If Ohio got another D team, it could play in Columbus and Cincinnati and be called the Ohio Whatchamacallits or some such. I like Ohio Battle.
You could go as far as putting a team in the City of Sin and the City on Cin. Hell, call them the Wild Cards in Vegas and Rivercards in Cinci.
Or play in Louisville also and call them the Riverboats.
If you spread out the camps for a D-League team, I bet such a team would ease most of the traveling logistics of the D-League. If a team played in Cincinnati, Kansas City and Las Vegas, that is a pretty good spread.
Even if I stick with my regional theme travel team, something could take place along the Ohio River in Pittsburgh/Cincinnati/Lousville.
Missouri has two big towns.
New Mexico could play in a few sizable gyms.
Guess where the Boomtown Oilers would be? Did you guess Williston, ND?
North Dakota Oilers? Boomers?
Ice Hockey has gotten romantic with it's roots on water by being outside. Why not basketball?
The bush leagues aren't going to walk on water all of the sudden in the American hearts but what about the minds? A great vehicle for fresh air could be minor league basketball.
During the brunt of the season (Nov - Apr), aka when it's cold as hell here or in the likes of Cincinnati, you could play in the cozy confines of the regions of Los Angeles and Miami. Or Hildago in Texas (home of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers). A street game in Monterrey Mexico would be neat.
Summer action would be limitless as to where outdoors. Basketball could use some more live exposure at the pro level in TV markets that aren't currently served by the NBA.
Exposing the game more to places like Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Columbus, Albuquerque, Birmingham, Nashville, Richmond, and Charleston (WV and SC) would only help basketball dollars. Some squaring off in Puerto Rico would be nice as well as an occasional Anchorage and Honolulu showdown. When chatting about this we're going for some television money more than crowd dollars. Let's serve basketball fiends in the season of baseball and soccer domination.
Regional touts, at least in name (claiming a larger geographic swath to represent), could help the Association study its claim. Absorb the next struggling franchise attachments to this idea. Fill the next four voids with this idea with a North, South, East, West construct to toe tap new midwest markets and unrepresented places like Albuquerque or Santa Fe. The New Mexico Thunderbirds played their Albuquerque Turkey ball camped in one spot. Lump them in with Las Vegas and coin them as the Western Tumbleweeds and they may not only survive, but they may thrive. West Virginia could name a team "Appalachia" for a bigger fan base.
How many combinations of cities served by one team could you come up with using an NBA, D-League and U.S. Map?
Click: NBA D-League and the Expansion of Basketball and Big Times
See more expansion, co-location and relocation talk for football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer on my blog http://prosportsexpansion.blogspot.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstorm_%28sports%29
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