The NBA in Seattle project moves along, and it seems the most important thing is to get support from the current owners for a team in the city. In general NBA owners will oppose plans for a team moving to a new city because of the bad public relations, until they find out that the team will probably be more profitable at the new spot, at which point they sign off.
Mark Cuban seems to be on board with a new team in Seattle, even if it means moving them out of an unprofitable area. Ken Berger of CBS Sports has more.
Mark Cuban always holds court with the media when his Mavericks make their annual visit to Madison Square Garden. On Sunday, he said he'd support Seattle's efforts to return to the NBA.
"As long as it’s not an expansion team, yes," Cuban said. "... I voted against the move because I thought it was wrong to leave Seattle. I’d be all for a team going back to Seattle. But it would have to be a team that moves. I’d be against any type of expansion."
Plans for a $490 million arena aimed at attracting an NBA and NHL team to Seattle were unveiled this week, with a $290 million commitment from investors led by Seattle native and hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen. The balance of the funds would come from tax revenues generated by the building and rent paid by the teams, according to the plan.
The most interesting thing here is how reticent Cuban is to Seattle getting an expansion team. I'm guessing he doesn't want to see more expansion, which really caused a lot of flux for the NBA in previous seasons. Expansion also causes more issues, more imbalances, and potential cutbacks in a profitable product. The NBA seems fine the way it is, why ruin it and put in more teams?