Abstract
Between 1949 and 1975, National Basketball Association (NBA) officials approved the entry of ten expansion franchises into the league. Two of these professional sports enterprises had sites in Chicago, Illinois while the others were at home in cities of metropolitan areas within eight different States. As NBA teams, five of them moved elsewhere from their original homes since the expansion year and the other five continued to perform in regular season and perhaps postseason games in the NBA’s 2013–2014 season.
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Notes
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For the NBA’s expansion history, see Frank P. Jozsa Jr., The National Basketball Association: Business, Organization and Strategy (Singapore: World Scientific, 2011), 37–49; Frank P. Jozsa Jr. and John J. Guthrie Jr., Relocating Teams and Expanding Leagues in Professional Sports: How the Major Leagues Respond to Market Conditions (Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 1999), James Quirk and Rodney D. Fort, Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992), and Kenneth L. Shropshire, The Sports Franchise Game: Cities in Pursuit of Sports Franchises, Events, Stadiums, and Arenas (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995).
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With his aggressive but sometimes outrageous behavior before, during, and after home games, Mark Cuban’s positive attitude inspires the Mavericks to perform above expectations. The league’s former commissioner, David Stern, fined him millions of dollars for acting immature, arguing with referees, and interfering in games. Despite his antics, personality, and showmanship, the Mavericks are competitive most seasons among teams in their division.
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Born in 1937, Michael Heisley was an American business executive and former majority owner of the Vancouver Grizzlies and Memphis Grizzlies. He orchestrated the team’s move from Vancouver in 2001 after promising to keep the franchise in Canada when he purchased it in 2000. Six years later, he agreed to sell his 70 % controlling stake in the franchise to a consortium including former University of North Carolina player Christian Laettner. After the group missed a deadline for the purchase, Heisley found no bidders willing to meet his $300 million asking price. In 2012, Heisley decided to sell the Grizzlies and step aside from his corporate interests due to advancing age.
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Despite spending at least $300 million for the franchise in 2002 and pledging to invest another $30 million to improve it, Robert Johnson’s Charlotte Bobcats lost between $20 million and $30 million per year or a total of $200 million while under his control. After selling the team, he called Charlotte’s business community arrogant and incestuous and said the city does not do enough for existing and potential minority-owned companies. Johnson, a self-made billionaire, made his remarks at the Urban Leadership Institute, a gathering of mostly black business people. The group presented him with an award moments before he spoke, though the crowd’s reaction was different after he made his comments. According to Johnson, “Charlotte is a very, how would I call it, close-knit, arrogant, sometimes incestuous town. It’s close-knit, and if you come to this town, and you look like you’re one of those people that might break some glass … it’s going to be tough for them to relate to. The thing that concerns me is that I’m just surprised that the city doesn’t do more for African-American small businesses. And I don’t really understand that.” See Cleve Woodson, “Ex-Bobcats Owner Blasts Charlotte” at http://www.wcnc.com cited 23 February 2014. For other aspects of Johnson’s investment in an NBA team, see “BET Founder Wins Franchise,” New York Times (18 December 2002), D3, David Sabino and Mark Bechtel, “Expansion Plan,” Sports Illustrated (28 June 2004), 32, and Richard Sandomir, “Founder of TV Network Becomes First Black Owner in Major Sports,” New York Times (19 December 2002), A1.
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Regarding NBA teams’ metropolitan area populations during their expansion year, the two largest and smallest were, respectively, Toronto at 4.2 million in 1995 and Miami at 3.1 in 1988, and Orlando at 1 million in 1989 and Charlotte at 1.1 million in 1988. For this information, see various editions of The World Almanac and Book of Facts and Census of Canada.
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Some additional information about these expansion teams is in “Basketball History” at http://www.history-of-basketball.com cited 20 September 2005; “History of Basketball” at http://library.thinkquest.org cited 24 August 2009; “National Basketball Association (NBA) History” at http://www.rauzulusstreet.com cited 12 August 2005; “NBA Growth Timetable” at http://www.basketball.com cited 17 September 2005; “Professional Basketball Leagues” at http://apbr.org cited 22 August 2009. For current literature, see the Official NBA Guide: 2013–14 Edition (New York, NY: NBA Properties, 2013), and Official NBA Register: 2013–14 Edition (New York, NY: NBA Properties, 2013).
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Jozsa, F.P. (2015). From 1976 Season. In: National Basketball Association Strategies. SpringerBriefs in Economics, vol 84. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10058-6_3
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