The recent relocation of the (no longer) St. Louis Rams devastated fans in the area like myself. We are now down to only two professional sports teams in the area in the St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues. The MLS also plans to expand and St. Louis could find themselves with an MLS team here in the next couple years. A private group recently revealed a potential stadium plan for an MLS team with the stadium being directly south of Union Station in the downtown area.
MLS Stadium renderings via Fox 2 News.
So sports fanatics have that to look forward to in the future. But here’s a thought, maybe the NBA could return to St. Louis. There’s plenty of basketball fans in St. Louis and attendance would be no issue. Despite no true big time college or professional basketball teams in St. Louis (other than the SLU Billikens), St. Louis’ basketball culture flourishes in this non-basketball town. Maybe Stan Kroenke could make it up to us and move his Denver Nuggets, who rank last in the NBA this season in attendance, and move them to St. Louis.
There is a small history of professional basketball in St. Louis. The first professional team in STL were called the St. Louis Bombers. They were a team in the BAA (Basketball Association of America) from 1946-1948 and then the BLL merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949 to become the National Basketball Association (NBA). However, after the 1950 season, the Bombers along with five other teams dropped out of the NBA.
St. Louis Bombers logo.
St. Louis wouldn’t be without an NBA team for long though, as the then Milwaukee Hawks, moved to St. Louis and became the St. Louis Hawks in 1955. With the second pick in the 1956 NBA Draft, the St. Louis Hawks drafted future NBA Legend Bill Russell with the second overall pick. In 1958, the Hawks reached the NBA Finals to face off against the Boston Celtics and the legendary Bob Pettit scored 50 points in game 6, to give the Hawks the 4-2 series win and their first and only NBA Championship to this day. The Hawks would stay in St. Louis from 1955-1968, when they moved to Atlanta, Georgia; which is where they are present day. In their time in St. Louis, the Hawks won one NBA Championship four conference championships. They lost to the Boston Celtics in each of their three NBA Finals losses.
A newspaper clipping after Game 6 of the 1958 NBA Finals, as the Hawks won the championship.
After the Hawks left town, St. Louis would get a crack at one more professional basketball team; the Spirits of St. Louis. The team was apart of the ABA (American Basketball Association) from 1974-1976 (two seasons). Fans were able to witness the greatness of Moses Malone and other players such as Maurice Lucas, Don Chaney, M.L. Carr, Ron Boone, and the colorful personality of Marvin Barnes. The Spirits made the playoffs in their first year in St. Louis but failed in the second year. After the 1976 season, the ABA was at a near financial collapse and sought a merger with the NBA. The NBA only decided to accept four teams from the ABA; which would be the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers, and Spurs.
ABA Basketball: Spirits of St. Louis Marvin Barnes (24) in action vs Kentucky Colonels at Riverfront Coliseum.
(Photo by Manny Millan /Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)
Over the last decade or so, St. Louis has seen it’s share of basketball action, primarily at the collegiate level. St. Louis was the host of the 2005 NCAA Men’s Division One Basketball Final Four, an event which saw one-seed North Carolina take down fellow one-seed Illinois 75-70. All three games of the Final Four were played at the Edward Jones Dome. The combined attendance for the three games was 689,317.
2005 Final Four logo
The Edward Jones Dome during one of the Final Four games in 2005.
The home of the Blues, the Scottrade Center also plays host to the Braggin’ Rights basketball game between the University of Missouri and University of Illinois every winter and the turnout for that is always great. It has been played at Scottrade Center every year since 1994.
Braggin’ Rights logo
If an NBA team were to come to St. Louis, they could play at either the Scottrade Center or the Edward Jones Dome. The Dome seems more logical because with no football team playing their anymore, not much will be going on in the dome.
Right now, it’s highly unlikely that St. Louis gets an NBA team anytime soon. It’s a cool thought, and I’m sure the people of St. Louis would be ecstatic to get an NBA team. I myself am not even a big basketball fan, but I would surely buy tickets, merchandise, etc. and would definitely root for the team if St. Louis got one. But if you’re hopeful for a team to come here in the distant future, don’t get your hopes up too high.
