Pacers could relocate if deal not struck

[mizzoupacers]

Pacers could relocate if deal not struck

Uh-oh...this is how it starts.

I was a Kansas City Kings fan as a kid (and also a St. Louis Cardinals football fan), so I ought to know. If the Pacers move to Las Vegas or Seattle, my loyalties will not move with them. If they move to St. Louis...that might be a different story, but I'm not wishing for that. I don't want Pacers fans to have to go through that, and I'd like to see the Pacers stay in Indiana and leave their ABA and Reggie Miller legacy intact.

As a final indignity to this basketball season, my cable TV company listed the Pacers game as the ESPN telecast for tonight. But it's not, I checked with ESPN, and they are showing Grizzlies-Thunder instead.

Final tally of national television appearances for this season: LeBrons/Kobes 8,362, Pacers 0. If I were to wish for a St. Louis Pacers franchise, that would be the reason. At least I'd actually get to see some Pacers games. But as I said, hope it never comes to that.

[Gremz]

Seems concerning. I hadn't realised that the situation had come to that.

I will always follow this team no matter where it ends up, but it is the last thing I would ever want to see.

[PacersDG]

More of a political move than anything. The Pacers are not going anywhere.

[Starkiller]

I hate to say it, but if they relocate, I'd have no other reason to root for them. I've followed them this long because of the home state, and my love for Reggie Miller, if they move and change name and all that, there's no reason for it, and I'm finding a new team. Which would probably be GS or Charlotte.

[HookShotHibbert]

More of a political move than anything. The Pacers are not going anywhere.

I'm not so sure it is a political move at all. Herb is already bleeding money yearly through the team and now that Mel is gone, Herb probably is losing even more of HIS money rather than splitting the losses with his brother (assuming Mel's heirs sold their portion of the team to Herb).

I am sure Herb is tired of losing money on the stadium in addition to those team financial losses. I am sure he is tired of looking accross the street and seeing the Colts stadium and what I would assume is a much sweeter revenue deal from the the C.I.B.

Herb is gonna say pay for the statium expenses and the C.I.B. is going to say it is a 'recession', we can't afford to pay for a stadium especially for a losing team. THe question will be how headstrong will each side be?

Herb didn't get his fortunes by being an idiot, he negotiated the 10 year opt out for this very circumstance. While I don't evision him personally moving the team, he is in the perfection position to sell the team to someone who will move it:
1. He can essentially break the stadium lease with no penalty.
2. All our 'bad' contracts are up after this season and there is minimal money tie up in players beyond this season.
3. The player we do have beyond this year are decent player or fairly easily tradeable.
4. Jordan just bought the Bobcats at a 'reasonable price' .

I could easily see someone with the money and interest in owning a team thinking the Pacer's are good option to buy.

[HookShotHibbert]

sorry my last rant was so detailed. In conclusion, I don't want to see the team moved. I highly doubt it happens unless Herb sells the team, but I would be surprised if it happened.

[ardthomp]

If the Pacers move, I'll never watch another NBA game again. Butler and IUPUI would get an increase in ticket sales from me!

[Dunthreevy]

Right now I think there is probably a 40% chance that the team is moved, and that's pretty damn scary to me. Herb really doesn't have a reason to NOT sell the team right now, other than his loyalty to the city, fans, etc. (if he does feel some sense of loyalty to them).

The one thing that I can be fairly certain of, is that I don't think I could root for the team if they are moved. It won't be the same, no matter how much I would want it to be. Sadly I'd probably root for Portland before I could root for the "Las Vegas Pacers" I'd probably become a much bigger college hoops fan and start following IU and Butler more closely.

I hope I'm not forced to make that decision.

[BlazerFanDan]

Man i saw what happened up in Seattle and would really hate to see it happen to another franchise that has been in their city forever like the Pacers.

[fj20]

No way do I see herb moving the team. He lives here in Indianapolis and isn't the HQ for simon property group dtown? So I would have to agree unless he sells the team (don't see that happening) I don't see pacers moving. I think once they get the team turned around and more people in the seats they will see revenue go up.

