Kansas City Sports: Kansas City And NBA Expansion

What Stands In The Way?

There is at least one major road block that stands not only in the way of Kansas City, but every city.  The NBA might simply not be interested in expanding.  More to the point, the NBA owners might have no interest in splitting their money with more teams.  After all, in business, everything comes down to the dollar.

The key here is that the NBA is a revenue-sharing league, much like the NFL.  Currently, the league is seeing increased profits split amongst 30 ownership groups.  Adding two more groups to the mix would complicate that formula.  There is no guarantee in a large enough increase in revenue to cover the smaller percentage each team gets.

This is why the popularity of the NBA in Kansas City is so important.  Now, one thing that may help KC’s cause here is that the St Louis market is also absent a team.  That could be a vital selling point as currently Missouri is open territory with two major cities.  The nearest teams are in Chicago and Oklahoma City, neither of which has a strong pull in Missouri.  That is the biggest advantage for Kansas City.