Charlotte Hornets and the Arena

[tiblerbrit]

Charlotte is one of 19 US cities Radiohead will be visiting on their 2008 tour. Pretty exciting stuff. I assume they'll probably perform at the arena, but locations and dates will be announced later.

Edited January 9, 2008 by tiblerbrit

[Guest]

GO CATS, Way to beat the 29-3 Celtics easily. For those who missed it bobcats won 95 to 83.

That was the best basketball game i've seen from these guys in sometime, if not ever. MJ needs to go to practice and kick some butt more often.

[Southernyank]

Yeah, I saw the game. That was actuall a, close as you can get, flawless performance by the 'Cats. I think it was a shock to win by twelve, but not a shock that we won. We nearly beat them last month if it wasnt for the rookie mistake of passing the ball in bounds on the Celtics side of the court, as well as Ray Allen's recovery of the ball and .8 second buzzer beater. This game tonight was a complete game though. they actually looked like a viable basketball team.

PS. They're 29 and 4 now. :0

Edited January 10, 2008 by southernyank

[HopHead]

^Yea, that was a great game by the 'Cats... Glad to see Richardson redeem himself from that November game. Hopefully this can give them a jump start b/c they had not been the same since that Celtics game in November.

BTW - that's great about Radiohead. I'm impressed that we're on that short list of cities. I'm guessing it will be at Bobcats Arena.

[Raintree21]

The Arena has decided to go with Los Angelese based AEG to handle bookings and marketing of events.

[TeeJay]

Anyone have an idea when the arena will officially give naming rights to TimeWarner?

[Raintree21]

When they sign a contract? Haven't heard any talks of any deals made. Just that they were in talks a while back.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Raintree21

[Batou]

I'm just surprised it's lasted this long without a real corp name all over it.

[HopHead]

The Arena has decided to go with Los Angelese based AEG to handle bookings and marketing of events.

I just noticed that Greensboro booked Bon Jovi to play up there in March. My girlfriend is going to be upset if they don't come here too Hopefully AEG can get them to play Charlotte. Though, with as many bookings as CBA has over the next 4 months I see where that will be a challenge.

Edited January 16, 2008 by dbull75

[reverbandwhiskey]

I just noticed that Greensboro booked Bon Jovi to play up there in March. My girlfriend is going to be upset if they don't come here too Hopefully AEG can get them to play Charlotte. Though, with as many bookings as CBA has over the next 4 months I see where that will be a challenge.

They can take Bon Jovi, I guess Charlotte will have to settle for Radiohead this spring instead.

[redjeep77]

no....we'll settle for Bruce Springsteen lol

[Pantherhead]

They can take Bon Jovi, I guess Charlotte will have to settle for Radiohead this spring instead.

I wouldn't go see Bon Jovi if someone paid me $1000. But Radiohead on the other hand, I would gladly pay $500.00 for the opportunity. Their shows normally sell out in a few mins. Anyone have an inside scoop on a date for this show?

[HopHead]

It looks like Time Warner Cable getting the naming rights to Bobcats Arena is near a done deal per this article from Charlotte Biz Journals. We should hear something soon. They also indicated that Bobcats games may be available on FSN before season's end. That will about triple the number of available viewers to Bobcats games.

[HopHead]

^ An update to my previous post. The Charlotte Bobcats and Time Warner Cable are expected to close on the deal for naming rights to Bobcats arena THIS month. So hopefully this long process will finally conclude.

Edited February 8, 2008 by dbull75

[HopHead]

I noticed in the Charlotte Biz Journal that Time Warner Cable has come to an agreement for the naming rights at Walnut Creek Ampitheater in Raleigh. It'll be called Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek (try saying that in one breath). So if indeed Bobcats Arena does sign the deal with TW... expect it to be Time Warner Cable Arena and not Time Warner Arena, like some of us were hoping for.

[AuLukey]

Looking at it from an advertising angle, it makes more sense for them to advertise their product in this manner rather than just the name of their company. It's not really like Staples or Bank of America where the advertising is clear. Then again, what did Ericson stand to gain advertising their name with the Panthers? While less aesthetic, Ericson Mobile Stadium would've been more conducive to advertising their product. Time Warner owns so much and has so many products that I can't see it benefiting them to just put their name on something IMHO.

[monsoon]

The paper has an article today that suggests this will be the last year (after 12 years) there will be an ACC tournament in Charlotte because our NBA arena, that is heavy in expensive sky boxes, is simply too small to hold the event. As some of you might remember, the new arena seats significantly less than the Charlotte Coliseum it replaced because they had to remove seating for the sky boxes.

