Are the Vancouver Hornets in the making?

When the Kings were awful, their ticket prices were between $7-$40. By 2000-2003, their glory run, people were willing to pay for a top team.

Yet the prices haven't gone down and they are in 17-65'ville for a while. That's a tough sell, even in Sacto.

Unless the beer money is behind it, St. Louis wouldn't do well with the NBA. SO much of the sports money goes into the baseball team. Add in the Rams and the Blues. It's an oversaturated market.

St. Louis also had some ugly racial chapters with the Hawks before they moved to Atlanta. That didn't help.

 

They draw terribly, especially since half the hip-hop and R&B world is right at their doorstep. But if you look at the ratings for national games, Atlanta is usually a strong market. Listen to talk radio, and the Nba gets a decent amount of feedback. But the Hawks may as well be in Moose Jaw.

 

That is where the Grizzlies were originally going to go.

 

There were several options.

 

Bill Laurie had purchased the team with the sole intention of moving them to St. Louis. Davis Stern blocked it and it was then sold to Heisley.

 

The last two years they averaged fewer than 14k a game. They were only in town for six years.

 

I'm telling you having lived here fan suupport was not the issue. They were provided with the worst product that the NBA has ever put out there. The last year the club had announced they were moving. After one year fan support in Memphis was less than the last year in Vancouver.

There are many better markets that should get teams over Vancouver, but fan support was not an issue.

 

Correct.

Only thing to add is that while Bob Johnson, while a good pick financially as an owner, was a horrid choice is many other ways. While a poor on-court product certainly didn't help, the organization's ineptitude hurt attendance and fan interest, too.

 

The NBA doesn't really have any great options for moving a team. Going back to Seattle would be best (large city, no NHL team), but it's not going to build a gold-plated arena, so that's out. Otherwise, your options are mid-sized cities where you be the third or fourth banana (St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati); Louisville, which loves basketball more than Memphis but doesn't have a corporate or rich-people environment that's all that much better; or trying again in a previous market such as Vancouver. This may well provide extra motivation for owners' hard line in contract talks, because they can't make more money by adding teams or moving team (or threatening to), so they're going to have to make it work where they are.

 

There's lots of talk about San Jose as a potential new home for the Kings, but I don't see it. Golden State's only 40 miles away and, for all their trials and tribulations, they draw well and there's lots of fan interest. Plus they'd be playing second fiddle to the Sharks, who sell out just about every night. Like the Spurs, they are the only game in town.

 

Hornets' attendance figures in Charlotte.

2001-02 462,738 11,286
2000-01 615,424 15,010
1999-00 732,827 17,874
1998-99 480,807 19,232
1997-98 959,634 23,406
1996-97 985,722 24,042
1995-96 985,722 24,042
1994-95 971,618 23,698
1993-94 971,618 23,698
1992-93 971,618 23,698
1991-92 971,618 23,698
1990-91 980,141 23,906
1989-90 979,941 23,901
1988-89 950,064 23,172

I'm pretty certain the dive in attendance goes hand in hand with Shinn's legal issues.

Those early Charlotte teams were absolutely dreadful, and they still sold out a 24k seat arena. Wasn't the old ARCO only 10k or 12k? Pales in comparison to what happened in Charlotte.

 

I seem to remember that at the time, that was considered the nicest arena in the NBA.