The Orlando Magic have keyed in on two Central Florida locations for their new Florida-based D-League franchise among others. Both the ESPN Wide World of Sports and Kissimmee Silver Spurs Arena have put in bids to host the team and are among the finalists for the new D-League franchise, Alex Martins told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel.
The team is also looking at Jacksonville’s Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena and Lakeland’s Lakeland Center as potential sites for the team.
The Orlando Magic have sought a D-League team closer to Orlando to make it easier to send players back and forth. Their current D-League affiliate is located in Erie, Pa. The D-League has been hesitant to expand to the Southeast with no other team located there. However, the Charlotte Hornets will soon have an affiliate in Greensboro, N.C., providing a team with some geographic proximity. Many teams throughout the NBA are looking for more direct one-to-one affiliations. The Magic have been affiliated with the Bayhawks for the last two years.
For these two sites in Central Florida, it brings up an interesting proposition.
Many of the Orlando Magic’s fans are located in and around Orlando, but mostly to the north side of the city and Seminole County. As the team was deciding where to build its new arena, many believed an International Drive location would make it hard for a good portion of the fan base to travel from Seminole County to reach an arena in south Orlando.
The idea though to put an arena in the International Drive area would be to attract more tourists and have a steady stream of potential visitors and fans to the arena. The team obviously opted — probably correctly — to keep the arena more centrally located in Downtown Orlando.
But having a team at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports at Disney does revisit that proposition. The team could rely heavily on tourism to fill seats inside a small venue like the HP Field House. Of course, that has not helped the Atlanta Braves with their attendance for spring training.
Silver Spurs Arena is also an interesting venue. It previously hosted the Florida Seals hockey team, but that franchise failed for other reasons. The Magic’s D-League team would not have to put down new ice for every home game either.
The Magic certainly have a few options in the Central Florida area to consider. But neither may ultimately be the best option. With the Magic in town, there is plenty of possibility for the fans that attend D-League games at Disney and Kissimmee to just truck down to Orlando and see a NBA game. It may not be the most sustainable model.
There are only three other D-League teams in virtually the same market as their parent club. The Los Angeles D-Fenders play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility and the Toronto 905 and Westchester Knicks play in suburbs to NBA cities.
It will be interesting to see where the Magic ultimately decide to plant their D-League flag for the 2017-18 season. It certainly seems like Orlando and Central Florida could be in for another basketball franchise.
