Charlotte Bobcats Arena

[Subway Scoundrel]

oh, and $6.75 for 20 oz pour of bud or bud light... ouch. that doesn't include a tip.

Come to THE RBC where Bud/Bud Light is $7.50 with imports/good domestics (Sierra Nevada/Stella/Carolina Pale Ale) are $8.50 with a 24oz Labatts at $10.

After a while, you don't even flinch. The beer is worth it, especially when winning.

[Southernyank]

IMO, professional basketball has become the most uneventful and boring game around. the most compelling thing that happened on the court was during halftime when they had locals doing a slamdunk contest.

i have been trying to understand why NBA ball has become so mundane to me... i mean i used to really love it. i still love college hoops, nothing beats march madness

I think You guys should come to a Heat Game. The Pistons and Heat just played in Detroit on Wednesday to a sold out crowd. I went to the Heat game when Detroit came to town in Febuary... You would have thought that it was march madness!

[SmellyCat]

^South Florida fans...passionate about sports?

[Southernyank]

^South Florida fans...passionate about sports?

Sports where you get to sit indoors

[atlrvr]

^South Florida fans...passionate about sports?

Sure....Jai-Alai

[atlrvr]

In today's print edition of the CBJ, there were talks about the upcoming sell of the 1/3 acre parcel, now currently vacant with grass and trees on the block with the arena at Trade and Caldwell.

They report that 3 local developers and several out of town developers are interested in the site for residential uses.

The city requires any development to have ground floor retail, and the architecture must "match" the arena. Looks like more pseudo-historic buildings.

And yes, David Furman is considering the site.

I just can't figure out how that site will work. It looks like it will be very difficult to provide access to as the city won't allow a curb-cut on Trade, and a curb cut on Caldwell only will accomodate southbound traffic....I guess that's no different than a one-way street, so maybe it won't be as difficult as I'm imagining but it is a very tight site.

The starting price is $2.1M, which means this is price over $6M an acre. I'm curious as to what can be built there to justify that kind of pricing.....

[UrbanCharlotte]

Hmm... Sounds pretty interesting. I didn't think they would consider residential on that small site. Wonder what they'll consider building... Anyone want to take a guess on what they'll try to build there?

[tiblerbrit]

Maybe they're thinking of building some sort of twin-towers project, with two towers (one on the arena parcel) and one where that tent is on the webcam now. They could put the parking deck over there too and have some sort of over street connection.

[dubone]

The site with the tent is where the Federal Courthouse will go when the USGSA determines it is ready for a new one (maybe circa 2012).

EDIT: I can't see the webcam, but did you mean the skinny parcel along Caldwell south of Trade? In that case, it is a good idea. Perhaps they could build them as a gateway project, with a fancy bridge connecting to the two sites, the twin towers idea is kind of cool, too. It would be especially cool if the bridge is at a higher level than the typical 2nd/3rd floors.

EDIT #2: The tents are only on the site that is reserved for the federal courthouse.

[A2]

The starting price is $2.1M, which means this is price over $6M an acre. I'm curious as to what can be built there to justify that kind of pricing.....

After gazing into my Crystal Ball A2 sees something VERY tall to justify the price for the parcel.

A2

[hueion39]

On a side note, I stopped by Redd's BBQ last week... He mentioned the theme of the arena site will be Blues and BBQ, full bar, bands playing Thur, Fri, Sat, and special events. He mentioned he is on his third investor. The previous two were not prepared for such a large scale project. He mentioned he wanted to make it the "place to go" when you stop in Charlotte. I hope he can pull it out.

[eastsider]

The ECHL regular season ended yesterday with the Checkers finishing 4th in league attendance with a total of 210,132 and an average of 5,837. The league average attendance was 4,370.

Last year at Cricket Arena, the Checkers had an average of 5,048 with a total of 181,746.

[Rickydavisfan21]

[monsoon]

All is not well with the Bobcats. Apparently there is going to be a shake up in the organization as indicated by the abrupt resignation of the Bobcats president, Ed Tapscott. Despite the very generous gift of a free brand new state of the art NBA specific arena from the Charlotte taxpayers, it appears the Bobcats have the 3rd worst attendence in all of the NBA.

Channel 18's news last night indicated the Bobcats are suffering from lack of interest by residents, many of which resent an arena shoved down their throat (their words), and even negative feelings for the NBA in general which was generated by George Shinn. All of the promises of endless pleasure in its most primitive form made by the Bobcats, arena boosters, and the government officials to justify the expense of the arena have not come true. The Bobcats are now faced with reducing seat costs to try to entice more people into the place. In the meantime, the "Royal Boxes" which is the reason the new arena is significantly smaller than the Charlotte Coliseum it replaced, have not sold out.

Meanwhile the arena has created a fairly large void in the city center that is lacking of people and streetlife outside of events.

Its a sad situation for sure.

[DanRNC]

The current ownership of the Bobcats is a disaster-Shinn was a pro compared to this group. The bottom line is that without a winning team in the next 2 years this franchise is in serious trouble. Seems like Bob is pretty tight with the checkbook in acquiring players as well-a recipe for failure.

[ElricSeven]

All is not well with the Bobcats. Apparently there is going to be a shake up in the organization as indicated by the abrupt resignation of the Bobcats president, Ed Tapscott. Despite the very generous gift of a free brand new state of the art NBA specific arena from the Charlotte taxpayers, it appears the Bobcats have the 3rd worst attendence in all of the NBA.

