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Showdown at the Austin City Limits
The Austin market will also be tough, although the Greater Austin Sports Authority is confident that the state capital will make great home for the new NBDL team.
“I think having them play in a downtown venue (the Austin Convention Center) is very exciting, and they should be successful,” stated Executive Director Cynthia Darwin, who cited phenomenal growth in the area’s entertainment district.
Partying professionals and college coeds do not always equate to big ticket sales for a pro team nearby. The University of Texas has a basketball program. They've politely ignored the Central Hockey League's Austin Ice Bats, who until recently played in a converted cow barn miles outside of town. The school sees basketball as a developing program. They may not cotton to interlopers poaching fans from the younger members of the herd.
Backin Basketball in Brahmatown
The Fort Worth market is potentially the best. The far away sister city of Dallas, the forty to sixty minutes of freeway time to games can start to look less appealing when basketball is fifteen minutes away at home.
The NBDL team will likely be competing with the Mavs and the CHL Fort Worth Brahmas, who have sold more than $2 million in season tickets in recent years and have a very loyal following.
Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief hailed the announcement of the new team as a “slam dunk” for his city.
The team will play at the Fort Worth Convention Center, and anticipates drawing around 4,000 fans in their first year. It may get easier if gasoline prices stay at record highs.
The Fort Worth franchise has already named area resident Todd Spear as team president.
In theory, the NBDL team would make a perfect affiliate for the Dallas Mavericks and will serve as a barometer of success as the D-league makes a transformation from smaller markets to bigger metropolitan areas.
"That is a distinct market and it is close to Dallas," Stern said. "We think that some of our large city markets may ultimately decide that the good place for minor league basketball would be in the cities itself. Cities like New York, like Philadelphia, like Detroit, like Chicago, like L.A., that have NBA teams, and sizeable basketball-loving urban markets."
Tussles in Tulsa?
Tulsa, perhaps the perfect epitome of a minor league city, is already home to three pro teams; the Drillers of the AA-baseball Texas League, the Oilers of the Central Hockey League and the Talons of arenafootball2.
While other professional sports have found a way to prosper in Oklahoma’s second-largest city, Tulsa has not been home to professional basketball since the CBA's FastBreakers/Zone closed up shop in 1992.
The new team is scheduled to play its first year at the Expo Square Pavilion and is expected to draw well, although they may have some off-the-court hoop competition from the University of Tulsa’s Golden Hurricane.
