Greensboro among seven cities being considered for an NBA D-League team

[cityboi]

Greensboro is among 7 cities being considered for an NBA D League team for the Charlotte Hornets. Its has been said its a long shot due to the Greensboro Coliseum's busy schedule but there is a chance a professional basketball team could return to the Gate City. Greensboro had a minor league basketball team back in the early 1990s called the "Greensboro Gators" before that Greensboro was home to the ABA Carolina Cougars in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The ABA was considered major league and was in competition with the NBA until the two merged.  Most of the teams folded during the merger but a few ABA teams such as the Indiana Pacers moved on to the NBA.

 

 

http://www.news-record.com/sports/greensboro-among-cities-considered-for-hornets-d-league-team/article_5b6b680a-f28e-11e4-a94d-136d131b6150.html

[cityboi]

Coliseum director Matt brown stated that he would like to see home games rotated around the triad with some games being played in Winston Salem. This was how the Carolina cougars operated

[zalo]

Ah, yeah, its in the article you posted. Captain Redundant strikes again.  The Hornets should put that team in SC, where there is no good basketball. Who the H*ll needs NBA D league ball when the Demon Deacons are the Triad's ACC Team and there are 3 ACC teams competing in the Triangle.  In the meantime, Wake Forest really picked a "winner" in Brown regarding programming at the Joel.  For the over 2 years, there has been nothing brought to the Joel that wouldn't have already been coming. Extremely unimpressive especially considering the GSO Consolidated Colossal Coliseum Crew is raking in over $100,000 per year for their services "managing"  the place. It seemed like a dumb idea when announced and it has proven to be so.

[RichardC]

A fold in waiting, just like those that happened before in Asheville, Charleston, Fayetteville and other small cities.  If the Hornets as a bigtime NBA team cannot even sellout it's own arena, which is smaller in capacity, I don't see Greensboro having much success with a sub-rate team.

 

On the side note, I don't see Wake dealing with the Gso Coliseum Authority for long if it does not make a return on it's investment.  Gso doesn't care about the Joel and it's success.  It wants the big draws for it's own coliseum, leaving the Joel with the crumbs.

[cityboi]

Yeah and Greensboro is much bigger than Asheville or Fayettevile. It would have been a surprise to see more than 200 fans in those cities.

[RichardC]

We know how enthusiastic you are about anything happening in Greensboro.  You live to be the first to report it, if not on this forum, on the city data forum.   But let's face it.....Greensboro will not support something like this, long term, regardless of how many more people it has than Asheville or Fayetteville.  Here in Charlotte, the living great legend Michael Jordan himself cannot fill the seats of Bobcats/Hornets Arena.

 

Best wishes.

[cityboi]

Thanks for the negative outlook. Wouldn't expect anything else for any positive news for Greensboro.

[Rufus]

In an attempt to change the tone of this conversation from becoming a bash-fest:

 

Greensboro does make some sense because of the coliseum and the history of basketball in the city (mainly thanks to the ACC).  However, I do think that with the coliseum being so busy it would be difficult to sustain a D-League schedule.  I would much rather see the Hornets play some pre-season games in the coliseum.  

 

The report does state that Greenville, SC and Asheville are contenders, A) because Greenville is so close to the Charlotte area, and B) because the Hornets have their pre-season in Asheville.  I would also say that Wilmington or Charleston could play a key role in developing D-League talent.  Fayetteville has (had?) a D-League team at the Crown Coliseum for a time.  But I don't think Fayetteville exactly screams support for a pro franchise.  I would look at the smaller cities, like Greenville, Asheville, and Wilmington before looking at Greensboro.  That's just my opinion.  

 

If Greensboro is in the running, good for it.  It deserves some pro-sports love considering it sits between the two areas that have teams.  If it doesn't get a team, by all means not a knock on the city itself.  It's in a tough position.