November 01, 2004
They mentioned our name on the telly!
Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, explaining why he's glad to be spending $240 million in public money on an arena for the new Charlotte Bobcats franchise, owned by (and named for) billionaire Bob Johnson:
"I try to stay away from economic studies because the numbers can vary, but we do know the branding of the initial Charlotte Hornets team was very successful. Every night, your score is given on TV, it puts you in the big leagues as far as drawing attention to your city, and we think the Bobcats will do that."
$240 million, probably around $500 million after taking into account interest, is sure an expensive ad campaign for a city. That can buy a lot of ad time even for the Super Bowl.
Posted by Michael Kim on November 1, 2004 12:51 PM
The proponents for a publicly funded arena for the Sacramento Kings make the same argument. They think someone seeing the Kings on TV decides it worthwhile to visit Sacramento. Cleveland and Cincinnati have teams in all the major sports leagues but those cities are not exactly on the top of must go destinantions for tourists. Las Vegas and Orlando, until recently, seem to have no problem drawing tourists without hosting a major sports team.
Posted by Michael Kim on November 1, 2004 12:56 PM