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Rumors are starting to spread that Francesco Aquilini, owner of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, is reportedly expressing interest in purchasing the Indiana Pacers and moving the team to Vancouver, B.C. (Bleacher Report). Pacers co-owner Herb Simon are working as hard as they can to work out a new arena deal with the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board and says he doesn’t want to see Indy without an NBA team.

http://www.howeypolitics.com/2009/05/12/may-12-2009-hpi-daily-wire/

Is there any truth to this story? I would really hate to see it happen and would imagine that Indiana would sell the Fever before we moved the Pacers

Can't really see the NBA giving Vancouver another team when there are more attractive destinations, and this is IF the Pacers can't resolve their issues with the city, which I think they will.

We just need to add a good casino downtown. It's win-win! I think we will find a resolution before the Pacers were to be sold.

The Pacers already worked out their contract with the CIB and are legally obligated to be tenants in Conseco Fieldhouse for something like another 15 years or so.


No truth to this report.

scare tactics 101...

oh man, guess i'll re-consider migrating to Canada.

I'd root for the Vancouver Pacers until Granger and Rush leave.

Since I have no connections to Indiana, doesn't really matter where they play...I'll be a Pacers fan. I'd like to see them stay in Indiana, and theres less than a 1% chance that they move anyway, so its nothing to worry about.

DGrangeRx33 wrote:Since I have no connections to Indiana, doesn't really matter where they play...I'll be a Pacers fan. I'd like to see them stay in Indiana, and theres less than a 1% chance that they move anyway, so its nothing to worry about.

ditto.

Stern said in a podcast with Bill Simmons that since the NBA was such a colossal failure in Vancouver the first time around that he can't see the NBA going back there in the foreseeable future. Go fish.

^^

Stern said it was the nba fault not the city or the fans. The grizzlies were one of the worst run teams in the history of sports. Terrible coaching, players and the worst GM ever to step foot in the nba, Stu Jackson. Vancouver supported its team fine, considering how bad they were. They drew way more people even in there last year than memphis ever has. Vancouver is a world class city of around 4 million, has tons of money, strong international influence, its just a matter of time i feel before they get a team back

They had Mike Bibby, Shareef Abdur Rahim, and Big Country Reeves; so there was some talent there.

raptorsam wrote:^^

Stern said it was the nba fault not the city or the fans. The grizzlies were one of the worst run teams in the history of sports. Terrible coaching, players and the worst GM ever to step foot in the nba, Stu Jackson. Vancouver supported its team fine, considering how bad they were. They drew way more people even in there last year than memphis ever has. Vancouver is a world class city of around 4 million, has tons of money, strong international influence, its just a matter of time i feel before they get a team back

It will be a long, long time before the NBA goes back to Vancouver. I'm not arguing it's not a world-class city (by all accounts, it is), I'm just saying the NBA didn't fare so well there.

You'd have to think that there would be a lot of other cities that would get a shot with a franchise before Vancouver would get a 2nd shot.

St. Louis and a 2nd go round in Seattle immediately come to mind. Even Las Vegas.

Off the top of my head: St. Louis, Seattle, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Anaheim, San Jose, Tampa, and San Diego would all get a look before Vancouver would. Just my opinion.

conseco is any owners dream, especially considering it's in the most basketball crazed state on this planet. anyone who questions if this state can support a pro franchise only needs to go back to pre-brawl support. yeah, stern is right the nba screwed up when they villified our superior team. anyone who could care less if this team isn't in indy is only a fan of players, like my cousin who roots for a different nfl team every few years because he likes T.O. what a joke, and a poor excuse for a fan.

Woo, St. Louis! I don't think they would really embrace a basketball team, to be honest. It is a big city and they could get fans. They love the Cardinals and then the Blues. They liked the Rams, but only cause they won a super bowl, at least from what I have seen.

Boneman2 wrote:conseco is any owners dream, especially considering it's in the most basketball crazed state on this planet. anyone who questions if this state can support a pro franchise only needs to go back to pre-brawl support. yeah, stern is right the nba screwed up when they villified our superior team. anyone who could care less if this team isn't in indy is only a fan of players, like my cousin who roots for a different nfl team every few years because he likes T.O. what a joke, and a poor excuse for a fan.

I don't know about that, NC may be the most basketball crazed state. UNC/Duke is considered by many to be a bigger rivalry than Yankees/Red Sox.

Indiana has IU, at the very least. The basketball culture is more deeply ingrained, though I would say the basketball culture is close. The whole state of Indiana is basketball-crazy, whereas NC definitely centers around Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill.

UNC vs. Duke is different. It's a great rivalry, but just because 2 schools are both very good at basketball and are close and hate each other doesn't make the state bigger than Indiana. Do you think the biggest baseball state is New York? Although they have had mannnnyyyy HOFers from the Yanks (and Mets), it doesn't mean they're a baseball town.

Heck, Indiana probably has 10 high school gyms that are bigger than Dukes. We start young here.