Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/237/story/738988.html
Not surprising, although I'd be happy to see us get a real NBA owner.
Why go through that process though, wouldn't Jordan just become 51% owner?
Not surprising, although I'd be happy to see us get a real NBA owner.
Why go through that process though, wouldn't Jordan just become 51% owner?
Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Does this mean no more Jumper Classic?



Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Can we change our team now with MJ owning the majority? Flight or something?
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Maybe we can move the team to Raleigh? 

Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Fantastic news if we can get a local owner and or MJ. Interesting comment on the observer page if you read a bit below....
It does seem a strange time to be selling a sports team right now, I can't help but think he could get significantly more if he waited even a year.
btw, I wish I was in that kind of "serious financial difficulty," yeesh, 500 million dollars...
As usual, the Observer only has half the story. Just check the latest Forbes issue on the wealthest blacks in the US. Bob Johnson is in serious financial difficulty. He used to be a billionaire but now only has a net worth of around $500 million. Since the recession he's lost millions in bad real estate deals and terrible stock investments that tanked. This isn't about his passion for basketball, he's simply going broke and trying to cut his loses.
It does seem a strange time to be selling a sports team right now, I can't help but think he could get significantly more if he waited even a year.
btw, I wish I was in that kind of "serious financial difficulty," yeesh, 500 million dollars...
=/∞
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
This is great news! Now if someone just comes in and makes a sufficient offer! Yeah!
Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
why not just sell them to MJ...is not like MJ didnt want to buy them
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
How about we pass a hat around and see if between us we can rustle up a lazy $330 million?
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
I am excited about this. I remember a thread a while ago when some people were defending Bob Johnson and saying the fans shouldn't criticize him. He's not a good owner. He's rarely at the games and he was just in this to make money. And that is why when he put little effort into this team he got little out of it.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Didn't he get divorced recently and his ex-wife got one of the largest settlements in history?
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
I think bob johnson was a fine owner but i dont expect much from sports owners....just sign the checks i guess everyone wants there owner to be like mark cuban
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
NBA wants another team in the Northwest, Vancouver is looking for an NBA team. be careful what you wish... 

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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
countryboi wrote:I think bob johnson was a fine owner but i dont expect much from sports owners....just sign the checks i guess everyone wants there owner to be like mark cuban
I agree. I don't blame him for being in it to make money. He is a business man afterall. It's not like he just wants to crap money down the toilet fir funzies.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
BigSlam wrote:countryboi wrote:I think bob johnson was a fine owner but i dont expect much from sports owners....just sign the checks i guess everyone wants there owner to be like mark cuban
I agree. I don't blame him for being in it to make money. He is a business man afterall. It's not like he just wants to crap money down the toilet fir funzies.
No. But you have to put in a little more effort than he did. I have no problem with him making money but he won't make money with a new franchise in Charlotte doing (or not doing) what he did.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
If it weren't for Johnson, Charlotte would still be without an NBA team.
He made some mistakes, but no one could live up to the standards that most people in Charlotte put on him, the team, or the organization.
The city has run two owners off in less than a decade, two owners that couldn't be much more different. Like I said, Charlotte is the Goldilocks of the NBA.
Whatever mistakes Johnson made, at least he was committed to the city. He stepped up and tried to keep the Hornets here, and when they left, he stepped up and brought an expansion team here.
I'd warn against being all high and mighty again. It sounds like some of the Observer idiots are taking that route again, talking about how there is noooooooo way the team would relocate since there is this deal and that deal and there is nooooooooo way that would ever happen. Yeah, right:
**"The lease is thru 2010 and we expect them to honor that lease. And that's where it remains," he said, adding all previous proposals for renovations to KeyArena are still on the table."**
Hmm, it's 2009 and I don't see the Sonics in Seattle.
Charlotte would be pretty stupid to think once again that there is no way that this team will relocate. But I see some idiots already walking down that same road as they did a decade ago...
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
He made some mistakes, but no one could live up to the standards that most people in Charlotte put on him, the team, or the organization.
