Charlotte bid for the 2017 All-Star Game, spent $33.5 million of public money to upgrade the arena and drew Adam Silver’s support.
It worked.
Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer:
EXCUSIVE: Charlotte wins bid to host 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend. Formal announcement tomorrow. Story coming.
— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) June 22, 2015
The lesson, as always, is the NBA rewards cities that provide public funding for arenas and punishes those that don’t. Seattle lost its team. Charlotte gets an All-Star game.
Once you get past that tiny issue, Charlotte should be a fun place for the game.
The league will surely put Hornets owner Michael Jordan front and center, and his huge marketing power will help a lot fall into place.
