Airs of renewal in the Charlotte Hornets. The Michael Jordan era is over and Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall are inaugurated. A new stadium and training facility project is in the works. Mitch Kupchak left management and Jeff Peterson has taken over… optimistically. “You’re going to think I’m crazy when I say it, but we are going to turn the Hornets into the flagship franchise of the NBA,” the president of operations ventured to say in his first press conference with the new ownership.
Peterson’s comments are, to say the least, naïve. The sale of the franchise that began last August was valued at around $3 billion. Which would place the value of the Hornets only above five franchises according to the latest estimates of Forbes: Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Pelicans, Pacers and Magic. In the lead, the Golden State Warriors, valued at $7.7 billion and being the second most valuable sports organization today only below the Dallas Cowboys.
And not even the Warriors, the NBA franchise that has grown the most in the last decade, are guaranteed to remain on the throne. A thousand factors have led to their entry into an Olympus that the Lakers and Knicks always occupied, several bodies ahead of the rest, except for Jordan’s years in Chicago. One of them, Stephen Curry, is finite. The other major factor, belonging to a market like San Francisco, was an enormously expensive move and only possible without changing the brand due to its proximity to Oakland.
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Jeff Peterson – “You are going to get sick of me saying this, but we are going to turn this into the premier franchise in the NBA” pic.twitter.com/rcKVk5PkTo
— James Plowright (@British_Buzz) March 6, 2024
Charlotte’s potential as a market
North Carolina is one of the basketball capitals of the United States. But this has more to do with tradition than marketing. In fact, its most celebrated teams play in the NCAA and are none other than Duke University and North Carolina. The Hornets are more of a cursed franchise within a location whose marketing has revolved solely around the figure of Jordan.
Plotkin and Schnall have been enthusiastic about adding Peterson, until now Sean Marks’ right-hand man on the Brooklyn Nets. Even so, as new owners, they have let it slip that sporting decisions, for now, will be made together. A new era begins in Charlotte and, although Peterson is probably overly optimistic, there is no reason to lose hope at the first opportunity.
(Cover photo courtesy of Charlotte Hornets)
2024-03-06 20:00:00
#turn #Hornets #flagship #franchise #NBA