[tiblerbrit]

And the Business Journal has an article with the head of the ACC saying that they will likely change one of Greensboro's optional dates between 2013-2015 and give it back to Charlotte if the tournament is successful this week.

http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte...ml?surround=lfn

[swh1972]

The paper has an article today that suggests this will be the last year (after 12 years) there will be an ACC tournament in Charlotte because our NBA arena, that is heavy in expensive sky boxes, is simply too small to hold the event. As some of you might remember, the new arena seats significantly less than the Charlotte Coliseum it replaced because they had to remove seating for the sky boxes.

Charlotte Bobcats Arena is smaller than Greensboro Coliseum, but it's not too small to host this event. The United Center in Chicago and Madison Square Garden in New York host the Big Ten and Big East Tournaments respectively, and both are only marginally bigger than Charlotte's Arena.

Is the real issue that people don't want to travel far to see the tournament? With the games located in Greensboro, you can have your two flagship basketball programs drive to the game, and you get the benefit of having Wake and NC State very close as well. That's great for those schools, but the ACC made a decision a couple of years ago to add BC, Miami, FSU and VT, to become significant in football, and you will probably see those schools lobbying for a more neutral location for basketball than Greensboro.

Just my opinion.

[1979Heel]

I'm not sure how much more neutral and convenient you can get than Greensboro. The nearest ACC school is in Winston-Salem, some 25-30 miles away. It's driveable for at least 7 schools-Carolina, State, Duke, Wake, Clemson, Va Tech, UVa, maybe Ga Tech, too. The only other neutral site might be Tampa-the nearest ACC schools are a couple hundred miles away. But if Tampa was chosen, then it's out of the way, certainly not a drive, for all but 2 ACC schools.

I think wealthy alums don't mind the travel if their team is likely to win. For schools with a shallow basketball history, say Miami, distance and time become an issue. North Carolina is in the middle of the conference footprint and is the likely site for many tournaments, probably at Greensboro since it's larger than Bobcats Arena (why doesn't a Charlottean with means just give the Bobcats $$ and name it the Charlotte Coliseum??) But the tournament will also visit other sites, including Atlanta, DC, and Tampa.

[DCMetroRaleigh]

I'm not sure how much more neutral and convenient you can get than Greensboro. The nearest ACC school is in Winston-Salem, some 25-30 miles away. It's driveable for at least 7 schools-Carolina, State, Duke, Wake, Clemson, Va Tech, UVa, maybe Ga Tech, too. The only other neutral site might be Tampa-the nearest ACC schools are a couple hundred miles away. But if Tampa was chosen, then it's out of the way, certainly not a drive, for all but 2 ACC schools.

You forgot that GSO is driveable for Maryland.

[HopHead]

I don't think it will be the last year here in Charlotte. It just may be another 5 or 6 years before we see it again. There is an option with Greensboro in 2013-2015 to move it to another city. I think if Charlotte shows well, we will get the ACC again. Especially given all the entertainment options that will be next to the arena in the next year, it will definitely be a draw. Greensboro, while about 4k seats larger doesn't have these options that EpiCentre will provide. It's basically right off the interstate and has a BBQ joint across the street with strip malls down the road. Also, just think we may also have the NE Lynx extension by 2014

[1979Heel]

You forgot that GSO is driveable for Maryland.

"at least"

I dunno, though. Turtles move kinda slow

[monsoon]

^I don't think the few franchise stores, a small bowling alley and theater are going to mean much to the crowd that would come to an ACC game. They are more interested in having enough seats so all their supporters can come to the game which obviously the new NBA arena lacks. If downtown actually had some attractions that can't be had almost anywhere else, there might be something to this, but my guess is the other cities are going to make the point the NBA arena is just too small to meet these teams needs and they are going to agree.

The Charlotte Coliseum was built specifically to be the largest arena in the Carolinas, so that it could attract events such as this. That amazingly got forgotten in the push to get another NBA team here in Charlotte, and now the old problem is apparently returning. BTW, I have heard that bookings in the new arena are down 18% this year over last.

[swh1972]

I still question what is really driving this. The difference between 23,000 and 20,000 equates to approximately a 1500 fan per school shortage between Greensboro and Charlotte. Saying Charlotte's facility is too small is a cop out. It's not as if there were only 23,000 ACC fans out there, and they nicely fit into Greensboro Coliseum, and they are left to watch the games on TV when the tournament is hosted in Charlotte.

I can't imagine that money has anything to do with it either. You could charge outrageous prices for tickets to this tournament, and you would still sell it out.