Bob Johnson selling the Bobcats?

Fair or not, in league circles Shinn gets most of the blame for the Hornets leaving Charlotte. He also gets the blame for everything that has gone on in New Orleans. On the court the Hornets have been ok, but they always were. I'm talking about the way the franchise is run. I'll give you that the Clippers have a far longer history of being a joke, but the Hornets were right up there with them until Chris Paul came along.

 

or Aneheim, or Kansas City, or Las Vegas....

In fairness to him, the situation seems to have stabilized since CP came along. So maybe he'll settle down and make an honest effort to make it work in New Orleans.

 

Also in Football - 1975
Reference: http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/wfl.htm
Scroll three-fourths of the way down the page.

I went to Hornets games all of the time. I loved going there. The NBA (especially the Bobcats) have lost touch with me. The entertainment part is too hip-hop for me now. The Hornets were a little more rock and roll and I just think the game was a little better then.

 

It's kind of funny, when I originally wrote that post I had written down baseball and football, thinking of the WFL team. In the middle of posting it, I had to chase down my son and when I came back and saw I had typed football I changed it to basketball without really thinking about it. But yeah, Hornets is a name that has really been ingrained in the Charlotte sports culture for years.

 

The referendum voters voted against included an arena, baseball stadium and an arts package. That's the defense McCrory uses most of the time when it's brought to his attention he spearheaded an arena after voters "voted against" one.

People like Lynn Wheeler paid the price, but McCrory's popularity in this city far outweighed those that were upset about the arena.

The arena was indeed needed, and it's nice but the we shouldn't have paid for it. It's also been a miserable failure that has lost money from day one for reasons other than the Bobcats. The management failed to get big acts. They even hired a booking firm to help, but it hasn't. AC/DC is the first big band to come here since Springsteen several months ago.

 

If I recall, the arena is being paid for by hotel tax. Correct?

 

I think the arena was to be paid for with proceeds from the sale of the old arena, 50 million in donations from banks, and 80 million in hotel tax. I don't know if it worked out that way.

 

Mostly

It was something like that. The City also paid 59 million for the land, too.

 

I think rental car tax too, no?

 

Ahh, I forgot about Lynn Wheeler. Thanks for that insight QCH. I saw Stevie Wonder at the arena last year, he was amazing, did about 2.5 hours by himself.