A group of people want to know.
The Women’s National Basketball Association has been a hot commodity this summer with the addition of Caitlin Clark and there is a group of people in Pittsburgh wondering if they should pursue a WNBA franchise. The Sports and Exhibition Authority has approved the spending of around $90,000 to a consulting firm, CAA ICON, in an effort to try and figure out if Pittsburgh, a city that has not had a professional basketball franchise since June 13th, 1972 when the American Basketball Association’s Pittsburgh Condors franchise folded. The consulting firm will be scrutinizing the Pittsburgh market to see if the market is strong enough to go after a WNBA expansion team. There are two questions that need to be answered. What is the cost of operating a team in the city and what potential revenue streams are available.
There are problems with the Pittsburgh market. Pittsburgh is the 26th largest TV market nationally. Even though the Pittsburgh market is made up of Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland, there are no bigger secondary markets near Pittsburgh. The corporate money goes to the National Football League’s Steelers, the National Hockey League’s Penguins and Major League Baseball Pirates’ businesses. The University of Pittsburgh also shares in the corporate money in the market. Pittsburgh itself has about 303,000 people and the flight from the city seemingly has stopped. Some of the suburbs have picked up population but Pittsburgh is no longer the major market it was a century ago. When the National Basketball Association started as the Basketball Association of America, it had a team in Pittsburgh in 1946. The Pittsburgh Ironmen franchise lasted a year. The NBA has never returned to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh had an American Basketball League franchise in 1961 and 1962 and two American Basketball Association franchises in 1967-68 and again from 1969-72. Pittsburgh has not been viewed as a professional basketball market.
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Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins played for two Pittsburgh teams.