The city has run two owners off in less than a decade, two owners that couldn't be much more different. Like I said, Charlotte is the Goldilocks of the NBA.
Whatever mistakes Johnson made, at least he was committed to the city. He stepped up and tried to keep the Hornets here, and when they left, he stepped up and brought an expansion team here.
I'd warn against being all high and mighty again. It sounds like some of the Observer idiots are taking that route again, talking about how there is noooooooo way the team would relocate since there is this deal and that deal and there is nooooooooo way that would ever happen. Yeah, right:
**"The lease is thru 2010 and we expect them to honor that lease. And that's where it remains," he said, adding all previous proposals for renovations to KeyArena are still on the table."**
Hmm, it's 2009 and I don't see the Sonics in Seattle.
Charlotte would be pretty stupid to think once again that there is no way that this team will relocate. But I see some idiots already walking down that same road as they did a decade ago...
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
6_Rings wrote:NBA wants another team in the Northwest, Vancouver is looking for an NBA team. be careful what you wish...
Yeah, that's gonna happen...
The team must pay the city of Charlotte $200 million in damages if it leaves before 2010. The penalty declines gradually over the next 20 years, to $150 million if the Bobcats bolt between 2010 and 2015, to $70 million if they leave in 2018 or 2019. The team is free to go after 2030, when the city is expected to finish paying for the $265 million Time Warner Cable Arena.
No doubt we'll now get a bunch of trade scenarios where we give up our best players for expiring contracts.

RaptorJ wrote:they (Bobcats' fans) seem to be some of the least intelligent posters on RealGM from some of the trash they say.
Irony
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
W_HAMILTON wrote:If it weren't for Johnson, Charlotte would still be without an NBA team.
He made some mistakes, but no one could live up to the standards that most people in Charlotte put on him, the team, or the organization.
The city has run two owners off in less than a decade, two owners that couldn't be much more different. Like I said, Charlotte is the Goldilocks of the NBA.
Whatever mistakes Johnson made, at least he was committed to the city. He stepped up and tried to keep the Hornets here, and when they left, he stepped up and brought an expansion team here.
I'd warn against being all high and mighty again. It sounds like some of the Observer idiots are taking that route again, talking about how there is noooooooo way the team would relocate since there is this deal and that deal and there is nooooooooo way that would ever happen. Yeah, right:
**"The lease is thru 2010 and we expect them to honor that lease. And that's where it remains," he said, adding all previous proposals for renovations to KeyArena are still on the table."**
Hmm, it's 2009 and I don't see the Sonics in Seattle.
Charlotte would be pretty stupid to think once again that there is no way that this team will relocate. But I see some idiots already walking down that same road as they did a decade ago...
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
I agree with most of what you're saying, and I do think Charlotte is WAY too fickle when it comes to things like this. However, if Johnson never came around then we would've had the Larry Bird group owning this franchise instead. That may have changed by now too because Johnson had way more money, but still.
Of course if Ray Woolridge never showed up and Shinn was more patient with Charlotte, we'd have the Hornets still.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
No, we wouldn't have, since Bird's group did not have the financial resources to own the team.
That should be obvious after Belkin's fiasco in Atlanta. Hell, at least Johnson didn't sue his fellow owners.
That should be obvious after Belkin's fiasco in Atlanta. Hell, at least Johnson didn't sue his fellow owners.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
a few points...
1. bob johnson did not "bring" the franchise here. the NBA awarded charlotte a franchise and then chose johnson as the owner over the other potential group of belkin and bird. the team would have had a team either way. now, we can sit here an argue all day about whether or not the bird group would have been better, but we have no idea of knowing. belkin turned out to be a bit of a risk and bird hasnt really shown the ability to put a winner on the floor in indiana. however, i am certain this city would have embraced bird more than bob (sad that its probably more about race than anything). bird was already looking to move to charlotte full time.
