Can the Bobcats endure in North Carolina?

[TheBeagle]

This post is written as a companion piece to John Delong's disheartening article from Saturday's Winston-Salem Journal sports section, lugubriously titled "R.I.P.: NBA." Before I comment further, take a minute to read the article, then meet me back here......

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArti cle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353271775&path=!sports&s=1 037645509200


The most impressive thing about this article is John's genuine despondency about the state of the game he loves in the region that he loves; I've emailed him about this article, asking him if this is the most difficult piece he's had to write, as I'm thinking that if it isn't, it's definitely up there. I believe a lot of the pain that he writes from comes from the apparently horrific turnout at the LJVM by any semblence of Bobcats fans, but then again, he was also at the Nets preseason game at the Arena, which had a slightly higher attendance, though an equally uninspired bunch.

While some of you may be upset about his brief '05 draft assessment, I think the general conclusion he arrives at is incredibly thought-provoking, as I found myself thinking it over throughout the day: Is the NBA in North Carolina (Charlotte specifically) chiseled on a tombstone?

My opinion is that the NBA has become a niche sport across the country as a whole, and may never attain the heights it did during the Bird-Magic-MJ era. This is due to various factors, which I don't need to expound on here, but the point is that it is going to be very difficult to "convert" those who are outside the "niche" into fans, much less the average person to come to attend games on a semi-regular basis. In Charlotte, which is as fickle a sports city as I know of, I don't know what it could take to create "fans" for the Bobcats, and that is what is really disheartening. I'm worried that the North Carolina NBA fan is just a step above the North Carolina NHL fan; I mean, it was pretty cool that the Hurricanes won the Stanley Cup a couple years back, and they're good again this year, but really, I don't care all that much how they do. I mean, they won the CHAMPIONSHIP of their sport, and they probably attracted 2 or 3 thousand new fans at the absolute most, so what hope do the Bobcats have (an admittedly niche sport a la the NHL) to create "fans" and build a solid future here? They are at best 2 years away from contending for Eastern conference supremacy, but by that time, will anyone care all that much? Will there be anymore of an enthusiastic response than mine about the Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup? At this point, I just don't know.

John wrote this article out of the noticably palpable Bobcats apathy that filled the LJVM's thousands of empty seats, so take that into account; his ultimate proclomation of NBA death in North Carolina was the result of the frustration and disappointment of, as he states, the previous franchise, the current franchise's management debacles, and the lackluster response to the Bobcats across the state thus far. That said, if viewed subjectively, take off those orange and blue colored glasses and see how things are, I'd have to say he's closer to being right than wrong. And like John, it really pains me to think that.

Nontheless, I'm not planning on composing a Bobcats requiem. I'm going to be there Friday night in the hopes that this is the beginning of a successful Bobcats team. I think that's really all any of us can do; we can't coerce people into liking the Bobcats or going to games (though I've done pretty good with friends and family). We can support the guys that take the court, we can yell, make noise, stand up and clap, even if the majority of the people around us are sitting on their asses giving "golf claps"; we can just be the trueblood fans that we are.

[davcbow]

I still think that in order for the Cats to pick up fans they need to broadcast more games on regular TV. Not just pay per view or some package thats 3 or 4 payments of $40 bucks. The Hornets had commersials, they had radio coverage almost every game, they even showed alot of the away games on regular TV. To the average person in NC the NBA appears to be about nothing but money. Now how the heck are they going to get the average person to come to a game or do the pay per view stuff if they have never seen a Bobcats game? Thats the stuff Shinn did right in the beginning, but like the article stated greed took over and that ruined it. I wouldnt of known about last nights game in WS if I wasnt already a fan. I have talked to friends and family and most of them dont even know it was basketball season already let alone there was a game being played in WS. ADVERTISE this team people or it will fold....Im no genious but I am smart enough to know how to drum up business. Greed is ruining the world and everything in it, sports included....

