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Grizzlies : Memphis or Louisville? Tomorrow's the day

Discussion in 'NBA Dish' started by Old School, Mar 25, 2001.

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  1. Old School

    Old School Member

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    By Chris Poynter, The Courier-Journal

    In Memphis, the Grizzlies could play at first in the Pyramid.

    Associated Press

    The race to land the Vancouver Grizzlies is down to two cities -- Louisville and Memphis, Tenn. -- and it appears to be headed for a photo finish.

    The winner will be announced tomorrow, when Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley tells the National Basketball Association where he wants to move his struggling franchise.

    To those who know the two cities, a close race is no surprise -- they are about as similar as the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs.

    Louisville is on a river; so is Memphis. Louisville has a large university in town; so does Memphis. Louisville isn't known for much outside the Kentucky Derby; Memphis isn't known for much outside of Graceland.

    Even the cities' civic boosters and business executives have been speaking in stereo.

    ''This will put us on the map,'' said Steve Higdon, president of Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce.

    ''It's going to put Memphis on the map,'' Memphis city Councilman Joe Brown told The Commercial-Appeal newspaper last week.

    The New York Times, quoting unnamed sources, reports in today's editions that Heisley is apparently leaning toward Memphis. ''Memphis is pulling away from the pack,'' a source told the newspaper.

    Leaders in Louisville and Memphis could not confirm The Times report last night. They said Heisley told them he would give them an answer tomorrow, and they have not been contacted since Friday.

    Heisley is out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment last night.

    Officials in both cities said they remained optimistic about their city's odds. ''It's a two-horse race,'' said attorney Ed Glasscock, chairman of Greater Louisville Inc.

    Similar enticements

    Louisville and Memphis have had a friendly basketball rivalry for years.

    The University of Louisville and the University of Memphis belong to Conference USA, and when they meet, there are barbs and bantering about which team, and which city, is better.

    But the stakes of luring an NBA team are much higher -- and leaders in both cities know it.

    The same day Louisville announced plans to build a $200 million arena if it lands an NBA franchise, leaders in Memphis said they would build a similar facility. A few days after Tricon Global Restaurants announced it would pay millions to the Grizzlies should they come to Louisville, Federal Express in Memphis announced it would do the same.

    Last week, after a group of private investors in Memphis said they wanted to buy minority ownership in the Grizzlies, Louisville officials said they had a unidentified investor ready to purchase a minority share of the team..

    And when Memphis leaders said they had received commitments to buy more than half of the 70 luxury suites in a new arena, Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton and Louisville Mayor Dave Armstrong turned telemarketers, trying to top their rivals to the south.

    The game of one-upmanship played out because civic boosters and business executives in both cities see professional sports as their ticket to the ''major leagues,'' joining burgeoning metro areas like Nashville, Tenn., and Indianapolis.

    Kevin Cane, president of the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau, said landing a professional team is about much more than sports. Cane said he has watched with envy as the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League helped transform Nashville from a sleepy country-music town into a buzzing metropolis. This week, with the release of Census 2000 data, Nashville surpassed Memphis as Tennessee's most populous city (just as Lexington surpassed Louisville; city-county merger in 2003 will put Louisville back in first place).

    The Titans, formerly the Oilers, moved from Houston in 1997. That season they played in Memphis' Liberty Bowl as construction of the Adelphia Coliseum in downtown Nashville began. In 1998 they played in Nashville at Vanderbilt University's stadium, and in 1999 they moved into their own stadium.

    The Titans helped unite citizens, Cane said.

    ''There's an intangible that comes with pro sports,'' he said. They ''say that you're an up-and-coming community that's thriving.''

    Leaders in Louisville agree.

    Glasscock said an NBA team would change people's perceptions of the city.

    ''It moves us to that next level in terms of image,'' said Glasscock, who has been closely involved in the NBA negotiations.

    Glasscock said young professionals around the country don't necessarily view Louisville as a city on the move. And young professionals born and raised here often leave for other cities that are creating a buzz.

    His point was proved last year, he said, when Greater Louisville Inc. surveyed 1,500 young professionals and discovered they ranked a pro sports team as the top amenity the city needed.

    Corporate concerns

    Corporations large and small in Louisville and Memphis are saying the same thing -- though their money sends a much louder message.

