http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20060310_024706_6092 The chances of landing an N-B-A franchise for the second time in Vancouver is highly unlikely, but not impossible. The remote possibility is being explored by a man with pockets deep enough to make it happen. Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini is amongst the names of those interested in landing an NBA team here in Vancouver before 2010. Eric Johnson with KOMO News in Seattle is watching the Sonics demise, and says his club is asking for a new stadium at the wrong time. He says it worked for the Mariners and the Seahawks, but he says with the Sonics everyone is now tired of this. With the Sonics and Portland Trailblazers losing big money, the Vancouver Province's Howard Tsumara says the possibility of re-gaining a franchise is real. He says if you look at the history of the NBA in the last ten years, anyone who has lost a team has gotten that team back. Although its likely that a handful of other American cities would be well ahead of Vancouver in landing a troubled franchise, Vancouver's interested business group does have a stadium in place and a city with a history with the NBA. ---------------------- CBC Online Vancouver group has hoop dream WebPosted Thu, 09 Mar 2006 15:06:07 EST CBC Sports A former player with Canada's national men's basketball team says some high-profile investors are trying to bring the National Basketball Association back to Vancouver. Howard Kelsey says he speaks for a group, led by Vancouver Canuck owners Francesco Aquilini and John McCaw, that has a proposal to re-locate an existing NBA franchise B.C. "We have what very few cities have, what you would call a plug and play – practice facilities are here right now," said Kelsey. "You have a ready-to-go GM Place which is one of the best arenas in North America. "As long as you've got a GM Place, and as long as you got eight or 9,000 fans it's a no brainer," said Kelsey. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis in 2001 after six years in Vancouver. Kelsey says the group is putting an official proposal together in hopes of securing a team – possibly the Portland Trailblazers Trailblazers are reportedly in financial trouble. Team owner Paul Allen recently made the Trailblazers' finances public. He says the team will lose $100 million over the next three years Allen blamed the situation on a bad arena lease, along with the lack of a public subsidy. Kelsey admits an NBA return to Vancouver is a longshot, but says he hopes to find out in a few weeks whether the NBA thinks the group's hoop dreams could be realized. Neither McCaw nor Aquilini were available to comment. from CBC British Columbia ------------- I really hope this happens - even if it is the trailblazers.
That'd be cool. I liked having a franchise in Vancouver. If it happens, hopefully management will be better than what the Grizzlies had.
Vancouver's interested, but the group doesn't have a prayer. You can place money that Oklahoma City's getting the next team that moves, with Kansas City (and Vegas?) not far behind. Evan
Las Vegas is going to get the next team. I bet after the All-Star game they are going to work a compromise.
I hope the Trailblazers don't move. They have a wonderful NBA history in that town. I think they sold out every game from '79 to the late 90's...
Someone said Paul Allen actually wants to sell the Blazers and buy the Sonics (he already owns the Seahawks). One thing for sure is the NBA will never go back to Vancouver. That would be pure stupidity. The NBA better hope the Raptors can make it in Toronto.
If either one of those teams moves to Vancouver, it'd be the Sonics. No way the Blazers would leave Portland. They're THE horse in a one-horse town, plus Stern said (don't have a link, but read it somewhere on a Portland media outlet) that he wants the Blazers to stay put. I just don't see OKC landing a permanent NBA team; the market there isn't big enough. Vegas is always a possibility, don't know much about KC though. The thing with Vancouver that we should remember is that the Grizzlies didn't leave because of a bad arena deal or anything like that; they were sold to somebody who just didn't want them there. I believe the Vancouver Grizzlies always had great attendance despite the horrible records. And GM Place would still be a great NBA arena.
Actually, the Griz did have a bad arena deal - they split the arena with the Canucks and were the "little brother" in that relationship. As a result, they didn't benefit from naming rights and other similar income. Additionally, their "paid" attendence was bad over their last few years and they boosted attendence with giveaways - of course, people were tired of buying tickets when management was so bad, so that wasn't their fault. Finally, the Canadian dollar was killing them since they were paying salaries in American dollars, but their income was in Canadian. All of these three things taken together made it difficult for them to make it.
As I recall, the Grizz also got screwed in the draft. The first year, they were not allowed to pick in the top 5 and missed out on KG and Rasheed. They ended up with Bryant (Big Country) Reeves, and that sealed the fate of the franchise on the court.
Are you kidding? They've sold out nearly every Hornets home game this year. Even David Stern while making his obligatory comment that about committing to New Orleans blah blah, could not help saying that OKC has more than proved itself as a viable NBA city.
I atoned for that comment a few posts later--I should have taken a look at wikipedia It's been several years since I was in Oklahoma City, and I seriously didn't remember it being that big.
I could definitely see how they were the "little brother" in that relationship. Vancouver's a hockey town, and always will be. Same with Toronto in the NBA sense. This is an honest question for anybody who can answer it: There are plenty of NBA/NHL teams that split arenas (LA, Dallas, NYC, Toronto, off the top of my head). How was the Griz/Canucks split of GM place different from any of those other cities? I know I'm in the minority by thinking that Vancouver could have another NBA team, but the city is plenty big enough (2 million people), and with good management I think it could succeed.
Yes people here in Vancouver still remember the stupidity displayed by Stu Jackson on the ill-fated 5-year $60-million contract extension for Reeves Blame Heisley and Jackson for the Grizz's departure from Vancouver. Heck, the organization still had to pay Reeves during the first few years in Memphis! If you compared to hockey salaries, the dough could've fetched a superstar such as Jagr and Sakic! But let's talk NBA again.
I've lived in Portland for half a year (moved here last summer) and I can tell you that people in Portland don't care about their sports teams. There are a handful of die-hard Blazers fans, but the majority of them are bandwagon jumpers (not that different than Houston fans ). These days the city dodgeball turnament draws more fans than the Trailblazers. Paul Allen is set to lose 100 million dollars on the Blazers in the next three years if no change is made. And the city of Portland apparently isn't ready to give in on Allen's demands (new deal on Rose Garden, parking charge, less public TV, etc.). Given the lack of fan support in Portland, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Blazers get moved to Vancouver.
lala, that is strange, based on what I've heard over the years about the fans in Portland. I've heard many people say that Portland had the best fans in the league for a long long time. Didn't they have great attendence until recent seasons, too?
That might be true in the 80s or 90s when the Trailblazers were good, but it certainly isn't the case any more. People in Oregon like playing sports themselves, but they aren't crazy about their sports teams. Among the three cities that I've lived in for more than three months (Houston, Chicago, Portland), Chicago has the most enthusiastic fans by far. Portland is like Houston where most people only care when the team does well. I went to a Trailblazers game against the Lakers a few weeks ago (company perks). Kobe got more cheers in that game than the entire Blazers team combined had and Portland actually won the game (what really surprised me was that there were people who actually liked Kobe). The sports radios here have been talking about the possible relocation of the Blazers. The other day someone called in and said that they can't let the Blazers go because that would make Portland become a nameless city like Oklahoma city, a city without a professional team. The host asked him whether he was a Blazers fan and he said yes. The host then asked him to name three Blazer players and he only managed to name Zach Randolph and hang up.
