Charlotte and the Bobcats
25 August 2009

I've been living in Charlotte, N.C. since 1989. When we arrived Charlotte had been in the national sports spotlight for over 1 year. Usually it was Chapel Hill that got all the publicity due to the incredible devotion of fans to North Carolina University's championship basketball teams. National championships won seemingly year-after-year by the world-famous "Tarheels" men's teams.

Why was 1988 different? Why was Charlotte taking the limelight away from Chapel Hill? The Charlotte Hornets, the newest NBA franchise, brought to Charlotte by local businessman and entrepreneur, George Shinn. Mr. Shinn had made his fame and fortune from establishing statewide trade schools in North Carolina. It was his dream to have Charlotte win the newest NBA franchise race.

Along with a brand-new team the Hornets got a brand-new arena, the Charlotte Coliseum near the airport, convenient to all highways, ample parking and a city starving for professional basketball. The Hornets broke all attendance records their first year and I believe two years after that. Win or lose, Charlotte fans flocked to the arena for every home game, filling the seats and the team coffers. There was no lack of money to be made in food and souvenirs either. We grabbed anything that said Hornets. Charlotte was on the national news and the map as well.

But something went sour along the way, only a few years ago actually. Fans started to tire of pro basketball and the honeymoon was over. Seats starting getting more expensive as Mr. Shinn & Company wanted more money for their team, especially when trading for or buying better players during draft season. At one point Mr. Shinn demanded a new larger, more luxurious arena, with expensive "sky boxes" for corporate clients and high rollers coming to a booming Charlotte, hungry for new businesses. Charlotte refused the demands and Mr Shinn moved his team to New Orleans.

The city decided. We even were asked to vote on it in a referendum. The people said no. But lo-and-behold, city fathers somehow found the money, and a new home for an NBA team was built within the uptown Charlotte area. Yes, the uptown was starting to blossom, restaurants and shops appeared and new life was injected into an otherwise business-only area of the city.

I don't mind helping the city attract business and tourists, making it safer for citizens and workers there. But we supposedly said no to another NBA team and no one listened. Tax rates went up and now, in 2009 the Charlotte Bobcats are reportedly up-for-sale. Is this history repeating itself? Will they leave us like the Hornets did? Does anyone even notice—or care?

It all boils down to the same thing, over and over again, in America: a need for money and a greedy attitude. If fans want to pay more for what is supposed to be entertainment, the owners say OK. But fans (and the public) can be fickle; they can change their minds almost overnight. What is called sports, entertainment is in reality a business. It only continues existence if it pays dividends. We've come down to that, in Charlotte, as so many other cities have discovered. Too bad, I say.