    Federal Express, which has offered the Grizzlies millions of dollars to come to Memphis, said its interest in an NBA team centers, in part, on the so-called ''brain drain'' in Memphis.

    David Bronczek, FedEx's president and chief executive officer, said an NBA team will raise the quality of life and help the city recruit young professionals. FedEx employs about 40,000 people in Memphis.

    But FedEx also smells an advertising bonanza. The company wants the Grizzlies to become the Memphis Express. The company would have naming rights to the new arena, to be known as the FedEx Forum or something similar. (Until the arena is built, the team could play at the 20,000-seat Pyramid, where the University of Memphis plays.)

    The same is true for Tricon -- parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell -- which has offered to pay Heisley millions to come to Louisville. Tricon wants the team to change its name to the Kentucky Colonels, a reference to KFC founder Col. Harland Sanders and a throwback to the old American Basketball Association team of the same name. The Colonels would play downtown in a proposed arena that would be called the KFC Bucket.

    Tricon has reportedly offered Heisley $100 million spread over 20 years. Company officials have declined to confirm that figure.

    Looking for a buzz

    The level of financial support for an NBA team transcends megacorporations. Jimmy Dan Conner, president of Old Colony Insurance in Louisville, said his company would buy or share a luxury suite in the new arena. His commitment is not just about sports, he said.

    Conner, who played basketball for the University of Kentucky in the 1970s, said that 15 years ago, Louisville, Nashville and Indianapolis were about the same size. But since then Nashville and Indianapolis have had explosive growth, and Conner believes the catalyst in both cities was professional sports.

    He wants the same for Louisville.

    ''As a business person in this community, I'm trying to give something back,'' he said.

    Charles Columbus -- who has lived in Louisville, Memphis and Charlotte, N.C. -- knows first hand the difference an NBA team can make in a city.

    Columbus and his wife, Patricia, retired to Louisville in 1996 after being ''corporate nomads'' for Sun-Royal Alliance Insurance.

    He spent about 10 years in Charlotte -- and he said the Hornets, which arrived there in 1988, helped unite the community.

    ''The Hornets did create a big-city buzz,'' he said.

    Columbus believes the same would happen in Louisville or Memphis, though he said he's not certain Louisville has the population or income base to support an NBA team.

    Cities that lure pro sports are viewed as on the move, he said, and whoever wins the race tomorrow will get instant recognition globally.

    Cain, president of the Memphis convention bureau, agreed. No matter which city wins, Cain said Louisville and Memphis have shown during the last few weeks that they're cities on the move.



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    I voted YES!
     
    #1 Old School, Mar 25, 2001
  2. ROXTXIA

    ROXTXIA Member

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    I'm glad it's down to these two cities. I was glad Louisville didn't get the Rockets (duh!) but thought the city put together a classy effort in its bid for the team, and it should be a good location for the NBA. At the same time, I like Memphis a lot. Maybe the loser can land the Raptors when Vince Carter does what's best for him and gets the hell out of Toronto. Nothing against the Canadian cities---I hear they're both really nice places---but the move to Canada was a mistake.

    What's more, if Louisville and Memphis get the former Canadian teams, maybe realignment would give us a "Southern Division?" (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Memphis, Louisville, Charlotte, Atlanta?)

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    #2 ROXTXIA, Mar 25, 2001
  3. JayZ750

    JayZ750 Member

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    Memphis would be my choice too. No professional teams yet, pretty urban-like environment. I drove through Memphis once and was pretty impressed. It had a good feel to it.

    Was The Firm set in Memphis?

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    #3 JayZ750, Mar 25, 2001
  4. DunkingDeutschman

    DunkingDeutschman Member

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    Yes. FYI, when they are spanning the city in the begining of the movie, you can see The Pyramid in the background



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    #4 DunkingDeutschman, Mar 25, 2001
  5. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    Gee, I thought Chicago was still in it based on the stories a couple of days ago.

    I'm hoping for Memphis, though. In the time I've spent there, I've always enjoyed myself. Plus, a team in Memphis will be covered quite heavily by the Arkansas media, so putting a team in Memphis is not unlike Arkansas having a team (and I have many relatives in Arkansas, and I spent most of my summers while growing up in Newport, Arkansas).

