That might be how it goes, but I was also an Oregon State fan who said “fuck this” to all NCAA sports after the implosion of the Pac-12 that left us in the dust. Haven’t watched a game since. I’m pretty confident I can do the same with the NBA and the Blazers even though I live across the country from them now. They’re the team I grew up with, they were the only local team in any professional sport, and my last remaining team loyalty.

If Portland loses a team after Seattle did, the NBA is dead to me.

I was in a brewery near Seattle recently and they had flags hanging for the Seahawks, Mariners, Kraken, Sounders, Trailblazers and Storm.

I actually looked at the Blazers flag for a while and wondered to myself how long it would take them to swap it out for a Sonics flag if the expansion thing happens. I actually made a mental note to return to the brewery at some point in 2028.

Some Sonics fans became secondary Blazers fans. I definitely think there will be some fans that do this for love of the game. It’s more fun to root for a team that’s actually playing than just hate watching being bitter about losing the team, imo.

When Browns v1.0 announced they were leaving, there were fans converting to the Steelers to spite Modell.

Of course they flipped back once the deal happened.

I don’t think this is true, I have lots of friends in their 30s and 40s who became Blazer fans. There’s enough overlap in regards to Oregonians being Seahawks and Mariners fans that I think it isn’t too unrealistic.

I just want the NW basketball rivalry back again.

Probably not but I’m sure Seattle stuff would find its way to Portland just like the Seahawks fandom does, maybe more young fans but either way the nba won’t care that much

Will they be interested in a northern conversion?

Yep. While there are plenty of Portlander who follow the Seahawks, losing the Blazers will just result in a lot of people giving a giant fuck you to the NBA and never following basketball again. Sonics fans wouldn’t even blame us for it cause they’ve been there

Fight, and win

The loss last week really did them in

The dream of the 90’s is no longer alive and well

Dundon would put it in Cruces instead to save money

Yup. The city gave all our water and billions in potential tax revenue away to Facebook all for like 60 jobs. If an NBA team came knocking they might give away everything we own to them.

Make the Vipers an NBA team

Its Texas, their entire government is fucked.

Put it in Juarez and then we can have one Canadian and one Mexican team.

I feel like Columbus would get an expansion team over Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. Columbus & Pittsburgh are about 2ish hours from Cleveland, are roughly the same size, but Columbus is growing and could bring in Cincinnati (and maybe even some Pittsburgh fans as an added bonus).

Feel like St Louis won’t get a team. Has been in a constant state of population decline for 50 years now

Mexico City

I know it’s wishful thinking, but I wish we could add Montreal and Vancouver to that list

I’m born and raised in SE TX and believe me when I say… an NBA team in Galveston fkn TX would be so ridiculous and so out of place. It would actually be hilarious. The vast majority of people that reside in Galveston could not care less about most sports, much less an NBA franchise. Also the guy that owns the Rockets owns alot of stuff in Galveston so there’s no way he’d allow another team in his backyard.

The point is to funnel public money into the private ownings of billionaires.

Sometimes the player facilities aren’t up to snuff in some of these older arenas/stadiums. Like I remember how big of a deal it was for the Cubs to renovate the clubhouses in Wrigley a number of years ago; they added batting cages, more space, treatment facilities, tons of shit that’s pretty much necessary for convincing players that their comfort and performance is a priority for the team.

Not saying this is what’s necessarily going on in Portland, but if you’ve ever seen an older arena’s player amenities vs a new arena’s you can see why renovations on an otherwise fine facility might be a big deal.

Portland’s is a better experience than LA’s brand new Intuit Dome, needing each person to install an app (even if someone else bought the tickets) and troubleshoot entering the arena. And then getting face-tracked the whole time

Honestly it would be kind of un-Portland if the arena was some kind of crazy sports mecca

I will say it is on par with its mid 90s brethren (Crypto in LA, United Center in Chicago, TD Garden in Boston), but a clear step below the newer arenas (Chase, Intuit, Fiserv)…which is to be expected.

The City has identified about \(450 million of deferred maintenance costs. The big issue is Dundon hasn't said what he wants to spend \)600 million on. It’s very likely he didn’t think Oregon would be willing to spend money on the arena and now that they are he’s trying to blow up the negotiations a different way. The city is totally willing to spend the money if the city has control of it and has a guarantee there won’t be cost overruns.

But he wants all the profit from the arena which is the issue.

Sad but true.

Growing up in Vancouver WA, Portland traffic was a nightmare. My high school was right off I5 heading to the bridge from the north, and even at 6:45 in the morning there’d be traffic backing up. Now I hear it stretches all the way to Ridgefield some days. Not helped by the I5 bridge being a relic, but the shrinking freeway in Portland only adds to the trouble.

My mother splits work between there and Gresham: she generally just stops at Delta Park and takes Tri-Met in to town, much faster.

That’s kind of the problem imo. The waterfront is basically only one side of the river! Moda Center + Convention Center + Lloyd District should be interlaced with beautiful walkable waterfront stuff, but instead it’s a damn highway.

A shame.

I mean… the Rose Quarter is generally a mess of train tracks and freeways. I love Portland but… we put that arena in a terrible place if we wanted to build an entertainment district around it

Yeah man I have season tickets and I’ve had the same seats for 18 years lol I’d like to see some work done on those minimum.

I’m more referring to the issues with electrical/ HVAC/ plumbing and the loading dock being too small so certain acts can’t even perform here. Stuff is just old and needs to be fixed.

I think you guys agree, he is just saying you can still be a fan of the sport if you don’t have a local team is all. I don’t think he is saying that you *should* go root for another team if yours is ripped away

I am or was an Oakland A’s fan and this is where I’m at. I’m done with MLB because Fisher was a greedy, incompetent, trust fund asshole. I’ve been to hundreds of games in my life. MLB is dead to me.

The Blazers staying in Portland is the best case scenario for all parties involved but billionaires have cities by the balls and when they don’t get funding they leave. We see it all the time. I kinda disagree about the Research Triangle and Charlotte. Sure they’re 2.5 hours apart but the RT is one of the fastest growing areas in the US, he owns the Hurricanes, and is pitching for MLB to Raleigh. He obviously sees the huge payoff that bringing sports to the RT will do for him.

Louisville is a smaller market but Kentucky is a smaller state with a lot more vicinity between their cities. Hell, Cincy is like 1.5 hours away from Louisville so I’m sure that team could theoretically have control over the Kentucky and Cincy market similar to the Bengals control in the NFL.

He may be a tenet in a lot of different locations but it all depends on if those cities want to eventually fund a new arena or if the NHL teams want to do business and get a cut.

The Grizzlies may view Nashville as part of their market. Nashville is 34th and Memphis is 45th in metro size; seems like a bad plan to have teams essentially competing in these 2 cities.

Grew up in TN. Nashville and Memphis are worlds apart and share very little culturally or economically. Nashville is a rapidly growing super gentrified city with basically an ideal market of a lot of young high income people. It’s vibe is LA influencer dipped in a vat of country music. Memphis is like 2008 Detroit on the Mississippi. The Grizzlies wouldn’t like it but I see it as an ideal candidate for sports teams to move to, they supposedly have worked to get an MLB team recently. They would also greenlight basically any taxpayer funded stadium.

The other clear option is Tampa. Top 20 MSA population and thanks to the Bucs has clear evidence it’s a separate sports market than Miami.

STL does not have the corporate money to support an NBA team. I don’t this as a viable at all (nor frankly is there much local demand).

Indeed. The last I checked, \(120 million is less than the \)200 million they already needed to spend, seems like a no-brainer.