Posted on 04/03/2012 9:36:34 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Michael Jordan apparently has an exit strategy to leave the Bobcats, which will undoubtedly make Charlotte fans take to the streets for a mass celebration, provided His Airness keeps his word.
Nearing the end of another lost season as Bobcats owner, Jordan recently told his GM, Rich Cho, to start planning for a rebuilding campaign. He also dropped a bombshell, telling Cho and other deputies that if this one doesn’t produce a winner and he continues to lose millions over the next “three to four years,” then he intends to sell the team.
“I told Rich to make us better,” Jordan told one associate recently. “If that doesn’t work and I can’t make a profit in the next three to four years, then I’m selling.”
This is a change of plans for Jordan, who over almost the past year has been seeking a buyer to purchase half the team. The Bobcats lost $20 million last season and they’re headed for more big losses this season.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Uh, Charlotte has a pro team?
Sounds like the equivalent of the Durham Bulls.
A small market team like Charlotte should have a strategy of only hiring players who played high school or college ball in North Carolina. That way they can become the home team, and develop a loyal fan base, that will love the team whether they win or lose.
Since they are going to lose, they might as well be loved.
Professional basketball in North Carolina sounds a lot like professional hockey in Minnesota. Teams have a hard time making money because the market is completely saturated with alternatives at the college (even high school) level that are much less expensive for dedicated fans of the sport.
Exactly. Which is why the Bobcats should position themselves as the extension of the High School and College systems by recruiting only local players.
Get the fans rooting for the players inside the jerseys, instead of for the jerseys.
Poor Michael, I don’t think he can find a buyer in Charlotte.
I’m not sure that would work. How good would a professional team be if it only recruited locally? The Montreal Canadiens used that approach to dominate professional hockey for decades, but that was back when the NHL had regional drafts under which NHL teams had first rights to local junior players. Montreal just had more stars than other metro areas.
Well, how good can Charlotte ever be, even if they recruit from the whole world?
They are not going to be able to compete with NY/Chicago/Atlanta/LA, because they are never going to have that kind of money. They are always going to be fair-to-middlin’ at best. So they can be fair-to-middlin’ with a bunch of local talent, or with a lot of guys with twenty letters and no vowels from the European leagues.
But the former will sell tickets, and the latter will not. If people can’t root for a winner, they are not going to come out to root for the jersey.
There is a lot of basketball in North Carolina. A lot of good players graduate from UNC/Duke/NC State/Wake Forest/etc every year, who will never land a big salary in the NBA, but are good enough to be on a young team that is competetive and fun to watch. A lot of great North Carolina high school players come through these colleges or other college programs around the country who could contribute to a North Carolina-based team.
A team of local players could strengthen ties with high school and youth basketball programs througout the state. The players, parents, friends and families of these programs would then become the natural fan base for the pro team. And since the team is recruiting local talent, they are not going to be in a bidding war with New York, and salaries and ticket prices can be held to a reasonable level.
Culturally, such a team could be the nucleus of a modern community. As the nation becomes more homogenized, a locally based team could swim against the tide of uniformity, and give a state like North Carolina a sense of identity.
Except the Bulls actually *admit* they’re a minor league team, and they’re considerably more successful than the Bobcats.
}:-)4
And they put the “ballpark” in Zimbabwe!
Damn straight. We’re Zimbabwe With a Ballpark, baby.
}:-)4
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