meistertiger Wrote:"Maize's assertion that we were close seconds is misleading in that we were the first choice for these franchises but the city couldnt get the deal done because people werent interested in spending buckets of tax dollars for an arena for an NBA franchise"

L: I don't believe Louisville was ever first in line for an NBA team. Stern(?) the NBA commissioner, was pushing Memphis (Memphis had been quietly seeking a franchise through its blue ribbon "pursuit team". ) The biggest competition was Anaheim and Las Vegas. Anaheim already has a major league tenant, NHL, and the NBA does not like to share if possible. Las Vegas because of sports betting was out. Stern said that the demographics for Memphis were the best of any city without a major league franchise.

Another point, the NBA will never give UL first rights in any arena arrangement, you can forget that right now. They don't even share an arena unless they really have to. They even have a no compete clause in Memphis, they get any arena type attractions or have first refusal rights. The Pyramid or the old Mid South Colesieum cannot book an act without first going through the Grizzlies and FedExForum for approval.

Any new arena will have to have a large number of private suites and club seating areas. This is the only way to finance an expensive arena and it is also a prerequsite of the NBA (I believe).

I do think Louisville would be a good NBA city and also think UL could coexsist with that franchise. Your much like Memphis, many rabid basketball fans, and with the additional fans of other schools in your metro area, would help the NBA attendance.

Unless Stern was giving off BS he has been quoted in the Louisville paper plenty of times as favoring Louisville as a NBA city. Now that doesn't say we would get one, but now that the word is out that Louisville is building a start of the art arena there have been inquries from both the NHL and NBA wanting to know the specifics on the arena. UofL will have "first" priority when it comes to scheduling so that more than likely kills any chance of a team coming to louisville.

L-yes Wrote:[quote="Jackson1011"]

Quote:The University of Louisville will be the primary tennet and if a NBA or NHL team comes to the city UofL is guaranteed first rights to the arena dates.

-- Is the city of Louisville activley looking for a NBA or NHL team?



Jackson

No we aren't. In fact UofL is actively opposed to an NBA interest in the city and has basically said it would walk away from the city's arena deal if the NBA was involved. There is a book called 'Air Ball' by an attorney in Louisville who has tried to bring the NBA to the city for the past 20 years. The University has thankfully been one of the biggest thorns in his side.

People don't want that trash in the city anyway. Polling by the Louisville Courier-Journal confirms as much.

Maize's assertion that we were close seconds is misleading in that we were the first choice for these franchises but the city couldnt get the deal done because people werent interested in spending buckets of tax dollars for an arena for an NBA franchise.

In turn it

Louisville was and never will be considered an NBA worthy city. Not only is it to small, but why would the NBA feel the need to put an NBA team in kentucky? It is not exactly "their" type of market. I think cincy would be a good place for an NBA team, it would be a perfect market. And we all know the Nati is a better city than Louisville. ;-)

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:Right now they are more focus on a new Basketball arena then Football expansion. We will expand within the next 2-3 years at Papa John's but they will first get the arena issue over with.

BTW as much as I am for Papa John's expansion the Basketball Arena issue is a more pressing concern. The arena would be downtown and State of the Art. Plus it will be hopefully NBA/NHL ready and will be able to attract major concerts and a couple of NCAA Regionals. Freedom Hall with all it history is now over 50 years old and showing it age. Plus it is no where near anything for pre and post game activities.

-- UL not playing in Freedom Hall will be like Duke not playing in Cameron...I wish there was some way just to improve the current building

-- isn't the state of Kentucky contributing a lot of cash for this building? How much money is UL going to have to put up? Was there any thought of UL building a gym on campus? Or a gym that the university will "own"? I was thinking of something similar to what Pitt recently built. The "Pete" is a great building

Jackson

Actually freedom hall has truly run its course, theres nothing else that can be done to save it. Plus its in a horrible location let alone, its a wonderful facility to see a basketball game no doubt but the city and the university would be waisting money to do anything to that arena. The only way we get a arena on campus is if the university pays for it, and the school can't afford what they want. They want a NBA type of arena with all the luxury boxes and perks that NBA teams have but the school doesn't have that type of money for a facility like that. They could build a arena like the one pitt has with no problems but UofL makes boats loads of money from coporate donors and the sell of luxury suites, so to build a arena like the one pitt has doesn't make any since financially. The basketball team made I believe 18 million in a old ass arena. With the arena they want those figures could double. The only reason why the school doesn't have a new arena now is because they are afraid to share the revenue with a professional sports team, which sounds selfish but who can blaim them. They don't want to compete for local entertainment dollars. UofL basketball is run like a business and Tom Jurich is the man when it comes to that. After saying all that, football stadium expansion is behind this arena deal. It will get done but it will probably be another 2-3 yrs before we see that.

Heh, yeah, Cincinnati just needs a chance with an NBA team, right? The whole city will embrace it.

They could call the team the Royals as well, playing at the Cincinnati Gardens. ;-)

I think Louisville could support an NBA team, the only issue is TV market size.

tomanzj Wrote:Louisville was and never will be considered an NBA worthy city. Not only is it to small, but why would the NBA feel the need to put an NBA team in kentucky? It is not exactly "their" type of market. I think cincy would be a good place for an NBA team, it would be a perfect market. And we all know the Nati is a better city than Louisville. ;-)

That certainly isn't what many owners that wanted to come here said or Stern. Second of all Cincinnati could never house a NBA team because the city would be way over-saturated with professional sports. Why do you think Cincy hasn't been considered? Pittsburgh is in the same boat, not enough money to go around for three teams. Cincy is a nice size market but you act like Cincy is on the same level with DC, NY, Boston, or Philly. You are certainly misinformed and certainly misinformed on how baskeball crazy the state of Kentucky is. Why I'm responding to someone who is obviously misinformed is beyond me. Third you certainly don't respect the better cincy posters on this board so I'll just take your comments has BS.

kardphan, I believe he was joking around (hence the ;-) ).

