| Tapioca | 10-07-2010 08:10 AM |
From today's Globe and Mail: Quote:
Grizzlies country once more?
HAYLEY MICK
VANCOUVER— From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Oct. 06, 2010 9:24PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Oct. 07, 2010 10:23AM EDT
On Wednesday night, nine years after the Grizzlies skipped town, Vancouverites sold out Rogers Arena for a rare, live glimpse of NBA preseason action.
They roared for local hero Steve Nash and his Pheonix Suns, cheered the opposing Toronto Raptors, and generally looked ecstatic for the chance to see basketball up close.
It sure looked like an NBA city. But could the love affair last long enough for a team to permanently set up shop?
“I hope so,” Nash told a crowd of reporters before tipoff. “I don’t know how politically that would go down … but I think it’d be a great opportunity to correct maybe a misstep.”
Business analysts say Vancouver has come a long way since a terrible exchange rate, poor attendance numbers, and a towering disappointment known as Big Country all conspired to rob basketball fans of their NBA franchise.
“Vancouver has changed a lot in the decade since the Grizzlies left town, and in the 15 since they were established here,” said Tom Mayenknecht, a sports business expert and radio host who was an NBA executive from 1994 to 1996, serving two years with the Grizzlies as vice-president of communications.
“It’s a much bigger market, has more media infrastructure than it did 15 years ago, and it has the Vancouver 2010 [Olympics] experience behind it.”
He says the key would be making it part of a centralized franchise group – so, having Canucks Sports and Entertainment own the team or at least be in partnership with the new owner, thus giving the NBA team instant access to infrastructure that supports things such as ticket sales, marketing, merchandising.
CSE is currently in an expansionist mode. They brought mixed martial arts fighting to town, took a run becoming owner of the city’s new Major League Soccer franchise, and are expected to bid for the B.C. Lions should the CFL club go up for sale. They monitor NBA franchises when they hit the market, and Vancouver Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini was rumoured to have spoken to the Indiana Pacers owner about his team last year – although head office has declined to comment on the subject publicly.
(“Our primary focus at this point is to continue to deliver on our core business objectives around the hockey team and event business,” Canucks chief operating officer Victor de Bonis said in a statement on Wednesday.)
Arthur Griffiths, whose family at one time owned the Grizzlies and Canucks, says he believes Vancouver is “as solid as it gets” when it comes to NBA potential.
The currency problem that plagued the Grizzlies is now fixed, with the loonie often neck-and-neck with the American dollar. (It had sunk to $0.65 U.S. by the time the Grizzlies left in 2001, relocating to Memphis.)
Vancouver has also been relatively immune to the recent economic woes that have plagued other North American cities, Griffiths says. Statistics Canada has Vancouver ranked fourth in the number of corporate head offices behind Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal – although Vancouver’s on the rise. A recent report showed a 23-per-cent growth rate in head offices between 2000 and 2009 – from 68 to 84.
Still, financial factors don’t address the reality of playing basketball here, says Raptors assistant coach Scott Roth, who was with the Grizzlies during their final season in Vancouver.
The city was beautiful, but sometimes they felt banished to the edge of the Earth. Besides Seattle and Portland, every NBA opponent was at least 2 1/2 hours away – meaning constant jet lag, long flights, and the delays with customs when they finally got home.
“It was a hike to get almost anywhere. It was hard on the players. It was a grind,” he said.
The league, for its part, says it won’t be expanding to Vancouver – or anywhere else – any time soon.
“There are no plans to expand or relocate a team so we don’t discuss any market in those terms,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
If and when a team is up for grabs, Vancouver will face competition from cities such as Las Vegas and Seattle. But at least one person is willing to help bring a team back home.
“To be a part of that movement? For sure,” Nash said. “This city loves NBA basketball. So I would be completely supportive of that.”
With a report from Matthew Sekeres
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...article1746585
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