It’s Time for a New Pro Basketball League

I think it’s about time for a new professional basketball league to compete with the NBA. Unlike the case with pro football and baseball, in which nearly all of the major markets have been tapped, there are plenty of unutilized markets for basketball. Below is a list of locations that I believe would make a new basketball league viable and competitive:

Pittsburgh
Montreal
Buffalo
New York City (could handle a second franchise as it does in baseball)
Baltimore
Norfolk, VA
Raleigh/Durham
Tampa/St. Petersburg
Jacksonville
Louisville
Nashville
Cincinnati
Columbus, OH
St. Louis
Kansas City
Omaha
Austin
Las Vegas
Tucson
Anaheim
San Jose
San Diego
Seattle (assuming the Supersonics move to Oklahoma City)
Vancouver

That would be 24 potential franchises in big cities from coast to coast. The league would not have to compete to with NBA salaries right away but could work up to it by starting out with salaries big enough to keep guys cut from NBA rosters from going to Europe to play. After a season or two and (hopefully) with a TV contract in place, they could start paying NBA salaries to one or two players per franchise and go from there.