'Not a list we want to be on:' Amid OKC arena debate, which cities have lost an NBA team?
We’ve seen plenty of coaches go into politics. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt is a politician who sounded like a coach with his us-against-the-world, no-one-believes-in-us speech at Scissortail Park a few weeks ago to tip-off the campaign for a new NBA arena in downtown Oklahoma City.
Sometimes that’s what it takes to rally the troops, or in this case, the residents of Oklahoma City to vote yes on Dec. 12 to approve a $900 million arena that the Thunder would pledge to play in for 25 years.
“Leadership is about telling you the truth, and sometimes that’s a thankless task,” Holt said to a few hundred supporters. “And the truth of the matter is, no one thinks we should have this team, except for the people in this city, the people on this team and the people I’m looking at right now. It is Oklahoma City vs. the American Sports world.”
Holt cited his go-to stats, that Oklahoma City is the 42nd-largest market in the U.S. playing in a 30-team league. That there are 18 markets bigger than Oklahoma City without an NBA team. That Oklahoma City is the third-smallest market in the NBA.
“When our team walks on a court with the Lakers and the Knicks, they don’t spot the Thunder 10 points to start the game because they come from a small market,” Holt said. “And it’s just as competitive off the court as well.”
“Let me read you a sobering list,” said Holt, rattling off cities big and small.
Anderson, Indiana. Baltimore and Buffalo. Pittsburgh and Providence. Sheboygan, Wisconsin (“it’s fun to say Sheboygan,” Holt added). St. Louis. Waterloo, Iowa. Fort Wayne, Indiana. Rochester and Syracuse, New York. San Diego, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, Vancouver and Seattle.
“That’s the list of cities that used to have an NBA team,” Holt said. “There’s some real impressive cities on that list — cities that are a lot bigger than us, and some cities that are a lot smaller than us. In different ways, they provide a cautionary tale. That’s not a list we want to be on.”
Wait, you didn’t know Anderson, Indiana, used to have an NBA team?
Me neither. And apologies to the fine people of Anderson, all 55,000 of them, but I didn’t know Anderson, Indiana, was a thing until Holt’s speech.
With talks of a new Oklahoma City arena ongoing, and a vote upcoming, let’s take a look back at the cities Holt mentioned, and how they lost their NBA teams.
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*Pittsburgh Ironmen (1946-47)
The NBA wasn’t actually the NBA until the 1949-50 season, but some date the launch back to the 1946-47 season — the first year of the Basketball Association of America, which would later become the NBA.
Pittsburgh lasted all of one season in the BAA. The Ironmen went 15-45.
*Providence Steamrollers (1946-49)
The Steamrollers were steamrolled in the 1947-48 season, going 6-42.
In 1948-49, 45-year-old Steamrollers coach Nat Hickey checked himself into a game. And never did the NBA return to Providence.
Anderson (Ind.) Packers (1949-50)
The Anderson Packers, founded by brothers who owned a meat packing company, went 37-27 in the inaugural NBA season. They advanced to the NBA semifinals, where they lost to George Mikan’s Minneapolis Lakers.
After joining the NBA from the National Basketball League (NBL), the Packers left the NBA after one season to join the National Professional Basketball League (NBPL).
It turned out that Anderson, Indiana, with a present-day population of 55,000, wasn’t a big enough market for the NBA.
Sheboygan (Wis.) (1949-50)
Sheboygan, like Anderson, lasted just one NBA season before being vanquished to the NBPL.
Sheboygan is the same size as Enid.
Waterloo (Iowa) Hawks (1949-50)
A founding member, albeit another short-lived one, of the NBA. Waterloo is the only Iowa city to ever have a professional big-four sports franchise.
Baltimore Bullets (1949-54)
The Bullets never had a winning season in their brief, six-season NBA tenure.
The Bullets played at Baltimore Coliseum, which had previously been a roller skating rink.