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    #5 mrpaige, Mar 25, 2001
  6. Band Geek Mobster

    Band Geek Mobster Member

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    I really liked the idea of New Orleans getting the franchise. What happened to that? Any reasons for New Orleans not being in the hunt?

    I hope Louisville gets the team just so Pitino gets screwed over. It would make the 2nd straight time he took a job expecting one thing but getting another, like when he joined up with the Celtics expecting to get Tim Duncan but got screwed by the lottery balls.

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    #6 Band Geek Mobster, Mar 25, 2001
  7. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    It doesn't sound like New Orleans put an offer on the table that was anywhere near as attractive as what Louisville and Memphis put on the table.

    Given New Orleans' shortcomings in terms of income and corporate support, as well as the fact that there is another pro team in the city sucking up sponsorship and ticket dollars, the city really needed to put a deal better than anything Louisville and Memphis put on the table.

    Plus, I will maintain that having an existing arena is a hindrance rather than a advantage. In Memphis or Louisville, Heisley can get an arena built to his specifications with the specifics that he wants. In New Orleans, he takes the New Orleans Arena largely the way it is. If I were moving my team, I'd take the city that was building an arena specifically for me over a city that already has an arena (especially since the New Orleans Arena is considered by some to be sub-NBA-standard).

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    #7 mrpaige, Mar 25, 2001
  8. Lynus302

    Lynus302 Member

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    "Glasscock"??? Oh........nevermind.

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    "We got f*cking smashed every day. And then when we came here to Beverly Hills, we had drugs, we had chicks, we had orgies. I thought I'd died and gone to f*cking Rome"
    ---Ozzy Osbourne, on the early days of Black Sabbath
     
    #8 Lynus302, Mar 25, 2001
  9. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    By the way, the New Orleans Grizzlies site claims that this whole relocation bit was a charade and that Memphis was the only city in the running the entire time. And that the NBA conspired to keep Memphis' bid a secret so as not to give away their competitive advantage (of course, if Memphis was the place all along, why bother keeping the bid a secret? I mean, if cities offering better packages wouldn't matter, why feel compelled to keep the Memphis package a secret? And why should Memphis have upped their offer to compete with Louisville if they had it in the bag the whole time? And why did Heisley go around to all these cities looking at areans, etc. and actually getting his people involved in negotiations at the Pond and in suburban Chicago and in St. Louis, etc. when it was all for show?)

    Fact of the matter is that rigged or not, New Orleans didn't put as good an offer on the table, and New Orleans isn't as attractive a market as any of the other cities that tried to land the team (well, New Orleans is probably better than St. Louis since the St. Louis market is pretty well saturated and probably can't support a 4th team at this time).

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    #9 mrpaige, Mar 25, 2001
  10. Timing

    Timing Member

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    Maybe the NBA forced Heisley to go through the motions to get some feelers for Charlotte to move. Kind of a behind the scenes you can move if you drive up the price for another owner. Maybe yes? Nah... [​IMG]

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    #10 Timing, Mar 25, 2001
  11. Old School

    Old School Member

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    From what I heard, New Orleans made the mistake of building a very unimpressive new arena without room for suite expansion.

    Old School

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    I voted YES!
     
    #11 Old School, Mar 26, 2001
  12. Smokey

    Smokey Member

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    Hopefully the Raptors will learn from the Grizzlies mistake. Losing VC is committing team suicide. Vancouver fans have supported the team to an extent. No one is gonna support a losing product.

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    #12 Smokey, Mar 26, 2001
  13. Old School

    Old School Member

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    With Pitino-mania in full effect in Louisville, Memphis is probably the better location. Memphis is also more suited to the lifestyle of the players, imo.

    Old School

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    I voted YES!
     
    #13 Old School, Mar 26, 2001
  14. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    Looks like Memphis is the choice:

    Heisley reportedly prefers move to Memphis
    ESPN.com news services

    Vancouver Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley on Monday will tell NBA commissioner David Stern that the franchise should be relocated to Memphis, Tenn., The New York Times reported in its Sunday editions.

    The Times cited three sources familiar with the franchise's plans and said the recommendation would be made, barring a last-minute change of heart.

