By james art After trying and partially failing to create two Canadian teams, including one in Vancouver, the NBA could try again by adding another team. This time in Montreal. Montreal’s metro population of 4.5 million is actually larger than Seattle’s and comparable in population to other NBA cities like Boston and Phoenix. In fact, it ranks as the 20th largest metro population in all of North America, including Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
Since the Toronto Raptors are very popular, the NBA should consider further expansion into Canada. Montreal is far enough away from Toronto for new expansion there to have its own fan base – a big one at that.
The NBA might prefer to bring back the Seattle Supersonics given how popular they were during their run and the name recognition. This is in addition to the potential revenue there, with many large companies such as Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft headquartered there.
That’s all well and good, but Montreal would be a great backup option for Seattle, especially with the dramatic influx of Canadian players into the NBA. Expanding their reach could eventually lead to more Canadian talent, as well as another reason for fans north of the border to follow the NBA.