Leaving the world of college football behind for a moment, I found the story on ESPN.com about possible NBA contraction to save money. Something many Utahans would be concerned about. Would the Jazz be one of the teams that would get the axe? There are, after all, some good reasons to cut the Jazz. First, we are one of the smallest markets in all of professional sports. Second, we've had some well publicized stories about players not wishing to come here or get out of here. (Re: Carlos Boozer)
But the Jazz are also consistently profitable and are well supported in the community. Everyone around here knows how difficult tickets are to come by. The Jazz own their own arena and do not pay a lease. That Jazz are a middle of the road team in most valuable NBA franchises and would be sold for a lot of money should the Miller family decide to part with the team, provided they could find a buyer willing to keep the team in Salt Lake. (The Jazz are worth about 350 million, close to the median value of an NBA franchise.) Finally, even though Salt Lake is a small market, it is a good sports town. The Jazz are joined by Real Salt Lake, who are becoming another small-market success story. Also consider that if Salt Lake was a poor sports market, the PAC-10 would never have come calling for the Utes.
The NBA, if they have to contract, would likely go from 30 teams to 28 and cut two of the least popular and least profitable teams. Smaller markets and teams which are not well supported should be considered. Here is my short list.
1. Milwaukee Bucks. Wisconsin has been hit hard by the latest recession and has been loosing population. The Buck are in one of the smaller markets and are in the bottom third in attendance. They are the least valuable franchise in the league and would be the easiest to buy-out. They are also in an out-of-date, but not-so-old arena. Finally, Milwaukee is relatively close to Chicago and fans could be well served by the surging Bulls. The main reason to keep them is contraction would end 50 years of NBA history in Milwaukee.
2. Memphis Grizzlies. They are one of the newer franchises in the league and have been a consistent lottery team. They have only three playoff appearances in their 15-year history and have never won a playoff game. Their fans are losing interest in the team. They are third worst in home attendance as a percentage of available seats. They are the second least-valuable NBA franchise, according to Forbes. It could be an easy decision to let Memphis go.
3. New Orleans Hornets. The Hornets have been struggling at the gate since Hurricane Katrina, and would be the least missed of the cities sports franchises, if you use attendance as a guide. This is a surprise considering they have one of the premier players in the league even if he does not have the players around him to get deep into the playoffs. That may be a sign that this franchise can not succeed and the home fans sense it. Maybe the owners do not think they could make money if they brought in some front court talent. Seems NBA history in New Orleans is repeating itself. It's all adds to one of two conclusions, this franchise should go to a city where they can succeed or they should just go.
4. Minnesota Timberwolves. There are two stories to this franchise, and they both involve the name of Kevin Garnett. This franchise won with him and can not win without him. The fans are rewarding this success by staying home. As a result, you have one of the least valuable franchises in the league and an easy choice for NBA contraction. Minnesota sports fans who are tired of hearing all of this contraction talk, first with baseball and now with basketball, should respond and get to the game.
Of course, CBA time is not a good time to talk about expansion or contraction, and the Union will fight for every team in they league they can get, however. Also, if you goal is to reduce salaries, contraction may have no effect. From an economic standpoint, it may not have an effect. There will be less demand for players, but the demand for great players, as that demand is fueled by fans, will still be a strong.
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