Top 10 NBA Teams by Market Size
Size matters when it comes to live television viewing in North America. In the era of cord-cutting and the rise of streaming services, live sports like the NBA are a massive cash cow for traditional TV advertisers. This makes ranking NBA teams by market size a hugely important metric, as large market NBA teams ensure high viewership numbers and a good return on ad spend.
It’s not a surprise that the two largest American TV markets also have two basketball teams. New York City is the largest TV market, and the Big Apple is home to the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Los Angeles is the second largest TV market, and they have the L.A. Lakers and L.A. Clippers.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the top 10 NBA teams by market size
1. New York Knicks / Brooklyn Nets
Image credit: RarraRorro/Shutterstock
- Media Market: New York City-Newark, NJ-Stamford, CT
- TV Market Share: 7.6 million
- Population: 19.2 million
The metro region around New York City is comprised of the “Tri-State Area” that includes suburbs in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. With a population over 19 million, there’s multiple teams for every major sport.
The NBA market has the Knicks and Nets. The MLB has the New York Yankees and New York Mets. The NFL has the New York Giants and New York Jets. The NHL has three teams with the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and New Jersey Devils.
Even though the Nets have never won an NBA championship and the Knicks have not won a title in over 50 years, the two NBA franchises in Gotham are some of the most valuable NBA teams thanks to their juicy media TV market of nearly 7.6 million and arena locations in Midtown Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn, making them top of the NBA teams by market size rankings.
2. Los Angeles Lakers / Los Angeles Clippers
Image credit: Deo Gracia Cahyardi/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
- TV Market Share: 5.9 million
- Population: 12.8 million
The L.A. Lakers are the most popular sports team in Southern California. And when Hollywood stars want to catch a pro sports team, they’ll be spotted sitting courtside in celebrity row at a Lakers game. Only the Boston Celtics won more NBA titles than the Lakers, who have been a premier NBA franchise ever since Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in the late 1970s.
The media market in the Los Angeles area is gigantic with nearly 13 million residents and a TV market share that’s almost six million, which is why the City of Angels can sustain two NBA teams and why they are some of the richest NBA teams in the league.
The Clippers are the second team in L.A., and even though they’re not as popular as the Lakers, they’re still ranked #5 as the Top 5 Richest NBA Teams and worth over $4.65 billion.
The SoCal TV market is so huge that it could’ve supported three NBA teams. In the early 2010s, the Sacramento Kings were up for sale and one prospective buyer explored the possibility of relocating the Kings to Orange County, California where they would play their home games in Anaheim in the shows of Disneyland. When the Kings were eventually sold, the new owner vowed to keep the team in Sacramento.
3. Chicago Bulls
Image credit: Bambang/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL
- TV Market Share: 3.65 million
- Population: 9.2 million
Chicago is known as America’s “Second City” and the heart of the Midwest. Michael Jordan led the Bulls to six championships during the 1990s, and their dynasty imprinted Chicago as an elite basketball town in the NBA. Their sprawling population dips into southern Wisconsin and northeastern Indiana. The Bulls have a huge reach in the Midwest thanks to a TV market of 3.65 million viewers and a population of over 9.2 million.
4. Philadelphia 76ers
Image credit: Paul Charles/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Philadelphia, PA-Camden, NJ-Willington, DE
- TV Market Share: 3.17 million
- Population: 6.2 million
The City of Brotherly Love is the fourth-largest TV market and just a smidge ahead of Dallas-Fort Worth with 3.17 million viewers. By itself, Philadelphia only has 1.5 million residents, but a massive suburban sprawl surrounds the city extends into two neighboring states. The “mini-tri-state” area includes most of Delaware, southern New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania.
If you live in some parts of “South Jersey,” basketball fans get access to TV stations in both NYC and Philly which means they can watch the 76ers, Knicks, and Nets.
5. Dallas Mavericks
Image credit: GGuy/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
- TV Market Share: 3.13 million
- Population: 8.1 million
Everything is big in Texas, especially the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex that encompasses over eight million people. The Dallas Mavericks have the benefit of playing in the fifth-largest TV market and fourth-largest metro area in terms of population.
Football is a religion in Texas, so basketball is not the primary sport in the Lone Star state. The Mavs have stiff competition during football season particularly on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday evenings are designated for high school football statewide (that’s when the term “Friday Night Lights” was coined), and there’s no shortage of college football teams to fill up the TV schedule on Saturday. Of course, all eyes are on the Dallas Cowboys on Sundays. However, as soon as football season ends, the Mavs become the biggest game in town.
Pro hoops fans in the Big D had a lot to cheer about this past season. The Mavs won the Western Conference title and advanced to the 2024 NBA Finals, before their magical run ended when they lost to the Celtics in the championship.
