4 M
Monterrey (that's right)
Population: >4.5 M
Mexico City (v...because of...v)
Population: >21.2 M !!!
The distance between these two Mexican teams and Vancouver is just a bit more than the distance from LA to NY. To further reduce travel times, we'll need to sort out the conferences...
CONFERENCE ALIGNMENT
Are you ready?
Western Conference. Eastern Conference. ...Southern Conference. 3 Conferences!
The West will add Seattle and Vancouver (of course) and keep Minnesota in its loving embrace as every other team East of Denver is cut off. 11 teams.
The newly-minted South will combine Monterrey and Mexico City with the Texases and Floridaseses. Add in OKC, Memphis, and Atlanta and you got a stew going! 10 teams.
The East has the remaining 11 teams (we don't care about them).
The top 16 teams, regardless of conference, go to the playoffs.
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