When pulling the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte, the NBA said it hoped to hold the 2019 event there. (2018 is already scheduled for Los Angeles.)
It seems the 2019 plans are more concrete than just hoping.
Katherine Peralta and Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer:Hornets President Fred Whitfield told the Observer the NBA has no plans to put 2019 – the next available All-Star Weekend – out to general bid.
“We’ve been assured if the HB2 situation is resolved, we’ll be hosting” All-Star Weekend, Whitfield said.
I wonder whether this was before or after the league office read Hornets minority owner Felix Sabates’ email.
Even beyond Sabates -- no small thorn -- there’s no guaranteed North Carolina’s anti-gay law is satisfactorily modified. The state’s lawmakers have dug in their heels.
But no matter what’s happening now, 2019 is a long way off. It seems the NBA will -- once again -- give Charlotte as much time as possible to be a suitable location for the All-Star game.