[Edrow]

That was definitely a good read. Although I don't agree with the 05 Draft (Should coulda woulda, the past is over, you can't change it so why dwell on it?), the rest of the article is really insightful.

I've said it before on this board, and I'll say it again, this team needs to be marketed better. It seems as if they are trying though, with the newspaper ads, caravan tours, and what not, so I dunno, that's at least a start to their new marketing campaign. Who knows, I guess at the end of the year we'll find out if it got better?

-Edrow

[spectre]

2007 Carolina Hurricanes Regular Season Attendance

Check out those attendence numbers for the Canes since they won the cup...and remember that last year they sucked, didn't even make the playoffs.

Winning my friend...does it almost every time.

Of course there aren't direct parallels between the two. Hockey had to win over new fans that were just disinterested; most of us didn't know the rules, didn't care for skating...and for sports nuts like me there just wasn't enough time in the year for a new sport.

We made some noise back in 03 as the underdog (and everyone loves an underdog), even making the powerhouse Detroit sweat a little by winning the first game in the finals at their place. That got a lot of us interested; how can you ignore a team like that who's right in your back yard? The '05 season sealed it; the team was awesome and we go on to win the finals. We had the LOUDEST arena in hockey that year...Redneck Hockey was King!!!

Now almost everyone around here knows the rules to hockey.

Of course there are major differences between the two...mainly this wasn't the 2nd time around and they have no other professional sport to contend with. They also have the unique ability to pull fans from the different college camps, where they can come together and pull for the same team, but I still think the main ingredient to pull the fans boils down to WINNING.

I like Delong, but he does let his emotions get into his work somewhat. Five thousand is pathetic for WS, esp. with their hometown boy doing his thing. However...in Greensboro they had around 15 thousand in attendance for a preseason game. Chapel Hill always had decent numbers too, so I think "RIP" is going a little far.

And the "cheap" shot is totally that...a cheap shot. As Delong well knows we were restricted in our cap for the first 2 years, then we go straight to the cap limit at the beginning of year 4. They've definitely made mistakes, but geesh...what new business group does NOT make mistakes?

So far as the '05 draft...what was Delong's take then? I honestly don't remember, but the majority wanted to hang onto both picks. Like I said in the Bonnell piece...quite easy to beat on it now.

IMO he's wrong. Winning will revive the corpse. I think we generate a little noise this year, add a big next summer then we make some more. Fans won't ignore it.

[Keetch]

Okay many points here...and hiya Beagle...

John Delong is far and away my favorite sports writer in our region. He's just an excellent reporter and commentator. As most or you know, he was the WS Journals beat writer for the Hornets and still works for the Journal, but covers all sports now, including the Bobcats. I looked forward to everything he wrote during the Hornets time whether positive or negative, and after while there was plenty of negative; but never anything like this. I've been passively hoping he would jump on the Bobcats beat, but didn't think there was any energy that way from the paper, and probably from John. But the Cats really need a decent reporter on their beat, as there are none at the moment. It pains me to see Bonnell's work copied by the main stream media.

Near the end of the Hornets run and the height of my frustration I emailed John Delong and he replied very graciously, in fact hinted to me that the NBA wouldn't be out of Charlotte long, that he felt a new team would be back soon enough. He was completely right. I wrote to him about how the death knell of any sports team is to kill your fans hope that the team can be a champion. I felt the Hornets had done that completely, well before they announced they were leaving.

Now this article. I hope he retracts it. Its grossly premature to write off the Bobcats. Have you seen the crowds at other preseason games around the country? Its all the same, and has been this way for a long time. As he says, only diehard fans track the preseason, and that's ok. The NBA preseason isn't spring baseball for retirees in Florida and Arizona, few people care.

Professional basketball is any expensive game to see live, and most people know it.