2. charlotte fans are notoriously fickle and even worse in the past 10 years after all the carpetbaggers have moved down here. they make up probably 25% of the city and they could care less about the bobcats or any other charlotte teams since they are still rooting for the steelers, giants, phillies, knicks, celtics etc....
3. i dont care what that lease says about penalties, the idea of bringing in a new owner scares me. i dont trust anyone in terms of keeping the team here, unless they are a local investor.... and even then i'd worried.
4. MJ has been running his mouth about wanting to own this team for the past year. was he just giving us lip service or was he being serious? my guess is that he was giving us lip service. i'll be shocked if MJ is ever the majority owner of this team.
5. a friend of bob's is quoted as saying bob "lost passion" for the nba. that pisses me off more than anything. i never liked bob and i never felt that he gave two **** about this team or the nba. he just wanted to be the "first minority sports owner" and to make some money. it was all about ego to him and never about the NBA. that being said, he wasnt a horrible owner. he wasnt great, but he wasnt horrible.
all things considered, i really hope this turns out to be a positve thing for the team. it would be nice to get an owner in here that city gets behind. not saying its all bob's fault the city didnt like him, but the truth is, they city didnt like him. they never did and never will. maybe htey will hate anyone that comes in here unless its dale jr or rick flair. who knows.
1. bob johnson did not "bring" the franchise here. the NBA awarded charlotte a franchise and then chose johnson as the owner over the other potential group of belkin and bird. the team would have had a team either way. now, we can sit here an argue all day about whether or not the bird group would have been better, but we have no idea of knowing. belkin turned out to be a bit of a risk and bird hasnt really shown the ability to put a winner on the floor in indiana. however, i am certain this city would have embraced bird more than bob (sad that its probably more about race than anything). bird was already looking to move to charlotte full time.
2. charlotte fans are notoriously fickle and even worse in the past 10 years after all the carpetbaggers have moved down here. they make up probably 25% of the city and they could care less about the bobcats or any other charlotte teams since they are still rooting for the steelers, giants, phillies, knicks, celtics etc....
3. i dont care what that lease says about penalties, the idea of bringing in a new owner scares me. i dont trust anyone in terms of keeping the team here, unless they are a local investor.... and even then i'd worried.
4. MJ has been running his mouth about wanting to own this team for the past year. was he just giving us lip service or was he being serious? my guess is that he was giving us lip service. i'll be shocked if MJ is ever the majority owner of this team.
5. a friend of bob's is quoted as saying bob "lost passion" for the nba. that pisses me off more than anything. i never liked bob and i never felt that he gave two **** about this team or the nba. he just wanted to be the "first minority sports owner" and to make some money. it was all about ego to him and never about the NBA. that being said, he wasnt a horrible owner. he wasnt great, but he wasnt horrible.
all things considered, i really hope this turns out to be a positve thing for the team. it would be nice to get an owner in here that city gets behind. not saying its all bob's fault the city didnt like him, but the truth is, they city didnt like him. they never did and never will. maybe htey will hate anyone that comes in here unless its dale jr or rick flair. who knows.
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Re: Bob Johnson seeks buyer for Bobcats
Yes, Johnson essentially "brought" a franchise here because the NBA was not satisfied with Belkin's financial status, and that was the only other ownership group in competition. Johnson was committed to having a team in Charlotte, and he showed that as far back as when the Hornets were looking to relocate, and he was one of the few that stepped up and offered to buy the team outright and keep them in Charlotte.
And it's not surprising that Johnson "lost passion" for the NBA. This market has soured several owners the same way. Losing millions, listening to fans bitch and moan, and reading the constantly negative opinions of inept reporters would cause me to lose passion for something, too.
And it's not surprising that Johnson "lost passion" for the NBA. This market has soured several owners the same way. Losing millions, listening to fans bitch and moan, and reading the constantly negative opinions of inept reporters would cause me to lose passion for something, too.
Howard Mass wrote:You do not have the right to not be offended. Just because something is offensive to you does not mean that it breaks the board rules.