Will Pittsburgh ever get an NBA Team?
Pittsburgh has long been a big sports town, but could an NBA team survive in PIttsburgh?
https://www.wesa.fm/post/why-doesnt-pittsburgh-have-nba-team#stream/0
Pittsburgh Pipers ABA basketball team 1967-68
Pittsburgh is a big football town and it will always be. Hockey is a close second. Baseball has been in Pittsburgh for as long as anyone can remember. Could an NBA team survive in Pittsburgh?
The NBA only has thirty teams with fifteen teams in each conference. They could be looking to find two teams to have a perfect sixteen teams in each conference. Pittsburgh could be a good place to land, especially if they would want to expand the popularity of basketball.
Since the Steelers and Penguins dominate the landscape of fall/winter sports, it would be difficult for an NBA team to get attendance. Hockey used to not be as popular in Pittsburgh just how basketball is now currently. Then Mario Lemieux came to Pittsburgh and changed how the city viewed hockey. Now the Penguins have the highest TV ratings for NHL teams. The Steelers enjoy having the top number of super bowls (6) which they are tied with the Patriots. So people love what their teams are good at.
Since the PPG Paints arena is owned by the city, any team can play their as long as they sign a contract with the city to play in the arena. They could get people to come instead of the Penguins game if they share the arena with the Penguins. The NHL and the NBA will have to work on their scheduling together. This could fix the problem of conflicting with the Penguins game but not the Steelers game. Luckily, Steelers play only once a week, so this won’t be such a problem.
So could Pittsburgh have an NBA team? The short answer: unlikely. There is not enough interest in basketball to be able to have a team. Sure, there are some rec leagues in Pittsburgh, but most basketball towns have people playing pickup day in and day out.
Plus, there are many cities in line before Pittsburgh. Cincinnati, Ohio would be one of those cities because of the college basketball presence in the city. Many NBA fans are surprised that Cincinnati has not gotten a team yet. This is most likely because the team would have to compete with the other college teams in their city.
Pittsburgh used to have an ABA team called the Pittsburgh Condors also known as the Pittsburgh Pipers. They captured the first league title in ABA history. The Condors folded when they were not making enough money and the ABA canceled them. Which emphasizes the point that Pittsburgh is not a big market. They lasted between 1967-1968
The point still stands that Pittsburgh is a top candidate for a team and should be considered if the NBA ever has an expansion.
Lukas is a ninth-grader at NAI. He plays hockey for the Arctic Foxes and North Allegheny. He is a writer for the NAEye newspaper.
John Russell • Mar 24, 2022 at 3:21 pm
I attended 3 or 4 games in the Pipers only season. I was 10 yrs old. The interest in the team grew throughout the season, culminating with a sold out Civic Arena when the Pipers defeated New Orleans in game 7 to win the title. Connie Hawkins WAS Dr.. J,,,, before Julius Erving came along.. When they moved to Minnesota I was crestfallen….
Michael Rose • Apr 3, 2021 at 6:28 am
I read the other respondents thoughts with great interest. Most were from younger people who don’t know NBA history in terms of cities and team movements over the years. Here’s my thoughts…..1) several cities mentioned have already had NBA teams before, like Buffalo, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. Kansas City & Omaha shared the team now known as the Sacramento Kings. 2) In Pittsburgh the NBA is viewed as a “too black” league which in a city of questionable tolerance and very old demographics doesn’t work for many whites. 3) Pittsburgh’s population decline over the years killed high school basketball which is key to attracting interest and fans. The decline of Pitt basketball hasn’t helped either. 4) The NBA tends to locate teams in areas that are growing or stable. Not in areas with unfavorable demographics or in population decline. 5) I believe there is much more NBA interest in Pittsburgh than what’s reported but there are forces among media management, the old money establishment, and others who have conspired against the NBA for years. I have many other thoughts on this issue but those are some that are top of mind for now.
Christopher Hagee • Jan 11, 2021 at 4:39 pm
I’d like to see the 2nd most-populous city in my home state of Penna., Pgh. get an N.B.A. team, but it’s doubtful right now that the “Iron City” will get one, at least, in the near-to-forseeable future.
Lukas Bobak-Rouce • Jan 11, 2021 at 4:49 pm
I agree that it would be great to have 4 sports teams but it does not look like the NBA is looking to expand especially with the Covid situation.
Christopher Hagee • Jan 11, 2021 at 4:34 pm
I’d like to see the 2nd most-populous city in my home state of Penna., Pgh. get an N.B.A. team, but it’s doubtful right now that the “Iron City” will get one, at least, in the near-to-forseeBle future.
Noah Kearney • Dec 22, 2020 at 11:20 pm
This is a pretty bad article. You cited how Hockey’s fandom in Pittsburgh skyrocketed out of nowhere and then cited how… the same couldn’t happen for Basketball? You’re also missing a critical point that two teams in the same city IN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SPORTS are not competing with eachother. Anybody in Pittsburgh who is a Steelers fan, there’s a 90% chance they are a Penguins/Pirates fan as well. Attendance for neither squad would struggle. At all. And wouldn’t I be correct in saying Basketball has a much larger audience in general than hockey? If so, it should then have a very easy time snowballing an audience together. I don’t know if Pittsburgh should be a Seattle level priority, but you’re gonna put Cincy over them? Get outta here. Cincinnati would forget they existed the minute they stunk. Look at the Bengals for what that can do. Pittsburgh would fill stadiums even if they were only competing for draft lotteries. The only other cities I would put above Pittsburgh with a straight face are St. Louis or Kansas City (not both), Buffalo (right around Pittsburgh’s level), Tampa Bay and maybe Montréal or Ottawa.
Lukas Bobak-Rouce • Jan 4, 2021 at 8:37 am
Basketball is more popular across America is true but it is not in Pittsburgh. The Penguins usually have the highest ratings out of any NHL team. Seattle already had a team and they left. Cincinnati is a city that truly loves basketball. The reason Hockey skyrocketed was because of Mario Lemieux who is a generational talent. Unless Pittsburgh gets the next Lebron basketball will never overtake football or hockey. Your next point which they would not compete with each other is also false. Whenever there is a Steelers game and a Penguins game, more people watch the Steelers unless it is a playoff game for the Penguins. Even if it is a playoff game people usually watch football.
anonymous • Jan 15, 2020 at 7:47 pm
NO, NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One random article(while I really liked it) won’t change anything unforutunately