I spent a lot of money on Bobcats season tickets. I live in Winston-Salem. I didn't even consider going to the game here. Why? Because it's preseason; its the last preseason game, that's why and money don't grow on trees. I've spent enough. If I spend anymore it will be on playoff tickets. That plus I knew the game was about Chris Paul, not the Bobcats, and thats okay; Chris Paul is from Lewisville (just outside of WS), starred in HS here, starred at Wake Forest and comes back every summer to lead very worthwhile and very VISIBLE charity efforts, bringing "buddies" LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard along with him. It's a big deal here. Everyone knows who Chris Paul is. Knowing the lovefest was on, kept me away.

So don't write off the Bobcats because of that game. Move on.

Beagle, I like your comment about the NBA being a niche sport. For sure, for sure. I see that when I look to share tickets with my clients. I know that many of them could care less. But I'm also seeing a growing interest amongst them. The NBA may be niche, but its also the place where most of your college bball heroes end up. EVERYONE knows the NBA and its elite players, whether they follow them closely or not. Just like everyone knows Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (now that's a niche sport if there ever was one).

The NBA is fine. And it has a future in NC so long as the team continues to do good things on the court and off.

Haven't the Bobcats sold out all of their lower level season tickets? That's what I've been told. We'll see how this year goes.

[rallydurham]

The Bobcats have made too many errors to count.

1) Not landing a star in 4 seasons or building a good team.

2) Marketing to black people instead of white people.

3) Television debacle

[bizzlecatz]

The Bobcats have made too many errors to count.

1) Not landing a star in 4 seasons or building a good team.

2) Marketing to black people instead of white people.

3) Television debacle

Please tell me how they were marketing to black people. Enlighting me please.

[dnbman]

Television... unquestionably.


But your other two are pretty ridiculous.

There's only been a handful of true stars on the market. Most of them resigned with their own teams. The others took overpriced contracts with other teams. As for the draft, there's only been a couple of "stars" that were drafted since the Bobcats inception: Paul, Williams, Howard, and maybe Durant. You can't blame the organization for not getting the ping-pong balls to get those players, all of whom were drafted ahead of us. You could criticize them for not trading up, but they can't force a team to trade down. Utah was able to at a pretty steep price. If he doesn't pan out, they look like idiots. If May is healthy, we clearly would be better of with the picks we made.

What we have done is get some great players that have been overly scrutinized because everybody's looking for a messiah to save the franchise rather than a good baller, complete with flaws, that fits into our system. Morrison was the only true questionable acquisition, and nobody in the draft stood out as a clear option at our pick. And Morrison was actually looking pretty good until he got injured.

As for the second one, hip-hop culture (which I assume you mean for marketing to "blacks") is ubiquitous in American sports entertainment. You can go to hockey games and hear the same music. The mascot is meant to appeal to kids, not 30+ year old adults. Other than that, I'm not sure what you mean, especially since they've clearly marketed Adam and Matt (and to a lesser extent Hermann) on the website and advertisement montages. I just don't think you have a point at all there.

[rallydurham]

Everyone who goes to games comments on how the atmosphere is too black in the arena. There is no doubt about it the Bobcats have been too urban to appeal to the demographic that can afford to buy tickets.

Also, naming the team the Bobcats instead of the Flight was an enormous mistake. Bobcats is a stupid name and they picked hideous colors that even black fans have trouble purchasing their merchandise.

When you put a team in a snooty market like Charlotte, you need to have a more preppy appeal. Atlanta tries to market as a black team in the blackest city in America and looked how bad the Hawks have failed. It's just bad business.

[bizzlecatz]

The problem with the Bobcats is the Media,they have the power to make or break you, and MJ of all people should know that.

Who the hell would want to go to a Bobcats game if you pick up a newspaper and turn to the sports section and this is the only crap you can read. Corporate America isn't. They're probably the only people to read newspapers nowadays anyway.

Create some excitment around the team and the fans will come flocking in, and they will sell more newspapers in the process.