Location, Location... RELOCATION!?

MagicFan101 · Post #1 » by **MagicFan101** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:18 pm

There is a lot of buzz right now about how many franchises are doing poorly financially and that of course brings with it talk of relocation.

The Magic appear to be a prime relocation target with potential destinations ranging from Tampa to Louisville to Vegas.

With an owner close to his final days, a new regime is coming and with it a relocation may be as well.

1) If the Magic leave will you still support them?

2) Do you believe whoever owns Orlando next will fight to keep them where they belong?

Thoughts?

Optimus_Steel · Post #2 » by **Optimus_Steel** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:31 pm

The team is not in danger of relocation because of Amway Center. The Magic actually do well financially considering they've been terrible. The one time relocation was possible was when Clay Bennett wanted to buy the team in the mid 2000's. He lied about keeping the team here but Martins knew he wanted to move the team to OKC. Thankfully they took the team off the sale block. Then Seattle lost their team. If the Magic were to move that would pretty much end my NBA fandom.

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MagicFan101 · Post #3 » by **MagicFan101** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:38 pm

According to Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst, the following 9 teams lost money last season:

Atlanta Hawks
Brooklyn Nets
Cleveland Cavaliers
Detroit Pistons
Memphis Grizzlies
Milwaukee Bucks
Orlando Magic
San Antonio Spurs
Washington Wizards

This is even after revenue sharing. I'm not sure how we could say "the Magic do well financially."

Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/14-nba-teams-lost-money-2016-17/#H18lCIrJBICJ7iB2.99

OrlChamps2030 · Post #4 » by **OrlChamps2030** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:54 pm

Why would I remain a fan of this team after relocation? Im only a fan because it's the hometown team. But anyways.. I don't expect relocation to even be a discussion unless we spend a few more years as a bottom dweller, Seattle completes an arena, and RDV passes and the family wants to sell

pepe1991 · Post #5 » by **pepe1991** » Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:56 pm

New CBA is joke anyway. Why megastars don't share their amount of money with rest of nba? It's not like they would ever be nike/UA stars without platform of NBA.

Adam Silver did literally nothing to make league watchable and regular season interesting. Whole regular season ,especially for East is just one colossal waste of time when you already know conference finals members without even playing.
Not to mentioned whole allstar game fiasco and relocation because of transgender people's toilete ( despite opposite opinion from liberals and SJW,given how huge is their suicide rate and how many of them are unhappy after changing sex, it's clear that it's mental illness , not something that should be accepted as "normal" but whatever)... But heey, mr WorldWide ( not PitBull) Silver jumped a shark on that one.

darthmerrick · Post #6 » by **darthmerrick** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:35 am

Isn't there a big penalty the owner would have to pay to break the Amway Center lease? I thought the team was pretty much guaranteed to be in Orlando till that 25 year lease was up because tax payers paid hundreds of millions for Amway Center.

MagicFan101 · Post #7 » by **MagicFan101** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:37 am

I see everyone is quick to abandon the team if they leave Orlando and, at first, that is my reaction as well.

But I left Florida 8 years ago and still passionately support the Magic. People move around all the time and still support their teams. Is it really so different if the team moves? It will be the same players... I know, I know... it won't really be the same. But it is an interesting question.

darthmerrick · Post #8 » by **darthmerrick** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:41 am

darthmerrick wrote:Isn't there a big penalty the owner would have to pay to break the Amway Center lease? I thought the team was pretty much guaranteed to be in Orlando till that 25 year lease was up because tax payers paid hundreds of millions for Amway Center.

I was wrong, it's a 30 year lease.

The Orlando Magic will contribute at least $50 million in cash up-front, pick up any cost overruns, and pay rent of $1 million per year for 30 years.

Post #9 » by **MagicMadness** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:26 am

MagicFan101 wrote:This is even after revenue sharing. I'm not sure how we could say "the Magic do well financially."

Read more at http://www.slamonline.com/nba/14-nba-teams-lost-money-2016-17/#H18lCIrJBICJ7iB2.99

Do they consistently lose money, though? That's the important question.

Unfortunately, I'd say about half the league could be up for relocation at any time. Player contracts are insane these days.

Would I follow a non-Orlando Magic? I'd have a casual interest, but I'd be very bitter about it at the same time. I would be on my death bed in a hospital watching the 2057 Oregon Magic win their first NBA title and be like "THAT'S COOL, BUT IT SHOULD'VE BEEN IN ORLANDO!!!" Beeeeeeeeeppp - I die

PrimeThyme · Post #10 » by **PrimeThyme** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 3:49 am

I'll honestly be crushed if the magic ever relocate. I don't think I could abandon my fandom, but it wouldn't be the same. Really hope that this never happens.

Post #11 » by **Bensational** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:31 am

I don't have any attachment to Orlando as a city because it's not my home town, but I still think of it as the hometown for the Magic. Would be weird if the team left. The name Orlando feels just as important as the franchise name.