I believe he knows that Cincinnati would not support the NBA now, just as it didn't when the Royals were in town 30-40 years ago.

mlb Wrote:Heh, yeah, Cincinnati just needs a chance with an NBA team, right? The whole city will embrace it.

They could call the team the Royals as well, playing at the Cincinnati Gardens. ;-)

I think Louisville could support an NBA team, the only issue is TV market size.

MLB Cincy would be a excellent NBA city if you didn't already have the reds and the bengals. Do you really think cincy has enough corporate dollars to support 3 teams? Pittsburgh is in a similar situation like I've already stated. Louisville has the whole state of Kentucky, that is a market within itself. Look I'm not saying we would ever get one and to be honest I really don't care because I'm a fan of the NFL anyways. I'm certainly not here trying to pimp the city of Louisville, but a city the size of louisville could support one team, there has been countless studies done on this issue, hell we struck out on three teams basically competing with cities the same size as louisville. Memphis and New Orleans where the places we were competing with at the time. Regardless this is stupid and the only reason why I even mentioned the NBA was because I was responding to a post L-yes made in reference to something Maize made and I was actually trying to agree with Maize and then I see all these irrational post made about the city of Louisville.

mlb Wrote:kardphan, I believe he was joking around (hence the ;-) ).

I believe he knows that Cincinnati would not support the NBA now, just as it didn't when the Royals were in town 30-40 years ago.

Mlb its cool, I think Cincy will always be a Reds town, I know the bengals are hot now, but the reds is a fan favorite for alot of folks in Louisville. I'm actually a big reds fan and always have been. The reds have a huge following here in Louisville, I just wish we could get some damn Pitching up there. Whats up with Grif jr? Are they going to free up some salary cap?

Maize Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

Maize Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

Maize Wrote:

L-yes Wrote:

Jackson1011 Wrote:

Quote:The University of Louisville will be the primary tennet and if a NBA or NHL team comes to the city UofL is guaranteed first rights to the arena dates.

-- Is the city of Louisville activley looking for a NBA or NHL team?



Jackson

No we aren't. In fact UofL is actively opposed to an NBA interest in the city and has basically said it would walk away from the city's arena deal if the NBA was involved. There is a book called 'Air Ball' by an attorney in Louisville who has tried to bring the NBA to the city for the past 20 years. The University has thankfully been one of the biggest thorns in his side.

People don't want that trash in the city anyway. Polling by the Louisville Courier-Journal confirms as much.

L-Yes you truly believe that, the NBA/NHL will always be an option in regards to a Downtown Arena. Yes it is true that UofL is very much opposed to a Downtown Arena, but if one is built and they get certain guarantees in regards to the Arena they will play in it.

I know for a fact that UofL would not be involved in the project if the NBA were involved, period. If UofL were not involved you have a dead project. Its that simple.

We will see, but I feel the new arena would be NBA/NHL ready. UofL would only provide at most 36 dates out of 364 days of the year. Got to pay for it some kind of way or the boys in Frankfort aint going for it.

We will see. There are countless articles on the subject available on the CJ's web site. Not once do you read anything about bringing in professional basketball.

Remember that the only reason this proposal has gotten this far is because UofL is on board. They sunk the 'Bucket'/Griz proposal single handedly.

Not saying it will bring in a NBA or NHL team, all I am saying is the arena will be NBA or NHL ready much like the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, New Orleans Arena before the Hornets moved their or the Gaylord Center in Nashville

How small can we make the box in the center?

kardphan Wrote:Mlb its cool, I think Cincy will always be a Reds town, I know the bengals are hot now, but the reds is a fan favorite for alot of folks in Louisville. I'm actually a big reds fan and always have been. The reds have a huge following here in Louisville, I just wish we could get some damn Pitching up there. Whats up with Grif jr? Are they going to free up some salary cap?

Junior should be ready opening day, he is playing in the World Baseball Classic for the US. I am with you, I wish they would get some pitching. I think the new ownership group is MUCH better than Carl Lindner, so I'm looking forward to some competitive teams down the road (this year won't be, they didn't take over until mid-January after most of the top free agents were gone).

mlb Wrote:

kardphan Wrote:Mlb its cool, I think Cincy will always be a Reds town, I know the bengals are hot now, but the reds is a fan favorite for alot of folks in Louisville. I'm actually a big reds fan and always have been. The reds have a huge following here in Louisville, I just wish we could get some damn Pitching up there. Whats up with Grif jr? Are they going to free up some salary cap?

Junior should be ready opening day, he is playing in the World Baseball Classic for the US. I am with you, I wish they would get some pitching. I think the new ownership group is MUCH better than Carl Lindner, so I'm looking forward to some competitive teams down the road (this year won't be, they didn't take over until mid-January after most of the top free agents were gone).

Since I have season tickets to the games, I'm looking forward to this season but I certainly have to agree with you about Carl Linder, that guy was truly clueless and I'm glad he is gone. If Jr can stay healthy we would be an all-star again. The only thing I would like to see improve again is pitching. It always seems like the reds going on a winning streak and then the walls just start crumbling down. Hopefully this year I'll get my moneys worth.