Channel 18's news last night indicated the Bobcats are suffering from lack of interest by residents, many of which resent an arena shoved down their throat (their words), and even negative feelings for the NBA in general which was generated by George Shinn. All of the promises of endless pleasure in its most primitive form made by the Bobcats, arena boosters, and the government officials to justify the expense of the arena have not come true. The Bobcats are now faced with reducing seat costs to try to entice more people into the place. In the meantime, the "Royal Boxes" which is the reason the new arena is significantly smaller than the Charlotte Coliseum it replaced, have not sold out.

Meanwhile the arena has created a fairly large void in the city center that is lacking of people and streetlife outside of events.

Its a sad situation for sure.

I think, though, that's the team's problem and not the citys. My sense is that they focused to much on the entertainment and not on the basketball. Bickerstaff is supposed to be a pretty lousy coach.

Winning breeds interest, the greatest facility in the world won't solve that. They need to come up with a playoff caliber team or at least a superstar to draw fans to the arena.

[swh1972]

Not having a full salary cap didn't help either...

[eastsider]

The situation is not dire. This ownership group is way better than Shinn, who the NBA sees as an embarasment. Yes, they have made mistakes but guess what, they have admitted them and have done what they can do to correct them. The NBA as a whole is on an upswing. The average attendance set a record high this season and the playoffs that are currently underway have seen a double-digit increase in ratings. I don't see things as being that bad for them, they were hit hard by injuries last season, but they played hard every night, there were only a handful of games that they were not competitive in. As long as a good effort is there by the team, I will gladly pay money to see them.

Also, the Bobcats were #22 out of 30 in attendance last season which by my math is not 3rd from last. But if it was Fox18 that broke the story then I guess that makes sence.

[Pantherhead]

Not having a full salary cap didn't help either...

Yep, they were only allowed to spend like 30-40% of the reg. salary cap the first season, and somewhere between 40-60% last year. Which they did. This year they'll be allowed to spend the full amount. Which I have a feeling they will. Robert Johnson could buy everything George Shinn owns five times over if he really wanted to.

Also their attendance figures were 22nd in the league at 16,366. Better than 8 other well established teams. The 3rd worst in the league number was for season tix sold not for total att.

The firing of Tapscott is not a big deal, GM's and coaches get fired in sports ALL the time, especially during an expansion teams first couple of seasons. Remember Dick Harter? Dom Capers? Allan Bristow?

[dubone]

I'm pretty sure 22 out of 30 is 3rd from last. Don't argue with me on that one.

I'm glad they are shaking up their organization. It means they are willing to let heads roll for specific decisions, meaning they admit that things could be better for them if they had made different choices.

It is a good thing they are locked in to a very serious 25 year lease. If not, they might be looking to a new arena to solve their problems . As it is, they'll need to look at their internal cost structure and other decisions in order to form a more productive and supported team. This is great news for the long term viability of this NBA team.

[DanRNC]

Here is a story about a possible sale of the Bobcats to none other than Michael Jordan. Maybe he can work wonders for this team like he did with the Wizards

Link

[monsoon]

This is the telling tale from that article:

"I'm told that the Bobcats lost money this season in spite of having the league's smallest player payroll ($33 million) and newest arena. As a result, people around the league who study such things say they would not be surprised if Johnson sold the franchise,......"

In other words the insistance that the team could only be successful if the taxpayers shelled out $300M for a new facility and support were simply not true. As many of you are pointing out, the arena has nothing to do with their success or failure. They could have continued to lose money in the old arena just as easily, but Charlotte would have $300M to spend on something else, and an arena that is competitive with other arenas in the state.

Charlotte is getting a lot of coverage on national TV right now because of NASCAR, and one of the celebrities was joking...... "What's going on with Charlotte, why are they tearing down a perfectly good arena.....?"

[queensguy06]

As stated previously, the Bobcats were 22 out of 30 in attendance this season - and that's with the worst record! That's a hell of a lot better than when the Hornets were leaving town.

You also have to understand that while there have been some bumps in the road, what new franchise doesn't have those? I mean they have only been playing for 2 seasons - name me one NBA team that had a playoff caliber performance within their first two years.

Just a side note...there are some rumblings going around that Larry Brown - that's right, THE Larry Brown - might be coming to Charlotte to take over the head coach spot. That man could turn any franchise around in just a couple of seasons.

[monsoon]

You also have to understand that while there have been some bumps in the road, what new franchise doesn't have those? I mean they have only been playing for 2 seasons - name me one NBA team that had a playoff caliber performance within their first two years.

If the owner of the team is ready to give up after less than two years, it isn't exactly an ringing endorsement for the franchise. So much for his "commitment to Charlotte" which again was why the city "invested" in a new arena for him. (against the wishes of the voters) It's only about money these days, and in terms of money the taxpayers got rooked.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Just a side note...there are some rumblings going around that Larry Brown - that's right, THE Larry Brown - might be coming to Charlotte to take over the head coach spot. That man could turn any franchise around in just a couple of seasons.

Even the Knicks?

I'm curious what the bobcats will be called if there is a change in ownership. I just can't get excited about a team with an elementary school name.