And if the team moved and rebranded, like the Thunder or the Pelicans, then it wouldn't feel like 'my team' in that sense. (Cos I'd imagine a wholesale change to the roster would come, too).

I'd feel pretty lost not having the team in Orlando, actually. I can't say how I'd feel about supporting 'a team' until a relocation was a certainty.

I could probably live with the Vegas Magic, though...

Xatticus · Post #12 » by **Xatticus** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:13 am

I spent the first five years of my life abroad as my father was in the USAF. He retired at Patrick AFB and we later moved to Palm Bay. I was a Laker fan until the Magic came into existence. I changed my allegiance as Orlando was the closest thing I have ever known to a hometown team. As I've gotten older, my interest in professional sports has waned. If the team left Orlando, I probably wouldn't really follow the NBA anymore.

drsd · Post #13 » by **drsd** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:54 am

MagicFan101 wrote:This is even after revenue sharing. I'm not sure how we could say "the Magic do well financially."

You clipped off the back end of the quote, which was, " ... considering they've been terrible."

The Magic should be selling out their shiny new arena. The team is not, and rightfully so; a bad product has been on offer.

But these financial numbers hide some earnings. i) The Magic gets Amway-arena revenue from non-NBA events. ii) The city of Orlando is financially engaged with the Magic (i.e. tax incentives, etc.). iii) I do not believe the numbers include earnings from trading cards, jerseys and team-based shoe deals. The Magic could very well be breaking even.

The Magic ownership is stable and the team would be a burden to move (given the lease). Even further, if the Magic is worth 1B today, in 10 years, the team might be worth 2B. So the magic could lose 100M a year, and still be "profitable" from an investment perspective.

Orlando is not a target team to relocate to Las Vegas or Seattle.

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drsd · Post #14 » by **drsd** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 9:01 am

MagicFan101 wrote:1) If the Magic leave will you still support them?

This is a tough question. When a player leaves, I do not follow their career. They are not Magicians anymore, after all. But the team itself. Hmm? As by definition I would no longer have a team to support, I am not sure I could do anything but stop following any team.

2) Do you believe whoever owns Orlando next will fight to keep them where they belong?

When Richard DeVos passes, and sadly that probably will be in the next 2-5 years, the structure of management suggests the Family is keen to keep an active interest in operating the team. His children are already principle owners. This has been true for more than 12 years now.

Rich DeVos attended Wednesday night's preseason game and acknowledged that his days as majority owner of the Orlando Magic are ending.

DeVos confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel that ownership of the team will be transferred to his children and that Bob Vander Weide, his son-in-law and team president, will represent the Magic as their owner.

O-Sen old LINK

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Nemesis21 · Post #15 » by **Nemesis21** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 10:53 am

The team is not going anywhere.

Blue_and_Whte · Post #16 » by **Blue_and_Whte** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:25 pm

MagicFan101 wrote:I see everyone is quick to abandon the team if they leave Orlando and, at first, that is my reaction as well.

But I left Florida 8 years ago and still passionately support the Magic. People move around all the time and still support their teams. Is it really so different if the team moves? It will be the same players... I know, I know... it won't really be the same. But it is an interesting question.

There are so many unknown variables. Half of the teams in the league lost money so using the "they lost money, so it automatically means they're moving" logic would apply to all of them.

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pepe1991 · Post #17 » by **pepe1991** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:31 pm

Blue_and_Whte wrote:
MagicFan101 wrote:I see everyone is quick to abandon the team if they leave Orlando and, at first, that is my reaction as well.

But I left Florida 8 years ago and still passionately support the Magic. People move around all the time and still support their teams. Is it really so different if the team moves? It will be the same players... I know, I know... it won't really be the same. But it is an interesting question.

There are so many unknown variables. Half of the teams in the league lost money so using the "they lost money, so it automatically means they're moving" logic would apply to all of them.

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To me , it feels like owners leak this sort of articles with half of informations missing ( like does this includes arena incomes ) to have some leverage in negotiations with new CBA

Magic#1 · Post #18 » by **Magic#1** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 12:38 pm

Most owners recognize that sports teams aren't where they're going to make money. They make their money and want to be in charge of a team. The Magic aren't leaving Orlando any time soon because of the Amway Center. Once we built the new arena, the commitment from both sides was made.

j-ragg · Post #19 » by **j-ragg** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:10 pm

I always wondered had we drafted Emeka Okafor like most would have done, would we have stayed in Orlando?

Post #20 » by **UCFJayBird** » Wed Sep 20, 2017 1:24 pm

Team isn't moving. But IF they did, they would probably still be my team until Orlando got another team. I imagine it would be like Charlotte fans, who probably still followed the Hornets when they went to New Orleans, but then when they got a new team they began to root for them instead. Maybe New Orleans is still a 2nd or 3rd team for them, but I doubt very many stuck with them as their #1.

But that's mostly because I'm a fan of Orlando teams (hometown), not just the Magic. I'm a Denver Broncos fans though i've never lived in Denver. If they ever moved, I'd still be a fan of theirs because my allegiance isn't to Denver, it's to the Broncos.