Barnes: Pittsburgh can support an NBA team

It might only be the preseason with two weeks remaining before the start of the regular season, but I think it’s close enough that I can start writing about the National Basketball Association in my weekly column.

With the NHL season currently on hold, there’s no better replacement than NBA basketball until hockey returns.

City of Pittsburgh, hear what I say: Pittsburgh should have an NBA basketball franchise.

Call me crazy — you wouldn’t be the first — but I think Pittsburgh would be a great city for the NBA to move a franchise from somewhere like New Orleans or Charlotte where the teams are not only losing, but also hemorrhaging money.

The venue for a team is already in place, with the recently opened Consol Energy Center being one of the nation’s premier arenas. And before you ask about how the basketball team would share space with the Pens, bear in mind that the Staples Center hosts the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers and Kings — sometimes on the same day — and has absolutely no problems doing so.

But first, since fiscal issues seem to be the topic at hand, the primary reason the NBA should look into moving a franchise to Pittsburgh is the single fact that all of Pittsburgh’s professional sports teams do very well financially. This success is a testament to the Pittsburgh fan base.

Everyone knows that the Steelers are one of the league’s most valuable franchises. In September, Forbes Magazine listed the Steelers’ value at $1.1 billion with a revenue of $266 million last year.

And the Pirates, who recently completed their 20th consecutive losing season, still manage to turn profit and draw crowds; more than 2 million people attended Pirates games this year. Forbes lists the Buccos’ value at $336 million as of March of this year and reports the Pirates’ value as having increased by 11 percent since its last assessment.

The Penguins in the Consol Energy Center serve as the most comparable example of what a Pittsburgh NBA team might look like. With the NHL’s recent resurgence, both the NHL and NBA are nearly identical on monetary and attendance levels.

According to Forbes, the average NBA team is valued at $393 million, whereas the average NHL team at $240 million. But the average value of NHL teams increased by more than 5 percent over the past two seasons, and the NBA’s high mark results from outliers such as the Los Angeles Lakers (valued at $900 million) and New York Knicks ($780 million).

Fan wise, most NHL and NBA franchises attract between 16,000 and 18,000 fans attending home games on average, with a number of teams in each league topping the 20,000 attendance mark.

Television, an additional driving force behind sports economics, makes Pittsburgh a viable option for an NBA franchise. The market share is large enough, guaranteeing profits from the available television exposure.

According to Nielsen television data from Sept. 22 of this year, the Pittsburgh sports market reaches 1,165,740 homes, or 1.021 percent of all homes with a television in the United States. That number makes the Pittsburgh market larger than those of 11 of the 30 cities currently supporting NBA teams, including New Orleans, Memphis and Indianapolis.

Recently, the Los Angeles Lakers signed a 15-year deal with Time Warner Cable that will turn out to be worth roughly $1.8 million over the period of the contract. Now I’m not saying an arrangement of this magnitude will happen in Pittsburgh, because it won’t, given that LA’s TV market share contains more than 5 million homes. But the potential to make money from television coverage in Pittsburgh is certainly present.

Aside from the potential financial benefits, the most compelling reason I feel an NBA team would succeed in Pittsburgh is the undeniable presence of its fan base. Basketball is becoming more popular in Pittsburgh with the recent rise of the Pitt Panthers, and games at the Petersen Events Center sell out consistently.

Plus, we all hear about how the Pittsburgh fan base is one of the best in sports, and that is evident not only in the Steeler Nation and followers of the Penguins, but also in support for the Pirates, whose fans continue to hold on to hope for the Buccos despite 20 years of anguish.

If an NBA franchise were to come to Pittsburgh and, in its first season here, win a couple playoff games, that would go a very long way toward ensuring sustainability of the team for years to come.

There it is, Pittsburgh. I know a lot of arguments against the NBA claim that basketball “isn’t physical enough” and “nobody plays defense,” but give it a chance. I gave the NHL a chance last year when the NBA had its lockout.

So return the favor, please.

Email Nate at njb32@pitt.edu.