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Every time I drive by the old Coliseum on Tyvola Road, I feel a little annoyed. I remember the referendum on the "new" Uptown Arena, and how the majority of Charlotteans voted against it (something like 57% to 43%). You'd think the voice of the people would count for something, but instead the City Council decided, nope, we want it so we're going to get it, and they went ahead and built the new arena after all.
Regarding the name... The "Hornets" made so much sense for Charlotte given our history. The "Bobcats" just seems disconnected from who we are and from our history.
there gone, we have the bobcats now. People need to get over that drama............
Those of us who don't appreciate the way the whole situation was handled when "our" team left and that stadium was built no longer have a team. Our team was traded. If y'all want the Bobcats to be your team - welcome to them. Go support them. There is no drama involved! It is a matter of principle.
Those of us who don't appreciate the way the whole situation was handled when "our" team left and that stadium was built no longer have a team. Our team was traded. If y'all want the Bobcats to be your team - welcome to them. Go support them. There is no drama involved! It is a matter of principle.
As level headed and analytical as you usually are, I am disappointed this is how you feel. You see, it wasnt the Bobcats, nor their ownership or management that moved the Hornets to NO. It was George Shinn. I'm really not sure what "principle" it is that you refer to, as I'm pretty confident that the Bobcats have done nothing to snub you.
The thing is, there is a long history of franchises packing up and moving out- the Browns, the Oilers, the Cardinals, the Braves, and on and on. The franchises that replaced them dont face near the wrath from that city's citizenry that the Bobcats do.
The Bobcats have a very legitimate shot at making the playoffs this year. We have our first All Star in the teams history. The coach has been named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month, and twice they've had conference players of the week. Good things are happening to this team. I really hope that the city sees that, and we start supporting our team!
Well, I said I should have just stopped writing after post # 5, lol
I refused to watch a baseball game for about 10 years after the baseball strike of 1981, as a matter of principle. I don't like feeling blackmailed when it comes to sports. Kinda kills any joy I have in the SPORT.
My feelings about this team are not simple. For those of us who have watched things unfold over the years, it is just hard to feel the love.
I do like Larry Brown. If the team is sold, and the new owner seems interested in being a part of the community (something we haven't seen with Johnson) that would help warm up the public, especially if Brown stays on.
Last edited by brokensky; 02-06-2010 at 10:53 PM..
Reason: correction: Larry Brown
I know I could find this info on Google or Yahoo but I would rather ask this question here on city-data: What happened to the Charlotte Hornets?
I'm not really a basketball or sports fan and I know the Charlotte Hornet's fate was probably sealed many years ago but what happened to them? Also, does the city of Charlotte miss the team?
I miss them As Ani said, newcomers don't, long timers do. Though none of us miss that weasel George Shinn.
Well, I said I should have just stopped writing after post # 5, lol
I refused to watch a baseball game for about 10 years after the baseball strike of 1981, as a matter of principle. I don't like feeling blackmailed when it comes to sports. Kinda kills any joy I have in the SPORT.
My feelings about this team are not simple. For those of us who have watched things unfold over the years, it is just hard to feel the love.
I do like Larry Bird. If the team is sold, and the new owner seems interested in being a part of the community (something we haven't seen with Johnson) that would help warm up the public, especially if Bird stays on.
Hey Ani, Larry Bird's in Indiana. Michael Jordan is with Bob's Cats.
Shinn, the owner of the Hornets, found he could no longer afford to pay the salaries that NBA "talent" was getting paid and demanded the city build him an arena downtown with a lot of skyboxes so he could make profits from renting them to corporations. The usual cadre of down town leadership was all for this idea but the problem is they didn't have the money to do it. This was the plan:
They were going to create a new tax. Thing is, the NC Legislature does not allow cities to do this without approval from them.
So in order to get approval, they decided to put it up to a vote of the people. The thinking being, if they could get a majority to vote for this new tax, the Legislature would happily grant Charlotte the right to do this.
The problem with this idea was that not enough people here support the NBA and they didn't think they could get it voted in. So in their genius, they wrapped a lot of funding of the arts in with it, and sold the referendum as a "Arts Referendum" instead of a NBA one.
Tons of downtown money was spent pushing for the people to vote for it. Very similar to what they did in 2007 with the transit tax.
They were confident happy and satisfied they had won this one. Just one thing. The people still voted it down even with all the hyperbole from the local media and paper that we must vote this in for Charlotte's future. The vote wasn't even close.
So with that result, the NC Legislature wouldn't even consider the new tax. The downtown leaders bet big and lost. This would be the last time that anyone in Charlotte would be asked to vote on funding a sports facility. Everything that has come since then was handled by complicated shell games and closed door deals. The current Bobcats arena was funded this way and they tried it with the ill fated baseball plan but that one got so complicated that it faced a legal challenge.
Meanwhile, Shinn, a smart business man who made his money by scamming people for students loans to go to his for profit college, meanwhile knew this wasn't good and worked a deal with New Orleans to move there. While Charlotte had voted down the tax, NO had a new venue sitting down there empty. Shinn packed his bags, took his team and moved. He has been there ever since.
The stuff about Shinn's personal behavior, the allegations of which were never proven in court, are just a distraction. He is demonized here in Charlotte because he moved the team. Obviously a person of good character just couldn't do Charlotte this way.
There's a bit more. Back in 1994, the team was so popular that their corporate sponsor (First Union National Bank) had an enormous mural painted on the side of the Two First Union building (facing what is now the area outside the Wachovia Atrium). By 1996, all three players on that mural were gone. George didn't feel the need to pay his players who led them to the playoffs. They replaced the mural with an enormous cartoon Hugo the Hornet breaking through the wall (think 'Hey Kool-Aid').
This was the beginning of the end. By 1997, it came out (ha!) that George had brought a few of the Hornets cheerleaders back to his house for a bit of activity on various occasions. He brought in a partner who annoyed the city more than he did. Then, he started demanding a new building. The old one wasn't ten years old yet, but he wanted luxury boxes.
A few years later, he just about had all the uptown support that he needed for the arena referendum. Problem was, Mayor Pat opened his big yap about not guaranteeing a living wage to city employees right before the election and the electorate turned on him and the uptown crew. No one had any interest in paying for George's new building.
One other note. The Hornets, as I indicated above, were not traded away. They simply left Charlotte for better financial territory. The Bobcats did not come for a couple of years later and it was a new team that was created for Charlotte in return for Charlotte handing over a $300M arena. Currently, Bob Johnson, who owns the Bobcats is looking to unload the team as he apparently has no more interest in it as it has become a financial drain. Seems like the 1/2 life of the Bobcats was even less than that of the Hornets.
Every time I drive by the old Coliseum on Tyvola Road, I feel a little annoyed.
You must not have driven by lately, because that place has been torn down for a couple years now.
And chalk up another one for "local who misses the Hornets". It's just hard to feel like we didn't get jobbed... especially when you factor in the "new" undersized publicly-funded arena uptown and Johnson's flippant ownership style.
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As Ani said, newcomers don't, long timers do. Though none of us miss that weasel George Shinn.
