The NBA Cup could be leaving Las Vegas.
The league is strongly considering a different site for next season’s championship game, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports. NBA officials have been underwhelmed by the neutral-site approach, which they feel has lacked the energy and enthusiasm they hoped it would generate.
The league announced in September that this would be the last season that both the semifinals and championship game would be played at a neutral site. The eight games in Vegas across the last three seasons have mostly been played in front of less than capacity crowds. The atmosphere also hasn’t been the same as the home games played in the quarterfinals, Bontemps adds.
Other than the neutral site approach to the semis and finals, the league has largely accomplished the objectives that led to its creation. It has led to increased attention to the league during the early portion of the regular-season schedule and the players have largely embraced it.
The Knicks and Spurs will square off for the in-season tournament championship on Tuesday.
They should play in Mexico
If one of Silver’s objectives was to give fans one more thing that we don’t care about that was never asked for while diluting the quality of the product, then mission accomplished.
Thank you for saying this so eloquently. You are 100% correct
“If only our darling Thunder had played at home, the Spurs would have lost”
-The commish
Where do you get at that they would have wanted OKC to win or the league actually likes them. They have barely been on tv and usually a favorite gets plastered on tv. Wemby probably sells more jerseys than SGA.
This is so dumb. NBA Cup should not exist.
semifinals could be on home court of higher seed. Final should be rotated around, like Super Bowl or Champions League, All-Star games. LA, Houston, Chicago, New York, etc. I live in Houston, I’d be interested in watching Spurs/Knicks play at Toyota Center.
i like the idea of the semis and finals rotated around
Real problem solvers here …… remind me never to hire you for Anything lol.
Considering it’s the semis and Finals. You really do need a neutral site. Move it to a different city every year. Start with the big markets. There at least you will have real fans. You move it to different city every year like the Final Four.
Its two nights of games. You can also move it to around the world. Every year a different city. Europe, Asia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Puert Rico. This way the real NBA goes global two nights a year. The semis one night. The Finals the last night. A Thursday and Finals Sunday. Party all week …..
sounds good mate but, going international is unnecessary. thats a bridge too far. thats why they do those summer tours to appease those markets. You dont put high-end basketball on the other side of the earth. Who is watching NBA hoops stateside at 5am when they are playing the game in Tokyo at 7pm there? I wanna see my times, in my time zones. I do like the final four option. just no football stadiums allowed lol
plus. imagine the Knicks having a home game on Monday. Flying to Tokyo to play Thursday and Sunday, and then flying back to New York to play Wednesday. woof!
Travel in the NBA is not that hard. They have chartered flights. I’m not saying a 2-day rest. But you only need three to four days. The planes are actually pretty nice and you can relax, lean back and they fit all the players to where they can sleep
Jackie Moon’s Mega Bowl > Silver’s NBA Cup
I mean if we are gonna do nba cup
It should be in cities that don’t have teams that can host games for “fans”
But it should be regionally responsible
Like Lakers yeah I can see them playing a game in San Diego against whoever, probably a lot of Laker fans down there.
Houston, yeah Austin is probably fine for a game
And so on.
Finals should be held in Hawaii or a foreign site to help increase global interest.
Thats a good point. In big cities who don’t have the NBA. It’s only a two night affair.
There is only one place it could be: the Mecca of Basketball… MSG.
I know there are a lot of cup haters out there but I like it. Two years ago we saw Haliburton emerge as a super clutch troll. This year we saw that the spurs have a team that could rival the thunder in the coming years. Been fun imo.
It’s great the players don’t seem to mind the tournament, but it adds absolutely nothing from a fan perspective. And the courts are just an eye sore. I thought it’d be better than it’s been, but I’m sort of hoping they get rid of it in the next few years now.
I think I had lower expectations. This is basically what I thought it would be. A little extra something. Chance to showcase some young up-and-coming teams. Silver kept comparing it to European soccer. This is basically what cup games are in euro soccer. If you win great, but not the prize everyone is aiming for.
Agree on the courts. I think everyone is ready for those to go.
i love the courts. lol. the neon green in Minnesota was outstanding.
The simplest solution is the correct one. Let the team with the better record have home court. There should be 0 neutral site games in the NBA. That was never going to work, Silver should’ve known that.
Is this setting up for Saudi to host?
Just get rid of it, minimal impact. I honestly didn’t remember OKC played in the finals for it last year and that the Bucks beat them. The same Bucks that lost in round 1. It feels like a gimmick, and messes with scheduling compelling games early.
The other major sports in US don’t do this, MLB with more games only had the All Star gimmick. Soccer leagues may have the mid season championships but they are also ruthless and relegate teams. Maybe adopt that because do we really need Wizards, Jazz, Hornet, Pelican teams that just suck more times than they are good?