    Memphis emerged as the favorite thanks to support from Federal Express, winning a bidding war over Louisville and its main corporate sponsor, the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Anaheim and New Orleans were also in the hunt, while Las Vegas recently fell out of the running.

    "Memphis is pulling away from the pack," said one of the people with knowledge of Vancouver's plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "There are some big-money people stepping up, they have a good arena and they have enlisted some major corporate sponsorship to bring the team there. At this point, I would be surprised if it wasn't Memphis."

    Memphis's package was apparently too complete to pass up. It included a major financial commitment from Federal Express, which has its headquarters in Memphis. AutoZone founder J.R. (Pitt) Hyde III is reportedly heading up a group of investors prepared to purchase minority ownership in the franchise. Memphis also has commitments for more than half of its planned 70 luxury suites in a proposed new arena. Cooperation from both local government and private citizens has also helped secure the bid.

    Heisley, a Chicago businessman who was said to be interested in keeping the franchise within a few hours' flight of his residence, would retain majority ownership, said the people with knowledge of Vancouver's plans. Until a new arena is built, the franchise would share court time with Memphis University in the 20,000-seat Pyramid, a 32-story stainless steel facility on the banks of the Mississippi River.

    With the Grizzlies expected to become the first NBA franchise to relocate since the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985, thus ends part of the league's Canadian expansion dream. The team, which has never won more than 22 games since Vancouver and Toronto began their inaugural seasons in 1995, has already had three owners.

    After saying that he expects the team to lose $46 million in Vancouver this season, Heisley was given permission by Stern to explore a relocation in mid-February.

    Leading up to Monday's extended deadline for a relocation application, Heisley was courted heavily by all four of the leading prospective cities.

    Louisville officials boasted that the parent company of Kentucky Fried Chicken had offered Heisley $100 million – $5 million annually for 20 years – to move the team there, rename it the Kentucky Colonels and have it play in a new arena called the KFC Bucket.

    The Walt Disney Corporation's offer of financial assistance for terminating the team's lease in Vancouver and enhancements for a Grizzlies sublease at the Pond, where the Disney-owned Mighty Ducks of the NHL control the lease, helped Anaheim's cause.

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    #14 Jeff, Mar 26, 2001
  15. DunkingDeutschman

    DunkingDeutschman Member

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    That Southern Division would be nice. Having the Hawks, Hornets, Grizz, and Carter-less Raptors in our divsion, the three Texan teams would get a lot of easy wins. [​IMG]

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    #15 DunkingDeutschman, Mar 26, 2001
  16. mrpaige

    mrpaige Member

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    #16 mrpaige, Mar 26, 2001
  17. HOOP-T

    HOOP-T Member

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    #17 HOOP-T, Mar 26, 2001
  18. ArtVandolet

    ArtVandolet Member

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    Could this be the reason that the Kentucky lost out? Imagine the uniforms...

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    #18 ArtVandolet, Mar 26, 2001
  19. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Member

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    Memphis is probably the best choice. I'm torn now: I'd like to root for a Memphis team, but would also like to bear a grudge against Heisley for taking the team out of Vancouver. I think, in the end, my grudge-bearing will win out.

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    #19 JuanValdez, Mar 26, 2001
  20. Isabel

    Isabel Member

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    According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal website, they've just chosen Memphis.

    I grew up there and it's still hard to believe they've finally landed a major-league team... the city has wanted one for a long time, but hopefully it will know what to do with one now that it has one. They used to always concentrate on getting an NFL team, but I don't know why - Memphis is more a basketball town, and it would fill a big hole in a part of the country where there are no NBA teams.

    "Memphis Express"... keeps making me think of Round Rock Express here. It's a little bit of a vague concept. Though I understand they need all the help from FedEx they can get and (what else) a bigger arena, the thing that everyone wants. Guess the pyramid's too small... (after all the work we put into building it just 10 years ago) Too bad they can't play in the "Tomb of Doom" and rename themselves the Pharaohs.

    At least let's all be thankful that it wasn't Louisville... not because of the city, but because of the advertising concept. Colonels? I'd hate to see a red- and white-striped, fried-chicken-fed team on the court...

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    #20 Isabel, Mar 26, 2001
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