I know Virginia Beach has a sprawling metro area of 7 cities but it still does not compare to the population metro of other major metro areas.

Let's look at how well current cities are doing. The NO Hornets, Charlotte Bobcats are struggling franchises. Jacksonville Jags and Tampa struggle with sell-outs and black out dates. Even larger metro areas like Atlanta and Miami have teams that struggle with attendance even when the teams are good like the Hawks and Marlins.

There are some small southern teams that do well (at least currently) like the NO Saints and the Memphis Griz.

But if a team moves to a small southern market like Va Beach which isnt known for being basketball crazy (I know they have wanted a pro baseball team down there for years), I see the team moving again to another city in 15 to 20 years or less.