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Archive for the ‘Bob Johnson’ Category

This is a good start by our new owner, and something our old owner should read and learn from.  Looking forward to next season already.

Forbes values the franchise at only $175 million.  Considering Michael Jordan only bought a “controlling interest” of the team, he probably paid even less than that.  A pretty good deal for His Airness. 

This certainly isn’t good PR for the Bobs or for the NBA, but it’s probably pretty accurate.  The Bobs are hemorrhaging money.  NO ONE goes to their games.  I will be the first to say I don’t understand it – I personally love going to NBA games, especially in Charlotte where they are so damn cheap.  Bottom line, however, is that most games are very sparsely attended.  It’s sad because the Bobs have probably the best arena deal in the NBA, and they still can’t make it work.  Most of that is their own fault – Bob Johnson was an awful owner – but Charlotteans have not been very supportive of their team either.  Before, the argument was that the arena was in the middle of no where.  Now, it’s right in the heart of town.  GO TO GAMES!

Bill Simmons recently wrote an article on the ills of the NBA.  He quoted an unnamed rich person as saying that the Golden State Warriors were not valued at more than $325 million.  The Warriors play in a market at least twice the size of Charlotte, if not greater.  They have a passionate fan base that attends their games despite the fact that the team has a losing record and is completely out of the playoff hunt. 

Looking back on it, the most astonishing headline is the fact the Bob Johnson paid $300 million for Charlotte’s franchise seven years ago.  By the way, Bob Johnson turned out not to be nearly as savvy of a businessman that we initially thought he was.  You can’t take away the BET success, but it almost seems like he lucked out and struck it rich.  Since then, one bad decision after another with his Bobcats.  C-SET was a flop.  Then, he stubbornly held out for a huge naming deal for the arena, which everyone knew he wasn’t going to get (see the Bill Simmons article).  He ended up having to give the naming away for free just so the team would be broadcast on local TV.  He yelled at Charlotte’s business leaders and accused them of not supporting the team.  I hear that’s a great way to sell tickets.  His minority owners didn’t seem to care much for him – they never helped him out when he was bleeding cash.  Then, there was his stupid Jumper Classic which cost us home games at the end of last season, when we were in the playoff hunt. 

Thoughts on Jordan:  Before the Panthers had their version of Bloody Friday, all the talk around Charlotte and even in the national media was about MJ becoming the owner of the Bobs.  The Observer was conducting surveys and its writers offered advice to MJ, which included buying a house in Charlotte.  ESPN thought it was a big deal that MJ showed up to practice – as if he had never done that before these past few years.  Ball Don’t Lie even wrote about how MJ lost to Gerald Henderson in H-O-R-S-E.  Umm, must have been a slow news day.  Gerald who?  Despite the loss, I’m going to go out on a limb as say MJ > Gerald. 

The famous owner of the Oakland Raiders – who, by the way, no longer follows his own motto – said it best:  Just win, baby.  I really don’t think Charlotte is going to pack the arena just because MJ buys property in town.  If we’re sitting 12th in the East, no one (sadly) is going to say “I can’t wait to go to the game tonight because MJ showed his loyalty to us by buying that house.”  While attending practice and games is a good photo op, it won’t consistently sell tickets.  Consistently winning and making the playoffs is that only thing that will make the QC care about its NBA franchise.

Forbes values the franchise at only $175 million.  Considering Michael Jordan only bought a “controlling interest” of the team, he probably paid even less than that.  A pretty good deal for His Airness. 

This certainly isn’t good PR for the Bobs or for the NBA, but it’s probably pretty accurate.  The Bobs are hemorrhaging money.  NO ONE goes to their games.  I will be the first to say I don’t understand it – I personally love going to NBA games, especially in Charlotte where they are so damn cheap.  Bottom line, however, is that most games are very sparsely attended.  It’s sad because the Bobs have probably the best arena deal in the NBA, and they still can’t make it work.  Most of that is their own fault – Bob Johnson was an awful owner – but Charlotteans have not been very supportive of their team either.  Before, the argument was that the arena was in the middle of no where.  Now, it’s right in the heart of town.  GO TO GAMES!

Bill Simmons recently wrote an article on the ills of the NBA.  He quoted an unnamed rich person as saying that the Golden State Warriors were not valued at more than $325 million.  The Warriors play in a market at least twice the size of Charlotte, if not greater.  They have a passionate fan base that attends their games despite the fact that the team has a losing record and is completely out of the playoff hunt. 

Looking back on it, the most astonishing headline is the fact the Bob Johnson paid $300 million for Charlotte’s franchise seven years ago.  By the way, Bob Johnson turned out not to be nearly as savvy of a businessman that we initially thought he was.  You can’t take away the BET success, but it almost seems like he lucked out and struck it rich.  Since then, one bad decision after another with his Bobcats.  C-SET was a flop.  Then, he stubbornly held out for a huge naming deal for the arena, which everyone knew he wasn’t going to get (see the Bill Simmons article).  He ended up having to give the naming away for free just so the team would be broadcast on local TV.  He yelled at Charlotte’s business leaders and accused them of not supporting the team.  I hear that’s a great way to sell tickets.  His minority owners didn’t seem to care much for him – they never helped him out when he was bleeding cash.  Then, there was his stupid Jumper Classic which cost us home games at the end of last season, when we were in the playoff hunt. 

Thoughts on Jordan:  Before the Panthers had their version of Bloody Friday, all the talk around Charlotte and even in the national media was about MJ becoming the owner of the Bobs.  The Observer was conducting surveys and its writers offered advice to MJ, which included buying a house in Charlotte.  ESPN thought it was a big deal that MJ showed up to practice – as if he had never done that before these past few years.  Ball Don’t Lie even wrote about how MJ lost to Gerald Henderson in H-O-R-S-E.  Umm, must have been a slow news day.  Gerald who?  Despite the loss, I’m going to go out on a limb as say MJ > Gerald. 

The famous owner of the Oakland Raiders – who, by the way, no longer follows his own motto – said it best:  Just win, baby.  I really don’t think Charlotte is going to pack the arena just because MJ buys property in town.  If we’re sitting 12th in the East, no one (sadly) is going to say “I can’t wait to go to the game tonight because MJ showed his loyalty to us by buying that house.”  While attending practice and games is a good photo op, it won’t consistently sell tickets.  Consistently winning and making the playoffs is that only thing that will make the QC care about its NBA franchise.

The Baltimore Colts couldn’t have done it any better.  In the dark of the night (as if it really mattered – no one knew him anyway), Bob Johnson left Charlotte.  It was announced early Saturday morning that Michael Jordan will become the new owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.  To turn this into political theater, the Observer provides us with George Postolos’ concession speech. 

We haven’t heard from MJ yet, but this is the fulfillment of his post-playing-days dream.  He has tried to buy the controlling interest in a team since he retired for good, but success eluded him.  In fact, he finally agreed to buy a minority stake in the Bobs because he was unable to buy his own team.  He wasn’t a lock to win the Bobs either – Rick Bonnell had written him off just a week ago.  However, like his playing days, MJ was clutch at the end.  Since very few details have been released about the deal, and since we pretty much know what to expect, I just have one thing to add for now:  CHANGE THE NAME!