I recently went to the cavs pacers game in cleveland and it was a totally different atmosphere than pacer games....yes their team is tops in the league and that helps but it just seemed fun to go to a game their compared to conseco where you go just to watch the game. I think they need to get the issue of gettn more fans before worryn bout moving

[Dunthreevy]

No way do I see herb moving the team. He lives here in Indianapolis and isn't the HQ for simon property group dtown? So I would have to agree unless he sells the team (don't see that happening) I don't see pacers moving. I think once they get the team turned around and more people in the seats they will see revenue go up.

I recently went to the cavs pacers game in cleveland and it was a totally different atmosphere than pacer games....yes their team is tops in the league and that helps but it just seemed fun to go to a game their compared to conseco where you go just to watch the game. I think they need to get the issue of gettn more fans before worryn bout moving

If they could get more fans in there, they wouldn't have to worry about moving, because the team (Simons) wouldn't be losing millions of dollars every season. It's not like they're not TRYING to get fans back in Conseco. Hell they give away probably 1,000 or more tickets for FREE on any given night, and they drastically discount ticket prices for individual games throughout the season. Winning will bring back fans, so until we're a winning team, the attendance and the atmosphere of Conseco isn't going to change. That's just the way Indiana and the fans (fair weather) here work. It was the same way with the Colts until Peyton and Co. came in and started winning games.

[catalyst]

Pittsburgh, Nashville, KC, or St Louis would be the logical candidates. Do not know arena status of any city, but those are fairly regional big cities w/o NBA teams.

[bennith13]

This is exactly how it started in Seattle, four years later the team was gone. Hopefully your city council or whoever is in charge of arena contracts is a little smarter then the Seattle City Council.

[writerman]

People who don't think this could happen are in denial.

For a supposed basketball hotbed, support for this team has been shameful, accurately reflected by the low level of activity in this forum this year.

In my lifetime I've gone through a lot of lousy seasons with the Detroit Tigers. They're still my team.

If there's anything I detest, it's fair-weather fans...

[mizzoupacers]

I detest two things: intolerant people, and the Dutch. (Austin Powers joke)

Yeah, I think this is a legit worry. A very typical pattern behind sports franchise relocations is (1) struggling team looks for ways to cut losses (2) tries to get local government to defray arena costs (3) local government says no (4) team moves. I'm hoping the Pacers don't get past "2," but the fact that it's now reached "2" means we're on yellow alert.

I'm not sure what I would do if the Pacers left (and went somewhere other than St. Louis or Kansas City).

Maybe I'd adopt the Grizzlies...I like Memphis as a city, it's a driveable distance from mid-Missouri, and at least for the time being they have a very likable Mizzou guy on the roster, DeMarre Carroll.

Most likely, though, I'd stop following the NBA much. I'd still follow the league some, because I love basketball, and because the NBA is the best basketball on the planet, with a skill level astronomically higher than college ball. But I doubt I'd actually sit down to watch any games until the playoffs started. And I'd follow college ball more closely than the NBA, even though I think college hoops is vastly inferior, just because I'd still have my rooting interest in the Missouri Tigers. Having a team of your own to follow makes all the difference.

[Miller4ever]

If there's anything I detest, it's short people.

"Yellow alert" is a good way to put it, Mizzy P. Hopefully Indy and the Simons (I'm putting that in my file cabinet of good sitcom names) can come to a fair compromise.

I'd have to be a Clips fan, just because Staples is reasonably close to where I'll be living by the time this all gets sorted out. Also, I will never, ever, ever root for the Lakers, unless they play the Pistons or Celtics. Then I will root for the refs.

[glasket]

Worrying. I hope the Pacers don't move.
If they do, then that would be 2 of my favourite NBA teams moved (Sonics were my second favourite team, now by default the Thunder are my second favourite).

[captain_ballard]

Go to www.sonicsgate.org and take a look at the history. If it could happen to us it could hapen to you. Nobody was more synonomous with Seattle than Schultz and Starbucks. He sold. So could you guys.

[Boneman2]

Leave the logo, naming-rights, & team colors and don't let the door hit you ass. Because we're in Indiana I like our chances of being chosen by the next team who seeks to relocate. Our rabid-fanbase and world-class facilities would have a lot of owners intrigued.

Speaking of the Super-Sonics, they moved and now look at their fortunes. Unfortunately, Seattle fans don't get the enjoyment of witnessing Lebron's heir to the throne. This is a case where picking in the top five has set this team up for 12years.

[Moooose]

Indiana basketball is historic. Hope the Pacers stay in Indiana.