Apropos of Bruno’s conversation with Eugene this week, a list of the largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas in the country without a NBA team (rankings in parentheses):
- San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA (17) (RIP Clippers!)
- St. Louis, MO-IL (18)
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (19)
- Baltimore-Towson, MD (20)
- Pittsburgh, PA (22) (go Fish!)
- Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN (24)
- Kansas City, MO-KS (29)
- Las Vegas-Paradise, NV (30)
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (31)
- Columbus, OH (32)
- Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC (34)
- Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA (36)
- Austin-Round Rock, TX (37)
- Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN (39)
- Jacksonville, FL (40)
- Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN (42)
- Richmond, VA (43)
The Oklahoma City MSA is 44th on this list . . . and whatever happened to the Ballhawgs anyway?
P.S., you can do the same thing with media markets . . . it’s not pretty (Birmingham vs. Harrisburg all the way to the finals, baby!) . . .
With all of those media markets out there without basketball teams, it makes me wonder why a second and third division of pro basketball never developed in the United States.
Not enough talent, too little television time, too expensive to cover and competing with too many other sports, right?