The fine folks who run the city of Louisville, Kentucky are spending a good chunk of change on exploring the possibility of adding a NBA franchise to that town. This part of the country is a Mecca for college basketball, but has little to offer folks in the way of pro sports. Sure Louisville is the home of the Kentucky Derby, and NASCAR will stage an annual Sprint Cup race in that region starting in 2011, but for the most part the people there do not have much to choose from in the way of pro sports.
That certainly makes Louisville an attractive option for the NBA. The NBA has done well in Oklahoma City, yet another small market virtually devoid of pro sports. In this day and age sports leagues have to be very creative on where the locate their teams. The UFL has proven that some small markets have potential and the NBA may be well served to start relocating some teams into untapped pro sports markets.
The folks in Louisville claim to have a billionaire owner ready to go and have spent somewhere around 65k exploring this idea. They also appear ready to spend another 22k to move this idea forward. Since the New Orleans Hornets are for sale, and are technically down the road a ways, a rumor like this could certainly gain some traction.
The main problem with that is Louisville is a weak TV market. It is just the 50th largest TV market in the country which is actually larger than New Orleans at 53, but smaller than Oklahoma City at 45. Right now TV rules all, but a NBA team in Louisville with no competition may actually be a very good idea.