The team ran out of money and folded on Thanksgiving Day 1954, and Baltimore hasn’t had an NBA team since.
Fort Wayne (Ind.) Pistons (1949-57)
Owner Fred Zollner played a key role in the formation of the NBA.
Zollner’s pistons manufacturing company was based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but the league was heading toward larger markets. So in 1957, the Pistons moved 160 miles northeast to Detroit.
Rochester (N.Y.) Royals (1947-57)
The Royals won the second-ever NBA championship in 1950-51, beating the New York Knicks four games to three.
Eventually, the NBA pressured the Royals to move their franchise to a larger city. Cincinnati would become their new home.
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Syracuse Nationals (1949-53)
The 1949-50 Syracuse Nationals lost to the Minneapolis Lakers in the first-ever NBA Finals.
Syracuse had a winning record in 10 of its 14 NBA seasons, including an NBA championship campaign in 1954-55. The Nationals were led by hall of famer Dolph Schayes.
Syracuse hung on for as long as it could before the franchise was pulled to a larger market in Philadelphia, which needed an NBA team following the Warriors’ westward departure.
St. Louis Hawks (1955-68)
The Hawks relocated from Milwaukee to St. Louis in 1955 before moving again in 1968 to Atlanta, where they remain.
The Hawks were NBA champions in St. Louis, beating the Boston Celtics in the 1957-58 NBA Finals. St. Louis made the NBA Finals in four of their first six years in St. Louis.
Hawks hall of famer Bob Pettit played all but his rookie season in St. Louis.
The Hawks played most of their home games at Kiel Auditorium, which was small and outdated by the late 60s. Hawks owner Ben Kerner and the city of St. Louis didn’t agree to terms on a new arena, which led Kerner to sell the team to an Atlanta real estate developer.
Cincinnati Royals (1957-72)
Oscar Robertson was an All-Star in all 10 of his seasons in Cincinnati before he was traded to Milwaukee in 1970.
When the Royals started to play some of their home games in Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus, support in Cincinnati began to waver.
The Royals relocated to Kansas City in 1972 and changed their name to the Kings to avoid confusion with Kansas City’s baseball Royals.
Buffalo Braves (1970-78)
Buffalo was one of three expansion franchises — along with the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers — that joined the NBA prior to the 1970-71 season.
While Portland and Cleveland still have their teams, the Braves didn’t last long in Buffalo. Why? An arena dispute.
The Braves shared Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, known as The Aud, with the NHL’s Sabres and Canisius College. The Braves had the third pick of dates to schedule their home games, which made for an untenable situation.
The franchise relocated to San Diego after it was sold in 1978. The Braves were renamed the Clippers.
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Kansas City-Omaha Kings (1972-85)
The Kings split their home games between Kansas City and Omaha for the first three seasons before dropping Omaha from their name. However, the Kings still continued to play some games in Omaha.
In Kansas City, the Kings were overshadowed by college basketball. The lack of support led to the franchise being sold to California ownership group who moved the Kings to Sacramento.
San Diego Clippers (1978-84)
From snowy Buffalo to sunny San Diego … but not for long.
The disgraced Donald Sterling bought the Clippers and moved them, without the NBA’s permission, to Los Angeles.
Vancouver Grizzlies (1995-2001)
The NBA expanded into Canada in 1995 with the addition of the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. Things didn’t work out in Vancouver.
The Grizzlies were awful, never winning more than 23 games in a season, and fan indifference started to set in. The cord was pulled and the Grizzlies headed to Memphis.
Seattle SuperSonics (1967-08)
Seattle was home to an NBA team for longer than any city on this list.
Of course you know how the SuperSonics’ reign ended. There wasn’t support to publicly fund a new arena, and Oklahoman Clay Bennett bought the franchise and moved it to Oklahoma City, where another arena debate is ongoing.
*—Folded before first NBA season (1949-50)
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Amid OKC Thunder arena debate, which cities have lost an NBA team?