6. Houston Rockets
Image credit: Malik Hussnain/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Houston-The Woodlands, TX
- TV Market Share: 2.77 million
- Population: 7.5 million
Like Dallas, basketball fans in Houston must compete with the insane popularity of football in Texas. The Rockets have struggled in recent years, but the franchise is highly valued thanks to their robust TV market and population of over 7.5 million and steadily growing.
Houston saw a small boost in population when displaced residents from New Orleans relocated to Houston after Hurricane Katrina. Right now, Houston’s TV market reaches nearly 2.8 million homes.
7. Atlanta Hawks
Image credit: RarraRorro/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Atlanta-Roswell-Sandy Springs, GA
- TV Market Share: 2.73 million
- Population: 6.3 million
The Atlanta Hawks are thankful that Atlanta is the largest TV market in the South, because they find themselves in steep competition with baseball and college football. The beloved and popular Atlanta Braves will always being their primary sports team in Atlanta, but the state of Georgia is also in the heart of college football country.
As a result, SEC games are the highest-rated sport on TV. Georgia recently won two college football championships, but the Hawks are lucky they have a sprawling population of over six million to support them.
8. Toronto Raptors
Image credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
- Media Market: Toronto-Hamilton-Niagara Falls, Canada
- TV Market Share: N/A
- Population: 6.2 million
When looking at metro population figures in the U.S. and Canada, Toronto is the third largest overall behind New York and L.A. with 3.2 million people. The greater Toronto area, which extends to the border at Niagara Falls, reaches over 6.2 million.
The Toronto Raptors are the only non-American NBA team. Vancouver used to have a franchise, but the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis in 2001. Even though ice hockey is the most-popular team sport in Canada, basketball fans love the Raptors.
Canadian markets are not tracked by Nielsen ratings, but we estimate that Toronto’s TV market is no lower than #8 on our list and could be as high as #7 when compared to their American counterparts.
9. Boston Celtics
Image credit:Shutterstock
- Media Market: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA
- TV Market Share: 2.6 million
- Population: 4.9 million
The Boston Celtics are the current NBA champion, and the franchise now holds the record with 18 titles. Boston is a frenetic sports town, and the greater New England area loves their Boston sports teams including the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, New England Patriots and the Celtics.
The Celtics’ regional reach encompasses all of New England which includes the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Connecticut.
The actual Boston metroplex is only 4.9 million, and their local TV market is only 2.6 million strong. However, New England has over 15 million people. That’s a lot of wicked-loyal fans.
10. Golden State Warriors
Image credit: TMP/Shutterstock
- Media Market: San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA
- TV Market Share: 2.58 million
- Population: 4.5 million
The Bay Area in Northern California is really a sprawling megalopolis linked by three diverse cities anchored by San Francisco with Oakland to the east and San Jose to the south. Silicon Valley is a part of the southern-most part of the Bay Area, so this media market has one of the highest concentrations of wealth and nerd power on the planet.
The Bay Area has roughly 4.5 million residents, but many of them caught basketball fever over the last decade and support the Golden State Warriors. Steph Curry, one of the best point guards of all time, led the Warriors to four championships since 2015, which helped boost the team’s and valuation as a franchise.
The Warriors used to play their games in Oakland but recently relocated to a new arena in downtown San Francisco. Despite the upswing in interest brought about by the Golden State Warriors’ success, they, for the moment still bring up the tail of our NBA teams by market size rankings.
Small Markets and Expansion
The New Orleans Pelicans play in the smallest American TV market in the NBA and they’re ranked #53 overall. Memphis, home of the Grizzlies, is the second-smallest TV market in the NBA and ranked #48.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg metro area is the largest metroplex in America that does not have an NBA team. They are ranked #12 overall, but there’s no indication there will land a future franchise with two teams already in Florida with the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.
The Seattle-Tacoma metroplex is the second largest TV market without an NBA team and ranked #13. Seattle, located in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, had the SuperSonics before the team was sold in 2006. They relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and rebranded as the Thunder.
One of the biggest open secrets in the NBA is that Seattle will be one of the cities that lands a new franchise team when the league eventually votes to expand from 30 to 32 teams. Las Vegas is the other city, but their TV market is only ranked #40.
The other largest American TV markets that do not have an NBA team include Raleigh-Durham at #22, St. Louis at #24, and Nashville at #26. Nashville has been on the shortlist of potential expansion teams, but they’ll have to wait another decade or longer before a new NBA team arrives in Music City, USA.
Montreal is the second-largest city in Canada and its population would be sixth overall if you combine the U.S. and Canada. Montreal could be considered for an NBA team if the league eventually grows to 36 teams by the late 2030s. So while these are the current NBA Teams by market size, this list looks set to shift in the near future.
Title Image Credit: Fukran/Shutterstock
