It's just to make a sale go by faster. As far as keeping it fair, just put incentives to the GM and coach based on success of some sort, then there are no conflicts of interest. I don't want to see the team move. And has there been any reports that Mexico City could/would support a franchise?
If I was taking the league to Mexico, I might put the first team in Monterrey. It's an affluent business town and it's a lot closer to the border (~150 miles instead of 700 miles). Mexico City is a lot bigger, but Monterrey is big enough to be an NBA city. And, they'd have the allegiance of all of Mexico anyway. But, then I don't think I'd consider a team in Mexico when they're in a war with the drug cartels.
And if I'm correct, sports league have been reluctant to put a team there because of legalized gambling.
I don't see any way in hell that the Hornets move to Seattle. An investor group might be found between all the Microsoft\Starbucks folks, but Key Arena won't fly as an NBA arena. They might get by with some retrofitting it, but I think a new arena would almost be mandatory. Right now, King County and Washington are big time flat broke, and the voters just turned down a slew of tax increases (a rarity up here), forcing a ton of cuts. I just can't see any way in hell that voters would approve a hundred million in conjunction with owner investment for a new arena. And even less a chance for a purely county\state funded effort. I imagine it's that way for quite a few other cities. Maybe in a few years once tax revenues go up...
Well I'm not so sure I believe the whole Steve Balmer will save the Sonics scheme. Putting a team in Seattle basically died when the Sonics left Seattle...
Sucks for New Orleans, but I can see a second successful franchise in the bay area, lots of silicon valley money, especially if they actually win.
Another team in california, wow it's getting crowded. Really think the Clippers should move out before, because if they don't then 1/6th of the league will be in California!!! How many teams do they need?
I believe it. On the Forbes top 50 teams, the Lakers are 49 and the Knicks are 50. The freakin Jacksonville Jaguars and Cincinnati Bengals are more valuable than the two most marketable NBA teams.
Yeah, it's very tough to turn a profit from a franchise, you have to be like donald Sterling and cut facilities and don't have any players to earn money from it.
Soccer is ultimately the passion of Mexicans, in the end. And really, if I was a NBA player, under no conditions would I play in Mexico City with the violence these days. Zero.
