Traveling to new countries between quarters of a single game is just the kind of experimental thinking Adam is looking for.

Teams looking forward to a 15 hr flight in the middle of a season.

The NBA is likely too “ethnic” for those in the White House

They already announced that starting next year the semifinals will be at home for the higher seed. This is a follow up saying that they’re also thinking about moving the finals.

I think they already said it’s going to be home for the higher seed, but I wish they had made it a random draw. The whole thing is based on the FA Cup / similar “in-season” tournaments in soccer, and in those cases matches not played at a neutral location usually determine who hosts at random. Would be cool to see situations if someone low in the standings goes on a run and gets to host a top team late in tournament.

Fight Island was such a massive disappointment. They had every excuse to put an octagon outdoors on the beach and they were too cheap.

Pre season nba games is in Abu Dhabi.

Same. Also Yorda Linda as mentioned in the Tiny Toons movie.

Like me when I found out Kazakhstan was a real place

Wait until you hear about Timbuktu and the Mali Empire!

Haram

¿Por que no los dos?

They can do a tour, both countries are inflicting genocide.

Nah bro, they’re moving to Dubai. It’s the Emirates cup afyer all. They’ll build a new stadium made with 100% slave labor and Adam Silver will personally lick Sheikh Mohammed’s ass after the tournament is over

[deleted]

It’s a fine concept, it’s just not realistic in mid-December for 3 games with unknown teams. Or what is now 1 game starting next year.

My friends and I used to do exactly that for summer league one weekend every year for a few years. Like you said, the basketball isn’t great but it was pretty cool winding down the weekend with a full day of back to back basketball games. If they offered an affordable option to watch competitive cup games in that format we’d be all over it.

With the exception of NYE, Vegas used to be super cheap during the holidays. I guess that’s why they’ve been trying to get these events going out there during December.

for real

I really would have loved to see the Knicks/Spurs tomorrow night, but I’d probably have to expect to spend at least $1000 altogether to just go for the day

been to Vegas for the Best Friends Forever music festival the last two years, I’ve loved it

Vegas is super convenient for a 3 day indie music festival

I just can’t see myself spending the same amount for one basketball game, even if the Knicks are my favorite team and they’re playing in the Cup game

Well…Vegas is also doing pretty poorly with tourism lately.

Why don’t basketball fans just get UAE to sponsor their trip to Vegas? Are they stupid?

The teams aren’t set until last minute, so it’s not like fans can plan ahead.

They don’t care. Sports owners in Vegas have repeatedly stated that they intend sports in Vegas to be something tourists do for random fun, not something fans attend to see their teams.

There are tickets available for \(80-\)90 last I saw…about ¹⁄₃ the get in price for ANY Knicks game at the garden.

I was going to joke about making OKC the site with the center of the contiguous US being the middle of the Nebraska/Kansas border. But making a serious suggestion along those lines, Kansas City wouldn’t be a terrible potential option that has some unique appeal and isn’t a nightmare to travel to.

Grand Island ain’t bad for a weekend, don’t stay any longer

Same thing

I mean Spurs / OKC would have sold out in LA

Given the time of year this happens, there are a ton of tourists in Manhattan right now and always will be. Doing this at MSG would be easy tickets to sell with tourists who are in town anyway, I’d go too if tickets were reasonable (by MSG standards) for an exciting matchup

Source: my dreadfully swarmed walk to/from my office that’s right by Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center

More likely than other cities tbh. Fans travel to the Cup games anyways

A fuck ton of people live in those cities, there’s enough fans of other teams. Case in point I’m a hawks fan and I live in LA.

There are so many transplants in those cities 

I think NYC would work. I know it would probably be MSG, but whenever I see a Celtics/Nets game at Barclay’s it feels like a home game for the Cs.

There are a lot of basketball fans in NYC that aren’t Knicks/Nets fans.

Definitely. Now they have a franchise in every sports (basketball soon). Seems like a big over reach.

That was my thought, places with history of teams or places close to teams that normally don’t get games. Like Seattle, New Jersey, Austin, Baltimore Etc

I think you can compare it to the poor attendance the raiders get tho…

Who wants to watch shai shoot ft in vegas

The “make sure it doesn’t suck ass for 10 years” part is way more key than you’re suggesting IMO.

They weren’t just a resounding success because they were well run. They have been successful, and run well, because the NHL ensured they had a good starting/jump-off point. They were given the most friendly rules for their expansion draft in American sports history, which the NHL backed away from literally a couple years later when they had their next expansion franchise. They were instantly competitive because of how the league did that expansion draft. That’s never been done in NBA history, and as mentioned, hasn’t been done in any other sport before or since. I’m not convinced the league wouldn’t do it, because of how important Vegas is to the whole show, but the Knights are 1 of 1 until another expansion happens where the league makes concessions for them to win at the expense of others.

The Aces have also been excellent, and UNLV isn’t known for their hockey teams. That said, the Golden Knights have also benefitted greatly by being first. I don’t think the NBA would have the same success as the Golden Knights did, since the Golden Knights were moving into a city that was otherwise devoid of big professional sports, whereas the NBA would be moving into a crowded market with NFL, MLB, and NHL teams already.

Las Vegas Aces well known basketball failure /s

Historically most expansion franchises suck for a while. If the local fan base will only support the team if they immediately win, that’s a very high bar to clear (and honestly trying to ensure that happens is unfair for the rest of the league).

If you want the team to do well, give it to an ownership group / fan base who knows basketball and has shown they love the game. Seattle for example would support the team regardless

The raiders are doing fine financially, when the team isn’t a dumpster fire. Their big issue is all those tickets are being bought by opposing fans, especially when they play Denver and KC who already had big followings in the area. Or national brands like GB, Pittsburgh, Dallas who have massive followings in every city.

Yeah Vegas has bigger problems than professional sports teams at this point 

Before OKC actually got a team they showed they could host one when the Hornets (Pelicans) needed a place after Katrina.

That being said, to suggest they wouldn’t get a team because the arena isn’t packed for the Cup is dumb. They’ve been a great Summer League host for years.

Other than bitter cynicism, why would you think the finals are going to Abu Dhabi when they already moved the semifinals to home arenas?

They’re generally at fieldhouses though so it’s small and loud and still is a good TV product.  No one judges if Saint Louis vs Stanford isn’t a packed house.

The NBA is trying to make this NBA cup a big deal, a half empty arena with quiet casuals makes the product look bad.