| | VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Phoenix Suns owner Jerry
Colangelo, who as chairman of the league's expansion committee
championed Vancouver's admission for the 1995-96 season, says he is
pushing the league to bar new Grizzlies owner Bill Laurie from
relocating the team for a "substantial period of time."
Colangelo said Monday that because fans have supported the
franchise through four tough seasons, "they're entitled to
continue to do so.
"I believed in Vancouver as an NBA marketplace then and I still
do," said Colangelo, who described himself as having a "moral
commitment" to Vancouver.
Laurie, a Missouri-based billionaire, goes before the NBA board
of governors in New York this week to seek formal approval of his
purchase of the Grizzlies from John McCaw. Laurie, who already owns
the NHL St. Louis Blues and that city's Kiel Center, bought the
Grizzlies last month for $150 million, with a further $50-million
payout to McCaw should he take the team out of Vancouver's GM
Place.
The announcement of the sale prompted speculation that Laurie
would try, for obvious personal and financial reasons, to move the
team to his home state and into a building he controls.
Laurie has declined to give interviews in advance of the board
of governors meeting. Under the expansion agreement under which the
Grizzlies entered the league, the team cannot be moved until the
2001-02 season.
Colangelo, a member of the governors' finance advisory committee
that is to meet with Laurie on Thursday in advance of Friday's full
board session, indicated Monday he wants a longer time frame.
Colangelo declined to give a specific amount of time, saying
only that if anybody suggested a "year or two, I'd say, heck no.
It has to be something that's significant."
Colangelo said he couldn't speak for the league or other owners,
but he added: "It may be some of us feel strongly and would
request certain provisions."
Laurie needs a two-thirds majority of the board of governors to
approve his purchase.
Pete Webb, communications strategist for Paige Sports, Laurie's
holding company for his growing sports portfolio, said that while
Laurie is confident his ownership will be approved, he'll approach
the meetings with "a little bit of fear.
"You have to sell yourself to a very tight-knit and familial
group," Webb said. "You have to understand their culture and
their principles and how they care for their organization."
Webb said attempts to convince Laurie to keep the team in
Vancouver aren't being helped by what he feels are inflammatory
media reports "painting him with the 'ugly American' brush.
"Let him see how the team is going to do on the floor this
year, how it's going to develop and prosper. ... He wants the
ability to watch the team, watch its management and see the quality
of the organization," Webb said. | |
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