Color me surprised.
I really did not think Michael Jordan wanted to be the guy in an NBA franchise. Now he is — he really is Mr. Bobcat now.
I still want to see who helped Jordan come up with the money for this deal — and if Jordan has the good sense to change the name and the look of the team. A re-launch if you will.
The Charlotte Flight has a nice ring to it, marketing tie-in with Brand Jordan as well.
Update: Felix Sabates must be smoking dope to tell WBTV this:
Sabates said making Charlotte his home is key to making it work for Jordan. If he doesn’t, his streak of business success may end.
“If Michael doesn’t do that, he’s wasted a lot of money,” Sabates said. “But Michael is pretty smart and Michael’s got some pretty good advisers. He didn’t get to where he’s at by being dumb.
“This is the biggest investment of his life. He can have 19,000 people at every game. It’s up to him.”
Jordan absolutely will not turn himself into Jake LaMotta or Boog Powell. He will not stand out on the street corner and bark. That is not the MJ way. Nor is is obvious to me that this approach would actually work long-term.
The Uptown crowd is headed for a big letdown if they think MJ is gonna move to Charlotte and start showing up at Center City Partner meet and greets.
Update II: Rick Bonnell gets the absolute 100% correct response from a Bobcat player and declares he is joking! Official CLT is more out-of-touch than I thought:
“Unless he’s suiting up, it isn’t affecting us. Is he coming out of retirement?” Gerald Wallace joked.
“That’s the only way it would affect us – if he’s coming out of retirement. Other than that, he’s pretty much doing the same thing he’s been doing upstairs – making the decisions as head of basketball operations.”
Gerald Wallace is a wise man.
