Small Market teams exist in every professional sport league.<\/p>\n
Despite there being 32 NFL teams, 30 NBA teams, 30 MLB teams and 32 NHL teams, let\u2019s be honest, not all of them are created equal.<\/p>\n
Some teams, and that teams history and location instantly make them more valuable to certain fans, sponsors, media and athletes themselves.<\/p>\n
Teams that cater to more people due to the cities population, cover more ground through multiple media outlets and have more of a public reputation for the casual fan, largely find it easier to have more success or at least have more recognition.<\/p>\n
Think of it from a comparative standpoint.<\/p>\n
The New York Yankees? Big Market<\/p>\n
The Milwaukee Brewers? Small Market<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Lakers? Big Market.<\/p>\n
The New Orleans Pelicans? Small.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Eagles? Big.<\/p>\n
The Jacksonville Jaguars? Small.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that small market teams cant compete.<\/p>\n
The NFL is especially balanced at having small market teams be competitive, even dominant at times, like the Kansas City Chiefs or the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n
Big market teams themselves aren\u2019t immune to being bad either with franchises like the New York Jets or Los Angeles Clippers being mediocre or worse for years upon years.<\/p>\n
So although being a small market team doesn\u2019t make you incapable of winning championships or being among the best in the league on a consistent basis, it does factor into the perception of an organization.<\/p>\n
For example one of the smallest market teams in all of pro sports, is the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n
Utah finished with the worst record in the NBA this year and have one of the best opportunities to walk away with the #1 overall pick in the upcoming draft.<\/p>\n
Yet many are speculating that the NBA themselves potentially wouldn\u2019t want the best selection in the draft going to a team based in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n
The notion has no legs to stand on and is 100 percent in conspiracy theory territory, but when players such as LeBron James hint at the possibility you could imagine it spreads like wild fire.<\/p>\n
This what James had to say during a recent March interview:<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the ball drop, the lottery drop, Cleveland got the #1 pick? I just don\u2019t think that, what a coincidence. Let\u2019s keep LeBron home. Patrick Ewing to the Knicks, Derrick Rose to the Bulls, I understand the assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even the biggest name in hoops since 2003 has a small inkling the NBA sets up certain scenarios for draft day.<\/p>\n
The thought even reared it\u2019s ugly head again yesterday when Ryan Smith, owner of the Jazz, was on the Pat McAfee show (the very same show LeBron made his hints about) on ESPN, discussing the rebranding of his NHL team, the Utah Mammoth.<\/p>\n
Live from the Jazz practice facility the conversation shifted to the Jazz and the lottery that takes place mere days from now.<\/p>\n
Smith was asked if it \u201ccreeps into\u201d his head at all that the NBA could make the lottery less favorable to Utah as a small market team.<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s response wasn\u2019t a direct answer to the question, in fact he didn\u2019t address it all, but rather was a complete dismissal of the notion that Utah is a small market.<\/p>\n
Citing the economy, the college scene and the airport among other things, Smith states that Utah has \u201cnothing in common with small markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
In fact, Smith postures that Utah does not have a small market problem, they have a \u201cbranding\u201d problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith isn\u2019t wrong to highlight Utah\u2019s growth, it\u2019s apparent and it\u2019s only getting more impressive by the day.<\/p>\n
But is the state\u2019s gains enough to bump the Jazz themselves a tier above franchises like Indiana, Charlotte, San Antonio or Oklahoma City?<\/p>\n
Smith reiterated today that lumping things into big and small market categories is an old fashioned way of thinking, making it known that \u201cThere\u2019s nothing small market about Utah today.\u201d<\/p>\n
You have to respect the passion to reshape people\u2019s understandings of Utah and the power behind it.<\/p>\n
Even with his points valid and his logic sound, how many people will actually ever submit to the idea that Utah should be punching with the Miami\u2019s or Phoenix\u2019s or Houston\u2019s of the world, let alone the LA\u2019s and New York’s<\/p>\n
I wouldn’t hold my breath.<\/p>\n
Listen, I could care less if the Jazz or Mammoth or deemed as a big or small market, I just want them to win and do so at a rapid rate.<\/p>\n
If bucking the trend of zero championships has to include becoming a \u201cbig market\u201d team then so be it.<\/p>\n
Parade and push Ryan\u2019s information every chance you get it.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s solid, it\u2019s sound, it\u2019s fun to think about.<\/p>\n
But is it necessary?<\/p>\n
Therein lies the question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Small Market teams exist in every professional sport league. Despite there being 32 NFL teams, 30 NBA teams,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3785],"tags":[1386,7,423,6,422,427,3972],"class_list":{"0":"post-22364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-utah-jazz","8":"tag-articles","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-jazz","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-utah","13":"tag-utah-jazz","14":"tag-utahjazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114480867416564280","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}